Patch Panels & Bolt Refinishing

I stayed home with the kids today since school is out. I managed to take care of a few random tasks.


I started by painting a few small parts I blasted this past week. The main thing I painted was the bolts for the export brace. These are the original bolts and nuts. They are originally gold diacrhomate coated. I can purchase a set with the correct finish for $12.00. I can always replace these later with the correct ones but at the moment, I don't want to spend the money for these.



I also painted the an alternator mounting bolt and spacer. I stopped by a new Ace hardware near my home and purchased the other two mounting bolts. The ones I replaced with those purchased at Ace were pitted and not original. I considered buying the correct bolts to mount the alternator from NPD but they cost $7.00. Again, I can replace these later if I they are too noticiable.


The last thing I did was create two patch panels. I made one for the area underneath the battery. I also made a patch panel for a hole made in the radiator support for the A/C system. This reason behind the second patch panel is a little detailed, so I'll create another post on it later.

Firewall A/C Panel Restoration

I visited my parents for the holiday this past weekend. I spent a little time using the media blasting cabinet to clean up the A/C cover for the firewall. The A/C cover is not original to my Mustang as mine did not come with A/C. However, the piece along with many other A/C parts on my car are all original parts.

The part cleaned up rather well. The years of exposure to moisture resulted in a little pitting. The more rounded of the two pieces is in the best condition. There are not a large number of this part available due to the limited number of Mustangs with A/C. Considering the location of this piece, I don't believe the light pitting will be noticable.

The part is originally dipped in black paint and allowed to hang dry. However, the part is painted with the same paint as the rest of the engine bay. I used the standard Krylon spray paint for this piece.

The screws which hold the piece to the firewall have no real identifing marks. They are normally zinc or phosphate covered. I'm not aware of a way to dupicate this finish for a reasonable price. I'll continue to look into it but may resort to painting the screws black. They are small and would likely not be very noticable.

Once the piece and heater hoses were installed, the firewall sealant was put on the part to avoid leaks.

Underhood Welding (Part 2)

I spent today cleaning up the welds in the engine compartment. I sanded them down with a 50 grit sanding disc on a right angle grinder. I then used USC All Metal filler to finish the welded areas so they are not visible at all. I then top coated them with Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator.

I was able to complete both of the shock towers, the firewall, and the radiator support. The area which still needs attention is the fender apron were the windshield washer reservior is mounted. I've grinded all the welds down and put on the USC All Metal. I'll come back in a couple of days, sand them down, and then top coat with Rust Encapsulator.

The area under the battery still needs a patch panel created. Once I have one created, I'll call Danny for some help with the welding.

Gauge Feed Harness

My original underhood wiring harness for the Mustang is in bad shape. Two of the three original connectors have broken off and the wiring is brittle. For Christmas, I received a new underhood wiring harness.

The piece is nicely constructed but the reproduction does not look identical to the original. The wiring colors are the same with the exception of the wire for the oil pressure sender. The oil pressure connector is also a different style.

I've posted a question about the original harness on a website visited by MCA judges. Hopefully I can get a few answers to post about why this one is different than the original.

Air Cleaner Stickers

The original air cleaner box for my Mustang is in the garage but is missing the snorkle. The piece is a sealed circular box with a single openning for air. It keeps the engine a little quieter but limits air flow. Since it is not complete and is somewhat limiting, I decided to go non-stock on its replacement.

I purchased a concours style air cleaner and filter for the car several months ago. In previous pictures, the air cleaner is visible with the standard 289 High Performance sticker. This is how the air cleaner appeared on 289 HiPo Mustangs.

The new stickers I'm using were selected as they identical to those on a '67 Shelby GT350. I like them as I remember these from the Shelby owned by my friends father. Additionally, they are not commonly used unlike the previous sytle which is used by everyone. These cost just a few dollars and make the engine a little different than the rest.

Shock Tower Brace

Little progress has been made on the Mustang in the past week. I've been preparing for the holidays and enjoying the warmth of the house after a recent cold front.

I received a Drake Scott export brace for the Mustang from my in-laws for Christmas. My Mustang originally came with a straight brace connecting each shock tower to the firewall. The export brace is a single piece attaching in the same manner. The use of a single piece makes the chassis of the vehicle a little stiffer.

The piece is called an export brace because it was originally installed on vehicles exported out of the US. I'm told the brace was used as road conditions in other countries required a stiffer suspension. The piece was then added to the GT350 and GT500 by Shelby.

I'm very impressed with the quality of this export brace. The piece is easily two or three times as thick as the metal used on the original braces. There are also deeper concours to the brace which should reduce any twisting.

In my opinion this piece is integral to the chassis strength. The upper control arm mounts about one foot up the shock tower. The support for the shock tower is basically the structure provided by the square created by the radiator support, firewall, and inner fenderwells. This metal is not very thick and no doubt flexes under load. This new brace will provide the missing support at the top of the shock towers.

Original Braces:


New Export Brace:


Thickness Comparison:

Radio Suppressor Restoration

If you recall, I media blasted the radio suppressor a little over a week ago. I primered the piece a few days after returning from visiting my parents. I then painted the piece with the same Duplicolor Slate Gray (T154) which I used on the washer nozzles.

The piece is original to the vehicle and contains the following on the end opposite the wire:
C6OA-18832-A Autolite 848

I'm told the suppressor was used to stop the spark plugs from interfering with the radio. New spark plugs have the suppressor built in so the piece is actually no longer needed. However, since it was original to the car and I figured I would reinstall the piece. It is mounted above the voltage regulator on the inner drivers side of the radiator support.

Underhood Welding (Part 1)

A family friend named Danny agreed to come by today and helpme weld some holes in the engine compartment. The holes were made by the previous owner. They were made to mount a radiator overflow tank, vacuum canister, car alarm siren, and other items long since removed. There were a total of 16 holes which I had cleaned and preped for his arrival.

I'm new to welding and have never actually been around anyone welding before. I've seen it done on TV but we all know how much they omit. The welding went very quickly. The more time consuming part was sanding down the welds with a grinder loaded with 24-36 grit paper.

I'll need to clean up the welds a little further before primer. I also need to create a patch panel for under the battery. Once this piece is ready, Danny said he would come by and help me weld it in.

Fan Spacer Restoration

The fan spacer for the Mustang is very scratched up and dirty. I looked through a few parts catalogs to price a replacement but found original style fan spacers are not sold. There are aftermarket pieces which look nice but cost $16-$20. To find an original, I'd need to shop on eBay.

While looking over mine last night, I noticed it was solid aluminum. The piece almost has a brushed look to the metal. I cleaned the piece with Fantastic cleaner and then used very fine steel wool to clean up the deeper scratches and marks. Since I scrubed in the direction of the original brushed marks, it did not change the appearance of the piece.

I would have liked to polish the piece off with some aluminum wheel cleaner but I do not have any. Instead, I put a polishing wheel on my Dremel and sprayed W-40 on it. This worked very well to clean the last bits of dirt off and polished the piece up well. While it is not perfect, I think it will work out fine.

The original style is the same from '65-'67. They do not have complete part numbers but normally have a abbreviated engineering number on the part which protrudes through the fan. The actual part numbers of the pieces used in '67 are:
67 w/o AC - 3.15" C5OZ-8546-A (normally marked with C5OE-A)
67 w/AC - 2.18" C6OZ-8546-B (normally no marking)
67 with/without thermactor C4AZ-8546-B (normally no marking)


Before:

After:

Cleaning Small Windshield Washer Parts

I media blasted the parts of the windshield washer system yesterday. I took the parts off shortly after buying the car because the windshield washer system did not work. I packed them up but with all the parts I've taken off don't want them to get lost. Since I'll be installing a new windshield washer system when the engine bay is finished and want them ready for installation.

The pieces were covered with black, red, and blue paint from the various times the part/car have been repainted. These parts were originally zinc plated. I primered them and painted them with a Duplicolor Slate Gray (T154). The color was nice with a little metallic flake in it. While not perfect it will work really well.

The 'T' for the washer lines is not original. Originally, a plastic splitter was used. It was mounted to the cowl on the drivers side with a small screw. The lines then ran along the cowl outside of the engine bay weather stripping. I already have the replacement lines and the correct 'T' so I will use them when the time to reinstall arrives.

Blasted installed parts:

Freshly Painted:

Fan, Coil Bracket, and Pulley Restoration

This weekend I visited family and took advantage of the opportunity to use my Dad's media blasting cabinet. I media blasted the fan, coil bracket, water pump pulley, crank pulley, radio suppressor, and the windshield washer sprayers. It was a very productive day.

The water pump has the number C5AE-8509-B on the side of the pulley. The crank pulley has the number C5AE-E very lightly stamped on the inside of the pulley. I confirmed through a few concours judges that these are the original pulleys for my Mustang. These were originally painted semi-flat black (duplicated by Kryon 1613) and mounted with zinc coated bolts.

The coil bracket is the original and was also painted semi-flat black. The bolt used to mount the coil bracket was normally finished in phosphate and oil. I've not seen the design on the head of the coil bolt before. I would buy a new one but everytime I buy one which is marked as the original style, I receive a bolt with SEMS marking on the head.

The fan on the Mustang is not original but I cleaned it up and will use it again anyway. Many complain of problems with classic Mustangs is overheating. My Mustang would have originally come with a 4 blade fan and this is a 6 blade fan. I would hate to swap it out for an original only to find the engine then overheats. The fan looks very similar to the factory fan because of the design and use of rivets to hold on the blades.

Rust Under the Battery Tray

While removing the front sheet metal from the front of the Mustang, I found 16 small holes which needed to be filled and two small areas of rust.

One of those areas is under the battery tray. I've already purchased a replacement panel which I plan to cut a small section out of to just replace the rusted area. I do not want to replace the entire panel as it is more work and there is a VIN stamping at the top of the original panel I would like to keep.

Tonight, I cut out the old rusted section of the battery apron. It was my first attempt at this type metal work. The difficult part is cuting a replacement section from the new piece of metal without destroying the piece!