Driving Again!

I installed the front bumper and valence this past Thursday evening. I then worked on the alignment a little and finished it up last night. All this work is being done so I can get the car inspected this weekend.

This morning, I checked all the supsension/steering components to ensure they were torqued appropriately. I then decided to take the car around the block. The car drove well and when the brakes were applied, it remained straight. I'll need an alignment as the caster is not enough and likely need the tires balanced as they did not seem very smooth.

After driving a little around the neighborhood streets, I decided to bed the new brakes. I took the Mustang out on a nearby highway with a speed limit of 70. Since it was only 9 o'clock the road was not very busy. I speed up to about 60 around 12 to 15 a times and hit the brakes with about 75% - 80% force. Once I was slowed to 10 mph, I went back to 60 and did it again. After this was done, I drove home trying not to touch the brakes much so they could cool down.

When I made it home, the back right rear brake was smoking a little. It has a leaky brake cylinder. It only leaks a little but over the last 10 months has likely leaked onto the drum area. Otherwise, everything seemed to work out great.

I went to the Rilynn's birthday (3yrs) and then took the Mustang for an inspection. The only problem found was the license plate light was out. They charged me $3.50 for the bulb and $14.50 for the inspection. I'm now legal!

I filled up with gas as the gas gauge indicated I only had an 1/8 of a tank. I put just under 11 gallons in but the gas gauge still shows it is only a little over half way full. I expected this to be fixed by the new CVR, ground, sending unit, and wiring but I guess not. It must be that either the sending unit needs to be bent more or a problem with the gas gauge. It can wait for now.

I've so glad to be driving again. The project started on May 21st of last year with me removing the driver fender to replace suspension components. At times, I wondered if I would ever finished and wondered why I would dedicate such time to this. Now that I am done, it seems like I should not be and all the work makes sense again.