Rear Brake Adjustment & Gas Gauge

When I replaced the rear brakes, I set the shoes so they did not contact the drum. I then drove around the block some and found a road without houses. I drove backwards and applied the brakes a few times as I was always told this sets the adjusters to the appropriate clearance between the shoes and drums.

I posted on the Vintage Mustang Forum a few days ago about my brake pedal feel. I always assumed the brake pedal would firm up once I replaced the rear brakes. However, it did not really make any difference. I did not have much pedal feel for the first half of the movement but could still lock up all the brakes with little effort.

The responses I received stated I needed to set the shoe/drum clearance so they slightly drag. I did this yesterday morning and then took the Mustang for a drive. This made a big difference and the brake pedal now has the firm feel I expected.

Today I worked on the gas gauge a little more. It has never been correct but I've ruled out all the components leaving the need to adjust the sending unit. I worked on it for about three hours this afternoon. My current setup shows 1/8 tank when there about 4 gallons of fuel. It shows 1/4 tank with 6 gallons. I filled up the rest of the way and it now goes way beyond full. I guess it is better than before when it showed 1/2 full and then dropped to empty when the tank was still half full.

Ordered a Weiand Stealth Intake

I ordered a Weiand Stealth intake today from Summit. The intake was $159.95. I applied the $98 from the sale of my original intake to the purchase. I also had $40 in discounts built up from two previous purchases with Summit. This dropped the price to about $19.95 (in my mind at least).

I ordered a new Miloden thermostat, Fel-Pro gaskets, and ARP bolts for the intake. I sold a few other things on eBay this past week which more than offset the entire purchase. The intake should arrive early next week.

I've included a picture of the intake below.

Brake Pedal Squeak

My brake pedal squeaks when I press it. I'm not sure why but decided I would find out tonight.

I was under the dash applying the brake and could not really place the sound. I knew it was not from the master cylinder which is good. I decided I would take off the brake light switch to see if it would help. If not, I would just keep going until I found the culprit. Fortunately, it was the brake light switch.

I depressed the switch while off the car but it did not squeak. I covered it with a little WD-40 but suspected it would just all evaporate and the problem would resurface. I decided to use something a little thicker. I had a small tube of disc brake lubricant which I put on it. I was going to just through it away but it is slippery and stays in place. I put the switch back on and the squeak was gone.

Tightening Shifter Bolts

When I drive down the road, the shifter rattles. I know it is attached with two bolts. I was concerned they were loose so I pulled up the sill plates, kick panels, and carpet to tighten the bolts.

Once I had everything apart, I noticed the bolts were tight. I took the shifter out and found it is because the trunions on each side are badly worn. A rebuild set is about $20. Since I've been considering a T5 transmission and it would cost another $10 to get the parts here, I put it back together.

I made up some insulators from thick vacuum hose. The bolts which mount the shifter side through them. They did not make much difference but they were better than what was left of the originals.

I've made some progress this week with a few small projects. After thinking about performance parts so much lately, I drove around the block last week. I noticed several small things not right with the car and found I was moving away from the goal with my thoughts of performance. I'm working to take care of these things so the car will run as it should.

Deciding on a 4v Intake Manifold

Three weeks after buying the Mustang, I found a stock 4v intake on eBay. I was interested in keeping everything stock but did want the performance of a 4 barrel carburetor. This particular intake was also date coded to match my motor. I decided to go ahead and buy the intake at a final price of 68.51 (and $40 shipping).

I cleaned the intake up a couple of weeks ago after buying the Holley carburetor. I used stripper on the top to take off all the old paint and the engine decreaser to clean it the rest of the way. I then painted it with the Krylon paint I have from NPD.

The intake looks really nice. The more I read about intakes, the more it seemed the stock one was very restrictive. Since my car does not come with a 4v intake or a Holley carburetor, I questioned if it mattered if I used a different intake.

I found a Weiand Stealth intake which looks nice. It does not have many casting marks and I think they would all be covered by the distributor and carburetor. If I painted it blue, I'm not sure most would notice it is not the stock intake. However, I would not really want to take a loss on the intake I already purchased.

I decided to list my intake on eBay for $89.85 with a buy it now price of $99.95. I figured if someone bid $89.95, they would convince themselves to just buy it then and I would break even. The auction ended today and it sold for $89.95 with $40 for shipping. If I can ship it reasonable, I should get close enough to breaking even.

I took several pictures of the stock intake today, measured a runner, and weighed the intake. The intake weighs 38 lbs which is a lot. The runners are 29/32" wide and 1.75" tall. I took several pictures of the height to compare to the Weiand. It is difficult to say the exact height without it installed but the carb flange is about 2" above the top of the surface which mounts to the head.

The Weiand should be a little taller and should weight about 20 lbs less. The ports on the Wieand are 1.02" wide by 1.83 tall. They are rated to work well from idle to 6800 RPM.

Cleaning A/C Components

I had a little time today to work on the Mustang. I decided to get a couple of A/C parts from the attic to start work on them.

The first piece I pulled was the center A/C duct. This directs air from the blower through the center vent and to the two side vents. It has a vacuum operated flap which is used to change the flow of air from the front vents to the defroster vents.

Replacement air ducts for the two side vents are available. I don't see replacement duct tube for the rectangle shaped piece which extends to the center vent. I'll check a Mustang forum to see if someone has a source for this piece before removing it as it is stapled to the plastic duct.

I tested this piece by starting the Mustang and connecting it to a vacuum source. It works properly but looks rough. I'll also post about a way to clean this up and possible treat the rubber inside to make sure it lasts a while.

Engine Compression Test Results

I ran a few tests on my motor this evening. The results seem pretty good but I'm not an expert. I posted them on two different internet forums to get a few additional opinions.

Oil Pressure:
At idle (~600RMM), my oil pressure is 40psi when the motor is cold. It drops to 20psi after the engine is fully warmed up. I held it at 2000RPM in neutral and the oil pressure was 40psi.

Vacuum:
My engine vacuum is 17 at idle (~600RPM). It stays about that amount from 8 to 16 degrees advance (based on 40 year old harmonic balancer markings.

Engine Compression:
Let me first detail how I tested compression. I warmed the engine, blocked the fuel line, disconnected the coil, held the thottle wide open, and then had my wife crank the motor over.

The psi continually rose with each crank so I was not sure when to have her stop. I measured it at what looked to be the 6th compression stroke and on the 8th compression stroke. I stopped on the 6th cause it seemed to be enough cranking (in my mind) and at 8 because that was about the max for each.

The results are:
1 - 143 @ 6 / 152 @ 8
2 - 150 @ 6 / 160 @ 8
3 - 145 @ 6 / 150 @ 8
4 - 150 @ 6 / 155 @ 8
5 - 150 @ 6 / 160 @ 8
6 - 150 @ 6 / 160 @ 8
7 - 148 @ 6 / 160 @ 8
8 - 142 @ 6 / 152 @ 8

The shop manual states compression should be between 130 and 170 for a 289. Based on my math, the biggest variance is only 7% which is under the recommended number of 20%.

Spark Plug Appearance (@600 miles)




A little background is I purchased the car 1.5 years ago and have put 1000 miles on it. I've not had any trouble but I've occassionally seen a hint of blue smoke if I start it and then rev it a little before it is completely warm.

When I purchased it, I was told by the 25 year old owner that it was rebuilt before he purchased it from his girlfriends dad. He said the motor was rebuilt 8 years prior. When I asked for mileage since rebuild, he said 160,000. However, he told me he drove the car on weekends only, it had not been inspected in a year, and the odometer read 70,000.

I'm skeptical on the history of the motor but would like to make sure it is ok to work with it as is. I don't have much money but would like to add a 4 barrel intake and a few other parts to make the car a little more fun. If the motor is not up to the task, I'll save the money and just have the motor rebuilt in a year or two.

Performance Test II

I drove around alittle tonight and decided to run another 1/4 mile. I tried to stop the tire from spinning but ended up just slowing myself down. I ended up running a 17.5.

The same thing occurred with the top speed. I ran to 85 and it stopped short which might also play a role in the 17.5. I tried a second run and went to 80 but it only registered a top speed of around 69. I'll need to ask someone to follow me around a little tomorrow to make sure the speedometer is correct. I replaced the gear with the appropriate size but maybe the speedo itself is off.

I spent a little time cleaning up the stock 4v intake today. I can't help but think I should get some aftermarket piece and be done with it. However, I already have the stock one so I could easily install it without any trouble. Decisions, decisions.

EDIT: I tested the speedometer today with my wife following me in my truck. At 30, the speedometer is about 2 MPH high (28 MPH). When going 70, she was only going 65. Seems the speedometer gear I purchased is not exactly the right one.

Driving Again & Performance Test

I drove the Mustang around tonight to make sure the rattle sound from the rear hubcap was fixed. The sound does seem to be fixed which is good.

I drove around the neighborhood some and then drove on the highway. What I thought was road noise must have been the rear wheel bearing as it is much quieter at highway speeds.

I had the new G-Timer in the Mustang so I decided I would try a quick 1/4 mile run. I spun my tire (no posi) quite a bit when I took off. I shifted at 4,500 RPM. The timer is suppose to flash when it completes a 1/4 mile. I hit 90 and then started to slow down and after slowing down, it flashed and said my top speed was 80. Not sure why that would be but these are the numbers it recorded:
1/4 Speed - 80.4 MPH
1/4 Time - 17.00 Sec

1/8 Speed - 65.6 MPH
1/8 Time - 10.9 Sec

60' - 2.63 Sec
0-60 - 8.93 Sec

I'll try again another time before replacing the carb. I think the wheel spin likely impacted my time. I'm not sure the carb will help much without rear gears to keep the RPM high but we will see.

Rear Brakes & Bearing Replacement Complete

Today I finished up repairing the rear brakes and bearings. Since I had already painted everything, it was not a very difficult job. However, it has been over 100 degrees for the past 10 days so it was not relaxing my any means.

I stripped the rear axle flange and about 1" inward. This cleaned up the mounting points. This also gives me a little more flexibility when the time comes to strip and repaint the entire axle. I can leave the brakes installed and bag off the ends of the axle if I want.

I purchased brake shoes, cylinders, drums, deluxe hardware kit, and gaskets to finish off the rear axle job. I was pleased with the parts as they are all by Wagner. However, the deluxe hardware kit was missing a spring for a bar which presses out on the pads and the cylinders did not come with the push rods.

After I installed everything, I took the car for a drive around the block. There was previously a chirp or squeak type noise with each rotation of the passenger tire. As I drove, I could here a tick type noise from the same side. Once I made it home, I found the GT emblem on the hubcap was loose. I fixed that but have not taken it out for a drive to confirm it was the source.

I'll likely wait to install the carburetor for a couple of weeks. I've been really busy and want to have the car together for a while. It is so hot I don't know that I will drive it but I don't want a another project waiting on me when I get home from work.

I'll test out the car with the G-Timer in the next few days. I plan to make a spreadsheet to track all the items I change and the results on the G-Timer. I'm not sure if it will be worth the effort but it will be nice to actually see the improvements made.

I really wish I could have done the first run before I switched to synthetic oil, changed to an open element filter, rebuilt the carb, and set the timing. These things seemed to make a difference in performance but I can substatiate it with numbers.

Rear Brakes & General Update

I've received the G-Tuner and Holley carburetor. I tried out the G-Tuner in my Accord just to see how it works (recorded an amazing 17.85 quarter mile). I plan to use it in the Mustang before installing the carburetor. I can then use it again afterwards to keep track of improvements.

I've took out the rear axles a few weeks ago to replace the wheel bearings. To complete the project, I needed to order gaskets for the axles. I ordered them from NPD and decided to go ahead and buy parts for the rear brakes as the shipping would not change.

My plan is to replace the rear brakes and bearings at the same time. I would like to remove the rear axle and restore the entire axle. However, I believe it would begin to landslide and I don't have the money for a gear change and trac-lok. I'll stop at the brakes and then just install the carburetor next.

Today, I cleaned the axles and brake backing plates. I painted them with Rustoleum 7776 which is a flat black color. The backing plates were covered in grease, dirt, and brake fluid. They took a while to clean up. The paint takes a while to dry so I'll either install everything tomorrow or over a few nights next week. I'll post pictures of everything then as well.