Back in Business: Putting my car together

Taking advantage of the nice weather and 2-week vacation, I've been working very hard to try to finish my car before winter arrives. I began with the cleaning, stripping and painting of the many chassis parts that were disassembled, some mechanicals and electricals that needed to be done. A bunch of new parts were ordered.

The fuel sending unit was not working properly, so I ordered a new one without realizing that the one I need; with the low-level sensor and three-terminal connector, is no longer produced. So I took the new one as a "donor" and removed the buoy, the filter and the gasket for installation in the old unit to be refurbished. Then I disassembled the variable resistor, cleaned and re-tensioned the moving contact, checked its operation with an ohmmeter and assembled it. Then I replaced the rubber hose, gasket and grommet. Now it works like it should.

Then I took on the automatic transmission shifter, that was wobbling all over because it was missing the shift selector bushings. It was an easy job that was completed in about one hour.

Everything was cleaned and lubed as needed:

Ah! finally a shifter column that shifts straight!

When this is done, after installation you have to raise the rear wheels and test the shifting with the engine running to make sure its shifting right; reverse, neutral and forward.

Last year I took my wife on a date to the Mt. Pocono Casino Theater for Burgers and fries (the best!) and a movie. After the show when we got back to the Mustang, it would not start. Needless to say, my pride was hurt and I was a bit embarrassed. But I isolated the problem to the alternator wiring and we got back home safely. I finally replaced it with a new unit.

While at it, I removed the battery tray, stripped it bare and repainted it:

Then I replaced the 47-year old, battered and brittle quarter window weatherstrips with new ones:

I cleaned the rails and greased the rollers. It's great to have a lot of car work to do, and the time to do it.