Steve's Ride

[Yadkin]

I'm rebuilding the tail light assemblies. My outer trim rings were a mess, all dented and "repaired" with pliers. I was looking at hours of work with little chance of actual success, since I'm a metal work dork. One of my ornaments was in good shape and polished up nicely, the other, not so much. I also found a 3" long crack in one lens and several missing screws.

For the outer trim rings I found several on ebay. There is a right and left yet the sellers don't seem to know this. I found a guy with a pair selling for $85 and offered him $25, and he took it. There was a dent in one and I after about two hours of careful hammering and filing I got it out. Now I'll get some drano, remove all of the anodizing, buff it all out to a high gloss and clear coat.

Found a bargain from another guy on ebay, a bundle that includes inner and outer trim rings, an ornament in good shape, a used lens and a NOS lens in the box. I was the only bidder and got it for $45.

My inner trim rings were in good shape. I stripped the paint off, polished the anodized, and the few nicks I filled in with some silver paint applied with a Q-tip. I masked off and painted the edges with semi-gloss black then clear coated the whole thing. They look sharp.

The screws I found, a total of ten where 16 are required, I cleaned up, acid washed and buffed. I picked the 8 best and used those to assemble the lenses to the housings, since these require a small head screw. For the other 8, holding the inner trim ring through the lens to the housing I used new stainless #8 x 3/4" screws. The heads are larger and actually work better than OEM.

[Yadkin]

What did the builder say about the driven gear?

A brass gear is meant for a competition engine only as it is sacrificial and will breakdown spreading brass particles within the engine.

A roller cam billet is harder than a flat tappet billet. That is why the gear selected is crucial. The roller cam will eat a regular dist gear.

He didn't say much. I'll run that by him. He knows my intentions with this engine: 'not a race car, 5000 rpm tops, at least 250,000 miles until we meet again'.

[Yadkin]

Here's one of the tail lights, no trim rings yet.

Phase two for this will be upgrading to sequential one-two-three. I'll buy a kit from American Muscle and adapt it to this assembly.

[KULTULZ]

My air cleaner isn't the same as either of those. The bottom one is closer, but the top is smaller than the OD of the unit. It seals against the rubber of the filter itself.

FORD tricked me... or more likely I tricked myself.

The 1964 FORD/BIRD air cleaner illustration (60/64 MPC ILL) is incorrect for the 1964 model year. The ILL is actually showing a 1965 air cleaner asm.

I jumped the gun...

[Yadkin]

I've completed the exterior lighting.

The front turn signals were a challenge since they spent over 85k miles being sand blasted by New York roads. I found a NOS for $175, only one, and he can keep it for that.

I cleaned the aluminum up using phosphoric acid, then buffing. I could not get all of the oxidation off the anodizing, but a clear coat hides most of it fairly well. The housing underneath is galvanized steel. This one had to be re-wired completely. I just lightly cleaned the lens since the other one has a hole in it and I'll order a new reproduction pair for only $12.

[Yadkin]

Here's the license plate lamp. I cleaned the steel bracket, screws, bolts and lens cap with sulfuric acid (muriatic). They cleaned up amazingly. Finish is semi-gloss engine enamel. The FoMoCo logo is clearly evident, as well as the markings on the bolt heads.

The glass lens had paint on it from a previous resto and that cleaned up easily with dilute sodium hydroxide.

This had to be completely rewired. I love shrink tape!

[Yadkin]

This is the back side of one of the back-up lights. Both had been damaged by hitting curbs or whatever. The outer trim rings and lenses could not be salvaged but repros were available. The pot metal housings were both bent and cracked and not available.

I straightened them by putting the edges in a wide jaw vise, heating them with a propane torch and then letting them cool in the straight position. I cleaned them up with degreaser and hot water and a toothbrush. I put super glue in the cracks and let that harden, then applied a thick coat of E6000 clear adhesive to both sides of the crack. If you haven't tried this stuff, it works very well. It hardens to a hard rubber-like consistency and can be painted. The inside is painted with white engine enamel.

The black duct tape covers some sharp chrome pits. I could have used the E6000 on those as well.

[simplyconnected]

I forgot to ask... How did the LEDs work out for your 3rd stop light? Got pic's? - Dave

[Yadkin]

I forgot to ask... How did the LEDs work out for your 3rd stop light? Got pic's? - Dave

My dad (retired electrical engineer) will be here next week and I wanted to finish it as a small project with him. So no, I haven't completed that yet.

[Yadkin]

Reconditioned the rear vent doors. I found new vacuum motors in a catalog for late 60's Mustangs. Cleaned up nice. The rubber is still nice and soft.

[Yadkin]

Rear seats are done.

[Ickaber]

Rear seats are done.

I just went through the thread looking for before pics of the seats, but don't see any. So what did you do to them? They look great.

[Yadkin]

Here's the rear seats "before". They were code 76 "rare" Pompeii cloth as shown here.

That link is cool because it also shows you a detail of the material, which is sort of a blue with a gold thread randomly sewn into it.

Mine were badly faded:

[Yadkin]

I'm going for what I call "Original Plus". For instance I'm installing a hydraulic roller cam with just a little bit of rumble. And I've got Sanderson headers on order and will be installing a stainless steel Magnaflo exhaust.

My new seats are 100% top grain leather. I instructed the upholsterer to use leather on all seating surfaces with vinyl trim on the sides where necessary to save money, so he bought 1-1/2 skins for the job. With all the needle work he was running short so bought another 1/2 skin and he ended up not using any vinyl at all.

[Yadkin]

Major milestone, engine back home.