CarZombie

Did you remove the seat the last time? If not, you might find that helps. As I have gotten older, I have developed a slightly claustrophobia condition. Had an MRI a few years ago, and really had to play mind games to get through it, that was when I realized it had started. When I had to replace a couple of small rubber pads that control the on/off of the brake light and cruise control on a 1999 Nissan Altma, I had to take the front seat out, otherwise I was too close to the lower dash and the claustrophobia kicked in. More work, but you can lay flat, more or less.

Thanks, RPM and aslanefe. I have updated the Distributor, but can not recall the name right now. As for the power steering, over the time I have owned the car, I have rebuilt or had the steering redone multiple times. It always ends up leading. What can I say, I don't like the Ford power steering system. I have replaced the headlight switch and it did not help, but that was a while ago. I really think it is something in the wiring, or the connections, but I appreciated the suggestion. The head lights are original style. The rust is my main concern, if you happen to see, or can recall the name of the shop in Warner Robins, it would be appreciated. I am very much afraid, that if I have the car taken down for the metal work that I think it needs, even just the quarter panels and possible the floor, the cost will spiral out of control, but if I don't with in 2 years of so, I am going to have holes in the car. The uncertainty over what I can afford to do and the uncertainty over the possible problems from giving the car to a stranger to work on really bum me out. I have heard some real horror stories about what some shops do to folks on restorations. Any one else who read this thread, any suggestion or referrals would be appreciated.

I own a 1970 Mustang Convertible with a 351C 4 barrel intake/heads and an FMX trans. I bought it and 1973 and I am the 2nd owner. The car was my daily driver until the late 1990's when it started having a variety of reliability problems. These problems continued into the 2000’s with carb and electrical problems being at the top of the list. In 2020, the carb needed to be rebuild, which I did myself. It ran fine for about 30 miles, then it went bad and a second rebuild was bad from the start. After that, I just got tired of dealing with the car. When I decided to take a break, I had no intention of letting the car set for 2 years. I am not a mechanic, but I am a pretty good parts changer. By this I mean, I not good at diagnosing problems, but if I know the problem, I can change the parts. In the mid-80’s I rolled the car. To get it back on the road, I stripped the car, ever thing came out of it except the electrical harness; did welding (rust repair); cleaning, repairs, and replacement of parts; and reassembly. A neighbor did final body work and painting. There is no way, I could do that work now. I don’t have the space and I don’t have the time. Here some of the advice and answers I am seeking: I am thinking I should get the car running again as this would really help in future logistics. I figure the easiest way would be to get a new carb and put it on. Any suggestion on the carb? Bu the way, I have come to hate carbs because of my problems. My best friend has had very good luck with the Holly Sniper system. I am reluctant to go that route now, because of the other problems I have. What about the two year old gas? I don’t trust it, but it is name brand (Shell gas) Run it or dump it? Any suggestion on getting rid of the gas? Dumping it in my yard is not an option. I think the tank is clean. Prior to the 2020 carb rebuilds I checked the fuel and never saw any dirt. Here are some of the other problems: The car has rust issues, I can see rust on both the lower quarter panels and both doors. I think that both quarter panels need to be replaced. From the 80’s rebuild I know the floor boards have rust (repaired with fiberglass) and there was internal rust in the rocker panels. There are electrical problems such as, headlights will cut out after about 20 minutes of run time; various gauges don’t work; trunk light does not work; and other problems. I think the wiring harness needs replacement and instrument clusters may need repair. I hate the Ford power steering system. It has always leaked and I think the steering box needs replacement or rebuild. Would love to have that replaced with more modern steering. However my car knowledge is stuck in the 80’s. After that rebuild, I drifted away from the car mags and the car culture. I don’t even know the names of the various current engines and transmission, or even the type of engine/trans in my 2018 Edge. It is a 6 cylinder. I would like to have a restoration shop take care of these problems. Here is an advice question, should I try to have everything done at once or do say, the wiring issues first and then move to other stuff? My thought is to properly take care of the rust, the car would need to be stripped and blasted and that would be the time to do the wiring and front end work. Can any one recommend a good restoration shop? Any tips on what to look for in a restoration shop? I live in the Brunswick, Ga area. It is about 6o miles north of Jacksonville, Fl and about 90 miles south of Savannah, GA. I am not limiting myself to this area, I would ship the car if I had to do that, but I sure would like to visit the car while it is in the shop. The final and biggest question and advice area, MONEY! I have no idea of the budget for just the problems I have outlined. Any one paid for work like this? I know we are talking a lot of man hours to strip, blast, and weld in new sheet metal. While on vacation in Sarasota, Fl, I spoke to a guy who owned a classic car restoration shop and he said my Mustang, as I described it would be worth about 16K and if It was fixed up and 32K. Does this sound right? On a brighter note, the power train and interior of my Mustang are all in good shape. I look at this post as the first step and I appreciate any help or advice the members of this forum can give

Here is a link to a thread on this problem, which also contains a link to a thread I started. A little bit of a synopsis of the threads. Low battery can cause turn signal problems. Dirty connector in the fuse box will cause problems. Bad bulb can cause problems. Poor grounds will case problems. I have had all of them both together and separate. . So I would suggest, charge the battery, clean the clips which hold the turn signal fuse in place and check your grounds. I hope this helps. Please let us know what fixes the problem. Electrical problems are the worst and we are dealing with 50 year old wires and connectors. My apologizes if you have already reviewed these threads.

Just wanted to let every one know that I installed the carb on my Mustang about two weeks ago. It fired right up on fast idle. Once warm I adjusted the idle screws to get a smooth idle and drove it. No problems. Easy. I want to thank Daytona Parts Company for the carb kit and more importantly Tim at Daytona Parts for all the tech help he provided to me before and during the rebuild process. I also want to mention that I used a new float in this rebuild from Mike's Carburetor Parts. Never had to call them, but the float fit right and seems to be working. Hopefully it will end the problem I had with the old float taking on gas and screwing up the float level. I have no interest in these business just hope that some one, some day finds this thread helpful.

barnett468 and Vicfreg, thanks for the replies. barnett468 was correct, the ball went where I was pointing. The folks that sold me the carb rebuild kit, called me and confirmed this. Sorry for the slow reply. Just my luck, I put the crab back together and found that I let the throttle auxiliary lever get out of position so it would correctly interact with the throttle stop lever and other parts of the choke linkage. I had to pull the throttle body off the main body and one of the thread holes in the main body stripped. So now I have to do a thread repair before I can see if my rebuild went well.

I am rebuilding my 4300 DOOF-AD carb for a 1970 Mustang with 351C, 4 barrel heads, AC and Automatic trans. As I was taking the carb apart a small ball dropped out of the main body. I am using a Dayton Parts rebuild kit and neither their exploded view/parts list, nor my shop manual's exploded view, shows this ball. However, the ball is in the Dayton Parts kit. I have an email on this question to them, but I am hoping for an answer this weekend, so I can get the rebuild finished and on the car. It is NOT the accelerating pump inlet ball check (that's straight out of the Ford shop manual). The picture labeled Pic 2 questioned ball shows the ball in question. I believe it goes into an orifice next to the orifice that the accelerator pump discharge valve goes into. The photo labeled Picture 3 show a wooden pointer pointing to were I think this ball goes. The photo labeled Picture 3 is an overview of the top of the main body. If anyone can confirm my thoughts or give me more information on proper placement of this ball, I would appreciate it. PS. Sorry about the picture label mix-up.

Mike's Carburetor parts has a repo for the float: http://www.carburetor-parts.com/Motorcraft-4300-Float_p_3527.html Found it by using Duck, Duck, Go Only found one other list for this float and it was about twice as much. Still would like answers/opinion on other two questions.

1970 with 351 Cleveland motor (4 barrel heads), AC, with a Autolite Model 4300 Carb. It was rebuilt in Mid-2014 and was working fine up to Late Dec of 2017. It was rebuilt using a Daytona Parts kit. I choose them because they specifically said there stuff was ethanol compatible. Last 3 times I tried to drive the car, in Jan/Feb 2018, It would not idle or drive worth a damn. It appears to be running way to rich. Both with choke and with out. Car was driven about 1500 miles in Dec. Annual mileage typically runs about 1200 miles a year. I know I should drive it more. Questions: 1. How long are carbs lasting between rebuild in this age of ethanol? 2. The guy who rebuilt and tuned the carb said the float was taking in gas and suggest finding a new one. Of course, I keep putting it off. Does any one know of a vendor selling floats for this carb? 3. I have used fuel stabilizers is gas power tools, but not in my car. Has anyone used them in their Mustang and did it made a difference? Thanks.

I just finished fixing problem turn signals. Hope this thread helps: http://1969stang.com/forum/index.php?/topic/54895-turn-signal-dont-work-with-headlights-on/

Post scrip to this post: I ordered a driver side front running light from Mustangs Unlimited. They call it the driver side parking light. Prior to attaching it to the car, I tested it by plugging it in and grounding it. It did not work correctly with the headlights on. Without headlights, turn signal worked, but turn on the headlights or running lights and no turn signal. Turns our the bulb shipped with the parking light was bad. I replaced it with another bulb and all lights are working correctly. Luckily I remembered how the bad bulb screwed with me when I was determining the original unit was bad. I HATE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS, but it is soooo nice to be driving my Mustang again.

Again thanks to all who replied to this thread. I am 95% sure the problem is fixed. As I said in my 30 April post, I charged the battery and then cleaned the battery terminals and grounds associated with the battery. Using the wiring diagram and an old wiring harness I had from a parts car (1970 Mustang Fastback). I found three under hood grounds and cleaned them. The first is a ground by the passenger side horn. My parts car wiring harness clearly showed this to be the original factory ground for the headlights, running lights, and turn signals. I had added a second ground, by the driver side horn, years ago, and I cleaned this also. The third under hood ground is located just to the right of the driver side engine compartment brace at the top of the firewall. I am not sure if this is an original ground , as it may have been added when I switch to electronic ignition. I don't believe it is part of the lighting system, but what the heck I was there and it was there, so it got cleaned. The final ground for the lighting system is located in the trunk and is attached to the trunk brace surrounding the gas tank fill neck. Here is where the 95% part comes in. While testing the lights, everything was working correctly, but the driver side front running light, the one under the headlight, stop working. To make a long story short, after testing, complicated by having a bad bulb, I determined the running light had gone bad. I could switch the running lights from side to side and the bad one would not work on the passenger side, but the good one would work on the driving side. I have ordered a new front running light. When I install it and everything works, then I will call it done. So, it appears the problem was a low battery, possibly dirty grounds, and a possible intermediate problem with the driver side running light which went totally bad at the end. This is why I HATE electrical problems. Once again I have learned to always check simple stuff first. Now I know to check the battery charge before diagnosing a problem. If anything changes when I install the new running light, I will let you'll know, but for now I again thank you for the help.

Thanks Mach1 D and R: The car has the stock electrical system. No LEDs, no high power headlights. I checked the battery and it was at 11.5 with the car off. I know that is low, for fun I checked at the fuse box and it was only showing 8.5. I hooked up my battery charger and switched it to the jump mod, 50 AMP, and I the turn signal worked with the headlights on. So I have the battery charging (the car had been sitting for a while). I also pulled the battery and cleaned the terminals and cables. I found the ground from the battery. I is grounded on the engine, with a cable running from the engine to the chassis. I replaced the cable grounding the chassis and cleaned each ground contact point. (the engine and chassis). I will see if this fixed anything tomorrow. Does anyone know where the ground points are for the headlights and the front running lights? The wiring diagram shows ground points for these, but not there physical location on the car. I don't know how to locate them with in the wiring harness. I would like to check and clean these points also. Thanks again.

Sorry, forgot to say the Car is a1970 convertible and both the front/back, left/right turn signals are affect (or is it effected) by this.

My turn signals work with the headlight switch off or in the parking light position, but if I turn the headlights on, the turn signals stop working (both left and right). I actually saw this happen. The headlights were on and I was testing the turn signals. As I watched, the turn signal slowed down and then stopped. They were working ok immediately before this. I did a Continuity Test on the headlight switch and it seems to be functioning correctly. Searching the past electrical problem threads tells me someone is going to suggest checking the grounds, if so please tell me where to find the ground points, and which ground points are the most important, if there is such a thing. Thanks