stangs-R-me

The Automatic console shift plate will "fit" a stick car but not vise versa. Finding a good used M/T shift plate for reasonable $$ back in the 80's was impossible so I improvised using a nice original A/T one and a non-console "chrome boot retainer" under it. It looked ok and no one ever noticed that this set-up was not correct. The chrome boot retainer is key though since the M/T boot is not actually "centered" in the console like the A/T shifter housing. The boot retainer hides the base of the boot & screws making it look finished in the opening. I finally bought a Scott Drake repro deluxe M/T bezel a few years back and now my console is back to being correct ... it definitely looks a lot better this way. Current prices on CJP: M/T vs. A/T shift plate cost difference is $32 or $36 (deluxe or std) Add the Shift Boot Retainer to the A/T shift plate cost (CJP MSBR3 @ $17.32) and the savings drops to less than $20 making it a no-brainer decision. Doug

I've also seen quite a few original 1969 Cougar's over the years bwith the plain "flat" lid ... including an all original convertible parts car I bought back in the mid-80's. It was a base model, so maybe the 3-hump lid was for the upscale XR7 model. Doug

Seat belt holders were on ALL 1969 Consoles, standard and deluxe. As fvike also stated, I've seen quite a few original '70 Consoles without the button ... maybe this button was added mid-year. I grabbed one out of an all original junk '70 Coupe in the early 80's. Doug

Just to clarify ... Those "SPEED NUTS" are what hold down the black/chrome shifter bezel panel to the upper console trim panel; not the woodgrain panel itself. The heat staking pins hold the woodgrain trim panel (on deluxe interior cars only) to the black/chrome shifter bezel. .................................... When I replaced my shifter bezel with a Scott Drake re-pop, I re-used my woodgrain panel as it was in really nice shape (both chrome & woodgrain). All the heat staked pins had let go though years ago, so I just glued it down to the new bezel with Automotive "GOOP". It was slightly warped, so I had to put some weight on it until the Goop cured fully. This warpage likely aided in the original heat stake pins failure. Doug

In my picture album, I have a few pics of the "factory Ford switch" as used on the Hurst shifter that Ford put in all 1970 4-Speed Mustangs. This pic shows it pretty good ... http://www.1969stang.com/gallery/stangs-R-me-Deluxe-GT-Hardtop/Hurst_T_L_1 ... there are others pics with other angles too (pics between 43-47). This Ford/Hurst shifter is based on a aftermarket Competition Plus, but has a few differences. I'm pretty sure the B-U switch mounts different on the aftermarket C-P, but not sure how. If the back plate of your shifter has an extended tab & round hole at the base in line with the reverse lever like mine, then you've got the OE style shifter and you need to get an OE style switch. If you don't have this extened tab, find the P/N off the shifter and ask Hurst if the correct switch is still available. Doug

If the back side of the area that needs to be repaired is open, then fiberglass resin & matting will repair / reinforce it nicely. Years ago I had a console out of a '70 that was all broken from a wreck and fixed it / made it usable this way. Doug

Installed a new line set on mine last summer. If you have the original long & round type "rear brake proportioning valve" you should not need to "bend" anything. In my case I did NOT have the original style prop-valve, I instead used an O.E. Ford replacement proportioning valve (aluminum block type, also now NLA) which came with different pre-bent lines. To complicate things, I also installed a Kelsey Hayes adjustable valve which I put in series with the other one. Using both sets of proportioning valve lines and one fm-fm inline connector I lucked out and was able to tweek these 4 lines and not cut/re-flare anything. Doug

Here is the diagram from the Ford Manual. Not the best as I scanned it in from the the old diagram book that I have, but I think you can see it plainly enough. Front to rear on top: Rear Master Cyl (front brakes) Switch Front Master Cyl (rear brakes) Proportioning Valve Outlet Forward facing port: Left Front Brake Front to rear on bottom: Right Front Brake Proportionging valve inlet Rear Brakes Here is a link to rebuilding it and the proportioning valve: https://www.musclecarresearch.com/valve-rebuild-wagner ... they sell the rebuild kit for doing this as well (highly recommend). Doug

Good eye ... it is ... my car is a Hardtop and you could not get the deluxe wodgrain dash in a Hardtop from the factory unless it was a Grande'. I thought the interior looked silly with the woodgrain door panels but plain dash, so I swapped it out. These map lights were not very common, so I just made a simple adapter from a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum so the longer body std. map light would fit the deluxe dash. I've now have a deluxe map light, just have never changed it out mainly because it is not in as good of shape as the one I've got. Doug

Your other option would be to up-grade to a pair of O.E. Racing Mirrors since they are being reproduced. You would need to add three threaded inserts to the doors (driver side uses the same forward one, so you just need to mark and drill for the rear one if the front insert is still good) ... and ... you would obviously need to paint them. Racing Mirrors are obviously more work, but I'd guess a perfect original factory remote chrome mirror or re-chroming yours could end up costing MORE and I think everyone will agree that a pair of body color racing mirrors look SO much better on these cars. Doug

As "Sellers" stated above, the instrument cluster must be mounted to the lower dash 1st. There are actually FOUR screws hidden by the dash pad though, the upper two and one on each side. However the passenger side panel has 2 screws that mount it to the back side of the dash pad (one on either side) so it should be mounted to the pad and then it & pad are installed as one unit. Many passenger side panels are missing the mounting ears for these 2 hidden screws (broken off when someone removed the dash pad previously not realizing it comes off WITH the pad) so if this is the case with yours, then you can actually mount it to the lower dash first if you want. You can see the one passenger side panel inner mounting ear and screw real good in the pic below. It is more common to see these ears broken off on Deluxe panels since they were made of a stiffer / more brittle plastic than the std. interior plain black panels. Doug

Here are two pics: Lower dash showing all the clock / map light related wires Far left in front of round A/C duct port is the wire from the glove box door switch. Right is the double M/FM connector and single FM connector. Only cars with map light will have the gb door switch, but ALL '69 Mustangs (deluxe or not) will have the other two plugs in the main harness. 2nd pic shows the wiring at the clock & map light ... single wire to GB Door Switch is somewhere on the right ... but you can clearly see the 3-pin (2 Male/1 FM) plug that goes to the M/FM & single FM plugs in your dash harnesss. I believe the clock harness is the same for both with & w/o map light, the 2 pin M/FM plug going to the green/yellow & black wire map light harness is just not plugged into anything if you don't have the map light. My clock harness looks a little different as it has an added fuse for the quartz conv clock (fuse holder is taped to the factory plug that would normally plug directly into the clock). Hope this helps, Doug

YES ... that appears to be an OE correct Chrome Remote Mirror. Don't think if it is being reproduced though. Doug

Yes the 1969 back bracket and the chrome control bezel are the same for std. & deluxe door panels. You could get either a chrome head remote mirror or the racing mirrors on all base Mustang models, either from the factory or dealer installed ... the O.E. std. door panels had a perferated area in the masonite backing that you cut out for the mirror control bezel. I would assume the aftermarket panels have this perferated cut-out area as well. Doug

There is one little flat head phillips screw behind the window outer belt line w/s that holds the little boomerang trim on a Hardtop. Doug

I've got all O.E. lines on my 351W 4BBL AC Car. Take a look in my gallery, not sure if the angle your looking for is there ... let me know and I can take other pics if needed. http://www.1969stang.com/gallery/stangs-R-me-Deluxe-GT-Hardtop Doug

With WHAT engine ??

The money spent on all NEW pre-bent lines is well spent. I messed around with old lines and some new auto parts store lines back in the 80's on my car as well as many other cars but only because that was the only choice back then. I have a decent bender, double flaring tool as well as the skills to do things right ... but it was still a pretty cobbled job compared to getting a complete new line kit which I FINALLY did and installed last summer. The main thing about factory lines is there are a few different sized threaded nuts on the various lines even though the tubing is all the same ... the ones you get from the auto parts store have just one size threaded nut. So you either need to get reducers or you need to re-use the old nuts. A lot of times these nuts are either rusted right onto the tube, have hexes rounded out from removal, or both. Reducers have their limitations too as some lines have tight bends right after the nut, so there is no room for a reducer. New pre-bent lines: The only two benefits of spending the extra cash for Stainless Steel lines is they don't corrode and they are harder so they don't expand like mild steel lines supposedly do when brake pressure is applied ... what you end up with is slightly better brake feel / performance. However since SS is harder, it is much more difficult to flare properly without splitting and if you need to tweak a line they don't bend too easily either. The mild steel lines are galvanized and the nuts are plated, so if your car is a fair weather car that may see some occasional rain you will likely never see any corrosion on these lines either. Unless your building a race car or you plan on driving it through the winter months, the is absolutely nothing wrong with mild steel lines. Now if you are going with any aftermarket disc brake parts (distribution block, proportioning valve, etc.) the complete pre-bent line kit may need some modifying to adapt to these aftermarket parts. Reason I say this is the '69 specific distribution block and proportioning valve are NOT BEING REPRODUCED. If you have a decent original dist block & prop valve they should be re-built prior to installation ... rebuild kits are available from http://www.musclecarresearch.com/ Good luck !! Doug

Yep, that does belong on a '69 Stang ... it screws on as shown in the pic, then grab the top edge and curl it down behind the bumper, guarding the LP lamp assemby from spilled gas. Doug

The facts books are ... BKF0 (64) thru BKF9 (73) at CJ Pony or MP291 (64) FB01 (65) thru FB09b (73 at Mustangs Unlimited Could no longer find the "Recognition Guide" at CJP ... appears that California Mustang bought the rights to it and may be the only source ... their p/n L69. Doug

Probably ran out of the Mach seats on the assembly line and substituted in the plain black Shelby / std. Mustang CW high backs instead. I thought the "Silver" (or Gray) stripe was used only in 1970 ... according to the CJP catalog ... 1969 Mach 1 / 1969/70 Shelby: Blk/Blk stripe Blk/Red Dk Red/Red White/Red White/White 1970 Mach 1: Blk/Blk stripe Blk/Gray White/Gray White/White Blue/Blue Ginger/Ginger Vermilion/Vermilion The Mustangs Unlimited catalog listed the same basic combos. Can't take this as gospel though, as the upholstery suppliers may be offering combos not originally available due to customer demand. Edit ... just thought of this ... maybe the seat stripe color was dependant an exterior color. You could get the BLACK interior with ALL exterior colors and WHITE interior with ALL but Pastel Gray ... the RED seat stripe (and carpet inserts) may have clashed with certain exterior colors so Ford built Mach 1's with the plain Black or White seats (and maybe plain black carpet too) with certain exterior colors. Doug

Right out of the "Illustrated Facts Book" ... "The interior of the Mach 1 is accented by all new high-back bucket seats with "Comfortweave" knitted vinyl inserts, a deluxe 3-spoke "Rim Blow" steering wheel, special carpeting with a red accent stripe on black interior trims, ..." So the way this is written, it sounds like the RED carpet inserts may have only been used on black interiors as well. The "Recognition Guide" however states ... * "High back bucket seats - with "Comfortweave" knitted vinyl inserts and RED trim across the top of the insert on the seat back. and * Special carpet - with RED sewn-in floor mats, front and rear." The Recognition Guide is a very informative and usefull book, but the Dealer Illustrated Facts Book is probably the more factual of the two. Doug

Put a 1 pc. brown leather wheelskins cover on it and call it a day. Personally, I can no longer enjoy driving a car with a hard plastic wheel ... especially one with 16:1 Manual Steering. I've been running leather wraps on mine since the mid-80's when no one was doing restorations on them. Rim-blow switch works just like normal, however a new switch is best as old & wore out one can be overly sensitive to pressure. Check it out in my gallery ... http://www.1969stang.com/gallery/stangs-R-me-Deluxe-GT-Hardtop Doug

You guys could be right ... white interior Mach 1's are not all that common, and I can't remember the last time I actually saw one. I appologize for jumping the gun on this, but I was 99% sure this was correct ... however I was not at home at the time to look & verify in my archive of 1969 facts & literature !! I'll look tonight. Doug

If the car is actually a "Mach 1" then it SHOULD have the red seat stripes & carpet inserts. If the car is not a "Mach 1" but has the Deluxe Hi-Back Comfort Weave seats (Mach 1 type upholstery) it SHOULD NOT have the red accents ... example: 69-70 Shelby had no red stripes on seats or the red mats, just solid black or white seats and black carpet. Doug