A '70 sportsroof Grabber pack gets some love in Australia

[smh00n 87]

You piqued my interest so I went lookin':

https://terlinguaracingteam.com/pages/history

And there is a town called Terlingua - right down on the border of Texas and Mexico.

Like 6 degree's of separation to a 70 Mustang :)

[TexasEd 188]

5 hours ago, smh00n said:

You piqued my interest so I went lookin':

https://terlinguaracingteam.com/pages/history

And there is a town called Terlingua - right down on the border of Texas and Mexico.

Like 6 degree's of separation to a 70 Mustang :)

Exactly

[smh00n 87]

Part 14 - Fuel line, power steering bracket, dash and diff

As I had managed to trash the existing fuel lines when putting the box in, I bought more hard line. 25 feet of alloy 9/3/8" tube for 45 bucks. Not really wanting to run it back up the tunnel, I decided to run it down the side. The passenger side seemed the obvious, as my fuel filters were on that side. I used two filters for the Sniper, the first is a 40 micron and the second is a 10 micron, as per Holley's spec. These are made by Aeroflow, which is a brand owned by one of Australia's first top fuel drivers. I've used a bit of their stuff, mainly fittings and fuel stuff and it seems to be OK.

I didn't quite get it all but what you see is the supply line coming out of the trunk floor into the first filter, looping around to the second and then exiting stage left to the new fuel line. The hose running across the top of the lower filter is the return line.

What I realised afterwards is I should have started at the front and worked my way back, but I started at the back and went forwards. So the front pipes look a bit ugly and they are; too many bends and straightens. The radius needed to go vertical was more than most 3/8" pipe benders can handle. 

The only way I saw they would route without drama is through the torque box, so I made 2 x 3/4" holes. I wanted to protect the pipes from damage and planned to wrap them in hose (and the Borgeson return hose was just the thing to use).

Measure twice, cut once right? My first attempt didn't take into consideration my bender would not fit so out came the drill again.

I had thought initially of popping the pipes through the fender and crimping fuel hose to them, but I realised the wheel and tyre would probably hit them.

Especially as there was an original hole I could use. Turns out the grommet was as hard as rock so had been there since day dot.

I decided to use bulkhead fittings to keep the pipes tight and make them secure. Luckily Aeroflow has hard line to -6 AN fittings, so I bought two of them, and ended up like this.

I know the angle are shiite but I had bent this pipe so much I was worried it would just crack. So ugly and bad it will stay. I did feel bad drilling holes into the original body, when I chipped back the sealant it has the original paint under there (I assume it is original).

Moving on back, I ran the pipes along the sill join, tucked them up with the floor transition and up around the iner wheel arch and dropped them under the centre of the rail.

I had some P clips I used but then found that Aeroflow have pressed twin line clamps that look pretty neat, so I bought some. At 8 bucks each I'm not going to use them everywhere but

They are supplied with soft self tapping screws which strip when used on decent gauge steel, so I put rivnuts in with stainless button head screws. A little bot of new hose and the fuel line is done. I have to cut new hose to the carb once I put that back on and then fix them to the new line with -6 fittings. I'll also wrap them in heat sleeve as they go past the headers.

That chore done, I started working on the power steering pump. The Borgeson kit does not impress; the return line is straight out of the pump and will foul the exhaust, the bracket supplied is low rent. It has 2 spacers supplier, a long and short. Well, the long is too long for a '70 and the short are no use at all. Plus, the pump hangs off and some weird angle due to the mount hole location.

At maximum belt adjustment it looks wrong.

At minimum belt adjustment it looks wronger.

Who on earth thought this was a good plan?

Plus, it is at least a 1/4" out of alignment

The issue is the top bolt interferes with the can and you have to have it on an angle.

My brilliant idea was to add a plate to the rear of the bracket, use a cap head bolt for the top mount and rotate the bracket around to keep the pump vertical, and not as close to the inner fender.

    

A byproduct of this was the oil pressure switch now fouled the back of the pump. Originally I had a late model oil adaptor that put the sender vertical, but when I used one with the 45 degree angle, we had plenty of clearance. This picture has the tube fitting with a -6 fitting for the return line, the delivery hose and the oil sender.

Now, the pump sits vertical at minimum belt adjustment

All I need now is a new 1/2" grooved pulley to match the belt and we are done here.

Some people have reported that the hoses Borgeson supply are too short. I have the V8 kit and I found the pressure hose to be slightly too long. Not by much but it does put a bit of tension on the fittings. I am also putting a cooler on as the hoses are very close to the headers. I got some heat sleeve from Aeroflow (15 bucks/3 ft) which is rated to 500 C so should be OK. To keep it neat I sealed the ends with heat shrink

   

Without the return line being plumbed this is what they will look like

 

That done I moved right along to the dash. I had been waiting for a new bracket to arrive and it turned up. Another 69 and 70 difference - the triangle bracket that supports the pedal box and column is different for both cars. Pictured below the 70 bracket is on the bottom and the 69 on top. You can all thank me later :)

The 70 is also more of an even triangle, and the 69 is a bit offsided.

With some new bolts I finally tightened up the column and reinstalled the dash.

The crash pad with the car was some low rent reproduction with a fibreglass back, and it didn't fit to the windshield very well. In a fit of something I stumped up $850 for a dashes direct pad from a local supplier. Fits perfectly and looks like it was made for it. Which it should do, as it is made using a Ford die.

Somewhere in the midst of this I also pulled the 3rd member and got it to the diff guy to install a True Trac and a set of 3.55 gears. I'm keeping the 8" as he tells me it will survive with the power I think I'll have. He does a lot of direct speedway stuff and has a good name so I will trust him. Until there's a Big Bang and we no longer move forwards :(

I also took the old driveshaft to be modified. Looks like it needed about 1.5" taken off to fit (the car did have a C4 auto in it and I changed it to a TKO600). Well, when I get there and tell the man what I need, he looks at the shaft and laughs. So did I, this is typical of the whole car 'rebuild'

So you have a 1310 diff yoke and a 1330 driveshaft uni. What to do? Meh, just make them fit somehow....

And that's todays random rebuild shot. 

[smh00n 87]

Been a while since posting. I have been copping some serious static from my wife for neglecting chores around the house so I took a weekend off to do some much-needed tasks like tree pruning, mulching gardens and pulling weeds. Let me clarify static - nothing is spoken or done, there is just this aura that emanates from her to me and the pressure waves go through your body. Y'all know what I'm saying.

Progress so far has been one forwards, 2 backwards. The pulley for the Saginaw P/s pump arrived, but the offset was too deep and I couldn't use it. 96 bucks gone. Whilst waiting for the pulley to arrive, I hooked the power steer up and threw some fluid in it. The reason for putting fluid in it escapes me, as it is not ready to start, but lucky I did as the whole lot fell on the floor overnight. One reason was I didn't tighten the mount bolts on the rear of the can up, and as the bolts go into the reservoir the fluid found the path of least resistance. But, when tightening up the bolts I still had a leak. The interwebs seemed to favour the fact that as the kit was supplied with bolts and not studs like GM did, the seals behind the can were not sealing and leaking. So I started looking at studs. Down under, we get bent over by nearly every vendor and all I could find was a set for a Pontiac for 40 bucks. Plus freight.

I found an old guy who did power steering and spent well over an hour in his shop. The first thing I learnt was Saginaw pumps are basic; when you pull the reservoir can off there are 3 seals that sit in recesses in the actual pump body to seal the reservoir. Well, lucky me, the two orings (square section seal actually) were ripped behind the mount bolts and that's what caused the leak. Next was the pumps supplied by Borgeson have some foreign matter in them and they are not clean.

With new seals and a bit of hope I put the pump back on, put in about a half a quart of fluid and put a jug under it. After 2 weeks no red stuff so maybe I won that one. I am going to risk the smaller section pulley and hope it does not make life miserable.

Next I got the driveshaft back. This is a whole new shaft with 1350 joints and a billet FMX yoke (which is what is used on a TKO, don't get ripped by buying a 'TKO' yoke). It's only money, but a weeks pay money hurts.

The diff and axles went off to the diff guy for a rebuild, 3.55 gears and a True track, whilst the rusty wheel bearings will be replaced.

I started to drain the housing of oil, and was not surprised at all when I felt chunks in it. Oh well, another amateur item in the 'rebuild'. So, I pulled the housing out to clean it properly. Along the way I will replace the brake pipes as they look original and have some corrosion on the ends. I hate tube nuts, they always seem to round off on me even with correct tube spanners.

Whilst looking at the rear, I decided to take out the springs and get them reset and dropped. Good thing too, the front bushes were old and the clamps were all loose. A day later I have newly reset springs, no rattles and an inch lower than the day before. I think it will look how I want now, both tyres (tires) just under the guard lips.

Next, the radiator. Rightly or wrongly I bought an ebay special radiator for it previously, which had clogged up with the crud in the old motor. This is 26" wide and quite tall - about an inch off the hood base) so are a big unit. As they are only $180 to buy, I bought another one. But when I go to fit it, they have a 38mm lower tank width (about 1 1/2") and a 60mm (or 2 3/8") top tank and no original clamp bracket will fit. I can space the original lower brackets out with rubber (or make up a new C bracket) but the top is stumping me. There's not enough material on the OEM bracket to straighten and re-bend to fit and the aluminium options here are not attractive. But, today in speaking with a work mate he has a small sheet metal folder so I may be able to knock something up on that. Mounting it on the side of the front panel is an option, but it needs spacer brackets which will look ugly, so I will try to stay with the upper and lower clamps.

I then bought some 2.5" exhaust pipe to start making up a new exhaust. The shop had a pre-fabricated X pipe cheaper than 2 x 90° bends, so I grabbed that. But, the inlet and outlet are straight and not angled so I need to do some funky cuts to get them to line up. I left that for another day when I was in the mood. The plan for the exhaust is to stop it at the mufflers and use drop pipes. If it's too loud you're too old.

Did some online shopping; new front spring bushes, front brake hoses with the correct brackets, red tracer wire for the reverse light wiring and a 90° cable end terminal to neaten up the starter motor cable, as the shorty headers won't allow a right hand terminal due to space.

I put the steering wheel back on, to complete the dash. As I used a RH drive boss for the new wheel, the indicator cancel lugs were in the wrong place. I bit of fencing wire - true - and some precision measurements had it on the spare lug on the indicator switch and now my turn signals cancel at the same spot either way the wheel is turned.

The registration ran out March 5, so I only have 3 months to have it inspected and re-registered without hassle. 

[RPM 1,190]

Nice progress. It sounds like you are having the typical rebuild issues. Nuttin ever goes easy. 

 

[bigmal 225]

Hi mate, that build looks great. Where abouts in Sydney are you? I'm in Woronora Heights.

[smh00n 87]

2 minutes ago, bigmal said:

Hi mate, that build looks great. Where abouts in Sydney are you? I'm in Woronora Heights.

Galston, up north

[bigmal 225]

3 minutes ago, smh00n said:

Galston, up north

About 1:15 away. We will probably run into each other at some point. 

[RPM 1,190]

At 8 bucks each for those dual tubing clamps, I'm in the wrong business. 

[smh00n 87]

On 3/24/2023 at 10:30 AM, RPM said:

At 8 bucks each for those dual tubing clamps, I'm in the wrong business. 

You and me both. Made in China, pressed stainless, probably cost 30 cents. That's why I only bought 3.

[smh00n 87]

Busy weekend with lots done.

Cleaned the diff housing with degreaser and a pressure washer. Dropped in new axle seals. Didn't bother painting it, it's just a diff...

Put the rear springs back in, I bought new rubber bushes for the front but the rears were already new Scott Drake repro's. There's a bit of movement so I'll see how they feel and might put in polyurethane ones. 

One bit of carnage I found was the ubolts have a bit of a bend to them, so I'll buy new ones. 

Made up new brake lines, the old ones had corrosion at the fittings but they are original so not a bad run.

As I was lying on my back trying to put the drive head in I was kinda glad I stuck with the 8" and not a 9". Fitted up my new driveshaft and we have a full drivetrain again. This is a new 3" tube with a billet 1350 front yoke and a billet 1350 diff yoke. I got over $3,000 invested into the driveshaft and diff!

Next, the exhaust. I baulked at 700 bucks for a shop to do it, but after today I'm thinking that's cheap. I spent $280 on 45° angles, a X-pipe and 3 foot of straight pipe. I'm running a 2.5" system, with the mufflers dropped just before the diff. (I like a loud and proud V8). After 5 hours of work I the driver side into the X-pipe, and the passenger side lined up, but need another 45° to finish the passenger side. Real hard work getting clearance, a nice run and avoiding the speedo cable. I had put heat sleeve on the speedo cable but I might add another layer as it is about an inch away from the pipe. Next is running pipes back to the mufflers, but I'll need a bit of a kick up to make it nice. 

The job list is getting smaller, I just need to finish the exhaust, get it back on the ground so I can measure the front brake hose length and have them made, get some brake pads then bleed the system and it should finally be off axle stands for the first time in 4 months.

[smh00n 87]

4 months of work, blood, sweat and swearing. The car fought back lots of times. The bank account went down big time. Wife seriously not happy with every weekend spent in a shed.

But was I happy with this?

F&*K YEAH.

[smh00n 87]

Post-empting the above post, the list is certainly getting smaller.

I gave up on the alloy radiator. I couldn't get top mounts for it without fabricating them, mounting it to the side of the front panel was a pain and the lower mounts were never going to work. Not knowing what to do, except spend another $1,000, the heavens opened and a bright beam of light guided me to a local Mustang forum where a bloke was selling a OEM style brass 24" radiator that had recently been serviced. Score. So I bought that, had it sent and it was put in yesterday. New hoses, a filter and hopefully things are cool.

I finished the exhaust yesterday. Not pretty as I'm not much of a thin wall welder but it is in and no leaks. I invested in some nifty clamps which came in handy with only 2 hands and 3 joins. Prior to that, my welding helmet failed and it was too dark to see. So I buy a new one. Excellent, I can now see in colour and welding is nice. But then they turn to birdshit. Why? I have a half bottle of gas. Except, I can't hear gas flowing. Why? The regulator has failed and shows half a bottle when there is zip. Zilch. Nada. Another 1 hour round trip to the gas shop.

I made a goof many years ago and bought centre entry and exit mufflers. I should have got offset as the main pipes are too close to the driveshaft

Above is a shot of the X Pipe which I bought pre-fabricated, but as it is a straight inlet and exit, it made for extra cuts and welds. I have tightened up the rear hanging mounts (which are not original ones) but if they work loose then I'll have to go to plan B. In my steel shed it is pretty loud, and while I'm a paid up member of the If its's too loud, you're too old club, I may change to offset mufflers to get a nicer result.

This morning, I ran new fuel lines to the Sniper, plugged all the spark plug wires in, set it at TDC for the timing, filled oil and water and turned the key. With a few bangs and pops it started, filled the shed with smoke from the oil in the cylinders and then settled down. The tappets need to be re-set but there are no leaks. It sure as heck is crisp and revs quick. I had one vacuum port unplugged so hard to gauge the idle lope, but as the video shows it's got a definite lump to it. As it's still on axle stands I put it into first gear and it ran smooth with no noise from gearbox and diff.

Couple of things to fix now, before I can get it re-registered;

Get a new PCV hose as the old one was cracked

New spark plug wires as the current MSD straight plug ends don't like #7 & #8 and I need 90° ends

New front brake hoses made up, as the later Falcon calipers I have put on it need longer ones

New front brake pads

Once all that is done I can do some test runs to make sure all is good and then enjoy it.

 

[smh00n 87]

It's alive!

Finished the little chores; new brake hoses made up and put in. The 'rebuild' saw later model hoses fitted which had the wrong brackets and were real tight on full lock so now I have new hoses with the correct Mustang bracket (incidentally, the same as our Falcons up to about 1973). The original bolt holes were flogged out so I pit some 1/4" rivnuts in for UNC bolts, not screws as I think were original. New brake pads, a few minutes pressure bleeding the system.

Next, I went to put the export strut brace on. It went well until it didn't;

   

The frame appears it is twisted or bent. Hardly surprising on a 50+ year old car but still annoying. I have a Monte Carlo brace that does seem to fit so maybe I need to look again at the export brace to see why. I just chucked the 2 piece ones back on and thought no more about it.

I also researched new spark plug leads. I have Dart Pro 1 heads on it with angled plugs, and the original MSD wires with straight boots were hitting the headers, and starting to melt. They were also damn ugly and too long so were all over the place. No one seemed to have anything that worked, until I thought I'd try a local place with a good rep, https://www.iceignition.com/

They had a set of leads with 45° boots that were made to go around the rocker covers. They also recommended a set of pedestals to keep it all tidy. The best news is the leads are 9mm, the pedestal set was cheaper than other shops had them at, and they were on my doorstep at 11am the next day. Best $220 I ever spent.

I'm going to miss the near-daily deliveries of bling in the future.

These are a Redline brand wire retainer. Compact, neat and a good design. The only criticism I have is the cap screws are too long for a Ford head, and because they are a decent stainless steel, its hard to cut and clean the threads up. I might yet swap these out for studs as I have studs on all the other holes.

This was the worst side with the MSD wires. In the top right are the brake pipes coming from the brake master cylinder, the wrapped hoses are the power steering hoses and there's not a lot of room.

Passenger side. Appeals to my minor OCD issues.

ICE said not to retain the first clamps but I did anyway, as I like to break the rules.

Another benefit of the ICE wires is the plugs to the cap are a lot smaller than the MSD ones, so you can cross the over on the cap and they don't get all jammed up. I am a fan of ICE now and will look at the whole system next time I need one.

Some under-rocker-cover-action. Coz I can :)

I also hooked up a oil pressure light, as the gauge is very slow to react when it does work. I used an el-cheapo LED light that I mounted on a stainless steel flat that I bent up to bolt to the ignition block and routed up under the shroud. It's a temp thing as I am probably going to get a set of Dakota gauges and maybe a new aftermarket bezel and will mount it into the bezel.

The switch is in the OEM oil pressure hex thingy, I drilled and tapped a new hole and ran a wire through the temp/coil/oil harness.

I've only driven it for about 20 minutes around the district and can offer you these thoughts;

* The Borgeson power steer is a massive disappointment. It is heavy at parking speeds, but with a couple of thousand revs it lightens up. Hard and uncool to do so when you are trying to park. At speed it is nice, a decent weight to it. I will see if I can get a smaller pulley for it. The pump has a minor leak. It looks like I need to put mount studs on it, which are 40 bucks a set over here. Very annoyed they are not supplied with the pump, for the price of a takeaway lunch Borgeson could include them.

* This thing is crisp and likes to rev. With a new engine, gearbox and diff I need to take it easy but with the little bit of running and not putting a load on it, it wants to go. The flywheel is like a NYC pizza pie in thickness but it does have enough torque to lug down to ~1,500 in 4th and still pull cleanly. It has a serious bumpity bumpity bump bump bump idle to it.

* The TKO600 box is nice. Gearing is great, no big rev drops on changes. Driving a LHD manual transmission car for the first time has it's own challenges but so far so good. I have a Hurst shifter for it which is a bit long and rat-roddish so I may have to investigate alternates.

* 3.50 gears may be a bit low. 5th on this box is only 0.82 overdrive so it will be humming at highway speeds. Maybe 3.25 would be a good compromise but I'll see how it goes. I can't see me doing interstate trips regularly so it may be nothing to worry about. Glad I didn't use the 3.89 I originally bought for it.

* I used a 24" radiator and so far have not seen it top 195° when idling. I have set the fans to come on at 185° and the second one at 190° and it seems to keep it cool. Perhaps my ebay special radiator I last used wasn't as good as I thought, or maybe a new block with no crud blocking the tubes is the reason. Either way, I hope I don't have cooling issues.

* It's loud. Probably too loud and I am going to see if I can get quieter mufflers. Possibly using Flowmaster Super 44's, but I'll take it to the exhaust shop that supplied me all the pipes and see what they have. He rolls around in a 80's Chev Caprice so he is down with hot rodding.

Next step is to get it inspected and re-registered then start rolling it around on longer runs until I know it's reliable and not going to embarrass me.

So here it is, idling away. The rear springs will hopefully drop a bit more. The hood scoop is off as I have yet to put in the LED flasher kits and it's got shed (barn?) dust after being tucked up for 4 months, but it's mine and I did it myself.

[RPM 1,190]

Dang, that a lot of work you've recently done. 

[smh00n 87]

39 minutes ago, RPM said:

Dang, that a lot of work you've recently done. 

Yep, what was supposed to be a quick easy 2 week job went bad quickly. Some of it I could have just ignored like the Borgeson stuff. Some of it was my fault through not knowing, but this is the first Mustang I have really seen up close let alone work on. I just get pissed when you have to hot rod the supposedly hot-rodded bits you bought.

[smh00n 87]

Prequel - before the rebuild.

I've had this thing going on 8 years now and for the first 4 or so it sat not touched.

One issue I did have was the tail lights and turn signals. For reasons that escape me, our Bureaucrats have deemed that all cars must have 2 operating stop lights at all times. We can use the red light as per original but not the system where all lights dim for the indicators. Hence, we have orange indicators that work separate to the stop lights on all cars. Even the current Mustang gets special tail lights and even mirrors specific to Australia. I know there are cars out there with the US-style lighting, but they are in breach and I don't want the Po-Lice stopping me and hassling me.

The previous owner had done what is common here - converted the reverse lights into indicators by re-wiring and putting in orange bulbs. I guess y'all know that a single tiny little bulb in a big old 70 tail lights housing doesn't do much in terms of light in daylight, and having the indicators down under the bumper means the jerks following you posting influencer content on their phones can't see. A couple of near-misses when turning made me decide to upgrade the whole thing.

My first effort was buying a 3-bulb conversion which I think are made by Scott Drake. Good in concept, 3 times more light than before. Still the issue of the indictors remained and I wasn't happy. I hacked the wiring so all 3 lights came on for stop and tail. (The wiring had already been hacked during the 'rebuild' so I felt guilt but only moderate). They also do not fit without trimming and coercing so I rate them 3/10.

And then, when I pulled them to go to Plan B, they had started to melt the lenses;

I hit the interwebs for inspiration. Some of the things being done were individual LED put on a board and wired up with resistors. Pretty much the same as the ones being offered in the US. I thought that was a good idea, as the US-supplied ones still cancelled the stop lights when indicating, giving me no benefit.

Looking at the US ones, I thought I could build my own panel and have the stop, tail and indicator all in one unit. So I started looking for bright LED that could run on 12V and be suitable. I found a little joint in Tasmania, https://www.ledsales.com.au/ and he was really helpful. He had the LED I needed along with resistors, voltage reducers and other neat things I still needed to learn about.

When I told him my plan was to mount 96 LED on a board, in them in series and have a third used as indicators, I think I won dumbass of the week. For those not in the know, LED need a certain amount of power to run, they have to use all the voltage supplied and they go bright and dim based on the power. Or some chat like that, it still makes my head hurt trying to understand it. Basically, every dot on this template is a solder point, and a tiny one at that.

He rightly pointed out that what I proposed was a lot of soldering, a lot of resistors to run them, and a lot of work. He suggested a COB LED. COB is Chip On Board and they look like this

Now armed with a New Plan, he found these which had the right light volume (LED are rated in brightness, the details escape me right now) and we figured that with the red lens of the original lens, these would produce a decent light. Moving right along, they do.

I used 3 COB per light; 2 would be stop and tail, 1 would be indicator. I was hoping to use all 3 panels as tail lights but never did it. Maybe the next upgrade will see it.

The beauty of LED is they go bright with the power you give them. For stop lights I give them the full 12V. For tail lights, about 9V does it. The COB is basically a single LED, so I only needed one resistor per circuit to sort it out, and not 200,000 with individual LED. I spent a lot of time working out what voltage would be the best for each circuit, which is done by the value of the resistor you use;

I also used one-way resistors to stop the full power from the brake lights going to the tail light. I thought I was pretty smart on that one.

One issue I had was power fluctuation. As I see the battery voltage on the Sniper dash, I had fluctuations from 11.9 to 13.9. Realising having flickering tail lights would also attract The Law, back to the LED man I went. His solution? A little chip that drops voltage down to a constant value. So I got some 12V ones and worked them into the  start of the circuit. Now, regardless of the power being pumped out I would have a steady 12V to the lights.

V1 saw all the resistors and constant voltage things mounted onto the lexan sheet. I don't have a shot of this but I started getting concerned that vibration might affect the soldering, and the fact the entire light needs to be disassembled for service. Enter V2 please. 

10-odd bucks at the hobby electronic shop later, I had a alloy, waterproof housing. From the bottom;

The 4 light circuits (Stop, tail, left and right indicator) come into the housing, and are plumbed into the constant power resistor things. These are earthed and I have put them all out to a common earth, and the reduced power travels underneath the lexan sheet to the 4 main resistors which reduce the voltage for each circuit. There are 3 rated at 10 Ohms which are the stop and 2 indicators. The single at 56 Ohms is for the tail lights. I have 3 wires coming out; remember the ability to power an LED to adjust the brightness? On the left, you can see the one-way resistor that stops the full beans from the stop lights entering the tail light circuit. With the tail lights on, it receives less power due to the higher Ohm value resistor and when you activate the brake circuit the full power hits the circuit and lights up the LED brighter.

I have chopped up the rear harness even more and inserted a plug into this box. From the box another plug runs the wiring in a new harness to the lights

Here you see the nearly-complete board inside the light housing (professionally marked LH you will see) with the wiring in place. Red wires are stop and tail and go to the 2 inner panels. White is the indicator and goes to the outer panel only. I was concerned about the amount of heat needed to solder the wires to the COB, so my soldering is low rent. For that reason, I didn't run the tail light wires to the outer indicator panel, but perhaps a later upgrade may see that done. I did buy 2 spares so I can test one to destruction if needed.

The finished product does what I wanted; however, I didn't take into account the resistance in the wiring so the lights are not as bright as they were on the bench. Luckily, with this system I just need to unplug the alloy box, and re solder in new resistors. 

 

[bigmal 225]

5 minutes ago, smh00n said:

Prequel - before the rebuild.

I've had this thing going on 8 years now and for the first 4 or so it sat not touched.

One issue I did have was the tail lights and turn signals. For reasons that escape me, our Bureaucrats have deemed that all cars must have 2 operating stop lights at all times. We can use the red light as per original but not the system where all lights dim for the indicators. Hence, we have orange indicators that work separate to the stop lights on all cars. Even the current Mustang gets special tail lights and even mirrors specific to Australia. I know there are cars out there with the US-style lighting, but they are in breach and I don't want the Po-Lice stopping me and hassling me.

The previous owner had done what is common here - converted the reverse lights into indicators by re-wiring and putting in orange bulbs. I guess y'all know that a single tiny little bulb in a big old 70 tail lights housing doesn't do much in terms of light in daylight, and having the indicators down under the bumper means the jerks following you posting influencer content on their phones can't see. A couple of near-misses when turning made me decide to upgrade the whole thing.

My first effort was buying a 3-bulb conversion which I think are made by Scott Drake. Good in concept, 3 times more light than before. Still the issue of the indictors remained and I wasn't happy. I hacked the wiring so all 3 lights came on for stop and tail. (The wiring had already been hacked during the 'rebuild' so I felt guilt but only moderate). They also do not fit without trimming and coercing so I rate them 3/10.

And then, when I pulled them to go to Plan B, they had started to melt the lenses;

I hit the interwebs for inspiration. Some of the things being done were individual LED put on a board and wired up with resistors. Pretty much the same as the ones being offered in the US. I thought that was a good idea, as the US-supplied ones still cancelled the stop lights when indicating, giving me no benefit.

Looking at the US ones, I thought I could build my own panel and have the stop, tail and indicator all in one unit. So I started looking for bright LED that could run on 12V and be suitable. I found a little joint in Tasmania, https://www.ledsales.com.au/ and he was really helpful. He had the LED I needed along with resistors, voltage reducers and other neat things I still needed to learn about.

When I told him my plan was to mount 96 LED on a board, in them in series and have a third used as indicators, I think I won dumbass of the week. For those not in the know, LED need a certain amount of power to run, they have to use all the voltage supplied and they go bright and dim based on the power. Or some chat like that, it still makes my head hurt trying to understand it. Basically, every dot on this template is a solder point, and a tiny one at that.

He rightly pointed out that what I proposed was a lot of soldering, a lot of resistors to run them, and a lot of work. He suggested a COB LED. COB is Chip On Board and they look like this

Now armed with a New Plan, he found these which had the right light volume (LED are rated in brightness, the details escape me right now) and we figured that with the red lens of the original lens, these would produce a decent light. Moving right along, they do.

I used 3 COB per light; 2 would be stop and tail, 1 would be indicator. I was hoping to use all 3 panels as tail lights but never did it. Maybe the next upgrade will see it.

The beauty of LED is they go bright with the power you give them. For stop lights I give them the full 12V. For tail lights, about 9V does it. The COB is basically a single LED, so I only needed one resistor per circuit to sort it out, and not 200,000 with individual LED. I spent a lot of time working out what voltage would be the best for each circuit, which is done by the value of the resistor you use;

I also used one-way resistors to stop the full power from the brake lights going to the tail light. I thought I was pretty smart on that one.

One issue I had was power fluctuation. As I see the battery voltage on the Sniper dash, I had fluctuations from 11.9 to 13.9. Realising having flickering tail lights would also attract The Law, back to the LED man I went. His solution? A little chip that drops voltage down to a constant value. So I got some 12V ones and worked them into the  start of the circuit. Now, regardless of the power being pumped out I would have a steady 12V to the lights.

V1 saw all the resistors and constant voltage things mounted onto the lexan sheet. I don't have a shot of this but I started getting concerned that vibration might affect the soldering, and the fact the entire light needs to be disassembled for service. Enter V2 please. 

10-odd bucks at the hobby electronic shop later, I had a alloy, waterproof housing. From the bottom;

The 4 light circuits (Stop, tail, left and right indicator) come into the housing, and are plumbed into the constant power resistor things. These are earthed and I have put them all out to a common earth, and the reduced power travels underneath the lexan sheet to the 4 main resistors which reduce the voltage for each circuit. There are 3 rated at 10 Ohms which are the stop and 2 indicators. The single at 56 Ohms is for the tail lights. I have 3 wires coming out; remember the ability to power an LED to adjust the brightness? On the left, you can see the one-way resistor that stops the full beans from the stop lights entering the tail light circuit. With the tail lights on, it receives less power due to the higher Ohm value resistor and when you activate the brake circuit the full power hits the circuit and lights up the LED brighter.

I have chopped up the rear harness even more and inserted a plug into this box. From the box another plug runs the wiring in a new harness to the lights

Here you see the nearly-complete board inside the light housing (professionally marked LH you will see) with the wiring in place. Red wires are stop and tail and go to the 2 inner panels. White is the indicator and goes to the outer panel only. I was concerned about the amount of heat needed to solder the wires to the COB, so my soldering is low rent. For that reason, I didn't run the tail light wires to the outer indicator panel, but perhaps a later upgrade may see that done. I did buy 2 spares so I can test one to destruction if needed.

The finished product does what I wanted; however, I didn't take into account the resistance in the wiring so the lights are not as bright as they were on the bench. Luckily, with this system I just need to unplug the alloy box, and re solder in new resistors. 

 

IMG_3455.MOV 32.72 MB · 0 downloads

 

I used an LED set and cut the wire to the outer light and used that for the blinker. Works well and was surprisingly easy.

[smh00n 87]

1 minute ago, bigmal said:

I used an LED set and cut the wire to the outer light and used that for the blinker. Works well and was surprisingly easy.

Damn I knew there would have been an easier way. 

[smh00n 87]

Running update.

I changed mufflers as the ones on it were just too loud. They had a real high noise to them and were just not practicable. So I spoke to the muffler guy who I bought the pipes off. He recommended Redback mufflers, which are made locally here. They are a triflow design so have perforated pipes inside with baffles. The flow needs to go in, come back then go back out but at high load the holes allow the gases to basically straight line outta there.

He was pretty impressed with the amount of air coming out of the pipes. He said it was better than the 502 in his 80's something Chev Caprice. That made me feel pretty chuffed. Result is much better noises levels are driving speed, no raspy intake on over run. He tells me as they get more carbon in them it will quieten down at idle.

Pulled the engine temp sender, cleaned off the thread sealer - which was very little - and re-installed.

Next, I had issues with the Sniper. It started running real bad and the AFR was going straight to 36.5. Wouldn't idle, barely revved and was pumping out black crud from the exhaust. This isn't my area of expertise so hitting up the Holley forum for answers, as It started right after I had the mufflers changed, the first question was did you unhook the battery? D'Oh, the shop did not so I was freaking about fried electronics. I was told it was probably a bad WB02 sensor. What was getting me was it would run fine from start, then when it was stopped it would go bad on restart. Looking at the sensor I had managed to place it near flat in the pipe, so I guess moisture was accumulating and killing it. Expensive mistake.

Today, I put a new bung in closer to the collectors and with more of a downward angle. Fitted a Bosch sensor to it. Deleted the file from the Sniper, loaded it all up again using the setup wizard.

Before driving it I also fixed the radio power wiring. I had put it to what I thought was the original radio power wire, but the new unit must take more amps as it kept blowing the little 1AG 4 amp fuse. I bought an aftermarket blade fuse holder and intended to hook it into a wire with switched power. Of course, being 'rebuilt' this was not going to be a simple job. Turns out the aftermarket voltage regulator fitted was just spliced into a wire, no solder or anything, and a bit of electrical tape wound round it. And the tape has falling off the exposed wiring was right next to the dash support bracket that goes to the booster. And the tapped wire was falling off. A bit of work and I had soldered a new wire in, terminated it to a clip plug and ran 2 power wires out to both the voltage reg and the radio. Put a 15 amp fuse in the radio circuit and put it all back together.

Took it for a run, about 6 miles. Temp gauge was working as it should. Thankfully it ran great, no issues, started learning again and was as smooth as a late model car. I really am a fan of the Sniper, it is a smooth system and the engine runs fine. Cold starts and running are nothing like the good old days of pulling a choke and dipping the clutch. The best bit is with the new engine I just enter the CID, cam and ignition type into the screen, tell it what cam it has and hit save and it just runs. Well worth the cost. No going to a dyno, hoping the guy knows what he's doing and worrying about it.

Before the WB02 broke I had started to lean on it a bit. Purely for research purposes Officer. 1st gear it just lights up the rears at will, regardless of road speed. 2nd gear on a rolling launch it will light the rears up. It's a bit grumpy in gear under 1,200 rpm and will shunt, but also happy to take corners in 3rd gear and pull away cleanly. I have not yet taken it on a road with a limit higher than 40mph so not sure what revs it's doing. Hopefully with a bit more running around the suburb I can iron out all the glitches and then take it for a decent run.

The only hassles I have is the power steering pulley is not right, it appears the belt is slipping as I have black dots all overt he front of the engine. It is also very heavy when parking but improves when a few revs are up. Spent a bit of time trying to find an alternate. Borgeson advised they only supply the thin groove pulley - despite (as far as I know) every small block Mustang has a 1/2" wide power steer belt. Why they supply a thinner pulley I don't know. It seems a pulley off a local Falcon is the answer and I am going to a wreckers on the weekend to suss it out. The bolts supplied with the pump are also BS. Saginaw recommends studs for the rear mount pumps as they seal the canister, but Borgeson give you bolts. Along with the shiite bracket to mount it, I am not impressed at all with their set up.

The rear main is also leaking. I am super pissed at this, it's not that much work to change but I really do not need to do it, especially as Scott Drake promotes themselves as high quality parts. Maybe it's me and installed it wrong, but I put enough silicone on both sides of the seal and gasket I would have thought.

Lastly, my new-found power level may be over powering the shocks. Or, I need to adjust to a 50+ year old car handling. It feels as if the car is hauling sideways when giving it hard acceleration and seems to wallow on shallow corners. When you stop accelerating it then moves back the other way. I realise that's not a great description. It has Koni shocks all around, slightly heavier springs in front (along with alloy heads and intake) and standard springs in back. Maybe I am just used to late model cars with steering racks, watts links and sharp suspension.

[smh00n 87]

Progress report.

Sick of getting little black dots all over the front of the engine, so I decided to change the power steer pulley. I had bought one previously, but it had the wrong offset and it sat too far forward. Being impatient I left the 7/16" groove one on.

In the middle of that I decided I didn't like the coil on the driver inner fender. This is a shot from the original installation.

I saw that someone else had put the same Blaster II coil up on the drivers cylinder head, using a steel bracket. So, I think I may also do that whilst I will be playing with the power steer pump.

The way I modified the Borgeson bracket allows me to shorten the spacers to the head, so I can mount the bracket off these bolts and sit it vertical in this space. I'll trim the black bracket as well, it's a bit tractor like.

 

Today I also looked at the shock issue, and well, got a shock. The seller told me the car had Koni shocks all round, and being red I didn't disbelieve him at purchase. For some reason over the past 8 years I never actually stopped and had a look at them to confirm they were Koni. I don't know what's more dumb, me finding out they weren't Koni, or me posting on the interwebs that I thought they were Koni but they are actually a low rent cheap shit shock from a chain suspension store. Dammit. These things should only be put on baby's prams, they have as much bump resistance as a jelly dessert.

Luckily for me, a suspension place had 25% off Koni but I still took a $1,000 hit to the financial statement buying new Koni classic adjustables all around.

The temp gauge is now fixed, albeit reading a little bit high I think. At 180 it sits on the first leg of the 'M' in TEMP. Whilst I'm not overly fussed as I use the Sniper handheld to watch engine data, I probably should fix it.

[AusTex70 43]

On 1/27/2023 at 9:03 PM, TexasEd said:

I think your car might be a candidate for a Terlingua Racing team sticker.  I plan to get one for me after the paint job and put it either on a quarter window or bottom corner of the rear window.  Someone on this site has it as their avatar.

It was a club that Carrol Shelby was a part of or founded.  Terlingua is a mythical place in Texas that is in the desert and used to host a chili festival.  Let me know if you're interested and I can get you one.

 

There is a local guy in the mustang club that has done the Terlingua race a few times. I've been to chili cook-off, but that was decades ago! 

They do have these stickers on Etsy. 

 

[smh00n 87]

More problems than solutions today. I have 4 issues currently and it's doing my head in.

1. Leaking rear main seal. I used a Scott Drake Boss 302 pan and pickup and didn't think it sealed the rear main real well. It was OK when first started as the oil was new, now it has some miles on it the black stuff is showing. I'm going to hit it with a tube of Dow Corning black silicone which sets firm and is flexible. 

2. Bump steer. This one might be self-induced due to an installation issue. While I'm addressing this, I'll drop the oil pan. Don't you love 2-for-1 deals?

3. Leaking headers. Pulled them off 3 times, cut the flange between the ports, used 2 gaskets, still chuffing. Wound up the bolts as tight as I wanted to risk my alloy head threads. Plan A is to give them to the old guy up the road to try and mill the faces flat, as there is at least a 1/16" warp on them. Plan B is to buy FPA ones costing $1,250 for ceramic. The exchange rate for us is 68 cents in the dollar, so that is $1,850 and doesn't include freight or local taxes. Do I really want to spend 2 big ones on pipes??? Plan C is not yet announced.

4. The Holley Sniper. Man, they don't tell you the whole story on the box. "self learning" is actually just the fuel side. While you can control timing of the MSD through the Sniper software, you have to develop a timing map to suit your engine. Otherwise, it drives like a turd with no low down power and a power band a 500cc GP bike would be jealous of. Ask me how I know this. So, I now have to become a tuner, which defeats the purpose of buying this in the first place - I wanted a system that I could bolt on, click a few options and drive happily off into the Sunset. And back again. My first effort sucked, no power off idle and a giant lunge at about 2,000. My second attempt was better, much cleaner power delivery but missing a whole lot when under 2,000 in 4th gear. This thing has a 3.50 gear and little 15" wheels, so it's not unhappy doing that previously. With the old motor and no timing control I could not fault the system and thought it was the best thing. I guess with all things hot rodding you gotta have pain for gain.

I'm going to work on 1, 2 and 3 then address 4. I just can't drive with chuf chuf chuf going on.

 

[aslanefe 333]

6 hours ago, smh00n said:

4. The Holley Sniper. Man, they don't tell you the whole story on the box. "self learning" is actually just the fuel side. While you can control timing of the MSD through the Sniper software, you have to develop a timing map to suit your engine. Otherwise, it drives like a turd with no low down power and a power band a 500cc GP bike would be jealous of. Ask me how I know this. So, I now have to become a tuner, which defeats the purpose of buying this in the first place - I wanted a system that I could bolt on, click a few options and drive happily off into the Sunset. And back again. My first effort sucked, no power off idle and a giant lunge at about 2,000. My second attempt was better, much cleaner power delivery but missing a whole lot when under 2,000 in 4th gear. This thing has a 3.50 gear and little 15" wheels, so it's not unhappy doing that previously. With the old motor and no timing control I could not fault the system and thought it was the best thing. I guess with all things hot rodding you gotta have pain for gain.

I have been telling this to people when they ask about Holley Sniper or any other "self learning" efi system.

[Vicfreg 771]

SMH....I have had success with:

Rear main seal.  I use a one piece oil pan gasket, does not leak  (Fel-Pro Performance OS34508R Oil Pan Gasket Set).  I have deep sump oil pan on my 351W based stroker.  I used studs and nuts to mount the oil pan to the block, as sometimes bolts could be too long and bottom out, and impact the clamping force.

Headers - Stage 8 locking bolts - they come in different lengths - https://www.stage8.com/ford-performance-locking-fasteners/ford-locking-header-bolt-kits/

Copper Seal Header Gaskets - https://www.holley.com/products/gaskets/header_gaskets/parts/7160?utm_term=&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping+-+Mr.+Gasket+-+Non-Brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=7848552874&hsa_cam=1486388069&hsa_grp=56206890863&hsa_ad=284461341250&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=aud-359098808090:pla-1589485846272&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyJDR7sPG_wIV1DrUAR2cOALXEAQYAyABEgKQ4PD_BwE

Sniper - If you have a MSD box, use it to drive the EFI for the RPM reference signa..   The MSD box sends a square wave output signal to the EFI for the RPM/Tach signal it needs to work.

Not sure what distributor you have.  To keep it simple, you can use that to set the timing, the traditional way if you want.  MSD has tons of information on how to do this and lots of reference material and good tech support on their website.

Good luck

Vic