Welcome to Dan's 69 Mustang
Hello all! Well my little web site here is closing on 100,000 visits! Wonder if I should give a prize to the 100,000th visitor?? :^). Thanks for the emails and support.
LATEST UPDATE 9/5/09
Fixed Guages, spend 8 bucks to upgrade clock to quartz
I decided to do some work on the instrument panel this weekend. I had added an aftermarket bolt on gauge set to make sure things were OK due to my oil pressure reading low all the time and the water temp reading high. The bolt on set showed that I had 60 pounds of oil pressure and the temp was correct. I have since replaced the water pump and added an over flow capture to the raditor and the car runs cooler now so I decided I would take a crack at getting all the gauges to work properly. The Alternator gauge has never worked at all. I learned some very interesting things about the instrument panel in this effort and I want to share them with you. I think the most important thing I learned is that you can actually adjust where the gauges read by changing the Cluster Voltage Regulator. As you turn it up or down your gauges will change. In this case I knew my oil pressure was great and the engine was right at 180 degrees so I adjusted the gauges so that they are exactly in the middle when at the normal value...awsome...Now my oil an temp are right in the middle when the car is warmed up..how cool is that..as for the alternator gauge ... well its still broken, I have to do some more work on that. I think it is not working due to the new solid state voltage regulator I put in when I replaced the alternator a few years ago. I did verify that the gauge it self is good so the problem is some where else. Also a few years ago I repalced sending unit in the tank for the fuel gauge and it has worked fine since. Now on to some of the details.
Removing the instruemt cluster is not to hard but does take some work. First you have to remove the dash pad, then there are 4 screws on the cluster itself you have to remove. Then it is loose and you can reach around and pull out the speedo cable. Next you demate the power connector on the right side..it's out. Since I had it removed I also replaced all 12 bulbs. They are next to impossible to get to and a bunch were burned out so this was a good time to replace them.
Now if you want to adjust where the gauges read you need a small pair of needle nose and turn the CVR screw one turn. On mine 1 rev changed the reading by a little over 1/3 the value of the guage. turn it OUT to make the gauges go DOWN in value, thats COUNTER clock wise.
This is the CVR taken apart, you can see the little screw. You can get to it easy by just peeling back the plastic circuit board. I wanted to show you it taken apart to explain how this little gem works. When I found out this was the voltage regulator I expected to see some resistors, caps, etc in there...but NO. This is 1960 tech at its finest. Remember they did not have solid state yet and what this actually is a device that PULSES the 12v of the battery about twice a second and that results in an average over time of about 5 volts...wow...thats what I love about these cars it is really interesting to see how they did it cheap and without computers or solid state electronics...and it is still working 40 years later. The points are as bright as the day it left the factory. Remember this has a VERY small current on it so there is really no pitting. The way it works is there is a little wire wrapped around a bi-metal arm. The wire heats, the arm bends, breaks the connection, the arm cools and goes down makes the connection again, the little coil heats the arm goes back up breaking the connection and it does this rwice a second. When its running the arm oves so little you cannot hardly even see it move. Neat....
While I was at it I decided to turn my Clock from mechanical to quartz. This costs a small fortune to have done but I bought a movement at a hobby shop for eight bucks and decided to give it a go. To jump to the end I now have a working quarts clock in my Stang...The pictures below tell the story
This is the original clock and the quarts movement I got for $8.00
The ORIGINAL working mechanical movement. I saved this for the future and can re-install it if I want
I removed the original dials and slipped the new unit in. The dials that came with it had a fancy point and I ground it into a straight dial like the original
This is the back of the unit with the new movement
Here is the finished WORKING quartz clock.
4/19/09
Well I have not finished the hockey sticks yet but I did start to put the racing stripes on the car you can see below. I got the hood done this weekend and also put the hood scoop back on. Boy does it look hot. It is a real head turner now. I could not figure out what the real standard was for stripes so I did some forum research and it looks like a 2 inch gap with 10 inch stripes was the most popular so that is what I did. As you know this is a "test" paint job so I took some liberties....I used Rustoleum paint for the stripes.....OK STOP YELLING...It looks GREAT....I am going to do a REAL paint job next winter, I really wanted to see how it looked before I commit the time and money of the final paint job. I will be sanding it all off anyway. I must say that it really does look good. I accented the stripes with a double thin black pin stripe...looks VERY nice. I am going to do the trunk and under the doors as well and will post these pictures with more detail when I am done....
Start of adding racing stripes to to the car...and the hood scoop is back on
2/15/09
I plan to re-chrome some of my trim (myself with a kit), and do a "Real" paint job (myself of course). I started this and am working on the hockey sticks. These are the trim around the convertible top where it goes into the car. These are made of cheap pot metal and look really bad. The straight chrome in this area is actually stainless steal, but the corners are chromed pot metal. It has pitted and is pealing, a new set can run about $400, IF you can find them. I am using Caswell products for this and will post as I do it. To start with I needed to remove the original chrome. I did this by putting the hockey stick in water and vinegar and hooking it up to a battery charger...this actually worked...kinda. It loosened the chrome alright but also took some of the pot metal near the electrode off...This was not such a big deal as I intended to fill the pits with solder anyway and would fill these in at the same time...or so I thought..
Here is the drivers side. You can see how pitted the hockey stick is
So after I got most of the chrome off I used navel jelly on the entire unit to stop and more pitting or rust, cleaned this off and then started to solder in where there were pits. Well I have done a lot of soldering in my day and filling in little pits should not have been to much of a challenge. As I started to heat the pot metal to the point where the solder melted all looked good the solder started to flow...and then the pot metal evaporated...as in melted, disappeared, vaporized..what a mess. I had a huge gap in the hockystick now. I did some testing after this and the pot metal melting point was JUST above the solder...I also did some reading in the internet and it turns out pot metal is any crap the manufacture can find and use...very low quality metal, which is why it costs so much to get it re-chromed. So I thought I would be careful and fill the hole back in with solder and it would be ok...It kinda worked so I moved on to another section...this time I managed to melt almost the entire way through the hockey stick...now what was one piece is now two with a horrible hole in the middle. I was a bit frustrated. So I managed after some time to get it soldered back together and I also copper plated the unit. This is actually kinda cool you rub this electrode on the metal and the copper transfers to the thing the electrode touches. So now I had a copper plated hockey stick...victory...until it snapped in half where I had soldered it together...So what to do now. I tried again to solder it an no luck. I did some research and Caswell has a product you paint on that makes anything conductive an you can then plate it...so I decided I would epoxy a metal brace to the back of the stick and use body filler to fill in all the pits and the gap I created. This worked great.
Here is the one I am working on, It is primed and needs a little more sanding, nice and smooth
Once I am done sanding and filling I will paint it with the copper paint and plate it. So far it looks like it will look a lot better. I will post as I do it.
Painting, the last job I did was with cheap paint and looks OK but this time I am going to use the real (read expensive) paint. I also plan to put the white racing stripes down it, paint the hood scoop white and add the GT type stripes under the doors. Should look real sharp. In addition there is other interior work such as figuring out what to do with the door panels, repairing the old or going with deluxe panels (new), installing the clock and finishing the Grande dash install. Also at some point I need to remove the rear end to fix the rear frame rail and rebuild the rear but I have been putting this off (driving it ya know....).
I also have re-done the web site as you can see and based my update links on the work I did so you can find what you are looking for easier rather than by date. If there is something you want to see or me to add let me know as I have more pictures and could add sections or details about certain things. In any case I will be updating soon with the work so keep an eye out!
LATEST UPDATE 2/15/09
I plan to re-chrome some of my trim (myself with a kit), and do a "Real" paint job (myself of course). I started this and am working on the hockey sticks. These are the trim around the convertible top where it goes into the car. These are made of cheap pot metal and look really bad. The straight chrome in this area is actually stainless steal, but the corners are chromed pot metal. It has pitted and is pealing, a new set can run about $400, IF you can find them. I am using Caswell products for this and will post as I do it. To start with I needed to remove the original chrome. I did this by putting the hockey stick in water and vinegar and hooking it up to a battery charger...this actually worked...kinda. It loosened the chrome alright but also took some of the pot metal near the electrode off...This was not such a big deal as I intended to fill the pits with solder anyway and would fill these in at the same time...or so I thought..
Here is the drivers side. You can see how pitted the hockey stick is
So after I got most of the chrome off I used navel jelly on the entire unit to stop and more pitting or rust, cleaned this off and then started to solder in where there were pits. Well I have done a lot of soldering in my day and filling in little pits should not have been to much of a challenge. As I started to heat the pot metal to the point where the solder melted all looked good the solder started to flow...and then the pot metal evaporated...as in melted, disappeared, vaporized..what a mess. I had a huge gap in the hockystick now. I did some testing after this and the pot metal melting point was JUST above the solder...I also did some reading in the internet and it turns out pot metal is any crap the manufacture can find and use...very low quality metal, which is why it costs so much to get it re-chromed. So I thought I would be careful and fill the hole back in with solder and it would be ok...It kinda worked so I moved on to another section...this time I managed to melt almost the entire way through the hockey stick...now what was one piece is now two with a horrible hole in the middle. I was a bit frustrated. So I managed after some time to get it soldered back together and I also copper plated the unit. This is actually kinda cool you rub this electrode on the metal and the copper transfers to the thing the electrode touches. So now I had a copper plated hockey stick...victory...until it snapped in half where I had soldered it together...So what to do now. I tried again to solder it an no luck. I did some research and Caswell has a product you paint on that makes anything conductive an you can then plate it...so I decided I would epoxy a metal brace to the back of the stick and use body filler to fill in all the pits and the gap I created. This worked great.
Here is the one I am working on, It is primed and needs a little more sanding, nice and smooth
Once I am done sanding and filling I will paint it with the copper paint and plate it. So far it looks like it will look a lot better. I will post as I do it.
Painting, the last job I did was with cheap paint and looks OK but this time I am going to use the real (read expensive) paint. I also plan to put the white racing stripes down it, paint the hood scoop white and add the GT type stripes under the doors. Should look real sharp. In addition there is other interior work such as figuring out what to do with the door panels, repairing the old or going with deluxe panels (new), installing the clock and finishing the Grande dash install. Also at some point I need to remove the rear end to fix the rear frame rail and rebuild the rear but I have been putting this off (driving it ya know....).
I also have re-done the web site as you can see and based my update links on the work I did so you can find what you are looking for easier rather than by date. If there is something you want to see or me to add let me know as I have more pictures and could add sections or details about certain things. In any case I will be updating soon with the work so keep an eye out!
This is a site dedicated to my 1969 Mustang and is a documentary of it's restoration.
I have created this site to help others who may have never restored a Mustang before
so that they can get an idea what is involved before they start, or maybe after....
in any case I hope you find it useful and maybe even a little amusing....
On this site I have documenting tasks such as:
* Full front frame rail replacement/installation
* Frame replacement/installation
* Torque Box replacement/installation
* Shock Tower replacement/installation
* Seat Pan replacement/installation
* Inner rocker panel replacement/installation
* Rust Removal
If you want to skip my pontification and see the latest status just click the links to the left to see the phases of the restoration. I was 43 when I started and had never done a
restoration like this. I thought I would make a web site to help others on the
restoration fence make the decision to restore or not. I have worked on cars all my life,
mine, my parents, friends etc etc. I have a good mechanical ability, I took welding in high school
shop and have welded a little, 4-5 times all arc welding, over the years. I am a systems engineer
for a living so I don't do automotive work as part of my job. I bought a
MIG welder to do this car and practiced welding before doing the actual welds on the car.
I intend to devote part of this site on the welding as it seems to be the scariest part
for most people who are thinking about doing a restoration.
I guess I have had the mustang bug all my life. When I was 18 I could have bought my
first convertible, a 1968 red stang for $1800 in 1979 but I only had $1500 and the salesman
would not drop the price. Wish I had the $300 but I was a poor teenager at the time.
I few years later I got a 1976 Mustang II....or as it is better known
a dressed up Pinto. It was a piece of crap, I still have not forgiven Ford for that,
but back then all American cars were crap. So here I am many years later and I no longer
HAVE to work on cars to keep them running, this one is for.........fun.
I bought the car from
This Ebay add.,
in March of 2005. It was delivered via flatbed on
April 8th 2005. It was listed as a car
that runs but needed restoration. It has a 302 2brl, power steering, non
powered drum breaks, and of course, it's a convertible (powered). I drove about
2 hours to see it before I bought it and while I could see some frame damage/rust I did indeed drive
the car and it drove reasonably well. The engine ran strong, 148,000 miles on it
and the owner said it was original. I have since verified that this IS a numbers matching
car, the VIN, door tag, shock tower and engine data all match. She is an honest
to god Candy Apple red from the factory convertible. The tranny shifted smooth and the steering was
tight. So we made a deal and I was a mustang owner. The car had been
a gift to his wife 10 years earlier and she drove it off and on for about two
years. They had put a total of about 2000 on it while they owned it. After that
the parked it for some restoration, they didn't drive it again for 8 years...,
that is when I bought the car. After looking at it even though the tranny
shifted good and it drove well I knew it was a roll of the dice if I would be
able to drive the car for the summer of 2005. I hoped I could hold off on the restoration
for a little while and drive the car but was not meant to be. The first thing I did was
replace all the tires, they were dry rotted, I then drove the car for about two hours
on the roads near my house, engine and tranny did fine......front frame rail did not.
While I was parking the car in front of my house there was a pronounced thud from the engine
compartment while I was turning the wheel. It turned out that the power steering
cylinder pushed right through the rotted frame rail....it was toast...this ended
my hopes of driving the car for the summer, and the beginning of its restoration.
I did all the work alone, my 11 your old son wanted to help until he found out it was
real work! I did it in my 2 car garage, no special lifts etc. I have taken the
pictures just as it is as I did it, not making it pretty like on TV,
what you see is what it is. I did the the car structure work first and then I intended to rebuild the engine
but as you will see I decided to get a re-manufactured engine and saved the original for the future.
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