Mustang Progress Report

Speaker Wires

Time to string the speaker wires.  Radio-to-rear-speaker wires were run through the door sills, along with the wire loom for the tail lights and backup lights on the driver's side.  Better than running under the carpet, which would be the likely route when added to a finished car:

 

Kick panel speakers wired and installed:

 

Door and Quarter Panels

First the sheet of water-seal material is glued on:

Then the quarter panel attached:

Door panel, arm rests, and window crank and door handle:

 

I ran into a problem when installing the window cranks for the quarter windows.  The window regulator shafts were apparently for a different style of window crank and the shafts were too long and did not have a threaded hole in the end for the screw that holds the crank on to the shaft.  The crank was too far away from the side panel:

 

 

 

First, I hacksawed off the ends of the shafts:

 

Then I drilled and tapped a hole in the end of each shaft:

 

The result was that the crank fit snug to the panel:

 

 

 

The interior is coming along:

 

 

 

Fuel Line

 

Brian was down over Christmas and we worked together to install the pump-to-tank fuel line:

 

 



 

It was a pre-bent line and fit nicely:

 

It has been a long time since we took the car apart, and while rumaging through old parts looking for some fuel line clips, we came upon this part that was a mystery.  I think it has something to do with the spare tire.  At least I'm pretty sure it came from the trunk. 

 

I gave Brian a brake master cylinder for Christmas, and he had brought down the rear brake line, so the next step is to order the front lines and then install them.  This will involve some fabrication as the master cylinder is not stock, but is a dual-chamber unit made specially for disk brakes, and the lines will have to be custom fit.  In the meantime, I have some other parts to install. 

Calipers Back On

As stated in the last post, the plan was to take the calipers to a paint shop for powder coating in bright red, but that didn't happen.  The paint shop didn't want to bake the calipers with the pistons and seals still in, and I didn't want to take them out.  At the same time, Brian decided that the calipers weren't exotic enough to warrant bright red, so we decided on plain old heat resistant black paint.  I could do that myself, but first I had to borrow the bead blaster back to get the rust off.  It did a good job:

Next came a couple of coats of high-temp gloss black caliper paint and then the re-install.  Final look:

 



We have ordered the front-to-rear brake line and the fuel line, but the brake line has not arrived and the two need to be installed together.  Things have been kind of slow on the Mustang, but I have been really busy on some other projects, so the winter has not been boring, for sure. 

End of Summer Vacation for Mustang

Brian and the boys were down for a post-Thanksgiving visit and we brought the Mustang over from the tool shed to the shop to get ready for the winter work.  We didn't do much to it except install the new steering wheel, which is a GT replica.  The whole dash area is looking pretty good:

That big ugly hole where the radio goes is the last dash problem to solve and we are working on it.  One thing we discovered when we took the wheels back off and put the car up on jack stands, is that the brake calipers had rusted with the car just sitting indoors in the shed:

Since the wheels Brian wants to install are the kind where the calipers are visible, this was not going to be acceptable.  So, even though I thought I was done with the brakes except for the front-to-rear lines and the master cylinder, I guess I get to back track a bit and remove and disassemble the calipers:

I got the rears off today and ready to take to the paint shop.  Fronts should be easier without the parking brake.  The plan is for high-temp powder coating in bright gloss red.  Killer look. 

True to tradition, we had our shoot-out during the visit, but this time Big Mike brought his arsenal, or at least part of it, over to the house and we burned through a bunch of high-power ammo and killed some paper targets and one old propane tank.  The tank still had a little gas in it that got lit off at one point.  Great fun!

 

Thanks to Mike, this was a memorable visit for all of us. 

Search for some Oregon landmarks

This past weekend Carolyn and I went in search of Crack In The Ground, Hole In the Ground, and Big Hole.  Don't you just love the way the early homesteaders gave such imaginative and romantic names to features around them?  These are all located in South Central Oregon near the town of Christmas Valley.  While it might seem that the town was one place they gave a whimsical name, it turns out it was named after a man who had a name somewhat like Christmas and it just morphed into the holiday name.  

Anyway, after a long day's drive we finally got to Crack in the Ground, and it was worth the effort.  

By the time we were done exploring Crack in the Ground it was too late in the day to look for Hole in the Ground, so we found a room at a Hole in the Wall motel. 

Actually, it wasn't bad at all except for somewhat thin walls, and the $43 rate was a real bargin.  

The next morning we headed out for Hole in The Ground and this is where taking the truck turned out to be a smart idea.  The roads were pretty primative 

Hole in the Ground was formed when lava rose toward the surface and encountered ground water, which turned to steam and built up enough pressure to cause a blow out crater.  

Next we went to Big Hole, which is the same kind of feature, only bigger.  The problem is that the crater is completely forested and no photo shows it very well, so I won't post any.  

On our way back we went through Sisters and then up to Detroit and then Estacada, Sandy, Troutdale and home.  Along the way in the mountains we saw lots of beautiful autumn colors.  

Total distance for the weekend was 660 miles on Good Roads.  

End of a Great Ride

Got home at 4:30 and beat the rain except for a few slight drizzles.  Total mileage was 2376.

Today was awesome.  It started out with the same freezing temps, but with the new battery I could run my heated grips and the vest both, so it was not a problem.  It quickly warmed up to mid 70's and stayed that way all day.

Central Oregon is hard to beat, and the stretch from Spray to Fossil, to Antelope and Shaniko is at least 100 miles of biker heaven.  To top it off, I had the road pretty much all to myself and I made the most of it.  I didn't stop to take pictures......I was too much in the groove plus trying to beat the rain, but what is a blog without pictures?  So here is the only one I took:

Road hazards; they leave slippery stuff too.

One thing about being on a motorcycle for six days is that by the seventh, you are about as comfortable with riding as you can be.  The bike and I become a unit, and my riding goes up a level.  It couldn't have happened on better roads, either, and I set a new personal best for using the edges of my tires.

The Stars Allign

I've had a couple of rough days of riding, but today made up for it.  It started out not too promising....the temp gauge on my motorcycle read 0 degrees Celsius (freezing) when I went to breakfast, and by the time I got underway it was 39 Fahrenheit .  But it wasn't so bad.  I was headed down to lower elevations and the sun was shining.  I was afraid to use my heated vest, but I did use the grip heaters and the battery gauge looked OK as long as I was moving.  The big relief was that the bike started at all.  It was a little slow to crank in that cold, but good old Kawasaki electrics got the job done.  I did decide to head in to the Boise area and get a new battery.  I had found a Cycle Gear store in Meridian when I was searching online last night, and as soon as I had cell service I gave them a call and found they had the right battery and would put it on a charger until I arrived.  When I got there I did some parking lot mechanics:

Old battery out:

New battery in:

It solved the problem.  Battery status light is happy.  Took about an hour total, but I gained that hour back when I went to Pacific time later in the day.  The battery is a maintenance free gel type that is guaranteed for life. 

The battery change caused a detour from my planned route but it wasn't far, and I caught back up to the planned route just as it was headed into the Hell's Canyon section that I was looking forward to riding.  Carolyn and I did this ride a couple of years ago and I new it was worth repeating.  By this time the temps had warmed up into the 70's, where they stayed for the rest of the day.......perfect for riding.  Hell's Canyon follows the Snake river and has some really nice curvy sections.  I had the road pretty much to myself and it was great.  Pretty scenic too:

Then after a few miles I got to another road that I was looking forward to.  I think it is known as the "Little Dragon" or something like that.  It is highway 245 between Baker City Oregon and Unity.  It is supposed to have more curves that the famous 'Tail of the Dragon" in South Carolina.  I don't know about that, but I do know it has far less traffic and some really great curves.  I had the road all to myself and was loving it.  It's a shame I can't show a good picture of it.....maybe Google Earth would  be the way to go.  I did take this Zumo screen shot:

Then I got to Unity, Oregon, where I am staying tonight.  Got a cute little room in the only motel in town:

Unity is an interesting burg.  I had dinner in the local bar where the bartender serves drinks and retrieves empties and money with this device:

He really didn't want me taking pictures that showed any of the local's faces.......I guess in case I was a government agent. 

Then I took a tour of the main street.  Half of Unity is dying and the other half is dead.  Take a look:

When is the last time you saw a phone booth?

Orv's next project?

These people probably moved out of the old house into the school bus:

Another project?

Well, tomorrow I head for the barn.  Still some Good Roads to ride, but all of them pretty familiar.  Carolyn tells me there is rain predicted for the last part of the ride, but I can handle that.