Dad's 66 GT. He never really drove it, but gave me the keys when he was activated for Desert Storm so I'd have a car. When we put it back in the garage (next to my 68 fastback that never ran right) it was running pretty rough, and I honestly thought I'd killed it. With some more experience now I know that just running rough doesn't mean much but back then I thought I'd killed my dads car.  Dad on the other hand wasn't worried and just kept it stored in the garage. Move it into storage at the Air Force Academy while he build his new place in Co Springs, and after finding the guys in the storage lot stole the gas cap and broke one of the mirrors he build a 4 car behind his new place, towed it over, and parked it again.


Dad has cancer now. Small cell lung cancer which is a real bitch. It's in his brain now, and I know we don't have much time. I can't do much about the cancer, but I can hopefully get this old pony running to take my dad for a few great rides in it. He's said he wants to go to the Grand Canyon one more time when he comes back from Maryland, so maybe this will be our ride.


This is her in the back garage under a layer of dust and mouse turds. I'd already pulled the boxes off the hood that god only knows who put there:





When I put her back in the garage the paint was nearly flawless.  I really couldn't appreciate at the time just how wonderful the condition of the car was. I was always worried about my 68 fastback, which never ran and when dad moved to build his new place he didn't have room for and gave away to the dad of one of my younger sisters friends.


When I tried to move her out of the back garage one of the tires burst from dry rot, and another had already gone that way. I took the E-T mags that are in the pic above, got some cheapy new tires on them and put those on for now. The GT gas cap is apparently one of those things people love to steal.  It was torn off the car while in storage at the Academy.


This is her a little more cleaned up, new (but cheap) shoes, and in the front garage.  I've been driving 100 miles down to the Springs the last few weekends to work on it:




You can see the mirror that was broken is storage.




Pony interior. It's all in really amazing shape.  The dash pad is split sadly, and the driver side seat frame is cracked.  Dad actually swapped the driver side seat with the passenger. Hopefully I'll fix that this weekend after another trip to CO Mustang.







289 bbl, power steering, front disks, and an autolite 4300 carb.  Even the guys at Colorado Mustang were surprised when I asked for a carb rebuild kit for it. They didn't think they'd even had 4300s, but to the best of my knowledge nothing has ever been changed on this car.  It has the factory tab on it, been meaning to do some research and make sure its accurate.


I talked to my dad about the condition of the engine. Missing plug wires, vacuum lines blocked off, air cleaner removed, etc. Somebody had clearly been trying to start the car.  He told me he'd never had anyone look at it, and he hadn't done it.  He just stored it, and was saving it to leave to me.  Our assumption again was guys at the storage lot. Real pros there lemme tell ya.


During that exact conversation is when we saw the first symptoms that something was wrong. He wasn't able to say what he wanted to say about the car.  If I changed the subject he could get everything out okay, but with certain things he would stammer and couldn't put the words together or wouldn't remember some words altogether. We later found out it was due to several new spots in his brain and his brain being swollen overall causing pressure.





I'll update this soon.  Just really wanted to get the post started.  I always thought of this as "dad's car" so didn't focus much on it when I was a teenager. Plus it was a coupe! Who cares about a coup when you got a fastback with a giant X spraypainted on the roof! (I was a huge Dukes fan and did that when I was like 8 ).  Now I can see this car for what it really is, and it takes my breath away.


'Lot more pics coming and some of the details on what I've done to get her ready to run!

Sorry about your father's cancer. That sucks, but that car will always remind you of him when he's gone. Cars are good like that.

Subscribed for further updates.

I've got a '65 sitting in my barn for my son when he gets old enough to want to put it back on the road.  Good luck with your project.

Looks like a good straight car to start with. Is there any rust in frame or shock towers?

Great project keep us informed.

Tagging to follow this. I'm sorry to hear about your father.

Wish I was closer.  I know a thing or two about these cars. I would roll up my sleeves and get it going so you could take Dad on that Canyon trip.  Sorry to hear about his condition. Being a car guy, I understand what this would mean to him.  
As far as that 4300, they didn't come out until '67.  Do you have the date code of the cars build?  It's a slight possibility that one made it out early. My '66 GT (fastback) has an Oct 25th build date and it came with the 4100.

Call these guys

I wish I was closer . I would say stick plug wires on it make sure the fluids are full and see if it will fire up .

If you post a picture of or just the numbers off of the carb tag and the engine tag (should be attached to the intake near the coil), I have a Ford Master Parts Catalog from that vintage and I can tell you what it says.   If you post the first 5 digits of the VIN and the date code off of the door tag, we can see if the manufacture dates of those components make sense with the manufacture date of the car.


Engine Tag Example -- http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/390933613318-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

Carb Tag Example ---  http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/attachments/classic-tech/115614d1289793404-1966-carb-tag-decode-needed-carb-tag-001.jpg

Door Tag Example --  http://www.mustangdreams.com/Deal%20or%20No%20Deal_files/image032.jpg

What kind of transmission does the car have?  The carb should have kickdown rod linkage if you have a C4 automatic and have no such lever if it is a standard transmission.

I have considered building a 65 or 66.  I would change the front suspension to a TCI and drop in an LS engine.  



If you really aren't sure of the condition when parked, pull  the plugs and run a compression check to see where you stand.  It will save you a lot of time.

Replace that ground wire on your battery. It is shot.  Replace that fuel hose an filter too. I usually start them with an electric fuel pump and a gas can until I can replace the fuel lines and the tank.

Buy some MSD plug wires on Amazon.  Best price almost anywhere and to your house in two days.

Yeah I've read a few articles on the different carbs, and was pretty surprised to see it was a 4300.  The build was Nov of 65 if I remember right.  Don't have the VIN next to me.

 

 
I have a pic of the carb tag.  Made sure to get that last weekend.  I'll post that when I get home.  I can't get to arfcom from work, and the jobrelated site wont let me post for some reason, just disappears into space.


If it was lat 66 then I'm not sure whats going on.  The data from the VIN is:

That makes it a relatively early 1966 production year car and odds are, that is not the original carb  

Beautiful survivor car you have. Sorry about your Dad.

I would drain the oil, maybe even pull the valve covers to make sure nothing has nested inside.  Fill it with new oil/filter, prime the oil pump to get pressure. Replace the plugs and add a couple squirts of oil into the combustion chambers.  New wires, points, cap.  Rebuilding the carb is a good idea and I would bet a lot of problems will be varnished fuel related.  Replace the fuel filter and rubber fuel line (dry rotted or not, would suck to blow one and risk a fire).  Shouldn't there be a fuel filter in the line before the carb? Drain the gas tank if you can and add new fuel. New battery and see if it will turn over and fire. PCV valve looks to be missing (pass side valve cover). Best of luck!

Don't forget to check the points. Many old crappy running cars just need the points adjusted.

Let's give this another shot.  I think when I submit through jobrelatedstuff it sends to ar15 and the security filter nabs it...

SURVEY SAYS...  Holy crap it worked!  My work is really annoying... I wanted to buy some 1911 grips today, BAM vz grips is of course blocked.  I can go to Midway all day because theyre a customer.... grrrr Okay I'm rambling.  


So here is what I've done so far:

-Sprayed down the car.  Not a full wash, but wanted to get all the critter crap off of it, and whatnot.  The interior still needs some serious love.

-Drained the oil.  Honestly I was surprised anything came out and it wasn't just sludge. Looked pretty good all things considered.  Changed the filter.  Added 4 quarts of 10-30 and about 1 quart of Mystery Oil. Oil pan is pretty dented up, so this week I also ordered a new oil pan.

-Pulled the driver side valve cover.  Actually looks really good, and the head (what I could see anyway) looked amazing.  I'll pull both again this weekend to check, get pics, and replace the gasket with rubber. I'm really starting to believe the odometer is accurate, but total guess.  Theres no way this car has 100k + on it though. Oh yeah, car has the factory rally pac too! Never had any idea how hard those are to find!


-Pulled off the driver side mirror after closing the door and having it bang the side of the car for about the 5th time. I have a replacement, but haven't gotten to it yet.


-Primed the pump with a crappy cordless and a primer I got from Amazon.

-Pulled all the plugs.  Unreal, 6 "Atlas" plugs, and 2 motorcraft I think?  Was getting pretty nervous at this point.  I had to take 2 of them out with a breaker bar and #4 fought fought me the whole way even after soaking with penetrating oil overnight.  I'm a pretty impatient guy, and I've broken countless things in my life just trying to get it done.  Tried to be as patient as I could with these because I know how bad it is when you strip the holes out, but so far so good.  *Crap! I thought I took a pic of all the plugs once I'd pulled them.  They were all pretty blackened.  I'll get a pic this weekend*

Here's one of the plugs:


- Put a small amount of Mystery oil into each cylinder. I read a bunch of different things that suggested this to make sure the dry rings didn't score anything. Couldn't get the engine to turn at the balancer before that, but a couple hours after I was able to turn it with the fan pretty easily. Something felt like it was dragging, like it was too hard to turn, but more on that later.  Interestingly while I was doing this some gas came spurting out of the gas line which is disconnected from the carb. That blew my mind too, must have just been sitting in the line because the tank sounds extremely empty.

-Put in some Motorcraft plugs. I'm fully expecting these to get fouled pretty fast so nothing fancy. These all went back in pretty easy.  When I go to put a good set in I'll use some anti seize. That okay to do on plugs?

-Picked up a new battery and new cables. Picked up and Ultima yellow, there's alot of equipment around here and I read this thing is good for like 200 start attempts or something. Got the battery in and was able to turn on lights and whatnot but nothing from the ignition. Still not positive what's going on there, but thinking its the solenoid maybe?  Fortunately I bought a remote starter switch (sometimes when sitting at a keyboard I have some good ideas ahead of time ) and that got the motor to turn over.  Almost had to change my drawers after that! So damn excited!

-Like I said before it was clear somebody was monkeying around in the thing, so no clue on the timing.  Fortunately I noticed the apparently lost or took the distributor hold down bolt and tab and got a new tab from Colorado Mustang. Ended up stealing the bolt off my sisters 65 coupe which she is letting rot in the yard.  I'll get a pick of that this weekend too. Now I understand the premise of timing, but never actually timed a car without help.  A few youtube vids later I was at it like a pro. Found TDC on the compression stroke and set the distributor.

I'll get of this up tomorrow.  Some new stuff should be delivered tonight, so tomorrow night I'll drive the 100miles back down there for the weekend.

OH! Carb Tag!


TO BE CONTINUED...

Till then here's my assistant Abby.  She mostly just came in occasionally to check on me before going to sleep on the porch or trying to dig up mole and rabbit holes:

So if I'm reading the carb code right it's from '67.  That's pretty frustrating, wonder what happened there.

Welp, I guess I still have the kit for it.  I've heard they are a pain, so if I somehow screw it up I wont feel so bad about just ordering a Holley. ;)  I'll have to find the correct carb and run that down.

So question for those in the know....  I'll need to get the head reworked right?  Get the seats hardened for unleaded? I've heard I should get them ported and polished at the same time.  Are they able to do that with the intake as well?  Don't really want to use an aftermarket, but I also dont want to wash that effort on the OE heads if the benefit will be negated by the intake.

If you screw up the carb let me know I might have a few of them.



 

The carb is definitely from a 1967 Mustang.  Did you find the engine tag?  What is the casting date from the intake?  I would personally pull that motor and set it aside.  I would build a roller cam 302 with GT40 heads which are found on 1996-early 1997 Explorer motors as well as on the open market for cheap.  I would stay away from the GT40P heads found on later 1997-2001 Explorers as the header selection sucks for your Mustang due to the unique plug angle.  You can dress it to look like the original 289 if you wish.  You can even get 3 bolt dampeners for the 302 so that you can use the original pulleys.

Really sorry to hear about your dad.  Let me know if you can use this, and I will send it to you.  There's a lot of tech info, diagrams, torque specs, troubleshooting, etc.  There is a Ford chapter with Mustang info.





 

Check under the carpet too, that's where both of mine are rusting.

I have a bunch of spare parts for mine so if you need something shoot me a pm and I'll see what I can do for you.

Sounds like you are doing good

If all your plugs are that sooty, chances are it was running rich which can make them run like crap.  Iv'e had them do that when the float valve sticks.  Again, stick with the basics. Carb rebuild, fuel filter, timing, points, plugs, wires.  Is that 289 set up for electronic ignition or points?

Yes, anti sieze is ok on plug threads.  Just a dab will work.

For the no start condition, check the solinoid on the pass shock tower.  You can by-pass it by jumping the two side terminals (on my old 72 Mustang, I used two long screwdrivers to make the jump) and it should turn over.  Check the wiring there as well as I can see a few in-line splices

Thanks for all the tips!!



I appreciate the info.  I'd always heard when I was younger that if you wanted to use unleaded you needed to harden the seats or you'd tear them up. Sounds like I'm not the only one to think that :)

My exp level isn't great. Hoping to change that. I haven't been into this stuff since I was a teenager to be honest. Don't get me wrong, still love the muscle cars, but didn't have my own garage/tools and a project all at the same time until now and obviously I have a bit of motivation.  Really bums me out it took this long, I'm really having some fun with it.


Thanks! Gonna give it a shot.  I know I have a holley (from my 68) kicking around someplace, but prolly way to big for this.


I'll see if I can find those this weekend.  The plan is to get it running for now, but I'll probably do a full restore/rebuild in the next couple of years.


Thanks! Really appreciate all the kind words. Just hoping I can make the old guy smile when he sees it!  The guys at Colo Mustang actually hooked me up with a reprint of the original shop manual, but thanks much!

Thanks!  I was planning to pull everything BUT the carpet, but you make a good case to go ahead and pull that to check!

So far I only see some rust on the quarters above the wheels.  Starting to bubble a bit which concerns me.  There is rust around the gas tank in the trunk, so may have been holding water.  I'm going to replace the tank this weekend, so we'll see what it looks like with the tank out.





It's points right now.  After turning it over and getting it to partially start (just on starter fluid) I pulled the dist again and found the shaft is almost completely seized.  I ordered a Pertronix (looks just like the OE) and will be putting it in tomorrow.  I'm wondering if the solenoid is okay. I was able to use a remote switch on it and it seemed to work, so I'm wondering if it might be the starter switch or wiring.

I'll update y'all later this weekend :)

Looks pretty good ,.

Hey all!  Planned to post something over the weekend, but got a little crazy down there.


Saturday
So, got the new distributor in which seemed to help.  Car wanted to start with some starter fluid, but just wasn't staying running.  At one point had it going a good 20 seconds by continually spraying in fluid.  Carb was dripping, but that was about it so probably toast or clogged. Planned to take a look at rebuilding it that night.

Filled up the brakes bled them out.  Seems to be holding so far, so some good news there at least for the moment. I'll do some more testing there later, when it matters, and probably replace at least the pads and shoes if not rebuild them completely (yet).

Got the Fuel tank out finally.  Looks like when it was in storage part of it must have been outdoors.  The weather stripping was all dried out and there was rust on and all around the tank when I got it out.  Still seems solid, so I'll probably sand off what I can and do the rust coverter/primer thing when I get back down there. New gas tank and sender didn't come with the locking ring, so unless I wanted to spend a ton of time screwing around with the old one that had to wait.



Sun
After going through the diagrams for the 4300 I can see why they pissed people off.  There is no way in hell I am gonna be able to get this thing done anytime soon.  I'll still rebuild it at some point maybe just for grins, but since its not the original anyway I am considering it out of action.  Hoping to build another engine (if I manage to buy a 68 soon) so I ran down to Pep Boys first thing and bought a Holley 1860 600CFM.

Got the carb, new filter, and my fancy 2 gallon gas gan/gas tank hooked up.  After trying to start it for awhile found we had the coil wire loose, and also found a couple different wires were splitting and either shorting or just not passing enough current. Then we got her to fire up!!! Ran it for about 2 mins before the oil spilled on the exhaust started to smoke a bit and shut it down... Didn't start again the rest of the day.


Don't mind the hideous giant clear filter.  That was there for when I hooked up the line and tank to make sure things stayed okay.

Just about certain at this point that I've got some wiring issues.  Also not sure if the resistor wire is still in there, but I didnt see a ballast resistor so the coil might not be getting a full 12V.  Of course I didn't bring my meter, because that would just be smart now wouldn't it?



Also after my 6'8 260+lb brother in law sat in the thing it sank to the wheels and never came back.  No clue whats going on there yet.  Springs?  



Didn't have enough time or energy to take the wheel off to look, though now I wish I had.  If I have to order them next week it'll just be another week to wait to get down to work on it again and that'll be cutting it close to when I'm expecting my dad to come out from MD.  


Thinking about getting this one:
Starter front steering and suspension kit

With these springs:
Contour Coils Springs 1" lowering

Though I would prefer these (they aren't in stock and show like a 5 day shipping time)
Scott Drake Progressive Rate Springs


A buddy that thankfully knows SOMETHING about suspension offered to help me out with it, but any input on what to get or do with it is appreciated.

As of today I picked up and/or ordered the following:
New Leaf Springs + Hardware
New Scott Drake Shocks
Wiring harnesses: engine/gauge, front headlights, and alternator.

Strip caulk to seal the gap around the new gas tank
New fog light bezels
new hardware (screws gaskets et al) for the gas tank and sender.
New "HI-PO" Fuel pump (just in case)
New stainless fuel lines from tank to carb + new mounting hardware
New wiring for the Rally Pac (It's never worked and I know my dad will love to see that working!)
Voltage Regulator


I also emailed Terry at Classic Mustangs in castle rock who does everything end to end including full rotisserie type restorations. You have to really love a car to go that far!  It's about 15k to completely strip everything out of the car, strip all the paint, correct the whole body, repaint every inch and put her back together.   He said he can do the body work and factory paint for about 5k.  Now it's all about how long it would take to decide if I want to bother with paint in the near term. Don't think I can swing the full 15 now as I'm doing this all on credit and at an emergency pace, but I might persuade my sisters to help out with the paint.

Thanks again for all the kind words and feedback.  It feels pretty good to share this someplace where I know people will understand.  Again any tips or knowledge bombs you can drop on me are worth their weight in gold.  I couldn't have done this 20 years ago, but thank god for google, youtube, and an analytical brain

My sister came down to see how it was going this weekend and cried when I showed her the thread and comments.

Also, I got the PMs and thank you guys too! Haven't had a chance to reply (can't reply from Job Related stuff) but I will!


Bonus: Here's the '68 Fastback my dad gave away when I was working in L.A. and he moved to the springs. I've forgiven him for it, but it was damn hard.  Wheels look familiar?

ONLY BUY MOOG SUSPENSION PARTS!  Give Shaun at "Street or Track" a call.

http://www.streetortrack.com

Good luck with the Drake parts.  His stuff is hit or miss.  He makes some beautiful restoration parts, and he puts out some real turds. Do not use his parking brake cables. He uses the wrong size cables and the forward cable is too thick to make the bend radius around the pulley.
FWIW, here's my '66 GT Fastback.

This thread makes me want to start stang obsession 2.0...


Set a goal for a 65, 67, 69 fast back.   White, silver, black.

 
Wow...  I can't even imagine the time that took.  Did you do it all yourself?


Absolutely beautiful!

Also real quick those are the wrong lugnuts for those wheels . I am pretty sure they should have a shank and not a taper .

Yep.  About 16 years with a 7 year hiatus thrown in while life got in the way.  Painted it in my garage, did all the bodywork in the garage, built the engine in my workshop.  Covered the seats in my garage too.  Only thing I installed "used" was the 9" center section and it bit me in the ass.  Hopefully this fall/winter I'm going to pull it and get it rebuilt.(I don't do gears)  I also installed a 4 link coil over in the rear and the solid hiem joints transfer all kinds of noise into the chassis.  I've got to rework the upper control arms with some isolation built in this time.

That's pretty damn impressive! I couldn't imagine the body work.

My 68 had quarters pretty much made of Bondo. That ruined body work for me.  Can't even stand the thought of doing it myself anymore. You have to teach yourself all of that or is that the type of work you do?

Kudos man.  

Tip - from someone who has owned way too many project cars - don't get ahead of yourself.  It's easy to do, even when you're not rushing.


Address the engine / drive train first.  Get it running.  Then move on from there.  Really easy to get bogged down, if not a bit intimidated, by everything you think needs to get done.


Like someone else said - spark, fuel and air. That's what an engine needs.  Address those first.


Never was a big Ford fan, but the fastback 67-68 always got me in the feels.  My first ride was a beat up '67 SS Chevelle...my buddy in high school had a K-Code 65 4 speed Fastback. Wasn't super fast, but man it was fun to drive.

I think your right.



 

 

Easy fix.

Wish I could find the pictures (lost on our last move somewhere) of my buddy's GTX.  He got it cheap.  Almost zero rust (AZ car) but their wasn't a straight fucking panel on that car.  I don't think I could have fucked it up worse with a ball peen hammer and a weekend of free time.  He jokes he lost his fingerprints sanding that thing.

 

Well, truth be known, I was a paint and body man in my previous career. I even had a small shop at one time. No business experience and got interested in dating a girl I met.  Still with the girl 26 years later, but gave up the hard work in the body shop.  When I started painting the car I realized why I gave it up.  Once you start, you are committed to finishing. It was a week of hell painting it.

The painting part never bothered me.

 

It was the hours of fucking getting the thing ready for paint, guide coats - then wet sanding all the fucking runs, drips and insects out of the clear....

Well I got the word back from the restoration guys.  If I want "street paint" meaning just the outside paint and bodywork (but at factory + condition) I'd be lookin at about 5k and 3-6 months, so that's going to have to wait for a bit.

Well I got a hold of some guy at E-T.  Surprisingly they are still around! Said I needed the Unilugs with the offset washers.  


I'm gonna have to refinish them at some point, but these wheels are temps anyway.  The wheels have a brushed/blasted look originally.  I know 2 of them have been painted/repainted at some point. They are off my '68 fastback, but I needed something to put tires on for now.  Can't find all 4 of the original wheels from the GT, but they had some fancy ass hub caps.

Anyone remember E-T Mags?  Sounds like they were a thing back in the day?

I have to admit, except for the rushed pace I am really enjoying working on it.  I've been looking at '68 Fastbacks alot lately, and I think it's pretty much a matter of time at this point. Can't find a good rolling chassis so far.  I really wanted to just do a mild resto mod to one, but with the lack of bodies (dont want a new manufacture or a converted coupe... they're converting coupes now?!?! WTF?!) so I may just go with a GT which is even more.

I totally agree on the basics, but once I was able to get it to run steadily the other day I feel I'm in pretty good shape there. I really think it's the intermittent spark biting me in the ass right now, and I'm hoping replacing the engine wiring harnesses this weekend will resolve that. Now of course I'm stuck with what appears to be a collapsed suspension, so to keep things timely I already caved and ordered several of the parts for that.  Upper and lower control arms, new sway bar with poly bushings, spring saddles/perches, spring isolators, tie rod bushings, 1" lowered GT springs (really hung up between those and the progressives), and new leaf springs with shackles etc. Most of this stuff wont show up until next week, so I may trailer her back to Denver this weekend, and work on getting those in next week sometime.

Pandoras box has been opened

You will keep finding things that need cleaned, fixed or repaired and before you know it half the car will be residing in zip lock bags and you will have parts jammed into every crevice in the garage and your credit card will be maxed out lol. Mine started out by trying to straighten a headlight trim ring to fit the fender. Ended with the car stripped down and blasted.

Sorry about your dad.

Years ago, my '67 Chevelle started to make a rubbing noise - it annoyed me.  Figured out it was one of the body mounts / bushings.  Started messing with it after school.  By the time the sun came up the next morning, the front clip was in the corner of the shop, drive train next to it and the body was off the frame.

 

Drove different beaters for almost a year before it was back together.

Keep in mind that the pink wire from the ignition switch to the coil is a resistor wire.  From the switch to the coil, it drops to about 7.5 V.  
You also have a wire from the solenoid to the coil. This is to give the coil a 12V boost when cranking.  When you let go of the key and the switch goes back into the run position, it is then getting the voltage from the pink wire.
Speaking of intermittent ignition, install a new ignition switch. Big issue with intermittent ignitions on these cars.

 

You could use the pink wire to trigger a relay to send 12V to the Pertronics too.

That's not a bad idea.  I've read a couple posts from people doing that, but hadn't looked into it yet.  Thanks!

Now to see if anyone in town has brake parts.... I realize there aren't THAT many of these things driving around anymore, but WOW it's hard to find normal wear parts.