Not another Mustang restoration thread.

I had a reality check moment today. I am just about at the point of admitting my Mustang will not be done this summer. I had some minor surgery yesterday that will keep me from doing much for the next two weeks, after which I must make a round trip driving from Chicago to Victoria, BC (4,800 miles). I figure that is a minimum of two weeks and possibly three, which takes me to the middle of April. I still have about 2 weeks of work left on my garage project before I'm really digging into the Mustang project, (I'm very slow).
I will be a grandfather in August, if everything goes according to plan, and I must go back to Victoria then and see the new kid and help my daughter and her husband move back to the USA.
That doesn't leave a lot of time to work on the Mustang. I have considered throwing it together and using it this year and making the overhaul next winters project, but I hate to do stuff twice. We will see, I can hardly bear the thought of not having a ski capable boat on the lift this year.

turningpoint84 wrote: Free rides in mine when i get up there haha. John, have you considering flying over driving?

Thanks for the offer, I would love a ride. One of the spring projects is to build a guest dock up north so it is easier for people to visit by boat.

I usually fly to Victoria, but I am driving there because my daughter is giving us one of her beagles. It is too much for her with the new kid coming, and my wife misses her beagle Sandy, who died last halloween. My daughters has two beagles. The one she is giving us, eV (Electronvolt) is special needs and is very fearful of strangers / strange places. My vet has told me it is very possible she would not survive the flight as luggage. eV is a little to large to carry on. She is very cute and I have a lot of fun with her. She loves Manny Waters and the 'toon. Riding on it is her favorite thing, with running around in the woods a close second.

eV



eV at leisure

I am feeling a little down because I won't have my Mustang done this year. My garage project is finally wrapping up so I can begin some work again soon. I needed to listen to a little music to perk up my spirits.
Music by the Radical Bumpsticks

No, the Mustang is at my Chicago home. I would love to see yours sometime, but I believe it is in Ohio. If I can just get this garage finished I can spend some time up north. Didn't you say you wouldn't be in MW until early August?

I will be up 7-3 to 7-13. Give me a pm when it's good.

Sorry I should have clear, I'll be up 8-3 to 8-11.

Damn, i guess next year?

The garage is nearly done and the time is nearing to dig back into the Mustang, probably around the first of November. I am apprehensive because of the de-lam problem with the stringers. I wish I had more fiberglass knowledge and experience. I have done several boats before, but not to the standards I see from some here.
I will know what I need to do when I cut the de-laminated glass off of the stringers. I am prepared for the worst. I am curious, does anyone here have a boat near this age where the glass has not delaminated from the stringers?

UPDATE;
I was ready to ship my distributor to Mallory for the rebuild / electronic conversion today and I called tech support again because I forgot to tell them it was a RR distributor. The guy wanted the model # and I told him it was an L445. He told me there is no such model and it must be a YL445. I explained it was a Mallory dual point modified by Holman Moody into a single point distributor by removing the second set of points and putting the condenser in their place. That was where the help ended. The guy told me he was very familiar with Holman Moody and they would rebuild it to original specs with points, but their electronic ignition would not fit in my L445 and they would not try to make it fit. I have no idea why because I believe the cases are the same aluminum casting as the YL445. He told me that Prestolite was now part of Accell Performance Group and they have sold the marine division and would give me no more information about the buyer or anything else.
I called Summit and they referred me to the Pertronix Tech Center. Great guys there. I talked to Paul Rogers who was very knowledgeable about Holman Moody and had met Lee Holman several times. Paul asked for good digital photos and within an hour I had an answer. Two of their units fit my distributor.
ML181 and 9ML181 The 9ML181 fits entirely under the distributor cap so no one knows that bit of technology is lurking in your original looking distributor, well, unless you post a distributor conversion thread here.
Maybe this will help someone else.
Pertronix 9ML181

John,

The correct part number would be a ML-181 or a 9ML-181 for the Ignitor II
version. Either one will work fine.

Thank you,
Paul Rogers
Pertronix Performance Products
Technical Dept
909-547-9056

Tell me more Gary.

I am soliciting opinions.
I expect to disassemble the instrument panel over the week end and send the gauges in to be freshened up next week. The wiring, while functional, is not very neat. Some gauges have up to 5 ring connectors on one terminal. It also seems to be predominately crimp connectors. I prefer solder on with shrink tube. I understand that it is acceptable to change wiring for safety on real classics, but what is the consensus on changing mine from original and making it very neat? With multiple ring connectors on one terminal it would be easy to develop a bad connection. I want this thing bulletproof reliable when it's done. I have a complete spare harness if I should need any matching wire. I understand this is no Chris Craft Cobra, but I love it all the same and my daughter's will get it with the cottage some day, so this is for the long term.
THIS IS MY LAST BOAT OVERHAUL!!!

Since Pete didn't voice any originality concerns, I'd take that as permission, John!

I certainly wouldn't have any heartburn over making the changes you describe. I'd actually opt for all new wiring AND connectors- all of the dashes I've torn into have a lot of corrosion at all the connectors that extends up into the wires a ways. All new, marine tinned with soldered and shrink tubed connectors is the way to go. A few buses (ign and ground at a minimum) would reduce the number of daisy chains. Just stick with the existing color conventions and no one will be the wiser.

I have my dash off at the moment too and am also replacing and tidying up the wires. I totally feel your pain. I was quite surprised by the amount of exposed wire between the shrink wrap and actual end of the wire.

Those adhesive lined heat shrink connectors are pretty nice... but nothing is going to make a better high reliability electrical connection than a proper solder joint. Combined with a high quality, adhesive lined shrink tube, that's the best option. The shrink tube takes a lot of the mechanical strain off the solder joint. Ive put connections like this through some pretty extreme environments (much more so than a marine environment) and they hold up really well.

If you cant solder (well), then the adhesive filled connectors are a good option!

Gary, I'd like to see the article about crimping as it relates to L-M. Soldering and appropriate strain relief seems to be the norm in my experience with aero/defense. Ive subjected solder/heat shrunk connections to some pretty wild environments!

[QUOTE=TRBenj] Gary, I'd like to see the article about crimping as it relates to L-M. QUOTE]

I cannot find it now Tim but here is another interesting one. If you google crimping vs soldering it's like asking what is the best oil to use,it was just in something I stumbled on to. In our use I don't think it much matters,I soldered mine,and so far as you know,it matters more on what battery you use