Suspension and front alignment

There are a few drawbacks in Destiny's suspension which have bothered me a while and needed to be reviewed. While the rear suspension with original leafs felt too soft , the front of the car vice versa felt too stiff, with the newly installed Kyb Gas-A-Just shocks. When the rear seat was occupied by my daughters the combination felt unbalanced on the road with the rear hanging even lower.

My thoughts about the ride height were contradictory. On the other hand I'd like to lower the stance and on the other I wanted it to stay up. So I would not mind a 1" lowering suspension, if the suspension would be able to bear the weight.

A couple of words about the KYB Gas-A-Justs which despite their confusing name, are not adjustable. What they are is stiff gas shocks which means that you need a lot of force to push them in. And that means they are good for rough driving. That also means that normal cruising on cobble stone street is not the most comfortable experience. If the shocks do not flex, something else in the car will, causing rattle and shake.

A fellow on FMOC happened to have a set of 1" lowering rear springs and a pair of 1" lowering front coils for 100 EUR when I was making a plan for my suspension update. The price seemed reasonable so I bought them. Though, I decided to replace the rear leafs first and then, after seeing the effect, decide what would be the cure for the front. I also placed an order for softer oil/gas KYB Excel-G shocks (formerly known as KYB GR2) for the front. To start with the project I measured the ride height on all corners from ground via wheel center to top of wheel-flare.

Newly sandblasted pair of 1" lowering
sets next to old stock leaf springs.

After painting the leaves and adding some grease and anti-squeak pads, I clamped them the leaves together and bolted them in. Then I took the measures of ride height which showed that the expected 1" lowering had turned out to be only one centimeter  lowering with the new measure being 66 cm.

Next phase was to test the carrying capacity. By asking my wife and daughters to step in, I repeated the earlier measurements of the ride height with load (sorry, no pictures of this), which resulted that the rear sits 1 cm higher with load than earlier. Test approved.

As the lowering of the rear was less than expected, I only replaced the front shocks, instead of replacing or cutting the coils. After this was done and the car stood on blocks of wood I carried out a DIY toe-in and camber measurement.
 

A variety of KYB shocks for early Mustangs

I made a couple of 4-lug modifications to aluminium bars which I borrowed from a friend of mine. Then they were bolted against the brake drums and attached with two measures after the steering was centered.

And the measures were read on the other side. There was 9 mm difference between front and rear which means that the toe-in is 4.5mm (0.43 degrees). The specs for toe-in are  (min,optimum,max) 1/8"-1/4"-3/8" so mine was near to max. I decided to reduce the toe-in to 3 mm total, which called for turning the tie-rod adjustment sleeves about one full turn altogether.




I had unnecessary big 9mm total toe in within 600mm

Many sources say that front alignment should start by measuring and setting the caster. As that is difficult to d-i-y, and my only target was to see whether we're in the range, I skipped the caster and measured camber by the following methods.

The ruler placed vertical against the drum

A bubble gauge 

With the bubble in the middle measure the
gap on the upper end

I repeated the measurement on both sides of the wheel bearing cap, recorded the average and moved on to the other side. Averages were 11.5 driver side and 7.5 passenger side. I placed the numbers in a trigonometric formula and had my camber in degrees. Mine fell withing the acceptable range and with acceptable difference between each other.

I also paid some time cleaning and painting my rims and had the tires balanced in a local tire shop. Then the tires were bolted in and Destiny was dropped on the floor. Ride height front showed 66.8 cm, which is 1 cm less than with Gas-A-Justs and about 1 cm higher that the rear. So Destiny goes slightly nose-up as these ladies used to when they left the assembly line.

 

I also found a date stamp 047 on the tires which means that this set of GoodYear Spectra M+S's left the factory on the fourth week of 1997.  I may have to consider replacing them after a few seasons.  

 

The test drive proved that Excel-Gs were a good choice for my purposes. Small humps and holes were not felt like with Gas-A-Justs and the overall driving experience was smoother and more comfortable.

Thus the new paint on rims , I'll install the hub caps back.

The season summary

The driving season 2013 is almost finished. It's time to sum it up. This spring I set the target to hit more miles than what I did the previous year. Destiny was in good shape, excluding the fact that she was too thirsty for gas. I checked my notes and the start season date appeared to be in mid-April. Since that we've gathered 1300 miles with Destiny so far.

RACING

In July we participated the Ford Nationals at Alastaro Circuit. Ford Nationals is an event organized by the FMOC and Ford-Freak-Club-of-Finland where you can test your FoMoCo product on drag&track. The rules of this "race day" are such that there are separate classes for all engine types, one for six cylinder engines as well. As it only costs 5 EUR to drag,  I had to try. Below is video-evidence of what happened. If it makes you laugh, it really was worth it !

OK. The blue Hardtop beat the shit out of Destiny. BUT the driver was one of the volunteer organizers of the event and therefore had not registered himself in as a competitor. Instead I challenged him in the line-up and he wanted to check my call. Anyhow, driving outside the race, no "official" time for him. For some reason my time is not updated in the result sheet, but like the video confirms, it was 20.393. I found specs for '65 3-speed which talks about 19.3 s drag time, so that's not bad at all.

CRUISING

There are two cruising events to participate every time when it is possible.

Helsinki Cruising Night occurs every first Friday of the month, basically around the year, but actually only when the weather allows. Often criticized to be more of a parking event than a cruising event, due to the small area in market square, which makes people to stay instead cruise. A lot of tourists pass by and they're usually surprised when they see all the cars there. Definitely this is a place to go if you got something to SHOW. Google for 'Stadin Cruising' for pictures from the event.

Vantaa Cruising at the Heureka Science Center's parking lot is my "home-town cruising" and known for it's 'drag strip' where a lot of spectators come to watch the rubber burn on public street. This is an event to GO and occurs every 3rd Friday of the month. Search for 'Vantaa Cruising' on Youtube.

Fast food and gasoline in Helsinki in September

TROUBLE SHOOTING

There has been three problems that were solved during the season. 

• carburetor
• starter motor
• heater core

 For the rest it has been normal things like checking the oil levels and filling her up. 

FUEL ECONOMY

Destiny's fuel economy has been lousy. I have earlier checked spark plugs, ignition and timing and many other things in order to minimize the fuel consumption. Now it seems like the replacement of the carburetor and improved vacuum has solved the problem. I drained the gas tank in spring and since that I had driven 1113 miles and filled 207 liters of gasoline until the other day when I felt the tank was low, but not empty.

Miles	Kms	Fuel liters	Liters/100km	MPG
1113	1791	207	11,6	20,4

Now there are the numbers I've been searching for ! And this is the overall average including driving the highway at 50-55 mph and cruising in the city.

AWARDS AND TROPHIES

Did you check the above mentioned results from the drag race ?  The other day I received a package via mail and here it is. First trophy for winning the class of 4-6 cyl. engines. I am proud of Destiny, despite being the only participant in the class.

PLANNING THE FUTURE

Little by little Destiny has become - perfect may not be the right word - but sort of complete. The tires still need to be renewed and other small things here and there. But in overall, I can not make her significantly better anymore. So I've started to keep my eyes open for a new project, which seems to be hard to find. But that's worth an other post.

Heater Core once again

Imagine a warm and nice summer day, cruising along the seashore for a cup of coffee in a nice cafe (overpriced but you don't care 'cause this is the day you've been working so hard for) with your wife sitting aside. "It was me who rebuild this car and it's my wife sitting here next to me".

Then there are a couple of drops, then more dripping and finally the coolant almost pouring out of the heater core and you know that no good thing can last long. And here, on the left is the reason for my ruined day. It is the the low-cost aluminium heater core that I purchased from NPD when the original gave up three years ago. I do not know whether it is made in Mexico or in China but I do know that it is of inferior quality. Do not buy one !

On the right in the above picture is the original style core which is about to go in.  Hecho en Mexico, said the sticker on it. Note the differences on the structure and location of the water inlets. I this case it wasn't the inlet that failed anyhow. It was the core tubing that leaked. The newer has more openings to let the air flow through.

The case itself has been fixed earlier so this time it only to clean it...

... and to re-package it.

I tried to place the hose clamps in such a position that the hoses can be replaced without removing the case. Remember to connect the wires before pushing the case back into the firewall. It's difficult, if not impossible, to do later.

It went in easily (I've done it so many times before) and gives more warm air now.

Starter Motor

The other day, as we were driving in Helsinki to participate the Cruising night at Helsinki Market Square we got jammed in traffic for a while. Suddenly Destiny's engine died, exactly here. When I tried to crank it, only a slight klick was heard from the starter motor. OK, my friend has 550 hp in his '67 Fastback so, thus the fact that his car remained in his garage,  he qualified for pushing Destiny off the street. First we thought that the starter only had overheated and therefore wouldn't like to co-operate, but after waiting for it to cool down no change was seen. I remembered that the power connector on the starter had not been in the best shape so when the power cord was slightly touched when turning the key, Destiny fired-up again.

I somehow get nervous if my car stops in the middle of the city. I checked what USParts had in stock and found that they had a re-manufactured starter waiting for me. As a member of FMOC, I was able to obtain it the following Monday 9:00 AM for 95 EUR. It's unbelievable how easy and affordable it turned out once again.

The connector of the starter on the left is hurt

After having checked that what I had (C5 AF-11131-A) was similar to what I had gotten (D1 AF-11001-AA) and as they very much resembled each other the newer one was installed and the engine was cranked. Started nicely.

Ford has made some improvements to the structure during the  years

The test drive was carried out next day to Mobilist Event in Vääksy. A couple of shots of Mustangs from there.

Holley 1940 1V carburetor

Destiny has suffered from lousy gas/mileage. Actually it is not the cost of gasoline (1.60 EUR per liter currently) that bothers me rather than the thought that there is something wrong with the engine if too much gas is spent. I already had replaced the distributor, spark plugs and wires, fixed the ignition lock pigtail. The fuel lines and rubber hoses were checked for leaks. The Holley/Autolite 1940 D0PF-K 1V-carburetor has been cleaned and tuned for many times. Actually, there are not so many things to tune in it. It only has idle screw, and choke adjustment. I figured that there must be vacuum leaks somewhere. The leaks would cause that there is not enough vacuum needed to keep power valve closed. In this Holley the ported vacuum operates so that if the vacuum drops (like it does in heavy acceleration) the power valve opens and gives more fuel for the venturi. When the vacuum is available, it keeps power valve closed and the fuel flows through the main jet only. I think my power valve never closed. As I had checked the operation of the power valve itself, the reason had to be vacuum leak in throttle body or elsewhere.

Finally, I made my mind to replace the old carb with a re-manufactured one. I contacted http://www.carbsonly.com/ which soon replied and told that they have "an excellent quality re-manufactured 1 barrel Holley carburetor for the 1965 ford mustang". So I took the chance and ordered it. Six days later the carb arrived to Helsinki customs office where I collected it. Excellent quality was promised and to my ( I must admit, I was a little suspicious ) surprise quality was delivered.

The ported vacuum for distributor comes from the hole in the center.
This Holley is Motorcraft branded.

Spark Control Valve (SCV) on the left.

Choke pull-off vacuum diaphragm on the right

Nice looking one-barrel carb.

The Carbsonly reported that #63 Main Jet was in there so I didn't have to open the body to check it. (The old one has #61, so there wouldn't be a big difference). So there was nothing left for me other than bolt this beauty on the "log" intake manifold along with the new gasket. The engine fired up nicely as soon as I turned the ignition key. 

The air filter bracket is higher than the "original".

I had measured and compared all the diameters and casting numbers between the "new" and the "original" carb. One mismatch was found when I placed the air filter on the carb. The connecting bracket was about 1 cm higher that the one on the "original". I did not want to exchange them as they are secured with pins tapped in the body. So I "lifted" the air filter by adding another O-ring in the bottom.

One O-ring

Two O-rings

The other O-ring is a little wider in diameter to make it sit snug between the first ring and the upper edge of the barrel. This modification was enough to lift the cleaner to fit. Obviously the "new" carb is from some other car model with different type of air filter case. I think Carbsonly might have been able to exchange it if I had known this. Now this is just a hint for someone who plans on ordering one of these re-manufactured carbs.

One small but meaningful fix needed to be taken care for. The fittings of the ported vacuum. In the below picture they can be seen. I couldn't figure how on earth the lower of the two fittings would be able to seal the tube that goes down to distributor's vacuum advance diaphragm. I had never paid attention to this earlier,but obviously this might have had effect to the vacuum leaks also. The local store did not have appropriate new fittings for the old tube, so what they did was a new tube with new end fittings. Actually they used copper brake line tubes, which is thinner than the original steel tube. As there is not air flow through the tube I thought that it doesn't matter.

Vacuum port fittings

The new carburetor and new vacuum line really made a change in the engine. It idles with a very low RPM now. I do not have a tachometer, but to my ear it makes about 500 revolutions per minute. Sitting in the car you can hardly hear that it is running. The car performs  better on the road than earlier. I only have driven about 200 miles since the replacement, but it seems like we are back to 12-13 liters per 100 kilometers. I still have to give her more miles to see the actual effect on the fuel economy. If we'll stay closer to 10 liters than 20 liters per 100 km, I'll be happy with it.

Convertible Top Replacement Part IV

There were minor jobs to do in order to finish my top replacement project. The header bow was spread some glue on and header seal was stapled on. The seal has two layers so I hit the staples between them and added glue to mate the layers.

Glue, staples and some more glue.

Header bow seal in place.  It should have been a bit more
ahead to make it easier to latch the top closed.

Then the new flat metal listing was slipped in the listing pockets and screwed in to bow #2 and #3. These did fine. Hint: the distance between the pockets can be used as guide when defining the distance between bows when they are stapled to the stay pads. I didn't measure but succeeded by chance.

In my opinion and based on my trial&error, hitting staples to bow #4 are not needed until now, in the very final stage of project.

Followed by wire-on.



I had purchased a set of new weatherstripping for the top. Sadly no pictures available. The hint for the installation is to first install all weatherstripping loosely , then verifying the fit prior to screwing and gluing. The long weatherstrip for header was not perfect fit and needed some modification.

The Epilogue

Below are a couple of shots of what came out of the project. Once I finished with the top replacement the springtime was at hand and I folded the top down where it remained until the end of September when it was too cold to drive with open top.



The inside looks even better live than in pictures

A new car smell

 

The interior quarter trims got new skins

Not sure what is the purpose of that piece hanging there in the rear

The C-pillar area needs one more re-positioning

There are sort of "ears" where the edge turns from vertical to horizontal.
The flaps should have been pulled even tighter. I just can't figure how.



The dents have not straightened after months in the garage.



The end result may not be the best possible but it keeps the rain out and no leaks have been found so far. The rear tacking strip is still waiting for my inspiration for doing it one more time. 

Here are a couple hints if you are planning on replacing your top.

1. I can not recommend EZOn vinyl top for anyone (especially not for '64-'66)
• EZOn is affordable, but not very flexible
• Every time the top is lowered and raised there are dents and lumps somewhere
• More valuable canvas material tops will look better on
2. Consider hiring a pro to do the job for you
• The materials cost me altogether around € 600
• The estimated cost for a pro was from € 1500 to € 2000 including the materials
3. If you are a stubborn DIY man (like I am)
• Have patience ! (which I didn't)
• The more time you spent, the better the result !

Back Seat

When assembling the interior almost three years ago, I installed the seats back in without making improvements as the covers of the seats were in good condition and I was in hurry to get the car on the road. After reading Alex's post of the seat renovation, I finally decided it was time to move ahead in Destiny's To-Do List. The back seat surely is a good place to have sex, especially if you and your partner are mice, as I think the following pictures will prove.

Back part removed

Hog rings cut and seat cover removed

Removing the thin foam

OMG !

There was nothing to be saved of the original cushions and other cloth. I saved the removed parts a while to take measures and pictures. Cleaning the frames thoroughly is a mission impossible unless you can have them sand-blasted. I cleaned as much as I could, then applied some rust-encapsulator and paint.

Rust cleaned and capsulated

Burlap-and-wire was lost so burlap-with-plastic-wire introduced.
I sewed the edges myself !

Some padding to the edges.

30mm of foam followed by two layers of cotton padding



Seat cover hog ringed

 


Tag plate reinstalled



Ready !



Then the same series of events for the seat part. This was, predictably, in even lousier condition. The stuff was dumped in waste bag as soon as it was detached from the frame.



The rear seat upside down



I was hard to see where evereything was attachd as it cracked up instantly.
Here the paper covered listing wires.

Madam, please have a seat !

Cleaned !

I sewed pockets with wire to the burlap and ringed it to the frame.

Listing on both sides of the center



I cut slits to the foam to be able to squeeze hog rings...



...which connect the cover to the listings.
Pay attention to the longitudinal position before hog ringing this. I had to re-do.

The wired edges of the cover didn't make it. I had to pull the cover one more time. My friend did the sewing with nice black leather she had and helped me to install the cover.



The front seats might need similar treatment, but for that I need to order new cushions from NPD, maybe that has to wait until next time or until I will remove them for adding sound insulation under the carpet.