1Apr

Making progress

1 Apr 2018 Eric Hansen

OK, so some progress.

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and spent WAY too much money. Among the many things I brought home were a nice fine-tooth saw & miter box… which came in handy today when I noticed (and realized) that the transmission cast with the 2.3L 4-cylinder was a T-5 manual… not the AOD my Mustang had with its 2.3L. I thought I’d seen an automatic in the kit, and the floor of the car only has a brake & gas pedal… no clutch… and the 5.0L V-8 was indeed cast with the AOD automatic. Cool – so, now I get to use my new saw and miter box.

First – separate the AOD from the 5.0, and the T-5 from the 2.3:

Meanwhile, with the glue and steel paint on the AOD dry, I’ve almost got it to rolling chassis (still need some details underneath like shocks, and paint the backsides of the wheels, and whatnot – but the suspension’s on for the most part):

The floor of the interior is supposed to represent the tan carpet that was in the real car. This kit’s a little odd in that it doesn’t have a proper interior ‘tub’ like most car kits do. Oh well, it’ll look right when it’s all done.

And finally, here we are with the 2.3 mated up to the AOD, as it was in the real car:

Still lots of work to do: gotta wire & plumb the engine, finish up the underside with the rest of the driveline, get the body ready for paint, and get busy on the interior. Most of the work so far has been painting all the little bits, which has become more of a process since after having actually [re]built some cars in my time, now I’m on a quest to get it all ‘right.’

26Mar

1982 Mustang GL tribute model

26 Mar 2018 Eric Hansen

As I’m stuck here at home today with a bad case of the stomach grumblies, I decided to dig out the Mustang Turbo Cobra kit and see what I’m up against. The previous owner had removed a ton of pieces from the sprues, but fortunately it looks like everything’s there. This kit is a proper ’79-’82 Mustang, so it’s a bit more anatomically correct to be a tribute to my first car, an ’82 Mustang GL hatchback.

I started building the 2.3L 4-cylinder (since that’s what came with mine). I’ll put the optional 5.0 V8 together later for a future project.

I already have a model of my first Mustang, but it was built in ’88 or ’89, not even the right kit, and was done in a hurry and quite haphazardly. That kit was an ’84 Silver Anniversary kit I found at Firestone of Alamogordo (of all places), and I found some wheels from some other kit that were kind of close (if 6-lug 15x10s with 12 holes on BFG T/As can be considered “close” to 5-lug 14x7s with 10 holes on Goodyear Eagle GTs, that is). I’d also taken some liberties and added a sunroof and trunk spoiler, which neither came to be since I traded the car in on an ’85 Nissan 4×4 before I got that far. I also didn’t have any rear window louvers on the kit, however the new kit has some so I won’t have to scratch-build them.

I just hope I can find that color again – one of the few things I got right! 😉

So, here we go – here’s my car:


And here’s the kit with my build from back in the day next to the pile of pieces of the new kit:

The biggest thing I’m anxious to correct is the engine compartment – I SO messed up on that first kit. I mean, who paints a radiator hose silver, anyway? LOL!

23Mar

San Angelo Cars & Coffee – 17 Mar 2018

23 Mar 2018 Eric Hansen

OK, so it’s been awhile since I last updated this blog (I keep forgetting about it), and to be honest: not much has changed.  Nothing new and/or exciting has been done to or with the Mustang.

Last weekend, however, I did manage to finally wake up early enough to get over to the local Cars & Coffee monthly gathering at Golden Corral.  It was fun – my pal Gonzo brought 2 of his awesome Camaros (both ’68s) and we had a great time. One of the local TV stations dropped by and did a little feature, to which the Mustang got some air time – OK, so maybe only like about 6 seconds total as a background image, but whatever.  It was Frank’s big TV debut.  Here’s a link to the video: KLST – Cars & Coffee 17 Mar 2018

Afterward, I drove over to Meineke and got the annual safety inspection so I could renew the registration.  The guy at the counter was a little surprised at how long the inspection was taking (it had only been about 15 or 20 minutes) and about then, once of the mechanics came in from garage talking about how awesome the Mustang is and that he needed to get out there and check it out.

Here’s the pic one of the Cars & Coffee guys took and posted:

23Sep

GAFB Car Show 2017

23 Sep 2017 Eric Hansen

So, today’s a bittersweet day. We’re here once again for the Goodfellow AFB Rec Camp Car Show, now called ‘The Ruckus at the Rec Camp,’ and once again, Horny Mike was invited to show up. We had a blast, he’s a cool guy, and it was a great time for everybody… except the Wing Commander wasn’t very impressed with Mike, and I don’t think will be inviting him back. So, that sucks.

The really sucky part of the day is that my pal Jim Eimer is missing from the festivities. He lost his battle with sepsis in August, and now I’m pretty much sittin’ around this car show by myself that’s been one of our favorite annual events for the past 14 or 15 years. I miss Jim, and even though I’m surrounded by friends and even making new ones, it’s just not the same not having he and his Jeep parked in the next slot. Gonna miss ya, Man… but I’m still coming out every year as long as I can to keep the tradition going. Hopefully, we’ll get your Jeep healthy again to win some more awards in the future.

For now though, here are a few shots of the Mustang from the day.

This one was a cool guy who actually bought the awesome 1970 Boss 347 restomod (not a real Boss ‘anything,’ actually) that’s been seen around town for the past several years. Jim would’ve loved that car.

Got a pic with Horny Mike as he was making his rounds.

10Jun

Lion’s Club Balloon Fest / Car Show 2017

10 Jun 2017 Eric Hansen

Despite the heat, I decided to head over to the car show today.  It was in the parking lot of the San Angelo Stadium/Glenn Middle School football field… and there was zero shade to be had.  The Hot Air Balloon Fest was basically cancelled because the winds were blowing too hard to fly, so they were grounded… but we were sure thankful for the breeze.  Frank didn’t win an award this time out, but there were a LOT of cool cars.

Here’s the obligatory poser pic:

And here’s my view for the day (I never get tired of looking at this car).

** Edit:  Something that took about a day to notice after posting on Facebook (and after around 14 months following the initial installation), but apparently my wife was the first and only person to notice that the plates don’t match – they’re consecutive numbers, back to font.  I’m just glad nobody “official” happened to notice… especially, since the current registration sticker (renewal) was still at home (since I’d failed to swap it out when I got it).  Wow.  Livin’ on the Edge!

3Jun

Mach 1 blog back on

3 Jun 2017 Eric Hansen

OK – so I’ve started this blog several times over the years.  I tend to do things to my cars, and even though Facebook is a quick and easy way to update your friends on what’s been going on, the blog is a more permanent record that won’t suffer the fate of Facebook antics.  The reason I’ve gone through so many iterations of this, is because I’ve had a few different hosts, and had to change them a few times.  The first was on my personal webserver when I had a static IP address… which was awesome because I was in complete control.  Then I uploaded to an online host located in Canada, and when they changed their payment methods, it made keeping the automated payments working without hassle too much of a PITA to continue with them.  So, I have recently relocated my website to the current host, which checks off all the blocks for me… except that now I have to backfill everything to repopulate the blog.

Bear with me – this will take awhile… but hopefully I’ll get it all back together so the record of the restoration of my Mustang is once again complete.

Meanwhile, here’s the most current pic of the Mustang taken at the Joe’s Bar & Grill car show in October 2016 – won a Best In Class award.

29May

Back On!

29 May 2017 Eric Hansen

So, I’m going to try this whole blog thing again.  What’s the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over expecting the same result.  This is me trying to start the blog again and again.  I always did think that journals were kind of dumb, but then I restored my Mustang and discovered the fun of taking pictures and recording the happenings along the way.  So, we’ll see how this goes.

I’m also not a big fan of the lame ‘free’ themes that came with WordPress, so I’ll figure something out to make it look cooler.  For now, though… this is the best it gets.

17Dec

Dash Rehab – CHECK. Me Rehab – Underway

17 Dec 2016 Eric Hansen

After the new parts arrived and I finished up getting the clusters back together, I took a few weeks off due to weather and other various things.  Then we got a nice day in December, so I decided to put everything back together.  I’d also managed to trash the interior even further in the course of wiring up the new tach (which is independent of the factory non-tach harness, along with trying to tidy up some of the wiring behind the panel.  I still haven’t gotten the speedometer cable to stay put on the backside of the cluster, so I’ll need to pull the cluster one more time to fix that issue.  I also managed to mess my back up through this process by over-doing it, and now I’m living with some new issues of sciatica and lower back pain.  Yay.

The new RCCI tach works GREAT! Also looks WAY cooler than the factory clock… which there’s a factory clock in the center console, as well as on the stereo’s display – so I think we’re covered.

5Nov

Instrument Cluster surgery

5 Nov 2016 Eric Hansen

Today, we’re performing a bit of surgery on the clusters.  The Rocketman Custom Cougar Innovations conversion tachometer (new life for a non-function factory clock), is being swapped into the cluster, along with a set of LEDs to replace the factory incandescent dash lights.  I also removed the factory ammeter from the center gauge cluster and swapped in a Bosch voltmeter (I picked that one because the of the downward sweeping needle).  During the course of the procedure, I wound up smoking the printed circuit on the backside and had to order a new one to get things back in shape.  Also decided to remove the blue bulb covers which gave the gauges the green glow… white LEDs are MUCH brighter, will take less power and make less heat.  While I was at it, and since I had to order a new printed circuit anyway, I grabbed a new lens kit for the cluster… MUCH better.