Front stone tray and radiator support repair / paint

 Time to fix up the radiator support panel.

Since I purchased the car, the radiator support, head light brackets have bugged me due to the rusty look. The rust is only surface rust so clean, repair and reinstall should be easy enough. While I was at it, the sides of the front stone tray look fairly second hand so decided to fix that also.

Once disassembled, I sanded back the old paint on the stone tray and taped out a few minor dings in the tray.

I found that a few of the head light brackets are a grey colour. Upon some research via the 7173Mustang.com forum I was advised that the get is commonly called "slop grey". Apparently Ford just mixed up left over paint and used that to paint some parts.

the head light brackets are black where as the other parts are grey.

I headed off to the local Autobarn to get a rattle can colour match. Unfortunately, they were out of black and satin paint, so decided to paint the square part black and leave the other brackets for now. Will try and source the right colour then remove the 4 parts and paint then reinstall.

I cleaned up the steel that goes under the front bumper to mount the rubber bumper.

Then cleaned up and painted the bumper irons.

I then acid dipped the bolts, clips and washers. Then sand blasted to clean them up and painted them either black or clear.

I then repaired and washed the grill. I could not find a way to easily remove the chrome mould so masked it and then painted the grill. (note, it still has the masking tape on the chrome parts).

Here are all the parts now cleaned, painted and ready to reinstall.

I then cleaned up the radiator support as best I could and then covered the guards and painted the radiator support panel. Looks SOOO much better.

Here is the install all complete and ready to go.

Job done!..

Heater box and decals

 Where is that water coming from!

While out on a local drive in the Mustang I visited Russel Coulson to check in on the progress of the Eleonor build. Once the visit / inspection was complete, I returned to the Mustang that was in the drive to find water dripping from the right hand side of the car around the firewall area. Upon inspection, I found that the water had glycol in it and then found that the right hand side carpet was wet. Looking a bit deeper I determined that the heater core had failed.

I then sourced a new heater core from Just Mustangs and set about removing the heater box, disassembling to clean it out and installed the new heater core.

Here is the heater box disassembled.

I then washed out the sodden underlay / sound deadening and reinstalled.

Job done!

I then decided that I needed something to break up the solid gold of the bonnet so ordered and installed some 351 RAM AIR decals.

Although the car does not have the Ram air function, the decals look cool.

My next job is to remove the front stone tray and paint strip, repair and reinstall.

From 2 barrel carb to a 4 barrel

 Inlet and carburettor conversion.

Per an earlier post, I sourced a XB GT 4 barrel inlet manifold and then sourced a Motorcraft 4300 carburettor to enable the old girl breath a bit better.

Along the way I have slowly been giving the engine bay a bit of a freshen up.

Here is how it looked before I started.

I then sandblasted the air cleaner and give it a lick of paint.

The 2 pictures of the air cleaners are the same. Just different lighting.

Then I sand blasted and repainted the rocker covers.

Then after a fair bit of procrastination, it was time to do the change over.

I then removed the alternator brackets and power steering pump brackets.

I also cleaned the fan and painted it also.

Then sand blasted and painted along with the bolts.

I then removed the old caby ready for the install.

Rebuilt Motorcraft 4300 ready to go in.

I removed the inlet manifold and it came off very easily.

By the looks of things the inlet manifold has been off as there is silicone on the inlet manifold.

All nice a clean inside..

I installed the end rubbers and the valley cover ready for the inlet to be installed.

Inlet installed and torqued down.

Carby installed

Needed to search for a vacuum leak. Found that the carby was not sealing on the inlet. Also the pipe for the PCV valve was not sealing on the tube from the back of the carby. I made up an adapter to fix that issue.

Then tuned up the idle mixture and idle speed.

Then off for a spin.. Now it breaths much better..

Next step to sort out the painting on the water pump, power steering pump, and the radiator support panel.