Grill for R model nose

A friend of mine that restores old Shelbys and Mustangs for a living sent me some pictures of something that he has been doing for a grill on the fiberglass R model noses. I thought that it looked very nice, and seems so obvious that I have trouble thinking that nobody ever came up with that before, but, I've never seen it before.

All that he did was put a normal 65 grill on the car in the usual manner, and then take another 65 grill and cut the ends off to fit inside the lower area. The lower piece is upside down, and he also bent the lower lip of the cut piece around the other way so that the screw holes line up. Here are some pictures of it out on the floor so that you can see it better. I thought that this looked kind of cool, and since a lot of people have this nose their car, this is an inexpensive way to finish that which kind of looks like something a manufacturer might have done.

Mustangs in Finland on April 12, 1964

I have been hearing about how the Mustang was shown in Finland before it was in the U.S. for quite a while, but never had any tangible evidence to support this until now. A very nice man named Janne Nieminen sent me the scanned copies of the appropriate pages of an article in Keskisuomalainen, which is a newspaper that is still active today, with the date of Sunday, April 12, 1964, and there it is, big as life, the Ford Mustang. The article was about a car show which had just happened there. A lot of people might not care too much about something like this, but, I've always been interested in the history of this car that the whole world loves, and have always been a stickler for getting the details right. It strikes me as significant that most people think that the Mustang was revealed at the 1964 World Fair in New York on April 17th, and that is simply not correct. Here is a Mustang on display in Finland on April 12th.

2014 Mustang Giveaway from American Muscle

A company called American Muscle, which makes go-fast stuff, is giving away a 2014 Mustang in a sweepstakes. I have never actually bought anything from them myself, because their products are for people with 1979-2014 Mustangs, but, I have never heard anything but good things about them, and have seen their customer service department go above and beyond when they had not actually done anything wrong. If they made things for 65/66 cars, I would certainly be a customer of theirs. Since there wouldn't be anything strange about a person with a 65/66 Mustang also having a newer one, those people might be interested in this. And, what could be better than winning a free 2014 supercharged Mustang? Here's the sign-up page for that. Good luck.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/project-mmd-2014-mustang-giveaway.html

Front end alignment tool for 1965 and 1966 Mustang

This is a remarkably simple tool that will make getting the front end alignment right on the money on your Mustang. What you see is actually all that there is. I took a piece of steel that is an eighth of an inch thick, an inch and an eighth wide, and cut off a piece that's about 2 feet long.I bent it at about 90 degrees in the middle, and bent it at 90 degrees again out near the end, so that it would hook on the back of the rear tire. I drilled a 5/16 hole in the end, and a matching 5/16 hole all the way through a 2 foot piece of one inch square aluminum tubing, and bolted the two pieces together with a 1/4-20 bolt. I then took a couple of 1/4-20 U-bolts and used them to attach a laser pointer to the aluminum tube. I hook this assembly onto the rear tire with the laser pointing toward the front tire. I made a little bracket out of the same steel as the long piece with the bends in it, used a #7 drill to poke a hole in the bracket, ran a 1/4-20 tap through that, put a bolt in the hole and stuck a vacuum cap on the end of the bolt. This is my helper that pushes the button on the laser pointer. He asks no questions, offers no input, he just pushes the button when I tell him to.

With this hanging on the back tire, you can then use a tape measure and come out from the front and back of the front wheel and see how much it's off from straight with back wheel. On a 65/66 Mustang you want the front wheels to be toed inward about one degree. How you convert the measurement that you are taking in inches to degrees is you measure the diameter of your wheel from outermost lip to lip. On a 14 inch wheel this measurement will be about 14 1/2 inches. Take your measurement, multiply that by Pi, and divide that by 360. On a typical 14 inch wheel, your answer should come up as about 1/8 of an inch  being equal to 1 degree. You don't need to calculate pi all the way out to the Feynman point, I just use 3.14159265 . That will be plenty close enough.

With the laser pointing straight across the front wheel you can get the toe-in adjusted correctly. To adjust the camber you just point the laser slightly upward and slightly downward. to get the top and bottom right. The camber is adjusted by means of shims behind the upper control arms.

Changing the geometry of the suspension and steering of any car changes the way that car handles, and if it is not done correctly, it can cause serious injury or even death to the people riding in that car. This is not something to take lightly. Changes in the suspension and steering of a car should only be performed by people that fully understand both how those systems operate and all of the potential hazards associated with them.

Posting comments

If you post a comment or a question to something that you read here, you will no doubt notice that it does not appear immediately. I have things set up here in such a way that I have to see comments before they actually appear. Experience taught me pretty quickly that some people are not as well behaved as others, and, if I didn't do this, all sorts of objectionable material would pop up that I had to delete. The vast majority of people are too civilized to waste time trolling the internet looking for opportunities to be offensive and hateful, but, there always seems to be 'That Guy' that tries to cause problems for everybody else. If you post a comment that has anything to do with an old Mustang, or is of a general conversational nature, and is not something that a parent would object to having their 10 year old see, it will be posted. It's just that there is a time lag. You post the comment, I get an email notification, read it, and click 'Publish'. The reason that I am writing this is because I sometimes get multiple email notifications about the same commentwhich  has been posted two or three times, as if someone had tried to post a comment, saw that it didn't appear, and then tried again, as if they might have made some sort of mistake somewhere along the line. You probably have done everything correctly, it just takes a little while to appear.

San Jose 64 1/2 VIN data / build date

Here is the VIN data that I have on the San Jose built 64 1/2 cars.

VIN	1		Body	Color	Trim		Date	DSO		Axle	Trans
5R08D	100011		76A	3_______	86		14G	53		1	6
5R08D	100016		76A	V	86		14G	62		1	6
5R07D	100021		65A	A	46		13G	71		1	5
5R07D	100040		65A	M	86		15G	71		1	6
5R07D	100044		65A	M	86		13G	71		1	6
5R08F	100045		76A	P	89		14G	71		1	6
5R08D	100067		76A	H	86		15G	71		1	5
5R07D	100070		65A	J	86		14G	72		1	6
5R08D	100085		76A	P	89		13G	71		1	6
5R07F	100122		65A	M	86		15G	71		1	6
5R07D	100125		65A	M	86		14G	71		1	6
5R07F	100140		65A	P	89		14G	72		1	6
5R08F	100239		76A	M	86		14G	72		1	6
5R07K	100244		65A	V	46		14G	72		9	5
5R08F	100331		76A	A	46		13G	73		1	1
5R08F	100341		76A	H	82		15G	74		1	1
5R08U	100354		76A	3______	46		15G	74		3	6
5R08F	100419		76A	A	86		16G	53		1	6
5R08D	100427		76A	X	46		11G	72		1	5
5R08D	100481		76A	F	42		16G	71		1	6
5R07U	100487		65A	M	85		16G	71		3	1
5R07F	100564		65A	S	89		16G	72		1	1
5R07F	100568		65A	P	89		16G	75		1	1
5R08D	100604		76A	F	42		20G	65		1	6
5R08F	100632		76A	Y	82		20G	75		1	6
5R08F	100634		76A	X	86		17G	71		1	6
5R07D	100637		65A	J	86		17G	71		1	6
5R07F	100644		65A	P	89		17G	71		1	6
5R07D	100683		65A	F	86		16G	74		1	6
5R07D	100730		65A	A	86		17G	72		1	5
5R08F	100784		76A	M	82		17G	74		1	6
5R08U	100847		76A	F	82		12G	14		3	1
5R07D	100881		65A	B	86		20G	71		1	5
5R07D	100892		65A	V	85		20G	71		1	5
5R08D	101039		76A	3____	46		21G	65		1	6
5R08D	101039		76A	3_	46		21G	65		1	6
5R07D	101042		65A	J	86		21G	75		1	6
5R08F	101135		76A	P	89		21G	71		1	6
5R08F	101200		76A	J	86		21G	72		1	6
5R07D	101255		65A	J	86		21G	73		1	5
5R08F	101296		76A	M	46		20G	75		1	1
5R08F	101302		76A	V	86		21G	75		1	6
5R07K	101418		65A	P	49		22G	71		8	5
5R08U	101459		76A	F	82		23G	71		3	1
5R07F	101478		65A	Y	82		22G	72		1	6
5R08D	101572		76A	M	86		22G	75		1	6
5R08D	101572		76A	M	86		22G	75		1	6
5R07D	101762		65A	M	86		23G	72		1	6
5R08U	101953		76A	J	85		24G	71		3	1
5R07D	102112		65A	3____	86		24G	72		1	6
5R07D	102208		65A	3__	86		23G	74		1	6
5R08D	102293		76A	F	82		28G	53		1	5
5R08D	102293		76A	F	82		28G	53		1	5
5R08F	102299		76A	Y	82		24G	61		1	1
5R08F	102432		76A	Y	42		26G	72		1	6
5R07U	102511		65A	K	86		27G	71		1	6
5R08D	102531		76A	F	82		27G	71		1	6
5R07D	102591		65A	J	89		27G	72		1	6
5R07F	102611		65A	S	86		27G	72		1	6
5R08F	102615		76A	A	85		27G	72		1	1
5R07D	102678		65A	M	86		28G	72		1	6
5R07F	102715		65A	X	46		28G	72		1	6
5R07D	102742		65A	B	42		28G	73		5	5
5R07D	102780		65A	M	82		15G	74		1	5
5R07D	102868		65A	K	86		28G	75		1	5
5R08U	103116		76A	Y	82		29G	72		3	6
5R08D	103207		76A	X	86		28G	65		1	5
5R08U	103409		76A	P	89		30G	72		3	1
5R08F	103433		76A	D	46		30G	72		1	6
5R07F	103552		65A	F	82		27G	73		1	1
5R08F	103573		76A	M	85		29G	74		1	6
5R08F	103632		76A	Y	82		30G	75		1	6
5R07F	103809		65A	M	86		31G	71		1	6
5R07F	103882		65A	Y	82		30G	71		1	6
5R07D	103895		65A	M	86		31G	71		1	6
5R07F	103899		65A	V	86		31G	71		1	6
5R08U	103981		76A	M	85		30G	74		3	1
5R07F	104065		65A	V	86		31G	75		1	6
5R08F	104208		76A	P	89		31G	73		1	6
5R08F	104295		76A	J	85		31G	71		1	6

Turn signal switch tool

Getting the wires to turn loose from the connectors, which have to be reused, when replacing a turn signal switch is a task that can be very annoying if a person hasn't done this a whole bunch of times before. There is a very simple, easily fabricated item can make this job go sooooo much more smoothly. Here is a picture of what is exactly what it appears to be, which is a bent piece of copper tubing. The tubing has an inner diameter of 1/8 inch, and is readily available from any hardware store. apparently, this type of tubing is used for something having something to do with refrigerators. You just push the tube down onto the wire end, that pushes the release tab out of the way, and you just pull the wire out. Nothing to it. I prefer the 'pistol grip' configuration, but, there was a write-up about this tool in the December of 1965 Shop Tips brochure that Ford published every month or so for their service people. In that, they used a 3/16 diameter tube that they crimped the end of, and bent it into a T-handle configuration. The tubing only costs like a dollar, and it will save you from the really aggravating chore that replacing the turn signal switch can be without it.

Deluxe steering wheel horns for 1965 1966 Mustang

This is a system that works a little bit differently from the standard wheel, but, not by much. On the standard steering wheel you have two contact rings on the back of the steering wheel that are fixed. On the deluxe steering wheel you have one contact ring that fixed and another that 'floats'. The first picture is a picture of the horn button mechanism without the actual steering wheel. The second picture is the same thing, but, with the outer ring removed. On the inner ring you will notice that there are three teflon clips that have screw holes in them. On the front of steering wheel there are three screws with springs on them that hold that ring. Those springs are what makes the horn quit blowing when you release the horn button. That outer, fixed ring is also held on by three screws coming through the front of the steering wheel, but these are just plain, nothing special screws. No springs or anything. All that they do is hold that ring in place. In the  second picture you also notice three tabs with contacts on them sticking out of the inner ring. When you press the horn button, those contacts touch the contacts on the outer ring and that completes the circuit to make the horns honk. When you release the horn button, those three springs pull the inner ring back to its rest position, breaking the circuit, and the horns quit honking. I have already posted the wiring diagrams and some suggestions on trouble-shooting the horns for problems that aren't caused by the actual horn button here.
http://thecareandfeedingofponies.blogspot.com/2008/03/horns-dont-work.html