Seasons Greetings

Hi, everybody. I just wanted to wish everybody a happy holiday season. No matter which holidays you might observe, most folks have one at this time every year. I hope the holidays find you and yours happy, safe and prosperous.

Must-have tools/ various useful things

One thing that is useful and doesn't typically come with a lot of the sets is a 15/16 socket. That is the socket that you need to remove that big nut that holds the steering wheel on. It is also needed to remove the trunk lock stuff from the trunk lid. And, that is the one that need for that big bolt in the middle of the crank pulley. That bolt is what holds the harmonic balancer on, and, sometimes you need to turn the motor by hand (with a wrench) and that is the bolt that you turn the motor with. A very useful item.

It is also good to have a couple of heavy paper clips sitting around. You need one to remove the lock cylinder from the ignition switch, which has to come out before you can replace the switch. It is also the tool of choice to remove the clips that hold the window crank and door release handle on if you have an earlier 65 or a 64 1/2. It is also useful as a brake light switch by-passer if you are checking your brake light switch. There are lots of things that a correctly configured paper clip does very well.

Must-have tools/ door panel remover

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong inside one of the doors, and fixing it requires removing the door panel. This thing is solid gold when the time comes to go inside the door of your car. You just stick it between the door and the door panel where the clips are, making sure that the clip is inside the inner fork of the tool, and squeeze. The clip pops right out without tearing up the door panel.

Must-have tools / Volt meter

A question that comes up on a fairly regular basis is "What tools will I need to work on my old Mustang, other than basic hand tools?" So, I'll start posting tools that I have found to be extremely useful, and, at the very top of that list is the volt meter. The electrical systems in these cars were extremely reliable when the cars were new, but, 50 years of "I don't care, just fix it" have caused these poor cars to experience all sorts of electrical weirdness. Plus, there is the simple fact that, after a few decades of reliable service, it is not strange for a component like a headlight switch, turn signal switch, etc... to fail. It is not even possible to over-emphasize how important a volt meter is for tracking down these types of 'issues'.

My volt meter would probably be considered kind of old-school, but, it would have been cutting edge back when these cars were new. I cut the probe ends off of the leads and put alligator clips in their place, which simplified things tremendously. This way, you can just clip the negative lead onto a good ground before you crawl up under the dash.