by Ryan King
Edited by Patricia Kalin
5/05
Roooaaarrrr...the engine howled as the rubber smoked in the glow of the fluorescent traffic light. The chassis shook and the smoke billowed out both sides of the rear of the car. Brandon looked out the rear window at the tire smoke as the 289 continued to rage under the hood until it cleared the intersection and I let off the gas.
We were both a bit surprised that night, to say the least. We had just left the traded '66 GT behind at the seller's house when I decided to test the potency of the two-barrel 289 at a random traffic light. We started chatting immediately after the experience, and took a closer look at the interior. It was in better shape than the body, and with the way the engine tore up the pavement, we had some doubts about what was actually under the hood (or in the rear end) for that matter. After all, it was supposed to be a stock rebuild 289 with a 2.80:1 one-legger rear end, but it certainly didn't drive like that combination. The other thing we noticed on the sweeping curves of one of the freeways was its cornering. Although it wasn't pushed hard, it did do a fantastic job of hanging on to the corners, especially since it was shod with less-than-spectacular Goodyear Eagle STs. One thing was for sure, it was one heck of an upgrade.
Overall, the car was in pretty decent shape and a whole lot better than the '66 GT. When we got it home, I began the process of figuring out what needed immediate attention, what could wait, and what could be done easily. Suffice it to say, there were a few more things that needed to be done than what appeared in the eBay Auction. As expected, the list (click the link to see the Stage 1 Parts List) was extensive, but not as extensive as what I ended up with.
To start, the most obvious things that needed help were the headlights. They were dim and poorly aimed. Help came in the form of Sylvania Halogen Xtra-Vision headlights and an alignment. I pulled the specs for the alignment out of a 1966 Ford Shop Manual and away I went.
I then poked my head under the hood and came away with a laundry list of changes and repairs that needed to be made. First off, the timing was set at six degrees AFTER Top Dead Center (not even correct for the emissions motor, which should be set at TDC, not to mention the six degrees BTDC that the regular motor used). This motor was an emission’s motor, but the only differences between the emission’s motor and non-emission’s motor were the air pump assembly on the car and heads which were drilled to allow injection manifolds to inject air into the exhaust ports. The engine was missing most of its smog equipment so I removed what was remaining of the non-functioning emissions system since there are no state emissions regulations for cars this old and since I no longer kept the emissions equipment on the car, I decided I would prefer the performance improvements allowed through the advanced timing of a non-emission’s engine. After setting the timing, I turned to the carb's idle air/fuel ratio and speed. I set it to a nice, smooth 600 RPM idle.
Continuing on, the air filter was a dark gray color, signifying its usefulness had ended. The fuel filter was also getting plugged and the rubber fuel hose was hard, cracked, and not attached by any clamps. The engine needed a quart of oil and the battery wasn't held down. All these things were quick and easy to repair, although the battery hold down clamp did require a two hour round trip to the local Mustang specialty parts house, Mustang Ranch.
The clutch pedal was also out of adjustment, missing the upper return spring and had a jury-rigged lower return spring. I dealt with the adjustment first, but found out the clutch pedal didn’t want to return all the way. Since the clutch worked all right I decided to wait until later to fix the problem.
Next on the agenda were some interior and electrical-related repairs. The most important of these repairs was a drop in current at low RPMs. At idle, with the headlights and windshield wipers on, the lights would go very dim and the blinker wouldn't blink. My first suspect was the regulator, but once I checked it out, I came to the conclusion it was the alternator. A quick jaunt down to a local National Auto Parts store proved my conclusion correct, and I picked myself up a rebuilt alternator that completely fixed the problem.
The next most complex problem was the back up lights. For a few months, I searched the wiring for some short or cut, but I couldn't find a thing that would cause the back up lights not to work. One late spring evening, I was backing up into my Uncle's driveway and my cousins Brandon and Derrek, Brandon’s girlfriend Chrysta and her sister Myssi all saw them work intermittently and I immediately knew what the problem was: the shifter lever was bouncing around in reverse causing it to disengage from the back up light switch on the transmission. With steady pressure applied to the shifter, the lights remained on and a second problem was solved.
Although this problem was not difficult to diagnose, the turn signal switch is difficult to replace. Since the turn signal cam no longer held the turn signal lever in place, it was time to replace it. This was really a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: replacing the switch and adjusting the steering wheel. Replacing the turn signal switch means removing the steering wheel, which really isn't all that difficult, unless you lose a horn contact like I did. The attempt to replace the contact only to have it fall out again and cause the damn horn to go off for half an hour while I tried to diagnose the problem only made it that much more interesting. I managed to get an original Ford replacement (also known as NOS [New Old Stock] in restoration circles) turn signal switch from Mustangs Unlimited. I prefer to use NOS parts when possible simply because fit and finish are generally much better than most reproduction or replacement parts. With the difficulty involved in getting all of the turn signal switch wires fed through the column, this little two bird killing endeavor only took me an entire day.
Next up on the list of things to do with the electrical system was to fix a short that was cutting out the dash lights. If the headlight switch knob was bumped, jarred, or turned it would cause the problem. That told me where to make the repair. A headlight switch is fairly easy to replace, so long as you know how to do it. Of course, neither the original Ford shop manual or the Chilton manual said how to do this. The missing secret? Unscrew the bezel in the dash. This didn't happen easy, or I would have been done quickly. Without any evidence that was what needed to be done, I was afraid to damage anything by twisting something that wasn't supposed to be twisted. Thankfully, I was able to track down the information eventually and I was on my way. In fact, I was finished with enough time left in the day to diagnose the problem with the cigarette lighter. Now, I don't smoke, but I run some of my test equipment through the cigarette lighters in cars and I wasn't going to go without testing this cars performance before I dropped the 351 in place. After all, that's one of the goals of this project, testing performance and getting comparisons. After removing the lighter assembly, I could find nothing wrong with it, so I replaced it with a used one I had picked up for that purpose and still had no luck with it. So I started tracing problems back through the wiring harness. I went back to the fuse box and found a corroded fuse, so I cleaned that off. Still nothing. Then I looked closer at the connector. Deep down inside it, where nothing but strong direct light could penetrate, I found the problem, the connector was thick, built up corrosion. A little terminal cleaner and a small screwdriver cleared up that problem, and I had a working cigarette lighter. For me, that made the whole project just so much brighter. After dealing with enough untraceable problems in classics, I was happy to be able to get this very important problem taken care of relatively easily.
Still attacking the immediate electrical problems, there was one left that NEEDED to be fixed. Was it a matter of safety? No, not really. Was it a matter of reliability? No, no, not really. Was it a matter of necessary functionality? Again, no. It was a really irritating problem is what it was. The seat belt warning light was missing its bezel assembly, and it wasn't shutting off. At night it would shine bright piercing light almost right in my eyes. It wasn't that I couldn't ignore it. I could, but man, having a bright light shining in my eyes in the middle of the night while I'm trying to relax and enjoy my drive, that's a bugger and it needed to be fixed. This is when I discovered the reproduction companies don't make bezels or timers for this thing. There were too few of them to begin with, and it isn't like people are clamoring to put one of these in their Mustang if they don't already have one. So, I felt lucky to find the timer switch and bezel at all (even if it took nearly a year to do so). I suppose I could have just pulled the bulb or disconnected the switch altogether, but I would really like it to look and run right. Now my drives are more pleasant.
Next on my list of things to do was install the tach. It wasn’t a “problem” per se, but a tach does make it easier to drive a stick. The tach I chose to go with was a Sunpro SuperTach II. Its small size, classic style chrome bezel, black cup and black mounting bracket made it perfect for the ‘66 interior. In fact, it looks nearly factory. The installation was straight forward but I took some twists and turns with it. For one, I would not splice any wiring, for another, I wouldn’t drill any sheet metal. I also wanted a good looking installation. I ended up using a black stainless steel band clamp to clamp the tach to the steering column. For the wiring, I wound the exposed wiring coming out of the back of the tack with black electrical tape. Since I didn’t want to drill any sheet metal, I had to find a way to feed the coil wire out of the passenger compartment. I ended up sliding in between the steering column and the steering column firewall seal. I fabricated a T so that I didn’t have to splice the power wire coming off of the ignition switch. I found an open electrical terminal used for the radio light to connect the light wire into and lastly I grounded the tach to the under dash ground. The instructions said that could cause the tach to read intermittently, but I decided it would be quicker and easier, and since it wasn’t going to hurt anything, I figured it was worth a try. It worked out great in this application, so I was happy.
As it turned out, while I had the instrument cluster out to do the tach, I discovered the source of the clutch pedal squeak. When the person did the “restoration” to the car, they didn’t install the clutch pedal return spring insulators. While just about all of the rest of the clutch assembly was renewed including the pedal carrier, this little item was left out. It just so happened I had them sitting around for the ‘66 GT and I was able to install them at the same time. This also lead me to discover that the upper clutch release rod bushing was worn out and the firewall seal was torn. Since I was going to be doing everything else, I decided to replace the clutch springs as well. The only thing I didn’t have on hand was the lower spring. I called up National Parts Depot and finished up the job. As an extra, the spring replacement also cleared up the clutch pedal return problem so I no longer had to diagnose that.
I'd done quite a bit already, but I wasn't done with the interior yet. The rear view mirror would no longer hold itself up and had to be replaced. Two of the front seat belts were not bolted in place (and needed new bolts). The driver's seat back would no longer adjust correctly and needed to be repaired. The two former two repairs were simple, but the seat back was much more difficult. Under closer scrutiny, the seat back frame looked like it had been the winning entry in a demolition derby. It would need to be replaced before repairing the seat back adjuster would do any good. Back up to Mustang Ranch. $84 later, I had a useable seat back frame and a Scott Drake seat back adjustment kit, but I was far from done. I would need to strip down the "new" seat back, carefully remove the cover and foam bun from the "old" seat back, and then reupholster the "new" one. Thankfully, that fiasco only took a couple of days (and that included hunting down and acquiring a pair of hog ring pliers needed for the job). My Mother, Cheryl, gave me a hand with the reupholstering. Being both a professional seamstress and having reupholstered her own '66, her knowledge and skill was invaluable as was her industrial grade sewing machine because she also sewed a tear in the upholstery that was there before I got it.
From the sound of the last paragraph, you'd think I was done with the interior, but that wasn't the case. I still had one last repair to do. The package tray had been replaced with some upholstered and padded monstrosity. I was tired of looking at it, and decided it would be one of the problems taken care of during the first round of repairs. Again, I went to Mustang Ranch and picked up a Scott Drake repro of a package tray, but it needed to be painted to match. Talking with Donnie, there, I learned that I would need a black primer to keep the paint from soaking into the very porous fiber board as well as the right color paint, which is Krylon 1613 Semi-Flat Black. Another two day stint of work netted me with a beautiful package tray. The only disappointment in the process was the discovery that the people who owned it before me decided the flanges of the speaker holes in the rear window deck beneath the package tray would be better off bent back under the deck with a hammer. Sadly, in order to fit speakers in the rear deck, I'll have to have that panel replaced. Put one more thing on the "To Do List" in the future.
On to the exterior of the car; I had a few things to deal with as well. The wiper blades needed to be replaced, a few of the under carriage body plugs that keep water from getting up into the body needed to be replaced, the driver side door hinge stop spring needed to be replaced (so the door would quite swinging free), the window and the external door lock wouldn’t and one of the rear bumper guards was missing. Thankful for foresight, I already had the parts on hand for these repairs. The wiper blades were of no consequence, but I can't claim so for the body plugs. In the process of putting the plugs in, I discovered the front seats were both missing a hold down nut. I had those on hand as well.
The funny thing about the door hinge spring: After I performed the repair, I discovered they make a spring compressor so that they can be installed with the doors attached. May I recommend getting one of those if this repair is on your agenda? In order to get the job done, I removed the door and had to ask for the assistance of my Stepfather, Jim, to re-hang it. I had him hold the door up while I reattached it to the hinges, and then adjusted it so that it fit and the latch struck the striker plate correctly. *Kicks self again for good measure*
The passenger door looked to be a lot more trouble than it was. Patty and I tore into the door on a sunny day and discovered the awful truth: The lock rod that allowed the key to actuate the latch had fallen free and lodged itself in the window track so the window couldn’t roll down. I’m not sure if it was just left undone by the people that did the work restoring the car, or if it had sprung free of its clip, but it was that way before I got it and it holds in place without incident now that it’s fixed.
When I got to the bumper guard, I discovered that the only straight forward procedure involved in this section of the repairs would be wiper blades. Replacing one meant replacing both, because the bumper guard on the car looked different from the exact reproduction Scott Drake piece I was putting on the opposite side. So off came the other old one and an hour later, I had two correct rear bumper guards.
The last of the work that needed to be done during Stage 1 involved the drivetrain. Specifically, the transmission, rear end fluids, an odd harmonic vibration at freeway speeds, and the tire's air pressure. The fluids were both full and brand new in the transmission and rear end and I discovered after reading the rear end tag that it was indeed a 2.80:1, one-legger rear end that was verified by a quick, smoky burnout long enough to lay down a single, small patch of rubber. Although I was somewhat disappointed that the rear end wasn't something a little more special, I was pumped because that meant I could more easily redo this car in the image of my first Mustang, the Original 351. May it rest in piece(s).
I was nearly finished if I could just figure out what the heck was going on with that annoying and potentially dangerous high speed vibration. After a few long trips in the car (and some intense freeway scrutiny) I had eliminated the tires and brakes as a source of the vibration which meant to me the only two logical sources of harmonic vibration would be the engine or the driveshaft. Driving around, I noted it had little to do with engine speed (although the engine wasn't the most well balanced I'd ever driven), which meant the problem was solely vehicle speed oriented, leaving the driveshaft as the lone culprit. I crawled under the car, and sure enough, a u-joint had gone bad. I decided while I would be replacing the u-joint I might as well have the thing balanced, and so I took it to a local driveline repair shop and they gave me some bad news. One of the ends on the driveshaft had shifted, and would need to be replaced in order to do the repair.
...Oh and nobody made one the correct length any longer, but the one that was still made would work.
After hearing the price of more than $150, I said no thanks and instead called up Mustang Ranch. They had one freshly out of a car they would guarantee for $75. I was down there and had the replacement driveline in the car by that Saturday’s night.
The only thing left was the tire pressure. Although the tires were low, inflating them would help these tires. To some of the people I know, the Goodyear Eagle ST is known as one of the worst tires ever made. And I'll have to say they are definitely the worst tires I've driven on for any length of time. That said, I wasn't going to waste money on this tire/wheel combination when I had something else coming for the car shortly in Stage 2.
Finally, the car was done. With the vibration gone, the clutch adjusted and working correctly and the rear end mystery solved, all that was left were the results from the performance tests.
I started with the quarter mile testing. When I arrived at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, November 1st, 2003. A little before track opening the temperature was already cold near freezing. Before the night would end, it would drop below. I started talking with the guy behind me in line who was driving a gorgeous, Grotto Blue '65 Chevelle SS wearing a pair of drag radials on the rear wheels, but spent most of the time gawking at his car. It was so nice that the normally light absorbing Grotto Blue reflected the light of the distant street lights like chrome. Others quickly started pouring in, including a white Dodge Caravan with six people inside and little indication it was ready to race besides a slightly noisy exhaust pipe. A 3" exhaust pipe. And I don't mean a tip. I could tell this was going to be an interesting night.
The first run of the night, I pulled the '65 Chevelle. We were given the go and he did his burn out to warm up the tires on the Chevy and pulled up to the line. Then I revved the motor of the unassuming Mustang and blew off it's one tire in such a roaring, smoky show that the track workers leapt back from the Mustang and stared in shock. After the awe-inspiring show, I sedately idled up to the starting line. The tree dropped and I was away, smoking the passenger rear tire of the worst set of tires I've ever driven on. I barked it into second as the Chevelle pulled away. Shifting into third, the poor 289 didn't have the grunt to pull 1:1 that low in the RPM band, and lugged a bit before pulling part way through third gear and the traps. It managed a wild and wobbly 16.4 @ 81 miles per hour, and lost badly to the Chevelle that ran a smoking 13.2.
The second run of the night came against the same Chevelle, but this time I would be victorious...because he red lighted. I pulled a 16.3 @ 82 mph.
The third run was against the white Dodge Caravan I saw earlier that night, but now he was running slicks. The mini-van did its burnout to warm up the slicks, and again the Mustang made a thunderous roar as it obliterated one of its woeful Goodyear Eagle STs. I had hopes that I finally had a chance to win a race for real, but that hope was quickly dashed. Once up to the line, I pulled away from the mini-van with a better reaction time only to be half tracked as he blistered down a 12.9 to my sad, sad, but better, 16.2 @ 82.
My last run of the freezing cold night netted my best pass. Losing, again, to a '73 Plymouth Satellite Sebring. The little 289 did its level best to produce 16.2 @ 83 to the Satellite’s 14.6.
Although I never got to out run anybody, the trip was a success. The new '66 coupe drove the final nails in to the coffin of the '66 GT, and sealed in any doubt along with it. With a limited-slip 3.25:1 rear, four-barrel carburetor and a completely planted 2.1 second 60-foot time, the little green GT managed a best time of 16.1 @ 83 mph. The new '66 coupe was merely one-tenth behind it with a ridiculously traction-limited 2.4 second 60-foot, and I haven't even mentioned the low-end torque (much more low-end torque). Even with the repairs needed when I got the car, the Project 351 '66 was definitely the better car.
I wasn't able to get to the other performance tests until the end of this spring. When I did finally get the opportunity to do them, the little coupe further surprised me with it's performance. While not mind blowing, considering all things, the numbers were exciting:
0-60? 7.8 seconds.
Skid pad? .84 Gs.
That's right, with a worn out 150,000 mile suspension (with leaking air shocks in the back) and tires so wobbly they felt like gelatin, it managed a serious skid pad number that would challenge a number of today's sportier cars. That was impressive to me. The only place the car didn't shine was in it's 60-0 number. The best I could get the tires, suspension, weight, and brakes to come together for was 211 feet. But besides that, I am very pleased with this little puddle jumper, and I’m definitely looking forward to introducing a 351W to its engine compartment (among other things).
Brandon and I eventually got together again with the car at a local chassis dyno to see what it could do during a little chassis dyno session to base line it for comparison to the 351W that will soon be inhabiting its chassis. The Little Engine that Could surprised me again. I was hoping for a none-too-inspiring 115 horses at the rear wheels, but the little guy pumped up and went the extra mile, producing 126. That meant approximately 148 flywheel horses. No, not awe inspiring. In fact, it's a little embarrassing. That said, it only required 132 to run the quarter mile it was running (112 rear wheel). I figured it did a mighty good job of rising above expectation. And after the '66 GT, nice surprises are a good thing.
| Project 351 Stage 1 Specifications | |
| Vehicle | 1966 Ford Mustang |
| Exterior Color | Ivy Green |
| Interior | Standard Black Vinyl |
| Layout | Front engine/rear drive |
| Engine | 289 V8 (rebuilt) |
| Induction | 300 cfm Autolite 2-barrel carburetor |
| Horsepower | 148 @ 4400 (126 rear wheel) |
| Torque | 227 @ 2100 (193 rear wheel) |
| Transmission | Ford Toploader 3-speed manual |
| Gears | 2.79/1.70/1.00/2.87R |
| Differential | Ford 8"; 2.80:1; open differential |
| Steering | Manual; recirculating ball; 27.1:1 |
| Front Suspension | Independant; 292 lb coil springs; shocks; .625" swaybar |
| Rear Suspension | Solid; 85 lb multi-leaf springs; air shocks |
| Brakes | Manual, drum/drum, 2"x10"/1.75"x10" |
| Wheels | 14"x5" Ford steel w/hubcap |
| Tires | 205/70R14 Goodyear Eagle ST |
| Length | 181.6" |
| Width | 68.2" |
| Height | 51.1" |
| Wheelbase | 108" |
| Track | 56"/57" |
| Curb Weight | 2720 lbs |
| CID/Weight | N/A |
| HP/Weight | 18.38:1 |
| Gas Mileage | 23 mpg |
| 0-60 | 7.8 sec |
| 60-Foot | 2.412 sec |
| Eighth Mile | 10.34 @ 66.5 |
| Quarter Mile | 16.2 @ 83 |
| Skid Pad | .84 g |
| 60-0 | 211 ft |
| See Chapter 4 for updated results! | |
Copyright © 2002-2008, Classics and Performance is a copyright of Ryan King. All material in this website is a copyright of Ryan King or its creator and may not be reproduced without prior written consent.
