At Mustang Maniac we like to think that we get things new and trial them out ourselves. We have another new product going on our shop truck, our much loved Ford Ranchero. The Engine is an Inline 6, smooth and not in your face. The latest technology for the V8 cars is the electronic carburettors, like our Holley 4v Sniper or the Holley 2v Sniper , computer controlled efficiency, reliability and economy, a win/win/win. The down side maybe the cost, but once set up they are a dream. Our Falcon has been fitted with a Sniper EFI carb, which will have all the advantages of modern tech on a reliable engine. We have work to do on the car, tuning and some expected fettling to get it stable and consistent, these systems are self learning to your driving style. Once we have it running and and a few miles on the clock we work out if they are any good, if all goes well we may start stocking them. This is one project we’re looking forward to, yes it’s on our car but it could be on yours too, if all goes well.

Inside the car we have a new radio with all essential features you expect from a modern car, but the radio looks totally stock, with a little bit of Mustang Maniac magic hidden under the dash as well.

We have a little dress up item that we are trying out which are our new nut or bolt covers. It just neatens things up a little bit if you don’t want to see the see the nuts or bolt heads, very subtle and we suspect hardly anybody will notice the clean lines.

Customer Cars

One of our customers Mart from onemanandhismustang.com has recently posted about why you should be driving your classic car on a regular basis and the benefits. Some good points raised and we can add to that information with some coincidental evidence of our own. A C4 gearbox which was sitting around and not moving much. Some moisture which had gotten into the gearbox and caused unseen chaos inside. The moisture had pooled causing eventual rust problems, clearly visible in the photo below, which had gotten into the internals of the gearbox pretty much destroying it when it was moved. An expensive lesson learned for this particular owner.

We took the gearbox to our engineering team where it has been completely stripped and reconditioned back factory spec and is now in our stock. Ever wondered just what is inside the C4 gearboxes? Here’s just the more common replaceable parts, bands, friction plates, valves, filters, numerous gaskets and seals.

Just because the car looks great doesn’t mean all is well. Mart bought his car to us a couple of weeks ago for an MOT and we gave it a once over in preparation, (he shared his pictures with us). The car came out of winter garage hibernation ready for the car show season. The car was up in the air for a full inspection as soon as it got here with Adam and Mark performing some synchronized mechanical checks.

All was good except for the lower control arm which had play on the passenger side, which needed replacing to get through the imminent MOT test in a couple of hours.

Apparently there was some also some dirt which needed cleaning under the car, which stressed him out a bit, a fair bit actually! Mark replaced the control arm in record time there and then as Adam got the replacement from stock. Mark then worked backwards, checking pipes and lines up to the rear of the car then on to the rear brakes which were cleaned up ready for some adjustments. The car was taken for a quick road test and all was good with the world again. We let Mart take the car to the MOT center a mere fifteen minute drive away, not including the additional five minutes it took for him to sort out the SatNav. The car passed fine. Without an MOT or even a pre-check with us, that part could have gone unnoticed with a big failure at some point. Even though this age of cars don’t need an MOT – we strongly recommend that they are at checked annually or at least given a full check over mechanically when they are serviced.

Stay Safe & Take Care!