Back To Bed

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

All good things come to those who wait or so we are told, and that was the case with our ’67 with the new rear now been painted. Some eagle eyed reader asked us if this was a right hand drive model. We can confirm yes it and there certainly aren’t may of them around for this year. We’re not sure exactly when the conversion was done, but it was done to high standard and not some of the butchered efforts we have seen in the past that have been past off as even being close to good.

Yogi has started to put some more of the external trim and fittings back.

The fuel lines have been plumbed back onto the new fuel tank and some of electrics reconnected.

With the exterior trims bolted into place we can then start to put the interior trim back together.

Under the rear quarters the chassis has been properly protected from the British weather, and will probably outlast most of us now.

Our Cars

We have been working on our own ’65 Ranchero shop truck which is going to get a full fresh body paint once we have the body back to together. We knew there was some filler used on the car but to what extent we needed to find out. We started the panel with the rear tailgate, always made difficult due to the raised sections which matches the bed of the truck.

The bed panel bare metal process is a difficult one and takes considerable time and effort to get a bare metal base which is in great condition.

The first fender removed the paint to the filler.

Once the filler was removed the full extent of the rust worm was evident.

We quickly decided that we could have welded up the problem areas, but the metal was very thin and would certainly cause problems in the future. We could weld new metal in and fabricate the metal, but the time and effort would easily negate the cost of the new panel.

The first of the doors is in much better shape than we expected, a couple of little bits needed a little Yogi TLC in the form of a welder, certainly nothing major.

We apply some protection to the bare metal while being stored in the workshops. This prevents any surface rust from making an unwanted appearance. We will bring you more as we go along.

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Customers' Cars, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Our Cars, Parts, Repairs, Restoration, sheet metal | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Mustang Owners Club Show 2023

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

Once a year there is a Mustang Owners Club Of Great Britain host a show and this year it was held south of Cambridge. The weather was overcast but a nice day for a car show. We of course had many of our customers there along with our own cars from Adam, Yogi, Lance, Paul, Spence. Lance managed to bag himself the coveted ‘Best in Show’ and Spence bagged the ‘Best Modified’.

This post is going to be dedicated just to that show;

There was some gate crashers there as well, but it made for a little variation.

Our special thanks to Chris Tilley @cortinachris for allowing us to use some of his photos.

It was a great day out, we caught up with some friends and got to see many great cars. Thanks to Roy for great organisational skills and here’s to the next show.

Posted in Car Shows, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Photos, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

International Rescue

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

We have an old friend back with us this week for a little TLC and a car back from paint ready to be put back together again. We have also done our little bit for some Armed Services coming to the rescue to help them out, not quite Thunderbirds, just a little ol’ parts supplier in UK. They just about made it here, but they rolled out fine, as happy unexpected customers.

Park & Pic

There are three Mustangs that are recognised all over the world each from different generations. The first being the classic Bullitt, then came Eleanor, the latest being John Wick. We have the latest of those cars back with us for a once over TLC and a check up.

Such a great car which drives as good as it looks.

Customer Cars

We have the ’67 back from paint with the rear end now blended with the rest of the black paint. Yogi is now starting to put the car back together and rewire the rear end.

There are minor adjustments for door gaps and the trunk to be correct all round. those that say the aftermarket panels don’t fit, then we suspect you are doing something wrong.

The glass needs to go back in, a little more trim work, lettering and rubber weather strips and then it will be ready for the fuel and road test.

Driven enthusiastically!

This car needs a new clutch kit as it gets driven ‘enthusiastically’ as Adam described it.

For many this can be a painful process to change a clutch, but we are fully geared up for it and doesn’t take us to long.

The interior has also had an upgrade with new seats sporting some Alcantara finish.

Mustang Maniac To The Rescue

This army truck had come from the Netherlands to the UK for a show, so far so good. The only is that the truck only ran on LPG. They were unable to get any here as there are virtually none now in the UK. AS last ditched hope they called into us asking for help.

Most people know that we have a huge variety of stock on the shelves and we managed to sort the guys out with a universal electric fuel pump so the truck could then run on standard fuel and not the LPG. Rather than wreck what they had and make a full conversion we managed to get them back on the road and on their way to the show.

Another group of happy customers this time 🙂 It was great to meet you all and hope you had a good time at the show.

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Car Shows, Classic Cars, Customers' Cars, Mustang Maniac, Park & Pic, Parts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Counting

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

Just a quick post to say that next weekend, Saturday 9th September the Mustang Maniac offices and sales counter will be closed for the day due to stock taking. In order for us to maintain accurate levels of stock and provide the best possible service that we can, we need to know what we have and where. It’s a huge task as there is a huge amount to count. Everything from a complete body shell to the smallest of washers.

Last time we done this a year or so ago Adam found an engine he forgot he had tucked away in the corner, along with a pallet of wheels under a cover that hadn’t gone on the WebShop. Our finds, your gain!

If you do turn on the day, sadly we won’t be there to help you.

Thanks for your understanding!

Posted in Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Parts, Webshop | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Cracking

Posted on August 27, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

This week we have a couple of videos for you, we reported last week about an issue with a custom made exhaust that was cobbled together with clamps and mastic of all things. We reused what we could and replaced the rest and all is good with the car again. After that post we had a couple of requests if we could upload a video of what the new system sounds like. Luckily Yogi had taken a recording which we can share with you here. These are bespoke pipes made by us and our standard off the shelf mufflers. The car still sounds nice, has the classic V8 rumble, but without all the shoutyness of some mufflers we offer, unless you want that sort of thing of course.

Customer Cars

A customer called us to say the car was running rather badly and could they bring it in. We made a space for him to bring it in and we could see pretty much straight away what the problem was, the question was just how bad was it?

We knew that there was head gasket that had gone home, so we always replace both gaskets so the top end of the engine was taken apart. If one has gone then the other side won’t be far behind.

With the heads off we soon found the gasket problem. Not much of a crack, but it was enough to cause a whole heap of work.

This type of crack will lead to overheating if you’re not careful and catch it in time. Bad overheating could mean a potential skimming of the block or heads to make them flat again. That alone will be an expensive and timely hobby.

The surfaces were cleaned properly and prepped for the gaskets. With everything back in place the top end started to go back together again. The system was fully drained down of coolant and the oil change that would need to be completed as well once we had flushed everything out.

With the heads back in place we could put the rest of the fuel system back on and fill with the proper fluids. After a couple of heat cycles we rechecked the fluid levels also checked for leaks. Then we took her for a road test.

Another happy customer that their pride and joy was fixed. We strongly recommend buying the very best gaskets you can buy. For the sake of saving a few extra pounds it costs to buy quality, it will save you in the long run having to replace them again when they fail.

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Customers' Cars, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Repairs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Out With The Old, In With The New

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

Last week we posted about our decision to stop using Royal Mail, we even got some grief over calling Royal Mail – Royal Fail. As far as we are concerned they, being Royal Fail, have failed on their contract, they have failed some of our customers and they have certainly failed to impress us. On the other hand, we have people calling into to pick up their parts and even had a customer arranged courier – all fine with us. Their comments were supportive to us a company. So we have to say to those of you that have supported our (difficult) decision – Thank You. We always knew there would be some fall out what ever decision we made, as we clearly can’t please everybody. At the end of the day we have to run a business and we are not owned by shareholders that we have to answer too. What Adam says is to happen – is what happens. We will not dwell on the decision that has been made going forward. We even had to remove a few angry, and a couple of abusive comments on this blog and social media keeping our social media team busy. We will continue to do the same when we spot similar comments.

We have finished up replacing a customer’s car that had previously had a ‘custom’ made exhaust for their car, which was held together by clamps and silicon. It was a bespoke alright – as silicon on an exhaust was a new one on us. Yogi has also been busy with our Falcon, getting back to bare metal.

Customer Cars

The old exhaust boxes were removed so that we could start our own fabrication. These boxes had some botch job to weld some sort of hangers on them. The welding was pretty bad, not what you would expect from a bespoke exhaust.

Our replacement boxes and pipe work ready for fitting.

Yogi was able to salvage the H-pipe and reintegrate that back into the system. We clamped up first, then we were able to remove it as a section in order to weld together properly.

The pipes now sit even and routed where they should be. We even gained back the ground clearance that had been compromised a little with the custom made exhaust.

The mufflers came straight of the shelf from our WebShop stock along with the correct hanger kit, they look neater and will allow for any movement if needed. The hangers are also designed to stop vibration and drone inside the cabin along with allowing for some adjustments of course.

With everything in place the final tightening and alignment could be made, then we were off for a road test. We have said this many times before; feel free to use your own mechanics, but check their previous work! This will save paying for their work, being disappointed with their results and then having to get it fixed properly costing you even more money. We like to think this situation is a rare occurrence, but it’s not. Sometimes we just repair other peoples work for a few days of the week. Understandably, those customers don’t want their car on our blog which we respect.

Our Cars

Panel work on our Ranchero has started and it’s not the cleanest of jobs to put it mildly. But, we need to see bare metal to see what we have to work with. We’re pleased with the hood and only a could of minor bits to correct.

The fenders looking pretty tired but again, back to bare metal and we had solid base to work from.

Next week we have a little video to show what a small split in gasket does to your engine.

Stay Safe and Take Care!

Posted in Mustang, Parts, Repairs, Restoration, Webshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Being Put On Trial

Posted on August 13, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

This week we are going to start of with yet another update on our postage options we offer. We have paid a hefty upfront extortionate fee to Royal Mail, sorry ‘Royal Fail’ to attend our premises every working day of the year at four in the afternoon to collect our orders and deliver them. Not a difficult business model, but it seems that their monopoly, the high costs they have is their their blasé weakness too.

We are now stopping our Royal Fail’s postage offering.

Why?

For the last couple of months we have been getting complaints about deliveries. We as a team have had a few meetings to see if we can improve, or how we can get an improvement to the services offered to us. There has been a few frantic phone calls to Royal Fail with us complaining to them. Nothing has changed so a difficult decision was made.

  • We have no control over their poor service, once it leaves us we – have no control on when it will be delivered.
  • We also have to jump through expensive hoops buying specific size boxes from Royal Fail for different items; small parcel, large parcel, then work out if the item is a large letter or small parcel, tube, then have to weigh them out for different bandings of payments, areas etc etc.
  • There is no consistency of delivery. We have had good reports that items picked up on 4pm on a Friday afternoon and the item has been delivered on a Saturday morning. That is a really great service, we can’t knock that, but that’s an exception. However, the majority of time “First Class” is now [and we quote], “anything from 1 to 10 days”. That’s right we rang up and asked, that is exactly what they told us. That is totally unacceptable for us and our customers.
  • When Royal Fail go on strike which they have done many times over the last year, we haven’t been reimbursed for them not collecting from us as per thhe agreed contract.
  • We have even had the odd job’s-worth employees of Royal Fail stand in our offices measuring the various parcel’s dimensions and checking if it will fit through their plastic guides.
  • They often turn up late and will miss their own last posting times for that day.
  • We don’t always get our expected post from Royal Fail either.
  • We get complaints about Royal Fail’s service, when it has nothing to do with us once we have had the items collected. NOTHING, it’s out of our control. Have we mentioned that already? Are the customers complaining about the products, no. But, they are starting to complain about a service they have chosen from the various options available.

Our contract with Royal Fail was due to be resigned by the end of the month, with a price increase, which we were going to do as most of the customers liked the service that we re-introduced by customer request, even though we as a company don’t like what they offer or the service they provide. Adam called Royal Fail to say that we were not going to be renewing the contract. The Royal Fail’s customer service person at the end of the phone said, “You can’t stop the contract without filling in a form first”. Adam asked – ‘if I don’t pay then what?’ ‘Well we won’t collect from you’, was the reply. Adam retorted with, ‘well I ain’t paying, so it’s problem solved!” It was a short conversation served up with contempt they deserve which they supply to us regularly, their customers.

How did this all come about?

Adam is tolerant man, (of most things), but a “Mr. L…” has now managed to ruin it for everybody, the final straw has broken the camels back, as the saying goes. Mr L. is now on the “C” list pretty much at the top of said list and will not be buying from us again. It has gotten back to us that he has been giving us a hard time on social media for poor customer service. Is it really poor customer service when we respond to emails late at night? If you do find this person online, you could thank him personally for being instrumental in our decision to phase out the Royal Fail postal option for everybody. If this scenario had been a couple of weeks later then the contracts would have been signed with Royal Fail and we would have carried on. So it seems that fate has brought this to a head for us. The story is quite a simple one as follows:

Mr. L’s order was placed on Friday 28th July 2023 at 22:51, which means it wouldn’t have been processed until Saturday 29th and then collected by Royal Fail.

On Wednesday 3rd August 2023 at 20:34 we get an email from Mr L to ask where the parts were: “Hi there, unfortunately my items have not arrived yet reference MM-4xxxx”. That was it. Adam checked the orders and could tell the order was processed and dispatched. All takes time and well after our office closing hours.

Adam responded by pointing out that he (Mr. L) did not pay for a courier, nor did he ask for a tracking service when he made his purchase, he obviously wanted the cheapest option. We then get another email from him replying to Adam with: ‘So where do I go from here? As I needed these parts this week can you send me proof of posting thanks’. Adam again responded saying he would have to wait as it’s now Royal Fail’s process causing the delay, also pointing out that if the parts were urgent he should have used a courier, but he didn’t want to pay for that, nor for a next day delivery option.

To cut a long story short, and a number of emails were exchanged where Mr L. was asking for Mustang Maniac to prove the item was sent by providing a tracking number, which he didn’t ask for and didn’t want to pay for. We could interrogate our franking machine yes, but that all takes time. We can prove that Royal Fail picked up the packages as we have CCTV to prove it along with the log of the visit from Royal Fail. Mr. L’s short curt emails was basically calling into question Adam’s, thus Mustang Maniac’s integrity. Mr L even hinted that Adam didn’t know how to run a business. Adam is an honest man and will not tolerate that from anybody. His reputation has been built up over many years of outstanding service to the Mustang community.

So, where are we now?

Adam believes the aggravation that recently been coming his way and the potential of ruining his business’ reputation due to Royal Fail is just not worth it for the cost and their ‘services’ provided. Time spent replying to our customers on behalf of Royal Fail has become unacceptable of late. We shall now be phasing out the Royal Fail options again and our customers will now only be able to collect from us or pay for the courier services, or provide their own collection if they want to. This was the reason that Mustang Maniac stopped using Royal Fail a while ago.

We sincerely apologise to those who are understanding and have had no problems with the services. We as a company have to protect our reputation. Where a ‘partnership’ by contract can jeopardise that, difficult decisions have to be made. We have tried all sorts of things to help our customers and we have put up with a lot. Some of the costs we incur are not even passed on to you, our valued customers. Sadly we have made the decision to stop Royal Fail services for the reasons we have stated. A customer bad mouthing us for poor delivery service is not acceptable. However, very small packages link window rollers or a couple of bolts etc could be Royal Fail at our discretion.

We hope you understand our decision, we will probably loose some custom over it, we can’t help that and will be sad to see them go. We dare say that they will of course they will go elsewhere for their parts, paying the import charges and taxes themselves, then waiting for their delivery.

We appreciate this may upset a few people, hopefully most will understand our decision.

Our Cars

Work is continuing on our ’65 Ranchero, we are starting to add some paint to the shell and some running gear. We hope this week we will have a rolling project once the suspension has all been fitted. Inside the engine bay was red oxide, seam sealed and black top coats.

The etch and primer coats always seem to make the the project jump a few steps forward.

OEM engine bay black applied.

The rear axle has also been getting paint.

We will be bringing you more progress next week.

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Our Cars, Photos, postage, Restoration, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Another Specialist Repair

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

We didn’t get a chance to post last weekend due to the some commitments that ran later than expected. But we’re back this week and that’s all that matters. We have taken the ‘car’67 which has had the rear quarters replaced and some anti rust treatment to the paint shop for prep and paint. It will be there for a little while, so in the mean time we have started back on our very own Falcon Ranchero’s full restoration.

We start with a couple of cars ready to go out to their owners when Adam snapped these pictures.

Adam was going around saying a little lyric to himself:

Blue is the colour,
Mustangs are our game.
If you don't know our name,
Then that's a shame!

It’s not often you get get different generations of the same colour side by side.

Customer Cars

We start with a car that has been brought into us with an exhaust that is blowing. Nothing unusual there as these happen. But what you don’t expect is the exhaust to blow after a specialist has custom made the exhaust for you!

We were expecting a little settlement movement which just needed a quick tighten up. When we got the car up in the air we wasn’t quite ready for what we saw. We have seen worse of course, but this was supposed to be a specialist. Don’t ask us who because we are not here to bash other peoples work. The welding was not very good should we say.

They had cut the exhaust tubing to short and used clamps to hold it in place. If they had a welding rig out, why not just weld another bit on rather than make this complete botch job.

How short was the pipe? Not even close is the answer. Cable ties used to hold brake lines out of the way from burning on the exhaust. On top of all that, the ‘pièce de résistance’ was the black silicon mastic. It will blow almost straight away and start to burn. We think the pictures say enough on the matter to be honest.

We will now have to fabricate new pipework at even more expense to the owner. The only advice we can offer is, if somebody recommends a place for work on your pride and joy; have they been there and what does their work look like? To be honest this type of thing makes owning and driving these cars a bad experience, which they most certainly shouldn’t be. Parts for the cars are readily available for pretty much everything, why do these people make it so hard for themselves? We will probably never know.

Our Cars

Our much loved shop truck 1965 Falcon Ranchero has been moved up the work order and we have started to complete the body shell work. The red oxide is multiple coated and allowed to dry, once that is dry then the seam sealer is applied.

Once that has all cured we can then apply our own secret recipe of black underseal.

While the main body was drying we started on the rear axle.

We will be bringing you more updates as we go along.

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Blog, Customers' Cars, Mustang Maniac, Photos, projects, Repairs, Restoration | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Warning Has Been Noted

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

We have had a lot of feedback from our post last week about the evil ethanol now in our fuel. As a result we have had a few pictures via email of the inside of their rubber hoses. If it has damaged the hoses, you can guarantee that damage is elsewhere too. We have sold a good few meters of the ethanol proof fuel hose we stock, for either 3/8″ or 5/16″. Various fuel filters for the classics and newer cars have seen a bit of a surge in sales too. We are pleased that the article has made people think to go and check their pride and joy, not because we want to sell you stuff, but from a safety point of view. We have a tip for you; if you can squeeze the fuel lines flat with your fingers easily, check and be ready to change them.

Customer Cars

The ’67 fastback rear end has been the focus this week to get the panels properly welded into place, red lead treated and then another undercoat for premium protection.

Once the red oxide had dried it was time to mask up and add some seam sealer before the underseal.

Our special formula for the underseal is applied to give some proper protection from rust. Yes, they were just red oxide originally, but with the salt and wet weather in the UK, any additional protection is welcome.

It’s at this final stage where missing little bits can allow debris to collect and eventually cause issues. It pays to take your time and get it right.

WebShop

We have been stocking up on a new style starter motors and now have one or two in stock. We have everything from classic to moderns, auto and manual, high torque to standard, top brands to Enos.

The same can be said for the latest batch of K&N filters for all Mustangs from the first to the latest.

We have also stocked up on a few more Holley EFI kits, just a few variations to choose from. As word gets out just how good these kits are, we are starting to sell these more regularly. Performance, efficiency and reliability, what more could you ask for?

Stay Safe & Take Care!

Posted in Customers' Cars, Holley, Parts, projects, Restoration, Webshop | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Few Words Of Warning

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Mustang Maniac

This week we are going to show you just what E10 ethanol does to your pride and joy. Modern day cars are using E10 compatible fuel hoses, which is fine. But, what happens to the inside of the bits you don’t see that aren’t E10 proof? Just over a couple of years ago when E10 fuel was forced on us we posted about the horrors of this E10 ‘fuel’. We posted a few facts as follows:

  1. Ethanol is an alcohol substance, those properties will dry out the rubber components in a fuel system. This leads to cracking and brittle fuel lines, floats, seals and diaphragms, caps off’s etc.
  2. Ethanol is corrosive when in comes into contact with certain materials within the fuel delivery systems and its related storage. This will be things like the flexible joining parts, rubber compounds and also the more worrying aspects of the zinc and aluminium alloys used in carburettors. Yep, your nice new shiny carb will slowly disintegrate inside out.
  3. Ethanol is ‘hydrophilic’. In other words it loves water. Because of the water absorbency properties, the water content enters fuel containers when they are filled up, that’s your fuel tank, jerry cans, plastic petrol cans etc. Once water is in the fuel it forms a chemical mix that causes corrosion of internal parts. As the fuel level in your fuel tank or container drops, water condenses on the cool surfaces of the container, droplets form and run down into the fuel where the ethanol absorbs it.
  4. Ethanol is also a solvent in older or classic car engines. Not such a bad thing you say? Well, the ethanol begins dissolving the varnish and other deposits in your tank and fuel lines. These deposits are then carried to the carburettor or injection system where they can clog the small or tiny orifices involved. The results of which could cause all sorts or problems, over fuelling, fuel starvation, stuck floats, blocked jets, engine stumbling, idle issues, pick up issues and so on.

With all that said (again), we had a car into brought into us to be taken for an MOT after it has been stored for some time. It wasn’t running very well at all, maybe 5 out of the 8 cylinders is what it sounded like. We did as we were told and booked the car in for an MOT. Now, all credit due to the owner, the car doesn’t need an MOT, as it’s exempt due to the age. However most responsible owners want to know they are driving a safe car.

The car was taken down the road to the test centre where all of a sudden a pungent smell of fuel suddenly filled the cabin of the car. Adam pulled over as soon as he could and got out to have a look. Looking down the road there was a trail of fuel following him with a puddle getting bigger by the second under the back of the car. Adam looked and could see that there was a stream of fuel pouring out the tank. Instinct was to plug the hole with his finger, and luckily Adam had his phone in a pocket and managed to call the yard for somebody to bring out a box of rubber bungs while he was laying in some fuel. The car was in a layby just a few miles down the road from the workshops and within minutes help had arrived. The hole was plugged and the car was quickly taken back to the yard with the rescuing car following behind to keep an eye on things.

The car was put straight up onto the ramps for a good look. To make the car safe the car was drained of fuel and stored safely, for now. The smell of it will mean that we will have to dispose of it properly. There wasn’t to much left of the fuel as a fair amount of it was down a dual carriage way, and also down Adams arm. If somebody had thrown a lit cigarette butt out their car, there could have been fire, with some serious injury – that isn’t worth thinking about. The sender fitting was removed from the tank where the guys could see that the electrical connection from the sender in the tank had rotted away and just fell out.

The fuel line rubber pipe was removed and Adam cut it open to see what was going on, believing it to be the ethanol causing the problems. He wasn’t wrong, the pipe was in a bad way too.

The pipe looks like something out of a H. R. Giger Alien horror movie. The ethanol had eaten through the pipe’s inner wall and was almost through the outside wall. With a sudden loss of fuel from the pipe splitting, the car would have stalled and ground to a halt, all with fuel pouring out. Another fireball accident waiting to happen if there was a bad enough rear end collision. The inside of the fuel tank was a mess and will need a new one, as does the sender. You only need to see the damage the ‘fuel’ has caused on this car. You can see the yellow coiled wire going to where fitting should have been.

The carb was taken apart to inspect what was going on, the still image below was taken from the video at the time where float chambers needed to be picked off before cleaning.

The carb needed a full clean out and a full seal kit to rebuilt it. We’re still not sure how the carb’s seals hadn’t leaked to be honest. As the inside of the fuel tank was like this too, we just can’t get in there to clean it.

So what are we saying? If you haven’t already digested the points above then this fact may shock you. Petrol has a shelf-life of six months if stored in a sealed container at 20 degrees – or just three months if kept at 30 degrees. The more it’s exposed to heat, the more quickly it will go off. It has also been noted on many motoring organisation websites, that E10 fuel has a shelf life of up to three months. So if you store your car over the winter like we all do, then the car’s fuel system is under attack from standing ethanol.

You can add fuel stabilisers to help of course, but we have found that even after a short period of time the fuel goes bad and the cars tend to run like a bag of ol’ nails. We’re not exactly sure how long this car had been stored before it came to us, but it was bad. We think that a some fresher fuel was put into the tank in order to bring it to us. All the fuel lines will have to be replaced, all the rubber hoses will need be E10 proof and fuel filters need to be replaced.

We are not trying to sell you anything (although we do sell E10 fuel pipes), or create panic with a horror story. What we have shown here is a very real problem with the E10 rubbish fuel forced on us. If you haven’t replaced the hoses on your classic car and you use E10, or if your pride and joy has been stored for a while, we seriously recommend that you go and carefully check the the full fuel system before you drive. The best way to store your car for any considerable time? Empty the fuel tank.

This particular fix is going to be an expensive hobby for the owner, fuel lines, seal kits, fuel filters, sender, and fuel tank along with our time and effort to clean everything and put it back together again. Use E10 stabilisers as a minimum, or even better just use premium fuel without much ethanol in it.

Please check your fuel lines!

Posted in Articles, Mustang Maniac, Restoration | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments