Tight Fit

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

We pick up this week straight away with our customer’s cars and a resurrection of the project ’70 fastback with work being undertaken ready for the rear quarter panels to go back on. As Yogi has the new doors in place while the old rear quarters were in place we had a solid template to work from in order to align the “B” Pillars up correctly. A gap critical part of the process that has to be right first time.

With some clamps in place the pillars can be spot welded fully into place properly once Yogi was happy with the gaps. This is a slow time-consuming process to make sure the door opens and closes consistently before the final welding up. Rumour has it Yogi missed a tea break! With that the rear quarters were dry fitted and aligned up with the rear light panels and the B pillars. This can take hours and hours, as a tiny adjustment at one end will be a big adjustment at the other end of such a large panel. Tweaks to the panels and how they fit is normal, this is where the skill and experience of Yogi comes into its own.
With everything in place after a whole day it was all welded into place which just left the prep work for the rear quarters. Blocking down and filler work to make the insides ready for paint before being assembled onto the car.

French Convertible:

The last few posts has seen the new engine being readied for fitting back into the car. The final prep for the water and oil ways were made and double checking of the timing chain and cams etc. Not that we need to of course, it’s just a habit we have to crank by hand to make sure everything will be as it should.

The polished inlet manifold is fitted and torqued down into place and finally the coated headers are dry fitted to make sure that all the bolts are fine to be tightened up. Nothing worse than struggling with the engine in the engine bay with little room to work in.

With everything checked and the headers removed again the engine was lowered into place and attached the engine mounts.

The headers were lifted into place and bolted on properly. We knew this was going to be a tight fit and we weren’t wrong.

With the engine set in place the gearbox was a straight forward lift into place and bolt up. The hand brake and other hardware was also fitted into place.

Speaking of rumours it has been said that somebody took a picture of Yogi working on a carb in the other work-shop that was apparently having trouble with the jetting.

Only Joking Yogi! (We hope this doesn’t upset the Yogi Fan Club)

We had to study the above pic a while before we realised it was indeed a fake pic sent to us. How did we know it’s not our Yogi? Simple – It’s not a Snap-On wrench being used. Ahem – Moving swiftly on.
Where Adam is currently on a short break it has been said that the beers were free. Needless to say the afore-mentioned hospitality has been taken full advantage of so we hear.

Pups:

We have a couple of great pics of the pups where Enos and PJ wanted to say hello.

Enos

Enos & PJ

WebShop:

The feedback from last weeks WebShop update has been very positive and we are pleased with the responses from existing customers as well as general comments. Please let us know if you have any ideas how we can improve your Mustang Maniac experience with us.

Hope you liked the post as much as Daisy did!

Posted in Customers' Cars, Repairs, Webshop | Tagged Mustang, Mustang Maniac, welding, Yogi Fan Club | 2 Comments

New & Improved WebShop

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

At Mustang Maniac we not only pride ourselves on the highest quality of work available for your Mustang, but we also pride ourselves on the fact that if you want a part for your car, we have got it IN STOCK. As such our online ordering service, our “WebShop” has progressed much more quickly than we expected, with many requests to stock other later model Mustang parts now as well. We do hold a few of the standard parts for the late Mustangs, but even this has outgrown what we normally stock now. As a result due to popular demand we are expanding our stock range, all fifty years in fact in the near future. Quite what we need to stock for demand, what the common parts are such as the service items etc. we will have to work out. Our WebShop has now been improved with some changesd to the new interface which should make it easier to find what you need for what year of Mustang you have. Our normal huge supply of Classic Mustang parts has and always will be our priority and maxed out where we can. The later models will be added to on a weekly or even a daily basis so keep checking back. If you can’t find what you are looking for, firstly email Adam via the WebShop for a request, or call the office. We could well be stocking parts requested by you, our customers. Please just let us know what you want.

We have tried to keep the look and feel of the old WebShop in place for familiarity while introducing the new functionality too.

Here we have the main menu tweaked with the cars by year which will take you to sub menus for their corresponding parts as normal.

If you’re not sure of the year we have a visual guide here now too.

Here is the tweaked scroll down menu if you know the parts you are after or you can still click on the menu on the left at the top to save scrolling.

Please let us know how it looks, or how we can improve our WebShop. Once again we have listened to what our loyal customers require as well as listening to our future customers too. Thank you for all your feed back.

The Web site is still the same as always below or click anywhere it says “WebShop“:

WebShop – https://mustangmaniac.co.uk/

Posted in Parts, Sales, Webshop | Tagged classic Mustang, customer, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, WebShop | 4 Comments

Building Blocks

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

The week started with some excellent news that the engine we wanted has now turned up for the French Convertible. The requirement was to have at least 350bhp from the unit. So we duly complied and came up with 390bhp verified by the Dyno print out. The engine was to be black so we again worked our magic to use our top quality engine enamel paint to change the colour, once we had masked the areas off first of course.

With the pain left to dry in the warm sun we could remove the masking and Yogi fitted the new water pump once the paint had cured a little.

We are pleased with how this turned out so far and should look great with the other parts we have lined up for her. Now we have the main building block for the car we can start to assemble the power train back into the car which will be a big leap forward in achieving our goal of trying to get this lady ready to go to the ball.

Our Cars:

We also had our Paul “The Paint” turn up in his truck to collect the engine and gearbox for his Mach1 that would be cleaned and painted to his own colour scheme, once we get that back we should be able to get it ready to go back into his car. The week was turning into a week of engine blocks being readied for fitting.

Models:

When the early Mustangs were produced they also made a scaled “dealer” issue only model of the cars. These were not designed to be around for fifty odd years and as such have become extremely collectible. We have been donated a mint condition model in its pristine box as well.

Everything here at Mustang Maniac is for sale, providing you have the money of course, but we suspect that this particular car will stay in Adams ever-growing and very rare Ford memorabilia cupboard.

“Ford Facts”

1) The only car that Jim Morrison, legendary Doors singer, ever owned was a 1967 Shelby GT 500.

2) Chevrolet actually used a Ford SuperDuty to set up their Chevy Truck display at the Texas State Fair in 2012.

3) Fords signature blue oval logo was not introduced until 4 years after the company had already been in production.

4) Ford Chairman Bill Ford, currently owns the first Ford vehicle ever sold in 1903.

5) Bio-fuel: not a new thing as the Ford model T was designed from the start to run on both petroleum and ethanol – which could be produced using potatoes, wood chips and other bio materials.

6) Both Henry Fords liked things to be uniform – not only in production and vehicle terms but in other key areas. Wherever Ford operates across the world there tends to be a standard style. This is clearly demonstrated by the appearance of Ford Motor Company’s US and UK HQs. While the UK building is much smaller, it looks almost identical to the US headquarters in Dearborn Michigan. During the 60s and 70s both had executive floors at the top which were serviced by their own lifts and had thicker carpet and wood panelled walls. Both buildings had apartments for VIPs to stay overnight and heliports. Onsite at both locations there were a cinema, banking facilities, hairdressing, a full medical facility with company doctors and other medical staff along with huge dining/catering facilities (in the early years the management ate separately but as times change so the dining facilities have been merged to reflect the modern ‘team’ approach).

Thanks as ever to Gary for the great facts.

DeAgostini GT500

We have had another batch of the DeAgostini GT500 model arrive issues six to nine.

Issue six sees the most intricate part yet which is the rear exhaust system. Once completed this section will need to be stored carefully.

Issues seven and eight feature the other front wheel and braking mechanism was originally in a single issue, number two. As this has been done before it only took a couple of minutes to complete.

Issue nine gives us a nother large body panel in the shape of the left hand door which required the mirror and the door handle to be fitted.

We have updated the assembly page click here for the quick link or cut and past this link. https://mustangmaniac.org/shelby-gt500-18th-scale-model/

Food For Thought:

Saturday Adam decided to take a few of us out for a quick bite to eat. This wasn’t a quick pub lunch, this was an American diner called “Arnolds” in Hoddesdon. The food was fantastic and the four off us walked away feeling rather full. Classic food, classic style environment to eat in and the staff were very nice as too, what more can you ask for?

Adam seemed distracted and staring into space for a few seconds, we had a look to see just what it was he was looking at, we should have know better. 😀

Thanks for the diner Adam.

Posted in 1:8th Scale Model, Customers' Cars, Ford Facts, Our Cars | Tagged DeAgostini, Dyno, Ford Facts, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Yogi | 1 Comment

Rarities

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

Another week done and it finished in fine style, we were able to push some cars out into the yard and work in the sunshine. Yogi wasn’t to impressed as he had to venture out from his cave and he said the sun made his fur itch! Seriously though things just seem to go so much better in the sun and things were on the up. Adam was well happy as his new “fuel pump” had arrived. Adam was going on about this for a while now and we thought it was for the cars. We should have known better, it wasn’t. The retro style fuel pump ended up in the office, it was unwrapped and shown to us with a big grin on his face. Adam wasted no time by plugging it in and telling us that this was a bespoke order made just for Mustang Maniac to Adam’s own requirements, the top logo turns around to reveal a Ford logo too if you wanted a change. A stock of items eg: Beer “for those bad days” or “Chillin’ with the chaps after a good day”, cold drinks and somewhere to store the sandwich, although there is a fridge in the kitchen only a few feet away! The first rarity a real one-off, sneaking a drink out of the fridge with the dogs guarding it even rarer – good luck with that one then.

Customers Cars:

We have been working away on the French convertible where we are under pressure to get this ready for a Classic Car Rally. The sun helped a great deal as we could have everything open and still have space to move around the car without getting in each others way. She was pushed out into the sun and it was all hands to the pump, obviously not the new one, yet!

The aim here was to get as much of the original interior back into the car as we could. This was a two-man team effort of Yogi and Paul working on each side of the car at the same time. It was like watching fluid movements on the inside of a swiss watch, each piece working together but doing their own thing. The banter was in full flow as things were going well. The sound proofing needed to be put into the car first off, but Adam was tempted to wrap the guys up in it first though. 😀 This sound proofing has been sent back to us by customers saying “It’s to brittle and it breaks”. We can safely say that it doesn’t. The sound proofing is a bitumen based material and the secret to fitting it – warmth. Taking the material out of the boxes for the trunk and the interior it’s left in the Sun to warm up. After the outside of the roll has warmed you can gently open the layers up without cracking it. Leave the pieces out in the sun again to flatten on their own after it warms up some more. You can see the creases after unwrapping which will soon go. You could of course use something else to warm the material if you like, but we prefer to use the natural sun where we can.

The three sections were laid into the car, two for the front foot well and the second for the rear foot well. Once they are warm they are able to bent around as much as you like as you can see here. Peel the backing of the underside which will then stick to the floor pans and hold it in place. The creases can then be smoothed out as required.

With the sound deadening fitted into the car the rear quarter windows were fitted, again the two guys working on each side at the same time. Door catches and window adjustments were made to align everything up.

Next up was the carpet, as this was the original it laid in straight away to the contours of the floor pan no problems.

The dash needed to be swapped over and Yogi got to work on taking the old one out and prep work for the new one. The dash required some new plenum ducting, vents, clips and a central speaker, all of which was done at the same time as the dash pad fitting. In the mean time Paul was busy fitting in the after market inertia three-point seat belts aligning the carpet up to the original holes.

The rear quarter panels were fitted into place and the connecting wires for the radio were attached. The seats were given a their initial clean up and the rear back was first in and bolted in place.

The rear seat was going to prove a little more difficult as the speakers make it just a little narrow to drop the bench in place. But, like all things a little patience and all dropped into place fine. The front seats were lifted into place and bolted down without any of the normal problems of having to make the holes in the carpet as they were already there.

Late into the evening the light started to give way to a few spots of rain. The guys were really happy as the pushed the car back into the workshop with the bulk of the interior now in place. Timing was impeccable, Yogi celebrated by putting the kettle on. With the car back in the workshop we could take the last few photo’s to show the seatbelts in place.

In good company:

You may have already worked out that the French convertible colour is “Tahoe Turquoise”, on its own this is usually classed as a rare colour, we are not so sure about that as we had three of them here at the same time.

To complete the collection for the week, we had a very nice little white number parked among them, obviously this lady needs no introduction, and is also a very rare beast!

Lets hope the good weather holds up so we can have a few more good days, but we think that could be wishful thinking.

Posted in Customers' Cars, News | Tagged convertible, Ford, fuel pump, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Tahoe Turquoise, Yogi | Leave a comment

On This Day…

Posted on March 26, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

The day is Saturday 26th March 1932 exactly eighty-four years ago today, the great man Henry Ford was photographed standing next to a V8. Although Ford was not the first to introduce a V8, his engine broke new ground as it was the first ‘compact V8’ using a different ‘v’ angle so he could build them smaller and therefore cheaper. It also released the V8 technology for use in smaller cars…which gave ‘race car’ performance.

The greatest example of this was the praise given to Henry Ford by Bonnie and Clyde who credited the engine for being able to escape the police who only had four-cylinder cars.

Today, the actual 1934 Ford Model 730 Deluxe Sedan (boasting a massive 85bhp at the time) in which Bonnie a Clive took their last getaway and where they ceased their reign of terror, is on display at Whiskey Pete’s Casino. Las Vegas.

Customers Cars:

Speaking of engines, we had a ’67 fastback dropped into us for an unexpected visit just after the car had just passed its MOT with flying colours. On the way back from the test centre the engine decided to have an episode and blow a head gasket. This is never a good thing at any time, but you just can’t predict these things, ever. The engine had the dreaded sight that all mechanics cringe at, the oil in the engine looked like it had been replaced with Bailey’s liqueur. Yogi had an evaluation (we called it a guess), he took a head off from the left hand side and sure enough, number six pot was all shiny and clean.

To recondition the engine and do the required work can usually cost more than a crate engine. We had a new engine in stock and the agreement was to swap the engines out. So Yogi got to work straight away and put the kettle on, then had a cuddle with Enos first.

The engine was to use the original components where possible and came out fairly easily although there were some issues with the starter motor having a stripped thread for the retaining bolt. At this point, a two man job to get the engine out with the hood still in place so the pics are before and after.

The new engine dropped back in, but we had to be careful of the headers so they didn’t get damaged in the process.

We hope to have the car tuned, settled down and ready to be taken away early part of next week. How’s that for service?

The Country Squire:

The Ford Country Squire is a full-size station wagon that was assembled and marketed by Ford Motor Company from the 1950 to 1991 model years in North America for its namesake Ford division. Throughout its entire production run, the Country Squire was the premium station wagon model of the division, sold only in the full-size car range. In use for 41 years, it was the third longest-used car nameplate used by Ford in North America (behind only the Thunderbird and Mustang). Distinguished by its wood grain trim, only the first-generation 1950-1951 versions are true “Woodies”; to lower the high production cost of true woodgrain trim, the body trim on subsequent versions was composed of various simulated wood grain trim, with varying degrees of coverage of the body. Prior to 1986, other variations of the “Squire” name would be used on smaller “wood grained” Ford station wagons. Initially based on the Ford Custom Deluxe and the Ford Crestline that replaced it, in 1955, the Country Squire became a distinct model as Ford separated its station wagon and sedan model lines. While sharing trim with the Fairlane and then the Galaxie, the Country Squire remained a separate model line until 1968. For 1969, Ford consolidated its sedan and station wagon model lines, with the Country Squire becoming part of the Ford LTD line, gaining its model prefix. With the 1983 split of the Ford LTD and Ford LTD Crown Victoria, the LTD Country Squire remained part of the full-size line until its discontinuation. During its production run, the Ford Country Squire was joined by two other equivalent wood grained station wagons in other Ford divisions: In 1958, the Edsel division sold the Edsel Bermuda (which became the rarest Edsel); from 1957 to 1991, Lincoln-Mercury sold the Mercury Colony Park, sharing the body shell of the Country Squire from 1961 onwards. Ford Motor Company elected to discontinue the LTD Country Squire and Colony Park during the redesign of their Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis sedan counterparts for the 1992 model year. With the discontinuation of the Chrysler Town & Country in 1977, Buick Roadmaster Estate and Chevrolet Caprice Estate in 1996 (the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser was discontinued in 1992), the full-size station wagon segment disappeared in North America, with the lone exception of the 2005-2008 Dodge Magnum.

The second generation 1952 – 1954; In 1952, Ford expanded station wagons into a line up separate from its newly redesigned sedans. The Country Squire was the top model, now available solely in a four-door configuration; it was the wagon counterpart of the Crestline series. Joining the Squire were the four-door Country Sedan (Customline) and the two-door Ranch Wagon (Mainline). The 239 Strato-Star V-8 was the only engine offered in the 1952 Country Squire. Unlike its predecessor, the 1952 Country Squire no longer was a true woodie; like the Country Sedan, it wore a full steel body. The wood grain finish was now constructed by wood grain transfers edged in real wood trim on the sides and tailgate.The real wood trim was discontinued halfway through the 1953 model run and replaced with fiber glass trim with a wood grain finish.

This customers 1954 Ford Countryman Squire will be used to tow a race ready Mustang to and from meets we understand. The car has been standing around for a while and needs some serious work to get her road worthy, whether this will be a full restoration or a patina car we are not sure yet. But this is a big, big car.

The engine was a bit of a concern for us, parts and availability of course. So Yogi rolled up his sleeves, put the kettle on and took a look at the “Y block” series engine while scratching his fur. We made sure it was all free by hand cranking, checked there was some oil in it and got some fresh fuel. We cranked it over for a few turns, then started it in anger as it were.

The result was a short lived, but very sweet success, we now had positive something to work from.

To finish we thought we would share a funny photos of the dogs, what Enos didn’t realise was he was going back in there shortly, if looks could kill!

One last thing:

We shall be holding enquiries in the yard next week as to who “accidentally” left this glove on the engine swap out that Yogi was working on. When we find out who it was there will be some serious questions asked; “what exactly were you trying to point out?” Very funny though and Yogi is trying to find the culprit, I doubt very much that we will find out who left it somehow. 😀

Have a great Easter and don’t eat too much chocolate.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bonnie & Clyde, Countryman Squire, Enos, Henry Ford, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, v8, Yogi | 7 Comments

Breakfast With An Ol’ Friend

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

At Mustang Maniac we love our job, we enjoy working on the cars and we enjoy the satisfaction to know that our customers are pleased too. This week an unexpected visitor turned up to see us again; the legendary Mastic Mustang ’67 Convertible. We sort of grew quite attached to this car considering how bad she was when she came in first time around. The car arrived with the top down looking pretty cool with the threat of rain to follow shortly. So we quickly found a covered space in a secure area for now, just in case.

Yesterday the sun was out and we needed to road test her again as she had developed a small over heating issue which we wanted to sort out. So what better way than to drive to a local pub first thing who serves a really great full English breakfast. After filling ourselves up and getting set for the day, we drove a little more and parked up at a garden centre for a couple of bits, just because we could. Although this may sound strange, but we are simulating the short drives she currently gets to try to replicate the issue. We didn’t have any issues so far with over heating, but something is not one hundred percent how we like it as the gauge did creep up a little. We found a nice open area to park up and before we knew it we had cars parked next to her and people taking pics, so we did too.

A couple of good questions came our way from a lovely chap, he asked about the interior so we said that this is not a “Pony Interior” as that was the previous few years, this was now called a “Deluxe Interior”. The trunk rack was an optional extra that we fitted for the customer, an unusual option, but we like it and it definitely suits this car.

What a fantastic way to start the day, Sun out, sound of a V8 rumble, convertible and wind in your hair, all just chilling with an old friend.

Customer Cars

Yogi has been a busy bear starting to assemble the French convertible that we picked up from last week. The pressure is to get this car back together again ready for a show, so it’s all hands on deck to get the lady ready where we can. But, we will not rush a job just to get it out the door and the owner is aware of that fact. Safety and quality of our work speaks for itself. The back of the car has been almost completed now and so far everything is going well and we are on schedule.

The upgraded SPAX gas adjustable shocks all round been fitted.

The front upgraded sway bar, springs, disc brakes are now all in place.

Our Gas Monkey Challenge!

We like to think that we are up for any challenge that comes our way, from reading our Blog you will know that we have had a few challenges in the past. We had a phone call to say that we going to be given a non-rolling chassis Mustang. We had no more than three days to get the wheels on the chassis, body panels for the hood, trunk, rear quarters and front fenders. Yogi & Adam said it wont be perfect, but suspected that it could be moved. Apparently we didn’t need to do any electrics either. Three days, are we mad?? Oh, we were only allowed one spanner! Obviously that was successfully challenged should we say, stating that no way can it be done with only a single spanner. So, the rules were relaxed with two ratchets each, a set of sockets and a rack of spanners and a screw driver of our choice – if you wanted that is. If we wanted? Are they mad now? The challenge was dubiously accepted with some head scratching and chin rubbing as to what was going to arrive at the yard. The car was expected some time on Saturday. Preparation and discussions at a secret location, OK it was in a workshop, the bare essential tools were readied as agreed. They cheated a little with the screwdriver as the extra “bits” were not mentioned so therefore not excluded. The “set” of sockets was elaborated appon as they all came as a “set” on the tray. Good lateral thinking from the guys to get a edge where they can.

We were told the car was five minutes away. Spaces were cleared and Chris walked in, alone. “Where’s the car?” With that he reached in his bag and pulled out the car! It was indeed a Mustang GT, a little newer than we expected though.

We’re not sure if it was a laugh of relief or not, but an impromptu adult conversation took place. 😉 Anyway, the challenge was still on and the task was palmed over to a secret, now sub contracted LEGO builder. Due to the fact that this was recommended for ages 7 – 14 yrs, the guys were going to be challenged as they would have to follow a set of instructions to build it. Everybody knows that the unwritten rule in a man cave is – you don’t read instruction manuals. Gloves were off… (well after the photo at least!)

The clock started. The first part was to build was the lap timer and the guy with the single spanner, we shall call him “Enos”.

The chassis building was going well now and the initial bout of not being able to see the small parts was overcome!

She was coming together. Tea break was required after the front and rear quarters were assembled. Next up the front end, hood and trunk. This was getting tricky now as the tiny stickers need to be added.

Wheels, exhausts and tyres up next with more pesky little stickers.

With the car completed and Enos now in the vehicle, the clock stopped after 1 hour and 14 minutes. Not bad considering there was fifty-one pages of instructions.

All we can say is that LEGO has moved on in the decades since we last had seen it. Well done Lego. So Gas Monkey, you take weeks to build a car, we had three days, we smashed that and done it in less than two hours! 😀

Ford Fact Time:

Back by popular demand we have a couple of facts for you.

Q: What is the link between Kermit the Frog and Henry Ford?

A: Henry Ford disliked and disagreed with US President Roosevelt and his politics…Roosevelt had a son called Kermit…who incidentally had a frog puppet named after him in the “Muppet Show”!

Q: What has Henry Ford and Brazil got in common?

A: In the 1920’s Henry Ford worried that the world rubber production was dominated by British plantations. Considering 50% of the worlds car sales at the time were model T Fords – all needing at least 4 tyres, he bought 2.5 million acres (the size of Tennessee) of Brazilian rainforest along the banks of the Amazon to plant with rubber plants to create his own rubber supply. He built a whole city with schools, churches, shops etc. and named it Fordlandia. Unfortunately it was not a success.

WebShop

Already we have sold a number of SPAX shocks and seem to be popular as we suspected they would be. They can be found on the WebShop or click here to go straight there.

Blog

Our blog will need to have to get an upgrade shortly, so keep an eye out for that soon.

Posted in Blog, Customers' Cars, Photos, Repairs, Service, Webshop | Tagged full English breakfast, Gas Monkey Challenge, LEGO, mastic mustang, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, Spax, Yogi | 2 Comments

Spring Time

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

We would like to say that summer is on the way which it supposedly is but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. But we are not talking about the weather here, we are talking about a very common question that we get asked, it was asked four times last week alone. Will changing the shock, springs or anti roll bar make a difference and what’s involved? We can say that they definitely will make an instance difference to the car. It also depends on what you want of course, the most common is the shocks to be replaced. Mustang Maniac are now proud to announce that we are an authorised SPAX dealership, we not only stock Mustang components for our customers, but we can also source SPAX parts for any vehicle. Yes you did read that right – any vehicle! We may even stock a selection of the more common types going forward. We have added link to the right side menu now, and also under the heading “Our Partner Products” along with Evans Coolant and Gibbs Brand Lubricant. Click the logo below to go to the WebShop for our in-stock items.

Back to the point, all this is to show you what we do when we change these parts. We often get queries by customers who buy parts saying they don’t fit or don’t work. So we now have a NEW section called “How To Projects” from the menus above. We will not repeat everything on those guides as you can read that if you want too, but here we have a selection of Yogi doing his thing in his cave from those articles!

We must say that like all these DIY projects – if in any doubt DON’T do it. Use the correct tools and be safe.

The first article: Replacing Front Springs or Shocks or click here for the quick link.

The front springs are under enormous loads and really should be treated with the utmost respect. The shocks are straight forward enough to replace. With the shock tower caps being removed and two bolts top and bottom of the shocks. Performance shocks will enable the car to ride over bumps or holes in the road ensuring tyre contact with the ground.

The other part is the ride comfort of the vehicle being the springs. The Shocks and the springs are separate items, but they work very much as a pair. We can’t stress how important it is to change these items in pairs of shocks or a pair of springs otherwise you may get unpredictable car handling characteristics.

For the standard springs they have to be compressed in order to remove and refit them from the suspension spring perches. To do this we have our own design and built tool for the job. This allows us to compress the springs from the top of the shock tower. What ever happens you will need a good quality spring compressor.

Here you can see the difference between the standard and the performance 600lb rated springs with a 1″ drop.

The process to fit the springs is much easier with shorter springs as they will just about fit in without any compression if you are lucky. With the springs and shocks replaced you are ready to have some wheel alignment done.

We have not done these upgrades yet without the geometry needing to be adjusted afterwards.

settings BEFORE adjustments

The difference is very subtle and just takes that front up stance away and gives a more even level look.

The other big difference that can be made is the replacing the front anti-roll bar or sway bar, from the menu above.

“Replacing Front Springs or Shocks” or click here for the quick link.

The sway bar will stop body roll around corners and also help keep the tyres in contact with the road. There are two brackets under the chassis that holds the main sway bar in place and at each end is a long bolt that will connect the end of the sway bar to the lower part of the suspension. We recommend loosening everything off first, then removing the suspension connection then the chassis clamps.

The difference between the standard and the uprated one is quite noticeable when compared next to each other.

The long suspension bolts MUST be fitted with a certain sequence of rubber and metal, often a point where mistakes are made. The spacer collar between the sway bad the suspension will be shorter and must be used, again this is often a mistaken as the parts not fitting correctly as the wrong parts from the original fitting are sometimes used. The clamps for the sway bar might need to be adjusted to fit the chassis depending on the model/year of the car as the clamps are generic. This is simple enough to do by slightly elongating the holes to allow the bolts to fit through if you have too of course.

Here we check the correct alignment before we start the fitting.

lengthened hole and corners removed.

checking for bolt clearance

The 1″ sway bar clamps are bigger and must be used, we suggest fitting the chassis clamps first loosely to the chassis as the bar will need to be adjusted. We sometimes remove the corners to fit the chassis easier but it’s not required.

Correctly fit the long bolt for the sway bar to the lower suspension.

Once everything is evenly spaced out then start the tightening up process.

We would suggest checking the wheel alignment, although this shouldn’t affect the geometry.

Check out the new Menu “How To Projects” as we will be adding some more simple projects in the near future.

Customers Cars:

We went to pick up the French convertible from the paint shop and she looks a real treat. Paul and Adam discussing the next project. The stripes on this car are not stuck on., these are sprayed onto the car giving a perfectly smooth finish if you were to try to feel them. We only have a short time to get this little lady ready for her debut car show. We will be having more on this in future posts.

Due to the fact that we were out virtually all day Friday delivering and picking up cars, the office was unmanned due to circumstances beyond our control. We came back to the office late afternoon to find 137 missed calls. With that volume of call somebody wouldn’t have got through anyway. We called a number of people back who only wanted to order parts. So we talked them through the process of ordering online from us so they don’t have to call us just for parts. Our WebShop will automatically calculate postage and packing for you, and in most cases it will be quicker for the dispatch department to send out to you without having to speak to us if that helps. Let us know if there is anything specific you would want to see in the walk-through guides. Please let us know what you think about the guides.

Posted in Articles, Customers' Cars, Parts, Repairs, Sales, Service, Walk Through Guides, Webshop | Tagged car show, Evans Waterless Coolant, geometry, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, shock tower, Spax, Spax shock absorbers, springs, Walk Through Guides, wheel aligment | 4 Comments

Shelby 1, 2 or 3?

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

Some decisions in life are more difficult than others such as what to drive. Here at Mustang Maniac we have an amazing selection of cars to choose from. In the words of a customer who recently had a guided tour of the yard “It’s like a museum”. We are immensely proud of that fact, and that decision making process has just gotten harder. What to drive this weekend? To see a true Shelby is rare, to see a collection of them is even rarer.

We have here the ever classic Shelby KR, Hertz Shelby and the beast of 2014 GT500 SVT edition.

The 2014 SVT is the baddest official Ford Mustang made to date, the SVT (Special Vehicle Team) has created a their first 200+mph car, that makes it a super car by any imagination. and all for under $70,000. The car has an incredible 662bhp with similar spine shattering 631lb torque at 4000rpm. What you have here in effect is a fully fledged track race car you can drive on the road. The builders of this car have even had the nice touch to sign the engine.

Yes we know the car is pretty dirty, but it’s not been in the yard long enough to clean it!

The difficult decision is “What would you drive for the day?” Please vote below as we would love to know what you think.

WebShop

We have now had delivery of the Shelby classic Steering wheel which is an incredible exact top quality replica.

Of course to go with the wheel you just have to have the Concours horn button. We now also have these in stock, either the GT350 or the GT500. These are not your “Enos Range”, these are the exact opposite. Easy plug-in fitting to the wheel and your done. If you want you car to stand out from the crowd….. Need we say any more?

Model: DeAgostini Shelby GT500

Every now and again something catches our eye, this company DeAgostini has started to produce a very highly detailed model of the now legendary ’67 Shelby GT500. This is no ordinary model, it’s a die cast 1:8th Scale Model. We have collected a few issues together now and have started the build process. We will not be doing an exact step by step process as that would just be copying the magazine instructions. We will however be publishing the completed sections as we go along and some interesting points we find. From what we have seen this is an incredible model and after the 100 issues it will take to complete you will have a spectacular model to be proud off. The attention to detail is much better than we expected to be honest. Even to the point the headlights have a correct left and right side for the lenses. We have not seen that on any previous Mustang models we have seen.

Part 1 issued 9/10/2016 in a promotional pack

Issue 1

The start of the project is the front of the car, grill, headlights, bumper etc.

The headlights are incredibly well detailed and do indeed have a correct side for fitting.

Completed:

Issue 2

The Left side front wheel, the parts.

The tyre is in fact a very heavy rigid plastic, to make it fit you have to have a hair dryer to warm it up. They say a little heat, but we found that it was a gradual heat up till it was quite warm to get any sort of give in the moulding. It also cools pretty quick and when it does it becomes rigid again. The last picture below here shows the comparison of the supplied screw driver and the precision ones we are using.

selection of screw drivers

Completed:

Issue 3

The top part of the engine block supplied here, air intake, twin carbs, valve covers.

parts 2 & 3

Completed:

Issue 4

In this issue we have been supplied with a huge slab of metal that is the hood. It’s heavy and gives you a rough idea of the scale of this model as the hood is getting on for the size of A4 magazine it comes with.

The quality of the paint is pretty amazing for a model, we have tried to show the corner of the hood in detail here. Along with the hood comes the rest of the front grill will is screwed into your previously stored front section from part 1. The detail is top quality and intricate to say the least. The spotlights are pressed into the radiator grill and held in by small metal flaps to hold it in place. We would suggest that you do this once as repeated pressing of the lights could weaken the grip.

Completed

Issue 5

This issue was a very simple section of the left front seat back rest. This came in three parts and is held together by a number of screws at each corner. They do offer the advice to use model glue for extra strength if you want to, but we found the snap together a good enough solid fit. You can see from the detail on the seat finish they really have made some excellent tooling for this level of quality.

We have a dedicated page to the building of this model under its own section : DeAgostini Shelby GT500 1:8th Scale Model. We have also placed a link on the Right hand side which will take you straight to their website. Or click here.

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collections/buildshelbymustang/?gclid=CIWl_7zHrMsCFRUW0wodngUPrA

Office News:

This week’s weather has been pretty rubbish to say the least, so how do we know that? I guess we don’t need to say any more here either!

Posted in 1:8th Scale Model, Articles, Customers' Cars, News, Webshop | Tagged Build a Shelby, DeAgostini, gt500, hertz, Mustang, Mustang Maniac, rent a racer, Shelby, Shelby GT500KR, SVT | 4 Comments

Diamonds (Are Forever)

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

At the end of last year Adam was at the SEMA 2015 show in Las Vegas (the annual Mustang Maniac trip), where he promised he wouldn’t buy new cars. True to his word, he didn’t buy any new cars. But while he was out in Vegas with his wife he promised to buy some “diamonds are forever”. Obviously she wasn’t too excited when Adam showed them to her, it wasn’t quite what she was expecting. Adam did promise not to buy a “new” car, but he did buy an older car, a forty five year old car to be exact. That car has taken a while a to be shipped over from the USA, but she arrived here in the UK late this week. The car in question just happens to be exactly the same model as was used in the James Bond movie “Diamonds Are Forever”. This great looking, all original 1971 Mach1 351 Ram Air which has only ever had the original owner from brand new. The car came with the unique documentation from the initial point of sale. The pics here are of the car before it has even been cleaned and polished. The car even has the original hub cabs which are a rarity on their own. A great car looking car that is becoming a true classic.

On Saturday morning Chris was helping out in the yard and going through the incredible document pack that came with the Mach1. In the pack there was the original owners manuals and user guides that came in the Ford reusable bag.

There was a rare 8-track cassette from Ford, there was even a Gary Glitter 8-track and Perry Como choices too. Remember 8-Tracks way back then?

So on Saturday Adam was running around asking people “do you wanna be in my gang?” Moving quickly on, Chris was taken out in the car for a spin, any excuse to blast out a few notes from the Glitter song “Leader of the Gang” apparently. But it was decided that maybe a little bit of Perry’s “Magic Moments” would be better instead but still didn’t seem quite right.

Adam and Chris in the car sorting out the potential sounds for the trip, a mutual compromise was agreed, “lets just listen to the engine noise.” That was of course only ever going to be the soundtrack for real petrol heads.

Customers Cars:

We have the nice ’67 Convertible that has come back for the annual service and check up. The stainless steel rear case rack was fitted by us a while ago and gives the car a different look to all the other convertibles out there. We have these in stock on our WebShop if you want to add this optional extra. Click here for the link.

We will have some great pics soon of the increasing Shelby Collection so again watch this space!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged '67 Convertible, 351 Ram Air, 8 track cassette, Diamonds Are Forever, Ford, luggage rack, Mach1, Mustang, Mustang Maniac | 4 Comments

Classic Bullitt

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Mustang Maniac

This week we have a very special car in our workshops. The car has come in for some of her regular servicing and we are pleased to have her back. There are plenty of Bullitt replicas or “Clones” out there, as you have no doubt seen with the same colour etc. However driving this little lady is the closest you will ever get to the original Bullitt car, for handling, sound and look, especially here in the UK. Now we all know that Bullitt was a ’68 etc etc. This ’67 390GT in Acapulco Blue is true to the original spec Bullitt car. The car has a four speed manual with the legendary 390ci big block as you would expect. The car sounds incredible and not had the super loud exhausts on it (yet). She drives like an absolute dream and turns heads wherever she goes.

There is even a rumour that this car could be coming up for sale very soon. So, if the rumours are true, pay a visit to your bank manager and get your money ready. There is already huge interest in this pretty special car with the attention to detail as you would expect. If she is up for sale, the first person with the money gets her. An absolute classic car that will only ever go up in value.

Adam does his best Steve McQueen impression backing this car into her temporary home.

Watch This Space for news on this beauty coming up for sale.

Customers Cars:

The ’70 fastback is starting to have the back-end welded into place now. The rear quarters are dry fitted at the moment and will get some colour on the insides before the final welding up.

The rear axle has been treated to some paint and is almost ready to go back on the chassis.

News:

Adam and Yogi had an impromptu visit to the The London Classic Car Show on Friday. They decided to have a look round, the trouble is the look round ended up Adam reaching for his wallet. He did buy something and that something will appear here very soon. You don’t need to ask what it is just yet, but it’s pretty special. Adam even has some special number plates for it. As we said above – watch this space for news on that one!

Ford History Lesson:

Part 1:
When Henry Ford first set up the auto company in the 1900s he had 6 other investors and they all wanted to build expensive cars for the rich as there was more profit in such cars – like they were doing in Europe. Henry was strongly opposed to this strategy but was out-voted. He went on to developed and built a luxury car made using his skills to engineer it to extremely high standards. Once built, he decided to go his own way and to buy out his partners and start the Ford Motor Company. As part of the deal, the newly built luxury car was left with the remaining investors…..and it went on to be launched as the very first ‘Cadillac’ car!

Part 2:
Henry Ford is famed for inventing the ‘moving production line’ which allowed 50 cars a day to roll off the line. A much lesser known fact is that his grandson, Henry Ford 2 is responsible for creating the first ‘automated production line’ ……allowing 400 vehicles a day to be produced.
Part 3:
Henry Ford 2 loved the name ‘Maverick’ and wanted it for the now famous Mustang. Ford ‘owned’ the rights to the name along with 800 other names for possible future cars. But where did the name Maverick come from?
In reality there was a rich Texan cattle baron called Samuel Maverick whose claim to fail was he never branded his vast heard of cattle…as he thought the process of burning his mark into an animals skin was barbaric. So, if any cattle was found without a branded mark it was said to be a ‘Maverick’ – interestingly he lost very few cattle and had little trouble from ruthless thieves simply putting their brand on his cattle. His name became the definition of someone who did not act traditionally or conform to the rules of society in any way. So the Maverick was born….and Henry Ford 2 wanted to call the Mustang Maverick because it did not conform to any of the car rules that went before? He got his way later in the decade when Ford launched the all new Ford Maverick in the US. The name was given another outing in the 80/90s in the UK with the Ford/Nissan joint venture 4×4 – Ford Maverick and Nissan Terrano.

Thanks to Gary W. for the information.

The Pups

This week in the office customers have mentioned they like the idea of the pups being in the office. Now we can’t be sure if this is true or not, but the husbands wait for the their wives to be distracted by the pups while they pay for their parts or for the work on their cars! 😉

Mother Ellie and daughter Daisy