Moving With The Times

New parts update…

Those who visit our blog and website know the huge amount of stock we hold for these classic cars. New items are made and we get a supply of them, they then sometimes stop production again for a while and the parts become difficult to get for a while. We have been reliably informed that these companies make a batch of parts at a time when the demand is there to save their costs. this approach is fair enough and makes economic sense, but doesn’t always help the stockists or the customers, so we get our hands on what we can. However our web page takes a little time to get the correct catalogue part numbers, pictures and prices on the order pages so you can buy them online. As a result we are now going to try a process to help out. Where a new stock line that comes in that is worth the special mention, we will post it on this blog FIRST! Of course we are not talking about posting every nut, bolt and clip we get in, that would mean we would be posting everyday if we did. The more significant items we would choose would be such things like radiators, brake boosters, steering racks, glass, lights, engines, panels, bespoke parts etc.

What we hope to achieve here is the rapid response to our stock which you can call and ask for details on delivery and prices. It may take a week or two before the same items appear on our online stock pages. We hope this new process will move us with the times and as a result will appear on our Facebook pages and Twitter too so you won’t miss out. We will also post them under our (new) title menu called “New Stock Parts”, these will be small pages of photos (just unboxed or unwrapped) along with a quick description within their categories, we may have to add more categories of course in order to help you find them. If there is anything you want us to announce to the world just drop us an email and we will see what we can do for you. Customers may be on the lookout for particular items and this would mean you don’t have to wait as long for new parts. We shall see how it goes!

Please, let us know what you think of our new process.

We had a large order arrive this week and we now have some new lines in stock, some are on a trial basis to see how they sell others will be our regular lines.

Radiators:

These radiators are top quality with the original look of the rounded top. We have also got a more basic model in as part of the range.

Oil Sumps for 289 – 302ci:

These quality sumps have arrived at long last and we now have them in stock in Ford blue, black and bare metal. We also got a supply of some high performance oil sumps which have the oil compartmentalized to avoid oil pick up failure.

Brake reservoirs:

A selection of third-party dual reservoirs have arrived, these are in full chrome finish, or the option of the see through plastic top like modern-day spec vehicles. A couple of these have already gone from our stock!

C4 Auto Gearbox:

These gearboxes have been reconditioned to our highest standards, with new machined replacement parts inside that allow the gears to be fully aligned for that smooth gear change you expect as if fresh from the factory. We have fitted a number of these units now and everyone of them has been spot on with no issues at all. We also have the fully reconditioned torque converters as well to go with these gearboxes. Fantastic product for a very (very) reasonable cost.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

’64 – ’66 Cowl Replacement

We recently found a few more pictures of work that we done a short time before this blog was thought of or born that we thought we had lost. We decided to share the pictures we have with you even though we don’t have the full before and after set. But you do get to see the idea of what we achieved anyway.

It’s a problem for the very early cars that have a rusty cowl, ’64 – ’66 had theirs welded in place. The later years you could remove a bit easier. With the earlier years there are two things you could do; Hope it stays OK or do what we do here at Mustang Maniac. We have now perfected a good technique to get the old cowl out, replace it with the treated and repaired original, or fit a new one as the case may be. The original bodywork is refitted without damage.

The process in steps

1) We take everything of at the front of the car to fully expose the top grill and cowl that is welded on.

2) We then remove the welding and take of the grill without damaging it

Cowling removed from the car with the grill back on top for reference.

cowl4
3) Two options here now is to either replace with a new unit or repair and treat the old cowl ready to be put back in.
4) The underside of the cowl was sprayed while off the car to match the bodywork paint.

cowl7
5) We put the cowl back on the car and re-weld it back in place. The remaining area is masked off and the primer is applied.

cowl8
6) We allow to dry  fully and then apply the top coats as required to match the original bodywork colour.

cowl9
7) Once dry and cured, we then put the wipers back in and all the under dash equipment.
8) Last step is the top grill is put back on, welded and covered as the original was. This is followed by the fenders and the hood etc. which are all re-aligned back into their correct positions.
This cost-effective repair that we achieve without the re-painting the outside is worth the effort and costs involved. It’s not the easiest of jobs, but it’s worth doing if you have cowl leaking issues etc.

Give us a call for a quote.

Posted in Blog, Customers' Cars, Repairs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Evans Waterless Coolant Update…

Our increased stock range of Evans Waterless Coolant

One of the great products we recommend and use is Evans Coolants. We had a large stock of the Classic Coolant for our Mustangs and the feedback is fantastic on how it works. We have been getting more and more enquiries about the other Evans products and as a result we are now stocking them, straight out of the box! What ever your needs we have it – or we can get it.

evans products

Quick Links: We have attached the quick links for the products information and the PDF of the leaflet download here:

Evans Waterless Coolant Page click here

Evans Waterless Coolant brochure PDF download click here

Posted in News, Sales | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Eleanor is watching…

Eleanor Update

After a little wait we have got our custom designed and bespoke engine mounts finished and sent back to us from our supplier. As a result we were able to fit them and mount the engine properly for the first time. The engine dropped in almost perfectly with only a tiny adjustment for the perfect fit we were after. The Engine is now sitting where we expected it to be, with definite locations we can now make the bespoke air intake plate that will allow the hood to close properly. Even with the big bulge on the hood there is only just enough room. The intakes made for a fairly unusual picture, almost as if this beast is watching us!

cpe25

The engine itself we mounted close to the firewall as possible to get the weight of the engine just behind the front wheel axles as it were. The weight distribution was a consideration when this car was in the development stages. The fire wall was moved backwards and the tunnel had to be re-engineered to take the transmission and the engine.

The measurements for cooling now mean that we had to take a small cut out from each side of the chassis to allow the radiator to fit correctly as shown by the arrow here.

Radiator cut out

Radiator cut out

The pedal proved to be a little bit of a challenge as the standard fittings would not fit obviously. To get round this and to fit the customer we built a custom mount for the pedal. The floor was also covered in sound proofing, heat shrunk in place to the floor as well as the fire wall. Final tidy up and sound proofing will be done once the brake and clutch pedal goes in.

The steering column had to made to fit the new rack and pinion steering control. The UV joint and steering column mounting are all bespoke. We went for the smooth engine bay look, so we filled the chassis fronts in under the fire wall to make it a smooth finish, (see arrow).

The upright metal posts are still in place just in case we have to lift the engine out for some unknown reason. Due to the tight fitting of engine to the engine bay, we only want to do this the once.

The final part was the transmission. As we already cut the bespoke holes for the shifter this mounted pretty well and married up cleanly.

Quick link:

The rest of the updates can be found under the Customer Cars – Project Eleanor or click here for the link

For Sale:

We also have for sale a 1966 Coupe that has just arrived over from the states.

Competition results:

There were a couple of close guesses for a vent, but nobody managed to get the correct year, so here is the answer…

1969 GT500 Front fender air scoop.

Posted in Customers' Cars, Photos | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Bit Of A Washout

Sometimes we have to swap the cars around and make spaces for the cars to be worked on, this week was no different. The weather was not to bad so we decided to get a last clean in before they went back into their winter homes. We might even sell one or two. After we washed them, we lined ’em up and we shoot ’em – with a camera of course.

clean1a

clean2a

While washing the cars we decided to have another little fun competition again. See if you can guess the car this belongs too. Don’t bother searching the pictures above as some of our cars are not in the pictures. I would like to think we have made it a little harder this time as our friends across the pond nailed it pretty quickly last time.

The prize for the winner? A mention on our blog and the bragging rights to say you got it first.

Good luck.

comp

Posted in Our Cars | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Boys Club

Although we call it The Boys Club – Everybody is welcome!

We like to think of ourselves here as more than just a bunch of guys who fix or maintain your Mustang. We have an area which has progressed into much more than we first envisaged. We had an area where we keep some of our favorite cars such as the Indianapolis Pace Car and the Factory GT in a controlled environment. This was then added to with a couple of seats from cars obviously. Then came a bar, jukebox, fruit machine, Harley Davidson, PC’s, kitchen area for teas and coffee etc etc. In fact the guys took it over as their own relaxing area when they wanted to use it. I’m still not sure how this happened to be honest, but we don’t mind really. We sometimes use it as a comfortable relax area for customers when they want to talk to us about their requirements for their car’s repairs, purchases or servicing. We like our little area so much we now look out for extra little additions, such as genuine neon signs, memorabilia or anything that takes our fancy. Tip for you; If you want the comfortable arm-chair you got to be quick and get in first!

Pop down to visit us and see what we can do for you and your Mustang.

br3

br1

br5

br2

Posted in Blog, Our Cars, Repairs, Sales, Service | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Never judge a book by its cover….

We have created a little variation of that old saying: Never judge a car by its paintwork!

Why did we say that?

We got a phone call from a customer in our office who thought we would be interested in a barn find 1975 Mustang. Originally this car came from New York and was used for a while then put into storage for what ever reason for the last 20 years. To be honest they are not the prettiest of Mustangs and they tend to be quite rusty. To get a good one is also quite rare these days too. First of all we declined and said that we were not interested going by past experiences from what we had seen of them. We were talked into at least seeing it first before we made a decision, with that in mind we thought we could break it for parts which can still make some good money. The car turned up at our yard and our first thoughts we were almost right. It was a little worse for wear granted, but it didn’t look too bad at all. We had a closer inspection and we bought it as a car to keep. The car needs a fair bit doing on the outside front area, but this car has got a serious potential to be a nice car. When you look at the pictures you can see why! At last we found a nice pretty solid 1975 Mustang that is not falling to bits, like we now say, never judge a car by its paintwork!

This model is the 1975 Coupe, 4 cylinder 2.3litre Automatic, with only 54,000 genuine miles on the clock.

How she arrived to us, unwashed and very much unwanted

unwashed

unwashed

We gave her a good clean, but as there were no keys we needed to use a little gentle persuasion to open the trunk!

The best part of this car is the inside which is almost brand new and unmarked apart from the stitching which had come undone on the driver seat

The engine needs a little work but it can be made good and the engine bay along with the car is pretty rust free

m75 3

A great find and we’re glad we listened and took a look after all.

Posted in Our Cars | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Classic Car Show Buntingford, UK. 2013

Most years we go to the Buntingford Classic Car Show which is a small show compared to some of the other county sized shows. But, we like it there as it’s family orientated event and you meet up with friends and some nice people to talk about cars. This year we took our latest addition to the garage – 1965 Coupe v8 auto with a single exhaust with a red interior. This car was imported over from Las Vegas where it spend most of her time.  We have decided to put her up for sale as we have had a few enquiries if she was for sale, so we thought why not. We have had some serious interest about this one after just one day. There are more pictures on the “For Sale” menu or click here for the quick link.

'65

The show 7th August 2013.

The cars here vary from the incredibly old to the latest Jaguars, bespoke hot rods to American Jeeps. We have taken some photo’s of our customers cars that have also put their cars on show at this event as well.

There are the more serious owners who take the cars to the track and race them, we even supply parts to this racer.

Next car along is a proper AC Cobra that is in a current race series. We took some pictures of this as the cars are rare let alone being raced like they were intended to be. We do like to see the children look at the cars the too, perhaps a budding Nigel Mansell or just an eye with good taste.

The gloriously huge Thunderbird that had to park the trunk deep into a cut away part of the hedge!

thunder1

I was very taken with the oldest car there at the show this year. It’s a 1910 Renault. The owner was chatting to me about this car’s history and it’s really is amazing that the car still exists. This is the only known example of this model in the world and even Renault themselves don’t have one! The car was taken over to USA before the First World War and spent its life over there up until thirty years ago when the owner bought her back to the UK. The car had no bodywork at the rear past the seats as she was used on a farm as a work horse to transport hay and milk. When this work of art was not being used it just stood in a barn. The bodywork has been hand-built over many years, and yet the mechanics of this engine has never been touched since it was made, incredible. The owner takes this car on its annual pilgrimage to France back to the Renault factory where it was originally made, it receives a very warm welcome and you can see why.

There were many cars from many walks of life and the families looked like they were all enjoying the sun. The ice cream sellers definitely looked pleased with the warm weather. Just to show the diversity of the vehicles there how about a v12 trike?

v12 trike

Posted in Customers' Cars, Photos, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Time for an Australian Convertible

1968 302ci Convertible Right Hand Drive Australian Import.

This is a very unique car we have looked after for a while now. Recently we custom fitted an interior, now that work has been completed we can show the before and after.

The owner of this car uses it for Time Trials. Not the thrashing it around type stuff, but very regulated destinations in certain times etc.

The right hand drive conversion was completed in Australia from where it was imported from. The conversion is pretty good to be fair but there are a few little things we would have done slightly differently. This is a nice example of a 302ci that runs smooth and is not all about the noise and show. The owner just loves to drive and cruise around in it which is how it should be; used and enjoyed.

When we first got to grips with her there was a requirement to make a very bespoke radio console which includes ducting for heating and fresh air into the car. There was a requirement for the turn indicator to have a unique main beam flash function incorporated into the turn stalk, a bit of job to keep it looking stock, but it works very well and we were pleased with that modification. The Time Trial equipment required special mounting and we also added a battery voltmeter to the dash itself, so it was all change for the standard dash look.

Notice the colour of the seats here.

We also fitted a nice rack and pinion steering setup to the car as he wanted a more responsive feel for his driving.

The latest requirement was to make some bespoke trim and seating for him. We relished this task and this was the end result. A superb looking car and the interior says a lot about the owner who intends to keep driving this car.

This a real head turner for all the right reasons, a true classic with a modern spin to it that doesn’t look out-of-place.

Posted in Customers' Cars | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Back to ’67 Eleanor

Long weekend for the UK this weekend, but it has turned out to be a long week instead of the long weekend. Looking forward to a few days break hasn’t gone to plan as the stock needed updating and the cars needed a bit of a move around on Saturday. The phone was going mad, the office was busy with customers too, but they all were talking amongst themselves while I eventually got round to getting everybody sorted out. I am not sure where that morning went to be honest, it was just a blur. On the plus side, I am sure there have been some new friendships formed as a result of the busy day all due to their passion for the Classic Mustangs. That sort of makes it all seem worth while at the end of the day.

Update on a popular project;

We are now back to the Customer Project Car Eleanor. We have finished making the new fire wall so we could move it back, we welded it in place and now we have enough clearance for the engine. We then dummy mounted the engine into the bay again, still going to be tight with all the other parts on it, but it was in.

What did we try to fit into that engine bay that caused us to move the firewall? This superb Genuine factory GT500 v8 5.4 straight from the factory in the USA. The nice thing about these genuine engines is this it has been signed and makes for a great talking point.

In order to try to keep this car pointing the right way, we are fitting a modern spec Rack & Pinion steering for this car. Again a bit of a custom fit, but well worth the effort. With the amount of power this will be producing, you will need to feel exactly what the car is doing on the road.

modern rack and pinion

modern rack and pinion

The fire wall needed additional work after the engine was in place. Why? We had a slight change of plan to the gearbox that was going to be used. It’s a monster alright – T56 6 Speed. This gearbox was giving us no room to work with. Again, we have fabricated and rebuilt the tunnel to take the transmission with clearance so it can be maintained. We made the provision on top of the tunnel to take the shifter in its new location. We will need to treat and finish the welding properly net week.

inside welding

inside welding and cut out for the shifter

The T56 6 Speed should make this car a superb cruiser and also leave a trail of rubber from the lights if the gas pedal is nailed to the floor.

T56 6 Speed Transmission

T56 6 Speed Transmission

On the lighter side, while the wife was out for the day, when I had a bit of spare time, could I do a bit of cleaning in the house. What a great idea I thought!

So here was my contribution!

new wheel cleaner

Am I joking or not?

We are looking at another car to add to the other little ladies we have here, I will post some pictures if we do.

Quick link to the page for the car, click here, or go to Customer Cars – Project Eleanor.

Posted in Customers' Cars, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments