The Mayhem Papers

I stumbled across the very cool “Kool Knobs” site and knew that I had to have him make a shifter for Tina.  I debated over what exactly to have made.  The owner of the company suggests hat pins as something to put in.  I can’t tell you how many hat and lapel pin sites I looked through, but nothing quite grabbed my attention.

Then one night, inspiration struck.  I had a Hellboy action figure sitting on one of the bookshelves.  This one had interchangable hands.  Zoë used to play with the extra hand so it ended up sitting on my desk.  I sent Bruce over at Kool Knobs my idea and he said “heck yeah, that will look great”.

About one month later, the completed project is here and I think it looks awesome!  The black base with the red hand matches the black and red color combo of the Mustang very well.

So without further ado:

Since Audrey arrived, we’ve had the Charger as our dependable family car and I’ve used Parker as my hobby/drive 5 miles to work car.  Over this winter and especially during the last month or so it’s become very apparent that we need 2 100% reliable cars.  Parker is a wonderful car, but not a car you want to drive during rainy weather or on long trips.  So since I had some stock coming available soon, I decided to start looking for a 2nd “late model” car.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how much 2005 and later Mustang GTs went for.  We thought about a mini-van, but after looking at prices it  became apparent that it wouldn’t be that much more expensive to get a Mustang.  So when it came down to it, why have an awesome car and a min-van when you could have 2 awesome cars?  So Mustang it was.

For those not in the know, Craigslist is an excellent source for used cars.  Both dealers and private owners use it fairly extensively.  I started looking around early February, which was something of a mistake.  Knowing that I wouldn’t be buying until the middle of March, it drove me crazy seeing all those great cars waiting to be bought. 

Around the end of February, I saw an ad reposted for a great looking 06 down in San Diego.  It had 17,000 miles on it, some modifications that I had been planning to do, was owned by a car collector (so you know it was taken care of) and was only $17500.  I sent an email to the person posting the ad asking if he wouldn’t mind me checking in with him around the 15th to see if the car was still available.  I got a response back saying “Why don’t we just count on you picking it up on the 15th, give me a call and we’ll talk”.  I had a nice chat with the guy and he was willing to take it off Craigslist if I sent him a token deposit of $100 to hold the car.  I did and on the 20th I went down to pick up the car.

Phil (the previous owner) turned out to be a super nice guy.  He asked me to send him my flight info so he could pick me up from the airport.  From the airport, we went over to his storage warehouse where we spent the next hour looking through his collection of classic cars.  He had some really unique vehicles, we’re talking “only 11 of them exist” type cars.  He had 1 car that had been owned by Elvis and another that was owned by Frank Sinatra.  I had a great time hearing all the history of the different cars.

After the tour, we went over to 1 of his 2 restaurants.  While sitting down for lunch I told him how every time I visit San Diego, I have to stop by for some Lolita’s carne asada fries since there are none of comperable quality to be had outside San Diego.  Phil said, “hang on a second” and went into the back. 

He came back with the cook in tow and said “tell him what you like on your carne asada fries”.  10 minutes later, a plate of AWESOME carne asada fries was placed in front of me.  They were so good that I even skipped my trip to Lolita’s! 

After lunch, I thanked Phil for being so cool (I’m paraphrasing) and headed over to a stereo shop I have used in the past to see if they could install this in my car.  They managed to fit me in since I was going to be driving up the next day.  They said it would take a couple hours, so I walked over to the trolly and headed over to the mall to see if I could catch a showing of “I Love You, Man”. 

I got to the theater and saw that there was a showing at 2:15.  Looked at my watch and it was 2:13.  Score!  Enjoyed the movie, headed back over to the stereo shop in time to chat with the guy at the counter for 10 minutes about our over dependence on email as they finished up the install.   Got in the car and drove up to Irvine to check into a hotel.

Woke up early the next day and blasted up the coast.  It was gloomy all the way up the coast, but I hit no traffic and the Mustang was a blast to drive.  Overall, I have to say this was a really great experience.

Here are some pics I took at Gaviota State beach just a little north of Santa Barbara:

I recently took Parker in to the guys at (the always excellent) Mustang Fever.  I have been needed to get the rear differential replaced for some time.  Being that it was 43 years old, it was a little rusty inside.  Because of this, it would make a somewhat annoying whine whenever the car would go over 35mph.

While I was taking it in, I decided I would go ahead and get the new headers and exhaust system put in.  The goal of this was to increase airflow within the engine.  More specifically, to give the air an easier way to get out of the engine.  The added benefit of this is that I could put a new muffler on the car and give it a more aggressive tone.

All I can say is, “Mission Completion”!

As soon as I drove out of the shop and hit the accelerator, I noticed a tremendous difference.  There was a marked increase in pick up and well, it now sounded more like an actual muscle car.  Don’t get me wrong, there is still a ways to go with the car, but it’s definitely getting there.

I have to admit, at one point the engine roar did make me cackle in a not un-mad scientist manner.

As I was going along cleaning surface rust and covering the newly cleaned areas with rustoleum, I realized that I had gone from a mostly yellow car to a patch work “just crossed the border” look.

I want to get all the interior and engine work done before putting on a good paint job, but I decided a cheap Earl Scheib special would work in the interim. Plus, now I get to learn how to wet sand!

Introducing Parker’s “under construction” paint:

You’ll notice that Zoë has already staked her claim. She even has a “cool” wave that puts Marlon Brando to shame.

I’ve done some minor stuff on Parker, but nothing could result in a non-functioning vehicle.  Last Saturday that changed.  Parker’s radiator, if not original, was at least 20 years old.  As a result, the engine was running a little on the warm side.  So I decided to replace it with a new “3 row” radiator.  It was all pretty straight forward removing the old radiator and putting the new one back in.  The only snag came when it came time to start the car.  Both myself and my trusty assistant had eyeballed the fan and thought it would not hit the new radiator.  Well, the moment of truth came when I turned the key and sure enough, the fan caught the lower lip of the radiator.

Looking down at the impact site, I realized that if I dropped the fan 1 inch, then it would be just fine.  Luckily the radiator had 2 holes in each corner, allowing for a little flexibility.  So now I took my handy silver sharpie, marked where the new holes needed to be and proceeded to drill into the mounting bracket for the radiator.  Of course neither I nor Zack had the appropriately sized drill bit, so a run to Home Depot was required.  With the new drill bit in hand (well, in drill), I started the process  of making the appropriately sized holes.

With 2 and a half holes drilled, the battery on what I thought was a fully charged drill died out.   Luckily, 20 minutes of charging gave enough juice for the remaining holes to be drilled.  The new holes were drilled and the radiator fit in like a champ.  I took Parker out for a spin and the engine temperature stayed around 20% cooler than before the radiator swap, so it was definitely a good thing to change out.

While driving around, I then noticed that I was really low on gas.  I pulled into the station and after putting in about 2 gallons, gas came shooting out of the gas tank.  I fired Parker back up and my fuel gauge still read about 1/10 full.  Great.  After some research, I discovered that I needed to check to make sure the fuel sender was actually working.  To do this, I needed to crawl under the car and ground the cable to the frame of the car.  In theory, if I turned it on while grounded, the gauge would go all the way to full.  Well, I get under there, go to pull off the cable and find out that the wire running to the fuel tank doesn’t have a lick of insulation left on it!  That may very well be the issue I’m running in to.  I went out and bought some wire today, so I’ll see if I can replace it and get it to work.

Cross your fingers for me!

I drove Parker from the transmission shop to the great folks over at Mustang Fever yesterday. I was really impressed with the owners, Mitch and Scott. They’re two brothers who obviously run a Mustang shop because they love them, not because its a way to fleece collectors. I took Parker there to get a disc brake conversion done and to have them give it a look over to see what else needed to be done. Mitch told me they probably wouldn’t be able to take a look at it until the next day, but 4 hours later, I got a call from Scott with a huge list of things that need to be done on the car.

He really did a thorough job, putting together a 2 page list broken into “Necessary” and “Optional” sections. Unfortunately the transmission didn’t seem to want to shift out of 2nd, so it was looking like a rebuild was going to be necessary. Scott called back the next day telling me that it was just a blocked vacuum line keeping it from shifting, so no rebuild is needed. How often do you have a mechanic call you back to tell you that you need to spend less money? So here’s the list so far:

• Disc brake conversion
• New Vacuum cap
• Tighten carburetor body
• New flasher
• Horn spring and retainer
• Rewire turn signal switch
• Clean rusty fuse box
• New temp guage
• Temp sender
• Front right bulb
• Right cooling line hose
• Front sway bar
• New oil sender
• Air filter
• Electronic ignition
• Heater core plenum
• Hose & seal kit & defrost hoses
• Heater motor
• Rear end rebuild
• 3 row radiator
• New gas tank

Optional list

• New cigarette socket (for charging cell phone)
• Right and left window regulator
• Lube rear 1/4 windows
• Oil pan gaskets
• Rear main seal
• Valve cover gasket
• Front and rear windows and gaskets
• Leaf springs & shackles
• Rear shocks
• Front suspension upgrage
• Stereo
• Dash speaker
• Rear speakers in kick panel
• Power antenna

Its quite a list. I told Scott that I’d see if I could get the heater working myself and he gave me a lot of tips on what I needed to do to get it working. The necessary list is going to be a pretty penny, but it will be nice to have all that taken care of.

Today I set out to take the Mustang (now officially named “Parker”) to the transmission shop to get it looked at.  I started out of the garage and the brakes felt really soft.  I was thinking I just needed to pump them a little and build up some “pedal”.  Well, I get to the light and I call my trusty support vehicle behind me, piloted by the ever daring duo of Maryanne and Zoë to tell them that I need to pull over and check my brake fluid.  I pull out into the street so that I can turn into a big parking lot across the street and as I start to make the turn, I realize that I have no brake at all.  Luckily, I had chosen a BIG, empty parking lot.  I roll to a stop and hop out.  Pop the hood, open the master cylinder and sure enough, barely any brake fluid at all.   I had 2 full containers of fluid in the trunk, so filled it up and gave it a little test in the parking lot.  Seemed to work out just fine, so we made our careful way to the transmission shop with no more issues with the brake.

I drove around the block with one of the guys at the transmission shop so they could hear the noises Parker makes.  Luckily she was more than happy to make the noises.  The mechanic turned to me and asks, “is this a motorcycle?”.

Hopefully they can get it all fixed.  Needless to say, I asked the mechanic to take a look at the brake lines for leaks

I spent a little time today cleaning out the carpet and giving the car a good wash. I’m taking it into a shop on Monday morning to have them check out the transmission and brake system. I can’t for the life of me figure out what is making the noise in the transmission. Someone suggested it might be the torque converter, but I think I would be hearing the noise through all the gears instead of just 1st and 2nd. Hopefully, the transmission just needs some adjusting. It sounds like something isn’t quit catching right in there. I’m going to get the guys at the shop to fix the transmission, change the tranny and brake fluids, give the brakes a look over and just give the car a once over. It will probably cost me a bit, but I’d really like to drive it while I restore. Knowing me, if I’m not driving it every day, it will get pushed lower on my list of priorities

I have to admit, I am a little nervous going in to this project. I have never really been anything more than a tinkerer when it comes to cars, so every now and then I get a little overwhelmed with what I’ll need to do.

If you want to see bigger pictures, click on any of the pictures in the slideshow. (or click here)