1965 Mustang Coupe

[Akurma]

While you got this all apart, seriously consider replacing that Harmonic Balancer. The rubber looks pretty dry rotted.

IT will look sweet when you get it all done. Here is the 65 I am working on. It looked about the same as yours when I started.

View attachment 8972 View attachment 8971

Yeah i was looking at the harmonic balancer while I was in there. Couldn't really see it before with everything in the way and it does look awfully dry rotted. Should probably replace it. But wow your engine bay have definitely cleaned up well! Did you repaint the engine bay? the black on the bay walls just looks so much nicer in the second picture

 

[Flade]

Yes, I took everything off that comes off easily. Washed & degreased it. They lightly sanded it and hit it with primer and then a proper semigloss. New hardware and plastic clips etc to put everything back.

 

[Akurma]

Been tinkering with the 65 here and there when I had some free time. I decided to pop the timing chain cover off.. one of those "while im in there" jobs. Sure glad I did!

Someone wasn't very keen on regular oil changes that's for sure! Going to clean this up the best that I can and replace the timing chain and gears as well since the chain has a lot of slack. Not going to go crazy as its just a weekend driver

 

[Boostr1]

Geez, 56 years of crud...

 

[Flade]

Looks like they were running Crude oil!

 

[Akurma]

Geez, 56 years of crud...

Looks like they were running Crude oil!

Sure makes me a tad nervous as to what the rest of the engine looks like

 

[Akurma]

Getting the motivation to get this thing ready for the season now that its getting warm out. After buying some new tools and a 4 inch gear puller I set to work on pulling the old timing chain and gears off the car. And boy oh boy was the upper cam gear really stuck on there! the cam dowel was actually seized into the cam gear itself. luckily found a replacement dowel.

Upon inspecting the gears I quickly noticed that the new Comp Cams set I purchased was not only lighter but also narrower. After researching this a bit it seems that there were a few changes to the 289 engines depending on when the were produced, something about an "L7" or "level 7" change. Anyway, since mine was a very early 289 engine (December of 1964) It did not have this change. The change I ran into was there was a (picture #2 below) cam gear spacer behind the gear itself. All the newer gears have the spacer machined into the gear itself, thus eliminating the need for the spacer.

Once the old gears and chain were off I spent a painstaking amount of time hunched over clearing out the sludge making sure not to drop any chunks into the oil pan. I did the best I could, it isn't perfect but its a lot better than it was!

After that I installed the new timing chain set make triple checking that the engine was at TDC and the timing marks were aligned correctly. All that's left is remembering how it all goes back together

 

[Akurma]

Doing a photo dump of my progress over the last few weeks. Made a ton of progress on the old 65' and have just been driving it on nice days. have put about 200 miles on it since all the work below was done.

Finished up the following

• Finished up the timing chain
• Cleaned and installed new timing chain cover gaskets
• new water pump
• New Harmonic balancer
• Cleaned some more grease off
• Reluctantly reinstalled the AC compressor because I think I found the issue
• Swapped to a shorter fan spacer
• Checked timing
• Did I mention the amount of grease I cleaned up
• Installed rebuilt original Eaton power steering pump (rebuilt and painted by Chockostang, check out the before & after photos below!)
• New Power steering belt
• New AC belt
• New alternator & Fan belt
• Oil & filter change 5qts 10w30 Lucas high zinc oil
• New coolant
• Seriously I went through 5.5 cans of brake cleaner!

Unfortunately I did have a oil leak right where the timing cover meets the oil pan on the passenger side. It uses cork gaskets and the gasket slipped while I was tightening it down and I didn't notice. I would have had to take the cover back off but I put a little dab of black RTV on the spot and that seems to have stopped the leak, not the best fix but it'll do until I get around to changing the oil pan gasket.

 

[Flade]

Looking good! How’s it drive?

Here is a before and after pic of the engine one the 65 I’m working on. It drives great now and is almost ready for paint. Yours look great.

 

[joemomma]

Looking good! How does that digital timing light work?

 

[RAU03MACH]

I have a digital timing light a matco
I prefer a regular timing light

The digital is nice

 

[joe65]

you gotta drop that pan. there must be an inch of mud in the bottom of it also. But, amazing that thing fires up and runs. Cool project! I bet you get all kinds of chicks with that car! lol

 

[Akurma]

Looking good! How’s it drive?

Here is a before and after pic of the engine one the 65 I’m working on. It drives great now and is almost ready for paint. Yours look great.View attachment 10425

View attachment 10426

Drives great! the steering is off center but that's next on my list. I plan on freshening up the front suspension. While I was working on it since the last update I noticed how ... sketchy a lot of the rubber components suspension components are.

That engine bay looks great! one day this one will be as clean looking!

Looking good! How does that digital timing light work?

I have a digital timing light a matco
I prefer a regular timing light

The digital is nice

Never used a non-digital light as this was the first time I ever used a timing light hahah but it was easy enough to use

you gotta drop that pan. there must be an inch of mud in the bottom of it also. But, amazing that thing fires up and runs. Cool project! I bet you get all kinds of chicks with that car! lol

Yeeeeaaaah the amount of caked up sludge I saw really has me worried about how the rest of the motor looks. But the car runs great lol, has a slight lifter tap that is slowly getting quieter. I will drop the pan eventually to replace the gasket.

As for the chicks... i wish! lol, more like dudes, almost every time i take it out some old guy stops me and tells me all about how they had one back in the day and how they regret getting rid of it

 

[Flade]

Drives great! the steering is off center but that's next on my list. I plan on freshening up the front suspension. While I was working on it since the last update I noticed how ... sketchy a lot of the rubber components suspension components are.

Check out the Stage 1 & Stage 2 full suspension packages from a OpenTracker. They make a huge difference. The Bilsteins shocks alone are awesome. Add a Z-Ray Boss 302 style cross brace, a Monte Carlo Bar and a export brace and the car will drive superb.

https://opentrackerracing.com/product/street-performance-front-suspension-kit-level-1-1965-1966/

 

[Akurma]

I honestly think this is the most reliable car I have owned so far.. or it could be because I drive it sparingly. Haven't had to do anything to it so far this summer besides put gas in it which doesn't make for a very interesting forum post.

I did however find a sweet deal on a set of old school aftermarket "Styled Steel/GT" wheels on marketplace. They were super local to me and the price couldn't be beat. Best part was the tires I currently have on the car would fit these wheels so I didn't have to buy new tires again. I picked them up from this really cool couple who have a ton of awesome classic cars, always like meeting others in the car world.

Anyway, spent the good part of a rainy Saturday hand polishing them up with some Mothers "Mag & Aluminum" polish and I couldn't believe how good they cleaned up! Stuff was amazing. They got rid of a lot of the rust and pitting and completely removed the cloudy look to them. The photos don't do them justice! I'll probably try to polish the other metal on the car here and there with this stuff.

First photo below is how they looked when I picked them up, then polished wheels next to unpolished wheel. All of the wheels do still have some rust spots here and there, with one wheel being really bad but I think that "patina" look to them fits the car. I test fitted them before swapping tires over just to double check that there weren't any issues. I love how they look on the car, they make the car look sooo much better compared to steelies or even hubcaps that I have pictured below.

 

[DKblue98GT]

Looks great with the new wheels!

 

[ttocs]

its nice when you find a good local deal.

 

[92wastheyear]

I'm kinda jelly after reading this thread. I had '66 coupe back in the mid-80s. It was the favorite car I ever owned. 289/3-speed. That kind of steel green color with green dash and carpet and cream colored seats. Fun, fun, fun