Wow, what a weekend! 
So I get to Austin about 9:30am on Sunday and pull into Jeffs shop to do my gears. I was like a retard in a helmet factory, beautiful Stangs all over. Was really cool but we had work to do so we moved the 65 coupe off the rack and got my car up there. Jeff knows his cars and in no time he had the axles out of the spindles and then pulled from the car.
Then we he a snag. The exhaust was fully welded so the entire assembly had to be dropped out as one piece. That brought us to another problem, all the hangers were welded to the car too.
No choice, had to cut them off.
We get the exhaust on the ground and not only is it the wrong mufflers but its not a mandrel bent pipe kit like the guy said when I bought the car nor is it 2.5", its only 2.25"
So when I order the Borlas and the x-resonator and tips I will also get one of the mandrel bent pipe kits and make the exhaust how it should be.
So the pumpkin was finally out and ready to be torn apart:
So me and another guy (forgot his name) cleaned up the case:
Now heres where things turn to complete crap. I am sitting in the shop while everyone else is taking care of other stuff and I notice this very small issue:
I was ready to break down and just lay on the ground and throw a temper tantrum. I was so freaking pissed off and didn't know what the hell to do. The guy swore they were Explorer gears but IDK what the hell they are from. Pinions too long and wrong thread ....... just total crap. Jeff put on his tights and cape and saved the day. He had a set for his wifes car and called his wife and asked her to drive the 1.5 hours to come deliver the gears. I was floored and couldn't believe how much they helped me. I will make it up to them some how. She has a beautiful GT that has caused them enough grief and then I come and take her gears. Ill make it all good though.
So a couplea few hours latter he had the pinion and bearings in:
Getting the backlash set was problematic though and it took him, me and his wife a couple hours to get the carrier and gear set into the pumpkin. But it finally went in and is set to perfection.
A little before 1 AM and oil was being added. Poor Jeff, at this point I believe he was ready to kill me. :lol:
So we took her out for a drive and it all worked fine so we called it a night. I left around 2AM for my 3.5 hour drive back home. I couldn't keep my eyes open so I pulled over for an hour nap but wasn't comfortable so I set off again. I fought pure exhaustion (was working on friends Mark the previous night until after midnight) and almost didn't make it. The turn right before my house thats a 20mph corner I had drifted off for a second or two and was 40' before the turn doing 65mph when I came too. I had to stand on the brakes and then nail the throttle and modulate to keep it on the road through the turn. Woke me right up! I got home and crashed hard in bed. Was supposed to be at work at 9am but didn't awake till after 10.
Woke up and did the mad dash to get out the door but my cars rear end was on the ground. Knowing what was just done I knew where to look. Sure enough one of the rear bag solenoids was leaking fast from a broken o-ring. Ended up taking apart three small flashlights until I found the right size o-ring. Tail seems to be holding fine now.
Heres one last little thing. Never thought I would see one in person. This is a guys new resto project. Its an 84.5 Predator Mustang, number 49 of 50 built that year. Its ruff but the dude is well on his way (thanks to Jeff) to getting it restored to its previous glory.
Previous owners painted right over the GT 302 decals on the side, car was really abused but has a solid chassis and will look bad azz when the guy is done.
So I get to Austin about 9:30am on Sunday and pull into Jeffs shop to do my gears. I was like a retard in a helmet factory, beautiful Stangs all over. Was really cool but we had work to do so we moved the 65 coupe off the rack and got my car up there. Jeff knows his cars and in no time he had the axles out of the spindles and then pulled from the car.
Then we he a snag. The exhaust was fully welded so the entire assembly had to be dropped out as one piece. That brought us to another problem, all the hangers were welded to the car too.
No choice, had to cut them off.We get the exhaust on the ground and not only is it the wrong mufflers but its not a mandrel bent pipe kit like the guy said when I bought the car nor is it 2.5", its only 2.25"
So when I order the Borlas and the x-resonator and tips I will also get one of the mandrel bent pipe kits and make the exhaust how it should be.
So the pumpkin was finally out and ready to be torn apart:
So me and another guy (forgot his name) cleaned up the case:
Now heres where things turn to complete crap. I am sitting in the shop while everyone else is taking care of other stuff and I notice this very small issue:
I was ready to break down and just lay on the ground and throw a temper tantrum. I was so freaking pissed off and didn't know what the hell to do. The guy swore they were Explorer gears but IDK what the hell they are from. Pinions too long and wrong thread ....... just total crap. Jeff put on his tights and cape and saved the day. He had a set for his wifes car and called his wife and asked her to drive the 1.5 hours to come deliver the gears. I was floored and couldn't believe how much they helped me. I will make it up to them some how. She has a beautiful GT that has caused them enough grief and then I come and take her gears.
Ill make it all good though.So a couplea few hours latter he had the pinion and bearings in:
Getting the backlash set was problematic though and it took him, me and his wife a couple hours to get the carrier and gear set into the pumpkin. But it finally went in and is set to perfection.
A little before 1 AM and oil was being added. Poor Jeff, at this point I believe he was ready to kill me. :lol:
So we took her out for a drive and it all worked fine so we called it a night. I left around 2AM for my 3.5 hour drive back home. I couldn't keep my eyes open so I pulled over for an hour nap but wasn't comfortable so I set off again. I fought pure exhaustion (was working on friends Mark the previous night until after midnight) and almost didn't make it. The turn right before my house thats a 20mph corner I had drifted off for a second or two and was 40' before the turn doing 65mph when I came too. I had to stand on the brakes and then nail the throttle and modulate to keep it on the road through the turn. Woke me right up! I got home and crashed hard in bed. Was supposed to be at work at 9am but didn't awake till after 10.
Woke up and did the mad dash to get out the door but my cars rear end was on the ground.
Knowing what was just done I knew where to look. Sure enough one of the rear bag solenoids was leaking fast from a broken o-ring. Ended up taking apart three small flashlights until I found the right size o-ring. Tail seems to be holding fine now.Heres one last little thing. Never thought I would see one in person. This is a guys new resto project. Its an 84.5 Predator Mustang, number 49 of 50 built that year. Its ruff but the dude is well on his way (thanks to Jeff) to getting it restored to its previous glory.
Previous owners painted right over the GT 302 decals on the side, car was really abused but has a solid chassis and will look bad azz when the guy is done.
:wrench