Steps To Get 65 Mustang Running Again?

Griff Rolland

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Mar 25, 2014
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I'm looking at getting a 65 Ford Mustang back on the road after nearly 7 years of sitting in a moist garage. I'm under the impression that the previous owner did some amount of winterization before storage which included removing the spark plugs. However, beyond this I do not know what else was done. He was a car mechanic that passed away and I recently bought the car cheap as it is in great condition ( beyond the neglect of having the car in poor storage conditions for such a long time ).

What steps do I need to take in order to bring this great car back to life?

I have been told the car is old and shouldn't be driven in poor conditions or excessively, but I feel that such a car should not be stored away all the time and rather driven whenever possible. Is this a conceivable idea and/or what improvements should be made in order to make it so?

By the way, I would truly like to work on the car myself so unless it is something I could not possibly do myself please do not just tell me to take it into a shop. Thanks!
 
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The plugs out may not have been a good idea . blow the cylinders out with air ,I would squirt marvel mystery oil down the cylinders first of all. see if it will turn by hand ,the plugs out it should be easy If the cylinders haven't rusted . if it will turn over , drain the oil and replace it and the oil filter .Remove the distributor and prime the oil pump long enough to make sure oil reaches the oil gauge ,and a little linger would not hurt .You will need to drain the fuel tank , i think i would remove it and pull the sender to make sure it isn't plugged with jellied gas . You will probably have to replace any rubber fuel line and blow out the metal lines ,they should be flushed as well. The carb. will probably need to be flushed and rebuilt after all that time sitting. Check all the hoses ,make sure it still holds coolant . I am sure i forgot something, but that should get it started .
 
The only thing I'd add to horse sense's excellent advice: you may want to take the gas tank to a radiator repair shop to be boiled out if you see too much rust scale and or crud in the gas tank. I just went through this process with a '66 Falcon that was stored in a barn for 7-8 years with no prep for it whatsoever. When it finally came to fire it up; we discovered mice had packed the exhaust with dog food & fiberglass insulation as well.... You should have see the guys standing at the back of the car run for cover once the engine fired & were immediately pelted with dry dog food pellets! ;)

I'm not kidding.....
http://s778.photobucket.com/user/anthonydalrymple/media/Chucks 66 Ford Falcon/20131019_161838_zps10dd02ce.mp4.html
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Thanks for the great info!

Also will the difference between a 68 engine and the original 65 make a major difference in anything?

Is there some sort of model number on the engine block that could inform me as to exactly what engine may have been installed?
 
If it is a 289 ,no difference .302 is a little bigger cubic inch .Still basically the same .
Above the starter you will find numbers cast into the block the numbers will start C5 ,the C stands for 60 ,the 5 stands for 65 so 68 would be C8 the first two numbers is all you will need to date your block.
 
the biggest thing to remember is that you want to treat the engine as if you had just rebuilt and installed it. this assumes that the engine hasnt frozen up due to rust in the cylinders. when using marvel mystery oil, or any penetrating oil, be generous with its application, and let it soak overnight before you try to turn the engine over BY HAND. i stress the by hand part because you can damage things if you try to use the starter to turn the engine over, including breaking a piston ring, been there done that. you dont want to be rebuilding this engine next winter because you damaged something.

after you have made sure the engine is free to turn, you want to, as horse sence said, change the oil, in fact change ALL fluids in the car, including the trans and rear end fluids as well as the coolant, engine oil and fuel. you also want to prime the engines oil system to make sure you have oil pressure on start up. do this by using an oil pump priming tool and an electric drill and run the drill until you not only get a reading on the oil pressure gauge, but also have oil at the rocker arms.

i also recommend changing all the belts and hoses, and the fuel pump, and throwing a kit at the carb. fill the carb with fresh fuel, install fresh plug wires, plugs, etc. you want the engine to start as quickly as possible when you go to start it, and when it does start, you want to run the engine at 2000-2500 rpm for about 15 minutes. have someone hold the throttle at that rpm while you check for leaks, and other issues. dont let the engine idle during this period, remember we are treating it like a fresh rebuild where the cam needs to be broken in.

once the engine has been run in properly, you can let it idle. at this point you can set the carb and timing, etc. once that is done, shut the engine down and change the oil and filter, you are going to have a lot of junk in them and we need to get it out of the engine. after you have put about 500 miles on the car, change the fluids again, all of them, except the gasoline, as then observe normal change intervals.

this sounds like a lot to do, but i feel it is necessary if you want to minimize expensive work later on.
 
When you prime, be sure that the drill is running "counter clock wise" or nothing will happen.

Best to use a 1/2" drill as when the oil pressure builds up, it will tax a lesser drill and they will get hot.

If oil is not making it to a set of rockers, then rotate the motor 1/4 turn by hand and try again. Repeat as necessary until you see that fresh oil has reached all the rockers at some time during the priming.
 
When you prime, be sure that the drill is running "counter clock wise" or nothing will happen.

Best to use a 1/2" drill as when the oil pressure builds up, it will tax a lesser drill and they will get hot.

If oil is not making it to a set of rockers, then rotate the motor 1/4 turn by hand and try again. Repeat as necessary until you see that fresh oil has reached all the rockers at some time during the priming.

all good points.:nice::nice:
 
By the way I know older cars should not be driven extensively in winter or poor conditions, but how much could this car be reasonably driven and what types of damage can be caused by overuse? I've read a few articles about how the brakes should be updated to modern standards, but is the original brake system that bad and is this something that should absolutely be done?

On average how much would getting this beauty back on the road cost? (I probably have almost all of the tools needed, but none of the fluids/parts)
 
By the way I know older cars should not be driven extensively in winter or poor conditions, but how much could this car be reasonably driven and what types of damage can be caused by overuse? I've read a few articles about how the brakes should be updated to modern standards, but is the original brake system that bad and is this something that should absolutely be done?

On average how much would getting this beauty back on the road cost? (I probably have almost all of the tools needed, but none of the fluids/parts)
No reason it couldn't be driven every day .
brakes could be as simple as changing the master cylinder to a double bowl ,but disks, at least in the front is a big and fairly simple thing .
Cost will depend on exactly what you wish to do.

horse sence is right, there is no reason that you cant drive a classic car daily, even in winter. dump the single bowl master cylinder for a dual bowl master cylinder, keep a set of snow tires in storage and break them out when winter hits, etc.

as for updating the rest of the system, they are talking about updating from drum brakes to disc. not a big deal either way. a good set of drum brakes work well enough for daily driving, unless that daily driving is on a mountain road.