GARAGEKUNGEN´s   PLAYGROUND

   As we now, for a period, are living in Silicon Valley, California it will not be any progress with the -69 HT still in Sweden ( the moving company did not think it fit as " ordinary household gods ", if this is not - what is... ). So I will instead put in some pictures of my daily driver - being my toy at the same time...

   Below I will put in some pics and text about what is going on. Latest will be on top. Like in the rest of this site You can get an enlargement of the picture just buy clicking it - it might take some time.

Feb 01

   For how long time will an original bottom end survive over reving ???
   I wasn´t too eager to find out - so instead I ordered an Ignition system with built in rev limiter ( you could say it was too much fun without it...).
   It was definatly NOT fun when I missed a shifting ( with the sloppy original shifter ) and instead of next gear, I happened to put in neutral... Hmmm - that was probably a couple of thousand miles of wear and tear in a few seconds... And after that the hydrualic lifter tend to tap when riding over 3500 RPM for a longer time - like it tend to be at high way driving with the 4.11 in the rear...

   When it came to ordering, my choise was MSD components. Pretty much because we had those in Sten´s Camaro, and then you recognize the parts in the Catalog.
   Helping me keeping the engine in one piece, is now the following MSD parts.
- Pro-Billet Distributor with Vacuum advance.
- Blaster 2 Ignition Coil.
- 6-AL Ignition Box.
- RPM Module Slector Switch P/N 8671 = 4600 - 6800 RPM.
- 8.5 mm Super Con.... ahh,  Ignition cables - already had these on.

   There are alot of benefits with a consistent Ignition system. I don´t have to worry about missing a shift point, or shifting in to neutral... ( maby it´s a good reason for getting one of those cool looking shift sticks !!! ).
   Another good thing about the rev-limiter, turned out to be that 4600 RPM is about 35 mph in first gear ( a good reminder - stop now... or smokey will...). The normal setting on the RPM module is now 4600 RPM, but ofcourse, the Module is well in reach from the drivers seat - when ever needed adjustment...

Jan 01

   The car have been pretty perfect for me, except when it comes to start on wet roads. Then it just spin's one wheel and gets no where...
   I can live with that, but when two young boys in a Porsche 911 something left me behind - THAT'S  IT !!!  Beaten by a import car - no way !!!
   It's been on my mind for a long time to change the rear end, but now I called a friend right away. Two days later the Pumpkin was delivered to my garage.
   It was retired time for the 2.75 and from now on I will team up with a 4.11 equipped with a spool. Everybody ( except Pelle with the Shelby ) told me this is totally wrong, it's way to low, the gas mileage, the noise, you can't turn with the spool, it will....
   I just care for putting the guy in the other lane behind me when the light turn green...

   I had to do something about a leaking wheel bearing seal on my right side as well, so why not do it the whole way.
   I started around 8 PM ( I didn't need the car until 7.50 AM next morning when the kids start there school... ).
   It went pretty smooth, a third member sitting for the last 32 years don't easy give up it's place...
- working position like sh-t... 10 LB hammer feels like 50 LB, but helps you as much as a hummingbird would... this goes really quick... yeahhh....
   I guess most of us recognize the situation, well, 01.54 was it finally time to put back the propeller shaft with the new U-joint. That's what I thought.
   The new pumpkin has a Daytona Pinion, a slightly wider U-joint member than the stock one. It took me three hours ( in my " happy " wife's car ) to find a shop with these on the shelves ( DRIVE LINE SERVICE of San Jose ( 408 ) 286 - 0162 ).
   But now the stuff is up working. Three days later a guy with a mid -80 Mustang wanted a race. He rubbed the tires 40 yards, just to show off, before the race... It wasn't much of a race really, by the time the gearbox shifted to second gear the distance between us was three car length in favor to...ME ( I was well surprised...), so I let off the pedal. By that moment it was worth every penny and every piece of sand in my eyes that night.
- Just wonder where those guys with the Porsche are living......

Nov 00

   For a longer period of time I had this squeaking little noise from the front end of the car. Had looked several times but thought it came from the rubber to the anti sway bar, but not...
   Finally it turned to a donk-donk at certain garage maneuvers ( funny, rubber doesn't sound like that...). Upper suspension arm joints turned out to be bad, every where... New parts - there are people living on making and selling those parts to us enthusiasts...
   Thought of changing the springs in the front at the same time ( because the weight change from an earlier surgery make the car looks like its doing the 60 foot in 1.5 sec - standing still... ), but there were no springs at the shelves with the rating I wanted, so it will have to wait.
   Anyway, now the car is dead silent - in the suspension anyway...

Aug 00

   In order to adjust the new combination I felt forced to put in some new gauges. The gauges needed was manifold vacuum, fuel pressure and RPM. That hurts....
   The Edelbrock Carburetor was a positive surprise to work with. Easy to understand and to work on. I tried several combinations and the car is now running with a combo that works pretty well. But one thing leads to another... Now the stock fuel pump doesn't make it when I floor it over 3500 RPM ( especially at 2:nd and 3:rd gear ), and I have a small lag at 1200 - 1300 RPM when pushing the throttle gently.
   Stock converter starts grabbing at 1000 RPM, and at that point the gas flow is probably to low for the carburetor ( my own thoughts ).
   But I think I have a plan how to get around it, it's just a matter of time...

July 00

   Something had to be done about the leaking exhaust valve. Getting the old heads back in shape will take something like $ 700 - 800 dollars. The difference in price for getting a set of aluminum heads were not that big... a hard decision to make...Hhmmmm, the engine had to be taken apart anyway...
   A quick look at the magic-plastic ( credit card ) and the parts where on its way. Here are a list of the parts now making the ride a little more fun to do:
- Edelbrock Performer RPM Heads ( small exhaust valves ) brand new.
- Edelbrock Performer Intake Manifold, used from the Swap at Pleasanton.
- Edelbrock 750 CFM Carburetor, used from the Swap at Pleasanton, looks and works like new.
- Edelbrock Performer RPM Camshaft Kit, right of the box ( what else... )
- Blazer Roller Rockers 1.6 new, it looked so bad with the old stock ones together with all that new aluminum...
- Blazer Pushrods, hardened, why pick up the old ones from the garage floor...
- Edelbrock Valve Covers. Tried to run the stock look-a-like ones. But I had to cut out the baffle plate under the PCV-valves ( to make room for the rockers ) and suddenly the engine starts to ask for more oil than fuel...

   In order to get some more space to swing the tools under the hood, I moved the battery to the trunk ( and I couldn't see any reason to move it back again ). So now when we go to the food store, the orange juice and noodles have to fight with the electron-tank from Optima about the space in the trunk...

May 00

   My first thing to get for the car was a Personal license plate. This has been possible for a long time in CA, so it's not that easy to find out one that isn't already taken. This I was warned of by some friends before trying, so I made up a list of 75 possible configurations before going to DMV.
   Three of them ( of 75 !!! ) was not taken nor disapproved by the computer ( I don't need to say, " MY 69 " was NOT approved by the computer at DMV... ). I choose the one I liked best - and tell you the truth, it was probably "the last nail in the coffin" to keep the car stock...
( My neighbors have told me I will be pulled over by the Highway Patrol, every single one of them..., with this plate on the car - Well, could you think of a better compliment... )

Mars 00

   A friend I meet here saw a advert in a local paper about a 1969 Mustang Mach 1, 83 000 miles and in a good, every day use, condition. I had found my daily driver.
   One of the previous owners where probably more in to MPG ( = Miles Per Gallon - I'm more in to BPG = Blocks Per Gallon... ) than Muscle cars, because the rear axle now have a acceleration killing 2.75 gearing and no limited slip ( ! ). Unfortunately have some previous owner not being a where of that engines from these days need lead to lubricate the valve seats, so one of the exhaust valves was now leaking giving the engine that puff -puff sound on low RPM...
   Sometime in the past the car has been registered outside CA, because it had the newer white plates. If it had the old black ones I probably would have restored it to stock, but as it now turned out I didn't care to maintain it's original status.

Mars 99 - Mars 00

Work-work-work-work... Move- move... Find a house and get into new routine... it takes a while to settle when changing from one country to another - even if, from my point of view, the changes are for the better. Gas costs less then half compare to Sweden and the season for driving a hobby car is at least 40 weeks ( that's if you are a Viking anyway )... We are talking California - I recommend a visit !!!

February 98 - Mars 99

Gearbox

   I started looking for a suitable gearbox for the car. Found an advert about a tuned TH 400 ready to race with a shield blanket and all. It was said to be the very same Trans that was used by Bjorn Cronqvist in his super pro Corvette at the World Street Finals 1993 ( he ended second ). And it should originally be an A-1 built gearbox. Why don´t they use it then ??? I asked my self.
- It´s been "left over" when we changed to harder stuff. Was the answer at the phone.
   When I picked it up he told me it used to slip on 2:nd gear after about 8 runs, and when they was feed up changing the cluch discs they throw it out... That´s funny, I thought. But he convinced me it was because it didn´t stand all the ponies they got - at least a 1000 of em...
   How many did Bjorn "Cronqan" Cronqvist got when he made that 7.78 sec. pass in 1993 - I don´t know, but one thing for sure - he didn´t change discs two times a day while racing in US !!! ( Those where the thoughts spinning my head on my way home )
   Was I f-cked or what...
   Just one way to find out. I bought my self a book about TH 400 Trans and started to disassembly the junk. When I took of the deep pan the threads of aluminum came too ( someone had shown he had less brain then pain ) this was for all except two bolts - at these two the nut on the upper side told me the threads was already missing... ( if I had done this at his garage the deal would have been off ). Well, f-cked or not, I´ll better learn how to take this apart anyway...
   I learned, every piece pictured or described in the book as "heavy duty" was represented in the "thread-less" gearbox. It also reviled a changed gearing, so called "custom gear" - this means it has a different gearing on both 1:st and 2:nd gear !!!
- There is no doubt about this being a "real" race transmission, but if the changed gearing is to my benefit - only future will tell...
   Now I only have two alternatives, either I will be damned good in recoiling or I will have to buy a new housing. I think I will try the first option because I found it pretty funny having a complete gearbox from the time when Suede´s was going over to US in a real battle for the top places. And maybe they will return...

   Inspection of the components showed there have been several wrong modifications done. Lucky for me the damage was small and easily repaired. At the same time I bought new discs and changed the old ones. Here I will say thanks to Janne and Raimon at  ALEXANDRA ENGINEERING who gave me some useful advise.
   Now all the parts rests on the bench waiting for assembly. With the book in one hand and the tool in the other I am sure this is what Magnus ( my crew chief ) and I am going to do for the next coming weeks.

The only remaining thing to check was the oil pump ( just in case...) - The book in one hand, the pump in the other...
With all the parts on the table one could easily see something had gone wrong in the past. The small pump gear had been pushed in by the converter ( making a .1 inch / 2 mm deep mark in the inner pump housing ). The outer gear on the other hand was cracked ( don´t ever leave something nor trust it - CHECK IT !!! ) It is possible this damage was done at the same time. As I already noticed ( while taking the gearbox apart ) the incoming power shaft was also damaged ( I have already bought a new "state of the art" one from USA ). And now a new oil pump was a must. It is nice when You can rely on friends, and now the new pump is resting in the garage.

   Now the assembly starts. The parts have been on the working bench far to long, and it is hard to remember them all....

January 98 - September 98

   I don´t have much time left during the ice free period ( due to work ), so that is why some things takes more time than it should. On the other hand I believe in doing the things at a speed and when You feel like doing it. That´s my way of living.
   I started to redraw the electrical system ( it wouldn´t be fun having a fire due to poor cables when finally hitting the streets ).
   During the summer a opponent from southern Sweden put some more pressure in to the challenge and this raised the question about a new roll cage and reinforcement of the car.
   Friends pointed out a workshop to visit and I found the owner very easy to deal with. According to him I just have to throw out everything in the car in order to make the constructioning easier. ( And that´s  about my electrical system...)
   From the point of view where I stand today the cage will be built in mild steel - yes it adds a couple of kilos to the car ( compare to crome moly ) but I still think the car will make it anyway...
   The plan is to build the cage by the end of the summer ( 99 ) and at the same time reconstruct the rear end to a 4-link suspension.
- And that´s about all the measuring of the rear axle, soon to be rebuilt to 4-link without a single mile on the meter...

May 98 - July 98

   Now it´s time to make some engineering changes:

REAR AXLE
   The car was delivered with a 9" rear end, put together by last owner, and I had my suspicion it might not been right done ( no hard feelings - Anders ).
   I took the housing ( and everything else ) to a friend, Henric Modigh - probably the most skilled rear axle builder in Sweden, for a quick look. ( During disassembly I noticed the gearing was adjusted to a zero gap - and to all " do it Your self " I just want to say -  that´s not the way to do it !!! )
   Lucky for me the car hasn´t been doing to many kilometers in this condition. So the set will join me on the first trials to sort out if 3.89 is high, low or just right.
   The original limited slip differential was in good shape and I left it at Henric´s for resale. Rest of the components was called " not useable for the application " by the same time I took it out of the car.
   And now: How to refill the empty space under the rear of the car? Easy, just look in one of those fully colored catalogs from abroad, point out the most expensive spare parts and wait for the delivery...
   Meanwhile I was sent home with a banjo and a lot of instructions what to do - He probably got tired of baby sitting the author of this site.
   Finally the parts arrived and everything could be put together, including new leaf spring connectors from a local speed shop ( was going to use stock-alike rear suspension ).
- What kind of junk was it then ?
   Well, it´s MW ( Mark Williams ) all the way. Here is a short description.
- Aluminum gear house with big bearings.
- Light Weight steel spool for 35 splines axles, connected to the wheels by
- Gun drilled Light Weight axles.

   About the brakes, I am thinking of using the original drums ( don´t want to make to much suspicion among fellow street racers and challengers at the evening red lights, ha,ha,ha,...).
   Finally I painted the banjo in black.

Winter 97-98

   On my way with the sand paper I thought I might as well adjust some small parts at the back of the car on the right side. At the same time I straightened the rear bumper to fit with the end of the car. It´s not 100 % straight but what the h-ll, it´s not a show-car.

Autumn 97

   The first thing to change was the hood. I needed something big enough for the cold air to the engine, but at some time I didn´t want it to show off to much. I had never worked with plastic before, so I asked around a little before starting on the hood.
   I had a clear idea of how I wanted it to look like, so I started by making a " female " dummy on the hood. When I was satisfied with the shape of it, I unscrewed the dummy, marked the area and just cut it off. After that I put the dummy back, greased it and start putting on the plastic - piece of cake !!!
   Afterwards it´s only a " small " sanding operation left. A little to low here - a little to high there, put it on - sand it off... Nobody told me about this, ( in no time the whole garage looked like it been deserted for 200 years...), do I need to say more !
   I didn´t took any pics during the work, but the result is good enough for me. The only thing that crossed my mind.
- Wouldn´t it been better if the engine was there, now I don´t know if it will fit...