Week of June 25-29

I started off my week of Mustang work with a bout of strep throat. It seems that I have had it for a long time and got much worse last Saturday (the 23rd). So, feeling like absolute crap, I spent Monday and Tuesday recuperating.
Wednesday I started feeling good enough to start on the car. I took out the oil pan and the DA sander and took the pan to bare metal (lots of surface rust on the front of the pan). I painted the pain with “Old Ford Blue” engine enamel.

I pulled the oil pump and installed the new oil pump drive shaft (this time with the tinnerman washer – to keep the shaft in place), cleaned the pump mounting surface, grabbed the new gasket and reinstalled the pump.

After all of that fun, I reinstalled the front and rear pan seals (what a pain), I positioned the left and right pan gaskets and installed the pan. This closes the loop on the oil pump shaft sitting in the oil pan (see my very blog first entry for the details of that story).

Now, on to the next items.

I installed the new radiator overflow reservoir (stainless steel cylinder) on the left side of the radiator (replacing the old, ugly makeshift plastic container).

I repaired the heat-damaged, underdash-to-headlight wire harness by cutting out the bad areas and soldering in new wire (heat shrink and vinyl tape wrapped). I am giving the engine compartment an updated look by covering the harnesses with modern convoluted tubing.