Interior Mustang Mods

Krash, I had a good look under that Capri. The car was sitting in mud, and the jack kept sinking, so 6 bricks later and I had a good look. They're fully wrapped in impermeable rubber! Mine are fully exposed to roadsalt. Nice setup. I could take IT off, but I think I'll just buy new! They are the original ones (90,000 kliks (55K Miles)) and still look good.

OK, this guy is a gem to deal with. Straight shooter. I was debating about the AC pump for mine. He's letting me take the whole AC system for $20! Mine had the V8 pump, which I still have, and all the plumbing, but the V8 system sits on the Driver's side. The I6 is on the Passenger side. Since they're forecasting a hot, dry summer, and that's usually a cyclical thing for a few years, I figured I'd re-install the AC. Plus a clutch fan, and the dual-pulley alternator!

His name is Wally. So I asked him if he'd seen the movie WALL-E. Told him a bit about it, and he said he'd rent it! Puts a new meaning to packrat, besides the main theme.

If I had the money, I'd offer to buy his business. He's got a nice, simple operation, and I know how to run a junkyard.

 

Almost had a hissy-fit. I went looking for RIT dyes for the rear seat and carpet. Seems the Dye competition has taken them out of many big chains. So I emailed them this morning and they emailed back within minutes to tell me where to get them. Local craft store chain called Michaels Arts and Crafts. They carry the full line.

The competition only sell their dye in 'cakes' of powder in really small quantities. BUT their product won't do Nylon/Polyester fabrics or threads. They come out looking like a sore thumb of original colours. Looks more like a black and white negative.

Dylon is the competition. I think they're competing for the dress/Tie-Dye craft market. You might get a single dress or shirt done with the small quantity in the 'cake'.

Its the Nylon content that's the problem for automotive fabrics. The threads are usually embedded or coated with a nylon finish, and most of the classic fabrics have a nylon/rayon/polyester mix. The RIT product is the Ritz for consumer dyes.

We've got some rainy days next week, so I'll pick the liquid dyes and dye fixer this week, and do the deed.

 

"do the deed"??? Are we still talking about the dye job? j/k. I'd like to see the before and after shots. I've never used that type of dye. Sounds interesting.

 

Parts Update!

I cleaned out that 1981 Capri:

* All the wiring, including the newer fusebox type (bayonet fuses?)

* The entire AC system and the dual pulley engine parts (AC compressor, Alternator),

* Regulator, Water Pump pulley, (new belts too),

* A real and rare 200 CID clutch fan,

* Dash, dashpad, instrument cluster,

* Rear cargo panels (to make custom, front facing speaker enclosures from the rear, and patch where the old ones were),

* Console, Automatic floor shifter and the non-column-shift column tube and firewall boot, column shift delete covers (kind of proud about that finishing touch - almost all of the other 5 cars had them cracked and damaged),

* All the sensors and vacuum lines. Even the windshield fluid level sensor.

Only cut 3 wires at the hatchback (I needed the de-icer wires, but couldn't get the last bit out).

So now, if I want to change to a four headlight Futura grille setup, I can! (Not sure about that though).

Too bad the Capri taillights couldn't fit.

The Capri had a lot of new parts. I think the owner prepped it to move west from Southern Ontario (rust belt), and something died when he got here, or it didn't pass our Provincial Safety check, especially rusty see-through floors. Anyway, it was a good haul. Now to clean them up and install it all.

That means the car might be down for a week, so I have to synchronize with the wife's shopping needs and the rain and the renos. Mornings are still around the freezing mark here for another couple weeks. Can't clean and paint inside the basement (wife is really sensitive to chemicals). Might be a slow upgrade.

Altogether it took about 18 hours over 6 days to carefully dismantle everything and the JY owner appreciated that. I'll go back for the black Sail mirrors on the doors, and a windshield, so there's no point leaving a bad taste in his mouth. He treated me well and very fair, even though he's only open 3 hours a day. A good time.

 

Yeah! I still have the dark brown LTD seat back, and its big enough to do both seatback front panels. Its just that I can't find brown cargo carpet for these fold-down backs, which means renting an industrial sewing machine and stitching the 'snap-in' nylon bits that hold the carpet onto the back of the seat panel. If it comes out fine, I'll dye my cargo carpet as well, for the rest of the length. For $20 bucks of dye and maybe 3 hours of farting around reinstalling the fabric, I figure its worth a shot.

EDIT: If that dye doesn't work, I guess I could get some Wig dye or Grecian Formula.

 

I've got two more places to check for RIT Dyes in Canada. I emailed them again, and told them that the local shop they referred me to doesn't carry the liquid products and they don't have the colour fixative. They were good and prompt to tell me that they don't have a Canadian distributor and don't ship to Canada on personal orders.

So I started sleuthing again and found this site. They even have automotive carpet dyes! US company again.
http://www.carlisles.com/

http://www.carlisles.com/products.htm

I think our Feds passed some regulations about Chemicals into Canada, so I may have to get creative. This is the prohibited chemical dyes list for Canada:
http://www.cen-rce.org/CMP/pdf/CMP Tracking Tool (21.12.09).xls

From this 'It's for your own good site' here - Second item - Tracking Tool:
http://www.cen-rce.org/CMP/resources.html

A good description of the different types of dyes that are around. This is an industrial manufacturer, and doesn't make consumer-friendly DIY dye products:
http://www.organicdye.com/textiledyes.asp

Their 'Disperse Dyes', namely Orocil, are along the line of what RIT offers.

This is a Canadian firm that actually does automotive dyeing and plastic repairs. They just aren't in my town or even close. :
http://www.fibrenew.com/automotive

Now this is INTERESTING! They sell pro-grade auto upholstery repair compounds and tools. This is really page 11, but I checked out the other pages and they've got it all, leather repair, vinyl repair, etc., etc.:
http://store.rightlook.com/browseproducts/Index10.html

The main page is even better! Even a virtual blonde announcer!
http://www.rightlook.com/

This is just the Interiors supplies page, and they sell DIY videos!
http://store.rightlook.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=6

One Canadian company making dyes, but not for fabrics:
http://www.parasolinc.com/index.asp

Ah! Getting closer to the right stuff. This page describes the differences in fabric and dye types, as well as the colorant fixers:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/allpurposedye.shtml

And it has a list of consumer-level sources:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyesources.shtml

All the little tips and tricks to get a good job done. Whoever thought that restoring vehicles was merely twisting wrenches should give their head a good shake!

I'm waiting for manufacturer emails to find Canadian vendors. I'm at least a week away from starting it, but I figured I'd get the info coming in, sooner than later.

 

Now I'm getting the idea!

First of all, I found an online Dyemixer tool (Java powered) using industry dye ID numbers. What's nice about this tool, is that you can use your existing fabric colour and see what happens when you add the other colours to get the final colour.
http://yehar.com/blog/?p=307/dyemixer/

In English, that means that with my bright red Mustang upholstery, I have to use:

Procion brown MX-2R
and a generic black

to get a Dark Brown.

If I used a beige base colour, the mix would be different
Nylon and synthetic blends need a different dye chemistry and methods.

The RIT dyes would work, but they aren't as permanent as Fiber dyes:

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/lanasetdyes.shtml

http://www.pburch.net//dyeing/FAQ/pureLanasetcolors.shtml

And I found a Dye source in Canada!
http://www.gsdye.com/Canada/acid_dyes.html

http://www.gsdye.com/Canada/instructional_sheets.html

Not much more than the RIT dyes either.

Heat up a big enough pot of water on the stove, pop in the dye solution, and the rest is toast. I guess a campfire or a big BBQ would do the trick too.

My sleuthing is done for this part.

 

Another Dye agent told me that two other chains handled the dye, Shoppers Drugmart - only had blue or white by Tintex - nope.

Safeway! So I pop in, and they had my dark brown on sale at 1/2 price! Exactly 8 boxes!

Got my AC refill kit and Compressor oil and a Capri Haynes manual for the details for the 1981 model. An EVTM would be nice - Mustang or Capri, to hook up the vacuum ports to the manifold and carb, but I may just go back and take a picture of the emissions sticker, once this rain stops - 5 days of it, maybe even snow on Sunday. yuk!

 

Ha! Went to our local Safeway and got 9 more boxes for the same discounted price! For some reason, they're not discounting the black dye. Anyway, I'm gonna hit some second hand stores and find me a big old pot to dye these upholstery parts in on the stove.

Here's the Stovetop instructions:
http://www.ritdye.com/Stovetop.138.lasso

Tips for success page.
http://www.ritdye.com/Tips+for+Success.117.lasso

The package instructions say Hot Water, the water heaters are usually set at 122F to 140F. This Dye process needs from 140F to 190F (MAX!) and then warm water rinse. If you want darker or deeper colours, you can leave it in the pot for up to an hour, as well as double up the amount of dye.

Vinegar works as a colour fixative that you add to the dye/hotwater dye-bath. Upholstery should be super clean (I'm using our carpet steam-cleaner) but a gentle run in the washer (you don't want it to fray in the spin cycles) should do the trick.

Clean up is done with plain old chlorine bleach on the pot. I'll hang the parts for air drying. If it was new thread, I'd probably throw them in the dryer.

Anyway, off I go to get a witch's caldron!

 

Go Figure! I was cruising the Granada, Monarch, Versaille site and found this thread about dyeing seatbelts with the RIT dye. Seems it works perfect!

http://monarch76.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=soft&action=display&thread=639

 

Small hi-jack about Emissions vacuum diagrams.

Strictly speaking, I don't like all those little plastic coloured hoses running to my car's orifices, mainly because every one of them offers 2 more ends where vacuum leaks can happen. There's at least 8 of the darn lines, over and above the basic stuff like the PCV connection, the Power brakes, the distributor advance, the transmission module and the vacuum reservoir cannister that serves the interior heater ducts.

Ford uses a colour code for them, which didn't start to show up until OBD I connections were added in 1981, on all but my I6 200 CID. It was the last year for the 200 CID in a Canadian Fairmont, although TBird has an I6 in his 1982 Coogah.

So I went and took pics of the Vehicle Emissions Control Information label (VECI sticker/label/tag).

Here's the one from the I6 automatic 1981 Capri that I scooped the AC from.

Look ma! For Canadian 200 I6 Hosers!


Whereas the 300 I6 truck engine got this, with a nice, neat diagram:


And in 1983, we get special FX with abbreviations that even the ancient Greeks would look up. But it's in colour! :banghead3:


I got the VECI dictionary from the FullSizBronco.com website:
http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62036&highlight=vacuum+diagram

And then I found a link to all the old Maverick/Comet shop manual pictures from 1970 to 1977 in both I6 and V8 flavours:
http://1bad6t.com/Maverick/diagrams/emission.html

One of the nice things about Ford's own powerplants is that they standardize these subsystems across the whole line. But it gets tricky with these I-Six engines with AC. It seems that the AC equipped cars have a means of using these little lines when the AC is ON and you're accelerating, to give the engine more vacuum, rather than what the AC wants. I read that on the FordSix.com site and my 1979 Ford Shop manual (Chassis manual volume 1). PITA, but the choice is lost fuel economy.

The Ford manual shows the components separately, but not a total circuit diagram. Haynes describes them, but Chilton does a much better job of describing their purposes for each one of the valves.

Since there really were only 3 regions and something like 6 engines, you'd think they could have included them in the shop manual.:banghead3:

So I'll make one for my faithful I6 in all its 5 colours - white, green, orange, brown and black hoses, from this research and post it. I'll do it in Sticker Size for those who may need to print one. I'll bet there's a special Dealer's Service guide on this spider web of tubes.:banghead3:

Anyway, if our Province adopts the California Emissions standards (woe is me ), I'll have my little sticker ready for the inspection.

EDIT: That FullSizeBronco.com link does have a good picture of the 1985 colour diagram, but you have to sign up (register) to see it. After about 4 hours of searching, the page links I posted are about all I can find. The reason is that each region has different ones for differently optioned vehicles. It would have been a snap for Ford to show the basic diagrams in a manual, with optional equipment in dotted line format.

EDIT 2: MotorCraft's Service site has a Quick Guides list of topics and a VECI parts list tool for 1988 and up Fords, here:
http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vd...d=free_quickref&gutsid=quickref&menuIndex1=26

 

Norm, since you started the thread you can hi-jack all you want. Here's some info.

I have a color emissions sticker on my 82. Ford used the I6 (200) in cars through 1983. The 3.8 liter V6 first appeared in 1982 and 1983 was a transition year where most of the sixes were 3.8s.

The device for air conditioned cars was a WOT (wide open throttle) valve. The WOT valve somehow shut down the compressor by killing the 12 volts to the compressor clutch during WOT to give the engine more power for passing and pulling hills. They are still used today but are mostly electronic now. I haven't studied how a vacuum operated switch functions to do that but indeed it does. Since it's not an emissions control and my a/c is toast I haven't paid much attention to it.

There's another vacuum device in the emissions system that operates the same to kill the EGR during WOT operation. Remember at idle and WOT neither the EGR or A.I.R. pump will work.

Anyway back to the V6 engine. The 3.8 was carberated and 120 hp in 1982 and 83. Now the new Mustang 3.7 liter V6 cranks out 305 hp on regular grade gasoline. No turbo, no supercharger and gets over 30 mpg on the highway. Also all Ford car and light truck engines are ULEV qualified. I think this is why Ford is doing so well now.

 

Norm - How does all this apply to your vehicle, since it was built / sold in Mexico? Did the Mexico-built vehicles have the same emission controls and follow the same color-coding?

 

Can you take a pic of it and send it to me? I'll post it. I've never spotted a 1983 200 I6 up here.

Actually, mine broke all the rules. It was a 302-V8 with a points distributor. No stickers anywhere. I started going through all the manuals I could find for the I6. The donor car's stickers were in really bad shape. Not legible at all. Now, I'm a man on a mission.

 

Got two big pots at a thrift store at $6 each. Now I'll get a five gallon steel paint pale at the hardware store (new for $9) and do the dye work in it, using the other two for the final rinsing. You need 3 gallons of hot water per pound, and these pots are 4 gallons each, but they're too short for the carpet attachments on the rear cover deck. You have to swirl the the piece in the dye for 15 minutes or more.