Interior Mustang Mods

This is a progress update in the DURING phase.

The trouble with being an engineer is you tend to over-engineer. I made a special trip to the old Capri to get dimensions, before I even looked at my tunnel, under the sound deader (factory applied). Lo and behold, the shifter locations were already stamped! But were they in the same location? (I said to myself):confused:.

I made a nice long cardboard template, starting at the front tunnel seam, with all the hole locations. It was really pretty!

Then I pulled a Henry Ford moment. The lightbulb went on! I pulled the seats and carpet, stripped the console to the plastic shell (armrest, cover inserts, etc.) and mounted the Capri dash shell. I remembered the gap between the dash and console rise was about 3/8" to 1/2", and located it. BINGO! Perfect fit.

I threw away my fancy template and made a small one for the shifter bracket only:


The mounting clips (so you don't need a guy underneath holding a wrench) need a 1/2" of sheetmetal, so the template undercuts the hole all around. And you end up with this:


Mustangs have these shifters in two flavours. One with a movable shifter grip, and one that has to be removed from under the car. The one with the chrome is removable with an Allen Key (mine). It makes it easier to test fit stuff. The indicator lamp, the plastic indicator PRND2L lense, etc and getting the shifter trim cover back on. I got the other one too, because it matches the handle on the EBrake.

The shifter bracket mounting clips want a 5/16" hole to allow for aligning the parts, relative to the shifter and console, the bolts are 3/16" diameter, so you get a 1/8" wiggle room to get everything right.

Here's how the Capri floor looked after removing the shifter bracket:


Fairmont carpeting has no knockout marks for the brackets and shifter, but you only need to cut out the area for the four (4) bosses where the final cover gets fastened, And where the brackets go (front under ashtray and rear at EBRAKE and Console support bracket, AND the center bracket location, even though I haven't found one Mustang, Capri or Fox Sedan with it installed.) The missing center bracket would sit just behind the cover plate on the console, in front of the EBRAKE. The Capri crossmember is further forward by 3/4", so for a Fox Wagon (whose floorpan is 1" longer) the rear-most rise of the crossmember has to be dimpled (hammered down flat) by about 1/4" for the console to sit properly flat at the front and rear console mounting brackets and tighter to the carpet. A couple good whacks with a ball-peen hammer will do.

The story about Ford's lightbulb is that he used to interview graduate engineers asking them how they would measure the water that a lightbulb could hold. The guys that hauled out the sliderules didn't get hired. The guys that said they'd fill it with water and weigh it, got hired on the spot! Practicality versus virtuality used to win the day.

 

Power Windows and Door locks coming from this other Squire that Andy and I are picking clean and all the woody trim outside, intact but all the finish is gone. Oh and a spare rear windshield wiper and washer, AND the rear toolbox, which I'll use on the other side. The Noah Principle - two of everything!

 

Keep it up, Norm. It's going to look great when you get er done!

 

Thanks Snooter. Andy and I really went there with a constant threat of an all-day thunderstorm. Like Andy said, the junkyard gods smiled upon us!

Andy got a nice Tilt steering column. I got the PW/ PDLs and all the harnesses and motors and the regular delux dome maplight wiring (different than my base dome lamp) and a Mustang windshiled swivel map light that goes at the windshield.

I needed the rear woody molding for the rear passenger cargo panel and got that, AND!!!! I finally got the second cargo toolbox for the passenger side.

Gonna be one comfy, convenient travelling machine.

 

Wiring review tomorrow. Should be easy enough, since I have all the harnesses intact, and the Ford schematics for the 1981 Squire windows in the Fairmont EVTM (Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooter Manual).

Oh, yeah. The vacuum layouts for all the Fox engines are in Chilton's Fairmont / Zephyr manual! Carb, EGR, and all the abbreviations and part numbers for each one. Including Turbo engines (2.3L).

 

Rubbers, rubbers, rubbers!

I'm a Lethal Weapon fan. The power door locks have rubber sleeves to keep out the dust. It seems that these were used for a long time, at least into the 1990s, so it may be a dealer part still. The old ones (1981) are falling into that great black hole of no return. I wonder if there's a better way to cover them. Nah! probably too thin.

 

You are definately marching right along on your project. I love all the pictures....

 

We're under constant threat of rain right now. Just crazy! 3 times the normal rainfall in a month. 500 homes flooded and the cities own pumps can't handle it. Hard to get all prepped and tinkle, tinkle, boom! :banghead3:

 

The weather here has been strange. It's already June and we haven't been in the 90's until yesterday. We even had a good morning of rain the week before last. It never rains in May. I've never experienced weather like this in the last 16 years. I'm getting spoiled. Last year was hot, hot, hot by now.

I took last week off and got the Ranger all done (Rolled it). It turned out great! Two tone Grey over white. I'm waiting now to polish. I stopped at 6 coats and it looks great! No, I haven't taken pictures yet....

 

Bet you got some good biceps out of it too! I'm gonna love seeing that!

We still dip down to 36F on some nites.

 

Got all the Capri console parts refinished with the Camel color from SEMS. The Dashpad and glovebox are done as well. Just have to do the actual dash frame and the new Mustang map light, even though I'll also use the fancy dome/map light that TBird sent me. I really do use maps on backroads and long trips.

 

Norm!?!?, your kidding rite?....you live in Manitoba...drive 6 hours till you find another road and turn right...keep doing this and you'll be rite back where you started! Who needs a map?? J/K

Norm," You DA Man" when it comes to Fox mods......but we need more pics for proof

 

Pics tomorrow.

6 hours and turn right?

We got more roads named after politicians (forgettable ones too!)

 

Figured out the rubber cover solution for the power doorlocks. Bicycle tire tubes. The 'accordion' tops are still decent, so I'll glue them with tire cement. Easy enough to change later.

 

Good idea, we were sort of scratching our heads on that one.