The only reason we'd go mid sized would be for the Pinto which has a special place in my wife's heart. Her family had one growing up and so now she wants one (nevermind the practicality of it). If it weren't down to one of those two cars then I'd rather just keep the Dart and convert it to fuel injection (I really hate 1bbl carbs) as it is original and in decent running condition. She just has her heart set on a Pinto. That might change after she actually drives one.
Finished up most of the work on my wife's car on Sunday. Thought I'd get to move it into the street and move my Ranchero into the driveway but the Ranchero didn't want to start up. Still need to get the carb adjusted right. Started tweaking it but then the battery died. Left it on the charger and haven't had time to get back to it since. Ordered a new speedo cable and headlight switch for the wife's car (I always forget to order a headlight switch for myself when I do these kind of orders) which "should" be here in a couple of days. Since I'll have those on hand I'll put them into her car either later this week or on Sat. Once that is done I should be able to move the Ranchero back into the driveway.
Hopefully you guys get some nice weather to work on it. I have my fingers crossed hoping I can do some more sanding this Saturday.qa
Nice weather is relative. Hahaha. Supposed to be a little cooler this weekend but then it spikes up pretty good next week. May have to get back to working at night. Have some nice flood lights that I've never even unboxed that I should start using.
Yeah you are getting there. I hear ya about the heat, it is supposed to be in the mid 90's here this weekend. Great for beers and a pool, not so good for getting down and dirty with Ranchero work Laters, Jeff
It's going to be perfect weather here, looking like it will be in the mid-70s. The problem with that is my wife will probably want to chill at the beach.
Scratch the nice weather here (for me). Latest check shows mid 90's through the weekend so it really isn't car working weather. I have some plans for Sat. anyhow so that only leaves Sun. I am planning on getting up early so that I can tackle the last few part installs on my wife's car before noon. If that all works out I will try to get my Ranchero in the driveway before it gets unbearable. I miss the beach sometimes. My wife was never a fan, but I have good memories of it. Luckily my sister just bought a vacation condo at the beach so I'll get to spend more time there. Not this year though.
The wife's car is still in the driveway. Ugh. Went to install the new speedo cable and found that it lies right under the trans. crossmemeber so I would need to remove it to gain access. I put it off until Sunday and did so. Replaced everything but wen I did te test drive nothing changed at the speedometer. Think I may have not threaded it properly onto the speedometer or I pulled it out of the transmission while messing with everything. Worst case is something wrong where it meets the transmission. That is where the old one was snapped at so I wouldn't be surprised. I'll mess with it again this weekend and hopefully get the 67 into the driveway. Weather is just going to keep getting hotter. Woke up super early this weekend to work on her car so that I could be done before the sun got too bad. Will have to do so again this weekend.
I understand, nothing is ever as easy as you think. I am scared to strip my interior because of what I may find but soon I am going to bite the bullet.
Thanks guys. I look at it all as experience. Just wish I had more time to work on the cars and more driveway space. Not sure how much time I'll have to work on it this weekend as we are leaving the following monday so will be spending the weekend getting ready and spending time with my dad. Hopefully will have some time Sat. morning to pull the dash and check everything out.
@ribald - I haven't replaced the modulator on the 67 yet. That is one of the things that I am waiting to get it in the driveway for. My wife's car doesn't have a modulator. That was my first thought when I was having issues with it. Generally I just mis-gauged how much transmission fluid goes in there. Probably the same with the Ranchero. @davis - Yes I did. It came with a small tube of grease and I lubed it up pretty good. It turned great by hand. Really thinking that I may have pulled the actual cable out at the transmission while wrestling the dash side in. Since I am going out of town I am going to move the Ranchero in the driveway this weekend regardless of what is going on with my wife's car. Parking enforcement hasn't been around for awhile, but I just know that they'll stop by while we are gone and they'll end up towing it. Flat tires are kind of a giveaway that hasn't been running in awhile.
Forgot to mention that I got the cars switched out before we left. Had some issues with the Ranchero not shifting right so I didn't get it into the driveway the way I wanted. It is facing the wrong way and not completely on the driveway. Forgot how loud it is now. Had my neighbors all looking at me while I moved it. Hahahahah. I think I'll add a couple of mufflers to the glasspacks a little down the road. Spent a week in Vegas (for work) and then got sick right after we got back so I haven't been able to touch the cars since before we left. Hoping that I'll be able to find a day this weekend to get back on the Ranchero.
Well no work on the cars the last couple of weeks. Right after I got better from the cold I caught I tripped and sprained my ankle really bad. Nothing torn or broken that they could find, but I've been limping since then. Bought a newer Mini Clubman this weekend. Originally were going to trade the Mustang in but decided to keep it for now. We still owe a decent amount on it. Fun car, though I wish they would have had a turbo version in our price/year range. The turbo really makes these car a lot more fun. My wife came to the decision to sell her Dart off so that we can ultimately trade the Mustang in and use the money from her Dart as a down payment for another newer car. I'll be sad to see the Dart go as it was fun, but it will be nice to only have one project car again.
Well the Dart is still ours. No real interest in it yet. Spent a few hours last weekend getting it ready for a car show at my wife's work and then spent a bit of time on the Ranchero. I seem to have worked out the carb issues for the most part. Of course as soon as I got it into gear it decided it didn't want to stay running again. Got frustrated and left it. I'll work on it on Sunday or next weekend. Onto the car show. Managed to get my wife's Dart running well enough to make it the 20 or so miles to Redlands, CA. Being as the car hadn't been more than around the block in over a year I was a bit worried. After a tweak to the float I headed out. The car ran great. I got to my wife's work no problem, aside from a power steering leak near the end of the drive. This was supposed to be a nice and small show of about 25 cars, but when I arrived there were already probably 50 cars there. I ended up having to park in the back. The dart was probably the ugliest unrestored car there but it got a lot of views thanks to being a non-mainstream car. There were originally 2 Rancheros there, a 65 and a 68. Both were really nice. Before I could go take a closer look at the 68 they left. I tried talking to the owners of the 65 but they really didn't seem interested in talking about their car. Weird. Surprised that there were a decent number of Ford's there. This area tends to be Chevy heavy so it was nice to see old Fairlanes, T-Birds, Model A's and T's, and a few Mustangs. This was their first car show and they got a lot of great feedback about how to make it better next year. Really looking forward to that, though I plan on taking the Ranchero next time. Being as this was my first time entering a car in a show it was a nice experience.
Pintos were OK in my book. The really unfortunate thing is the issue of Ford losing the lawsuit issue over rear-placement of the fuel tank. Zillions of other cars have identical tank placements, and they were acceptable as adequately "safe". The Pinto's tank location was not "safe". That's bullsh!t, and here's why: Ford Engineers approved placement of the tank's filler neck at the lower end of the tank, as an expedience measure to allow fast filling without "burping" back out at the top. Ever try to fuel up an early Jeep? PITA, every time. Now, unfortunately, in a rear-collision situation, that low-mounted fill pipe SHEARED OFF, allowing the fuel to quickly run out of the tank: ALL of it, real quick, hence, the extreme fire hazard. And Ford suffered the consequences almost as bad, or as bad, as the infamous controversy over Explorers rolling over due to "poorly-designed" rear suspension. Trouble with Firestone's contention was that the solid-axle, leaf-spring suspension had for thrillions of decades been as sound as any! mo.
