This is going to be a pretty long post and I apologize ahead of time for that. I bought my ’67 coupe over a year ago from a guy my own age. He told me it only needed a few things to be a daily driver again. That’s the classic story, right? Well, needless to say, it’s taken a lot more then a few things. I’ve put a little work into the body and a little into the engine. I would like to have the car drivable this summer, if nothing more then to just drive it down my street and back. It hasn’t moved but once which was on the day I bought it. I had it flat bedded to my house because they guy couldn’t guarantee it would make the trip home. Yeah, of course it couldn’t. haha. What a jackass!

I am trying to right this wrong by spending my own hard earned money on the right parts and getting her back out there. I don’t care if there’s little things wrong…like black primer paint and rust spots in the chrome bumper. All I want is a running, moving, driving Mustang I can call my own. I will buy the necessary parts and whatnots but don’t want to go on a wild goose chase if I don’t have to.

This is where you guys come in. I am a member of several other small-time mustang forum groups, but they are mostly just normal guys who bs-around and have fun, but don’t really know much technical stuff. I have many questions, like how to diagnose the problems it has. I am fairly certain I know what’s wrong (starter & carb) but I’d like it if you guys could tell me for sure.

1. A few weeks ago, it would only start if I sprayed carb starter down the carb, pumped the gas and then started it up. I could run it for an hour if I wanted. The only this is, when it is running, if I take pressure my foot off the gas pedal, it slows down and dies. But, if I jam the gas all of a sudden the engine will just stop making any noise at all. But if I slowly creep up the RPM’s its fine. BUT, all of those problems are when it is in fact even running. At thirty five seconds into the video you can hear it almost die. I had to give it gas quickly or else it would have stopped running on it’s own. The only reason it doesn’t stop when I get out is because I had a rock on the gas pedal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2agXYHTwzE

2. The next day, with seemly nothing done or changed to it, I went to turn the key and all I got is this loud *click* sound against the fender-wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMq3impyS2Q

3. A guy on another forum told me to rap on the starter and starter relay gently. I did, with a rubber coated scraper-tool. Right after that everything stopped working at all and now it makes NO sound at all when I turn the key. Only when I turn it back to the left does it make a little muffled sound. It hasn’t turned over in about a week and a half.

4. When I put coolant in the radiator and ran it a few months ago, this green colored liquid (I assume it’s coolant, right?) ran out somewhere along the bottom of the carb and pooled in the exhaust manifold. I would wipe it away with a paper towel, only to come back days later and find the area refilled with the liquid. It finally ran out or something and now just has rusty colored crap and dried up dark brown stuff. There are *before* and *after* pictures of what I am talking about:

Before:

After:



5. The wiring in the car is not complete. I don’t have any headlights or even headlight buckets right now. They are in my garage, along with the grill and lower valance panel. The reason I bring this up is that there is a lot of exposed copper and loose ends of wires in my car. The wires going from the starter relay to the headlights (I assume?) just end, the wires going from the relay to the alternator are old and wrapped in electrical tape. The wires on the two little prongs of the starter relay are very loose and barely stay on. The wire going from the starter to the firewall (I assume to ground it?) is very very rotten. There is almost no insulation at all and is mostly just a strand of little copper wires hanging there. Lastly, my taillight harness goes nowhere, it just rests in my trunk. The bulbs are not hooked up in my car and I haven’t bothered to do much at all with them other then install the plastic lenses and taillight housing. I did however replace the battery terminals and those two wires, the negative and positive ones. The guy before replaces all the spark plug wires with high quality ones, they are brand new. Can any of these wiring issues affect the problems of starting and turning over I am experiencing?

So, to recap…I have been told three things that I need to fix. The carb needs to be rebuilt, the starter needs to be replaced and so does the starter relay. Does that seem about right? If any of you guys can help me, I really and truly would appreciate it. I need to get this project off the ground!

 

I almost just want to rip everything out of the engine bay and throw a 302 HO in it...But I know how much extra work that is to switch them over

 

A LOT. Cooling and exhaust systems will have to be replaced, as well as the transmission, rear axle, and front brakes.

 

Yep listen to this guy he knows. I had a similar problem with my carb, the part with the gas pedal and having to hold it down and only slowly press the gas. I have not started up my car since the rebuilt engine/carb, but if you are still on here when I finally do I will let you know what I had to do.
2+2 when you say factory service manual you mean the shop manual right? If so what is all contained in that book? Is it better than the Mustang handbooks you can buy out there or what?

 

one solutions, get a V8 look for one used with a tranny, you can pick one up cheap. it might be worth it in the end rather than spending money on the 6 ( not that there is anything wrong with it)

 

So I'm hearing rebuild the carb, replace the starter solinode and possibly the wiring? That's about what I was thinking. What about the starter? Is that dead or no?

I know it can't be the battery. I bought it new and I have a plug-in charger that I topped it up with.

Also, I recently used to work at a Ford Dealership until it folded and everybody got laid off. There was a room full of thick books, one per car, per year. Is that what your talking about those are kida hard to find? Or you mean a factory, in-car manual? I want one of those too.

Thanks everybody. Keep the advice coming. Or words of encouragment. lol.

 

How do I know about the starter? Test it after I replace the starter selonoid?

 

The factory manual is packed with all the detail dealers would need to service these cars, each year is nearly 2 inches thick, while the cheapies are 1/4" thick, and try to cover 10 years.