Thought I'd share, not that anyone cares :)

So my wife buys this 66 mustang a few years back, that didn't run.
Parked outside in the elements, windows open even. After an engine fire.
Paint ruined, interior ruined, engine room looking pretty rough. Rust
damage in the body.

Well fast forward a number of years, I only a couple of weeks ago
started working on the car for real, when we trailered it to my work,
where I have a small workshop for building maintenance.

I found a carb rebuild kit in the wife's pile of junk in the bedroom as
we were moving a while ago, and I used it. The carb on the car was
supposed to be rebuilt by the previous owner, just before the engine
fire. Hmmmmm.... Right. Not a single gasket anywhere near the
carburator!  On top of that, it had gummed up and full of dirt, after
sitting for so long, with no air cleaner too.

I spent a lot of time on the carb.

New fuel lines, filters, fresh fuel, oil change, tranny oil change, new
plugs, static timing the engine, etc.etc...

The beast now runs!  For the first week or two the idle was really rough
and hard to find, but yesterday I finally realized where one of the big
breather hoses from the valve covers go. Umm.. to the large port in the
intake manifold! DUHH. I had a massive air leak without the hose in
place. Engine immediately started purring smooth. I was pleasantly
surprised, and ashamed to have missed that obvious hose fitting. (I am
no newbie when it comes to cars, but I am new to mustangs and I can't
find my repair manual).

We have a big parking lot at work too. I was able to drive it around
some, but only to discover that the engine leaks oil from the
bellhousing, between engine and transmission. Ugh.

Before I found the disconnected hose, the tranny didn't want to work
much at all either. With the problematic idle, it was impossible to even
check the ATF level. I flushed the tranny with some stuff by TransX or
something, to try to free up possibly stuck parts. I'm back to using
straight up type F ATF. Next I will drop the oil pan and see what I can
find. Wish I had my book...

With the engine air leak fixed, I hope the tranny will start working
better too. I think it uses intake manifold vacuum for some sort of
control signal. I haven't had time to really look into the tranny yet,
more concerned about the engine and the brakes. Had a front brake
cylinder leaking.. a lot. Bought a repair kit (could not find the
correct one so I used only some of the critical rubber parts) and
hopefully fixed it yesterday.

I'm off work today (Mon) so tomorrow, work permitting, I can take her
out for another test drive :) I did leave some long black tire marks on
the pavement behind the building already.. oops. Careful with that
throttle ;)

Anyhooters. I'm excited.

Jan
Orlando,FL