Thank you all for the warm greeting.... TB... Lol I'm guessing Tinkerbell (Patty's screen name on her Mustang forum)
Well I got to tell a few of you a bit of my Indy's story... For the rest of you.... Here is the crash course. Get some popcorn.... Its a long story.
I got #770 in May of 2005 as an INOP. The car was left out in a field to rot. I was told it was a simple clutch rod arm failure at the slave, and the car had been sitting for 3 years and only had 77774 miles. Owner wanted $600.00 I talked him down to $500.00. Later I found out the odometer was unhooked and the car had been sitting longer then he said.
Well let's say the car was beyond rough. The drivers door lock was broken. The paint had been redone in spray paint. The sliver painted black. There were runs and flexed paint was painted right over. But even that paint job was now stained and growing black and green mold. The car had only the nose emblem and the Indy graphics had been removed or never installed. The rear spoiler was split at the seam and leaking water into the trunk. The ground effects had been crushed by jacks and one of the rear quarters was broke loose from the body. The other rear quarter has the side molding mounting point broken completely loose. The driver side side mirror was smashed and the glass.... Well someone glued a mirror onto the guts of the crushed one. The wheels were correct, but the center caps were either missing or the white was near gone. The finish was dull, chipped up and stained from neglect.
Then the interior.... Well everything was correct except the shift knob. It was correct but practically ruined. The seats had cracked ripped leather with burns in the red bottom cushions. The arm rests and steering wheel leather were showing the undyed hide beneath. The dash was cracked and the speaker covers were a horrid faded blue. The black switch housings and switches were all faded to a light grey. The center console and radio console were curling and pulling from the plastic beneath and the owner filled the large gap with silicone. The light grey plastic and rubber were stained with grease. The headliner and visors were broken stained and hanging, showing the signs of a serious sunroof leak. The carpet had some burns and a hole was cut and the floor drilled to evacuate the water that pooled from the sunroof leak. There were wires run from the fuse box. The radio was dead and the wires hacked.
The engine... A total mess. There was a good 20 feet of generic red wire run haphazardly through the bay. There was black tape wrapped all about around the c500 wiring
, which was hanging loose on the drivers side. The relays were all detached from the firewall. Little did I know all fusible links were removed and the c500 was spliced jn with butt connectors, very poorly. The valve cover was leaky mess, the firewall carpet was torn to shreds an doused in oil spray. The plastic tabs that hold the ecm wires in the firewall we missing. The battery tray was rusted out. The alternator hold bolt was rigged poorly.
The trunk was full of water and the carpet ruined. In the front, the spare tire was missing along with the jack and sun roof insert. It was also full of water stains.
And that was the visual. After the usual tune up parts: belts, hoses, fluids, filters, plugs, wires, distributor cap. Then a new starter... The exhaust was drowned in water. The brakes were locked up and we ended up replacing the stock brake components. New calipers, parking brake cables, master cylinder, prop valve and lines. The clutch system was as bad. I needed new master, slave, line, petal, and after a five mile drive, a new clutch... The water pump, fuel pump, ecm and coil all died one by one. The fan did not work, so I hot wired it. My gauges were a mess so aux ones were added. The driver side axle was shot and the boot on the passenger side was shot. We replaced the shocks and struts.
So $2000 later it sort of ran... Now 2006... It idled super high and had a slight buck to it. Then I had a spark plug blow out of the head. I heilacoiled it and the compression was good. I fixed valve cover leak with a new cover and load spreaders. The idle was finally found to be the ecm coolant sensor. Firewall carpet was removed before it started a fire. Whew....
Now the clean up... I replaced the broken cowl piece, and repaired the sunroof leak. Added the ecm firewall clips. Found a spare and jack. Got a new side mirror. Got a cover for the spare, found a sunroof panel and bag. As the body was already spray painted... I redid it... Left it black as the replacement spoiler was black. Figured I would fix it all with the new paint job further on down the road, when I was ready for the full restoration. I repainted the bay satin black, as well as the underbody and fender wells. As I want to go to white moldings like the real Indy, but wanted to keep the stockers original, I decided to swap to smooth moldings. Stock pieces were removed and saved for an easy reversal. Dew wipes were replaced and windows tinted.
The interior was a chore with many junkyard runs. I removed the bad stock pieces and bought good junkyard replacements. I found the best pieces I could find and repaired others. I cleaned the carpet and soundproofed beneath. I did the same for the doors. I cleaned and regreased the moving parts. I repaired the broken door lock rod. Then I thought about it. I had a long road ahead to get this car right. So I decided to have some fun with the car till I had gathered all restoration pieces. I took the nasty faded pieces and painted them white. I got carbon fiber overlays. Made a white shift boot to match the knob. Covered some spare speaker covers with red grille cloth. I swapped the refreshed pieces in and stored the good ones. The seats I pulled and threw in another project's seats.
Now I could drive it with a bit of pride and comfort.
2007. The car mostly became a weekend driver. The tires were dry rot. It was eating batteries like candy. As an assembly, I removed the inop headlights. I added stationary lights instead. I made my own exhaust system from my cast off 2.8 f-body exhaust.
2008. Then the car developed an intermittent start. I replaced the starter again, all grounds, the battery, but it was still there. the previous owner bypassed the clutch switch. I adjusted it and hooked it back up. Then I replaced the ignition switch. Still start issues persisted. Then the alternator started to over charge. At the smell of charred wiring, I parked it to invest in an alternator.
Then I was laid off. So I saved for my 140 amp alternator. I knew it needed a rewire to deal with the new alternator... So it sat during my temp jobs.
2011. I had a steady job finally. We got our finances back in order and it was time to get the car in order. August and I got the new alternator in. I researched and got my new fusible links. I decided to add a distribution block like the newer fields. As the job progressed I found the previous owners c500 failed swap. I soldered things back. Butted in my new links. Beefed up all the grounds again. Swapped to 2 gauge battery cables. Added a larger alternator charge line. Added new looms since I had none, moved the c500 behind the battery to protect it. Then came a starter blanket and heatshield for the starter wires. Fired it up and it purred... No more start issues or battery drain.
Now it was time for new bushings. I wanted to lower the car and add larger rims while I kept the Indy rims safe. So I made it a project. All urethane bushings a coil over conversion, and the front lowered. This uncovered blown motor and tranny mounts. Also replaced the rear tierods when mine refused to come loose w/o busting.
This brings me too the present. I have a reversibly modified Indy. Bit but bit I will continue to gather Indy parts till I can make it a real replica again. Till then I will enjoy it in its modified form. Honestly, I now have more money then I could ever get back out of it, so the little guy is a permanent fixture.
Tomorrow I will add some stock pics!
