Starting body work, and engine prep.

I have been working on getting the engine painted up and the gaskets changed in it. The engine is a 390 cid and was rebuilt by a junior college somewhere near Houston,Texas. Aside from a little carbon build up in the intake the engine is in good shape and should run real good for us. We decided to go with the ceramic coated hooker super competition headers on this car because the standard manifolds are hard to find and do not flow very well. We went with a holley 650 double pumper with mechanical secondaries for fuel delivery, this will also add horsepower and fun. The heads we have are c7me-a castings and did not have the gt bolt pattern so I had to drill and tap them out to make the headers bolt up correctly to them. Some of the other parts that we bought from summit racing were a lakewood explosion proof bellhousing, a ram billet steel flywheel, ram street clutch, misc gaskets and some stock appearing pertronix spark plug wires.

Mike has started the body work, and is working on getting the roof straightened out....when it was sitting in the shed someone jumped on the roof and put a million little dents in it. Here are a few pictures for yall to look at! Bye, Andy

Getting back on track.

As you can tell by my previous posts my life has been a bit busy, and the mustang has been put on the back burner. My daughter Emma is doing great and is a huge blessing from god! So I am back to working on the mustang and I have some updates to tell you about.

When I last blogged about the stang I was doing a rundown on what we have done on the car so far, since then I have installed the acoustisheild on the rear quarters and fit them to the doors and deck lid. The trunk hinges that I had were worn out to say the least and caused my gaps to shift when opening and closing the lid. I decided to order a new updated set of hinges that utilizes a clock type spring instead of the old torsion rod, what a good decision! The deck lid opens and closes like a refrigirator door and the gaps are good. The task of replacing all of the sheetmetal on this car means that all of the panels have to jive together in order for the gaps to be right throughout the car. A ton of labor was spent getting this to happen, portapowers were used, hammer and dollys, relief cuts in metal and so on and so forth.

One other set back to tell you about was with the seam sealer that I used on the floor and all the other seams. The stuff I used is 3M brushable seam sealer and I applied it as directed but ended up having to grind it all out because it lifted. The 3M rep came and looked at it and decided to blame it on the etching primer under it and the acid it contains causing the lift, I blame it on a crappy product. So after 10 hours of wire brushing and scraping off the seam sealer I was ready to re-apply with some 2 part epoxy type seam sealer. This stuff was the ticket and I wish I would of used it from the start, it comes in a seperated tube and is mixed in the applicator nozzle. Because it is a epoxy it sets up within 10 minutes and will bond to almost anything, the trick is to not apply to much and then go back and spread it...it will get hard on you too fast. After the re-seam sealing I prepped the engine compartment and Mike painted it. Today I got the passenger quarter completly welded off and tomorrow I will get the driverside done then it is on to paint and body! Hopefully in 3 weeks I will have pictures of a completley painted car. I will be working on the engine and drivetrain in the coming weeks as well getting ready for that oh so sweet first test drive! Talk to you all soon...

The Circle of life.

This morning at 3:30am my family and I lost our beloved Shirley Rae Shuck. She had been battling with congestive heart failure and decided against surgery to preserve her remaining quality of life. Grandma was a great person whom I love dearly and has impacted my life unlike anyone else. When I was a young man I lived with her and my grandpa and I was not what you would call a "good kid", but grandma's love was unconditional. Some of my fondest memories include riding in the old Buick with her and grandpa and listening to old country music on the 8 track player, that car rode like a dream and grandpa would occasionally take me out in it to "blow the cobs out of it" man was that fun! And how can I forget the old dodge ram pickup rides, sitting between her and grandpa, they both had miller lite beer in hand and we were normally looking for old cars or to follow up on a lead that grandpa had on some good parts. Slowly we would wind through the countryside enjoying the evening, just talking about the day. Boy were those the days, not a care in the world it seemed. Some days I would go with grandpa to the farm and work, well one day grandpa hit a cow while we were chasing them and told me not to tell grandma, as everyone knows she is a huge animal lover...well I agreed to keep it between the guys...ha ha, that lasted till we hit the driveway, I jumped out of the truck and ran inside as fast as I could and told grandma....I am pretty sure grandpa got a chewing that night. Coming home after work was always a treat because grandma was such a great cook, whether it be her signature fudge brownies, mulligan stew, or just a BLT sandwich it was always soooo much better than anywhere else! I would usually say after a good meal, "thank you grandma I'm full" she would reply "that's what we wanted" Or often I would take to much and she would tell me my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

Her love for pets was great, she used to have a whole barn full of cats and would feed them all and take care of them. She had lots of pets over the years like Heidi, Sadie, Katty, blue, and Dinky and Lucy who are still alive. Many of us might agree that sometimes she even loved them more than us! Her pets were her children and she treated them great, only the best for them always... She also enjoyed her Keno, and the time spent with her sisters "the golden girls" as I like to call them. She would always go up to Hastings to the keno lounge and meet her friends, or go with Bill, she told me about her winnings and was happy doing it...I never asked how much she spent!

Some of life's lessons are learned the hard way, believe me I know...Grandma was there for me to shed light and help me out. I had a hard time when I was younger balancing my check book and paying bills, we would sit at the kitchen table for hours until all my money was wrote out in checks, she would say "their now, doesn't that feel good" ha ha, it didn't at the time but now I know what she meant..being responsible and taking care of business...she was good at that. Thanks Grandma.

I was joking with my mother, saying I bet that grandpa and her met up in heaven and grandpa said, "Dang it Shirley, I saw you go out and buy that $1000 dollar stove after I was gone...I had a good used one out in the shop you could of used" Anyone who knew my grandfather would know what I am talking about, and Emma who is grandmas good friend would chuckle about that as well.

Grandma, you live on through my daughter and all of our family, I know you are in a better place now! I love you dearly, miss you, and will always cherish the memories we have together! Until we meet again....your grandson, Andy Huffaker...RIP

Baby girl Huffaker is here!

I thought that I would let everyone know that Emma Raeann Huffaker has arrived. She was born on March 17th 2009 at 9:20am, weighed 6lbs8ozs, and is sweeter than apple pie. We expect her to come home on saturday with any luck, she has me wrapped around her finger already and I am in love! It is such an awesome feeling when you have a child and they are depending upon you for every need they have!



I would also like to send prayers out to my grandmother Shirley Shuck, she was admitted to the Mary Lanning Hospital in Hastings, Nebraska on the same day Emma was born. She is suffering from congestive heart failure and is having a really hard time right now...Grandma we love you!

Recap

Man, what a fun time I have had doing this resto.... I can't say enough how much of a learning and growing experience this has been for me! Its hard to believe but I think I have ground the last weld on the car, that is as far as old panels go. So lets recap what has taken place with this resto so far...
1-gutted the car completley and assessed
2-Had it soda blasted completley
3-primed body with etching and epoxy primer
4-removed and replaced entire floor, and supports, plus seat risers
5-removed and replaced floor supports
6-removed and replaced cowl panel upper and lower
7-removed and replaced cowl sides
8-removed and replaced complete dash structure
9-removed and fabricated rear upper shock tower cover
10-removed and replaced rear inner fender aprons
11-removed third member, rebuilt, painted,replaced with new leafs and posi trac unit
12-rebuilt toploader 4 speed trans, repainted, tagged
13-aquired 390 FE date coded engine
14-completley seam sealed and primed floor and body
15-removed and replaced rear quarter panels, with metal fab...almost done!
16- new concours wheels and bfg tires 235/60/15
17-Gator Gaurd underbody of car
18-New doors, fenders
19- remove and replace radiator support
20-remove and replace strut rod supports, fab battery panel
Their may be something that I am missing here also but that is a pretty good overview of the main things. Today I finished up prepping the rear inner wheel housings and undercoating them, and I am ready to put the new rear quarters on. With the rear quarters the trunk corners go on, and the rear taillight panel also. I anticipate by the end of next week I will be ready to start body work and paint. This is a huge milestone in this resto because all the main structure and sheetmetal fab work is DONE! I will post some pictures soon!

The Doctors In!

David flew in Friday around 5:30 to visit for a couple of days. We went out Friday night to the Biff Buzby's car get together and met up with my friend mike who brought the 68 mustang fastback. We ended up staying at Biff's for a few hours and then decided to take a ride in eleanor. We cruised around downtown a little bit and then stopped at Ruth Cris's steak house, we valet parked the stang and the guys were fighting over who got to drive it..it was hilarious! We enjoyed good conversation and food, Mike and Dave really hit it off well so that made me happy. Mike actually stopped in the middle of the road in front of the Alamo to take a picture of David.

Saturday morning we headed out to the shop to take a look at the mustang, and get to work on it. We started by removing the radiator support, Dave was like a bull in a china hutch..I had to watch every move he made! LOL! No he really impressed me with the way he took over and got to work, but what do you expect..he is the son of the great Gordie Shuck! Dave cut off the radiator support while I fabricated a piece of steel to go were the battery tray sits. We got the radiator support installed but still need to get a caster/camber gauge on the front wheels so I can set the torsion bar mounts in correctly. After Dave chopped up the front end he moved on to the quarter panels where he found his new favorite tool, THE PLASMA CUTTER! For those who don't know what they are, it is basically a concentrated electrical flame that is injected with air to blow the metal away, they work super slick. Before he could cut the quarters off he had to bend the wheel lip down again since the previous owners had smashed them up to accommodate larger tires, this was not an easy task but Dave came through once again. After he finished that up he cut the quarters off with the plasma and at that point we started cleaning up for the day. I would like to thank Dave for coming out, I had a great time with you and hope to see you out here again soon! Here are some pictures from the weekend event!

Picture Day

I have been under the gun to get some pictures on here and today I got the chance to take some, enjoy!

























Tomorrow Russell from Mustang Mania in Katy, Texas is delivering the 390 CID engine and other misc parts. Today I put the metal dash in and re-painted the rear end housing due to some accidental damage. In the pictures you can see that the floor on the inside is seam sealed and painted, the dash is in, and the rear frame rail body work is finished. I have one project to finish up under the rear and that is the rear torque boxes. Someone smashed them up and I need to weld a plate on them and pull it out so I can metal finish them. Also in the pictures is the toploader 4 speed with new gears and protective coating, axles with new bearings installed, and third member with fresh posi-trac unit!

Baby girl Huffaker update....We have 5-7 weeks left to go and all is well. The C-section is tentatively scheduled for march 30Th. I will keep everyone posted as the time gets closer. Love you all, Andy