Mustang Progress

Last week I started the wiring on the Mustang convertible and managed to get most of it done. I also installed the bulk of the Vintage Air air conditioning system. For the wiring I turned to EZ Wiring, they make a universal 21 circuit harness that just plain works in just about any car. It's a great value and over the last 10 years I've managed to make them work well in everything from a '32 Ford to a '69 Dart to this Mustang.

The Vinatge Air systems are without a doubt the best on the market. The underdash evaporator units have no cables and no vacuum lines, everything is run with stepper motors and an ECU. The custom fit kits (like the one shown here) actually fit and the instructions are like novels with every step carefully over-explained and over illustrated. In most cases the systems are controlled using the stock heater controls that are adapted for use with specially mounted microswitches! When you start the system for the first time it programs itself with only a few swipes of the  controls. Best of all the systems blow ice cubes, I just can't say enough good stuff about Vintage air.

Check it out!

Under the hood, the Vintage Air system adds modern Sanden compressor mounted on a simple but study steel bracket. It's fully adjustable for different pulley arrangements, all I had to do was paint it black. Here you can also see the wiring run in oil cloth loom, I am waiting for a few more components on the engine like the temp sender, coil and alternator to button it all up.

In a custom fit application like this one all the lines come pre-crimped and ready to install. Unlike just about everything else I ever work with, they fit right out of the box!

The condensor mounts using supplied brackets and utilizes pre-exisitng holes in the Mustang core support. Also note the pre-bent aluminum hard lines. They also fit. Amazing!

The evaporator in the Vinatge Air Gen 4 unit. It is controlled by it's own ECU and does away with all cables and vacuum lines. The A/C, heat, defrost and blend functions are all controlled by stepper motors. Even the fan is a high quality Spal unit as found in Ferraris, Mercedes Benz and BMW's. Here you can also see the high quality firewall pad made up of heavy sound deadener backed with jute padding.

I mounted the EZ Wiring fuse panel high on the driver's side kick panel. It offers 18 modern ATC fuses (instead of 6 glass ones as found in the stock Mustang panel), 21 circuits and wires that are labelled every six inches for easy troubleshooting.

I ran the rear section through the stock spot under the door sill.

Since the car will be going back to paint after this, I ran the tail section wires to their respective locations and left them neatly coiled for now. After the final trip to the paint booth I'll terminate everything.

The front headlight and turn signal wires were also neatly coiled for now, here is how I like to insulate and terminate the bundles. I use oil cloth loom and finish them with heat shrink. I think this is much neater than using that corrugated plastic GM style loom that most everyone uses in their harnesses. The oil cloth (or asphalt) loom looks period and is much better at protecting the wires.