Installing a smaller shifter console.

The Mustang Grande was the "luxury" version of the Mustang. Well, what was luxurious then is definitely not luxurious today, or at least it doesn't give me that luxurious feeling. But that's not what I bought the car for. I want it to be sporty. One of the things that is often standard in a luxury car is a big fat shifter console with an arm rest and sometimes cup holders etc. So my car has one as well, but I think it's really ugly. It's handy, fair enough, but it makes me feel cramped. Maybe that's because I'm a big guy... Anyway, it's going.

It's a big piece of plastic anyway.

One last look ;-)

This is what I bought second hand. It's a small shifter console from a 1971 Mach 1 which fits perfectly. All it needed was a real good clean. It's got an ash try that actually slides using ball bearings! Awesome ;-)

The big ugly console comes out after you remove 6 (or 8) screws. Don't forget to disconnect the wires for the clock. Oh, and keep a dust buster handy for spilt cigarette ash...

My carpet is reasonably new so I don't have any discoloration. To fix this new console I needed to drill three holes. I found this a bit scary because I had no idea what I was drilling in to but it went fine. I was told there is nothing directly underneath. The biggest pain in the ass was drilling through the carpet.

I put masking tape over it so that I could actually mark where I had to drill. The carpet made drilling very hard thought because the drill bit keeps getting caught in the hair which then pulls the drill side ways... Very annoying!

I used 3 of the screws from the old console. I pre-drilled the holes for them with a 2mm drill bit.

Victory!

I like it a lot better than the big console. It makes the cabin look nicer, cleaner and sportier.

Emptying the trunk

My trunk was full of old parts. Some junk but some originals! So this was worthwhile investigating, especially because I had no idea what some parts were!

The most interesting part in this photo is the little cooler in at the bottom-right corner. It's a cooler for power steering liquid. I was told it's only really necessary when racing so not really something for my car but I'm definitely keeping it!

The cardboard crap at the top actually used to be the glovebox but the previous owner ripped it out. Not cool... But the most important parts of it, the edges, are still good so I could replace the cardboard with wood or perhaps the same cardboard...

The other big metal parts at the bottom, including the little wheel are used to mount the airconditioner pump. Good to keep!

I had no idea what this was at first but this, is the airco-pump! It weighs very much so I thought it was an electro-motor or generator of some kind at first. It's original so I'm gonna keep it. If I'll ever be able to use it I don't know...

This is part of an old LPG-kit. No need for it anymore.

Old air-intake for use in the old LPG-kit.

Need to keep! Old airconditioning radiator.

This is the most important part to keep. It's the original air filter. I want to clean it and put it back in after I get rid of all the LPG stuff.

Some little pump. Also from the old LPG kit I reckon...