Mustang sally
LETTING A CLASSIC stand idle for a long period is never a good idea, but the Covid crisis meant many of us didn’t have a choice. As the lockdown eased, I became ever keener to get the Mustang out of hibernation; not just to get the oils circulating in engine, gearbox and back axle, but so I could put fresh fuel through it, too.
As if Covid weren’t bad enough, the ethanol content of modern fuel has added an extra layer of stress to the classic owner’s life: besides eating older rubber hoses, it is hygroscopic, which means that water can collect in fuel systems. My friend Philip Bashall, who looks after the Dunsfold Collection of historic Land Rovers, has endless problems with fuel pumps and injectors when he needs to revive a Landie that hasn’t moved in a while: ‘A Land Rover with 40-year-old diesel in the tank will start and run perfectly. Petrol that’s barely a year old can cause havoc.’
I can’t recall having used the Mustang since my Le Mans trip in 2019 (Octane 195) but at least I knew that the fuel in the tank would have a minimal ethanol content, since I always fill it with the good stuff – Shell V-Max or Esso Supreme, with a dose of Millers VSP additive to be on the safe side. It took a fair bit of churning on the starter to get fuel up to the carb, but the motor fired up and I eased the car out into daylight for the first time in at least 18 months.
Although the V8 idled and revved well enough, it felt as though one cylinder wasn’t always chiming in so, after shutting it down and allowing it to cool, I took each plug out and cleaned it. That’s when I discovered that the ceramic insulation had fractured and partially disintegrated on one of the plugs, probably due to ham-fisted installation with a socket. Not being able to get a matching Autolite 45A at short notice, I ‘repaired’ the damaged ceramic with some epoxy putty, which seems to have done the job for the moment.
Otherwise, prep consisted of deflating the tyres to their correct pressures (they were pumped up to 40psi for storage), checking the oil and coolant, and hosing off dust from the bodywork’s upper surfaces. Then I left for home – via a tankful of V-Max on the way, of course. I’ve since put several hundred miles on the car and I’m using it daily.
The Mustang’s duties included a 190-mile round trip to visit Rodger Dudding for this month’s Octane Interview.
As I was cruising along the A34 dual-carriageway near Bicester I got checked out by a passing motorcycle cop, who slowed down to take a closer look before giving me the thumbsup and accelerating away. He made my day.