$3200 was all new drum brakes, fuel pump, and rebuilt carbonator.
Don’t listen to either of those parties.
You step on the gas pedal once.
This sets the choke plate, and squirts a small amount of gas into the engine for a cold start.
Back in the day, we would convert Mustang drum brakes over to disc brakes by swapping the steering knuckles, rotors, calipers, and brake booster over from a wrecked Ford Granada or a Mercury Monarch.
But those parts would be hard to come by these days.
Tester
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No new paint. I was just saying that the car is stock except for the paint and black vinyl top. My father was the original owner who passed away recently and now I am struggling to get the car safe to drive.
I just want the car to start on the first try and stop quicker/easier than it does now. I am horrified that the car takes so long to stop. I could not imagine ever taking the car on the freeway because it would take even longer to stop driving at a high rate of speed.
I don’t see me getting disk brakes because I just spent a ton on drum brakes, unfortunately. We’ll see what the garage says next week when I ask them about switching out the drum brakes to disk brakes on the front.
I can apply full pressure to the brake pedal but the car just does not stop quickly and efficiently like my other cars to. I’m afraid I am going to crash into the back of other cars. If i have to stop quickly I will not be able to.
I don’t understand this: It would only result in shorter stopping distances if you are currently unable to apply full pressure to the brake pedal when needed.
How can it result in shorter stopping if i am unable to apply full pressure? I want it to result in shorter stopping distance. So confusing.
Why would someone get a booster if they had disk brakes? Isn’t the booster the band-aid for people who don’t have disk brakes? I am so confused.
That’s because it has brakes typical of cars of that era.
Because the booster greatly reduces the amount of effort that is needed to apply the brakes. It doesn’t make the brakes more powerful; instead, it makes you more powerful. But, the booster–in and of itself–will not result in shorter stopping distances unless someone has “weak” leg muscles.
Because the extra effort that is needed to apply the brakes when they are of the disc variety makes it necessary to have a brake booster added to the system.
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Yes, I had a 66 289 stang with manual brakes. Stopped fine
That was the technology of the day.
Manual drum brakes.
That’s why everyone had a right leg that looked like Popeye’s
My 65 Ford Galaxie had manual drum brakes.
And it was a bigger car!
And I lived in Duluth!
A brake booster lessens the effort required to push on the brake pedal to stop the car. Be it drum or disc brakes.
Tester
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If you’re planning on driving this car frequently, I’d suggest a more modern brake set-up . . . power brake booster and disc brakes all around. Vented in the front, solid in the rear should be fine
Just FYI- I converted to manual disc brakes on my '71 Chevelle. I can stop it just fine and it has a lot of horsepower 
It’s not necessary to have a booster any more than it is with drum brakes but your point about it being easier if you do not have leg strength is certainly correct.
Just in case you don’t have the owner’s manual…
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Hi. I’m the owner of 3 1960’s collector cars. Im also an old man who remembers these cars when they were new, and compared to the cars we have today, they were lousy. They occasionally wouldnt start, they frequently stalled, had lousy brakes, and they just generally exhibited behaviors that we simply wouldnt tolerate today. I urge you to strongly consider whether you want to use this car as a daily driver.
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My contribution is this website:
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To replace front and rear brakes, a fuel pump and a fuel system repair on a typical modern used car would be more than $3,000. With a classic car expect to pay more.
Disc brakes were an option in 1966, your car did not come with that option. Disc brakes are a possible conversion but you need to discuss the cost and need for this type of modification before beginning a brake system rebuild.
This vehicle is an example of how things have improved over the years. Vehicles today start the engine for you when you “turn the car on”. Those old cars have simple brakes, you had to manage the braking application, cars today will take over in a panic stop and brake for you.
You are flooding the engine by pumping the accelerator before starting a hot engine. You should press the accelerator pedal 1/2" while cranking a hot engine to clear out the over rich mixture.
It will take a little time to learn how to operate an old car, it is too bad your father didn’t teach you how to drive this Mustang.
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I own an early 70’s Ford, likely configured pretty similar to your Mustang, drum brakes, carburetor. My primary advice is that you should sell this car to somebody who is able to do the routine repairs and maintenance themselves, in their driveway. Either that or they have more money than they know what to do with, so no problem to pay for all the work it is going to need to keep it on the road. The alternative that allows you to keep the car is either for you to learn how to do the work yourself, or you become wealthy enough $3000 every 6 months is just a minor expense.
If you decide to keep the car, as far as the brakes, I expect you’ll get used to them. Suggest to not doing anything major until you’ve had a chance to drive the car quite a bit. Well maintained and adjusted drum brakes will stop the car no problem, you just have to push the brake pedal harder is all. Drum brakes will never be as good as modern disks b/c they don’t equalize wheel to wheel as well, so tend to pull one direction or the other when stopping. But again that’s something you’ll get used to. Drive more slowly and carefully is all. Good idea to drive conservatively anyway, b/c your Mustang’s suspension system is definitely sub-par compared to most modern cars.
The starting problem is most likely the carburetor needs to be rebuilt and re-adjusted. Most repair shops these days don’t have anyone on staff that knows how to rebuild a carb. However there are services here and there you can mail your carb to, they rebuild it, then mail it back.
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They just put a rebuilt carb on it. It might need adjustment, or maybe the OP needs to adjust their starting routine.
Here’s an example of a front disc brake conversion kit, $875 just for the parts:
Disc Brake Kit Dual Master Cylinder 1964 1/2 - 1966 (kentuckymustang.com)
Add another $810 for the rear disc brake parts:
Rear Disc Brake Conversion Kit Drilled Rotors Black Powder Coated Calipers 9in Large Bearing New Style 1964 - 1973 - LEED Brakes (kentuckymustang.com)
I’d go with just the front kit. No matter how familiar the OP gets with the current brakes, they will always be bad compared to modern cars and the demands of modern traffic.
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When ambient temp is above 65 deg F, which presumably applies to OP now, my similar-era Ford starts right up, less than 3 seconds of cranking, and don’t have to do anything special, don’t need to even touch the accel pedal. If OP needs to do something w/accel pedal to get Mustang to start at 65+ deg F ambient, something is definitely amiss. When I’ve had starting problems after car sits overnight after being driven the day before, and carb/choke is otherwise ok, the problem was the fuel level the the carb’s fuel bowl was too low. Either had a leak, or a problem w/the inlet valve. If car sits for days unused the fuel can evaporate from the fuel bowl too. When that happens , I crank it three or four times for 10 seconds each time, then on the next crank it usually starts. Again, I don’t have to do anything with accel pedal, except after it starts I might have to goose the accel pedal a few times to keep it running.
I wonder if the rebuilt carb is the oem original carb that came with the car new, or a completely different unit? There are hundreds, maybe thousands of carb configurations for the same carb model number, so if different unit, problem could be related to that.
The OP pumps the accelerator twice before starting a hot engine, that is the problem.
The 1st time was correct, the 2nd time after 15 minutes was not correct, the 3rd time after 5 hours is correct, should have just turned the key on the 2nd try and it would have started…
Try this, pump like you did to set the choke (at 6am) if it has not been started in like 8 hours or more to start, if it has been started in less then 8 hours then just turn the key to see if it starts 1st before pumping the gas, if it cranks and doesn’t start then pump gas to set the choke…
Did it smoke at 6am?
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Pumping accel pedal on warm start not advisable, but I don’t think that would prevent my Ford from starting. It might cough a bit, run roughly at first though.
OP, are you still here? Didn’t you mention above about seeing a lot of black smoke out the tailpipe? Do you see that all the time, or only right after starting the engine? Black smoke often indicates the mixture is way too rich. Too much gas for the amount of airflow through the engine. If only immediately after starting, could be caused by pumping the accel pedal before warm engine start. If all the time, indicates there’s a fundamental problem with the carb that needs fixing.
Big difference, this is the 1st time the OP has delt with a carb, you have owned the same truck for like 50 years, you are used to the tricks of starting a cab if flooded etc, the OP is not…
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