RC92234

Grinding and a leak = rear end rebuild. Thought I'd ask if there are any "While you're at it, it would be good to do..." suggestions. Already have checking the u-joints once the diff is opened up and axle seals. What else? Also, currently have 3.25 gears (351C-4V, C6) which means about 2600 rpm at 55 mph; my guy says won't even feel 3.00 gears but will reduce rpm and improve mileage. Your thoughts?

“Audri” for my grand-niece who inherits the car. It gives me a goal: to finish by the time she gets a drivers license. And I just ordered vanity plates today, the 60s California black with yellow lettering. A guy down the street has a 68 Camaro SS in orange, trimmed in white. He got the black plate with yellow letters, too, but painted the letters orange. Lame (lol)

Ordered wheels and tires! 245/60R15

So sorry for your loss, but welcome back. Grief has it's own timeline and maybe this is a step at re-engaging. I know it can be hard. Car looks great, and the photos are terrific! Your front tag reminded me of when not only County but last name initial was included; my last Kansas tag was SW C 109x and that was, "ahem", sometime in the 70s. Also in the 70s, I went to a local Mustang club meet in Nebraska, straight up from Topeka and right over the state line it seems. And that's really about all I can tell you - lol. I find some of my greatest moments of peace are behind the wheel on a long road with a destination of nowhere in particular... just you, the car and the cruise.

Now see, I'd never heard of Mac's Auto Parts either until I was mentioned above. Lookie: they're Ecklers.

I guess that's part of my surprise: I didn't sign up, do not remember ever seeing their name and now an at-least-daily marketing/sales e-mail. Not a deal breaker, just odd.

After 2.5 years into restoring, it was a surprise to me when Eckler's popped up out of the blue. I don't think I've heard them discussed before so I'm asking if anyone has heard of and used them? I had a problem ordering their catalog (yeah, old school) so I was at first nonplussed, but then I changed browsers and all was fine. Randomly picking "rear quarter panel full lh convertible" for comparison: CJPony: $482, Eckler: $497, NPD: $582.

Stared into the darkness that is the passenger door trying to figure out how y'all remove the power window motor without the Ford recommended procedure of drilling new removal holes. Every post I've seen that doesn't involve cutting access holes is along the lines of "easy-breezy: remove door skin, add a little magic sauce, remove the motor". Just trying to figure out the magic sauce.

Definitely yes. I looked and lurked and lingered for years, drooling when the "just right" combo of age, options and condition felt right until I finally pulled the trigger (and wrote the check). Problem now is I don't think I'm going to want to give up the car, ever.

Got the car back late yesterday afternoon from having the top replaced. He did an excellent job - so tight and tidy. Painted the underframe, all new tack strips, put in new weatherstripping, nice new rear window -- AND detailed the interior! I'm love all over again. It's still 100+ degrees in the afternoon here so waited until this morning for a cruise around. Got 10 gal of gas and headed to Sonic for drinks, then home. Perhaps 20 mile round trip. The error summary: (new) Gas tank leaks at about the 3/4 mark (I expect its about where the filler pipe meets the tank?) Differential leaks a bit (and that oil is *black*; needs a change) Transmission leaked from where I shifted into reverse and backed down our 80' driveway Next trip will be back to the shop for these issues and a few others out of my scope. Nevertheless, ===> the 20 mile drive was awesome <===

But! That's a great fit --

Welcome!

Omg, I'm so glad you said this: "My factory gauges go up and down and seem to be different every time I drive." Seems to be true! Nonetheless, yes, a real gauge would be better. I'm currently running 10w30 and not sure if it makes a diff, but our summer temps are hitting 110++. In any case, car will be at the shop for top replacement for a few weeks and all in-car diagnostics will have to wait.

Every time I drive a bit, it's something new. Drove about 5 miles to drop the car off for a new lid (convertible top) and I noticed when I was stopped at a red light for a long time, the oil pressure gauge s-l-o-w-l-y drops, drops, drops until the red stop light changes then on acceleration it's back to roughly mid-point on the gauge. Until the next long red light. It won't be until I get the car back from the upholstery shop that I can check, but what should I look for? Idle rpm in gear while stopped with no a/c running is a solid 750-800.

Radio and speakers have been so far down on my list with other more essential repairs and replacements, but now because of a wait for parts I've been considering other things on the master list. I have been following your posts, David, and they're only confirming that what I've got are not originals. I have all the wiring and boots since the car came with door speakers (and power windows). I hadn't thought about replacing cones on these non-original speakers but if I did score a "real" pair, I just might. I do think I'll at least make a template for the original size then use that to see how much mine has been hacked. Take a gander at Moosestang's photos; the door opening for the speaker is smooth and precise. Then look at mine. I know the photo isn't great but you can see it's jagged and rough and larger than it oughta be. I need to pull the speakers and get better photos but dang it, I only have my driveway for shop space and it's 113 today. Ugh.

Original door speakers were 4"x10", weren't they? Of course, that's a very difficult size to find. But then I got to thinking about what a 4"x10" would look like and then looked again at mine -- no way these are 4"x10". Not originals, I'm guessing the nominal size is 6"x9". And once I got up close and personal, I see the original speaker opening has been cut larger so I'm not sure I could mount 4"x10"s if I even found them. Crutchfield has a Kicker brand 6"x9" as a pair for $199; that's about what I'm willing to pay, but I'm totally open to other suggestions. I have not checked the depth requirement, but here's the link for the Cruthchfields: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20640PS692/Kicker-40PS692.html

The shop I'm having replace my shredded, torn and totally useless *original* top finally got confirmation the top will arrive next week, so about 1.5-2 weeks after drop off on August 6, I will finally have a functional top on my '73. Funny that it was only the top (by EzOn) that was the holdup; pads, well liner, cables and parts all came quickly, only the top is lagging behind. Hope I haven't jinxed it by staking out the date! ha ha

2nd line for the door panels

Thanks - will do!

Car went to the shop for tuning, replace gas tank & sender and other work. They gave me back my car with about 1/4 of a tank showing on the gauge. Before the new sender, it only ever registered Empty. A few short drives around the 'hood over a few weeks and the tank was again approaching E so drove down and put $30 worth in (at $4.59/gal, was about 5-6 gallons). After the shop visit, all gauges (including fuel!) were working great. After getting gas and starting the car up, the gauges were seemingly DOA. Fuel gauge: less than empty. Oil: no pressure. Ammeter: no movement. Temp: below "C" (and I'd driven around a bit before getting gas so car was easily warm). Drove home -- no change. No pressure, no juice, no temp and looked like no gas. As I pulled into the driveway, I was already composing this post. Turned the car off and got out, then something told me to start it again so I did. All gauges registered normally! 1/2 tank gas, medium oil, slight positive juice, firmly middle of the gauge temperature. What's up with this?

I think I found your original post with rebuild instructions because this set of pictures is also there, however the four .PDF files listed in that post did not get correctly converted it seems with the new board software. All four links return a message something like “clear your bookmarks, that board is closed…”

In any case... it's fantastic!

Nice! And good representation of the interior 👍 That almost looks like genuine Comfortweave…is it so?

I just encountered this BIG G-D WATERMARK today when I received the same set. You are absolutely right in that in many cases the underlying image is not that clear to begin with and then with a BIG G-D WATERMARK covering the page from corner to corner, the diagram is effectively useless. I am even more p-o'ed that the BIG G-D WATERMARK on every page was not in the product description. All that said... thank you giantpune for providing a fix of sorts. I hope my latent unix skills are sufficient.

I had the factory installed door speakers and finding an appropriate replacement so you don't have to cut the door is next to impossible, so I went with these from CJPony Parts. Currently on backorder...