INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THEY BUILT THEM

Any one that has or knows of a 1973 Mustang can you help me! I am looking for early built 1973 Mustangs only, with build dates before November 1972. If you have one or know of any Mach's, convertible's, hardtops, Grande's, 6 cylinder or V8s, I would like to hear from you. I would like to see if these early built cars do or do not have a sound deadening applied to the bottom of the floor pans. This is on the outside under the car. I have plenty of cars after November that has this coating so I am looking for earlier built cars because my Shop manual is dated November 1972 and describes how this coating is applied and where it needs to be applied. It also appears to be a mid year change and I am looking to document that only early cars do not have the coating. The build date is on the data tag on the drivers door and also is embossed into the front fenders where they bolt onto the car under the hood.

This imformation comes directly from the build manuals 71-72 and 73 there is no difference between them. The sound deadener was applied from the downward angle of the firewall (where the carpet starts) to the rear shock absorber crossmember. It covered most of both rear wheel tubs and some areas at the front toe board. It was omitted in locations where items had to mount under the car (like gas/brake line securing places). This is not to be confused with undercoat, as it was applied on pretty much everything that didn't move. Hope that helps.

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Welcome from Oklahoma.

Ray

2015 MCA rules are being changed to meet this new information. In prior years, trailered class cars received a deduct for any coating other than certain allowed primer. That is changing to allow sound deadener as specified in the build manuals. Undercoat will still be a deduct, because it was dealer installed. Sound deadener was applied early on the line. That was prior to the attached pieces. So if your cables, lines, some bolts, springs, gas tank have coatings you will loose some points.


Did you show in Savannah?

2015 MCA rules are being changed to meet this new information. In prior years, trailered class cars received a deduct for any coating other than certain allowed primer. That is changing to allow sound deadener as specified in the build manuals. Undercoat will still be a deduct, because it was dealer installed. Sound deadener was applied early on the line. That was prior to the attached pieces. So if your cables, lines, some bolts, springs, gas tank have coatings you will loose some points.


Did you show in Savannah?

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Yes I did and that is where I made some headway with gold Card Judge Mark Falin in convincing them it is sound deadener. Jimmy Garner, also a Gold Card Judge, talked to the National head judge and agreed that I would not have the full point deduction and was able to get Gold back. So seeing this opportunity with 71/73 mustang.com I am pursuing finding other early built mustangs to see how they looked.

Welcome to the group from west Michigan!

I cant give you a build date off hand but my car has the deadener. I thought it was undercoat but it's exactly what is shown in the photo above.

You provided the catalyst to get the rules changed. After the Savannah Show, more research was done and it determined that even 69-70 cars had the sound deadener application as the 71-73 has. As far as it could determined, all cars received this treatment in the five year period. I was told 15 years ago by the head judge that most of the rules were originally based on viewing what was believed to be original unrestored cars and salvage yard cars. We were not talking about sound deadener back then, but it was just as important. Many items of question get fixed as the research data allows.The build manuals and long time owners have revealed much about real life Mustang assembly. Both have been helpful in getting the rules cleaned up. Yet to be perfect. The yellow top coils is one I would like to see researched. Because I don't think my car 10/72 came with one. I believe it to have been black with a depressed circle on the back end.

Any one that has or knows of a 1973 Mustang can you help me! I am looking for early built 1973 Mustangs only, with build dates before November 1972. If you have one or know of any Mach's, convertible's, hardtops, Grande's, 6 cylinder or V8s, I would like to hear from you. I would like to see if these early built cars do or do not have a sound deadening applied to the bottom of the floor pans. This is on the outside under the car. I have plenty of cars after November that has this coating so I am looking for earlier built cars because my Shop manual is dated November 1972 and describes how this coating is applied and where it needs to be applied. It also appears to be a mid year change and I am looking to document that only early cars do not have the coating. The build date is on the data tag on the drivers door and also is embossed into the front fenders where they bolt onto the car under the hood.

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My 73 H code was built Oct 10, 1972 (interior cowl stamp 10 10 2) and it had the sound deadening on the bottom side of the floor pans, from the turndown of the firewall to the centre of the rear axle. It also has it in the rear wheel wells, the same look as in the picture you provided.

Welcome from Arkansas...good info guys

This can't be of much help, but I'm quite sure that my late '72 (built July 12th, built with a large amount of '73 parts) and my '71 do not have this.

Ditto for the one, factory-original '71 that we get a clear look at the bottom of in Diamonds are Forever.

-Kurt

Welcome from TriCities WA.

::welcome:: From San Diego.

Welcome from Rhode Island.

great info!!

This is the reason I quit MCA back in the 80's. They make the rules fit their cars and do not consider any other cars to be correct. I know for a first hand fact that one of the Head Judges car is not as stated it was a local car here and things changed that he says came from Ford. The mileage has somehow gone backwards several thousand miles also.

I cannot see how undercoating can be a deduct when mine is listed on the original Ford order form not something I did to hide anything. They also said fasteners I had on my car were incorrect and it is 100% original.

I do not know if the sound deadening was hand sprayed then or robot but I have walked the paint line in Ford plants and watch vehicles go through some stations and not get sealer and deadener applied and just keep going. This happens a lot at model change. Also at the end of models they do substitutions for fasteners trying to balance out the inventory.

There is no book that gives every variable that came on any Mustang... We would keep stampings in our rework area for months sometimes so when they got shipped and put into cars the date codes would be 6 months off from other panels. MCA would say that was not original. For some new model builds I have actually ordered the parts from Ford stripped the ecoat made the engineering changes and then shipped back to Ford to be put into new model builds and the date codes could have been years off.

That is how I see it,

David

Yeah I took a hit on sound deadner at a show a few years back. The judges called it undercoat, but they also told me my trunk spatter paint was incorrect.


My car was Zebart sprayed at the dealership before being delivered I really don't care if some dumb ass judge likes or not I credit Zebart for saving my car from the ravages of New England weather.