’71 Mach 1 Resto Project

I got to the body shop yesterday morning and finished up the headliner, sail panels and sun visors. I also installed the roof drip moldings and the roof rail weather strip retainers. The coolest thing I got done though was installed the led taillamp panels. I am very happy with the look of those and the sequential flashers.

I am really happy with the way the headliner turned out. It's a little dirty, that is the problem with working in the body shop everything is so dusty it gets everywhere.



I also installed the roof drip molding and roof rail weather strip retainers. Next time I plan to install the roof rail weather strips and then start installing the quarter glass and door glass. Now that the headliner is in, I can have the glass shop install the windshield and rear glass, once the windshield is in it can legally be driven.



I really like the look of the LED taillights. The sequential turn signals are pretty cool too, I think.

I also took home some parts that needed to be painted matte black along with my spray guns and respirator, so I could paint them at home to try and get some progress made. As the body shop owner does not want me painting if my friend Mike who manages the body shop is not there to supervise and make sure I don't do anything stupid. I took the front and rear valences and the rear spoiler and hood scoops home and painted them there on Saturday afternoon.



I think they turned out okay, and I feel like I got a lot done on a Saturday for a change.



This morning I tore apart all of my fold down seat panels and started to polish all of the chrome edge moldings. I removed all of the old carpeting and sanded and painted the panels. Once I get the moldings polished, I will install new carpet and reassemble it all so I can get the fold down rear seat back in the car. I am in assembly mode now, all I want to do is get stuff off the garage floor and bolted to the car so I can give my garage a long overdue deep cleaning.

It's nice to see a headliner installed without wrinkles. Everything is looking great!

I love following your postings and progress. Each step toward completion inspires me on my own restoration journey. Once I have my car back from the body shop I plan on documenting my own rebuild. Thanks for regularly contributing to our obsessions.

Sheriff41 said:

It's nice to see a headliner installed without wrinkles. Everything is looking great!

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This is one aspect of my restoration I'm dreading.

dtmasoGT5 said:

This is one aspect of my restoration I'm dreading.

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They can be a challenge, it just takes time to work it around. I like to clip it in place and adjust it until I am happy with it then I glue one section at a time. I remove a few clips and glue that area and replace the clips, and then move to the next section. I bought 40 of those large paper clips thinking that was too many, but that was just enough as it turned out. I have done them before over the years but would prefer not to, if I don't have to, haha. The trim shop quoted me $450 for a headliner install, It's getting down to the "it's almost the end of the resto and the budget is spent" stage, so I decided to do it myself.

And what is the source/brand of the sequentials you installed - budget allowing I'd like get them also.

dtmasoGT5 said:

And what is the source/brand of the sequentials you installed - budget allowing I'd like get them also.

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Vintage LED's they are the best ones I have seen. A member on the site, mrgmhale has postings here on the site that have links to his youtube page where he compares the vintage LED's with a different brand that he was replacing with the vintage LEDs

tpj71mach said:

I got to the body shop yesterday morning and finished up the headliner, sail panels and sun visors. I also installed the roof drip moldings and the roof rail weather strip retainers. The coolest thing I got done though was installed the led taillamp panels. I am very happy with the look of those and the sequential flashers.

I am really happy with the way the headliner turned out. It's a little dirty, that is the problem with working in the body shop everything is so dusty it gets everywhere.

View attachment 90678View attachment 90679View attachment 90680View attachment 90681

I also installed the roof drip molding and roof rail weather strip retainers. Next time I plan to install the roof rail weather strips and then start installing the quarter glass and door glass. Now that the headliner is in, I can have the glass shop install the windshield and rear glass, once the windshield is in it can legally be driven.

View attachment 90682View attachment 90683

I really like the look of the LED taillights. The sequential turn signals are pretty cool too, I think.

View attachment 90684

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I really like those led sequential taillights!
Might have to copy you and do that install on my 71???

revsitup said:

I really like those led sequential taillights!
Might have to copy you and do that install on my 71???

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I broke down and ordered a set today.

dtmasoGT5 said:

This is one aspect of my restoration I'm dreading.

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Use lots of clamps and pull perpendicular to the wrinkles to smooth them out.

Sheriff41 said:

Use lots of clamps and pull perpendicular to the wrinkles to smooth them out.

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Great advise, it shows you have done some headliner installations before. It's tedious to work out the wrinkles but worth the time investment once it is done and you're happy with the results. Those clips are cheap so don't be hesitant to use a lot of them. I paid like $13.00 for 40 of them on amazon, I got the 2 inch sized clips. I thought that would be too many and it ended up being just enough, I would have liked to have had a few more honestly.

revsitup said:

I really like those led sequential taillights!
Might have to copy you and do that install on my 71???

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I think you will be happy with them. They really look better in real life than what the camera shows. You don't see each isolated LED as much as the picture makes it look,

I got to the body shop early yesterday, my friend Mike met me there before 6;00. This was so we could repaint the deck lid and mirror heads that we weren't happy with. We got those parts re-painted and he was able to head home by 8:00 and meet his brother in law and nephew, the carpenters, to start working on his deck some more. I realized I did not take any pics of the deck lid and mirrors painted after Mike had already left and the paint shop building was all locked up and the alarm was set.
Over in the remote body/storage building where my car is, I began fiddling with some little stuff. I installed the trap door and the rear quarter trim panels. I previously had replaced the carpet on the trap door but I decided not to re-paint it. I thought that because it was original paint and pretty nice condition I would leave it original at least for now. The door can be removed rather easily, so if I decide it needs to be refinished, that could be a good middle-of-winter project.
I just laid the deck flooring section in to see how it will look. I will need to remove it when I install the folding seat and then I can screw that section down permanently. I may also need to remove the passenger trim panel if I cant slip the seat latch assembly (that I forgot at home, duh) in behind it.



Other than that, I started to install the rear quarter windows but I did not bring all of the hardware that I needed. that ended the progress on that phase.
Now that the white paint portion of the project is done, I think I need to get the car back home. If I can get the windshield installed, I could drive the car home. I feel I could make much more process it it were at home, as it would be more convenient to work on. I wouldn't just have a few hours every Saturday, and have to pack up what I think I will need because all of my tools and all of the parts for the car are at home. I wouldn't have to stop working on something because I forgot something that I need to finish and it is 35 minutes away in my garage. I am leaning toward having the lower body wrapped rather than painting it, anyways, but even if I decide to paint the lower body, I can drive the car to the body shop. We could spray the black, when Mike's deck is done and he can be there and we get it into the spray booth on a Saturday,
I did get some other stuff done. I installed the trim panels on the ends of the dash panel, and the a-pillar moldings (also forgot to take pics). I installed the door speakers and the rubber accordion door-jamb wire conduits and ran the wires through them to the radio. I also installed the rear quarter marker lamps, but that was about it. Overall, a productive couple of hours from 6:00 am to 8:00 am and then a bunch of nothing really from 8:00 to 11:00 when I decided to call it. I wasn't really getting anything done by that point, and it had gotten really hot and sticky. I just locked up and headed home and jumped in the pool and cooled off. I did bring the door and quarter glass and all attaching parts home. I can work on getting that all ready to install here at home and install it when the car gets here.
Al least it is looking a little more completed than it did last week. It is funny to me that when the quarter trims are in place it looks like there is actually some structure to the rear wall. That is until you look from the trunk and see it is just those two thin bolt-in uprights framing the trap door.
I can't believe Ford thought that would be good enough, at least they realized pretty quickly more support was needed. The later '71's and all of the 72's and 73's have those larger panels welded in for added support. I thought about trying to add those panels for more strength, if I could even find some. After I looked at a few cars with them, I found the upper supporting sheet metal looked quite different also. I couldn't just add the panels with out also replacing some upper structure or at least modifying it. I decided that was a can of whoop-ass I wasn't looking to open up on myself, so I decided to keep it as Ford originally designed it. As they say it is what it is, LOL.
What do you think? If I just keep repeating "it is almost done", will that make it true? haha.

This morning I installed the new carpet and polished and reinstalled all of the chrome trim and reassembled my fold down seat. I dyed the silver vinyl on the rear seat for now, My plan is to do all of the seat upholstery over the winter. I am hoping to get it together and drive it yet this summer and we are already half way through July, yikes!
I have the fold down seat done and ready to be reinstalled. I placed duct tape over the tears and dyed the seat covers black temporarily until I get around to reupholstering the seats over the winter. You cant see the rear seat covers when the seat is folded down anyway, am I right? haha.

Of course while assembling it, I put a nice scratch (see pic 2) in my nice paint I just applied a week ago. I feather edged it down and blend it in, (see pic 3) it looks okay. You can see the repair in the pic but that was before it dried, it looks much better now that it is fully dried.



I also dug out all of the coupe rear quarter window roll down fastback conversion parts that I bought and cleaned and lubed the regulators, rollers and channels so they are ready to go in. I also got the new glass I bought all set up to go in, just trying to get all of the grunt work done at home so I can make the most of the time I have at the body shop with the car..



I really have to get the car home from the body shop so I can work on it in the evenings after work and get the darn thing done. at least "done enough" to drive it, LOL

How many of these optional assemblies did your car come with from the factory? Maybe better asked, what options are you adding that weren't on the car as invoiced? Inquiring minds want to know.

Spike Morelli said:

How many of these optional assemblies did your car come with from the factory? Maybe better asked, what options are you adding that weren't on the car as invoiced? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Not trying to offend any of the purists, but I am up-optioning the crap out of it. The car was green with green interior, H-code 351 2V from the factory, so it was not a rare car per se. I bought the car without an engine so it will never be a numbers match car like some of my other cars are. I felt this gave me some creative license to build the car I would have ordered back in 71 if I wasn't five years old at the time.
I purchased a 351C 4V, 4 bolt main engine with closed chamber heads. I sent that to my engine guy and he built it into a mild, very drivable, 437 HP 451 lbs. of torque engine. From there I purchased a factory tach dash and console out of a 71 parts car. When I had Randy at midlife go through my harnesses, I asked him to update my harness for the factory tach and console. I also had Rocket-man change the tach to to the three wire and the ammeter to a volt gauge. The car was originally dark green but was painted Grabber Blue when I bought it. I stripped to bare metal inside and out and sealed it with epoxy primer. I then did all of the metal and body work and painted it Wimbledon White. I am adding front and rear spoilers and Ram Air with factory hood pins also added. I am changing the interior to black instead of the silver metallic vinyl that a previous owner installed instead of the green interior it came with. I also drilled the pillar and door for factory conduit that the car would have had if it had power window or door speakers so I could add door speakers. I am updating the front and adding a rear sway bar. I also bought all new glass with the side and rear glass smoked. Other than that the car is completely original, haha.
The car was actually a factory fold down rear seat car from the factory though, that was one option I knew I wanted because my '73 in high school had it and I know it is very difficult if not impossible to switch to a fold down seat. So that is one thing that the car actually did have from Ford. According to the Marti report it was a 351C 2V with and FMX and a 3.0:1 open case 9 inch. It had factory fold down, A/C, deluxe interior, body side stripes, power steering, power disc brakes, tinted glass and am radio. As you can see it was not anything special, it did not have a rare drivetrain or a lot of options to start with. Right or wrong, I am just making the car I want and honestly am enjoying just building it the way that makes me happy.

I certainly get it. On my own car, I've changed the open 3.00 to1 to a 3.50 to 1 Trac-Loc, added the trunk wing and side stripes, added the Tach option and center gauges, performed engine mods, changed out single exhaust to duals with 4v rear valence, and so on. Mine started out as a "garden variety" Mach 1, now, it's definitely not a build sheet correct car, although it presents so well as stock. No, I was just interested in the effort others put into optioning a car to personal tastes. I've had time and interest in making other changes to my own, but it's such a sweet driver just how it is. I can live vicariously by checking out other owner's mods.

Spike Morelli said:

I certainly get it. On my own car, I've changed the open 3.00 to1 to a 3.50 to 1 Trac-Loc, added the trunk wing and side stripes, added the Tach option and center gauges, performed engine mods, changed out single exhaust to duals with 4v rear valence, and so on. Mine started out as a "garden variety" Mach 1, now, it's definitely not a build sheet correct car, although it presents so well as stock. No, I was just interested in the effort others put into optioning a car to personal tastes. I've had time and interest in making other changes to my own, but it's such a sweet driver just how it is. I can live vicariously by checking out other owner's mods.

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Those are two up-options that I forgot to mention. I also added a 3.50 to 1 limited slip, and dual exhaust with the cut out rear valence. I have changed so much that I sometimes forget what I have done, haha. I am aspiring to the same effect, to have it present as stock just a really well-optioned stock. I try to build my cars as "day-two" cars. Stock except for what an original owner might do once they got the car home, I upgrade to headers, performance intake and carbs, etc. but will otherwise try to make the engines look stock on the outside other than the "day-two" upgrades.
That said, I would never misrepresent the car, I tell everyone I discuss my car with about the color changes, and the up-options and so forth. I take pride in having to tell someone I changed the color because they would never be able to tell from looking at the car. I ordered and am installing the original door sticker (PO painted Grabber blue around original) that shows it was a green car with green interior and a H-code engine and 3.0 conventional diff. I thought this was important to document the original color because I stripped the car to bare metal inside and out and painted it inside and out completely disassembled. There isn't a single gram of green paint under the Wimbledon white anywhere so you wouldn't be able to tell the original color by inspection of the car. All of my other cars are original color, numbers match drivetrain, "correct" cars, so after I tip and my wife puts them up for sale (probably within days if not hours after, LOL, she's not a fan of my toys) they are what they present to be. This car will be fully documented with the Marti report and door sticker of all that it was from the factory compared to what it is now. She does not know what was changed and does not really understand the importance of presenting the car correctly as to not mislead the next owner. This way the next owner will know exactly what they are buying.

I did the same as well, in that, after the re-paint ( original color), I replaced the door tag with a new Marti tag, which calls out just how it came, even though I've changed the rear axle.