My 73 Street Machine

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Joined
Oct 14, 2018
Messages
52
Reaction score
90
Location
Clinton Township, MI
My Car
1973 Mach 1 Q Code 351CJ, 4 speed manual, bright red.
2004 Mustang GT Convertible (Mach 1 Tribute)
1973 Mach 1 original Q Code 4 Speed bright red

A continuation of a build my grandpa started shortly after he bought it in 2001(3rd owner), one of his last of many mustangs he bought through the years. It also ended up being his favorite and I can see why! Inherited in 2016 after many years of car shows, cruising, modifying, detailing and fun memories made. It’s definitely seen some ups and down in its life, surviving a t-bone crash while parked in 2006 at our local “Woodward Dream Cruise." Received a full restoration following the crash, already a solid car made as good as it can get. After the restoration was completed, the engine work started, most of it taking place 2011-2014. A perfect balance between a street and strip car (although it has yet to see a pass down the strip), full build list to follow. Since receiving the car myself, I’ve fixed up a few things that were put on the back burner due to family/life in general problems getting in the way. Motor mounts was the biggest one last fall, a headache for sure but some of you on this forum definitely helped. Without the info here I’d have been lost as to what was correct/incorrect. Took the opportunity to replace some of the front suspension bushings at the time of doing the mounts. Installed 3 point seatbelts that it had been lacking. Changed up a few small things in the engine bay, gave it a nicer air cleaner. To do list this year is starting off with a new radio from Retrosound with Bluetooth and USB connectivity, along with new door and rear deck speakers. Also planning to have the car dyno’d at a local mustang specialist/performance shop along with checking that everything is running at optimal conditions air/fuel ratio wise. Aside from that it’s just maintenance and lots of enjoyment. Anything else in the future I’ll post here.



73 Show Board.png

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Great looking 73! I am sure your grandfather is really proud of how you are taking such good care of his favorite Mustang! I love the long tube headers, I had a set on my 73 I had in High school. I went with shorties on my 71 not as good for horsepower but I can drive over speed bumps, haha.
 
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Update!

So the retrosound radio and speakers are phenomenal.

Was not the easiest install as I opted for 6”x9” rear speakers which the deck was not made to fit. After making templates and measuring, checking and rechecking, the deck was modified, new insulation installed, deck board repainted and speakers installed.

Door speakers were a breeze, 4”x8”s fit perfectly. Passenger side door speaker hole was a hacked up mess (original door to the car and did not originally come with door speakers so it was done as a hack job at some point), got that cleaned up and patched where it needed to be.

With the help of a colored wiring manual I figured out what was what behind the dash for the radio. Had a bit of a confusion with aftermarket wiring installed, some for temp/oil/amp gauge lighting, also aftermarket tach light was spliced into the radio lights.

Whoever installed the rear speakers had spliced them into the front speaker wiring which had the balance/fade so criss cross messed up that at any given time you either had left front and rear right playing together or vice versa. 🫣

After all the figuring out, it wasn’t as bad as it originally seemed. Just a tedious process to figure it all out to begin with. Only problem I have with the radio itself are the knobs. I had thought all was good until I had a little fun leaving a car show a week after installing it, got on it a bit and hit a little bump in the road which caused my tuner front and rear knobs to come flying off at me.

After closer inspection, the molded in notches in the knobs that mate up with the notches on the control shafts were deformed and were not holding tight enough at all. Temporary fix is a piece of teflon tape to take up the gap. I contacted retrosound to inform them of the problem, gave them my order number so they could send replacements.. heh. They sent me the cheaper plastic version of the metal knobs I had ordered with the radio. Contacted them again, informed them of the mistake and they are sending out another pair, hopefully correct version and not deformed like the originals.

All headache and frustration aside, I’m definitely thrilled with the end result. The speakers I chose were the retrosound premium speakers, their rating are high enough that if I do decide to install an amp in the future they are more than capable of handling it, but as is I’m very impressed with volume and quality of these speakers. At half of max volume level I can walk a half a block away from the car and still hear the music at perfect clarity.

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