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I'm at the point where I'm willing to mail this to anybody open to using the gauge and can ship it back to me afterwards. Message me if you can help. -Kurt

I left an envelope on the gate of a nearby neighbor; they have a '73 stored out front up on jackstands. I recall speaking to him way back - close to ~10 years ago - and while his contact information has gone missing, I recall he was an A-OK fellow. Fingers crossed. -Kurt

So far, two sellers have ghosted me, and a third (who is asking a freakishly enormous price for a coupe) responded and clearly sounds skeptical. It's a shame. Our local used classic marketplace is full of flippers who don't give a damn about the hobby, or owners looking for gold who don't...

It didn't long to identify the error; I'm using the 15.03" measurement, of course. Same for the 12.34" for the front bumper vs. the 11.91 of the '73 for the impact-absorbing assembly. The Depew manuals use a different baseline from the factory though, and given that they don't have the most...

"Look out for the stick shift." -Kurt

I'm currently sorting out a damaged rear framerail on my '71 Mach - the more in-depth details are in this thread. In the process of doing so, I've set up a lightweight but serviceable jig to measure the hard points of the unibody, using modular aluminum T-slot (and speaker spikes threaded onto...

I fashioned a 90 degree tram gauge to measure from the very hole that Ford engineers dubbed the “Master Control Hole” (MCH) - part of the right front framerail that is very much a part of the right front frame horn - to the lower idler bolt hole. Here, I didn’t focus as much on making it level...

Right now, my system can only measure with the right leaf spring and idler arm out of the car, so it would have to be on a cart or belly-down on the ground. At present, I only know Big Blue, and that car has already seen a lot more Toby Halicki-levels of "action" than mine. There are a few...

Look at it this way: We're part of the same club then - I've never done this before. I'm just letting the factory dimensions, Q's recommendations, and logic guide me along the way. If anything, the most important thing I've learned in this entire project (including the initial dive into it) is...

There's one thing I wanted to ask, for assumptions are the spawn of many errors: I've been assuming that the "A" in 7.58A, 11.15A, 22.86A, and 47.10A all refer to the frame measurements from a central point in the car that the engineers established as the "0" location. In doing so, I added...

It would help if I used the 1971 measurement - 12.38”. Apparently, the second of those two diagrams isn't from the '72 manual, but the '73, and the front bolt location reflects the lower hole designed for the 5mph urethane bumper brackets (for those who don't know what this looks like, there's a...

Here’s where I am today: The idler measurement is coming up roughly a quarter inch too far forward, but centered by height. The length measurement from front to back is correct according to the factory specs (note that I am measuring the slotrail to the rear edge as my center-to-center...

Question for the frame cognoscenti: Where on the slotted hole should I be taking the 11.91 inch “Front bumper arm front mounting hole outside of member” measurement from? Bottom? Centered? Top? Logic suggests bottom, but I’m not exactly willing to gamble on it. -Kurt

‘71 M-code Mach 1, built by the Metuchen plant. Last I saw of the rotted ‘72 Q-code Mach 1 used to have, it was missing the rear end and sitting on wood boards somewhere in southwestern Florida. -Kurt

More progress. T-slot extended to the idler. And yes, this area is disgusting thanks to the combination of ATF, leaves blown by gardeners, and off and on rain throughout this awful summer. We are now at the lower idler arm bolt. The T-slot cannot support its weight this far out, so I have...

Saturday brought perfectly-timed (not) showers in the morning, ensuring that this afternoon's work was humid, damp, disgusting, and miserable. I should have been working on something British to commemorate the occasion. Since my last post, I've formed a working theory (feel free to throw your...

Hey, working with not one, but two unreliable data points is a great way to ensure that anything I wind up picking up in the future should be a piece of cake by comparison 🤣. It's a trial by fire. Just like how I learned all about carburetors, vacuum systems, and electronic ignition, all...

A lot of progress has been made over the last couple of days. I ordered some more T-slot so I could drop the rear of the jig. Who would have thought that having an aluminum bar in the way of one's beer belly would have ever presented an issue? 😂 This made it the jig slightly less stiff than...

Progress! The M6 to M8 thread adapters arrived, allowing me to install the centering cones…on the other adapters. Measured and set to 189mm - just a hair over the 188.9 that is 7.44”, but easier to measure accurately. I’m going to figure the difference in at the shackle mount. Fits! I’m...

Two steps back today - the spikes are a bit small; they seat on the hex in the hole. I stumbled across an alternative from the world of drifting - bumper quick-release fasteners. They should be big enough to work, but I bet they aren't M8. I'm betting I'll need either a thread reducer or a...