’71 Mach 1 Resto Project

[PoFoMoCo]

Looking forward to a video of the motor running in the car, it won't be long now. What's the plan of attack for the body work?

 

[tpj71mach]

I can't wait to hear it run in the car too! It will be a few weeks though because I ordered the stainless tips and they are supposed to be here the first week of February and then I can schedule with the exhaust shop to have them install the exhaust with the stainless tips all at once.
As far as body work, it is going along, slowly but going. All of the sheet metal work is done now just need to make all the panels straight and smooth. I have the doors and fenders at my friends body shop. The doors are all blocked out and ready for their last coat of primer before paint, and the fenders are ready for their first coat of high build and then blocking, primering and blocking and hopefully last coat of primer before paint. When they are done, I will bring the hood and deck lid over. Those panels are really straight so they shouldn't need much body work just the primer and blocking sequence. once those panels are done the car will go to the body shop and we will work the roof and quarters and then everything gets painted. Seems simple, right?
I have panel painted solid colors in the past as parts are ready and I might do that with this car. I always order the paint and then mix the multiple gallons into one five gallon container so there is no variance of mix between gallons. that makes it easier to insure a good color match as long as I make sure to copy number of coats on the color and the clear. I like to paint my cars in pieces and then assemble so I don't have any dry spots or overspray.
The final plan really depends on how much space at his body shop my friend can give me. If he doesn't have enough room I might paint the fenders and doors and take them home and then the hood, decklid and valances and then take the body over there. It all will depend on how backed up he is and how much space he can spare. And I can always work in the hinges, mirrors and little stuff like that as I go. If he has room to store the panels as they are ready for paint, I can wait until everything is ready and then get the body in one booth and the panels in another and then spray the hinges etc. on the prep station. This way it could all get painted at once over a weekend possibly. We will see how it all plays out, hopefully pretty smoothly and by the summer if possible.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

It's nice to have so many options AND a friend with a body & paint shop. That's a win-win.

 

[tpj71mach]

It's nice to have so many options AND a friend with a body & paint shop. That's a win-win.

Yes it definitely is, I wouldn't have as nice of paint on my cars if it wasn't for my friend Mike. His expertise, guidance, assistance, and the professional spray booths and equipment are key to the quality of paint on my other cars and hopefully the Mach 1 soon-ish.

 

[mrgmhale]

I got the headlights working last night, the high beam dimmer switch was the cause. Now, I just need to figure out why the turn signals won't work. The hazards work but the turn signals don't do anything. I installed a new turn signal switch when I rebuilt my column, so I am going to start by checking connections and maybe swapping flashers. Hopefully it is something relatively simple.

View attachment 72399

The turn signal flasher is a separate unit from the emergency flasher, and is located above the glove box. Here is a YouTube that shows where the T/S flasher was located for our 1973 Mach 1. Your flasher location ought to be in same area. In our case our 73 Mach 1 had been deeply restored, and the emergency flasher was in a location slightly different location other than where it was originally placed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npY1fxaNonY

Attached is a schematic snippet that may help. The schematic is for a 1973 Mustang. That said, the schematic should work fine for 1971. There are some differences with the 71 vs 73 Mustang wiring schematics, but unless another enthusiast humps in here and tells us they are vastly different for lighting issues between 71 and 73, I am going to say these ought to help you with running down where the problem is for the turn signals.

 

[tpj71mach]

The turn signal flasher is a separate unit from the emergency flasher, and is located above the glove box. Here is a YouTube that shows where the T/S flasher was located for our 1973 Mach 1. Your flasher location ought to be in same area. In our case our 73 Mach 1 had been deeply restored, and the emergency flasher was in a location slightly different location other than where it was originally placed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npY1fxaNonY

Attached is a schematic snippet that may help. The schematic is for a 1973 Mustang. That said, the schematic should work fine for 1971. There are some differences with the 71 vs 73 Mustang wiring schematics, but unless another enthusiast humps in here and tells us they are vastly different for lighting issues between 71 and 73, I am going to say these ought to help you with running down where the problem is for the turn signal

Thank you for your help! It was a faulty flasher.

 

[tpj71mach]

I started working on the gremlins yesterday, trying to work them all out. My wipers only worked on high, which I traced back to a faulty switch. I had another switch and I swapped them out (pain in the ***, btw) only to find that with that switch no speed works, I ordered a new switch and it should be here this week and I will get to swap it out again, yay!
On a more successful note, I did get all of the dash lights working. The dash was dim at first because only some of the lights were working. Which I didn't expect because when I took apart and cleaned the cluster I installed all new bulbs. I pulled the cluster out and found a tiny break in the printed circuit that I missed when I inspected when I cleaned the cluster. I ordered and install the new printed circuit and now everything lights like it should. I didn't final assemble the dash because I ordered the elite LED kit form HIPO parts before I found the printed circuit problem and ordered the circuit. The printed circuit arrived already and the LEDs still haven't, so I thought I would try the printed circuit and it fixed the problem. Once the bulbs get here I might install them but, IMO, they aren't really needed, the dash lights are plenty bright with a good cleaning and fresh incandescent bulbs. We'll see, I might just put them in because I already paid for them and they weren't cheap. Here is how they look with the incandescent bulbs now. They actually have more of the blue tint to them in real life, somehow my phone camera whitened them up a little.

 

[rio1856]

Just a minor observation and this is in no way is any sort of criticism of your outstanding work! I noticed that your speedometer pointer is a little bit off and not on the zero mark. You can very gently turn it towards the zero, clockwise, since its threaded on the shaft it sits on to get it there or if its bottomed out on the threads then gently turn it counter clockwise till you get on the zero. Again use extremely gentle pressure when you turn it! This is just a suggestion. I had to do it on my speedometer also.

Rio

 

[tpj71mach]

Happy 52nd birthday to my Mach 1!

It was built on 2/2/1971

It looks a lot more complete than it did on it's 51st birthday. Then it was just an empty buck fresh back from the media blaster.




It has come a long way since it's 51st birthday, but it still has a long way to go yet. This is a pick from it's last birthday 2/2/2022 This year it got an engine for it's birthday, lol.

 

[Sheriff41]

It's definitely getting a new lease on life!

 

[PoFoMoCo]

She doesn’t look bad for an old girl. 2022 was a good year for her. She definitely has had a lift or two in more than a few places but she is looking so good!

 

[tpj71mach]

She doesn’t look bad for an old girl. 2022 was a good year for her. She definitely has had a lift or two in more than a few places but she is looking so good!

Thanks, yes she has a had a nip or tuck here and there, but she's starting to look good for her age. Hopefully 2023 will be good to her and she will look like new by her 53rd birthday.
By what I have been told, this is the first time she has had an engine in at least twenty years, maybe thirty. The guy I bought it from, a little over a year ago, had it for approximately 18 years and he said the guy he bought it from blew up the engine and removed it to rebuild but never did. He was always going to install a new engine but never did. He said he thought it was sitting at least five years but maybe closer to ten when he bought it. He also said the car was already painted Grabber Blue when he bought it, so that leads me to believe me that the color change was probably done before the engine failure, so it has been Grabber Blue for more of it's life than it was green. That time line adds up for me based on the fact that it was a single stage paint job and considering the wear and patina on the paint when I bought it.

 

[td71mach1]

looking great. Perfectionist

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Thanks, yes she has a had a nip or tuck here and there, but she's starting to look good for her age. Hopefully 2023 will be good to her and she will look like new by her 53rd birthday.
By what I have been told, this is the first time she has had an engine in at least twenty years, maybe thirty. The guy I bought it from, a little over a year ago, had it for approximately 18 years and he said the guy he bought it from blew up the engine and removed it to rebuild but never did. He was always going to install a new engine but never did. He said he thought it was sitting at least five years but maybe closer to ten when he bought it. He also said the car was already painted Grabber Blue when he bought it, so that leads me to believe me that the color change was probably done before the engine failure, so it has been Grabber Blue for more of it's life than it was green. That time line adds up for me based on the fact that it was a single stage paint job and considering the wear and patina on the paint when I bought it.

That is a cool timeline, you are definitely bring her back to her full glory. I know its a challenge to completely go thru a car and not drive it for many months or years as you progress thru the restoration. But, I must admit I envy you a bit. You will have so much history with your car that I won't have with my '71 convertible. You will know every single nut & bolt when it's complete and that is pretty special. My car was "done" when I bought it, the only one that I didn't completely go thru. So, I am going to live vicariously thru you and your build!

 

[tpj71mach]

That is a cool timeline, you are definitely bring her back to her full glory. I know its a challenge to completely go thru a car and not drive it for many months or years as you progress thru the restoration. But, I must admit I envy you a bit. You will have so much history with your car that I won't have with my '71 convertible. You will know every single nut & bolt when it's complete and that is pretty special. My car was "done" when I bought it, the only one that I didn't completely go thru. So, I am going to live vicariously thru you and your build!

Thanks, yeah it's definitely hard to not have driven it once yet but it will be worth it once it is completed and I know that everything was done and how it was done.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

…. I know that everything was done and how it was done.

Yes and it was done “your way”! Because we know you’re mildly obsessive compulsive.

 

[tpj71mach]

Yes and it was done “your way”! Because we know you’re mildly obsessive compulsive.

Yeah, I can't really dispute the OCD thing.

 

[351c1971]

From an engineering perspective OCD = Outstanding Credit for Detail. (I have it too)

 

[AcesArneson]

View attachment 59429

Right front apron needs to be replaced due to minor accident somewhere in its pat mangled it up

View attachment 59430View attachment 59431

A little more pre fitting and I can start welding

Same issue on my 73 Vert

 

[tpj71mach]

I got to the body shop for a little while this morning before I came home to shower and take my wife out for Valentine's Day.
We did accomplish some things. As you can see the passenger fender was the demon fender. I ended up skim coating bondo across the entire fender and then blocking down by hand to work out all of the tiny imperfections in the sheet metal. A couple rounds of primer and blocking and it will be ready for paint.



We moved the fenders and doors to the prep station to give the fenders their coat of epoxy primer and then a coat of slick sand primer for block sanding and the doors to get their last coat of High solid primer for their last block sand for paint.
First, we sprayed the fenders with epoxy primer.




Then we sprayed the doors with their final coat of primer



Lastly, once the epoxy flashed over we sprayed the fenders with the slick sand primer. That stuff hardens up like cement, it's a lot of fun to sand by hand.



Next week, we just need to block sand down the fenders and then they will be ready for their first coat of the high solids primer, and then more blocking. Have I mentioned how doing body work is not tedious to me at all, I enjoy it, I do. If I keep saying it, I just might start to believe it.