’71 Mach 1 Resto Project

[mjlan]

Thanks for sharing your progress. The car looks amazing.

 

[tpj71mach]

My new wheels and tires arrived today! I can't wait to install them and see how they fill the wheel wells!




I had to clean the blue off of the raised white letters right away! My running horse center caps are with the car at the body shop, so I will have to install those tomorrow morning when I get over there.



That should be plenty of rubber to fill those wheel wells, I guess we will see tomorrow.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

My new wheels and tires arrived today! I can't wait to install them and see how they fill the wheel wells!

View attachment 91597


I had to clean the blue off of the raised white letters right away! My running horse center caps are with the car at the body shop, so I will have to install those tomorrow morning when I get over there.

View attachment 91598

That should be plenty of rubber to fill those wheel wells, I guess we will see tomorrow.

View attachment 91599

Nice!

 

[tpj71mach]

Nice!

Thanks, I sprang for the Wheel Vintiques made in the USA wheels over the cheaper China wheels. I threw up a little in the back of my mouth a bit when I paid for them, but I am happy as a clam now that they are here. The chrome quality is really good!

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Thanks, I sprang for the Wheel Vintiques made in the USA wheels over the cheaper China wheels. I threw up a little in the back of my mouth a bit when I paid for them, but I am happy as a clam now that they are here. The chrome quality is really good!

Yep, good move on the wheels. Down the "road" you'll be happy you went with your 1st choice, Wheel Vintiques.

 

[tpj71mach]

I moved out of the body shop yesterday, or as I like to say "got evicted" haha. My friend Mike doesn't like the joke, he said no one evicted me. I took the new wheels over there yesterday morning and installed them in place of the 14x7s. IMO, it made a huge difference in the stance of the car!



After that, I installed the front valence and turn signal and marker lamps, the rear valence and the rear bumper. I wanted to make it as street legal as possible. Considering the front bumper is not done yet.

The front bumper has not been forgotten, it is all body worked now and in primer now, so hopefully we will get that painted in the next few weeks. Along with the passenger side mirror base that needs to be re-sprayed, haha.



Next, I pulled her out and cleaned up the area where I was working. I hadn't realized how many tools and stuff I had brought over until I had to load it all into my car.

I let the Mustang idle while I was cleaning up and kept checking on it's vitals. Yesterday was 92 degrees outside and after 25 minutes idling, the temp was still perfect and oil pressure and charging were all great. The bay looks kind of empty after seeing the Mustang there for the last few months. The body shop has ten cars coming in Monday for repair so I am sure it will get filled up quickly.



I took the car for the first gas station visit in about thirty years, and filled the new tank. Gas gauge working, check. No leaks, check.



I drove it home, which was the first time I have driven it really. I have taken two test drives around the block, but this was the first time the car has been driven by anyone in decades. I google mapped it last night and discovered the body shop is actually 25.3 miles from my house. I probably wouldn't have chosen to do a 25 mile first time shake down run if I realized it was that far. The car ran great overall, it didn't run hot at all despite the outside temperatures in the 90's.

There were a few bugs that showed their ugly heads, though. One I already knew about was that the tach stopped working while the car was at the body shop. I had Rocket-man update the tach to a new style mechanism and Midlife wired in the tach wiring so that is all new. It worked when I got the engine started and until a few weeks ago, so hopefully something just came loose or got unplugged. It honestly only had an hour and a half of "run time" when I towed it to the body shop. At the body shop we only drove over to the spray booth and back a few times. The speedo stopped working half way home, according to the odometer I put 14 miles on it before it stopped working. That has new gears and a new cable so hopefully the cable just backed out of the speedo head or something simple. The last thing is the temp gauge dropped to zero about a block from my house. It worked perfectly until then and all of a sudden it was like someone just turned it off.

Anyways, she's home and tucked away for now I can trouble shoot all of those things and retorque everything as I like to do with these complete disassembly/reassembly restorations. I got a few waves and thumbs up on the way home. one lady in a Lexus was waving out her window yelling I love your car at one point. If it gets this much attention now I can't wait to get it wet sanded and buffed, fully assembled and the stripes and decals on it. She looks comfortable in the garage right now, just as long as she doesn't get too comfortable, haha. I built this engine to be very drivable, I want to drive this one a lot more than my other cars.




The tires fit perfectly, I think they give it just the right amount of attitude. They look stock, only better!

 

[Sheriff41]

Congrats on a successful drive! There are always a few bugs and hiccups to work out on a new build. It really is starting to look more like that picture on your garage wall! Are you planning to put the chin spoiler on your car? It's a transformative addition to these cars.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Here's a big congratulations tpj. Getting a classic Stang on the road after a very long time is a BIG deal for all us car guys !

 

[tpj71mach]

Congrats on a successful drive! There are always a few bugs and hiccups to work out on a new build. It really is starting to look more like that picture on your garage wall! Are you planning to put the chin spoiler on your car? It's a transformative addition to these cars.

Thank you. Yes, I am planning to add the front spoiler, I really like the look of them on our cars. I still need to work on adjusting the fit of the front valence and install the bumper, once it has been painted, before I buy and install the front spoiler though.

 

[cv_72mustang]

I'd sleep inside it, looks great!

 

[mach71351c]

Congrats on a successful drive home. Good call on the 245 BFGs. Perfect!

 

[tpj71mach]

Congrats on a successful drive home. Good call on the 245 BFGs. Perfect!

Thanks, I think they fit just right. I appreciate all of the input I received from members when I started a thread about what size wheels and tires to get months ago. Of course, there were many opinions, but it seemed the most popular combination was the 245/60s all around. This confirmed my first idea to use that size tire, because that is what I had on my '73 back in the day. The '73 had 14x7 rims on it though and the tires were belted T/As. I wasn't sure how the radial T/As on 15 inch wheels would fit differently.

I am much happier with the way they fit on the 8" wheels, on the 7s the sidewall looked too pulled in. Also, I loved the hub cap / trim ring look but would have loved to have had Magnums on it, They just didn't fit my 16 year old's high school part-time job budget then.

 

[cjstaci]

Your car is looking great, soooo good I wish it were mine. The fruit of your labor has paid off as I see many years of enjoyment in your future. Beautiful job. Looking forward to seeing it with all the finishing touches.

 

[Fabrice]

Wait a second, not 3 weeks ago, you posted on my thread a pict of your build with no rear panel, no trunk floor like mine...
How come I'm still more or less at that state and I see your car more or less finished?
You worked night shifts? Have an army of helpers???
No matter your secret, the result is there: stunning!

 

[tpj71mach]

Wait a second, not 3 weeks ago, you posted on my thread a pict of your build with no rear panel, no trunk floor like mine...
How come I'm still more or less at that state and I see your car more or less finished?
You worked night shifts? Have an army of helpers???
No matter your secret, the result is there: stunning!

Sorry if I was unclear, I didn't mean to mislead you. When I replied to your post, I posted some older pics from a year or so earlier to show my car when it was at the stage that your car was, at that time.
Thanks, it is far from finished but it is coming along pretty well. At least it is drivable now, so I will probably just enjoy it. I can do little projects like wet sand and buff a panel or two at a time and then apply the decals and stripes as I drive it. The interior can wait until late fall/winter when, here in Chicago, I won't be driving it anyway. I do wish I had an army of helpers though, I fear that I am getting too old for this, haha!

 

[Fabrice]

AAAAAAAh! man, I thought, I was really slow or you were super fast!!!
So in a year from now I will be able to see if you were fast!

" I fear that I am getting too old for this, haha!"
They keep us young! Kinda

 

[tpj71mach]

I applied my VIN decal on the driver's door today.

After I die and my wife is selling it, someone will be looking at this nice Wimbledon White with black stripes and black interior car. They will open the door and discover...

It was originally green with a green interior.

Yes it was, but other than the VIN decal clearly stating it, there is no indication anywhere on the car, inside or or out that it was ever green. I stripped every part down to bare metal and built from there so there isn't a chip of green under the paint anywhere on the car. While I am personally proud of that accomplishment, I feel better knowing that until someone paints over or removes it, the VIN decal will be there to continue to tell the truth, haha.

I have no problem with people, like myself in this instance, changing color. As long as they don't try to misrepresent the car as original. We are fortunate to have the Marti reports to keep people honest with Fords but with GMs there are no records for 60s and 70s cars. Allegedly, there was a fire in 1977 that destroyed the paper records. I know a few guys that have done color changes and had a new trim tag made and there is no way to prove the car was a different color.

 

[revsitup]

I moved out of the body shop yesterday, or as I like to say "got evicted" haha. My friend Mike doesn't like the joke, he said no one evicted me. I took the new wheels over there yesterday morning and installed them in place of the 14x7s. IMO, it made a huge difference in the stance of the car!

View attachment 91627View attachment 91628

After that, I installed the front valence and turn signal and marker lamps, the rear valence and the rear bumper. I wanted to make it as street legal as possible. Considering the front bumper is not done yet.

The front bumper has not been forgotten, it is all body worked now and in primer now, so hopefully we will get that painted in the next few weeks. Along with the passenger side mirror base that needs to be re-sprayed, haha.

View attachment 91636View attachment 91637

Next, I pulled her out and cleaned up the area where I was working. I hadn't realized how many tools and stuff I had brought over until I had to load it all into my car.

I let the Mustang idle while I was cleaning up and kept checking on it's vitals. Yesterday was 92 degrees outside and after 25 minutes idling, the temp was still perfect and oil pressure and charging were all great. The bay looks kind of empty after seeing the Mustang there for the last few months. The body shop has ten cars coming in Monday for repair so I am sure it will get filled up quickly.

View attachment 91629

I took the car for the first gas station visit in about thirty years, and filled the new tank. Gas gauge working, check. No leaks, check.

View attachment 91630

I drove it home, which was the first time I have driven it really. I have taken two test drives around the block, but this was the first time the car has been driven by anyone in decades. I google mapped it last night and discovered the body shop is actually 25.3 miles from my house. I probably wouldn't have chosen to do a 25 mile first time shake down run if I realized it was that far. The car ran great overall, it didn't run hot at all despite the outside temperatures in the 90's.

There were a few bugs that showed their ugly heads, though. One I already knew about was that the tach stopped working while the car was at the body shop. I had Rocket-man update the tach to a new style mechanism and Midlife wired in the tach wiring so that is all new. It worked when I got the engine started and until a few weeks ago, so hopefully something just came loose or got unplugged. It honestly only had an hour and a half of "run time" when I towed it to the body shop. At the body shop we only drove over to the spray booth and back a few times. The speedo stopped working half way home, according to the odometer I put 14 miles on it before it stopped working. That has new gears and a new cable so hopefully the cable just backed out of the speedo head or something simple. The last thing is the temp gauge dropped to zero about a block from my house. It worked perfectly until then and all of a sudden it was like someone just turned it off.

Anyways, she's home and tucked away for now I can trouble shoot all of those things and retorque everything as I like to do with these complete disassembly/reassembly restorations. I got a few waves and thumbs up on the way home. one lady in a Lexus was waving out her window yelling I love your car at one point. If it gets this much attention now I can't wait to get it wet sanded and buffed, fully assembled and the stripes and decals on it. She looks comfortable in the garage right now, just as long as she doesn't get too comfortable, haha. I built this engine to be very drivable, I want to drive this one a lot more than my other cars.

View attachment 91631View attachment 91632View attachment 91633View attachment 91634View attachment 91635


The tires fit perfectly, I think they give it just the right amount of attitude. They look stock, only better!

I applied my VIN decal on the driver's door today.

After I die and my wife is selling it, someone will be looking at this nice Wimbledon White with black stripes and black interior car. They will open the door and discover...

It was originally green with a green interior.

Yes it was, but other than the VIN decal clearly stating it, there is no indication anywhere on the car, inside or or out that it was ever green. I stripped every part down to bare metal and built from there so there isn't a chip of green under the paint anywhere on the car. While I am personally proud of that accomplishment, I feel better knowing that until someone paints over or removes it, the VIN decal will be there to continue to tell the truth, haha.

I have no problem with people, like myself in this instance, changing color. As long as they don't try to misrepresent the car as original. We are fortunate to have the Marti reports to keep people honest with Fords but with GMs there are no records for 60s and 70s cars. Allegedly, there was a fire in 1977 that destroyed the paper records. I know a few guys that have done color changes and had a new trim tag made and there is no way to prove the car was a different color.


View attachment 91692

looking good and your getting so close to finished! Keep at it you’re so close to the finish line

 

[tpj71mach]

looking good and your getting so close to finished! Keep at it you’re so close to the finish line

Thanks, It feels like it is getting close but then it feels so far away at the same time, haha.

I took a picture of it yesterday and one of my sons pointed out that it almost exactly matched one of the first pics we took as far as positioning.

When I looked at both pictures, I found it extremely motivational. It's hard to believe it is the same car in the exact same spot just about two and a half years time span. It's come a long way since it arrived from Vegas, at least it doesn't look like it is launching and popping a wheelie and the right front fender is the same color as the rest of the car, haha.



It's funny that just by chance that it is from almost the exact same angle.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Thanks, It feels like it is getting close but then it feels so far away at the same time, haha.

I took a picture of it yesterday and one of my sons pointed out that it almost exactly matched one of the first pics we took as far as positioning.

When I looked at both pictures, I found it extremely motivational. It's hard to believe it is the same car in the exact same spot just about two and a half years time span. It's come a long way since it arrived from Vegas, at least it doesn't look like it is launching and popping a wheelie and the right front fender is the same color as the rest of the car, haha.

View attachment 91695

It's funny that just by chance that it is from almost the exact same angle.


View attachment 91696

tpj, you have plenty of room in your garage for your next toy...Grabber Blue 71-72-73 Stang!