’71 Mach 1 Resto Project

[tpj71mach]

Yesterday, the center section arrived. I opened it up and inspected it last night but did not have any time to work on it. I am hoping today to get it painted so it will be cured enough to install it tomorrow.

 

[Sheriff41]

You may want to look into swapping the pinion yokes. Your new one looks to have the short yoke. Our cars came from the factory with the long yoke.

 

[tpj71mach]

You may want to look into swapping the pinion yokes. Your new one looks to have the short yoke. Our cars came from the factory with the long yoke.

Thanks, I noticed that and planned to swap them out.

 

[tpj71mach]

I painted the center section this afternoon and will let it cure for a day or two. It is a satin clear so it should dull down after it cures fully.

My 23-year-old son, the body builder, said he is available tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning to lift that bad boy into place for me. I have lifted a few 9-inch center sections into place when I was younger but that is what the young guys are best at, haha.

I also got my axles back with the new bearings pressed on, so I am ready to put a bit of gear lube on the new seals and slide them in after the center section is installed. Hopefully it will be back on all four tires by Saturday afternoon and tucked away back in the corner of the garage for its long winter nap.

 

[tpj71mach]

I was able to assemble the rear differential today and get her back on all four tires and tucked back into her corner of the garage.

The next project will be reupholstering the seats, but that won't be for a couple months. A few weeks ago when I ordered the comfort weave, SMS told me that it would be a minimum of 10 weeks before they ship the comfort weave that I purchased from them to TMI. TMI told me it would take 6-8 weeks to make and ship me the seat covers. Kind of funny how it takes 2-4 weeks longer to walk to a shelf and cut two yards of fabric off of a roll and place it into an envelope than it takes to sew together a full set of seat covers and ship them, oh well it is what it is. So, once I know the seat covers are about to be shipped, I will remove the seats and start tearing them down and media blast and paint the frames. Hopefully, I can time it right to where the frames are ready for foam and upholstery about the same time that all shows up.

Here are a couple pics of my new center section with a limited slip and 3.25:1 gears.

I also bought new hardware from NPD just to make it look pretty, haha.

 

[Sheriff41]

When you tear down your seats check the rear corners of the bottom seat frames for cracks. Also, some of the holes in the frame where you'd fasten hog rings may have cracked open and may need repair. Check out this thread: https://7173mustangs.com/threads/help-finding-1973-mach-1-seat-frame.45270/#post-456371

 

[California 72]

Very nice!


Umm, err uhh, does your old one have a new home yet?

 

[tony-muscle]

I got my axle bearings and seals in and I dropped the axles off to my buddy to have the bearings pressed on. My center section shows out for delivery already today, I didn't expect it until tomorrow so that will be a pleasant surprise. I will have more time to paint it and get it ready to install when the axles come back it may even be in the rear end housing, haha.

Of course, the bearings were made in China, but the seals were made in Taiwan. I wonder, does that make them better or worse? LOL

I checked everywhere I could think of, but I could not find any American-made bearings for this application.

Timken and SKF are worldwide know as mentioned.
However, I have been using Moser's with the o-ring that you can get away with no seal. I have been using this design for 5+ years. I had to replace once but it is because I autocross and race my car which is very hard on the bearings. I will be removing the axle next week to check the bearings but it is something I have to do every year to be in the safe side and be ready for the annual beating. For normal street use they should last a long time.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/MSR-9507T

 

[tpj71mach]

Very nice!


Umm, err uhh, does your old one have a new home yet?

Thanks!

Sorry, but yes it has found a new home, a friend of mine, (guy that helped me build the 454 for my Chevelle) wants it and is planning to swing by this weekend to get it. He asked what I was asking but I told him just to take it, it needs to be rebuilt, it would only be good as a case to build anyways. The pinion seal started to leak shortly after I got it running and driving. I noticed that the pinion bearing was a little noisy right from the first test drive I took but it was good enough until I saved my pennies and upgraded, ha-ha.

 

[tpj71mach]

The stars might just align for a road test of my "new" rear differential this weekend.

The weather has been unseasonably warm here in Chicago this week. It has been in the 40's and has even broken into the 50's.

This may sound like a ridiculous statement, but the best news is that it rained all day yesterday and is going to rain all day today as well. All this rain should help to wash away the road salt left from previous snows. It is supposed to stop raining today around 4:00 pm and be dry and remain in the 40's until Wednesday.

The roads should be dry and mostly salt free by Sunday which just so happens to be my Mach's 54th birthday, it was built 2/2/1971. It might just be the perfect day to take the Mustang out for a nice drive to road test the rear diff and get a little behind the wheel time.

 

[tpj71mach]

Happy 54th Birthday to my 1971 Mach 1!

Its production date was 2/2/1971, 54 years ago today!

My wife and I are planning to take it out for a joy ride this afternoon. With the unseasonably warm weather here in Chicago and the rain on Thursday and Friday the road salt got washed away. The streets are clean and dry right now and it is 47 degrees today, not bad for February in Chicago.

I took the car for a road test yesterday to make sure the recently installed rear differential was nice and quiet and there were no leaks or issues. The test drive went well, and it was clean and dry underneath after I returned, so I am now confident to take it for a longer joy ride with my wife today.

It has come a long way since I bought it and since each of its last birthdays during the restoration process.

This is how it looked when I bought it in November 2021 at the ripe old age of 50.



This is the car on its 51st birthday 2/2/2022



This is how it looked on its 52nd birthday 2/2/2023



This is how it looked on its 53rd birthday 2/2/2024



This is how it looks on its 54th birthday today 2/2/2025



It will be nice to drive it around some and get some more miles on it before Wednesday when winter returns to Chicago, the weather app is forecasting temperatures to drop and snow on Wednesday.

 

[Sheriff41]

Happy 54th Birthday to my 1971 Mach 1!

Its production date was 2/2/1971, 54 years ago today!

My wife and I are planning to take it out for a joy ride this afternoon. With the unseasonably warm weather here in Chicago and the rain on Thursday and Friday the road salt got washed away. The streets are clean and dry right now and it is 47 degrees today, not bad for February in Chicago.

I took the car for a road test yesterday to make sure the recently installed rear differential was nice and quiet and there were no leaks or issues. The test drive went well, and it was clean and dry underneath after I returned, so I am now confident to take it for a longer joy ride with my wife today.

It has come a long way since I bought it and since each of its last birthdays during the restoration process.

This is how it looked when I bought it in November 2021 at the ripe old age of 50.

View attachment 97231

This is the car on its 51st birthday 2/2/2022

View attachment 97232

This is how it looked on its 52nd birthday 2/2/2023

View attachment 97233

This is how it looked on its 53rd birthday 2/2/2024

View attachment 97234

This is how it looks on its 54th birthday today 2/2/2025

View attachment 97235

It will be nice to drive it around some and get some more miles on it before Wednesday when winter returns to Chicago, the weather app is forecasting temperatures to drop and snow on Wednesday.

Happy birthday to your Mach 1! It's been through an amazing transformation in your care.

 

[tpj71mach]

I finally got around to having my glass guy come by and reinstall the windshield properly yesterday. My friend Mike had the glass guy that he uses at the body shop install the windshield and rear glass there after we painted it so I could drive it home. Unfortunately, his guy did not do an awesome job and the windshield actually slid down to the point that the top of the windshield was no longer touching the sheet metal of the car. This caused the glass to sag and opened up the gap between the upper molding and the windshield itself. Fortunately, the windshield did not crack from the lack of support.

You can see the gap between the upper molding and the windshield in this pic:



The glass guy, that I used for years back when I was running car dealerships, came by on Saturday and removed the windshield glass and cleaned up the mess from the other glass guy. The first guy actually put urethane down first and then the butyl directly over it.
In over 40 years in the car business, I have never seen anyone do this before and neither had my glass guy. In the past, I have always been told that urethane and butyl do not play well together and the one needs to be cleaned thoroughly before you apply the other. This could be why the glass slid down like it did as it was not attached to the car very well. Fortunately the first glass guy did not prep the body right for the urethane so the urethane peeled right off the body, making for a pretty easy cleanup.



Although he had to do a lot of cleaning of the mess from the other guy, the glass came out and went back in without any cracks, thank goodness. He did a great job of reinstalling it. The glass is now glued to the car on all four edges of the glass now, what a concept, right? The other good news is going forward, the windshield probably won't fall out of the car, and the moldings also fit nicely to the glass now, so I got that going for me, which is nice!

No gap between the molding and glass now:



Inspired by getting the windshield resolved yesterday, this morning I finally got around to applying cavity wax inside the frame rails and torque boxes. It's not like I was procrastinating forever, I only bought the product and applicator wands 4 months ago, haha.
Back when I welded in the the trunk floor and tail lamp panel, I used weld through primer on the rear rails. I also seam sealed the panels on the outside before I painted the bottom of the car. Even thought this car will probably never see rain, let alone snow or salt ever again. I still wanted to add the cavity wax just to make sure the frame rails and trunk floor are protected from the inside as well as possible.



When I was done with the cavity wax, I wiped the car down and took it out for a nice long ride. I ended putting almost 60 miles on it, I felt like it was such a nice day, I had to take advantage of it. It is very unusual to have a sunny 50 degree day at the beginning of March in Chicago!

 

[Sheriff41]

My convertible has these supports the bottom of the windshield rests on. Do you have these on your car?

 

[Sheriff41]

Looks like they were on the car when you started.

,

 

[70cobrascj]

I finally got around to having my glass guy come by and reinstall the windshield properly yesterday. My friend Mike had the glass guy that he uses at the body shop install the windshield and rear glass there after we painted it so I could drive it home. Unfortunately, his guy did not do an awesome job and the windshield actually slid down to the point that the top of the windshield was no longer touching the sheet metal of the car. This caused the glass to sag and opened up the gap between the upper molding and the windshield itself. Fortunately, the windshield did not crack from the lack of support.

You can see the gap between the upper molding and the windshield in this pic:

View attachment 98166

The glass guy, that I used for years back when I was running car dealerships, came by on Saturday and removed the windshield glass and cleaned up the mess from the other glass guy. The first guy actually put urethane down first and then the butyl directly over it.
In over 40 years in the car business, I have never seen anyone do this before and neither had my glass guy. In the past, I have always been told that urethane and butyl do not play well together and the one needs to be cleaned thoroughly before you apply the other. This could be why the glass slid down like it did as it was not attached to the car very well. Fortunately the first glass guy did not prep the body right for the urethane so the urethane peeled right off the body, making for a pretty easy cleanup.

View attachment 98167View attachment 98168

Although he had to do a lot of cleaning of the mess from the other guy, the glass came out and went back in without any cracks, thank goodness. He did a great job of reinstalling it. The glass is now glued to the car on all four edges of the glass now, what a concept, right? The other good news is going forward, the windshield probably won't fall out of the car, and the moldings also fit nicely to the glass now, so I got that going for me, which is nice!

No gap between the molding and glass now:

View attachment 98169View attachment 98170

Inspired by getting the windshield resolved yesterday, this morning I finally got around to applying cavity wax inside the frame rails and torque boxes. It's not like I was procrastinating forever, I only bought the product and applicator wands 4 months ago, haha.
Back when I welded in the the trunk floor and tail lamp panel, I used weld through primer on the rear rails. I also seam sealed the panels on the outside before I painted the bottom of the car. Even thought this car will probably never see rain, let alone snow or salt ever again. I still wanted to add the cavity wax just to make sure the frame rails and trunk floor are protected from the inside as well as possible.

View attachment 98171

When I was done with the cavity wax, I wiped the car down and took it out for a nice long ride. I ended putting almost 60 miles on it, I felt like it was such a nice day, I had to take advantage of it. It is very unusual to have a sunny 50 degree day at the beginning of March in Chicago!

Looks great glad it didn’t crack and you corrected.

 

[tpj71mach]

Looks like they were on the car when you started.

View attachment 98185,

Yes they were, and they were there after I painted the engine compartment and when it went to the body shop. They were still there in this picture taken after the car was painted but the hood wasn't painted or installed yet. Sadly, I never noticed they went missing, after the glass slipped down, I discovered they weren't there. I asked Mike if he knew how they could go missing, and he told me he had a couple of his body techs install the hood at some point after we painted it. He asked them about it, and they remembered that they did remove the supports to make sure they didn't scratch the hood when they installed it. Why they did this and did not mention it, and didn't reinstall them, I have no idea.
Fortunately, they didn't throw the supports away, they were still in a pile of junk on the body tech's work bench along with the bolts. I reinstalled them on Saturday once the glass was removed and they would line up with the screw holes. Honestly, if the original glass guy used just urethane that glass would never have moved with or without those supports once it cured. Now they are in place and the glass is glued in with urethane.
That bad boy ain't going nowhere now, haha.



You can somewhat see, the microfiber towel is in the way a little, they were gone by the time the windshield was originally installed.



It was all well intentioned to have the hood installed on the car for me. We painted it on Saturday and left it in the booth, and the following Monday morning Mike had his guys carry it out of the booth. they decided to install it on the car instead of leaning it up against the wall, so it would be safer. I appreciate the help, I just wish I noticed the supports were missing before the glass guy came.