1972 Convertible resto mod

[California 72]

I used shorties on my 71 only because I had long tube headers on my 73 Mach 1 and they scraped on speed bumps a lot.
It still performed well on dyno, (about 430 HP / 450 torque) although to be honest we never did do a comparison with long tube headers to see how much power they rob.

By the way, sharp looking motor! Love that Ford Blue. What silver is that you used? Was contemplating painting the tranny and had thought of just all Ford Blue but that's a sharp look. As I've been scrubbing, soaking, burning and blasting the layers off, I've found Black, blue and even a little red. There's an old knock-knock joke hiding in there, but I'll refrain.

I'll get a picture of it for you this weekend.

Chuck, Thanks!

I want to start out clarifying, I am not an expert, especially on Mustangs. It looks to me that your pipes head upwards to the manifolds like most exhaust front pipes. They appear to start to head up toward the manifold outlets right in front of the equalizer pipe. If you intend to use long tube headers you will want them to head straight forward to meet the header collector. If they are heading up, you may need to cut back to the H-pipe. IMO, if you are reusing the exhaust, I would cut as little as possible (or nothing at all) until you install the engine and trans with the headers and see how the angle is going to the collectors and cut what you have to cut then. Is the H pipe welded to the mufflers, or can you separate it from the mufflers and get it out from under the car so it's not in the way of the engine/trans install?

The goal is to keep things minimal in the cutting part since I would really like to avoid having it look like a crazed mechanic with a sawzall stepped in. I'm just crazed, my father was the mechanic. Which reminds me, that's what I forgot, sawzall blades. Dang it!

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Finally finished errands, needed more wire brushes and some Acetone plus some other supplies to start painting parts. If we can get the weather to co-operate a little, it would help but I believe I can keep the humidity down in the garage by keeping the door down. Need to work on conditioning things over the winter. Even with all the insulation, it does get into the high 40's to low 50's when outside is in the 30's.

Time to get to work. Just a little behind on the day. Later and thanks again gang.

 

[Steve McMahan]

Just to respond to your question on the vapor recovery, I believe it’s one of those systems that work very well and there are only downsides in deleting it. As you said, not a daily driver, so more needed to vent the vapors since I suspect it will spend time garaged. Others more knowledgeable will chime in with their experiences. I say keep it.

 

[California 72]

Thanks for the follow up. That’s a good point and after hearing it makes sense Could be a reason why you can actually get a few replacement parts. Can chalk it up to one good emission part that makes a difference.

 

[California 72]

As explained in another topic and post, because I took a more maniacal, wreck-it-Ralph approach to cleaning the firewall, today is pull the column day. While I’m ripping that out, might as well pull the booster to avoid any one of a dozen ways I can muck that up too.
So, where to put all the parts that are in the front seats? Without being able to build a shed, that’s another “George Costanza” like issue that’s far tmi for this or any form of description so, it’s now, going to be a lesson similar to, what it takes to fit a Boss 429 in a ‘65 notch back. There’s an interesting idea. lol
Actually, I’m going to need to experiment on how much weight will a closed and latched convertible top will hold. So far, it’s a NACA hood, sport grille, bumper, side mouldings and a rusted fuel line.

 

[California 72]

All in a days work. Have an opportunity to see, for myself, what condition the interior floor pans are in.

I’m definitely encouraged to approach the remaining interior when I get the motor bay sprayed. I’m really hoping this week.

At least that way, I can also spray the front wells too and start reassembling the suspension. It's the underside of the car that I'm concerned about cleaning as well as the rear suspension. There's at least an inch of mud caked on the undercarriage and that's even after a couple trips to the self-spray wash. I have a neat setup in the garage for our yard irrigation. I ran a remote hook-up for the end of season evac. When I get ready to use it I'll definitely be documenting it. It's a 1" feed so really good pressure without too much like with a pressure washer.

Now for some sorely needed organizing. The whole “Fixx" approach of “one thing leads to another” is very accurate but it’s important to rein things in when it turns into a baker’s dozen of other things. At some point I'm going to get lost in the work.


All that just because I got a little aggressive cleaning the firewall. In my defense, I had no idea the gasket on the firewall was a gasket to begin with given the name of the wall. Thought it was a plate but that’s what I think ford called a “better idea” during the ad campaign way back when. lol.

Edit: After looking at a couple other threads out there and given the detail and effort being provided to the front end, it's gonna be worth it to really detail the interior too with some of that gator skin or similar. If I want the car to last another 25 or more for the daughter and her family to enjoy, all that surface rust will need attention.
While I have the time, and as long as the body holds out, I can address everything with rust converter. Plus, I'm really thinking that it needs to go back to the Ivy Glow. It only makes sense since the jams will need attention it might as well be the original color.

 

[bishoppeak]

View attachment 93476 View attachment 93477
View attachment 93478

All in a days work. Have an opportunity to see, for myself, what condition the interior floor pans are in.

I’m definitely encouraged to approach the remaining interior when I get the motor bay sprayed. I’m really hoping this week.

At least that way, I can also spray the front wells too and start reassembling the suspension. It's the underside of the car that I'm concerned about cleaning as well as the rear suspension. There's at least an inch of mud caked on the undercarriage and that's even after a couple trips to the self-spray wash. I have a neat setup in the garage for our yard irrigation. I ran a remote hook-up for the end of season evac. When I get ready to use it I'll definitely be documenting it. It's a 1" feed so really good pressure without too much like with a pressure washer.

Now for some sorely needed organizing. The whole “Fixx" approach of “one thing leads to another” is very accurate but it’s important to rein things in when it turns into a baker’s dozen of other things. At some point I'm going to get lost in the work.

View attachment 93479
All that just because I got a little aggressive cleaning the firewall. In my defense, I had no idea the gasket on the firewall was a gasket to begin with given the name of the wall. Thought it was a plate but that’s what I think ford called a “better idea” during the ad campaign way back when. lol.

Edit: After looking at a couple other threads out there and given the detail and effort being provided to the front end, it's gonna be worth it to really detail the interior too with some of that gator skin or similar. If I want the car to last another 25 or more for the daughter and her family to enjoy, all that surface rust will need attention.
While I have the time, and as long as the body holds out, I can address everything with rust converter. Plus, I'm really thinking that it needs to go back to the Ivy Glow. It only makes sense since the jams will need attention it might as well be the original color.

https://www.amazon.com/Undercarriag...3&psc=1&mcid=18c1c0362363317398a9f05f390232d8

 

[California 72]

https://www.amazon.com/Undercarriag...3&psc=1&mcid=18c1c0362363317398a9f05f390232d8

That's actually perfect, especially with its more targeted path. Me waiving a wand blindly under the car, no matter where it's sitting, is more difficult than it once was and since this will be performed in the garage, less chance of me losing control and taking out any sheetrock or tools. I can actually drape the rockers and firewall of car with the 6mil plastic and contain it all under the car.

While I probably won't hook up the pressure washer, need to rebuild the pump since it blew up this past spring when I cleaned the house and tried to use the PW media blaster attachment. I'm thinking the 1" waterline feed from the irrigation seasonal cleanout installed in the garage will provide enough power. Actually, it's been stubbed out for a line that would use a designated feed utilizing a pressure washer disconnect so that's easy enough finish. The plus to that is, it's metered for non-sanitary sewer usage so perfect for this situation.

Thanks, just placed the order. It'll be here Friday.

 

[California 72]

Over the weekend, I posted some info after removing the steering column and booster. While performing this, I also an inventory of what might possibly be needed to add to the growing list of work. Among them were the dash, the wiring, the hydraulics for the top and the A/C system.

To approach the first item, the dash. I'll itemize the questions for everyone to respond to what they have or skip what they don't have info on.

• With the dash being a modular-type assembly, at least that's what I surmised from the posts and topics, how difficult is it to remove?
• Since I'm at the point where removing it might help to complete or provide easier access, is the wiring best addressed after the dash is pulled out?

The A/C system was supposedly replaced when I purchased the vehicle, but it wasn't functioning at the time due to a leak.

• Is the system capable of being removed with the dash or does it need to be disassembled prior to that.
• Being uncertain of the freon used, looking at things it's not a conversion so, what needs to be done to make it functional again?
• If the components on the car are in fact new, what would the most likely freon be?
• If not or their remanufactured, can the system be recharged, or does it need to be changed?
• Is it worth it?

For the wiring, I invested a little time looking over what's available, read a couple topics here and also visited a couple other sites. One of the things I found was, it might be best to update the whole system since the car has reached that point of being dismantled. the Before following up on-line with what's available for the wiring, the idea of doing a complete update became a question.

After looking at American Auto Wire, the cost floored me given it was almost triple what my '66 F100 cost even thought that was 2016. I like the idea of an updated block with ATF fuses versus the SFE glass tube variety so that's an understood benefit. The question is, are there other wire systems ya'll have experienced, possibly more affordable as an option?

As fare as the top is concerned, once the front end is reassembled, that's probably when I'll be able to do that. In all actuality, it's probably the better reasoning to wait on the other stuff, until that point but, the firewall around the A/C condenser and heater core does need work and it's probably better to remove it to do the job correctly.

So, the dash itself would be next on the list and help understanding what I've asked above would be tremendously appreciated.

Thanks!!