1972 mechanical rebuild

[jbojo]

Nice progress on your build. Make sure you post a video with the motor running.

 

[1973grandeklar]

Just a couple more pictures:

Here is the seats installed. thye do look good for 42 year old seats.



Then here is the power steering mounted. It does look good.



I also got the new emergency cable installed, works great and the car at least has an ability to apply rear brakes.

 

[Mikes73]

Your project is coming along nicely, the seats and engine look great.

 

[matrixx]

Looks like your chugging along on that one.

Sent from my SCH-S960L using Tapatalk

 

[1973grandeklar]

Well we sanded off the roof and side that was exposed. Seems to be OK and just primered it over to keep it from rusting. Thinking I might try the Rustolem Red. Cannot look any worse than the red already on the car.



Will have to put a little bondo on the roof seam, looks terrible. Guess the vinyl top hide this seam so the factory did not worry about making it look nice.

 

[72HCODE]

speaking as a fellow rustang owner i'm a little concerned.

based on the amount of rust and areas of major rusting i would recommend inspection of the front lower shock towers and the frame rail tops in the shock tower area.

this is a difficult area to inspect because the upper front suspension arms and shocks and springs and perch are in the way.

you are pretty much at needing a front clip for your coupe. The junction between the front frame rails, shock towers, and engine cradle support is a major structural point, and one of the areas of our cars that rusted away in the first 3-5 years after our cars were built. there was no rust protection to speak of from the factory.

Thus i would ask you to inspect this area of the car very well, you may even see cracking of the lower shock tower as the chassis is giving-way.

for reference this is my car.

http://s1031.photobucket.com/user/72hcode/library/towers%20and%20rails?sort=2&page=1

the original rust damage was very hidden from view. 30 years of debris had covered and filled in the frame rails spray bombs of Rubber undercoater had contained everything and made it appear much more solid then it actually was.

a power wash revealed the true horror of the situation, a couple of metal atoms were holding ionic bonds keeping the entire front end from collapsing.

my concern is you have fiberglass patches on your car the previous owner did a lot of quick coverups and there might of been previous coverups.

i read in one of your posts that you do not want to do any body work to the car. you appear to be in a race to just get it running and road worthy.

i don't know what future plans you have or budget you have worked out, so, look over my photos, and do a detailed inspection of your front end. Poke things with a screw driver hard and multiple times. because if you can stick fingers through the tops of your frame rails or see similar cracking or rusted through areas like my car had, i would highly recommend, stop all work on the vehicle go out and find another one in better shape.

I will flat out tell you, knowing what i know now, i would of never repaired my car as shown in the photos. hindsight being 20/20 i would of stopped, Cut it up for parts, cut my losses and moved on to something in much much better shape and started over, and believe me i had 3 years invested at that point.

Looking over your photos with the areas of rust and repairs needed i would not put more money into the chassis. mechanical, electrical, interior can always be transferred and used elsewhere.

just one man giving his birds eye view based on personal experience.

 

[1973grandeklar]

Thanks for the advice 72HCODE. I agree and did inspect the front frames very well. Interestingly they seem solid, most of the rust appears to be on the tops of the aprons. However, I did not remove the front suspension like you did, so there may likely be hidden rust. I am minimizing any body work and will be doing the cheap screw down floor patch crap that we all complain that the previous owner did. Of all the body work on this car, the worst is the rear part of the car. Quarter panels, trunk floor, tail panel, and the trunk are all gone. I am even afraid to admit that the rear frame rails are probably toast and those ionic bonds are keeping the trunk area intact. With all that said:

You are correct, the goal is to fix it mechanically and drive the beast. The primer is rattle can stuff and paint for this area is going to be rattle can paint. This is my son's car and he is well aware of the prospect of never affording to restore this car. At best he wants to drive it for a few years until he gets done with college. This is not his regular vehicle and will be regulated to driving on nice days. Daily driving is his F150. If restoration is in the future, I believe he will agree that this car is the donor for a better shell. But, he does like a challenge, so never know.

By the way, those pictures are great, nice welding!!!

 

[72HCODE]

well this is what i would recommend if the front is solid around the engine cradle.

1) install subframe connectors. it is some welding but it least the car will not fold in half with the floors being weak.

2) install thick steel plate on the rear frame rail tops, yes more welding but at least the rear leaf spring shackles won't collapse over a speed bump. i did this on my car because the rear end was toast as well. or if you are already removing the tail panel this is the time to get a complete trunk pan in the car, seriously if you are pulling the weld on the rear panel, get a total trunk floor in now, and you can inspect the rear rails and decide if you want re-enforce them internally with C channel..

your looking at a fuel tank replacement anyway so better to gut that rear end and get it structurally sound, quarters you can deal with later.

later on you could remove the additions for proper sheet metal replacement.

 

[1973grandeklar]

well this is what i would recommend if the front is solid around the engine cradle.

1) install subframe connectors. it is some welding but it least the car will not fold in half with the floors being weak.

2) install thick steel plate on the rear frame rail tops, yes more welding but at least the rear leaf spring shackles won't collapse over a speed bump. i did this on my car because the rear end was toast as well. or if you are already removing the tail panel this is the time to get a complete trunk pan in the car, seriously if you are pulling the weld on the rear panel, get a total trunk floor in now, and you can inspect the rear rails and decide if you want re-enforce them internally with C channel..

your looking at a fuel tank replacement anyway so better to gut that rear end and get it structurally sound, quarters you can deal with later.

later on you could remove the additions for proper sheet metal replacement.

Thanks, sounds like great advice.


It lives!



At first we could not get the engine to crank, turn the key, nothing. Checked voltages at the starter solenoid, nothing. Well, got some wire and hot wired it and the motor would crank and the coil was sparking.

Put a little gas down the carb and the engine hit! This sounds promising, had to figure out the key problem.

Took the steering wheel apart (as the key would turn with no key). Removed the key assembly. Checked the rod going to the key module and found that the rod was not pushing the plunger far enough. Adjusted and success. You can now start the car with a screwdriver stuck into the empty key opening!

When the engine fired we had a huge wad of garbage exit the exhaust!





Those critters sure were busy!

Two issues came up. The power steering does not line up. The brackets do not seem to work. I checked the part number on them and found this is a bracket for a 1978 something. Does not work with the original 1972 pump and bracket.

The altenator does not seem to line up either. Checked the part number on this as well. Again something from a 1978. It is close and I could probably make it work with a tweak, but I order the correct bracket for it and the power steering. So I could not run the motor very long as the water pump was not rotating. But I ran it enough to know it sounds really good.

Now to finish these items, get the vaccuum correct, change the FMX filter, finish the brakes, and get that gas tank!

 

[1973grandeklar]

It lives!!!



Nice new gas tank!



Found the rear panel and trim



Cleaned up original gas cap



The car runs very well. Need to bleed the brakes some more as they are soft. Also need to put an electric choke and fix the throttle linkage by replacing the shaft with the Ford kickdown provisions.

But the car drives, the transmission shifts, and the electrical works! Not bad for taking on a project car from WV that came in pieces, no motor in the car, and the entire front clip off the car. I know the outside is not perfect and there are rust areas that need attention in the very near future (like the floor pans), but being able to drive the car has just added a new level of motivation!!!

 

[73StangCoupe]

Awesome job, I couldn't have taken on a project like that!! You did some fine work to get her going. Another one saved...

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[mach71351c]

Congrats on the first drive!

 

[caspianwendell]

Congrats on the first drive!

+1

 

[1973grandeklar]

Another brief update:

Got a filter and gasket for the FMX. Changed this out and adjusted the shifter. Seems that when you put it in park you have to push up on the shifter to get the key to go to the lock position. Also putting it in drive the shifter seemed to be in the neutral position on the indicator. Fixed it so now it aligns correctly. I supposed that it was due to the fact that the engine was out of the car for several years and the transmission was only being supported by the shift linkage and the exhaust pipes hanging under the car (see some earlier posts about this).

When we went test drive the car a little farther down the road, we could not get the car to shift into third gear? We tinkered around checking the vac modulator and the steel line, but everything looked good. So I drove it and just floored it. At about 60 mph the car went into third gear. Now it seems to shift fine. It no longer lags on the shift point. Do you think the modulator was stuck and started working?

I am finishing up the grill. I had two Mach1 grills that were both broken. Between the two I am epoxying the parts together to make one good grill. Funny thing is, I meant to take a bunch of before pictures to show the broken grill pieces. but I got started on the project and did not take any. Now I have finished the glueing together of the parts. I will post some pictures of the grill before painting, but unfortunately I failed to show my work for others that may want to salvage their grills. Sorry. Anyone else done that, meant to document before, during, and after restoration of a component and forgot to take pictures?

 

[72HCODE]

yup it was sticking from sitting i bet, the valve body could of had a stuck ball bearing check valve also.

the modulator rod could of been stuck from sitting as well.

maybe double check the kick down linkage make sure it doesn't get hung up on a vac line or something. depending on modifictions there should be a spring on the kick down rod holding it up by the carb until the pedal is almost floored.

 

[1973grandeklar]

yup it was sticking from sitting i bet, the valve body could of had a stuck ball bearing check valve also.

the modulator rod could of been stuck from sitting as well.

maybe double check the kick down linkage make sure it doesn't get hung up on a vac line or something. depending on modifictions there should be a spring on the kick down rod holding it up by the carb until the pedal is almost floored.

I do not have the kick down rod attached yet. Have to change the primary throttle shaft in the Holley (parts on order). Also need to add electric choke as the engine is just a touch cold blooded (smooths out in about 30 seconds of warm-up). Also have this annoying intermittant throttle sticking. Believe the new shaft will fix this or reveal the issue.

 

[1973grandeklar]

Well I got the Holley shaft installed for the Ford FMX kick down rod. This went in perfect with no issues. Put the electric choke on and found that the choke rod binds a little, bent it up a little to make it work, but ordered a set of choke rods from Jegs as I think the current rod is incorrect for this set-up (the instructions indicated to use the original rod that I did not have so tried to use the one that came with the choke conversion kit).

With this new shaft and the proper springs on the throttle return, I have had no sticking issue whatsoever. Told my son to be very careful driving the car until we are 100% confident that the issue is gone.

I got the front grill repaired. I apoligize for not having any before pictures of the grill. It was basically broken around both headlights and cracked along the bottom edge. I used Loctite plastic epoxy and plastic putty to glue parts I carefully cut-off of another broken grill. Glue ans sanding and the grill looked very good. Sprayed with flat black and no one could tell unless they specifically got real close and inspected the grill around the headlights

My boys installing the grill:



Here it is installed:



Close up of driver's side ring:



Overall front end look:



Notice on the driver's side that there is a blackout ring that inserts around the headlight to fill the gap. This is missing on the passenger side. These are side specific and I was wondering if anyone has an extra one for the passenger side?

 

[cudak888]

Looks great. I might have to try that grill fix myself and see if I can salvage a '73 Deluxe grill for my '72.

Still in need of a taillight panel, incidentally? Let me know if you're still up for the one I have.

-Kurt

 

[1973grandeklar]

I got the choke rod replaced with the correct one, works freely and I can now set it correctly. Also, the kickdown has been adjusted and works very well!





I was looking at the heater box and the cowl leaks and think I may have a way to fix this temporarily until we rebuild the car.

1) Take out the dash and heater box.

2) Rust Bullit or POR15 the cowl area.

3) Using metal2metal filler patch up the holes and add in the cowl hat (which I have a fairly good one from another car)

4) Seal up the filler with more Rust Bullit or POR15

5) Seam seal the cowl hat

6) Test for water leaks and repair as needed

7) Restore heater box, dash, and re-install

I realize that this may not be the best practice, but I think it should seal up and allow my son to drive this car in the rain without getting his feet or the passengers feet soaking wet. This just needs to work for about 2-3 years while he finishes school.

What do you guys think?

 

[71_resurrection]

My tank looks like this and I took the time to clean as good as I could, even used murre attic acid. Still wasn't happy with it, so I ordered a kit that had the tank and a sending unit. I pulled the factory line and installed a 3/8" fuel hose with two filters inline,, a 100 micron and a 10 micron, one before the pump and one after. It is nice to say I have no worries at all about my fuel system.... Now if only my fuel gage would work properly! It's always something though.