1972 Q code convertible one of 330 build starts.

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I bought this 1972 Q code automatic convertible off of craigslist close to 5 years ago. Time flies when you are having fun.

The PO had $16,000 in receipts for parts and work done. He took the body to Chem Strip in N.C. and dip stripped it. That is the place my friend uses to cars he has dipped. I got the car and a pile of extra parts for $5,500 even a Ford ram air system.

It has been at least 10 years since in the tanks and there are no signs of any bleed from any of the seams.

He had it back to a rolling chassis using all Ford components. I will have to take some back apart he had already installed side windows and was just in primer. Instead of just adding weight to the door to simulate the finished weight he was putting it together. I do have a power window set up for this year and might go with it. Not a true to Marti report build for sure. 

The car is pretty well optioned Marti attached. I did buy another crashed 1972 vert that had the same ginger interior that is perfect. So it will have a factory interior.

All Q codes in 72 got a NASA hood but this one did not get black out it was Gold Glow in color. I am going to do a NASA hood without black and one with black and hood locks. 

I also have a set of the Decor Group trim and think I will add so it is correct with side stripes that it did not have. 

It is a pretty good bet this will be my last build so I am going to make it my last hot rod. Going to get Ben Barnes a local NASCAR engine builder that is retired but still helps the little guys out. He can dyno the engine and he knows how to build them He just did a 289 for a friend with stock heads, pump gas and just a roller cam and it put out over 340 HP on the dyno. 

It will probably upset some but since this is my last hot rod I am going with at least a 6 point roll cage and probably an 8 point so I can run SCCA and track days events with it. No other way to really enjoy the car. If they catch you street racing here the can and will take your car. 

So I got it out and going to bolt up to the rotisserie for sanding and paint. Hope I can get done this year. Will probably get my friend to paint since I have no experience with the new stuff. I will wipe down with prep solvent and dust on the 3-M sanding guide coat and see how it looks. 

I am going to do my own roll cage and frame connectors and use steel that is about twice as strong as current vendor supplied products. Why not make it better. I have the tube bender up to 3" and love to do fab. 

I am thinking I will at least go with a 5 speed I do not have the money to go too crazy. He had already built the engine for the car but not knowing what he did I do not trust. He had the C-6 built also adding the extra clutches. I do have a standard 4 bolt block and the 1970 CC chamber heads but might go for Australian heads. 

I have too keep my garden and home going so not a full time job for sure. 

So this is what I pulled out today. Lots of things I have to take back out he had the dash back but it will come out.

I cut the filler panel out of the crashed 72 vert to go into this one. It was from Michigan but was totally rust free. I ran through the molasses tank and coated inside with POR. I will weld that in before going on the rotisserie. 









2F03Q178729_dlxrpt.pdf

 

[73pony]

Will be a fun ride when done. I'm running the 2V aussie heads with full roller cam and 5 speed in my coupe and it is scary fast. They do heads up drag races here in the summer, 1/8 mile. Took mine down to one last year and won both my classes (mustang class & pre 1980 Detroit iron class). I entered the open class too, beat out an all wheel drive Audi S4 and a couple other guys then got smoked by a guy with a tubbed out 89 s-10 blazer.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Sounds like a blast. You never get away from the need for speed.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

My help to get the vert on the rotisserie never shows up. This bug got lots of things off kilter. I cannot move the cars around the garage with my crushed disc.

So today I dug out some steering wheels and picked one to try to restore. See how it goes.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I hammered and beat and twisted for hours. Have the end caps on the quarters, trunk bolted on and the filler panel clamped and screwed in place. Working with mating surfaces to get a little better fit before welding in the filler panel.

Me and Whiskers my pup went down and did a little more hammering and twisting and I think I can maybe weld in next time. I will spot weld and also braze the joints. The trunk that came with the car had a spoiler added and I am not going to have one so I pulled another trunk out of the pile. 

When you do not have the spring on the hinges you can take a bungy cord and keep the hinge up so it is easy to get the trunk on and get the bolts started.

Should be able to get to the paint room tomorrow. My son blew his clutch out of his 2018 GT Mustang just after the believe it or not 12,000 mile warranty ran out. He will be here tomorrow so he and help move them around. I do not like to weld in the open garage. I want in the enclosed work / paint room in case there is a fire. It is all sealed up and easier to control. 

I used some screws to hold the panel in place and some scraps of a trunk seal to space the lid up. These cars were never really great and this will be a track days car not a show car. 

That filler panel was stripped of paint and ran through the molasses tank almost two years ago. That raw steel has been in shop and zero rust. I had the POR phosphate treatment on it really keeps raw steel from rusting while you work with it. 

I would say that close to 50% of your time on working on one of these cars will be making the parts fit and align like you want. The welding, assembly and painting goes fast. 

 

[jowens1126]

The most frustrating and infuriating thing about getting old is not being able to do something you know damn well you could do just a year or two ago. This is something I am having to come to grips with, and im having a very hard time with it. Good luck David. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[mjseakan]

The most frustrating and infuriating thing about getting old is not being able to do something you know damn well you could do just a year or two ago.  This is something I am having to come to grips with, and im having a very hard time with it.  Good luck David.  I hope you feel better soon.

+1

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I am running out of light things to do fast. I have most of the brackets, and bolt on parts reworked and wrapped. A few still lost in the piles of parts but will pick out as I find. I am probably going to do the convertible top frame next. Has anyone found a real kit that replaces all the nylon bushings and washers in the top frame. How about a great new tack strip insert for the bows? 

I am thinking of going to talk to my engine guy Ben Barnes and see if we need to plan out the buy of parts. We do have local shop that makes parts for NASCAR. My friend with the GTO had them make his pistons custom for his 18 to 1 compression engine. I know Bill Elliott pushed the compression on the 351 out the top was what gave him the edge in the day and they lived. The engine is last thing needed and does not need to sit in the corner and not turn over tough on valve springs. 

They are having a run at the Charlotte track on the Roval later this month wish I were ready. Would love to record the sound of a sweet cleveland on the Roval. 

 

[droptop73]

When is the event at the Roval? I'll be in the general area around the 25th.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Ok I have to get ready for surgery in about a week. So I wanted the body on the rotisserie so I can still sand on it but not lift anything. Had to move parts car out of way and take the rotisserie apart and got the vert on 2 post and the front half of the rotisserie mounted. Will do the main spine and rear tomorrow then back to the work room. Will have to do some adjusting to get balance perfect so I can move with one hand. This is another good example of something you can do with two post lift but cannot with a 4 post. 
I do hope I can get paint on before it gets too cold. I do not have heat system in garage have never needed one not a working paint shop just playing with cars.

 

[machattack]

Man.........some people have all the good toys and tools. Good for you on the surgery. Dont let it go any longer. Take care and recoup quickly.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I took a job in China after I retired so China paid for my home, and shop and a couple cars also. You can make way more money in China than the U.S..

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Ok today I finally got the work room cleaned out and rolled the vert in. So it is there to start the sand and prime and block the primer out. It looks like I have plenty of room to open the doors and get around the front and rear. 
I still have to build the door to close the room off and worked on the plan some today. Will run a pressurized room so no chance of a spark from a motor if you push the air instead of pull.

Will be blocking and figuring out the roll cage layout. If anyone has a good racing seat I need one..
I made me a roll around rack for my sandpaper and body work stuff. Couple 2X4 and some 3/4" conduit and have a place for shop towels, masking paper, tape, and sandpaper. Cabinet has all the sanders and supplies. I am not a day to day body shop so do not need something professional just keep it organized. 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

This room is also my hunting stand. I will be hunting deer out the window very soon, lol. I see turkeys, deer and my neighbor went face to face with a black bear the other day. I put corn and salt out and they pay the garage no attention. So early I will be hunting then sanding and then late hunting again, lol. 

 

[mach71351c]

Now that is a work room! :thumb:

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Been doing some sanding and filler got both quarter panels about ready for the filler primer. 
I have been tryiing to think this out some. I think the vert will be a crazy track days car. But I do have this totally rust free Grande that seems to be worth nothing except for parts no matter how good it is or how optioned. 
Since one of our members is doing the KK car with the 2" drop in front I am not considering just doing the vert with great roll cage and sub frame connectors and built the Grande for the track car and do the 2" KK drop on it. 
It is amazing to me how some look down on them but a coupe should be the best body for a track car.
Now I have been told by those that run tracks that you better start out with dry sump or you will be building an engine every time you go to the track. So I did some searching and Aviaid has built them for years. Supplied the Cobra, Shelby, GT-40 and many others. I requested a quote for what it took to hook up the 351 C with a dry sump. I got the quote today at $3,257.14 which is a lot for an oil pump I think, lol. Most of the guys on here run 1/4 mile or SETA, mile runs which do not need the dry sump. 
Does anyone have a dry sump for a 351 C that you do not need or do you know of one out there. I do realize building a real engine gets expensive and can go over $20,000 quickly. I am retired so have to pull money out of retirement to fund my sickness. I can do all the assembly and have someone that has built NASCAR engines for close to 50 years to do the machine and balance work and can do the dyno tuning for the fuel injection. 
I probably will not go over 14 to 1 on compression although the 351 in NASCAR saw 16 - 1 a lot. I want it to live not just make a few runs. I want my last hot rod to be a blast and not be a money pit. 
In talking with some of the NASCAR guys they ran different compression in different cylinders to balance the heat. They had to run for hundreds of miles not just a 1/4 mile. They did lots of strange things.
So if you know of a dry sump system let me know. 

So I will keep going on the vert body and hope to have color on before dead of winter. Getting old for sure slows you down and I have to do everything around home also. 
No hunting from the workroom they bush hogged the field and power company trimming the right of way so no reason to look out the window, lol. Will give a couple days to die down and see what shows up.
Link is to the Aviaid site. https://aviaid.com/contact.htm

 

[71Rustang]

Hi,So are planning a period Trans Amish.... track car or  has the looks with more modern suspension? Just my opinion,but I would chop the front end of every one of these cars no matter what the intended use.It just looks better.Nice convertible by the way.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

It will have beefed up factory suspension like would have been ran in the day. 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have been trying to put in a couple hours every day sanding and getting the final fit Have the passenger side about ready for next coat of primer. The car had the protection package which included the bump strip down the side. The PO had welded them up so having to work those areas. The bodies on Mustangs are just horrible with lots of ups and downs especially on doors caused by the hemming of the door skin. 
I took a few pics of the passenger side.

On the divers side it looks like I will have to split the L.H quarter panel and move the front edge forward about 1/4" at the top the PO did really bad job on his patch work. 
The body / chassis was dip stripped but he replace the front fenders, no holes for the protection package. When I started to sand I saw color and he had just sanded the original factory paint and primed it. This is a good example of why you always strip to bare metal. The fender has lots of rust that had to be there when they painted at the factory. The same rust was on the trunk like that I stripped also rusty under the factory paint. Will be headed to the molasses tank after I sand all I can. 

I am still on light duty for a while longer probably been doing too much still bleeding from surgery like three weeks ago. I just want to get this car done.