71 Mach 1 - Novice Restoration

[Zach]

Looked into it some more and it looks like we will get it sand blasted and sprayed with primer. I didn't think it was worth the hassle at first but my mom brought it up and said she is ok getting it done and paying for it. The car is an absolute rust bucket so it is gonna reveal a bunch of patches that need to be done but at least we won't have rust showing up down the road, especially after all the time I am going to put into bodywork and restoring it. Might as well do it the right way.

Haven't priced it out or anything yet, might have a friend get us a good deal. Anyone have suggestions on what media, primer, etc. etc. Never done this before so I am unsure of details. If they charge too much for spray, or don't offer it I will primer it myself at home. How much should the car be stripped? At the moment its a shell with a steering column, minimal suspension, rear quarter windows, some chrome trim, drip rails, etc.

Thanks.

 

[Sheriff41]

Do your homework on blasting and talk to whoever does it for you about what media to use. Too hard a media can heat and warp the metal.

 

[tpj71mach]

You will need to remove the bright work and the glass for sure. I would recommend removing anything you can as that will give you a clean slate to start on. I stripped mine down to an empty shell other than rear leaf springs and differential and built a cart out of 2X4's to roll it around. When it is done it will need to be sprayed with epoxy primer. This will protect it and you can do repairs over epoxy primer. I sprayed the body of my car with gray epoxy and the engine compartment and underside with black epoxy primer. Then I painted the engine compartment and underside with black chassis paint after all my repairs were done. This way, in the future if the paint is chipped the black primer wouldn't show as much.

 

[Bill Perkins]

I lived in the Atlanta area for over 56 years, Decatur, Clarkston, Lilburn, Stone Mountain, Lawrenceville until July 2, 2021, we moved to be close to kids and grandkids in Opelika, Alabama. I miss so many of my car friends in the Atlanta area but so goes life. We like being close to family

 

[Bill Perkins]

Bill, I am east of Atlanta in the Augusta area, about 2 hours east. Pretty good area but brother has it been hot here lately. Where are you located.

Tom

If you know of any folks looking for some parts for a 1964 1/2-1966, 1967-1968, 1971-1973 Mustang, I have a few parts on my Ebay Store - 1972Pony

 

[Zach]

Trying to fit the apron brace and I am unsure the correct way to line them up. Replacement apron has the spot weld holes way to far on the edge, the replacement brace seems to be fabbed by the previous owner. The driver side is done so o will try to mirror that. How important is the line up or is it just for strength? Thanks.

 

[Zach]

Here is the current mock-up. I want to verify it before I weld it in place. Not sure how critical it is besides for strength. Thanks.

 

[tpj71mach]

Here is the current mock-up. I want to verify it before I weld it in place. Not sure how critical it is besides for strength. Thanks.View attachment 79140View attachment 79141View attachment 79142View attachment 79143

It is mostly for strength, but you will want to get it in as correct placement as possible but no one will ever see it once the fender is installed so don't make yourself crazy over it. Your support looks like the original. It appears the one end was repaired, you can try to line up the two holes with the holes in the apron if it is an original support, they will line up. I replaced my front apron because it was a little mangled in an accident from it's past not because of rust, so I was able to reuse my original support which made it much easier to place. I attached the best pictures of my repair I could find so you can see how the original support looked and how many plug welds I placed to connect the two. I plug welded all of the original pinch welds I drilled out when I separated it from the original apron. I felt that this insured it was as strong or stronger than Ford made it. You just want to make sure it is not in the way of the holes you are going to need to drill and file out for the fender attachment j-nuts. Otherwise you will be drilling and filing through two layers of metal (twice the work). It looks to me like you have yours positioned well and it will support that upper rail of the apron.

 

[Zach]

Been making slow progress, lots of procrastinating. Last thing that needs to be welded in the engine bay are these. I am curious on the correct position and alignment for them, previous owner temporarily screwed them in. Thanks.

 

[tpj71mach]

They look like they are in the right position to me. I am sorry I don't have very good pictures of that area but I posted what I have. At least you can see an original from a few different angle, I hope it helps.

 

[Zach]

They look like they are in the right position to me. I am sorry I don't have very good pictures of that area but I posted what I have. At least you can see an original from a few different angle, I hope it helps.

Sweet, thanks for the pics. Eventually my engine bay will looks that nice, hopefully.

 

[tpj71mach]

Sweet, thanks for the pics. Eventually my engine bay will looks that nice, hopefully.

You will get there, best way to move a mountain is one stone at a time.

 

[Zach]

They look like they are in the right position to me. I am sorry I don't have very good pictures of that area but I posted what I have. At least you can see an original from a few different angle, I hope it helps.

Hey curious, is this the final product of the engine bay. Correct lines, holes, etc. etc. helps to have a final product to look at. Thanks.

 

[tpj71mach]

The pic Mach 1 146 from my earlier post is when it first came back from media blast and it is in black epoxy primer. I had not yet replaced the passenger front apron. As you can see the metal of the front apron is bent and the front fender mounting hole is torn. The other two pictures are after repairs were all done and the engine compartment was painted. I attached a few more pics of the final engine bay after the RH front apron was replaced and all repairs were done and it was painted. Most of these are in my build thread if you care to look it up ('71 Mach 1 Resto project). My restoration is still not complete, but I am trying to document the build as as I go as well as possible with a lot of pics, maybe too many pics, LOL. The last picture I added probably won't help you with correct lines, holes etc. but I am proud of how the engine bay ended up so I like to show pics of it whenever I can.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

The pic Mach 1 146 from my earlier post is when it first came back from media blast and it is in black epoxy primer. I had not yet replaced the passenger front apron. As you can see the metal of the front apron is bent and the front fender mounting hole is torn. The other two pictures are after repairs were all done and the engine compartment was painted. I attached a few more pics of the final engine bay after the RH front apron was replaced and all repairs were done and it was painted. Most of these are in my build thread if you care to look it up ('71 Mach 1 Resto project). My restoration is still not complete, but I am trying to document the build as as I go as well as possible with a lot of pics, maybe too many pics, LOL. The last picture I added probably won't help you with correct lines, holes etc. but I am proud of how the engine bay ended up so I like to show pics of it whenever I can.

Well done engine bay tpj71mach!

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Been making slow progress, lots of procrastinating. Last thing that needs to be welded in the engine bay are these. I am curious on the correct position and alignment for them, previous owner temporarily screwed them in. Thanks.

View attachment 80488View attachment 80489

That appears to be where those braces go. They had some pretty beefy spot welds to hold the inner fender to the cowl. The fact that they have been cut loose and just screwed in makes me wonder why. Have you checked the cowl to make sure it will not need repair? It would be a shame to weld those back in and have to remove them to replace the cowl later on. Overall, it looks like you're making progress which is good.

Also, another tip. Using weld-thru primer on the overlapping surfaces will prevent rust starting in between panels on down the road. I found U-Pol #2 weld-thru primer to give the best results for me. I tried 2 others before I found the U-Pol and it worked much better than the others.

 

[Zach]

That appears to be where those braces go. They had some pretty beefy spot welds to hold the inner fender to the cowl. The fact that they have been cut loose and just screwed in makes me wonder why. Have you checked the cowl to make sure it will not need repair? It would be a shame to weld those back in and have to remove them to replace the cowl later on. Overall, it looks like you're making progress which is good.

Also, another tip. Using weld-thru primer on the overlapping surfaces will prevent rust starting in between panels on down the road. I found U-Pol #2 weld-thru primer to give the best results for me. I tried 2 others before I found the U-Pol and it worked much better than the others.

Previous owner dealt with the cowl and the driver side engine bay before I picked it up. He was a body man back in the day so I trust his work. Thing is a rust bucket just slightly less so now.

 

[tpj71mach]

Previous owner dealt with the cowl and the driver side engine bay before I picked it up. He was a body man back in the day so I trust his work. Thing is a rust bucket just slightly less so now.

With every rusty panel replaced, it is becoming less and less of a rust bucket. Soon it will be a nice solid foundation to build on.

 

[rafaelpadro24]

I agree with Stanglover, do the floor first and then replace the taillamp panel it leaves you plenty of room to work with the taillamp panel out of the way. Here's a couple pics of my car at that stage. You can see in the last picture I did not weld the lower quarter panels in because sectioning in the lower quarter panels was the next stage I had planned.

Thanks for the pics. It put in perspective how I'm going to tackle my trunk in my 73 Mach. Main floor are done and all inner fender apron. Shortly after the truck it will be cowl repair.

 

[Zach]

Been a while since I updated. Been busy with college haven’t had much time except for the last two weeks. Also not the best at keeping up to date with changes.

Got the floor pans in, along with a patch job under the dash. Floors were pretty easy, besides the passenger rear where someone blew m80 back there. Passenger seat pan was almost compromised by I was able to strengthen it enough to not flex, will circle back and weld the bottom once I get under and remove undercoating.

Next project is the corner where the rocker, wheel well, and rear upper seat pan meet. Thought it was just the floor but then it got a lot worse. Had to weld together the inner wall support to stop flexing. Found a hole in the rocker and cleared out a rat family. Wheel well is tubed due to rust. Don’t have latch panels for wheel well or rocker so I will be fabbing a lot. I have metal for the entire quarter panel and wheel arch which is nice.

Here’s the nightmare, making progress though you guys aren’t allowed to see my weld work. It’ll all be hidden in just focused on strength, shouldn’t be an issue when done. The leaf spring perch is untouched which is nice.