71 Mach l Mystery

[Cobra2572]

The more I dig into this car, the more confused I get. The last inspection sticker on this car is 3/83. The previous owner got it from the estate of the family that bought it new so I'm told.The odometer says 24120, which I assume to be 124120 but this car has some strange attributes. The brake and clutch pedals look barely used. The drum brakes are very intact and hardly worn although they could have been replaced with factory parts. The exhaust looks like the original H pipe and the exhaust tips are rusted through but appear to be original. The air cleaner appears to be original paint and the underside is like new. Saturday we pulled the engine (numbers match) because we found a bent push rod and just figured the whole thing should be rebuilt. There was a broken valve which probably explains why it was parked in 1983 and left for dead. Most of the damage on this car is from sitting somewhere for a lot of years unprotected from the elements. The motor is surprisingly clean. It has a Ford water pump and a nylon FOMOCO timing gear. From the looks of it, I doubt that the original owners were particular enough to replace everything with factory parts. And it has one ugly, cheap paint job, The factory paint is underneath. I have attached pictures of the aforementioned items and would appreciate any comments helpful or otherwise.

Thanks for reading this,

Dave

 

[rvrtrash]

You can get a better idea of miles by looking at a couple of things. How tight was the timing chain on the "factory" nylon gear. Did it have a lot of play? Even better is measure the cylinder walls when you tear it down. If they're within .005 and concentric, you have a low mile car.

Steve

 

[jbojo]

I am going to guess that its a low miles car. Valley area looks too clean. Too bad the car wasn't kept in better condition.

 

[Cobra2572]

You can get a better idea of miles by looking at a couple of things. How tight was the timing chain on the "factory" nylon gear. Did it have a lot of play? Even better is measure the cylinder walls when you tear it down. If they're within .005 and concentric, you have a low mile car.

Steve

Thanks Steve. The timing chain was a bit loose but I'm not an expert. The gear looked great to me. One of our techs told me the same thing about the block so that's high on the list. Logic tells me this should have a lot of miles but it would be nice to have it prove to be low miles.

Dave

You can get a better idea of miles by looking at a couple of things. How tight was the timing chain on the "factory" nylon gear. Did it have a lot of play? Even better is measure the cylinder walls when you tear it down. If they're within .005 and concentric, you have a low mile car.

Steve

Thanks Steve. The timing chain was a bit loose but I'm not an expert. The gear looked great to me. One of our techs told me the same thing about the block so that's high on the list. Logic tells me this should have a lot of miles but it would be nice to have it prove to be low miles.

Dave

 

[kcmash]

The more I dig into this car, the more confused I get. The last inspection sticker on this car is 3/83. The previous owner got it from the estate of the family that bought it new so I'm told.The odometer says 24120, which I assume to be 124120 but this car has some strange attributes. The brake and clutch pedals look barely used. The drum brakes are very intact and hardly worn although they could have been replaced with factory parts. The exhaust looks like the original H pipe and the exhaust tips are rusted through but appear to be original. The air cleaner appears to be original paint and the underside is like new. Saturday we pulled the engine (numbers match) because we found a bent push rod and just figured the whole thing should be rebuilt. There was a broken valve which probably explains why it was parked in 1983 and left for dead. Most of the damage on this car is from sitting somewhere for a lot of years unprotected from the elements. The motor is surprisingly clean. It has a Ford water pump and a nylon FOMOCO timing gear. From the looks of it, I doubt that the original owners were particular enough to replace everything with factory parts. And it has one ugly, cheap paint job, The factory paint is underneath. I have attached pictures of the aforementioned items and would appreciate any comments helpful or otherwise.

Thanks for reading this,

Dave

I find the drip fingers in a 4V Cleveland valve cover interesting. I have not seen those in the painted Power By Ford valve covers in any cars I looked at.

kcmash

 

[Boss1Ray]

I'd say about 95% chance you car looked very similar to this in original trim.

A rare look these days as most add on the stripes and hood treatment.



http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_12941-Ford-Mustang-Mach-1-1971.html

Cool site showing movie cars! Notice where Kurt (cudak888) sets someone straight! Good job Kurt!



Ray

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

The more I dig into this car, the more confused I get. The last inspection sticker on this car is 3/83. The previous owner got it from the estate of the family that bought it new so I'm told.The odometer says 24120, which I assume to be 124120 but this car has some strange attributes. The brake and clutch pedals look barely used. The drum brakes are very intact and hardly worn although they could have been replaced with factory parts. The exhaust looks like the original H pipe and the exhaust tips are rusted through but appear to be original. The air cleaner appears to be original paint and the underside is like new. Saturday we pulled the engine (numbers match) because we found a bent push rod and just figured the whole thing should be rebuilt. There was a broken valve which probably explains why it was parked in 1983 and left for dead. Most of the damage on this car is from sitting somewhere for a lot of years unprotected from the elements. The motor is surprisingly clean. It has a Ford water pump and a nylon FOMOCO timing gear. From the looks of it, I doubt that the original owners were particular enough to replace everything with factory parts. And it has one ugly, cheap paint job, The factory paint is underneath. I have attached pictures of the aforementioned items and would appreciate any comments helpful or otherwise.

Thanks for reading this,

Dave

I find the drip fingers in a 4V Cleveland valve cover interesting. I have not seen those in the painted Power By Ford valve covers in any cars I looked at.

kcmash

I have been talking with Dave about this car for a while. I told him he might look for a set of the stamped metal splash thingies that go on the rockers, pic att. I think they stopped the piece in the valve cover early in the 71 model build and put the better ones on the rockers and stayed there. It gets much better oiling to the rockers using the stamped parts instead of the tabs in the valve cover. For sure not common. I guess you could leave them in there as long as they clear everything.

I to think it is a low miles car since North Carolina had the inspection stickers until sometime after 2000. They could not have got a tag without the sticker so not driven just sat. A great find I think

David

 

[Cobra2572]

I'd say about 95% chance you car looked very similar to this in original trim.

A rare look these days as most add on the stripes and hood treatment.

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_12941-Ford-Mustang-Mach-1-1971.html

Cool site showing movie cars! Notice where Kurt (cudak888) sets someone straight! Good job Kurt!

Ray

Ray,

According to the Marti Report you are correct. I plan to keep it pretty close to the original look. The car is incredibly straight and the lower side molding is in very good shape as well, other than the rear quarter pieces, which are missing. Finding the green decor door panels is going to be a challenge, but I think I can work with the rest of the interior. The only concession that I will probably make are 15" Magnums since they are still produced. I really enjoy this website and appreciate everyone's input. David has been feeding me a lot of valuable information as well. The technical expertise of all of you is overwhelming.

Dave

The more I dig into this car, the more confused I get. The last inspection sticker on this car is 3/83. The previous owner got it from the estate of the family that bought it new so I'm told.The odometer says 24120, which I assume to be 124120 but this car has some strange attributes. The brake and clutch pedals look barely used. The drum brakes are very intact and hardly worn although they could have been replaced with factory parts. The exhaust looks like the original H pipe and the exhaust tips are rusted through but appear to be original. The air cleaner appears to be original paint and the underside is like new. Saturday we pulled the engine (numbers match) because we found a bent push rod and just figured the whole thing should be rebuilt. There was a broken valve which probably explains why it was parked in 1983 and left for dead. Most of the damage on this car is from sitting somewhere for a lot of years unprotected from the elements. The motor is surprisingly clean. It has a Ford water pump and a nylon FOMOCO timing gear. From the looks of it, I doubt that the original owners were particular enough to replace everything with factory parts. And it has one ugly, cheap paint job, The factory paint is underneath. I have attached pictures of the aforementioned items and would appreciate any comments helpful or otherwise.

Thanks for reading this,

Dave

I find the drip fingers in a 4V Cleveland valve cover interesting. I have not seen those in the painted Power By Ford valve covers in any cars I looked at.

kcmash

I have been talking with Dave about this car for a while. I told him he might look for a set of the stamped metal splash thingies that go on the rockers, pic att. I think they stopped the piece in the valve cover early in the 71 model build and put the better ones on the rockers and stayed there. It gets much better oiling to the rockers using the stamped parts instead of the tabs in the valve cover. For sure not common. I guess you could leave them in there as long as they clear everything.

I to think it is a low miles car since North Carolina had the inspection stickers until sometime after 2000. They could not have got a tag without the sticker so not driven just sat. A great find I think

David

David,

Thanks for the pictures. I think I now understand what you were talking about when you previously mentioned these to me.

Dave

 

[secluff]

Defiantly a Mystery car. By 71 all hydraulic lifter 351, 400 engines should of had the D1AZ-6524-A oil baffles on the rocker arms instead of the valve cover "Fingers". My 6/70 "M" code Torino and my 9/70 "M" code 71 Mach 1 both had rocker arm mounted baffles. So the photos of your valve train certainly was something I hadn't seen on a 71 up model before. If you do install the rocker baffles it will certainly open the possibilities of using other valve covers such as chrome or aluminum, if you don't reuse your original.

Looks like you have scored a very nice project car. Keep us posted and be sure to ask if you have any questions. Many of us (and our $$) have been through these type hair pulling projects! Good luck with yours!!

 

[mjlan]

You mention nice shape drum brakes: on the assembly line Ford (or the brake supplier) used what I would best describe as one-way washer, like a a kind of clip, on a couple of wheel studs to hold the drum tight to the hub or axle flange. If these are still there it is evidence that the drum has not been off as these were usually discarded the first time anyone had to pop a drum off to check the status of the brake shoes...

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

You mention nice shape drum brakes: on the assembly line Ford (or the brake supplier) used what I would best describe as one-way washer, like a a kind of clip, on a couple of wheel studs to hold the drum tight to the hub or axle flange. If these are still there it is evidence that the drum has not been off as these were usually discarded the first time anyone had to pop a drum off to check the status of the brake shoes...

Good thing to look for. My dad made me put them back on, lol. Called a speed nut by most. Like you say just to hold the drums on until they got the rear end or front assembly onto the car. The older Ford trucks had three small bolts to hold the drum on I bet someone got a bonus for coming up with the speed nuts. My 1950 had them.

David

 

[Cobra2572]

You mention nice shape drum brakes: on the assembly line Ford (or the brake supplier) used what I would best describe as one-way washer, like a a kind of clip, on a couple of wheel studs to hold the drum tight to the hub or axle flange. If these are still there it is evidence that the drum has not been off as these were usually discarded the first time anyone had to pop a drum off to check the status of the brake shoes...

I know what your talking about and that's a great point. The front drum that I removed did not have them.

You mention nice shape drum brakes: on the assembly line Ford (or the brake supplier) used what I would best describe as one-way washer, like a a kind of clip, on a couple of wheel studs to hold the drum tight to the hub or axle flange. If these are still there it is evidence that the drum has not been off as these were usually discarded the first time anyone had to pop a drum off to check the status of the brake shoes...

That's a great point and I know what you're talking about. The left front drum that I removed did not have it. I'm not sure how many miles a brake shoe would last. These don't look like they have many miles on them.

You mention nice shape drum brakes: on the assembly line Ford (or the brake supplier) used what I would best describe as one-way washer, like a a kind of clip, on a couple of wheel studs to hold the drum tight to the hub or axle flange. If these are still there it is evidence that the drum has not been off as these were usually discarded the first time anyone had to pop a drum off to check the status of the brake shoes...

Good thing to look for. My dad made me put them back on, lol. Called a speed nut by most. Like you say just to hold the drums on until they got the rear end or front assembly onto the car. The older Ford trucks had three small bolts to hold the drum on I bet someone got a bonus for coming up with the speed nuts. My 1950 had them.

David

I always call those star retainers. I hammer them flat on the floor and usually use them again.