71 Mach1 rebuild

[kusanagi]

I will be using a MegaSquirt 3x ECU running full sequential ignition and injection.

 

[92GTS-R]

Thanks for all the Great pictures, Awesome build. I take it you did all the welding yourself?

I'm in North Surrey and have a 71 Fastback. I would love some info and tips on where to start.

Need help with wiring too

cheers Mark

 

[kusanagi]

Yep did all the welding myself ( I have got better over the years ).

Where to start mmm, that's a difficult one, if I was looking to do a total restoration I would do what I did with this one, and tear it down to a bare shell ( filler hides horrors ) and that would give you good idea what you are looking at.

If you are looking at doing a light resto the area's I would look at first would be the structure ( sills, torque boxes, subframes, floors and suspension mounts ), next I would look at the main shell ( a post, b post, etc ) paying close attention to the scuttle area ( heater vents ) as this is well known for rotting out and to repair it properly you need to take the windshield out, this leads to the next area I would look at, the windshield surround as this rots out quite regularly ( front and back ).

Another area which can rot out is the bottom of the shock towers, any other panels ( front inner fenders, rear wings ) can be bought no problem just make sure that the stamping is correct before you cut out the old panel ( guess how I know this ).

When fitting the chrome trim back in the door gap make sure you seal it well, or you will get leaks, and when fitting the rear lights back in use sealant on them as this is another area that can leak, put waxoil in all the box sections and any other area's which could get damp.

I would also recommend fitting dynomat or a dynomat copy on the floors and in the doors as this will make the car a bit more comfortable. As for the wiring, what I did on my wiring was to put it back to stock, fit LED's on the internal lights, side lights and brake lights as this puts less stress on the wiring loom, put any extras on there own fuse box and loom. Another thing that I did was to replace the sealed beam headlamps with a set of range rover headlamps ( pattern on the reflector not the front ) and wired the lights so the switches only work relays and the main and dipped beams get power direct from the battery.

If you look though my previous posts you should see what I mean on some of these area's.

I hope this is of some help/information.

Karl.

P.S. If you do decide to go down the full resto route, be warned it can take a while, I have been working on mine for about 11 years.

 

[Kilgon]

Really nice build. It would be nice to have the room, time and money to go the full boat. Keep up the great work.

 

[machattack]

Right to begin with a little history of the car.

 I have hade this car for about 16 years and until about 9 years ago it was used regularly, up until on the way home from a owners club show it decided to eat its gearbox, as the car was a bit of an oil burner anyway I decided to take the engine and gearbox out to do a bit of restoration work to them, but with the engine and gearbox out I decided to start prodding around the bodywork ( fatal mistake ) next thing I know was that the rear light cluster fell out. with this in mind I decided to pull the car apart and do a total rebuild.

A photo of the car as I bought it.

002a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The first thing tackled was the gearbox rebuild, this also involved in fitting a shift kit.

DSC00100a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The next job tackled was the replacement of the back end..

DSC00107a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00118a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00119a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00352a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00353a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00354a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00357a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Also done at this time but not photo's were taken, was both rear torque boxes repaired and the front passenger torque box also repaired, and also the aftermarket sunroof was removed and the roof repaired and re strengthened, I also fitted chassis connection bars.

 Next up was the scuttle and heater intake repair.

  DSC00364a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00368a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00373a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Next up it was the turn of the chassis rails, shock towers and inner fenders.

DSC00375a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00377a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00382a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00383a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00384a by karl stroud, on Flickr

After this was done the main shell was painted with primer then after this was flatted off then painted with topcoat.

P1000875a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000876a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000880a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000881a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The doors, front fenders, hood and trunk lid were all stripped and filled where needed then primed and painted..

DSC00398a by karl stroud, on Flickr

DSC00406a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000900a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000924a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000964a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The fuel tank was reconditioned and modified for fuel injection and fitted to the car as well as new fuel lines being run.

P1000902a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The next job to be tackled was the suspension, first was the rear this just required fitting new springs shocks and poly bushes, and at this time custom made traction bars were fitted, a rear sway may be fitted at a later date as I fitted the correct fixings in the chassis for a factory sway bar, then it was the fronts turn this involved re-enforcing the front upper and lower arms and making custom stay bars as well as fitting new springs, shocks and poly bushes and fitting an uprated sway bar.

P1000946a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The front upper and lower arms were boxed in and seam welded.

P1000959a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000960a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000962a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000970a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000972a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000995a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000996a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000999a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010001a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010009a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010010a by karl stroud, on Flickr

I also started sound proofing the inside.

P1000982a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000983a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000988a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000991a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The rear lights where also reconditioned.

P1010003a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010004a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010005a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Also done was the repair and repainting of the steering assembly.

  P1010019a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010020a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010024a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010026a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010031a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010032a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Next was the repair of a very broken front grill.

P1010035a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010038a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010039a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010090a by karl stroud, on Flickr

I also started to fit the roof sound proofing and head lining.

P1010013a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010014a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010047a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010048a by karl stroud, on Flickr

At this time I decided to get the exhaust system out of the way and made some adjustable brackets for it as the engine is not in yet I could not finalise the position.

P1010059a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010060a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010061a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The trunk has also been soundproofed.

P1010076a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010078a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Then the swirl pot and fuel pumps have been fitted.

P1010093a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010095a by karl stroud, on Flickr

And the custom made brake pipes.

P1010096a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010097a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The next job done was to media blast the wheels and repaint them..

P1010102a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010105a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010107a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010108a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010110a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010114a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010116a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010120a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The next job I decided to do was to repair and modify the front side/indicator light assembly so it will be legal for use in the uk.

P1010133a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010136a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000463a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000464a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000466a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000468a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000469a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000470a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000473a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000476a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000478a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000482a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Now it was the turn of the interior trim starting with the cracked and damaged dash top.

P1010150a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010152a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010153a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010154a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010155a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010158a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000540a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Then the door cards.

P1010161a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010167a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1010168a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000530a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000532a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000533a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000539a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Also at the same time a lot of other interior trim parts where also repaired and repainted.

P1000535a by karl stroud, on Flickr

After doing all of this work to the main part of the car I thought it was time to start doing some work on the engine. With this in mind I started collecting parts for its rebuild first up was a cheap pair of alloy heads for me to experiment on ( the original 2v heads require to much work ).

P1010165a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Next up was the rebore, this was a complete nightmare as one of the cylinders had over 25 thou of wear on the thrust face so the block required a rebore of 60 thou, the engine was sonic measured and was found to have plenty of meat on the walls.

P1000506a by karl stroud, on Flickr

New pistons and rods where then ordered..

P1000562a by karl stroud, on Flickr

The block was then smoothed inside and out and then painted.

  P1000542a by karl stroud, on Flickr

Next I started collecting parts again and I also modified an old accel distributor to act as a cam position sensor for the EFI I will be fitting at a later date.

  P1000546a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000547a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000548a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000550a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000551a by karl stroud, on Flickr

P1000543a by karl stroud, on Flickr

This where I have got to as of may this year, almost no work has been done since then as my mum passed away in may and I have been helping my dad out, in fact I have only started doing a few bits to the car in the past week or so, and that was only sorting a couple of paint reactions and a couple of small cracks which had developed on the roof.

 I will update this thread when I get around to doing some more work to the car, plus I have got to get some advice on the final spec of the engine.

Karl.

 

[machattack]

What tranny is that? FMX first guess.

Your doing a GREAT job. Wanna come to America and lend a hand. I get dibs on you first.

Keep them photos coming...... also a big LIKE from me.

 

[92GTS-R]

Yep did all the welding myself ( I have got better over the years ).

Where to start mmm, that's a difficult one, if I was looking to do a total restoration I would do what I did with this one, and tear it down to a bare shell ( filler hides horrors ) and that would give you good idea what you are looking at.

If you are looking at doing a light resto the area's I would look at first would be the structure ( sills, torque boxes, subframes, floors and suspension mounts ), next I would look at the main shell ( a post, b post, etc ) paying close attention to the scuttle area ( heater vents ) as this is well known for rotting out and to repair it properly you need to take the windshield out, this leads to the next area I would look at, the windshield surround as this rots out quite regularly ( front and back ).

Another area which can rot out is the bottom of the shock towers, any other panels ( front inner fenders, rear wings ) can be bought no problem just make sure that the stamping is correct before you cut out the old panel ( guess how I know this ).

When fitting the chrome trim back in the door gap make sure you seal it well, or you will get leaks, and when fitting the rear lights back in use sealant on them as this is another area that can leak, put waxoil in all the box sections and any other area's which could get damp.

I would also recommend fitting dynomat or a dynomat copy on the floors and in the doors as this will make the car a bit more comfortable. As for the wiring, what I did on my wiring was to put it back to stock, fit LED's on the internal lights, side lights and brake lights as this puts less stress on the wiring loom, put any extras on there own fuse box and loom. Another thing that I did was to replace the sealed beam headlamps with a set of range rover headlamps ( pattern on the reflector not the front ) and wired the lights so the switches only work relays and the main and dipped beams get power direct from the battery.

If you look though my previous posts you should see what I mean on some of these area's.

I hope this is of some help/information.

Karl.

P.S. If you do decide to go down the full resto route, be warned it can take a while, I have been working on mine for about 11 years.

Ha ha, you see, that's the trouble with forums,  they don't give you real time hours spent doing this work!

Thanks for the info.  Yes Light resto is what I am aiming for,but we know how that works out! lollerz

 

[kusanagi]

Yep it starts with, I will just sort out that small gearbox problem and that small bit of rust around the rear lights .

 

[vintageman]

Looks great, keep it up.

Tom

 

[tony-muscle]

Yep it starts with, I will just sort out that small gearbox problem and that small bit of rust around the rear lights .

Sometimes it starts when you are just trying to replace the carpet.