72 Convertible Road Trip Build

[TheManWithTheGoldenStang]

Just posted in the welcome forum. Starting a thread for the build/work on my 1972 Convertible.

Quick Stats:

Owned by my parents from 1986ish to 1995. Bought after 4+ interim owners in 2023.

1972
Gold Glow exterior, Ginger knit interior
351C 2V
FMX
2.75 Open
AC
113k miles

Plans for the future:

Growing up this was a daily driver. My mom drove me to school in it. We took it on road trips. It even *gasps* was driven in the snow (hey at least we don't salt roads out here). As such this car is going to be driven. My wife and I enjoy driving down the coast to Baja Mexico - the hope is to have this thing ready for our next trip south (probably winter 2024). Work and modifications will be with the goal of reliability and comfort. With luck a little more pep / better handling will be a natural byproduct.

 

[TheManWithTheGoldenStang]

First things first, some much needed maintenance!

I bought the car with what the previous owner thought was a rear main seal leak. A bit of sleuthing found it to be a combination of the intake and valve covers.

Intake removed, cleaned, and reinstalled with fel-pro gaskets.


Thoughts gaskets would fix the valve cover leaks, but they were super warped. Probably could have flattened them enough to work, but found some Ansen "as-cast" covers on eBay. These are similar to the Boss 351 covers, but without wire clips or the notches for twist-type oil caps. A little time with a die grinder and the drill press sorted that out.



While the covers were off, took note of aftermarket valve springs. Keepers look like what I've seen as multi-groove. Hoping they're one piece valves, but not wanting to pull the heads to find out.



No pictures, but decided to do a compression test while I was at it. Done cold. I have no idea how I'd squeeze my hands in there to pull all the plugs with a hot engine. Good news: I could read a ".030" on a piston via a borescope, so it's been gone through at some point.

Bad news. 7 cylinders are 171-173psi. 1 is 146. The internet seems to think they should be within 10% highest to lowest. My 1971 Ford shop manual says the lowest should be at least 75% of the highest. It passes the Ford spec at 84% of the highest, and generally runs great, the plug looks good etc. Ran some seafoam through the top end and will try to do a hot test in the future but going to run it for now.

 

[TheManWithTheGoldenStang]

Put the car back together, realized I had never seen the ammeter move. The car didn't have a factory tach/gauges so it was even more suspect than an original one. Put a voltmeter on the battery and saw 16.5V! New Motorcraft voltage regulator and it's sitting at 14.5V. Noticed some damage to the gauge feed harness so bought a new one. Fit great except for the push on connector for water temp. Spliced in the old one and we're back in business. I'll probably replace the alternator harness in the future when I figure out which one I have.

With the charging system sorted, it was time to sort out the ammeter. Pulled the dash apart (I have some other projects in work that I'll post below).

Sure enough, ammeter was never connected. Found a post from @computercarguy and it seemed like a good route since Rocketman isn't doing conversion right now. Amazon had the right gauge and though the package looks like it's been sitting around for 20 years the conversion fit / works great! I may print a new face in the future but it looks pretty close for now.

 

[JimB73]

Nice work! Getting after that "To Do List"

 

[cwalker509]

Awesome start! Looks like you will be crushing in no time

 

[TheManWithTheGoldenStang]

Thanks all!

One of the other reasons to pull the dash apart was the complete lack of gauge lighting. A set of LEDs from hipoparts got that sorted. Here's the new look:



Overall very happy with the LEDs (went with elite dimmable ones) and the voltmeter conversion.

The LEDs are pretty darned close to the stock color (my blue lenses were all in great shape). Instructions were very clear. Only issues were with brittle sockets/instrument cluster. Will probably have to sort that out better the next time I have the cluster out (which will likely be soon), for now there are a few taped in place.

I've heard mention that the turn signals are too bright. The kit I got came with green LEDs for the signals and through the green filter they seem fine to me.

For the voltmeter the font doesn't match exactly and the shape of the gauge means it's slightly brighter than the oil/temp gauges but a great $16 upgrade.

 

[cwalker509]

Is that a retractable antenna in the RH quarter?

 

[TheManWithTheGoldenStang]

Is that a retractable antenna in the RH quarter?

Yup, passenger quarter.