73 Coupe Project

[Totalled]

A 408W? They make great torque. You should be very happy with that combo.

 

[7stang3]

Progress:

Brought the car home after the body shop applied the undercoating.





Painted the engine bay.



Engine Progress:

Installed camshaft and crankshaft, sized rings and installed pistons.

 

[73StangCoupe]

Looks like you've been a very busy guy. Looks great. I love the coupes!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[7stang3]

Summer is starting to get in the way of progress at this point. Ordered some parts and waiting to install transmission and engine (close but not complete yet). We're at the point where finishing something requires another thing to be done.

The most visible point of progress:

Installing the headliner



and installed the coolant recovery bottle, the windshield wash bottle and the MSD box.



Hopefully, in a couple of weeks we can show more progress.

 

[7stang3]

Engine Done. Hope the rest of the car looks as good!







I also hope it fits under the hood!

 

[mach71351c]

Simply awesome!

 

[Mikes73]

The engine looks great, excellent work.

 

[7stang3]

Hey!

Back from sabbatical! Between summer things, working on car and then (old) computer issues, I have not been active here for a while. Replaced computer last week and snowed in today ( drove 3 feet off of sidewalk - 40 minutes to get back to driveway - front wheel drive car) so I have time to post. Here goes!

Put the transmission into place. Went with a C4 TCI rebuild as I could purchase cheaper than I could have my own built locally. We matched the torque converter to the cam (2400 stall) as per CompCam. Purchasing the transmission allowed me to trade the original trans to my Brother In Law (BIL) for the 351W block used on engine.



BIL dropped engine off. Notice - the water pump (cannot remember the brand - probably a fine pump) lacks all of the mounting holes, particularly on the driver's side, for the CVF Racing pulley system.



Engine in position.



BTW, credit where credit is due, used 72 style Lakewood motor mounts. Learned all about the 73 motor mount issues here on this site :udaman: and purchased the motor mount perches (?, the brackets the motor mounts sit on) used from a Mercury Cougar parts house.

Installed the headers. Of course, we had to take off the driver's side mount and tilt engine to put into place. HaHa, live and learn - two steps forward and one back. Used the Hedman 302 headers that I had purchased before I changed my mind and had the 408 built. The Hedman headers are just about the cheapest things you can buy. However, they fit like a glove! The cutout for the power steering gearbox is perfect. With the 408, they also suck up to the bottom of the firewall for great ground clearance. The downside is the 1 5/8 " tube size. However, my goals for the engine (high torque & 5500 rev limit) dovetail with this choice. Gonna keep 'em.





Installed the alternator and power steering pump brackets. Were missing some mounting holes for the a/c pump mount. After consulting with CVF, learned that they based their pattern on the Edelbrock pumps. Purchased the proper style and went to town. The alternator is a one wire - Ford mount.

FWIW, I chose the v belt system for $ reasons. I also bought into the tightener argument concerning the serpentine style belts (the bell crank style tightener is not the tightener the serpentine belts were designed for) and like the redundancy on the water pump drive pulley.



With the proper water pump into place, installed the a/c brackets. The CVF Racing pulley system is designed to use the Sanden style pump. Which is great, as I have guys that work with me that have experience with the Sanden and R134 systems (and all the equipment to service them!).



Looking at this picture, I realize that this is a pretty recent picture. The radiator is installed. Went with the Summit Racing generic ( made by Northern) and a dual electric fan kit. Used the original radiator mounts, possibly relocated to a different position - I do not recall. Put a bolt completely through the plastic fan mount, radiator and radiator mount. Dead solid - could be prettier, but satisfied.

Also in picture are the heater hoses, the vacuum line, the carburetor fuel line and the upper radiator hose. We started with braided line on the fuel line. Then, the whole thing snow balled and then avalanche! blush: Seemed like a good idea at the time!

We had a thermostat housing that came straight out (instead of up), but could not get the bypass 90 on with the wire braided upper hose. I really wanted to use this (just to buffalo the Chevy guys - Cleveland wannabe ), but the work around was just too much. I guess the MSD distributor and spark plug wires are evident as well.

We also had time to install the headliner.



After things warm up a bit, I will take pictures of the exhaust and header fitment. We are currently working on the wiring. Right or wrong, we cut the harness in half at the shock tower, evident on the pictures above. We are going to lengthen and reroute the wiring outside of the engine compartment to clean up the driver's side a little. This may be the stupidest thing I have considered, but am all in now!

For now-

 

[jbojo]

Wow, super job that you are doing and the car is looking awesome. Great progress.

 

[7stang3]

Wow, super job that you are doing and the car is looking awesome. Great progress.

High Praise coming from you! I hope when done this is 1/2 as clean as yours. Thanks to all contributors on this site. I had not considered starting this project until I had spent over 30 hours on this site ogling all the cars and getting "edumakated" Could not be happier at this point - nothing has leaked (except one brake line), it has not "not started", and nothing has fell off!

 

[DK73]

Hi wow that's looks so great you're work on that engine[emoji8][emoji41] Regards DK73

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Regards DK73

 

[protouringstang73]

Wow! It looks awesome, great job on the engine and I really like how you are doing the engine bay.. Great progress!

 

[7stang3]

:whistling: Hard to imagine that this much time has passed since posting. We have been working (slowly) steadily on the car since my last post. I hope that I have archived photos so that I may catch everyone up to the progress we had made.

I do have recent photos of the latest tasks accomplished. We painted the door jams, etc.













And ordered rims/tires to check fit.

 

[mach71351c]

Congrats on the new paint.

 

[vozaday]

Love the build. You will be happy with your choice in tires, makes it handle like a dream.

 

[7stang3]

Thanks. I have seen good reviews for the tires, but do not know anyone with them. A number of the reviews mentioned high noise and with the size of the rain channels, I can believe.

The rears are 275 40 18 and the fronts are 245 45 17. I have had the steering gearbox rebuilt by Power Steering Services in Reed Springs, MO. I opted for the 12.7:1 fast ratio conversion. Coupled with the tires, I think I will have a little steering response.::thumb:: Just steering this up the rollback, one can appreciate the difference.

 

[7stang3]

Rewind: Seat installation

I had purchased the Cerullo seats as my drivers seat frame was broken and I was looking to upgrade. Upon installation, my towering (5'8") frame caused my hair to brush on the new headliner. We decided to remove the seat pans.



We also had to modify the seat mount brackets. We added a new mounting hole closer to the adjustment rails and removing the excess that would not allow attachment to the base frame.



We then added a strap under the floor board for reinforcement, after measuring for fit.



The resulting height is perfect for me. A taller person would have to lay the seat back more than my preferred upright position. The only minor issue is that the seats will fully recline.



But, the adjustment knob is very close the edge of the pan, requiring forefinger/thumb operation.



In the end, I now have comfortable seats.



P.S. Any help flipping the final picture would be appreciated!

 

[vozaday]

Thanks. I have seen good reviews for the tires, but do not know anyone with them. A number of the reviews mentioned high noise and with the size of the rain channels, I can believe.

The rears are 275 40 18 and the fronts are 245 45 17. I have had the steering gearbox rebuilt by Power Steering Services in Reed Springs, MO. I opted for the 12.7:1 fast ratio conversion. Coupled with the tires, I think I will have a little steering response.::thumb:: Just steering this up the rollback, one can appreciate the difference.

I read that too, but I can't hear them at all over the noise of the engine and wind.

 

[7stang3]

Paint last weekend. Murphy's law struck. After unloading car and backing into the paint booth, lifting and removing tires/rims and bagging the brakes, we noticed a crack in the primer of the bumper.





We had talked about flex additive, before purchasing materials, but completely forgot.:-/. Now we get to take the bumper off and paint by itself later.

The results.







Now, we can take a couple of days off and then wet sand and polish. Then onto trim, etc.

 

[73pony]

Sharp! Looks great.