73 H Code Convertible Project

[cjstaci]

The wheel looks great! If you don’t mind sharing your expertise, what did you use to patch the cracks and how did you achieve the woodgrain finish?
I have a rimblow wheel that I would like to restore in the future , I feel confident in doing so but need knowledge of how to restore the woodgrain.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Today was the big day to get the rim blow wheel installed into the convertible after refurbishment and color change to avocado. I am really happy with the way this turned out! Here’s a photo of the two spoke wheel compared to the three spoke rim blow.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

BAM

 

[Steve73QMach1]

The wheel looks great! If you don’t mind sharing your expertise, what did you use to patch the cracks and how did you achieve the woodgrain finish?
I have a rimblow wheel that I would like to restore in the future , I feel confident in doing so but need knowledge of how to restore the woodgrain.

I can tell you what I did with this wheel but don’t conflate my results with any kind of expertise on my part . I did some trial and error on an old practice steering wheel I had and decided to use what worked best there for my rim blow wheel. I used JB Weld two part plastic epoxy putty for the big separation on the wheel at 12 o’clock. It was manageable, cured nicely, and could be shaped/sanded easily. It also accepted the dye I used to change colors from black to avocado. I used a liquid two part epoxy for the smaller cracks in the wheel and to cover the chrome 1/8” tape around the circumference of the wheel. A rotary tool is really handy for grinding down the high spots on the epoxy. I used 220 and 400 grit paper on the plastic of the wheel itself for prep. Be very gentle with that process! The plastic is pretty soft. For the woodgrain, I used a walnut wood stain and a couple of different sized artist brushes to paint in a woodgrain effect on the wheel. That was the one of the last things I did on the wheel prior to clear coat. The epoxy ring over the chrome trim tape around the perimeter of the wheel was the hardest part of the whole process for me. Replacing the rubber rim blow switch was done after final clear coat. Patience is definitely a virtue for this project. Let everything cure fully for each step and avoid taking any shortcuts. Here are some of the supplies I used. I ordered the 1/8” chrome tape from a vendor on Etsy for about $8. I could not find the Plastic Weld locally and ordered that from Amazon for $9.

 

[Moderator73]

Got the new dash pad dyed and installed today. I also dyed the A pillar trim since it was pretty much gray from sun fade. The dye worked out great. The dash pad has a few molding flaws but I can live with that. It’s way better than it was.

Steve...on your Dash Pad, did you top coat the avocado dye with the satin clear coat dye or just leave it with the base coats of dye? Also, the metal Dash Cover...did you end up painting that by chance? If so what did you use? I'm very interested in how you approached this to achieve your beautiful result!
Thanks
Bob

 

[Steve73QMach1]

Bob - I left my dash with just the avocado dye. Like I said, it has held up well over the last year. Luckily the metal part of my top dash did not require anything but a good scrubbing. It’s amazing how much dirt gets into the grain pattern on that metal and ends up giving it a brownish appearance.

 

[Steve73QMach1]

I took the convertible out for a spin today since it was 82 and sunny. Not bad for early October in Ohio. I stopped by a Sheetz gas station that recently opened in my area for a fill up on ethanol free gas. Not many places carry that around here. It was $4.19 per gallon for ethanol free 90 octane so it was a bit pricey. They only had the one pump for it. I put about 30 miles on the car this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Due to a busy summer I didn’t get to drive it much over the last 6 months. Next project on this car is window felts. Mine are all dry rotted. While I have the door panels off, I need to lubricate the tracks too. The windows are a little jumpy.

 

[Moderator73]

Bob - I left my dash with just the avocado dye. Like I said, it has held up well over the last year. Luckily the metal part of my top dash did not require anything but a good scrubbing. It’s amazing how much dirt gets into the grain pattern on that metal and ends up giving it a brownish appearance.

Thanks Steve...that's great info. I didn't want to miss something trying to follow your lead. Your convertible is absolutely beautiful!
Bob

 

[Steve73QMach1]

My convertible did not come with the locking glove box option. I was able to find a glove box lock on line but it had no key. I decided I would take it apart and set it up to match my trunk key. I procured an early Ford tumbler kit from eBay and proceeded to disassemble my glove box lock. These locks are three tumbler locks and each tumbler has two pieces and a spring. There are 5 tumbler sets available in the kit. I removed the existing tumbler assemblies. inserted my trunk key into the hollow key slot, then selected three tumbler sets that matched my key pattern. I reassembled the lock with the new tumblers and it all worked great. My glove box lock now works with my existing trunk key. Total time for this project was under an hour. The tumbler kit was $27 on eBay and there are several of each size included. The kit also has new springs if needed. This kit will work on door and trunk locks as well. here are a few pictures of this venture. I have never disassembled a lock before but this was fairly easy.

 

[70cobrascj]

My convertible did not come with the locking glove box option. I was able to find a glove box lock on line but it had no key. I decided I would take it apart and set it up to match my trunk key. I procured an early Ford tumbler kit from eBay and proceeded to disassemble my glove box lock. These locks are three tumbler locks and each tumbler has two pieces and a spring. There are 5 tumbler sets available in the kit. I removed the existing tumbler assemblies. inserted my trunk key into the hollow key slot, then selected three tumbler sets that matched my key pattern. I reassembled the lock with the new tumblers and it all worked great. My glove box lock now works with my existing trunk key. Total time for this project was under an hour. The tumbler kit was $27 on eBay and there are several of each size included. The kit also has new springs if needed. This kit will work on door and trunk locks as well. here are a few pictures of this venture. I have never disassembled a lock before but this was fairly easy.

Awesome info thanks

 

[Moderator73]

My convertible did not come with the locking glove box option. I was able to find a glove box lock on line but it had no key. I decided I would take it apart and set it up to match my trunk key. I procured an early Ford tumbler kit from eBay and proceeded to disassemble my glove box lock. These locks are three tumbler locks and each tumbler has two pieces and a spring. There are 5 tumbler sets available in the kit. I removed the existing tumbler assemblies. inserted my trunk key into the hollow key slot, then selected three tumbler sets that matched my key pattern. I reassembled the lock with the new tumblers and it all worked great. My glove box lock now works with my existing trunk key. Total time for this project was under an hour. The tumbler kit was $27 on eBay and there are several of each size included. The kit also has new springs if needed. This kit will work on door and trunk locks as well. here are a few pictures of this venture. I have never disassembled a lock before but this was fairly easy.

I love seeing what you do for this awesome car. It’s so perfect and of course I love the avocado color. Going back above and looking at your interior pictures I just noticed that you don’t have speakers in your door. Does that mean you only have one speaker in your dash? I didn’t think convertibles came with a center speaker but that was just an assumption based on my car. So now pondering if I should add a center speaker or if a previous owner took it out when they switched radios. Thanks for sharing your rekeying experience. Another inspirational post

 

[Steve73QMach1]

I love seeing what you do for this awesome car. It’s so perfect and of course I love the avocado color. Going back above and looking at your interior pictures I just noticed that you don’t have speakers in your door. Does that mean you only have one speaker in your dash? I didn’t think convertibles came with a center speaker but that was just an assumption based on my car. So now pondering if I should add a center speaker or if a previous owner took it out when they switched radios. Thanks for sharing your rekeying experience. Another inspirational post

Bob,
Sadly my convertible only came with an AM radio and as such only received the single in dash center speaker. That was true of all Mustangs with the AM radio only option, convertibles included. You get the stereo door speakers only with the AM/FM stereo or the AM 8 track stereo. On the stereo equipped cars, there is no speaker installed in the dash. Not even the speaker frame is present. There is a speaker grill there however! When I redid my dash board my single speaker was working ok but has since stopped working. I noticed it was very crispy from being in the New Mexico sun for years. One of my upcoming projects is to install the door speakers in my car once I have all of the parts. Currently looking for the door speaker wire harness. Both of my Mach 1s came with stereos so neither had a center speaker. On one of them, I procured a center speaker frame and a two channel speaker for it. I found an AM/FM 4 channel Ford stereo from a 73 Lincoln and wired that to my two door speakers and my 2 channel center dash speaker and that works great! It looks just like the original 2 channel radio too so nothing is noticeably different visually. Even the holes to mount the center speaker frame were present on my dashboard frame in the Mach 1. I plan on doing something similar with the convertible.