Bojo's 73 Project

[jbojo]

[/u]I just found this forum a couple of days ago so I thought that I would share my project that I started a year ago. I'll try to update with a little each day until I catch up to where I am at now. I did keep the original engine, tranny and rear end unmodified and stored away.

Car

73 Mach 1 Q code

266 HP SAE

C6

3.25 Rear (non Posi)

Pwr str, AC, front disks

58,000 miles

Not run since 1990

My plan is to modernize it so it will be a resto mod since alot of these were built and not a high collectable such as a BOSS.

My Plans:

Engine

10.5 : 1 compression

closed chamber heads, stainless valves, high lift springs, guide plates

Roller rockers

Forged Pistons

Forged connecting rods

ARP studs (main and heads)

Herbert Cam

Rhoades lifters

Blue Thunder Intake

MSD Atomic EFI

MSD 6AL ignition box

MSD billet distributor

8 QT oil pan

Hooker headers

oil mod to prevent oil starvation to 4th and 5th main bearings

All of the above is done and ready to drop back into the car.

Transmission still C6 w overdrive

2800 - 3000 stall

3.89 rear Tru Loc with Disk Brakes

Interior:

Replacing all the worn out items since the AZ heat did a number on those items

Exterior:

New paint, white (9A) with the black 73 stripping.

Going to black out the hood, installing functional Ram air

adding front spoiler and rear deck spoiler

adding rear window louvers

15x7 with P-225 front, rear 15x8 P-245 TA's

Rims are aluminum with black 5 spoke, keeping with white/black theme. Pic attached

Some original pics:

 

[Cole]

Can't wait to see pics of it finished. Fixing to start one myself.

 

[OLE PONY]

Sounds like you have great plans for it.

 

[caspianwendell]

Welcome to the forum from Arkansas

 

[jbojo]

Some before/after shots, trying to condense this to get this up to date (excuse the dust on some parts now):

 

[mach71351c]

Looks like a nice solid car to start with.

 

[jbojo]

I am hoping to get around 400 to 430 HP with my new setup so I thought that I should stregthen the subframe so I put on a set of Tinman subframe connectors. Since I used Wilwood disks for the rear I had to fabricate new brackets for the E brake cables. Welded the subframe on and ground down the welds and used some Bondo to smooth it all out. Pics below of this.

 

[TheJ]

Looks awesome, nice work.

 

[jbojo]

Now that the subframe was on it was time to put in the rear end. Don't have many before pics for this

Moving on to the rear. I put in a 5 leaf spring set and a 1.5 inch increase in the shackle length to try to get the body to be more level. I like the higher front but I needed more clearance underneath. Got a set of Lakewood traction bars but haven't deceided whether I want to use them yet so they are not installed.

 

[clevelandcoupe]

Where did you find those extended shackles ?

I have not seen them before.

Let me know.

Thanks, Jay

 

[marks73]

Nice work. Keep it up!

 

[Boss1Ray]

For a modded 'stang, I like the updates you are making.

I hope you're going to keep the 73 Mach I striping. It gives your car a nice original feel tied to the performance upgrades.

Thanks for sharing the pics!

Ray

 

[jbojo]

Jay,

Got shackles from Laurel Mountain Mustang. I don't remember all the sizes that they had though. Give them a call, the price was reasonable.

Ray,

Keeping the original look, just trying to make it perform better.

-jbojo

 

[Boss1Ray]

Ray,

Keeping the original look, just trying to make it perform better.

-jbojo

Very cool! Keep those pics coming!

Ray

 

[jbojo]

So here are some shots of the steering and brake components back in. The steering gear box is a close ratio one (3.5 turns) for full swing. I believe that the performance package came with this but could not confirm this 100%. New SS brake lines and master cylinder finishes it off.

 

[mweeps]

Nice looking work!

 

[jbojo]

I think that I am complete with all the underbody work now. I have a bad heater core so it has to be replaced and that will be my next project. Not looking fwd to removing the dash. While I am at this I will relamp everything behind the dash and also replace the AC evaporator as I don't want to be back in there again. I am also converting the whole system to R134 so this is probably a good thing to do anyway. In the process I will refoam everything in the heater box. Lastly I am installing a serpretine belt system and it moves the AC compressor to the passenger side of the engine compartment. A few shots of the interior before and I will post pics along the way of the dash removal etc.

 

[marks73]

So here are some shots of the steering and brake components back in. The steering gear box is a close ratio one (3.5 turns) for full swing. I believe that the performance package came with this but could not confirm this 100%. New SS brake lines and master cylinder finishes it off.

Mind telling me how you centered the gearbox? Near as I can figure "CENTER" is .67 turns of the input shaft at the rag joint.

 

[jbojo]

I centered the wheels as best as I could, then I turned the steering wheel until the pitman arm matched up with the the steering linkage and bolted them together. What I did do is when I removed everything I kept it all in one peice. Then when I assembled the new peices I used the old stuff as a template so the new assembly was pretty close in length. I went as far as counting the number of threads exposed on each component. I figured that when I take it for the alignment that they can fine tune it with the wheel centered. Here are a cople of pics to show you how close it is.

So here are some shots of the steering and brake components back in. The steering gear box is a close ratio one (3.5 turns) for full swing. I believe that the performance package came with this but could not confirm this 100%. New SS brake lines and master cylinder finishes it off.

Mind telling me how you centered the gearbox? Near as I can figure "CENTER" is .67 turns of the input shaft at the rag joint.