- Joined
- Nov 18, 2022
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 95
- Location
- Alabama
- My Car
- 1973 Coupe with a warmed up 351C and C6
After letting my Mustang sit for about the last nine years for the most part, I stumbled on this forum while trying to bring it back to life. I'm glad I did. On other classic Mustang forums I always kind of felt like a stepchild with my '73. This place is active and seems to have plenty of information relevant to my car, so I appreciate y'all having me.
My name is Myles and I own a 1973 Coupe in Bright Red. I'm the second owner, the first being my grandfather that bought the car new on June 9, 1973. I know this because I have the original invoice, warranty identification card, consumer information papers, owners manual and envelope the dealer placed it all in when he purchased it. I even have the inspection traveler. There's also a little catalogue that lists the various trim and options for a '73, but that wasn't in the car so I'm not sure if it came from the dealer but I suspect it did. It has a 351 Cleveland 2v with a C6 and shows 132,000.
My mom drove the car when she was 16, and so did I. I got it just before turning 16 and it has really been a problem child the entire time I've owned it. It's left me stranded more times than I can count and even tried to catch on fire at school one day. It sat in a shed and was only driven to the golf course on occasion, so when I started daily driving it things started to break. The car has never really been "right". I had a great old school mechanic and even when he would get it running good it would only last so long. It was cold natured and prone to flooding. What it did do was spur my love of working on things. I upgraded the car as much as a 16-18 year old's finances would allow. It got a cd player and new speakers, Flowmasters and true duals, a Ford 4 barrel and intake that was a disaster, that led to an Edelbrock Performer intake and a Holley carb. The Holley was never right, so that led to a Barry Grant Road Demon Junior that wasn't much better. In hindsight, it wasn't the parts that were the problem, just my ignorance on how to tune things. It also got new seat covers and carpet that I installed. The Mustang got parked for more reliable transportation and so she sat.
A year or so ago I installed an eBay HEI and found Uncle Tony's garage on YouTube. With better spark and a better understanding of how to tune the carb, things really started looking up. I let the car sit almost two years anyway. That gets us up to now. My wife mentioned going to the Mustang museum down in Odenville. It's about a two hour drive that I can make using two lanes so I thought what better excuse to revive the Mustang since I've been paying Hagerty's I might as well get some use out of it. A few problems came up, but nothing YouTube couldn't fix. Thanks to this website I now have a functioning electric choke. This morning it was 50 degrees out and I patted the gas twice and hit the key. It fired right up and even idled. No revving the motor, no 15 minutes of trying to feather all eight cylinders to life, no extra soot on the garage door.
First plans are replacing the 14 year old tires and ditching the Cragars for something with the proper backspacing so they don't rub. I want Magnum 500s and plan on moving up to at least a 17, possibly and 18. Not that I care about bigger wheels, but 15s are slowly fading out, and I want to have options. I want a pretty mean 351 for it, just replacing the engine and saving the original in case things go bad. I saw a Motor Trend piece on a 570 horse Cleveland, I don't know if I want that much, but I want to beat out the wife's '19 GT. The C6 has a serious leak after about a week, so I might as well build it. The 2.75 open differential will go too, probably for a Detroit TruTrac but I'm unsure of gear ratio right now.
If by chance you're worried about the missing original pieces, don't be. I made a point to make sure that anything I did to the car could be undone without any damage and I have all the original parts laying around.
Well that's a long post, I look forward to my time here. See y'all around.
My name is Myles and I own a 1973 Coupe in Bright Red. I'm the second owner, the first being my grandfather that bought the car new on June 9, 1973. I know this because I have the original invoice, warranty identification card, consumer information papers, owners manual and envelope the dealer placed it all in when he purchased it. I even have the inspection traveler. There's also a little catalogue that lists the various trim and options for a '73, but that wasn't in the car so I'm not sure if it came from the dealer but I suspect it did. It has a 351 Cleveland 2v with a C6 and shows 132,000.
My mom drove the car when she was 16, and so did I. I got it just before turning 16 and it has really been a problem child the entire time I've owned it. It's left me stranded more times than I can count and even tried to catch on fire at school one day. It sat in a shed and was only driven to the golf course on occasion, so when I started daily driving it things started to break. The car has never really been "right". I had a great old school mechanic and even when he would get it running good it would only last so long. It was cold natured and prone to flooding. What it did do was spur my love of working on things. I upgraded the car as much as a 16-18 year old's finances would allow. It got a cd player and new speakers, Flowmasters and true duals, a Ford 4 barrel and intake that was a disaster, that led to an Edelbrock Performer intake and a Holley carb. The Holley was never right, so that led to a Barry Grant Road Demon Junior that wasn't much better. In hindsight, it wasn't the parts that were the problem, just my ignorance on how to tune things. It also got new seat covers and carpet that I installed. The Mustang got parked for more reliable transportation and so she sat.
A year or so ago I installed an eBay HEI and found Uncle Tony's garage on YouTube. With better spark and a better understanding of how to tune the carb, things really started looking up. I let the car sit almost two years anyway. That gets us up to now. My wife mentioned going to the Mustang museum down in Odenville. It's about a two hour drive that I can make using two lanes so I thought what better excuse to revive the Mustang since I've been paying Hagerty's I might as well get some use out of it. A few problems came up, but nothing YouTube couldn't fix. Thanks to this website I now have a functioning electric choke. This morning it was 50 degrees out and I patted the gas twice and hit the key. It fired right up and even idled. No revving the motor, no 15 minutes of trying to feather all eight cylinders to life, no extra soot on the garage door.
First plans are replacing the 14 year old tires and ditching the Cragars for something with the proper backspacing so they don't rub. I want Magnum 500s and plan on moving up to at least a 17, possibly and 18. Not that I care about bigger wheels, but 15s are slowly fading out, and I want to have options. I want a pretty mean 351 for it, just replacing the engine and saving the original in case things go bad. I saw a Motor Trend piece on a 570 horse Cleveland, I don't know if I want that much, but I want to beat out the wife's '19 GT. The C6 has a serious leak after about a week, so I might as well build it. The 2.75 open differential will go too, probably for a Detroit TruTrac but I'm unsure of gear ratio right now.
If by chance you're worried about the missing original pieces, don't be. I made a point to make sure that anything I did to the car could be undone without any damage and I have all the original parts laying around.
Well that's a long post, I look forward to my time here. See y'all around.
