IA Rider's 73 Mach Project

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

It would probably limit the seat spring travel.  You might not be able to   get the seat frame back in. Was there for a reason.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

In addition to what David said, if the floor pan doesn't drop down, you won't be able to plug weld it to the frame rails or the floor just behind the torque box.  It's a pain to modify, but I don't see how you can avoid it.

 

[IA Rider]

The replacement floor and full trunk floor along with the replacement wheelhouse are stamped differently than my 73. The floor is flat without the rise and no hole or welded nut for the seatbelt. The wheelhouse is wider in the front. In the picture above and to the left of the yellow sticker you can see the gap between the original wheelhouse and the replacement floor. Did Dynacorn copy these parts from a 71 or 72? If the earlier cars are different how did they attach the seatbelt? If the early ones are different could someone post a picture?

 

[IA Rider]

When ford changed to retractable rear seat belts they changed the inner wheelhouse and the floor to make room for the retractor. The wheelhouse was narrowed in the front. I purchased both inner wheelhouses from dynacorn a couple years ago when I bought the floor. I unpacked the RH at that time and seen it was the early style fixed seat belt version. This weekend I unpacked the LH wheelhouse to discover it is the later retractable style.



As you can see by the pics this will definately effect the max tire width. Does anyone know if another company sells the wider early style LH wheelhouse?

 

[IA Rider]

I finally have the trunk floor welded to the frame rails. Repaired the RH torque box and toe board area and got started cutting out LH torque box toe board.

 

[69 Rustang]

As much new metal as you are putting in, sand blasting may be a waste of money and time anyway.  Not sure what is going on with the engine bay, maybe it needs a cleanup blast.  What a project!  Best of luck and keep going!

 

[IA Rider]

Blasting was a in the plan at the beginning of this project but at this point it would definitely be a waste. I'm glad I did not spend money on blasting. Under the hood I replaced the inner fender aprons and the radiator support many years ago. Since the shock towers and frame rails under the shock towers are rusty I will be removing the shock towers, repairing the frame and installing a mustang II front end kit. This car was too rusty and should have went to the scrap yard.

 

[timachone]

Wow, that is one project :classic_blink:  Your work is awesome and you are making some good progress now  :thumb:  But your starting point, I mean the car, was not the best, especially concerning the frames. Are you specially bound to this car you are hanging such great efforts in? 

Keep up the good work and keep us posted - looking forward to it  :thumb:

 

[droptop73]

Wow, that's a bunch of work, great job! 

 

[IA Rider]

Wow, that is one project :classic_blink:  Your work is awesome and you are making some good progress now  :thumb:  But your starting point, I mean the car, was not the best, especially concerning the frames. Are you specially bound to this car you are hanging such great efforts in? 

Keep up the good work and keep us posted - looking forward to it  :thumb:

I bought the car 30 years ago just before I started dating my wife so the car is kind of special to both of us. Before I started tearing the car apart I asked the wife if we should sell it or fix it up. She wanted it fixed up now she complains that I spend more time with the car than her lol. The main reason I am bound to the car is a bet that I made with a friend about 15 years ago that I would finish my Mach 1 before he finishes his 68 Camaro. He has made a lot of progress on the Camaro the past year. We have a 12 pack riding on it.

 

[69 Rustang]

We have a 12 pack riding on it.

Glad the stakes are high.  I made a bet with my sister many years ago about who would get married first.  Neither of us had prospects at the time, then she moved to Australia.  A bit over a year later she and her new husband bootlegged a case of beer from Australia to settle up.  Good luck!

 

[IA Rider]

Finally finished up the LH front frame / torque box / firewall repair. After I welded in the frame repair I reinforced the patch on the inside (no pictures). The LH B-pillar will be replaced next.

 

[timachone]

Nice to hear from you again, hope you could make some progress to still win the bet!

 

[IA Rider]

Not looking good on winning the bet. My friend has hug lead on me but I haven't given up.

 

[IA Rider]

Starting to look like a car again. With the help of my son and grandson we mocked up the hood, fenders and doors before I cut out the LH B-pillar and q-panel to verify everything still lines up. Then with the help of a friend who stopped by finagled the new q-panel into place. Unfortunately the panels will all be coming back off. In the two pictures with the tape measure I could use the measurements from the trunk floor up to the inside top corner of q-panel by the trunk opening if someone has them?

 

[Horsin' Around]

Would be a great time to do subframe connectors. Seeing what you have already done, you could easily fabricate your own set!

 

[IA Rider]

I have a set of tin man fabrication subframe connectors that will be installed.