jowens1126
Jim
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2017
- Messages
- 733
- Reaction score
- 23
- Location
- Tavares, fl
- My Car
-
71 Mustang Mach 1
302-2v
C4
I figured I might as well start a build thread since I dont plan on selling this car any time soon. I got this car for my son. He will turn 18 in November and is a senior in High School. He doesnt like new cars. Ever since he was about 10 years old, I have taken him to the Mecum Auto Auction in Kissimmee. Since then he has been hooked on old cars. Which makes me really happy, because the right old car can be purchased relatively cheaply, and if well maintained, can be sold in the future for the same amount or more than you paid for it. So that was my intention all along, to instill in him a sense of economics. I dont want him to fall into the trap of wanting to buy a NEW car every 4 or 5 years and end up paying more than what a good house note used to be in the 80's. This way, He can drive The coolest Car around, learn how to work on it, and if he gets tired of it some years down the road, we can sell it and get another cool project to work on.
So, we looked for about a year for the right car. The timing never seemed to meet up with our financial ability, but eventually the stars aligned and we got this nice 71 fastback for $14000. It came from a small dealer in Minnesota. The car was last titled in Idaho, by a regular customer of his. Overall the car is in remarkably good condition. It has its issues but none of them are life threatening. It is 1T02F104879. I cant read the build date on the door tag as its very faded. Eventually I will get a mardi report on it. It started off life as a Gold color and was shipped to the New York DSO. At some point it was also painted Blue. Then the current shade of yellow/green.
Since we got the car, I have changed the master cylinder, and had the mechanic do a complete brake job on the 4 wheel drum brakes, and put a new flexible line on the rear brakes.
Known Issues of the Car are fairly minor for the most part. I only have one serious issue. So here is the run down of what I have found so far.
#1 - The Engine leaks oil all over the place. The Valve covers are definitely leaking. The oil Pan is definitely leaking. When I go to change the valve cover gaskets I will have to check the intake gasket closely to see if it is leaking too. - All of those gaskets are on order. I only use Fel-pro Blue Perma Dry one piece gaskets where possible.
#2 - The Radiator is leaking in a couple of spots. It doesnt appear to be big leaks, but its definitely leaking. So I ordered a new Aluminum Radiator for it today as well. I got the Champion Radiator from Dallas Mustang. Hopefully it will work out great.
#3 - The A/C system is not blowing very cold at all. It works, it just only drops the temperature maybe 10 degrees. Its like a very low charge. I have a suspicion that it has not been properly converted to 134a since only one charge port has a 134a adapter on it. It looks to me like someone just got an adapter, charged it with a can of A/C Pro and sold it to the dealer I got it from. So I will go thru the process of flushing the system out, changing all the O-rings, and expansion Valve, getting all the old oil out of the compressor and flushing the condenser, evaporator, and all the lines. I also ordered a new dryer, and a set of 134a service ports for the compressor, so there will be no doubt its been converted. Then I can pull a vacuum on the system, and charge it up properly. Then I need to find a good 134a conversion sticker to put on the core support.
#4 - All of the front suspension is COVERED in oil, dirt and sludge. It looks like its been accumulating there for YEARS. To me, there is no excuse for this kind of neglect. I would like to just jap slap all of the people who have owned this car and let it go like that. So At some point, I will have to pull the entire front end completely apart, and send out all of the pieced to be blasted and powder coated. Then I will put in new ball joints, new steering links, new sway bar bushings and take it in for an alignment.
#5 - This is the bad one. Someone covered up that the rear floor pan was rotted out. When I initially looked at the floor pans back there I didnt see any issues. Then we had 4 people in the car a couple of times. Then I took it in for the brake job and the floor pan on the passenger rear side was broken loose. Maybe it was still connected initially but was just really thin, and the full load of passengers busted it out. I had the man from the restoration shop come over and have a look at it while it was on the rack and he said there are 4 places that need some work. I will have a hard estimate on it by monday, but he said it will likely be about $1200 to fix. Not terribly bad considering the extent of the work, but I could have gone without that surprise.
#6 - The illumination on the center console is not working. I will look into that eventually, but its not a big priority for me at this time.
#7 - The speedometer is jumping at low speed. Im not 100% sure why its doing this, but Its very annoying, so Once all the other stuff is done, I will get to this. Its fairly low priority.
#8 - The car was hit in the front left fender at some point. The damage was not extensive, it was limited to the area between the side marker light and the head light. The problem is, they did a very poor job of reparing it. Basically they drilled holes and pulled it out, filled it in with bondo, and painted it. This one will have to wait for a good while. Its not obvious unless your looking for it, so it will wait till its time for a paint job. There is also some fittment issues with the rear lower valence on the drivers side. Theres a fair amount of bondo work on that corner as well, so there may be some collision damage there too that needs to be cut out and new metal welded in. Another job for when its time to paint.
#9 - The battery cables are not in good condition at all. So I will need to replace those. Maybe next pay day.
#10 - I want to do a front disc conversion. I just need to decide which kit I want to use. The man from the restoration shop told me there are kits that will fit the stock 14" Drum brake wheels so I need to find out which kit he recommends and start saving for that one. I want to replace all the hard lines with stainless and put in a new proportioning valve and disc/drum master cylinder. I will already have the booster installed by then though, so thats one of the hard things out of the way.
#11 - The lap seat belts have to go. I already have sitting right here next to me the 3 point harness kit and I am going to install it tonight or tomorrow. That will be a welcome safety improvement.
#12 - Theres a fair amount of undercoating applied in the wheel wells that has protected that area nicely, however the area in the center and the entire fuel tank area has not been treated. There is some surface rust in all these areas, but nothing extremely major. Its still going to be no fun to clean all that up and seal it, but I will get it done in time.
#13 - I hear a metal on metal sound coming from the rear axle when I hit the brakes, and after I release the brakes. The sound continues as long as I remain at low speed. Once I get over 10-15 mph it goes away. My thought is that the axle bearings have seen better days. So I will need to change those out sooner rather than later. Its a pretty easy job so I dont mind doing it. I will take the axles up to the machine shop and have them press the bearings on and off we go. Hopefully thats the issue. If not, It might be something worse, like the dreaded pinion bearing starting to fail.
Thats pretty much it at this time. I am sure other issues will pop up in time and as things get fixed. Its been my experience that when you start fixing things on a car this old, it just stresses out the next weakest part and it fails. So the process now starts with this car and will end when its done or im Dead. lol whichever comes first.
I will go back and add some pictures later on tonight. Right now I need to get up and get to work on this mustang.
So, we looked for about a year for the right car. The timing never seemed to meet up with our financial ability, but eventually the stars aligned and we got this nice 71 fastback for $14000. It came from a small dealer in Minnesota. The car was last titled in Idaho, by a regular customer of his. Overall the car is in remarkably good condition. It has its issues but none of them are life threatening. It is 1T02F104879. I cant read the build date on the door tag as its very faded. Eventually I will get a mardi report on it. It started off life as a Gold color and was shipped to the New York DSO. At some point it was also painted Blue. Then the current shade of yellow/green.
Since we got the car, I have changed the master cylinder, and had the mechanic do a complete brake job on the 4 wheel drum brakes, and put a new flexible line on the rear brakes.
Known Issues of the Car are fairly minor for the most part. I only have one serious issue. So here is the run down of what I have found so far.
#1 - The Engine leaks oil all over the place. The Valve covers are definitely leaking. The oil Pan is definitely leaking. When I go to change the valve cover gaskets I will have to check the intake gasket closely to see if it is leaking too. - All of those gaskets are on order. I only use Fel-pro Blue Perma Dry one piece gaskets where possible.
#2 - The Radiator is leaking in a couple of spots. It doesnt appear to be big leaks, but its definitely leaking. So I ordered a new Aluminum Radiator for it today as well. I got the Champion Radiator from Dallas Mustang. Hopefully it will work out great.
#3 - The A/C system is not blowing very cold at all. It works, it just only drops the temperature maybe 10 degrees. Its like a very low charge. I have a suspicion that it has not been properly converted to 134a since only one charge port has a 134a adapter on it. It looks to me like someone just got an adapter, charged it with a can of A/C Pro and sold it to the dealer I got it from. So I will go thru the process of flushing the system out, changing all the O-rings, and expansion Valve, getting all the old oil out of the compressor and flushing the condenser, evaporator, and all the lines. I also ordered a new dryer, and a set of 134a service ports for the compressor, so there will be no doubt its been converted. Then I can pull a vacuum on the system, and charge it up properly. Then I need to find a good 134a conversion sticker to put on the core support.
#4 - All of the front suspension is COVERED in oil, dirt and sludge. It looks like its been accumulating there for YEARS. To me, there is no excuse for this kind of neglect. I would like to just jap slap all of the people who have owned this car and let it go like that. So At some point, I will have to pull the entire front end completely apart, and send out all of the pieced to be blasted and powder coated. Then I will put in new ball joints, new steering links, new sway bar bushings and take it in for an alignment.
#5 - This is the bad one. Someone covered up that the rear floor pan was rotted out. When I initially looked at the floor pans back there I didnt see any issues. Then we had 4 people in the car a couple of times. Then I took it in for the brake job and the floor pan on the passenger rear side was broken loose. Maybe it was still connected initially but was just really thin, and the full load of passengers busted it out. I had the man from the restoration shop come over and have a look at it while it was on the rack and he said there are 4 places that need some work. I will have a hard estimate on it by monday, but he said it will likely be about $1200 to fix. Not terribly bad considering the extent of the work, but I could have gone without that surprise.
#6 - The illumination on the center console is not working. I will look into that eventually, but its not a big priority for me at this time.
#7 - The speedometer is jumping at low speed. Im not 100% sure why its doing this, but Its very annoying, so Once all the other stuff is done, I will get to this. Its fairly low priority.
#8 - The car was hit in the front left fender at some point. The damage was not extensive, it was limited to the area between the side marker light and the head light. The problem is, they did a very poor job of reparing it. Basically they drilled holes and pulled it out, filled it in with bondo, and painted it. This one will have to wait for a good while. Its not obvious unless your looking for it, so it will wait till its time for a paint job. There is also some fittment issues with the rear lower valence on the drivers side. Theres a fair amount of bondo work on that corner as well, so there may be some collision damage there too that needs to be cut out and new metal welded in. Another job for when its time to paint.
#9 - The battery cables are not in good condition at all. So I will need to replace those. Maybe next pay day.
#10 - I want to do a front disc conversion. I just need to decide which kit I want to use. The man from the restoration shop told me there are kits that will fit the stock 14" Drum brake wheels so I need to find out which kit he recommends and start saving for that one. I want to replace all the hard lines with stainless and put in a new proportioning valve and disc/drum master cylinder. I will already have the booster installed by then though, so thats one of the hard things out of the way.
#11 - The lap seat belts have to go. I already have sitting right here next to me the 3 point harness kit and I am going to install it tonight or tomorrow. That will be a welcome safety improvement.
#12 - Theres a fair amount of undercoating applied in the wheel wells that has protected that area nicely, however the area in the center and the entire fuel tank area has not been treated. There is some surface rust in all these areas, but nothing extremely major. Its still going to be no fun to clean all that up and seal it, but I will get it done in time.
#13 - I hear a metal on metal sound coming from the rear axle when I hit the brakes, and after I release the brakes. The sound continues as long as I remain at low speed. Once I get over 10-15 mph it goes away. My thought is that the axle bearings have seen better days. So I will need to change those out sooner rather than later. Its a pretty easy job so I dont mind doing it. I will take the axles up to the machine shop and have them press the bearings on and off we go. Hopefully thats the issue. If not, It might be something worse, like the dreaded pinion bearing starting to fail.
Thats pretty much it at this time. I am sure other issues will pop up in time and as things get fixed. Its been my experience that when you start fixing things on a car this old, it just stresses out the next weakest part and it fails. So the process now starts with this car and will end when its done or im Dead. lol whichever comes first.
I will go back and add some pictures later on tonight. Right now I need to get up and get to work on this mustang.
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