Long Time coming 1973 Mach1 restomod

[rafaelpadro24]

Hello everyone, it been quite a while since my last post. Many things have happened and finally I am ready to tackle this project. I have owned this 1973 Mach I since 1986 picked it up from a fellow Navy friend who was working on and decided not to continue. Engine was out and some interior part also. I ended putting back together when I had the free time when serving while stationed in Norfolk Va. After my tour of duty drove it back home to Florida and decided to continue repairing it. Here is what it started to look when taking it apart.

As you can see inner aprons needed replacement, cowl rusted, from passenger side bumper frame (arm) rusted because of battery acid, poorly installed floor pans and trunk floor rot. It's been a slow go in getting this done between work, kids and other commitments but I started to tackle these issues. My knowledge and skill level are more into mechanical repair but very little skill with body work and welding. But I am not afraid to learn as I go. I went and got myself a powered grinder and a Mig welder and gave it a shot.

PS: I am new to welding so forgive my work and if you have any feedback this is greatly appreciated.

First area I began with is with the front bumper frame.

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Second area I continued was with fender aprons.

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Third area was the cowl section.



I am looking into redoing the cowl area since they are now offering a replacement cowl and apron to cowl extension brackets.

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Fourth was the floor area.

 

[Sheriff41]

Lots of good work so far. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[tpj71mach]

She's going back together nicely, keep up the good work!

 

[ib4stangs]

Your knowledge and skill level of body and metal work looks pretty impressive from my computer. What are you treating the rust with and what type of paint are you using? Those same areas are what most 71-73 Mustang owners have done or will have to do at some point...

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Thank for the feedback, I used a rust encapsulator after cleaning with wire wheel and sandpaper then coated with chassis saver. Looking into recleaning the entire area then use epoxy primer and lizard skin in the inside of the car and think in using SEM Rockit XC after a good priming with epoxy. It's lots of work but worth it to prevent future rust in the future. That will happen after I get done with trunk floor replacement.

 

[rafaelpadro24]

She's going back together nicely, keep up the good work!

Much appreciated!!

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Lots of good work so far. Keep us posted on your progress.

Thank you!!

 

[Bill Perkins]

Great Job with your restoration, car is looking so good

 

[rcadd1ct]

Looks good.

Keep it up.

While you have it apart practice welding by stitch welding all the body panels

It makes these cars much more rigid

 

[James Bond]

Looks good, keep up the hard work!

 

[73MustangCoupe]

You're doing a good job. Looking at your pictures is giving me flashbacks to my journey with the Rickster. Keep up the good work, and keep the progress notes and pictures coming. If you run into problems or have questions, a number of us have been down this road and will be glad to help. Good luck.

 

[Gold Rush]

Nice work, I'm in about the same place. Getting ready for epoxy primer then body color Raptor liner on the bottom and wheel wells. Then it comes off the rotisserie onto the body cart for the real body work. Hang in there yours looks great!

 

[rafaelpadro24]

Great Job with your restoration, car is looking so good

Much appreciated!

 

[mrgmhale]

I enjoy seeing progress photos. When we were having our 1973 Mach 1 deeply re$tored we stopped by weekly, not to goose the tech along, but just to take progress photos and chat with the tech and shop owner about anything that might have come up. I also paid on-the-fly each month to make certain the shop was not floating an excessive amount of money, which had the side effect of us always being welcomed whenever we showed up, heh heh... I ended up putting our progress photos into a video, and have a 2nd video showing the finished project. We are very pleased with how it turned out.

https://youtu.be/y0MiVAFj_sQ

https://youtu.be/_Fl0B-qmlLI

I look forward to ever more photos of your Mustang as it progresses...

Meanwhile, I am going to go through your photos again, this time looking for photos I ought to copy into my ever growing little library of files showing various points of detail I find are extra useful.

 

[kiko619]

View attachment 82064View attachment 82065

I am looking into redoing the cowl area since they are now offering a replacement cowl and apron to cowl extension brackets.

I have to ask... is there a reason you didn't just rip out the cowl hat that is rotting away? You went through the trouble of opening up that cancer spot, but didn't really do much. I'm worried that future you is going to run into leaks again since the holes/pitting is so close to the hat butt to cowl surface.

 

[AcesArneson]

Absolutely amazing work so far. One thing that might help you is using a large scale rust removal technique. Look at Rust911. I saw a video online of a guy that set up a sprinkler system with water and Rust911 and it did all the rust removal for him. He was left to simply patch in and recoat where the rust remover left bare metal. I am in the rust removal stage of my 73 Vert restomod so I really appreciate your inspiration here. Keep up the awesome work brother.

 

[cwalker509]

Impressive. I need inspiration (and perhaps a couples counselor) for what I am considering undertaking. I think I will be buying mostly already formed pieces for mine but I am certain I will need to do some metal forming. Do you have a heet metal brake to help form parts?