my 1971 351 Boss restoration

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

before starting up with the actual welding work on the wheel housing we took out the front window.

we fiddled a wire between the fame and the window and cut it out by moving the wire back and forth







simply push the window forward and out goes the windschield



easy does it




up next was the center console. it's amazing how many parts you have to refurbish when you restore a car.

center console before:



clock before



cleaned and lubed









reassembly of the center console

new paint job







after that i put the boss balancer back onto the engine



rebuilt the air cleaner

original filter









ready for the engine....



tattttaaa



finding that heat shield and heater riser tube was really hard.



up next was the toploader

hurst shifter beautiful



just hat to clean the linkage







the hurt shifter handle





the top loader before



more to come soon



abudi


now to the top loader

cleaning took around 4 hours what a pain in the ass



original seal kit



the tail housing had a leak and this is why



grinding the bad welding work down





this is liquid metal that is heat and pressure resistant



from the outside



and inside



let it dry for 30 minutes



and on goes the sanding



almost done



resurfaced



and painted in iron cast



the bell housing should have been blue i know. i liked it better in cast iron



no i didn't forget that





the 40 year old paper seal



this seal was rock hard



in goes the new one



the front paper seal with silicone



back in place



tail housing



new paper seal with silicone to be on the safe side



tail housing with the new real seal



one last look into the tranny



before paint



done



with hurst shifter "bone" and the dust boot. btw you can use the dust boot from the 70 top loaders as well





the boss linkage is gold from what i have researched





pre lubed gears



detailing the engine









i hope that's enough for now :-D

abudi


let the welding begin

i'll let the pictures speak for themselves











































this is the most tedious work i can image



it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it









bye bye rust



as you can see we had some fun too



let the tinning begin





tinning ingredients



















looks good huh



et voilà ....



abudi


here are a few more pictures of the welding and tinning work.

before tinning



after







don't be greedy with the tin





after



the side panel tinning







sanding with 80 paper





now the car can go and get sand blasted



more pics to come

abudi

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

after the welding work was done it was time to remove the rest of the remaining paint.

packed and ready to go









while the boss was away i got a few tags from marti





the buck tag



the 351 BOSS engine tag



the owner card



abudi

 

[luxstang]

I knew it was coming sooner or later!

I mean, come on, I read this complete thing on the German forum and I read it all again on this one.....

Abudi rules! ::thumb::

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

hi folks,

here are a few pictures of the boss after media blasting and 2K epoxy primer.



epoxy inside and out





the under carriage was painted in (RAL8007)

which was the closest color i found that was hidden under the fuel tank.













extensions fit SUPER



mocked up the fenders real fast





more to come soon

lg

abudi

 

[Qcode351mach]

Very Very Nice ! I'm almost there with mine ! Going the same route.. My only complaint..you left a huge buckle(at least thats what it looks like in the picture) in the rt frt frame rail between the sway bar mount & the front cross member & a big dent on the right side of the front crossmember..I have the ford factory body manuals...they say it's ok to heat up the frame rail for repair..would have been easy to do before you primed...At the level your taking this car to, You need to fix those 2 spots...jmo

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

Very Very Nice ! I'm almost there with mine ! Going the same route.. My only complaint..you left a huge buckle(at least thats what it looks like in the picture) in the rt frt frame rail between the sway bar mount & the front cross member & a big dent on the right side of the front crossmember..I have the ford factory body manuals...they say it's ok to heat up the frame rail for repair..would have been easy to do before you primed...At the level your taking this car to, You need to fix those 2 spots...jmo

thanks for the tip. i totally oversaw that. damn it :-(

once i get the car back from paint i'll look into that and see if i can repair it before i reassemble the car. it's interesting, i have this restoration in 4 forums and here is the first time i read of something like this!

thanks and best regards from vienna

abudi

I knew it was coming sooner or later!

I mean, come on, I read this complete thing on the German forum and I read it all again on this one.....

Abudi rules! ::thumb::

thanks mike,

i hope you like it

take care

abudi

 

[not2old]

Great tour, what a grand experience

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

after i got the car back from the media shop i had to put it back on it's "feet" suspension.

painted the engine bay in matt black



upper arms





brake and fuel lines back on



wiper motor and linkage



i use mike sanders wax to preserve the cavities as well as the bolts





the canister back in place



steering back in place



brake lines passenger side



had to lift the rear with the engine crane



bringing the leaf springs in place





lifting the leaf springs and the rear axle back in place was tough.

installed the new staggered shocks



the shock absorbers and the fuel tank



spindles finally back on the car



linkage bolted together with the spindles



the rear mini sway bar



the bigger front sway bar :-D



engine bay on the 2.may.2010



abudi


the fire wall area



brake booster and master cylinder back on the boss



this is our self made engine stand



up goes the boss engine and onto the test stand



the engine and the radiator ready to get fired up



BOSS flywheel & FMX housing of a 351W to bolt on the starter.



the engine fired up at the first turn over. and smokey it was



rumble in the jungle...



oil pressure after 20 minutes



temperature after 20 min. 170F



not a drop of oil or water was under the engine. i was very happy about that



here's the initial fire up of the boss engine



what more is there to say....very happy

abudi

 

[Nance]

Looking Good !!!

 

[droptop73]

Nice progress.

 

[URUGUAYAN_FASTBACK]

Great Job! Really well organized and restoration 100 points.. congratulations

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

[No message]

 

[Qcode351mach]

VERY NICE...Your painter is doing the right job ! I see wurth products being used..Good stuff ! Used alot of their products when I worked for bmw..Keep up the great job !

Scott

 

[73vertproject]

Great work, Abudi! And great documentation. Can't wait to see her all put back together - she's beautiful!

Doc

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

thanks guys!!!

great to have that kind of feedback.

wuerth products are pretty expensive here, but i am very fortunate because my neighbor used to work for them and gets great prices.....that explains everything. i didn't know they sold wuerth in the US too. do a lot of workshops buy it?

i'll keep you guys posted.

abudi

 

[Qcode351mach]

thanks guys!!!

great to have that kind of feedback.

wuerth products are pretty expensive here, but i am very fortunate because my neighbor used to work for them and gets great prices.....that explains everything. i didn't know they sold wuerth in the US too. do a lot of workshops buy it?

i'll keep you guys posted.

abudi

Abudi..Yes wurth products are available here & same thing they are expensive but very high quality!

http://www.wurthusa.com/project/en/topnavi/home/startpage_1.jsp

Most production shops don't use it..but most high end shops doing european cars do.

There is another co called Winzer which also has high end stuff but cheaper than wurth supposedly this co was started by wurth's owners brother.

http://www.winzerusa.com/

I have used both co's products and both are awsome !

Scott

 

[mach71351c]

Nice job.

 

[cobra3073]

Very, very Nice and OUTSTANDING pictorial documentation!

THANKS for sharing.

BT

 

[canadian_red_maple_leaf]

thanks for the compliment guys!!!

 

[droptop73]

Very nice work... looking good