my 1971 351 Boss restoration

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The wax is a rust prevention. It has almost no sound deadening effect.

In Europe there are two accepted ways of chemical aftermarket corrosion protection methods:

- waxes. They are the most common because they are used by the major car manufaturers at the factory

- fats and oils. The fats have the advantage over the waxes that they never harden or shrink. They crawl when they get warm and close in any beginning rust process, preventing further contact of oxygen and moisture to the metal.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland mostly fats are used in classic car restorations or conservations. The most famous is the "Mike Sander's Corrosion Prevention Fat". It has won several long-term tests under scientific conditions.

Advantage of the fat is the reliable protection over a long time, a major disadvantage is the "sweating-out" on hot days. The car begins to drop stains of molten fat. Another con is the complex processing with hot, sticky fat in big heated pots and the use of heated spray guns.

This is the reason why a lot of restorers use waxes in their home environment.

Michael
thanks michael,

that pretty much boils it down. once my restoration is done, i'll be taking the car to have it preserved with mike sanders wax. the whole frame rails, rocker panels, doors and behind the splash shields are going to be waxed.

abudi

 
hi guys,

here are a few pics of the boss progress.

-) exhaust installed

-) engine wired up

-) power steering hooked up

-) heater hoses connected

-) radiator installed

-) fan and fan shroud installed

-) touch here and there on the electrical connections

-) carpet laid out in the car

-) hurst shifter installed

-) accelerator cable installed

-) clutch rod adjusted

-) front bumper parts installed

that's about it for today. i'll be heading out tomorrow to put in the door seals and the center console.

























abudi

 
It is really coming together. I'm glad you document it so well. It is very cool to get to watch it every step of the way. Keep posting the pics!

 
It is really coming together. I'm glad you document it so well. It is very cool to get to watch it every step of the way. Keep posting the pics!
will do!! i'm happy you guys like it and i hope i can help someone by doing so.

abudi

 
hi,

there is a reason why to use NOS parts. i put in the door seals today and the fit just right. i didn't have to drill anything...it was a magical moment for me. a lot of you might think i'm crazy but it's true. if you use that repop crap you end up drilling holes into painted door because the seals dont fit. then you have them in for around a year and they start to rip....by now you'll should have noticed that this has happened to me :)











now that the seals are in the doors i can finally start the door and fender alignment. then if everything goes according to plan, it'll be "fire in the hole" by the end of this week. HURRA!!

abudi

 
hi,

there is a reason why to use NOS parts. i put in the door seals today and the fit just right. i didn't have to drill anything...it was a magical moment for me. a lot of you might think i'm crazy but it's true. if you use that repop crap you end up drilling holes into painted door because the seals dont fit. then you have them in for around a year and they start to rip....by now you'll should have noticed that this has happened to me :)











now that the seals are in the doors i can finally start the door and fender alignment. then if everything goes according to plan, it'll be "fire in the hole" by the end of this week. HURRA!!

abudi
Very Nice ! I would say your very lucky to find N.O.S. door weatherstrips. On the other hand I bought the Danial Carpenter repops & they fit flawless ! On the level I'm taking my car to I bought 2 sets 1 to use for the fitting/ assembly & the others as the final installed set. One thing that worry's me is that your doing the door & fender alignment after the car is painted ? better you than me :whistling: I do that step while in the body work phase with the weatherstrips installed. Then everything gets hidden index marks so after it's painted everything goes back together perfect with no alignment required after it's been painted

 
@ qcode351mach,

i pre aligned the doors and fender in the beginning while doing the body work.

what i am referring to now is the fine adjustments. as you may know, it is important to have the engine & transmission in the car and to have the doors filled with all the window parts. once all those weight factors are in the equation adjusting the doors is a matter of a few minutes. this is the way i learnt it and i did this with all my mustangs so far.

it's hard to explain... :-(

abudi

 
Simply amazing! For me, this is by far the most incredible online documented restoration build to date. Everything looks perfect and done right; no short cuts and no expense spared.

 
Simply amazing! For me, this is by far the most incredible online documented restoration build to date. Everything looks perfect and done right; no short cuts and no expense spared.
thank you for the very kind words :)

i really appreciate such posts. it really too bad that this boss is so far away from "home". i'd love to take this car to a car show in the US....maybe if i win in the lottery :-D it might work out.

abudi

 
i was in my garage today and finished detailing the hood. i hooked up the ram air hoses and stumbled over a little problem. the decal "ram air" i have is black. since i have a black hood i would need another color. is white correct or ist ist silver reflective??

i also waxed the overlapping fender aprons and the cavities of the hood. so today wasn't all that productive. i posted a search thread, because i am in need of the correct underhood light. does anyone have an idea where i can find the correct light and wire feed??

here's the search link:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-need-71-underhood-light

thanks for all the positive feedback folks...very much appreciated!!!

abudi























 
hi folks,

i was in my garage yesterday and 2 friends and i did the alignment on the boss. it took us around 5 hrs to adjust the doors, fenders and the hood. i was about to l give up and thanks to the guys who kept pushing the job was completed!

unfortunately while adjusting the parts i got to little cuts on my doors...i could kick myself in the ass for that!

before getting started with the alignment i had the "wide ovals" put on original ford rims. seeing the boss on those wheels blew me away...how much more "understatement" can you get?







here we go with the alignment...really not much to say except for the mike sander wax band which i would recommend!!



























now this episode in the resto was my favorite. how often does it happen that you open a NOS box and take out a brand spankin' new NOS grill with lights!!! it was like christmas just a few months early! one thing should be mentions when you put on the grill, all the light box elements MUST be loose in order to assemble the grill without it cracking when you tighten it. so once the grill was in place and adjusted right i tighten the screws and bolts from the center outward...don't know if it was done like that but it worked perfectly fine for me.









i always wondered where these 2 little brackets went and figured it was time to consult my assembly manuals. once that was figured out i went on to put the valance back onto the boss.





here's the valance before and after it was put onto the car







not many parts left





gute nacht!



 
hi folks,

since i had 2 front chrome bumper i decided to use the "better" one of the two. it has a few signs of use but the car's also 41 years old. i didn't want to put on a new repop one. the rear bumper is also the 71 original one. the front clip is pretty much done except for the lights but that shouldn't be a problem. unfortunately i have to adapt the lighting to austrian regulations so using the front fog lights is a NO GO :-(









i also installed the twist on hood brackets... which took around an hour to adjust.









last but not least, i started to puncture the carpet to find the holes for the seat belts and so on. the center console is back in place after sitting around for about 2 years. i wrapped everything after paint in see thru plastic which kept away all the dust and dirt :)



















i alos made a little progress on the electrical stuff. the radio is working and i decided to use a hide away antenna in stead of the original pole antenna. i wanted to keep the clean lines of the car, can anyone understand that??

the side marker are working and what's really interesting is that, when i put the key into the ignition and open the door the car starts to buzz like crazy. should that worry me? i don't have that in my other cars. another new thing for me is, when i open the driver door only the driver side courtesy light goes on. on the passenger side on the passenger side goes on with the center map light. can this be part of the courtesy group in my car???

thanks for staying tuned

abudi

 
Abudi, there are several buzzers in the dash (just above the glove box). They are indicators for when the door is open, passenger not belted in, etc. (at least on my '72, not sure about '71).

 
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hi folks,

i am a little slow on the boss at the moment because of the headliner. i finally got an appointment with my friend who's going to help me install the thing. we're going to start tomorrow and will be putting in the windows as well...so i hope everything will work out fine.

i didn't want to push the car over to his shop so i decided to put in the seat and drive over. i finally got the right u-joint so now i can finally drive the boss...what an amazing feeling. i've had the car now almost 2 years and i never drove it before....that explains my excitement :)

i installed the scuff plates, the carpet, the driver seat and the rear seat belts while i was at it. so once the headliners is in place i can finish installing the interior. my personal deadline is the 27 of november....that's when it went off the assembly line in 1970.

the correct seat belts









new u joint



grease for all the ball joints and so on



extra sound deadening for the interior panels



the previous owner cut holes into the original side panels as well as the sheet metal in the back. i sound deadened that too



the old refurbished scuff plates



at least the driver seat is back in the boss :)



abudi

 
Looking good Abudi! I know the feeling of running the car for the first time after sitting for so long. My rebuild took over 20years LOL! Quality work brother!

DJ

 
thanks for the great feedback folks. i really appreciate it :)

today's the big day. i'll be putting in the headliner which means i then can finally finish installing the interior.

driving this beast for the FIRST time in my life was amazing. the engine character is much more different than the "windors" i have driven. it seems as if the engine has a european engine running style. it's so smooth!!!

i'll be posting more in the next few days.

abudi

 
hi all,

this weekend i was able to almost (95%) complete the boss assembly. the interior was a lot of work. there are a few flaws here and there but hey the car's 41 years old. i hope to get the quarter trim parts from don....thanks a million!! i tried to refurbish all usable old parts as good as possible and used NOS parts when necessary. i will never use repop seals again! the sound of the door closing with the original seals is amazing!

the front pillar molding ... sorry a bit blurry



the front molding installed



the panel sails preped



i used this flexible sealant for the outer chrom molding. this stuff stays flexible and soft and prevents rain from coming into the car thru the side rails



i put the sealant under the outer molding



then put another row under the window seal molding



NOS window seals!





installed



even the bottom hole for the seal fit 100%



NOS bezel for the dome lamp



installed i forgot to put in the lens before i took the shot



the quarter window and the side window installed...the first side took me 2 hours to adjust. the other side took me 20 min after i figured out how to adjust the quarter windows.



the interior partially done



the rear part of the fold down group



the rear of the fold down group installed



the back part of the fold down group...i refurbished this 2 years ago!



the rear finally done



original deluxe door panels...from a 73er :-(



door panel weather shields



the headliner done...the seatbelt and the sun visors in place

















here's a little problem i have: whenever i turn on the ignition the indicated fuse gets busted. this fuse in in charge of the brake warning lamp and the fuel guage. does anyone have an idea where i should start looking? i can't seem to find out what causes the fuse to blow the whole time. my boss has a tach and rear heated window.....if anyone has had this problem pls help me!!



now i need to get a few missing parts and then i "could" start testing the boss.

thanks

abudi

 
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