My 1973 Mach 1 Build

[rybo]

This is my new (to me) 1973 Mach 1 with the 351 Cleveland Q-Type / 4v. It has (I believe) 105k miles, My grandpa bought this new, drove it a while and parked it in the barn. Hasnt been registered since 1983.

He was a collector of Mustangs and this is the one him and I planned on fixing up together, just didn't have time to make it happen before he past away. Now I brought it home to start the rebuild.

My Plan:

Phase 1 is to get it on the road the way it is, I will clean it up, fix anything that needs to be fixed to be road worthy and drive it a little before I really tare into it. It has a newer Edlebrock 1406 carb but has been sitting rusting for a couple years, so im going to do a rebuild kit to get it working good again. I flushed the engine with new oil and engine restorer, flushed the radiator and fuel lines. It has a newer gas tank so should be good there. Interior is in decent shape, all things considered so will run it as is for now. Brakes seem to be ok, ill replace the rear drums and shoes but front discs are good and pads have about 50%. I need to replace the exhaust as its rusted through. Im going to put Flowmaster Super 44s on it with some long pipe headers, hopefully I dont need to pull the motor to do that so we'll see. During phase 1 Im going to sand it down, fix the front drivers side fender (hopefully myself) and start laying down primer as I go along.

Phase 2 will be pulling the motor, will replace the heads and intake manifold while I send the originals out to be redone. Im thinking an Edlebrock Performer intake, not sure about the heads yet. I will lay down a new paint job, im thinking the pepper grey metallic with that slight green tint (Like Eleanor) but not sure exactly what color that is (picture attached). Ill bolt on some 18" wheels, im thinking 10" rear if I can fit them and maybe a 9" front. I want to level the car out and get rid of that front rake. Ill probably do some lowering springs so I don't need to chop the OEM springs. Im going to re-upholster the interior, keeping the original style, will probably go with that ginger stock color and black carpet, I think the ginger would look good with that color paint. Replace door panels unless somehow I can repair these. I need a new dash pad but everything else should be good to keep.

Thats about as far as i've gotten with my plans, we will see how it goes.

** I added a pic of the paint color im looking to do, maybe someone can tell me what color that is?

 

[rybo]

Finally got it breathing fire! Dropped the tank to flush it, blew the lines out, replaced the fuel pump (that was a pain in the ass) and rebuilt the carburetor. Flushed the radiator and changed the oil, hasn't been started since the mid 80s now it's purring like a wildcat.

Next up I'm going to start on ripping the old carpet out of the interior and get that cleaned up with new insulation all around. Need to bleed the brakes and get those working better, and finish the front fender repair.

 

[cv_72mustang]

It sounds pretty darn good for 105k and not running for that many years. I'm surprised the belts aren't squeaking or noise from power steering or anything else?

 

[rybo]

It's sound pretty darn good for 105k and not running for that many years.

Yeah that's what I thought. I think my grandma put a lot of those miles on, she used to go see her sister about 2 hrs up the highway once a week, so the motor probably never had a lot of strain. Either way I'm pretty happy with it, sounds healthy!

 

[rybo]

It sounds pretty darn good for 105k and not running for that many years. I'm surprised the belts aren't squeaking or noise from power steering or anything else?

Apologies completely forgot to answer your question.. No squeaking at all, there is a small leak from the power steering somewhere, doesn't look like it's from the pump so maybe a line or something. No other leaks anywhere, pretty surprised by all this to be honest.