My 71 Build

[Kilgon]

It is tough for sure when you loose a family member. You will always have his memory for sure.  

The car not being a Mach 1 is not a big thing. People think the Mach 1 package was a big performance thing, NOT. It was a appearance package or smoke and mirrors Ford thing.

The only think the Mach 1 package got you that you could not get on another model was the name Mach 1, The plastic runner in the front carpet, the rear honey comb tail light panel and the Mach 1 sports interior option if it was ordered with it. 

The base Mach 1 was nothing in the way of performance. You had to add options to go faster that could be added to any model. You even got the Mach 1 grill if you got the Decor Group. 

99.9% of the people that see the car will not know the difference for sure. It is your car do it like you want for sure.

Thanks for the input Dave.  I agree with what you say but there is still that "attention getter" when you hear Mach1.  It is the perception that Ford led people to believe that it was special.  My brother would emphasize "Mach1" as if it was a great honor and privilege to own one. lol.   Right now as it sits about the only thing missing from the mach1 package is the hood locks as far as I can know.  Everything I have ordered for the interior was the deluxe for the mach 1.   The car already had the honey comb tail panel and the front bumper was also changed out.  Might be missing a few things yet but as I come across them I will convert over. Hopefully when I'm done the only way you will be able to tell it's not a mach1 will be by the vin.

 

[cwalker509]

That looks like some major progress and it looks awesome. Makes me want to get going on mine. Unfortunately winter is here and I am painting mine myself. No heat in my garage.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

It is tough for sure when you loose a family member. You will always have his memory for sure.  

The car not being a Mach 1 is not a big thing. People think the Mach 1 package was a big performance thing, NOT. It was a appearance package or smoke and mirrors Ford thing.

The only think the Mach 1 package got you that you could not get on another model was the name Mach 1, The plastic runner in the front carpet, the rear honey comb tail light panel and the Mach 1 sports interior option if it was ordered with it. 

The base Mach 1 was nothing in the way of performance. You had to add options to go faster that could be added to any model. You even got the Mach 1 grill if you got the Decor Group. 

99.9% of the people that see the car will not know the difference for sure. It is your car do it like you want for sure.

Thanks for the input Dave.  I agree with what you say but there is still that "attention getter" when you hear Mach1.  It is the perception that Ford led people to believe that it was special.  My brother would emphasize "Mach1" as if it was a great honor and privilege to own one. lol.   Right now as it sits about the only thing missing from the mach1 package is the hood locks as far as I can know.  Everything I have ordered for the interior was the deluxe for the mach 1.   The car already had the honey comb tail panel and the front bumper was also changed out.  Might be missing a few things yet but as I come across them I will convert over.  Hopefully when I'm done the only way you will be able to tell it's not a mach1 will be by the vin.

The hood locks were available on any model. It was part of the black out or argent paint on the hood. In 73 it cost $18.00 for the hood locks and black out paint. The Mach 1 did not get that as part of the package, at least not in 73 would have to look at the Ford Facts Book for 71 to be sure. Most will never know what is totally correct. You are building the car for you not them.

 

[Don C]

In 1971 only the Boss 351 came with the hood locks (and ram air with hood black out). They were optional on everything else as part of the ram air package.

 

[Kilgon]

Back to the build

May & June of 17

Moving ahead with some of the needed items on my list to do I figure I go ahead and replace the transmission seal.  While I was under the car I notice that the rubber brake line at the rear axle was not looking to good.  After doing a little more inspection I found that one of the calipers was leaking and the main brake line from front to rear had a crushed spot in it. I decided to do a complete brake system replacement including lines, calipers, wheel cylinders, and porportioning valve which had a broken switch connector.

Once again another surprise.  The front disc brakes were not original.  Somewhere through it's journey the front brakes were converted from drums to disc.  Seem not to be a big problem until I ordered the calipers and they did not fit.  Now it became a game of trying to find what year and make they came from.  Casting number on caliper was of little help. 

Found a website where there was pictures of the various calipers that Ford used in the late 60's through the 70's.  I found a couple that look like what I had and called around trying to find them in stock.  Lucked out at Autozone.  Was able to match up and they came from a  Mustang II.  I decided to do the front brakes and replace all the lines at this time along with the proportional valve.  I would wait to do the rear later when I would pull the whole rear end out.  Due to the drum to disc conversion, the master cylinder was changed out also.  This caused me to have to change the line nuts and reflare to make the new lines work at the proportioning valve and master cylinder. 

Purchased a double flare kit from Harbor Freight.  It did the job but had to clamp the tube clamp with another c clamp to keep the line from slipping when flaring.  Also the ears on the wing nuts broke.  If this is something you do often spend a few extra dollars and buy a good quality one.

More to come.



New proportioning valve



Caliper for 74 Mustang II



A little paint to spruce it up.



Cheap double flare kit.  Got me by but if I did this a lot I would spend the extra money and get a good one.



Brake line kit from classic tube.



One of the half dozen double flares I had to do.

.

New lines and brakes done on the front.

 

[Kilgon]

July - Dec  2017 -  Dents and Leaks

During this time I spent a good portion of it cleaning up the engine compartment.  Seem like it took forever to get anything done with the engine in the way! LOL 

Another area I had to address was a transmission fluid leak. I was putting in a quart every time I turned around.  I had already replaced the rear seal but still had a wet spot on the garage floor.  Upon further inspection it seemed to be leaking at the line fittings at the tranny itself plus in one of the lines at a rubber splice.  They were also several kinks in them so I went ahead and ordered 2 new lines. 

While waiting on the lines I decided to pull the headers since it would make it easier replaceing the lines plus three of the header tubes where crushed and the headers were getting rusty.  I was going to replace them but after looking up the price for new headers (Hookers 6115 - $600 plus) I decided to try to fix them.  I was able to get the tubes opened back up by taking a galvanized pipe reducer and putting it on a piece of thread all.  I then heated up the header pipe with a cutting torch and drove the reducer up the individual pipes opening them back up.  Worked out well.  Once done I got them sandblasted and then I painted them - total cost - $120.00.  



Type of pipe reducer I used this on the end of a piece of thread all to open up the pipes. 



Headers after being sandblasted and painted.

I got the new lines in and installed.  I was planning on adding a trans temp gauge so I figure now would be a good time.  Pulled the pan to put the temp sensor in and got a big surprise.  I notice that the dipstick was not protruding past the end of the filler tube.  Checked the part number on the dipstick and come to find out someone had put a C4 dipstick in a C6. 

 I've been overfilling the tranny because of this.  After cleaning up everything real good I was able to see that the fluid seem to have been coming from the top of the tranny vent and running down the side by the lines and also along the tailstock.  



C4 dip stick 



C4 dip stick in a C6 tranny.  You see the tip just sticking out in upper left.



You can see the tranny oil from over filling and coming out vent.  New Lines installed.



Picked up a temp to use until I can find a replacement.  You can see how much further the dipstick should have been sticking out.

Good possibility I was chasing leaks that didn't exist.  Put the headers back on and took the car out for a short trip.  Yahoo - all was good and dry.

More to come:

 

[Danoh1]

Great story and pics. Keep me coming!

My Q code same thing. Painted red and added Mach stripes to a standard Fastback. Nobody who matters cares. The only ones to complain or point it out will be some poor wannabe Mach 1 owner at a car show.

 

[Kilgon]

Great story and pics.  Keep me coming!

My Q code same thing.  Painted red and added Mach stripes to a standard Fastback.  Nobody who matters cares.  The only ones to complain or point it out will be some poor wannabe Mach 1 owner at a car show.

Thanks.  Followed your link.  Looks like yours is coming along nice.  A little more extensive rebuild then mine.  Wish I had a nice shop where I could really have the room to spread things out and be able to work on it year round.   Limited in what you can do in a standard 2 car garage.  Got parts in my shed, downstairs workshop, playroom, enclosed patio and my small office.  Didn't realize there were so many pieces until I stared taking it apart.  

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Kilgon,

Sounds like you are really digging into your car. One thing I added to my car was a fan cooled transmission cooler which works great. Took that heat out of the radiator and the return line to trans is barely warm. 

Great idea on getting the dents out of the headers. We use to make pipe bending dies for the nuclear industry. The special alloy pipe they made could not be bent so they stamped two 1/2 elbows and welded and did Xray to verify. We built a die that closed up and the pipe was slid into the end and then pushed by hydraulics into the elbow die and made a perfect solid elbow. Same way they do copper plumbing elbows. We also made big tool steel ball bearings that were pressed into the ends of tube to size them perfect sort of like your pipe fitting solution.

Great to see you finding solutions to your issues. Great job.

 

[Kilgon]

Kilgon,

Sounds like you are really digging into your car. One thing I added to my car was a fan cooled transmission cooler which works great. Took that heat out of the radiator and the return line to trans is barely warm. 

Great idea on getting the dents out of the headers. We use to make pipe bending dies for the nuclear industry. The special alloy pipe they made could not be bent so they stamped two 1/2 elbows and welded and did Xray to verify. We built a die that closed up and the pipe was slid into the end and then pushed by hydraulics into the elbow die and made a perfect solid elbow. Same way they do copper plumbing elbows. We also made big tool steel ball bearings that were pressed into the ends of tube to size them perfect sort of like your pipe fitting solution.

Great to see you finding solutions to your issues. Great job.

Thanks.  Funny you mentioned ball bearings.  The bends over the rear axle were not done with a mandrel and were kinked.  Got the idea of heating up the pipe and pulling a steel ball through using a 1/8" cable.  Got a steel ball off of ebay but ended up being to tight.  Have 3" exhaust and was looking for something around 2 3/4 but couldn't find anything in the size area.  Ended up drilling littles holes and screwing in a screw then heated the area and pulled it out.  Tack welded the holes.  Plan on getting need pipes from the muffler back in the next month or so.  One of the few things left on the list to purchase.

 

[Outrider4]

Looks great!

Is it 2B Bright Red and did you clear coat it or just single stage top coat?

Color code is 3 which is bright red for the 71's.  It is 2 stage base coat and clear over it.  

 

Base coat

 

[Outrider4]

Nice job, Are you going to paint the rocker panels and lower quarters black ? If so is it going to be satin black or flat black. I'm leaning toward satin..not sure what factory used.

 

[Kilgon]

Nice job,  Are you going to paint the rocker panels and lower quarters black ? If so is it going to be satin black or flat black. I'm leaning toward satin..not sure what factory used.

Thanks, getting there. Hood and bottom will be Sems Hot Rod Black which is a matte.  I checked out a lot of pictures and for me the matte is to my liking.  Unless your building for concours correct I would go with whatever makes you smile when you look at your car. 

 

[Kilgon]

Jan – March 2018 – Too cold to work in the garage much so I cleaned parts and painted what I could in my basement workshop. I have to be careful about the paint fumes. I don’t really have any way of venting them so I can only do a little at a time.  

April – May  Weather starting to break and warm up enough to be able to work in the garage again. Started on the front end of the car and stripped everything off that I could.  Took the headlight boxes to get sand blasted. Wired brushed and cleaned the aprons, springs, shock towers and control arms. Decided to use Coroseal on this area as a further rust preventer.  



Good and solid



Cleaned, sealed and painted.



Yahoo!, I retired at the end of April.  Now every day is a Saturday!!!   I will be able to work on the car during the week and should make better progress.

June – July  Cleaned the inside of the fenders and sanded and primed.  



Over all in great shape. Just a little surface rust.



Sanded and primed.

Decided to pull the radiator and get it boiled and flushed. Cleaned and painted the front crossmembers and radiator supports. Took this opportunity to replace the timing cover crankshaft seal.  Also cleaned up and painted the front end of the engine. 



Replaced the timing chain cover seal while I had the radiator out.



Amazing what a little fresh paint will do.

Got the radiator back and put back in. Was cleaning up and as luck would have it, I was moving my shop vac and dropped the hose with the nozzle on it.  It smacked the radiator right on one of the tubes and sprung a leak. $%#&* - off to the radiator shop again.



As they say a picture is worth a thousand curse words!  :whistling:

More to come.

 

[92GTS-R]

What treatment did you use on the inner fenders to get rid of the rust and end up with the black finish?

 

[Kilgon]

What treatment did you use on the inner fenders to get rid of the rust and end up with the black finish?

I used Corroseal - it's a rust converter and works well if used properly.  Info at http://corroseal.com/  Have to make sure you remove any loose rust and apply heavy coat as directed.  Can leave as is on interior parts if you want.  I recommend painting anything that will be exposed to the weather.   Also acts as a primer.  Top coated with Eastwood Chassis Black.   

The top picture is after corroseal treatment and bottom picture is after being painted.

 

[Kilgon]

Aug – Oct 2018

The car had been undercoated and due to the previous transmission overflow issue the leaking fluid had soften it and in some areas it had peeled away.  Instead of trying to patch up what was left I decided to strip the rest of it. Not a fun job, especially when laying on your back. Once I got it all removed, I primed the entire underneath and then coated it with 3M Undercoating spray.  Turned out well.  Will see how good it holds after the car been driven for a while.





Nasty mess.



Underside after scraped off.



Finish coating. Looks better in person than in the picture.  It's solid black color. 

I had pulled the gas tank to do the underside.  After checking it over and finding nothing really wrong with it other than a little surface rust in a couple of areas I decided to keep it and paint it.  Purchased Eastwood’s Tank Tone Metallic coating paint. Was impressed at the finish. Hard to tell that is was paint and not the original from a short distance.



Pre coating gas tank.



Finish tank



Hard to tell it's painted.

Up to this point I had been putting off the one job I was not looking forward to – repairing the rusted-out cowl. Had worked on the car all day and decided I would pull the windshield and call it quits. Got the trim off and about 80 percent of the windshield loose when I nick the side of the glass. Got a real small hairline crack right at the edge. I finished getting it out and set it aside for the night.

Went out to the garage the next morning and was greeted by a crack clear across the windshield. %@#$@@!! Another couple hundred down the drain.

Started removing the top of the cowl. Taking longer than I expected drilling all those spot welds.  Finally got it off and surveyed the rust damage to the bottom side. Overall, the bottom of the cowl is in good shape other than the collar area. Will make a patch and repair it.



Rusted out collar.





Top of cowl.  Will clean up and paint.

More to come.

 

[Kilgon]

Oct – Nov 2018

Got the cowl area cleaned up and prepped for the patch.  



Now time to weld the patch in and the top back on and button it up. Since I retired I have had limited access to some of the bigger tools I could get ahold while I was working such as welders.  Seems like a new welder would be a nice early Christmas present.  With Mrs. Claus permission I broke out some hard earn cash and  got an Eastwood Mig 135.  





Got the patch welded in then laid on a heavy coat of sealant around the outer edges. Welded the top of the cowl back on and primed and painted.  Looks good.  Forgot to take picture of the patch before I put it back together.





The weather is holding out so I figured I would go ahead and pull the rear end and go through it. It also has a leak at the housing so that will get taken care of.  Replaced the clutches and gears in the Trac Lok. 







Went ahead and cleaned up the springs and got new anti-squeak pads along with new shackles and bushings. Finished up by replacing the rear brakes and brake cylinders.





More to come.

 

[droptop73]

Nice work, it's coming along great!

 

[92GTS-R]

Wow, way beyond my skills,  Well done  ::thumb::