Tucaz520
Well-known member
Hello everybody
I ve had a 73 Mach1 in the family since 76. My dad owned it an drove it as a daily most of its life. Due to life events i had to take ownership around 2007-ish. At that tine it had been siiting for 5 years. My dad though it skipped timing and didnt have the time to mess with it. I hauled it home from Tucson AZ to San Diego. Seeing how i wanted this car ever since i could remember i tore right into it a found it was just a faulty fuel pump. Put it on the road for a bit and had some fun. Then my work schedule took over and my son then 7 discovered dirt bikes. The car then entered another dark period of storage. A cross country move didnt help things and the weekend trips to ride dirt bikes in the desert turned into racing. If you race anything you know that all other things take a back seat. She sat and started to weep, she became a shelf for all things in the garage. You name it it was piled in top of the hood, roof and even the back glass. Once a year i would pull her out top off fluids and do donuts in the undeveloped subdivision. Once again work pulled me away and so did dirtbike racing. That was the darkest 4 years for her. I am back now. The son is 16 and making his own money for racing. I recently retired from the Marine Corps, now i have time, more time than money but thats ok im not building a show car here.
I wasted no time being her back to life. Like a neglected girl being shown some attention she perked right up and has been loving the attention. Shes now a woman scorn and making me pay for the years of abandonment. My first attempt at regaining her trust was to rebuild the carb as she leaked fuel from the accelerator pump and refused to be quiet when i turned her key off. Shes being a little stubborn about it though. She loves to run but gives me trouble restarting when hot. A litte twist here and tap there and lots of hands on and she is starting to come around.
Next i turned my attention to her underside as she was leaking PS fluid,trand fluid and even her diff had a little drip. Got the pitman seal replaced and dry as a bone only to be shown shes still bitter and leaked fluid from the back side of the gear box. The diff seal will be an easy fix but he trans is proving to be a bit difficult as 2 shops have turned me away saying they dont wanna touch it. The leak is the shift shaft seal on an FMX.
Thats about where me and her sit right now. Ill keep showing her affection and tending to her leaky areas until she stops weeping. Once she does ill be able to dress her up a bit and take her on the town to show her off. About the only thing she needs on the inside is door panels and headliner. I have the door parts just wating to be dyed. The headliner is in possession also but removing the front and rear glass doesnt sound like something i want to handle.
I ve had a 73 Mach1 in the family since 76. My dad owned it an drove it as a daily most of its life. Due to life events i had to take ownership around 2007-ish. At that tine it had been siiting for 5 years. My dad though it skipped timing and didnt have the time to mess with it. I hauled it home from Tucson AZ to San Diego. Seeing how i wanted this car ever since i could remember i tore right into it a found it was just a faulty fuel pump. Put it on the road for a bit and had some fun. Then my work schedule took over and my son then 7 discovered dirt bikes. The car then entered another dark period of storage. A cross country move didnt help things and the weekend trips to ride dirt bikes in the desert turned into racing. If you race anything you know that all other things take a back seat. She sat and started to weep, she became a shelf for all things in the garage. You name it it was piled in top of the hood, roof and even the back glass. Once a year i would pull her out top off fluids and do donuts in the undeveloped subdivision. Once again work pulled me away and so did dirtbike racing. That was the darkest 4 years for her. I am back now. The son is 16 and making his own money for racing. I recently retired from the Marine Corps, now i have time, more time than money but thats ok im not building a show car here.
I wasted no time being her back to life. Like a neglected girl being shown some attention she perked right up and has been loving the attention. Shes now a woman scorn and making me pay for the years of abandonment. My first attempt at regaining her trust was to rebuild the carb as she leaked fuel from the accelerator pump and refused to be quiet when i turned her key off. Shes being a little stubborn about it though. She loves to run but gives me trouble restarting when hot. A litte twist here and tap there and lots of hands on and she is starting to come around.
Next i turned my attention to her underside as she was leaking PS fluid,trand fluid and even her diff had a little drip. Got the pitman seal replaced and dry as a bone only to be shown shes still bitter and leaked fluid from the back side of the gear box. The diff seal will be an easy fix but he trans is proving to be a bit difficult as 2 shops have turned me away saying they dont wanna touch it. The leak is the shift shaft seal on an FMX.
Thats about where me and her sit right now. Ill keep showing her affection and tending to her leaky areas until she stops weeping. Once she does ill be able to dress her up a bit and take her on the town to show her off. About the only thing she needs on the inside is door panels and headliner. I have the door parts just wating to be dyed. The headliner is in possession also but removing the front and rear glass doesnt sound like something i want to handle.