New project for this winter. 71 Mach 1

[turtle5353]

Hey guys just wanted to start a thread on the new project for this winter. Had a guy drop off his 71 Mach 1 for some work. It's a very nice and original car that he got from his father when he passed. The car only has 46,000 miles on it and is very solid. Looks like the trunk took in some water over the years and it needs some work. Gonna be putting trunk pan in, drop offs, tail light panel, rear valance, some rear quarter panel work, and a new hood. I will be pretty much going over the whole car and getting it ready for him to cruise this summer. I will keep you guys updated as I go. He ordered the marti for it. And can't wait to see if we can find the build sheet in the car. This thing has never been apart so it should be in there. Well here's a couple of pics from tonight. Lots more to come in the next few months.

 

[73pony]

Sharp car.

 

[6972boss]

Nice car! Take good care of it and the owner. Original owner cas are rare.

 

[mach71351c]

Nice survivor. Look forwarded to the posts.

 

[Mikes73]

Looks like a nice project and a great starting point.

 

[luxstang]

Nice! Dog dishes, trim rings, no stripes, no frills.

 

[DK73]

Wow Big congratulation[emoji41][emoji106] Regards Lars

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[turtle5353]

Yeah guys its a pretty cool car. Very original. 1 owner. He even has the cancelled check from when his dad bought it new. Its a plain jane Mach with no stripes. but it does have the 351 2-v. 3 speed manual. A/C that works.

I think the first thing I'm going to get started on is stripping the back end to get started on the trunk pan and tail light panel. It has 2 good size holes in the bottom of the quarter panel. I was thinking of replacing the whole quarter panel, but the rest of it is in such good shape I would hate to replace the whole thing. I may just cut out the bad lower section and butt weld it back in. I will have access to the back side of the weld also, so when I'm done the repair should be invisible. We will see what it looks like once I start tearing into it for body work and paint. Hope to have it painted and done for spring.

One question I do have right off the bat. This car has the lower bright moldings. How are those attached? Clips? studs? acorn nuts? I haven't looked in my ford books yet just curious.

Thanks for the replies guys and im sure I will have lots of questions along the way! Stay tuned.

 

[Boss1Ray]

Very nice car! And I really like the correct no-stripe look for that car.

Can't remember how the lower body non side stripe Decor Group trim you mention is attached.

Ray

 

[OMS]

Kevin, the moldings are attached with the plastic snap on clips and the metal clip / studs with nuts. Section over the front valance has tabs between the fender and valance

It depends on the area

If Ford had access they used a nut

fenders ... nut

door has studs except on the end - one exposed nut

quarter panel nuts reached inside of the door jamb vent and inside of the trunk

11/32 nd size nuts

Don

 

[turtle5353]

Kevin, the moldings are attached with the plastic snap on clips and the metal clip / studs with nuts. Section over the front valance has tabs between the fender and valance

It depends on the area

If Ford had access they used a nut

fenders ... nut

door has studs except on the end - one exposed nut

quarter panel nuts reached inside of the door jamb vent and inside of the trunk

11/32 nd size nuts

Don

Great thanks Don!! Are the clips just removed with a flat tool like you use on the windshield trim?? I really don't want to damage these, the owner really wants to reuse them and keep it looking just like it is. I will be PMing you later today for some parts we are going to need to order.

 

[Don65Stang]

Nice! Dog dishes, trim rings, no stripes, no frills.

You said what i was going to say! Too funny.

Thats a really good looking car! I like the no frills look.

 

[OMS]

Kevin, the moldings are attached with the plastic snap on clips and the metal clip / studs with nuts. Section over the front valance has tabs between the fender and valance

It depends on the area

If Ford had access they used a nut

fenders ... nut

door has studs except on the end - one exposed nut

quarter panel nuts reached inside of the door jamb vent and inside of the trunk

11/32 nd size nuts

Don

Great thanks Don!! Are the clips just removed with a flat tool like you use on the windshield trim?? I really don't want to damage these, the owner really wants to reuse them and keep it looking just like it is. I will be PMing you later today for some parts we are going to need to order.

Once any nuts are off

The clips are plastic - windshield tool is too thick

I use two thin flat blade screw drivers, one on each side of the clip. I start on from the bottom

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Be very careful with the decor group trim. They do not repo it anymore, use to, and 71-72 is different for the front piece. 73 is lower to align better with the larger bumper. They are difficult to find I have two cars with it.

It is a nice looking car. I agree if you can fix the holes in the quarter panels do so the repo ones never fit like originals and almost impossible to hide the change. If you butt weld like you say it will never bee seen. So many just throw it up there and overlap the panel and then after a while it shows through the paint.

 

[OMS]

Kevin front fender has plastic clip in the center stud / nut on each each end

 

[Mister 4x4]

Be very careful with the decor group trim. They do not repo it anymore, use to, and 71-72 is different for the front piece.

Sound advice. ::thumb::

I remember the studs - I had to buzz them off my doors, since I was missing all the trim from the fenders on both sides. I wound up giving what was left of them to one of the guys on the forums rather than just toss 'em out. I was planning on going with hockey stripes... but then after seeing so many wavy stripes on other cars, I decided against it. Now, I kinda almost wish I had the trim back. :whistling: rofl

Oh well.

Nice car, Kevin. Looks like a fun project. Nice shop, as well. ::thumb::

 

[turtle5353]

Kevin front fender has plastic clip in the center stud / nut on each each end

Don, do you sell the clips and studs for these? I got the ones on the rear quarter panels off but the springs that hold them in the track are broke and a couple of the studs broke.

David, Im hoping to be able to save all the trim. The owner really wants to reuse it. As far as the butt welds go, that usually how I do all my patch panels. I like it to be invisible repairs.

Eric, Thanks, but as you know a shop is never big enough. This garage was already here when we bought the house. I have plans on putting a 24x56 addition on to it with 16' ceilings and a 2 post lift and possibly a small spray both in the back. That's why I do all my side work....to save up for my garage addition! It sure would make life a lot easier!!

 

[turtle5353]

Just thought I would post a couple pics of what I got done yesterday. Got the back of the car all tore apart. Dropped the gas tank. Cut out the tail light panel and trunk pan and drop offs. Still have some final cutting to do up front but ran outta time. The inside of the frame rails were virtually rust free. Another neat thing was that when I took off the trunk lid, there was no paint or primer under the hinges. the metal was bare and looked brand new. Crazy how 45 year old metal can not have a spot of rust on it. This car has never been in an accident or repainted. Its really cool seeing the overspray from the factory on different parts. They didn't do the greatest job of masking between the doors and rockers transition to black and yellow. Faint overspray on a lot of stuff. This car is like a time capsule. Cant wait til I get to move forward on the car and tear the interior out and look for the build sheet. I will keep this thread updated so you guys can see the progress.

 

[turtle5353]

Got some more of the car tore apart this weekend. All the trim off, fenders, hood, grille, bumper, ect. Found a little more rust than we had hoped. I will need to do a little bit of patching on the fender aprons. Also need to patch the cowl on passenger side. Luckily the hat is still in good shape and only the outer part of the cowl needs work. Gonna try to push it outside today or tomorrow and pressure wash it all off again now that the fenders are off and all the trim is off. Lots of old dirt under there. Should be fun pressure washing it. We got around 8 inches of snow last night and high in the Mid 20's. Suppose to warm up some tomorrow then drop down to 11 for a high Thursday and a low of -7. Yeah winters here! ::thumb::

Heres a few pics. Hope to get the trunk pan finished up this week. So far I am 16 man hours into the job.