Our 73 Mach1

[ejnonamaker]

Its coming together and looking good. Any more metalwork left to replace/repair?

Have to weld in a new package tray. That's next. On the outside I've got the bottom of the driver's side rear quarter for sure. I may have another problem child where the quarter panel meets the roof on the same side.

The lines look good there but I sounds like it's filled with Bondo. I've been told that area was lead metal from the factory. Guys would cut it out and put in a piece of sheet metal to cut down weight.

Any truth to that? Only stripping to bare metal will tell what I've got. Need a new trunk lid but that will be a simple one for one swap.

 

[mach71351c]

Congrats to a job well done.

 

[ejnonamaker]

Underneath the rattle can primer job that was on the car when we got it. Didn't have time for anything major today. This had had my curiosity for the past year though. Doesn't mean much. Still going down to metal and starting over.

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[ejnonamaker]

Drove 40 miles roundtrip on Saturday, July 23rd to my parent's house with my son, Franklin, in the back seat. No issues at all except it drives like a boat for a few seconds when you hit a little dip in the road. lollerz With the original suspension still on there it still eats up the turns. Can't wait to see what she'll do when it's new under there. 90 mph through some good, back road s-turns without even having to work.

Had just over a quarter of a tank and wanted to burn as much as I could out of the tank before stripping the car. Only made one mistake there. We live at the top of a hill. When we were about 1/2 mile from home we were about half a needle width on the E mark. Goosed the gas pedal to keep speed in a turn and she started to sputter. Pulled over and let it sit long enough for the ambulance behind us to ask if we were okay. She fired right back up and got us home.

Wasn't sure if I was going to like the 2.75 rear end. I have to say it's not the fastest thing off the line but she does great at highway speed, in the turns, and up and down hills. I also liked that at 55-65 mph it runs at 2000-2250 RPM. Is that a sign of old age?

 

[ejnonamaker]

Took the oil pan off the FMX. Used a pump & tube through the dipstick to get most off the fluid out first. Then removed all bit two side bolts and pried it apart. Let it drip for a little bit and then holding the bottom of the pan, removed the last two bolts. No mess at all. Degreased the pan, wire wheeled it, and now it's sitting in the garage letting the primer dry. Next will be to paint it Ford Light Blue, scrap the remaining gasket off the bottom of the tranny, new filter, gasket, bolts, and done.

The really big question next is all that oil in the top off the picture really coming from a bad oil pan seal or is my main shot? I'm hoping for the less of two evils. Removing the oil pan next anyways but will take a peek up in the inspection panel too see if I have more work to do. Any inputs on that would be highly appreciated.

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[ejnonamaker]

Got the FMX pan, the fly wheel inspection plate, and dipstick cleaned up and painted. Got the old gasket all scrapped off the bottom of the tranny and did some degreasing. Turned the crank to next drain the torque convertor tomorrow. While that's dripping going to disconnect the cooling lines and blow them out as well.

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[Mister 4x4]

Nice! Coming right along. ::thumb::

 

[ejnonamaker]

It's still a 44 year old, hot, oily mess under there but it's slowly all getting serviced and looking new again. I also learned that my back brakes don't work well enough to stop the wheels from spinning when you have the back end lifted up. Had to wait in neutral to let the wheels stop before going from R to D and visa versa. So after the engine oil pan, drive shaft, and pinion seals... Brake servicing.

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[ejnonamaker]

Got bored prepping all the systems for storage. Figured I had the shock tower braces off and would restore them. I see them in the original black or all chromed out all the time. I didn't know what it would like but I like the light Ford blue there. Still looks funny in there with all the old and dingy with a couple bright, shiny parts. It'll all get done.

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[luxstang]

I like how you move forward, one small step at a time but each a small success in its own.

Good job!

 

[luxstang]

Thanks!

What do you all think? Leave black with a silver ring or paint them whit too?

The faces of the instruments will still be black. I think it will make for a nice transition to leave then alone. Then another part of me thinks it would look sharp to paint them white.

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This is an older post that I must have missed but here goes:

Whatever you decide for the front, paint the rear of those rings matte white! These rings are what reflects the light from the LEDs (located behind the gauges) to the face of the gauges and they´re black! :huh:

Painting the rear white dramatically increases the amount of light you´re getting.

 

[ejnonamaker]

This happened last week but didn't have time to post before I left the country.

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[ejnonamaker]

Home from Afghanistan for a couple of weeks. The boy and I took her off the jacks and rode around for a couple hours. The grin on his face.

Got the back window out. Time to start working on that old package tray. Out with the old and in with the newer.

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[NG8264723]

I added a fold down to my wives car. Now would be the time!!

 

[ejnonamaker]

We've moved. Well the family did last month. We're in Colorado Springs, Colorado now. The Mustang is still in Weirton, West Virginia. Will be having it shipped out in the upcoming months. Having a buddy do some body work. I'll be out of Afghanistan in less than 2 months!

 

[OMS]

Be safe over there ... thank you for your service

 

[Wide-body71]

Keep plugging away my friend. It’s how some of the best memories are made.

 

[ejnonamaker]

So it's been quite some time since I've posted to our Mach 1 restoration. I made it back from Afghanistan in late April. Enjoyed spending time with the family until late June. Then we finally after trying a couple different carriers got our Mustang shipped out to Colorado. This was shortly after I started working for an airline company up in Denver, Colorado. I'll be posting a few additional posts below of pictures from since my return.

 

[ejnonamaker]

I left off with removing the rear window on one of my 2 weeks home from the Middle East. This was in preperation of mainly cutting out the old package tray and swapping for this one that came from a donor car at Ohio Mustang Supply. Thanks to my friend Andrew Boilegh in Weirton, West Virginia here is the finished result...

 

[ejnonamaker]

Here she is getting loaded up at the old K-Mart parking lot in Weirton, WV to begin her adventure to return to the family out in Colorado Springs.