The Rickster - a 73 Mach 1 work in progress

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

For sure you are not "slowly but surely". I think you might set a record for a full ground up build on here. You missed your calling but you have several more in the wings to keep you busy.
Great job I am sure you will inspire others to get out there and do it.
 

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Today, I got a call I had expected, but was hoping wouldn't be quite so soon.  At the same time, I was hoping it would be soon.  The paint shop called and said they wanted to pick up the Rickster on Friday or Saturday.  I've got some things to finish up before it goes to the paint shop, and some things I'll have to let the paint shop finish. 

I did get the steering linkage bolted together, torqued, and pinned, so that is ready to go.  I'll install the rear axles tomorrow, and will be able to get the rear wheels on it, and it will finally be a roller, for the first time in 7 years.  WooHoo!!

So that's the update for today.  Still making progress on the Rickster, and exciting news, too.  

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Exciting day today.  The Rickster was rolled outside on its own wheels.  It's the first time in 7 yrs that this car has been on it's own wheels.  Without the engine, the front end sits a bit high, but it sure felt good to see it rolling on it's own, again.





All this was in preparation for being picked up by the paint shop.  This afternoon, they came by and picked up the Rickster, and it's now at the paint shop. I've still got to get the front and rear valances stripped, as well as the rock guard and front bumper.  I'll take them to the paint shop later this week, along with the hood and the driver side door. 

It's a major milestone (or for my Canadian and European friends, kilometerstone) and is very exciting.  Now, I can start building the motor and getting the upholstery ready to go in when the car comes back from paint.  

So that is the update for today.  Progress is being made.  Slowly, but surely.  

 

[Lazarus]

Congratulations on seeing it off to paint. Very impressive pace, brother. Thanks for the updates; it has been great to watch. 

 

[turtle5353]

awesome!!

 

[OMS]

:goodjob:

Nice work Ron

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I am glad it is coming together so good for you. Now don't give up on that 2 post lift would be huge help on assembly. All those other projects coming also.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

With the Rickster off to the paint shop, I turned my attention to the interior and the motor.  I had posted a question on the interior forum because I discovered the dash had 3 odd holes down to the left of the headlight switch.  



From my query, I learned that switches in that panel would have been for a convertible top, or associated with the factory convenience group.  This car being a Mach 1, and without the factory convenience group, it's unlikely that those holes are factory.  Also, they are kind of irregularly spaced, not lined up well, and  off level, so I decided to eliminate them.  

Because they were small, I just used a copper backing plate and closed them with weld, taking my time and cooling them with some air to keep the heat down.  A quick clean up with the sanding disc on the angle grinder, followed by a quick pass with the small flap disc left me with this.



A skim coat of body filler and a little sanding ...



And she was ready for some primer and a few light coats of paint.  I used the Dark Charcoal Metallic that I am told was the original color used by Ford.  I think it turned out okay.  I

Now, as soon as my box of goodies from Don at Ohio Mustang Supply arrive, I'll be putting the dash together and setting it aside to await the Rickster's homecoming.  I've got a motor to build, seats to cover, trim to polish, parts to media blast and paint, so plenty of work to do, still.  But we're making progress - slowly, but surely. 

 

[Cowman]

Hi Ron, took a read through your build thread, some great reference material here for my build - thank you!

I may have missed it, but whose 'dark charcoal metallic' did you use for the dash, it turned out great.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Thanks, Cowman.  I used the dark charcoal metallic from NPD, National Parts Depot.  Part number is VP-4464.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

That is one color Ford kept from 1964 1/2 - 1973 the only black color they used on interior all those years. You are keeping it going for sure always great to see an owner do their work. Any pics from your painter?

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Tuesday afternoon I got my care package from Don at Ohio Mustang.  It had the instrument cluster bezel, center bezel, glove box bezel as well as the new instrument cluster lens and some other parts.  Wednesday morning I had a little surgery on my right hand, and being right handed I've been a bit hobbled, but I'm still getting things done.  I got the instrument cluster housing cleaned up and painted with satin white and silver on the inside of the gauge housings.  



I got the speedometer and fuel gauge mounted, and went ahead and put in the lens and laid the new bezel over it,  It looks so much better.  



The ***** lights were sent out to Rocketman for the tach conversion.  It came back today, so I'll get it installed tomorrow.  I also took the AC vents apart, cleaned them and hit them with some paint (adhesion promoter and SEM Trim black), and they now look like new.  



I purchased the center bezel with the gauge pod.  I purchased VDO gauges which are round and kind of a fit, but not really.  I got out the Dremel and opened up the sides just a little so that the gauges slip in from the front and the screw ring secures them from the front.  I think they came out pretty good, but if I had to do it over again, I would make a bracket and secure them from the back and not Dremel out the openings.



I still need to do a tiny bit of touch, but overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. 



I've got dual sensor oil pressure and water temp sending units on order so I can have both the warning lights and gauges operational without trying to find a second port or adding a Tee and worry about interference with other stuff nearby.  I'm hoping that it works as slick as it sounds like it should.  

I did talk to the paint shop on Thursday.  They haven't started yet.  I'm pretty disappointed, but trying to be patient.  Well, until Monday, anyway.   Sooo, that is the update for this week.  More to come, soon.    

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Well, it's been close to 3 months since I've posted an update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.  I've gotten the instrument cluster back together with LED bulbs installed.  I got the steering column painted and reassembled, but the turn signal switch is binding, so I'll have to go back through it, one more time.  I got the front and rear seats reupholstered with new foam and seat covers from TMI.  



Most of the wrinkles seen in the picture were worked out, and overall, the seats look pretty good.

I also cut open the top of the new fuel tank and installed the new Tanks, Inc. electric fuel pump.  I pretty much did what Autoedit did in the YouTube video, except I used a body saw instead of a hole saw, and oriented the fuel reservoir away from the sending unit to keep it from interfering, but otherwise did pretty much the same.







A little work with the hammer and dolly got the lip flattened out and lining up with the sealing ring pretty well.  Once the steel retaining ring is placed on the inside edge of the hole and the screws tightened down, it straightens the edge up even better.



The retaining ring is installed and the screws inserted to secure it.  The Viton washers were removed so that they would not get damaged when the retaining ring was tacked into the opening.





After tack welding between each of the screw hole locations, the welds were ground down to make the top flush.  

Then the tank was cleaned with WD-40 and a magnet, plus wiping it out with some paper towels, and then more WD-40.  It was a new tank, but I had gotten from a guy on Facebook marketplace, and there was a little but of crud inside it.  It wasn't rust, but I'm not sure what it was.  It took a little bit, but I was able to get the tank cleaned out really well.  

Then, it was time for the gasket sealer, top, and all those screws.

 

Overall, the tank came out really well, and I'm pleased with it.

Also, I've kept busy, building a motor for the Rickster.  With all the Covid stuff going on, it took a while to get the cylinder heads shipped, but I finally got everything I needed.  I had to hit up Don at Ohio Mustang Supply a few times for brackets, etc. since some were missing.  I got the Power steering pump and brackets from him.  It's a 50 year old pump of unknown history, so I went ahead and rebuilt it.  Twice.  When they say try not to let the spider come apart, there is a reason for that.  My first attempt at reassembly, I got it wrong, and after reinstalling the pump discovered it wouldn't turn very easily.  I pulled it all apart, went back through it, and found I had the slippers upside down.  DOH!!!  After the second or third time putting the spider together, I did develop a feel for it, and it's not difficult, but the first time or two, it can be pretty frustrating.  Once reassembled, I double checked and it turned easily, and after installation on the motor, it only required 4 in-lbs of force to turn the pulley, well, within the factory spec of 2-15 in-lbs.  





Tomorrow, I'll post about the engine build but that's enough for now.  Except to say, that the paint shop says the Rickster is very close to done, and should be back in my garage in the next week or so.  WooHoo!!!  Then the real fun begins - reassembly.

 

[timachone]

Well, it's been close to 3 months since I've posted an update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.  I've gotten the instrument cluster back together with LED bulbs installed.  I got the steering column painted and reassembled, but the turn signal switch is binding, so I'll have to go back through it, one more time.  I got the front and rear seats reupholstered with new foam and seat covers from TMI.  

View attachment 53483

Most of the wrinkles seen in the picture were worked out, and overall, the seats look pretty good.

I also cut open the top of the new fuel tank and installed the new Tanks, Inc. electric fuel pump.  I pretty much did what Autoedit did in the YouTube video, except I used a body saw instead of a hole saw, and oriented the fuel reservoir away from the sending unit to keep it from interfering, but otherwise did pretty much the same.

View attachment 53485

View attachment 53486

View attachment 53487

A little work with the hammer and dolly got the lip flattened out and lining up with the sealing ring pretty well.  Once the steel retaining ring is placed on the inside edge of the hole and the screws tightened down, it straightens the edge up even better.

View attachment 53488

The retaining ring is installed and the screws inserted to secure it.  The Viton washers were removed so that they would not get damaged when the retaining ring was tacked into the opening.

View attachment 53492

View attachment 53493

After tack welding between each of the screw hole locations, the welds were ground down to make the top flush.  

Then the tank was cleaned with WD-40 and a magnet, plus wiping it out with some paper towels, and then more WD-40.  It was a new tank, but I had gotten from a guy on Facebook marketplace, and there was a little but of crud inside it.  It wasn't rust, but I'm not sure what it was.  It took a little bit, but I was able to get the tank cleaned out really well.  

Then, it was time for the gasket sealer, top, and all those screws.

View attachment 53495 

Overall, the tank came out really well, and I'm pleased with it.

Also, I've kept busy, building a motor for the Rickster.  With all the Covid stuff going on, it took a while to get the cylinder heads shipped, but I finally got everything I needed.  I had to hit up Don at Ohio Mustang Supply a few times for brackets, etc. since some were missing.  I got the Power steering pump and brackets from him.  It's a 50 year old pump of unknown history, so I went ahead and rebuilt it.  Twice.  When they say try not to let the spider come apart, there is a reason for that.  My first attempt at reassembly, I got it wrong, and after reinstalling the pump discovered it wouldn't turn very easily.  I pulled it all apart, went back through it, and found I had the slippers upside down.  DOH!!!  After the second or third time putting the spider together, I did develop a feel for it, and it's not difficult, but the first time or two, it can be pretty frustrating.  Once reassembled, I double checked and it turned easily, and after installation on the motor, it only required 4 in-lbs of force to turn the pulley, well, within the factory spec of 2-15 in-lbs.  

View attachment 53498

View attachment 53497

Tomorrow, I'll post about the engine build but that's enough for now.  Except to say, that the paint shop says the Rickster is very close to done, and should be back in my garage in the next week or so.  WooHoo!!!  Then the real fun begins - reassembly.

Wow, some big steps forward - looks great! I am looking forward to your progress  :thumb:

 

[73MustangCoupe]

I had taken the engine to the machine shop back in early December.  They had said it would take about 2 weeks, which turned into closer to 6 weeks.  The owner, I found out, was winding down, moving into retirement, and the shop seemed a bit disorganized, but they had gotten decent reviews.  Once I got the motor home, I got it on the engine stand, sprayed it with a generous coating of WD-40, and bagged it.  Every couple weeks, I would pull the bag off, spray it with more WD-40, and recover it.

After the Rickster went off to paint, it was time to get to work on the motor.  I cleaned it, checked it, and then cleaned it again.  I checked the crankshaft main bearing clearances with plastigage and all were in spec.  I checked the rod bearing clearances with plastigage, as well, and all were right on the money.  Great!!!

Pistons and rings were installed and everything seemed normal enough.  Cam installation was straightforward.  I installed a Lunati roller cam and lifters.  I got the head gaskets and Trickflow cylinder heads bolted on and torqued.  The intake manifold was next and that is where things started going sideways.  

The intake bolts on the Cleveland, of course, are angled, and the intake must be matched to the head quite precisely.  I was having no luck getting them to line up.  I determined that the manifold was sitting to high.  The block had been decked, but only enough to square it.  The machinist couldn't remember exactly how much he had taken off, which I found a little concering.  Hmmm.   I took the intake manifold to the shop, and they informed me that the Edelbrock Performer 2V intake manifold had been previously milled.  We decided that they should take .020 to .030 off each side and see where it sat.  In the end, they took off .027 off each side, which was needed to true up one side that was out of square.  

Great.  The intake manifold now sits where it need so the gaskets will seal it properly.  Before buttoning it all up, though, I measured for new pushrods, which turned out to be 8.100.  Got them ordered figuring it would take the normal 2 days to get here.  Eight days later, they arrived, having traveled across much of the USA.  Pushrods installed, roller rockers installed and lash set, and finally, the valve cover gaskets can go on.  But wait, the rollers are keeping the stock valve covers that I had thoroughly cleaned, removed dents, and painted.  The right side actually fit, but the driver side was definitely interfering.  New valve covers were ordered and arrived a few days later.  I got them intalled, and they fit fine, but seem kind of tall. 

I am going to use the FAST EZ EFI system, because I have it from an older project that stalled out a few years back.  I put the throttle body on the intake and set the ram air cleaner box on it, only to find that it fouled on the valve covers.  Soooo, I ordered a 1/2" spacer and now have a maybe 1/4" clearance.  

With all that sorted, I got the distributor which had a busted vacuum advance nipple, so I got a new vacuum advance for it,  I got the tiny clip removed and then the first screw.  Both screws were rusty, but the first one came out okay, taking my time and using penetrating oil and heat.  The second screw decided to just wring off about halfway down the hole.  I tried to drill it out, but the drill bit broke off, so I have been fighting the thing fixed for 6 or 7 weeks now.  I took it to a local machine shop, but they were too backed up to help me out.  They did tell me, though, that the machine shop had done the machine work on the block had had a lot of problems with quality control lately, and had ruined a few blocks and cylinder heads. 

I felt okay about the crank and rod bearing clearances, but hadn't checked the bores.  Soooo, off comes the intake, valve cover, rockers and pushrods, cylinder heads, etc.  I got out the dial bore gauge and micrometer, and measured each bore at the bottom, just above the piston, middle of the run and at the top of the bore, front to back, and side to side.  Six measurements on each cylinder.  Each cylinder was pretty uniform, with the 48 measurements ranging from 4.03035 to 4.03102.   Most of the cylinders were within about .00030 to .00040, although some of that can be just variation inherent in measuring the diameter of a cylinder.  I am satisfied, though, that they didn't screw it up, so I got new intake manifold gaskets, and got the motor put back together, once again. 

Back to the distributor, I finally found a machine shop that said they might be about to repair it, so I'm hoping that in the next few days, I'll get good news from them.  Then I can get the distributor rebuilt, and installed.  I did look into a new Pertronix billet distributor, but it didn't fit under the air box.  I just found that they do make shorter Pertronix distributors, but at this point, I'm waiting for the machine shop. 

So that is my engine building saga.  Thanks to Don at Ohio Mustang for helping me out with AC and power steering brackets.  It's coming together, slowly, but surely.  Hopefully, the Rickster will be back soon, and we can get that motor filling the engine bay.  

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

WOW, sounds like the engine was a pain for sure.
On the broken drill bit in the hole. If you find a mold shop that has and EDM, Electrical Discharge Machine, they can burn the broken drill and bolt out for sure. Not cheap but does not matter if hard or not will burn it out. They actually tossed a working EDM where I worked and I did not know. I just happened to see it sitting outside but it had rained on it and rusty and the electrical was probably shot. It was working I had shown a couple workers how to use it to get broken taps out in past.
I had been wondering why no body shop pics and progress there?

 

[73MustangCoupe]

The Rickster is back from the paint shop!!! 

And it is soooo disappointing.

After 5 months, the Rickster is finally home.  I was so excited to get it back, after being delayed  by more than 3 months beyond what was initially promised.  And from a distance, it looks nice, albeit a good bit darker than what I expected. 



It's more of a Dark Gunmetal Green than the Dark Green Metallic, but it's okay.  I'm not crazy about it, but it is a neat color.  Alas, there were so many other problems, that it is going to have to be redone.  It won't have to be stripped, but it will need to be sanded, some dings filled (why the paint shop didn't address them, I will never understand), sealed, and then repainted.  Apparently, the shop owner who was supposed to be doing the work, turned it over to an employee who did a really crap job.     

Runs and sags in the clearcoat.   



Not filling irregularities in the sheet steel.



Burning through the clear and paint on the edges in a couple places.



Along the upper edges of the front fenders, where they bolt to the frame, they left unpainted, with only some overspray and no clear.  And small amounts of rust along the edge?  WTF?!!



And to cap the stack, along the lower doors and the lower rockers and quarters, the paint is much lighter in color and the clear is, well, not very clear.







To answer the question everyone is dying to ask, No, I  didn't pay him the final amount, and will take steps to recover the initial payment.  

I have been talking to another shop who said they can fix it for me for a reasonable fee, with no payment due until the job is done.  

In the meantime, with the Rickster home, I've been able to get the brakes installed on all four corners, brake lines run, and later today, will shoot some epoxy to finish covering the passenger compartment floor.  So, progress is being made, despite the paint ****, er, I mean paint shop, setback.  Progress, slowly, but surely.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Over the last few days, I've kept myself busy getting brakes installed on the Rickster.  I'm running stainless steel pre-bent lines from Classic Tube, and they seem to fit okay.  A few minor tweaks were needed to adjust the ends to mate with the wheel cylinders, but they installed without any major problems.  It took a little looking at the service manual and YouTube, but I was able to get the rear brakes installed.  



I had previously cleaned the brake drums and painted them gloss black.  I think they will look nice behind the polished aluminum wheels.



Front brakes were pretty straightforward.  They mated up to the stainless hardlines, with Russell flexible lines.  As I torqued each of the bolts, I tagged it with a dot from a paint pen so I would know it had been done.  



Yesterday, I masked the interior and today, I sprayed the fire wall, floor, and roof with epoxy primer. 

Now it's on to the brake booster and pedal box, and then some Kilmat, the parking brake, and master cylinder.  Slowly, but surely.

 

[Lazarus]

Bummer about the paint job quality but for what it’s worth I dig the color. 

 

[midlife]

Stainless brake lines are prone to leak at connectors.  Just warning you when it is time to add brake fluid and you're bleeding the brakes.