Tim's 1973 Mach 1 rebuild thread - it's done in 2023 on it's 50th birthday!

[timachone]

Quick report:

I am struggling with the exhaust system at the moment. After 12 hours I had a new system constructed from new and old 2,5 pipes. Wow, that was a fight. Without a lift that's quite a thing... From the Hooker headers I went inwards along the trans like it is from the factory in some Flowmaster mufflers which connect in the right angle towards the rear axle, a bit farther away than the original mufflers from the factory. But I can still use the original mounts for the hangers, only have to fabricate some sort of back-angled metal bar to hold the hangers in the right place. Now it was quite a task to give the existing over-the-axle pipes the right angle along with some end pipes. After I managed that I had the feel the pipes never had run that good towards the rear valance since 40 years. So I went to my father in law to give them pipes some serious welding. And guess what? After 10 minutes of food welds the machine gave up - damn! We both were frustrated and now have to look how we could get that machine running good again. Mission not accomplished, man, I hate that. But we will follow up soon and then there will be some photos.
Just a little update for my build followers

 

[Bill Perkins]

Great Job, keep up the Awesome work

 

[timachone]

Great Job, keep up the Awesome work

Thanks Bill, appreciate your comment!

 

[timachone]

Hey Mustang enthusiasts,

it has been a long summer with lots of work. But mostly on the house or garden, not so much on the car. So time flew by and the Mach 1 will not be on the road again this year, that's quite the fact. But it is on his own wheels again since yesterday after all. First time in two years. Complete underbody work including the whole new suspension, brake system, exhaust, steering system plus all hard and soft lines, rear end, cavitz protection, some metal work on the drivers side and interior done. Also the engine bay is done with some wiring, lines and fan clutch. All brand and new. Now that the cold season is coming I will have more opportunity to work on the car and hopefully gather big steps forward. Next projects will include installing bright work, weatherstrip, restoring the door hinges, installing doors, fenders and front. But first what I achieved the last months - not much but always a little bit:

The exhaust odyssey

 

[tpj71mach]

Looks Great! Keep up the good work, the exhaust lines perfectly with the rear valance, I love those details that make the car.

 

[timachone]

Looks Great! Keep up the good work, the exhaust lines perfectly with the rear valance, I love those details that make the car.

Thank you, very appreciated! Love your attention to detail! It has driven me crazy to get that right and cost me many hours but in the end they are there were I wanted them to be. Lastly I built the complete 2,5" exhaust by my own - the fate of having a competition suspension, building it in 2,5" and living where no one is building reasonable custom exhausts.

 

[timachone]

Now onto the accelerator cable. Thanks to the design of the Holley Street Demon 750cfm I had to choose a different one then the OE cable. The original cable would have been bent so much backwards and I would have to built my own bracket. Therefore I went with a special bracket for this carb from Lokar and a universal accelerator cable from Lokar, too. Fit and quality was awesome although I had to modify the attachment point to the accelerator pedal. But then the pedal had not the right angle anymore so I had to modify that too. I cut and welded it in a different angle, then it was perfect. In parallel I modified my wiring in the engine bay for the Pertronix I and the relay to look like OEM and removable everytime without cutting wires and created a 'Yellow Top' out of the Pertronix coil:



































Oh, and besides I changed the fan assembly to a clutch fan assembly:

 

[c9zx]

Hey Mustang enthusiasts,

it has been a long summer with lots of work. But mostly on the house or garden, not so much on the car. So time flew by and the Mach 1 will not be on the road again this year, that's quite the fact. But it is on his own wheels again since yesterday after all. First time in two years. Complete underbody work including the whole new suspension, brake system, exhaust, steering system plus all hard and soft lines, rear end, cavitz protection, some metal work on the drivers side and interior done. Also the engine bay is done with some wiring, lines and fan clutch. All brand and new. Now that the cold season is coming I will have more opportunity to work on the car and hopefully gather big steps forward. Next projects will include installing bright work, weatherstrip, restoring the door hinges, installing doors, fenders and front. But first what I achieved the last months - not much but always a little bit:

The exhaust odyssey

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Tim, Reference picture 14 of 18 above, when you get ready to put the car on the ground, check for clearance between the left exhaust pipe and the brake line distribution block that is bolted to the left axle tube. If you don't have sufficient clearance between them, and you hit a bump or pot hole, the pipe will break the distribution block. Take one guess as to how I know this. Keep at it you are doing great. Chuck

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Awesome job, Tim. You're making good progress, and it's looking really good.

 

[timachone]

Tim, Reference picture 14 of 18 above, when you get ready to put the car on the ground, check for clearance between the left exhaust pipe and the brake line distribution block that is bolted to the left axle tube. If you don't have sufficient clearance between them, and you hit a bump or pot hole, the pipe will break the distribution block. Take one guess as to how I know this. Keep at it you are doing great. Chuck

Chuck,

thanks for your words and your advice! Yes, I know what your meaning. Same here with the first exhaust configuration and weak inflatable shocks from the previous owner. One good bump in the German Autobahn near Cologne in 2014 at 90 mph and my brake line was almost over... So I took the extra time and made some extra clearance all around the left axle tube. The left pipe will not touch the axle tube or the brake line under any circumstances. It's difficult to see on the pictures but there is plenty of room. But thanks again for the advice - it's a very critical point often overseen on the staggered shocks. And the fit of prebend exhaust systems is mostly horrible...

 

[timachone]

Awesome job, Tim. You're making good progress, and it's looking really good.

Thank you, very appreciated!

 

[timachone]

Brakes? Any brakes there? Now there is. First I had to bore out the holes for the caliper brackets. I used new CSRP spindles. Besides that all went in like a charm, steering components fitted like a charm.

































For the dust caps I built a tool by myself after that and remounted new ones without dents now.

 

[tpj71mach]

Brakes? Any brakes there? Now there is. First I had to bore out the holes for the caliper brackets. I used new CSRP spindles. Besides that all went in like a charm, steering components fitted like a charm.

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For the dust caps I built a tool by myself after that and remounted new ones without dents now.

Great job! I love the detail! It looks just like it would when it was assembled new, nice!

 

[Stanglover]

Awesome job Tim. Love the details you carefully put in.
Is it just me, but many of the pics seem to be missing.

 

[timachone]

Great job! I love the detail! It looks just like it would when it was assembled new, nice!

Thank you very much. Yeah, that's the aim. Or at least when it left the dealership with a few add-ons...

Awesome job Tim. Love the details you carefully put in.
Is it just me, but many of the pics seem to be missing.

Thank you very much, Geoff! I checked it and all pictures are there. I think you have to wait a minute depending on your internet line capacity. There are many pictures and they need perhaps some time to load...

 

[timachone]

Misc...

Here I installed the Ram Air assembly on the house including the flappers. The flappers had a production error, they could not fully open themselves thanks to a piece of plastic with too much of width. But with a sharpie all was as it should in a few minutes...

















Refreshed inner quarter panels - had a spray that could duplicate the grain a little bit where it was off before spraying color... Went just fine.





Hood locks - went in like a charm, no problems. The hood lock catch had the ideal position!








Handy tool for the upper shock mounts for 18 bucks. A must have...








New 19 teeth trans gear and NOS speedometer cable for 4-speed and 215/70R14 tires









New back up light switch








Bushings for the OEM rear sway bars are difficult to find or better: unobtainium. I found a substitute for the thin 1/2" OE bar:


Energy Suspension 9.5102G, 1/2" or 13mm.

Fits perfect!

 

[Stanglover]

That, my friend, will be a show winning car, no wait, a show stopping car.
You'll have to go through the hundreds of pictures and catalog them.
You have far more patience that I could ever have............ and I'm a details person.

 

[tony-muscle]

Beautiful work. General question here, is the RAM air setup attached to the hood with self tapped screws? I have never removed mine but I will once I get the fiberglass hood on.

 

[timachone]

That, my friend, will be a show winning car, no wait, a show stopping car.
You'll have to go through the hundreds of pictures and catalog them.
You have far more patience that I could ever have............ and I'm a details person.

Thank you very much for your words, very appreciated, my friend. I am going through the whole car now and restore every part. And since I am there I think, ok, when else do you ever come back to that piece better than now? So I do my best and restore and detail it as good as I can. Then I can ticking off that point from the check list and never look back. Done! Sometimes it's hard to follow that line, especially when you don't have so much time to share with the car. But it wouldn't be me if I would do it the other way... The only thing I would change now contrary to my decision a few years ago I would do one project at a time and then drive the car until the next project on it. Not the whole car at one time. But now I am there and there is no way back. And I see the finish line, it's there, far forward, but it's there...

 

[timachone]

Beautiful work. General question here, is the RAM air setup attached to the hood with self tapped screws? I have never removed mine but I will once I get the fiberglass hood on.

Thank you very much, I appreciate your compliment, Tony!

Yes, the Ram Air plenum will be attached to the underside of the hood with self-tappers.