What did you do to your car today?

[marks73]

Got some bare metal covered today in preperation for the trunk pan.

 

[will e]

Seeing you guys dealing with rust I just realize how lucky I am to live in AZ. My hats off to you all who cut/weld/replace/repair and take a car that has anywhere from a little rust to what might be totally hopeless and turn it into a beauty.

I have the advantage of owning my car for 27 years too. For the first few it got parked outside 24 hours and, sure, it's now pretty much never driven in the rain and spends most of its time in a garage. It's certainly easier to keep it rust free here. Great job guys!

 

[Mister 4x4]

Got some bare metal covered today in preperation for the trunk pan.

NICE, NICE, NICE!!! BEAUTIFUL work, my friend!

I managed to get the fuel line figured out, but the main front-to-rear brake line is kicking my ass. See my post in the 'Doe anybody make a kit... ( http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-does-anybody-make-a-kit--6772?pid=71497#pid71497 )' thread.

Also got the rear drums painted and installed, along with the shocks. Most of the day was struggling with the fuel and brake lines. Tomorrow, I tackle the e-brake brackets and hopefully prevail over the main brake line. If there's time, the engine's going in, so I can get the tranny and exhaust system done on Sunday. Whatever I don't get done this weekend, MUST be done next weekend - it's finally closing (or at least, that's what I've been told by someone who really knows what's going on... management keeps blowing smoke).

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Well I finally got my car back and as promised I did a little work, so I could come post here lol

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-got-my-crites-fiberglass-front-bumper?pid=71512#pid7151

2

I'll do more Sunday and Monday, but my new clutch needs 700 miles of break in , so I am going to put a little driving time in too. (finally)

 

[will e]

I swapped out the spark plugs. I had a couple of back fires and some popping when de-accelerating. I thought it was the driver side bank but I had already bought some cooler plugs so I figured it was a good time to switch them all out.

Turns out #3 (passenger side) had a crack on the part where the electrode comes up. Easy to see. Car runs great again.

I am going to go head out and find how why my car 'clunks' from the front end when I start to move forward after backing out somewhere. Probably lower control arms...

 

[Widowmaker00]

Got pulled over at the the front gate of post for expired tags, forgot all about I had to get it renewed.

Cars running pretty good though starts up everytime.

 

[marks73]

Finished coating the rear frame rails and welded the staggered shock mount down. Will weld the trunk floor in tomorrow.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I feel like I got a lot done today. Fabricated a bracket for the e-brake cable (driver side that I somehow lost) and welded it and the new e-brake idler bracket I just got from Don - so that's done. Hung the rest of the brake lines and fuel line, and cut it so I can plumb-in the Holley Black fuel pump (had my pal Jim put some flare 'bubbles' on the ends). And something else... oh yeah - got the engine dropped in.

Here's the new e-brake idler welded in with the cable strung:

Here's a bad picture of the driver side bracket I made with the cable strung through it:

Got the engine off the stand and hanging from the cherry picker:

And about 10 minutes later, settled into its new home:

Lookin' like something out of Mad Max (as my wife just said):

Tomorrow is all about installing the transmission, hanging the headers and exhaust, and whatever else I can get done. Next weekend's it - no more shop after that (or at least that's what I heard as of yesterday).

 

[droptop73]

Nice work guys!

I bought a pair of 245/45/18 front tires and ordered a pair of 285/40/18 rear tires for the new wheels and dropped off the old tires and wheels to their new owner. They are going on a 5000 actual mile 72 Mercury Montego (which is for sale BTW).

 

[will e]

Drove it. Ran a guy in a newer infinity at a stop light. He had been driving like a jerk in and out of traffic. 3 lanes, I am in the center, he is in the right and some honda thing is in the left. His lane merged into mine so I knew only one of us would fit.

Light turned green and we went for it. He jumped a 1/2 car length but I was even by the other side of the intersection and by then my Cleveland was getting into the sweet spot. I moved over a lane just to make sure he had room. All he saw was my tail lights. Shut it down at about 65 or so, not too long after hitting second. I don't 'street race' but I consider this more of a merge/traffic flow situation. He must have been a little surprised when the 40 year old baby blue mustang convertible sounded like a heard of horses. Nothing like High compression/headers/glasspacks to make a litte noise.

 

[mach71351c]

First thing I must say thanks to Don from OMS for getting me both left and right outer wheelhouses.I called Don the middle of last week to see if there was anyway I could get the wheelhouses by this weekend. He said he would get them on there way. Tuesday when I got home from work they were sitting at my front door. That's service. Talking to Don on the phone was like talking to a good friend. Not like other supplier's take your order your credit card and hang up. Thanks Don.

Today I cleaned up the garage and brought the Mach 1 in from my RV bay, where it has been sitting for the past month. I started making my patches for the right quarters. Looking froward to doing more tomorrow.

 

[Noobster]

Today I will take my Stang for a ride with my buddy!

Weather looks nice over here, finally!

 

[marks73]

mach71351c. Looks GREAT!!! I finallly got the trunk pan welded in today and though it may not be pretty, it's very strong. :-/

 

[Mister 4x4]

Excellent work, Mark - looks even better than mine!

Today, I was able to get the AOD a buddy 'gave' me (literally) from his '89 5.0 GT convertible installed. After helping a friend get the new bumper on her truck, I took the tranny outside, cleaned the crap out of it with Permatex Gel and Foaming degreaser (works great, as long as the wind stays somewhat calm). Decided to change the seals while I still had it out of the car, and tracked 'em down, along with a filter & pan gasket kit. As I was fitting the flex plate, I discovered the WAY TOO LONG bolts from Dave's AOD were WAY TOO LONG for mine. Ran down to O'Reilly's - they were closed... then zipped over to Auto Zone, and snagged some Spectre flywheel bolts. Worked like a champ. 15 minutes later, the AOD was under the car buttoned up with the new bracket from CJPP.

After an hour or so of cleaning with gel stuff, power washing, scuffing with a stiff brush, and again with the foaming stuff, then power rinsing. Turned out nice... still needs a couple spots scrubbed up on the bottom, but I'll get that next weekend:

Here's the new view looking forward under the car. Yay!

The engine rotated a little further forward with the tranny in, but the Monte Carlo bar doesn't offer much clearance over the distributor. Might have to get one with a 'dizzy bend,' or maybe use the bender and modify this one (it was free with the LMM kit, after all...):

Odd thing - the lady in charge of the shop talked to me today and says she doesn't want to close it after next weekend. Seems like they realize how much help Jim and I bring to the shop whether Tony's there or not (he's gone after next weekend). So, it seems like they're willing to 'let' us stay as long as we help out on the weekends with other customers... AS IF we don't already do that now?! SO - "We'll See" is the official latest. Geez - I'm SO tired of being bounced around like a beach ball.

 

[71_badmach]

Great job and progress Eric! A question... is the AOD tranny mount a bought item, or did you fab that up?

 

[Mister 4x4]

Great job and progress Eric! A question... is the AOD tranny mount a bought item, or did you fab that up?

Thanks!

I got it from CJ Pony Parts a LONG time ago (shortly after I got the AOD from my friend Dave sometime last year). It's listed as a Ron Morris AOD/Tremec cross-member, part: T5C4. http://www.cjponyparts.com/ron-morris-transmission-crossmember-aod-tremec-1967-1973/p/T5C4/

Based purely on how much it cost, had I known how the bracket was put together and what it was made of, I would've made one of my own (the light bulb went on as soon as I had it in my hands).

But - it went in like a champ (even if the driver side is hanging just a tad low), and everything fits just fine. Now the fun will be to see if the exhaust and headers clear everything.

 

[71_badmach]

Thanks for the info! Glad to see good aftermarket support for more "modern" options.

 

[marks73]

Getting the rest of the body ready for primer due to the sudden heavy humidity!

 

[71_badmach]

Getting the rest of the body ready for primer due to the sudden heavy humidity!

Batten down the hatches Mark! Don't you just love humidity?

 

[marks73]

Got the spot welds on the rocker panel of the PS seat box removed. Will start removing the PS floor tomorrow.