What did you do to your car today?

[droptop73]

I've been welding on the front chassis ala 71Rustang's T/A project. I've got the front crossmember welded and the passenger side frame rail is nearly done, I need to weld in the gusset and the torque box to the frame rail. Then on to the driver's side and the engine crossmember and parts. Nevermind the chicken poop welds, it does have good penetration. It's just hard to get 48 years worth of grime out of there for a clean weld. 

This should make the car tighter and quieter in the long run. 

 

[Stanglover]

Well what did I do to my car today? I fired it up, that's what I did. Today was unseasonably mild at 62 f/17 c, so I couldn't resist in prepping it with a squirt of fuel into the carb primary vent tube, then starting it. Oil pressure jumped to 70 psi, volts at 14, all good. I then backed out of the garage to let her warm up and idle for a while. The new Hayden fan clutch and Derale 18" fan seem to pump a heck of a lot more air and no fan noise like before. I think this upgrade will prove to be a good deal.

On the downside, I found a couple of small oil puddles on the floor, but nothing serious. I'll get under and take a look later, but by the spacing, I am pretty sure its just some loosened oil plan bolts dripping. Now, all I need is for winter to f off for good, some good heavy rain storms to wash the salt off the roads and I am good to go cruisin. I'm not holding my breath for car shows this year, or at least in Ontario until towards the end of the summer...... with any luck! By then we may all have our shots....... maybe!

 

[droptop73]

I welded some more last night finishing the passenger side outer and making good progress on the driver's side. It looks like I may be able to wrap up the welding I plan to do at this time... maybe more next winter when my plate isn't so full. 

It looks like we have some rain headed this way mid week Geoff. Hopefully it can make it over and wash down the roads in Ontario too. 

 

[Stanglover]

It looks like we have some rain headed this way mid week Geoff. Hopefully it can make it over and wash down the roads in Ontario too. 

Hope so. We will get rain soon for sure, it's that time of year. I just hope we don't get more than we asked for.

 

[7173Vert]

Have been working on this car for the first time since I bought it in the the Fall, 2019. All new brakes finished and ready to go.... Got to love California car’s, you can still see the date of mfr. of the rear brake drums. I’ve also Krown rust proofed it, changed out the rear diff, transmission, and P/S fluids. New anti freeze, ft/rear shocks, ft/rear stab bar end links and bushings, will be doing a complete tune up, converting to Pertronix ignition. Going to change out the valve seals, just to be safe... I have the correct factory Style Marti rad and heater hoses and a bunch of other factory correct smaller pieces to install. Car will be ready for cruising this summer, and I will have the required confidence to drive it anywhere...

 

[Stanglover]

Have been working on this car for the first time since I bought it in the the Fall, 2019. All new brakes finished and ready to go.... Got to love California car’s, you can still see the date of mfr. of the rear brake drums. I’ve also Krown rust proofed it, changed out the rear diff, transmission, and P/S fluids. New anti freeze, ft/rear shocks, ft/rear stab bar end links and bushings, will be doing a complete tune up, converting to Pertronix ignition. Going to change out the valve seals, just to be safe... I have the correct factory Style Marti rad and heater hoses and a bunch of other factory correct smaller pieces to install. Car will be ready for cruising this summer, and I will have the required confidence to drive it anywhere...

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Nice find there Ken. You're going to have some fun with that one for sure.

 

[cwalker509]

I made a mess and probably gave myself cancer. I also found out that the car has more cancer than I thought. I started by trying to clean the rear wheel wells, and it turned into using a wire wheel to get the junk off. That went straight to bare metal, so I went ahead and just knocked as much junk off as I could reach. I'll hit it with a primer when I get a chance I guess. What sucks is the rust at the bottom right in the picture. There's some sort of metal tab stamped into the body or frame, and it's very rusted, and the area around it is rusting too. I poked a hole through the well liner trying to knock the dirt off. I already knew the other side of the car was rusted, too. Does anyone know what that thing is?

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Looks to me like someone tried to ad hoc repair that area and perhaps covered it over with some type of gunk (as you described a bunch of stuff on there)

 

[machattack]

Hey Vert.........how do you like your lift? I have one just like it but havnt used it yet. 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I actually started getting my 73 Mach 1 ready to go to first show, Ponies in the Smokies PITS in Pigeon Forge Tenn. March 25 - 28 I think. Wiped down the vinyl top and applied the leather preserver. Let that soak in tonight and then put on the Kiwi shoe wax. Best thing I have found for vinyl tops. Washed the windows and will do more tomorrow.
I did take my truck to a friends shop to figure out what was wrong with my trailer lights. Turns out there was nothing wrong, lol. I have a set of the magnetic lights to put on car pulling with dolly. I use them to check out my trailer connection so I can see what is going on. Turns out there was a broken ground wire inside so they did not work nothing was wrong with truck. Hurray. I had spent probably 10 hours checking everything and could find nothing wrong but they did not work.
My new enclosed trailer they say will be done next week, fingers crossed. I wanted white but they ran out will be pewter or silver. BTW I got my Johnson & Johnson Covid shot yesterday. Was way better organized than what you see on TV. Less than 5 min. in line verified info, given shot record, shot info, shot in the left arm sitting in truck and they put postit note on windshield of time given and you had to wait 15 min. there. Absolutely no pain, fever or any side effects. I came home and worked in yard and garage. Nothing the day after either.

 

[Kilgon]

I actually started getting my 73 Mach 1 ready to go to first show, Ponies in the Smokies PITS in Pigeon Forge Tenn. March 25 - 28 I think. Wiped down the vinyl top and applied the leather preserver. Let that soak in tonight and then put on the Kiwi shoe wax. Best thing I have found for vinyl tops. Washed the windows and will do more tomorrow.
I did take my truck to a friends shop to figure out what was wrong with my trailer lights. Turns out there was nothing wrong, lol. I have a set of the magnetic lights to put on car pulling with dolly. I use them to check out my trailer connection so I can see what is going on. Turns out there was a broken ground wire inside so they did not work nothing was wrong with truck. Hurray. I had spent probably 10 hours checking everything and could find nothing wrong but they did not work.
My new enclosed trailer they say will be done next week, fingers crossed. I wanted white but they ran out will be pewter or silver. BTW I got my Johnson & Johnson Covid shot yesterday. Was way better organized than what you see on TV. Less than 5 min. in line verified info, given shot record, shot info, shot in the left arm sitting in truck and they put postit note on windshield of time given and you had to wait 15 min. there. Absolutely no pain, fever or any side effects. I came home and worked in yard and garage. Nothing the day after either.

Glad to hear your truck trailer connection is ok.   Sometimes it's the simplest things that cause the most trouble trying to figure out.  I think we all been there at one time or another.  What type of trailer did you end up going with? 

 

[machattack]

I see more and more various people getting the johnson and johnson vaccine. This touches close to home for my family. My oldest daughter works for Grand River Aseptic in Michigan. Her job is basically production. She travels to Germany alot to purchase machines that produce the drugs, and packages them. She met with several Generals, Dr Fauchie and logistic distribution military personnel.  As most know its a one shot vaccine, More important is it can be refrigerated not froze to negative #s. Also the other 2 vaccines only have a shelf life after opening of 6 hours. J and J has a shelf life of many days up to 30. This helps when you have people streaming in to get shots and you dont have to rush them through like cattle so the vac doesnt go bad.

She texted me couple weeks ago and said......DAD I DID IT !!  4 million VACCINES GO OUT NEXT WEEK.!!! 

Im incredibly proud of her. She will touch many humans with her work.  And save many lives.  

 

[vintageman]

Installed my engine today, from what I was told by the previous owner, it hasn't had an engine installed well over 15 years or so. Went right in, took about 20 minutes from hoist connection to tightening the motor mount bolts.  Felt great, now on to the transmission refresh.

Tom

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

To answer the question on the trailer. It is being build in Georgia and is they typical 20' vee front with stone guard. 8'.6" wide, 6'6" inside height. Fold down rear door and 3' side entry door. 6" box tube frame, 16" centers on floor and walls, 24" over head. LED lights, 3,500 lbs. axles 4 wheel electric brakes 3/4" floor, 3/8" walls with .024" aluminum sheeting. Single roof vent and one spare tire. I just hope they get it built difficult to find 20' the 24' just too big to just carry a car. Will also get another just tire to keep along in case one goes out on the road. Ford dealer has best tire prices here is seems.
Going to walk down to shop and do some more cleaning on the car.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Got the vinyl top cleaned and dressed, Got spoiler back on had off to get the measurements for the holes for a member.

 

[jakosaur]

I took apart my rear brakes, and worked on the bodywork. Once I got through the layers of paint, I found that it was much worse than I thought.




The first two are either side of the driver’s side rear fender. The last one is Bondo between the door and the fender well. Turns out the previous owner wanted to get rid of the seam between the door and the fender, but used Bondo to do it. The paint all cracked under it. It also solves a mystery I noticed from the Marti report: the car came with the protection package, which should have included the chrome strip along the doors. There weren’t any holes in the door for mounting it, but there is a crack in the paint there. I’ll bet a silver dollar that there’s Bondo under those cracks. All told, I had a pretty disappointing day working on my car. Now I guess I need to buy more Bondo for my Bondo special.

Jake

 

[machattack]

David that roof looks super good!!  If you still have those measurements handy could I get a copy? 

Thx

Rod

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I did a post on the measurements but it seems like everything has gone away. I cannot find any of my previous posts when I try to search for them. Here are the pics. I had never noticed that it was so crooked but it is. Factory holes not a dealer thing. Paint in the holes.

 

[machattack]

Thank you!!!   I  appreciate your sincere help! Printing it off now

Rod and Sally 

 

[7173Vert]

Moved on to the interior... Found the front passenger floor area had been spray pained silver to cover up surface rust. Now I know why the heater core is bypassed in the engine compartment... Looks like I will be changing that out now while the car is like this. I will rust proof all the hidden areas while the interior is out also and install some dynamat along with the factory insulation. Dealt with the surface rust properly and the floorboard is still in great shape and I added some additional seam sealer where necessary. I will clean and re-lube all of the window moving parts as well. It’s always better knowing and dealing with if necessary; what is under the carpet, behind equipment in the long run...

 

[droptop73]

Just welding and cleaning and more welding and cleaning. I welded some of the engine crossmember and brackets and decided a welding jacket will be a great investment after a few sparks burned through my sweatshirt, a long sleeved t-shirt and a short sleeved t-shirt. I knew better but... LOL! I hope to get the engine compartment and torque boxes welded between this week and next weekend. Then I can get back to the wire harness and start putting stuff back together.