What did you do to your car today?

[Bentworker]

Beautiful. The paint looks like glass!

Thanks!
That is as-sprayed. When he gets done with cut and buff it will be pretty wild. I was lucky to find the paint guy I did.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

@Bentworker what’s the build plan for vinyl top colors?

 

[Bentworker]

@Bentworker what’s the build plan for vinyl top colors?

Not sure honestly. I want to get some larger swatches of vinyl. Probably black or dark brown. I have also toyed with a houndstooth pattern if I can find someone experienced enough to work with it.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Not sure honestly. I want to get some larger swatches of vinyl. Probably black or dark brown….

Back in 1981 I had a black ‘74 Gran Torino Elite with 1/2 Landau black vinyl top. All blacked out like that, it was a sweet ride!

 

[Sheriff41]

Not sure honestly. I want to get some larger swatches of vinyl. Probably black or dark brown. I have also toyed with a houndstooth pattern if I can find someone experienced enough to work with it.

Houndstooth would be interesting. Haven't seen that as a vinyl top in many years. I think it was most common on Challengers.

 

[Big Red Mach 1]

I joined the roll down 1/4 window club. I love the look.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

@Big Red Mach 1 Very, very nice!

 

[mrgmhale]

Sounds good, but looked like the right bank took a while to catch up. Then it smoothed out real nice.

The engine lit right off, and sounds good when the RPM is high enough to handle the cold A/F mixture and temp. If you have an automatic choke you should be able to adjust the high speed idle screw, usually with the choke linkage on the passenger side of the car. As the auto choke opens the high speed cam will drop off when the throttle is opened, allowing the idle speed to drop to the next lower choke high speed cam position, or to the mormal idle once the choke is open enough. That would help keep you from having to manually hold the idle speed higher than normal when the engine is cold and the choke is on.

If you have a manual choke you ought to still have a fast idle adjusting screw near the choke linkage.

If you are not familiar with setting the high idle speed using the choke linkage I show how to do that on an Autolite 2100 2 barrel carburetor. Most carburetors are adjusted in a similar manner, so this ought to give you a nice head start with your carburetor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwLwwUtI1cE

 

[mrgmhale]

I joined the roll down 1/4 window club. I love the look.

View attachment 72319 View attachment 72321

Below is a link to our 73 Mach 1, a near twin of your Mach 1, which is also trimmed out with the Dzus hood hold downs and front & rear spoiler. We also added the rear window louver slat just because I think they look wicked awesome, and in fact they reduce the amount of solar heat that otherwise passes through the rear glass window. In our case our shade of orange is a non-Ford color, We used PPG Sunset Orange, a translucent, fine grain metallic that is shot over a white base color to get its candy effect. Just like your Mach 1, this is one hot looking car.

The prior owner had replaced the original 302 with a moderately street/strip built 1994 351W (not C) that pushed the dyno to 360 HP, plenty enough to have some spirited fun. He also replace the original 2.79:1 rear axle with a 3.5:1 TractionLok unit to help with the low end performance. We have sine then replaced the original C4 with an AOD to both reclaim the upper end performance, which we were able to do as the built engine has plenty of torque and HO to help overcome the air resistance at higher speeds. Further, in 4th/OverDrive gear the engine RPM at 60 MPH dropped from 2,750 with the C4 to a very nice cruising 1,750 RPM. The AOD swap was well worth the effort.

If you look at the "351 RAM AIR" Call-out characters you will see the underlying color peering through the Hot Rod Black Matte hood blackout schema. This was done by using a paint template as opposed to decal for the Call-out characters. I got the idea to use a template after looking at how the GT500 Call-out characters were formed on out 69 Shelby's side stripe tape (shown in attached photo). Here is a walkaround video link of our 73 Mach 1 on its final day of a deep re$toration:

https://youtu.be/_Fl0B-qmlLI

One issue I used to have is the rear tailpipe outlets were too close to the rear valance cutouts, and I would get exhaust splatter all over the valance. After the restoration was done I added some tailpipe extensions to get the exhaust outlets far enough away to not let the splatter get on the painted surfaces any longer. It was well worth the effort:

https://youtu.be/FUEmLN7pqXM

 

[Stanglover]

The engine lit right off, and sounds good when the RPM is high enough to handle the cold A/F mixture and temp. If you have an automatic choke you should be able to adjust the high speed idle screw, usually with the choke linkage on the passenger side of the car. As the auto choke opens the high speed cam will drop off when the throttle is opened, allowing the idle speed to drop to the next lower choke high speed cam position, or to the mormal idle once the choke is open enough. That would help keep you from having to manually hold the idle speed higher than normal when the engine is cold and the choke is on.

If you have a manual choke you ought to still have a fast idle adjusting screw near the choke linkage.

If you are not familiar with setting the high idle speed using the choke linkage I show how to do that on an Autolite 2100 2 barrel carburetor. Most carburetors are adjusted in a similar manner, so this ought to give you a nice head start with your carburetor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwLwwUtI1cE

Who are you actually replying to? I just made a comment based on the visual appearance in the video.

 

[Bentworker]

Houndstooth would be interesting. Haven't seen that as a vinyl top in many years. I think it was most common on Challengers.

Cougars too.

 

[boilermaster]

Today I replaced the rear bumper brackets I got from Kentucky Mustang automotive.
For whatever reason my 71 fastback had the longer 1973 brackets and the rear bumper stuck out like a sore thumb. Now it looks almost as Chip Foose had done the work himself.
Anyone looking for 1973 rear bumper brackets ?
Boilermaster

 

[Paul M]

On another website I frequent this is by far the most popular thread there. I thought I would try it here.

Now guys we're not talking the daily driver or momma's car. Let's keep this specifically devoted to posts on our 71-73 Mustangs. Like usual no flaming, constructive opinions and commments please.



I'll get it started... Today NOTHING, Yesterday I drove it to work and cleaned up the charcoal cannister for repaint and reinstall. I took it off earlier this summer and have terrible fuel smells coming from the car. OOPS

I got tired of the car bottoming out. I disposed of the stock flattened out leafs & added these 5 leaf springs from CJ pony. They are the same height as the shackles on the last lowest position. I took it out and there's no more bottoming out without jacking the car up. No more wheel hop either. I'd rec these 5 leaf springs for 330.00 shipped. I'm trying to make this still appear to be original. Ye I know leaf springs are something you'd find on a covered wagon.

 

[RC92234]

Today I replaced the rear bumper brackets I got from Kentucky Mustang automotive.
For whatever reason my 71 fastback had the longer 1973 brackets and the rear bumper stuck out like a sore thumb. Now it looks almost as Chip Foose had done the work himself.
Anyone looking for 1973 rear bumper brackets ?
Boilermaster

I am, but not yet. I'll try to keep this thread in mind when I switch to body work.

 

[mflint]

I just ordered a transport to bring my shell of a car home. After 10+ years in upstate NY and a long trail of starts and stops, I'm going to finish it up myself. Body work is 100% done I think. Just needs reassembly and paint. And then the mechanicals. First challenge - make room in the garage!

'71 Mustang Mach1 351c

 

[YellowHorse]

Desided to clean up my seat and soften vinul a bit before taking off upholstery to be patched.
Plan is to sew in a section in place of the riped one, from a donor seat.

Last pic is miniral oil conditioning.

 

[Sheriff41]

Drove it to the local car club meeting at DQ. Mid-70°s and plenty o' sunshine here in the Alamo City today. Perfect top down driving!

 

[YellowHorse]

Took rear seat out to see why bottom cushion is wrinkled. Turns out improvised pending.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

I completed my Ram Air actuator and flappers rebuild. It was a good day.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Drove it to the local car club meeting at DQ. Mid-70°s and plenty o' sunshine here in the Alamo City today. Perfect top down driving!

February, 75 degrees and good times for sure. Gotta love Texas!!!