What did you do to your car today?

[A_mycholuk]

Pulled the rear end out today to get rebuilt and put 3.50 gears in, ordered rear disc conversion, 2" drop leafs, new fuel tank and rims and tires. All i wanted to do was weld up a small crack on the rear frame rail and and fix a leak in the diff then things kind of got out of hand.

 

[71Mach]

Yup, that's how it works!

 

[Bentworker]

Hauled the Grande to and from the body shop to check fitment on the fenders and valance.  That was Friday’s activity.

Today I made some baby steps on reassembling the dash.  As always I am wishing I took more picture pre disassembly.

 

[tony-muscle]

Actually convinced the wife to go for a ride last night. 

We went to Sonic for some root beer floats & corn dogs, then took some of the same over to my Mom's place.  Pulled up to her place right about sunset, then remembered that I still need to aim the headlights and discovered one of the LEDs in the speedometer needs a reseat as well.  Driving along with all the lights on and noticing the voltmeter's reading just about 12.5V says everything seems to be working OK, but when the RPMs drop back to idle, it seems to struggle for juice.  Might be time for a newer, high-output 1-wire alternator, along with the H4 headlights and headlight relay circuit installation.  It sucks kind of having to 'feel my way home in the dark.'  Fortunately, there was hardly any traffic.

Still - had a great time... she seemed to enjoy it as well.

This was an easy upgrade to a one wire alternator. Go for it. 

I got the one from DB Electrical. Also, if you haven't yet done it, go for a headlight relay kit.

 

[tony-muscle]

I went to my first autocross. It was fun but a long day under the sun. I was able to go around the circuit 9 times. Most cars were from later years so I stand no chance. Interestingly, there were 4 classic cars out of 73, but one of them happened to be another 71 Mach 1. I am inviting the owner to this site.

With the old site there was a way to invite others to join, is that still available?

 

[droptop73]

I went to my first autocross. It was fun but a long day under the sun. I was able to go around the circuit 9 times. Most cars were from later years so I stand no chance. Interestingly, there were 4 classic cars out of 73, but one of them happened to be another 71 Mach 1. I am inviting the owner to this site.

With the old site there was a way to invite others to join, is that still available?

Autocross is a riot! I haven't been to one in a while but I'd like to again soon.

 

[MKSpeedlab]

Autocross is a riot! I haven't been to one in a while but I'd like to again soon.

I feel like autocross would be a good arm workout with the ratio of the steering box on these cars. Reminds me, i really need to install my new steering box.

 

[Bentworker]

Worked on the dash a little more.  Trying to come up with clean way to install the triple gauges.  Working on some aluminum pods to work with aftermarket gauges.

 

[mudbilly]

now that is nice......

 

[Bentworker]

now that is nice......

Thanks- It started out life as a slice of 2.5” dia .035” wall 6061 T6 tube.

Now I have to make two more that match!

 

[Kilgon]

Thanks- It started out life as a slice of 2.5” dia .035” wall 6061 T6 tube.

Now I have to make two more that match!

You mean 5 more don't you - 2 for you and 3 for me. :whistling:    Very nice work.

 

[Bentworker]

2 down 1 to go... Unless I make 3 more to flip around and use as gauge eyebrows.

 

[Big Red Mach 1]

If you decide to start making them and selling them, count me in. 

 

[Bentworker]

And now there is 3.  I’ll do a little more fine tuning once I get the gauges.

I might consider selling them- but only it would be a “kit” where you would get the blanks from me out of the lathe and would have to cut and file them to profile yourself.
 

The raw material for them is about $2 each, but the labor is the killer.  It takes me about 20 minutes each to cut the tube, anneal it, form the lip and bore to size like in the bottom photo.  
 

The lengthy part is cutting them to profile and doing a little hammer work to make them fit the console just right- the first one took me a couple hours as I was doing it freehand and checking fit often, the rest took about an hour each since I made a paper template off the first one.

 

[machattack]

Nice job on those.

i would like 3 please. I’m a machinist and tool and die maker and have a lathe but you have worked out the process. No need to re-invent the wheel again. 

Please pm me and I will get you paid plus give address.

thank you

rod and sally 

 

[not2old]

Installing electric fuel pump.  Not getting enough fuel at full throttle and vapor lot with high temps hot soak restarts

 

[kcmash]

Shot some freon in the AC tonight.  Not quite a full charge, but she blew cold.

The Blower fan showed its failure and squealed like a stuck pig when moving the cold air.

Is there any way to replace lube on the blower while in the car?  I think I have a spare fan, should I just buy a new blower and bolt it in?

It's definitely a different car with the windows up and the cold ac blowing

kcmash

 

[Widowmaker00]

Should get my floor seam sealed this weekend. Finally I think I got a lead on a T5 transmission as well. Been slow progress. Working too much.

 

[73pony]

Installing electric fuel pump.  Not getting enough fuel at full throttle and vapor lot with high temps hot soak restarts

What pump and regulator are you going with? I'm having issue when I'm running the car at WOT in first up to 5500 plus RPM then when I hit second it falls on its face for a second due to lack of fuel before it recovers. Are you doing in-tank? If not where are you mounting it?

 

[MKSpeedlab]

I managed to get the power steering pump and the gearbox/lines all out. Replacing the rubber in the rag joint with Polyurethane, and getting the new Redhead Steering gear and new lines ready to go in. Then just need to make sure everything goes in correct so the wheel points the right way and I bleed the new box well and get all the air out. I was also thinking about removing the reservoir off the P/S pump and replacing the O-ring for it, as long as I can do just that and dont have to rebuild the pump itself since its quiet still.