Work done around May 26th, 2012

We’ve been working to remove the engine, transmission, gas tank, tail lights and a few other parts. This was a fun juncture, just seeing that Cleveland come out of the engine bay gets me excited to start rebuilding it, but I know we have a lot of other work that needs to come first. Very anxious to get that thing back in the car and running!!! Planning on a strong street engine type of build. (400hp or so??) Very streetable, but plenty of torque. Pretty sure we can do that with very few problems, they can roast the tires when bone stock so with a few added goodies I’m sure it’ll be just the right amount of fun for these streets.

The original FMX tranny will not see service again in this car, it’s gonna be a 5 speed all the way. That was a fun chunk to remove from the car. Whose damn idea was it anyway to build these things this heavy?!?! The rear gear set was changed out several years ago by dad and we’re gonna try that combo to see how it works with this build. 3.55 is the spinning rate for this 9 inch, stock gears were 2.70 or 2.79, I can’t really remember that far back.

 

Ready to come out, rat's nest gone...sorta.  There were still a bunch of rocks all down in and around lower engine, steering, tranny, and exhaust.  Amazing what a rat can do.

That is a 351C, 4V factory original engine.  Factory original FMX tranny.  When it goes back in it will have 2V heads on it for street performance and a T5 tranny backing it up.  

Dad being mechanical...

We bumped a few times on the way up and out, but over all the removal was pretty straightforward.  We removed the engine and transmission as a unit, much easier this way with all the room we made for ourselves. A very heavy block with the transmission.

      Home free, just need to unbolt the tranny and get it on the engine stand now.            That FMX is one very heavy unit!!

Resting at peace for now. Currently it has a sheet over it to protect it from debris but will soon be torn apart.

Yes, we made a mess with the tranny fluid, the bag we tied on the output shaft did not hold very well.

"We're Getting close" as dad says.  Yes we are.

View of the driver's side shock tower with a large crack in it.  This had always bothered me as to how we would repair it but now, it's just gone.  No more shock towers.        Also you can see some of the debris left behind by the rats.

Tank was a mess, even twenty years ago when I was driving it there was sludge coming off the inside of the tank playing hell with the carb.  No fun taking that apart every week.  And to make room for the exhaust idea I have, the tank will not be going back in the original spot.  That is all I have to say about that...for now.

 

Passenger side quarter, eh not too terrible.  Some rust repair but manageable.

Driver's side quarter, pretty darn terrible. Before I got the car it took a good hit directly from the side and it had an ugly repair job with about 8lbs of Bondo.  Plus tons of rust as well.  Both quarters will be replaced with half panels.

Jumping ahead a bit, this is what the engine bay looked like cleaned out.  Before the cutting wheel.

 

Work done around May 11th, 2012

Recently me and dad have been taking apart the mustang. Starting the restoration process, and I’m trying to identify as many parts, pieces, hardware and such as I can. Marking them and storing in Ziplocs.     Yes the bumpers will be painted as well.

Actually I had already purchased another hood from a swap meet years ago as the original had too much rust through, including into the substructure. The same goes for rust on the trunk lid but I just bought a reproduction for that. The rear valence is quite usable but will undergo some major changes or possibly some new sheet metal custom fabbed to fit my ideas. This is just one aspect of the overall plan that I will get into and try to describe soon. (I will talk a little more about all the ideas for this build once I get caught up to date on current progress, which is several posts out yet.)

IThere is a lot to do there, a lot of straightening and rust removal. This should keep him busy for awhile, but as it turns out I will be much slower in the readying of the body shell.  In fact, me and dad are still working on this part of the project, trying to do as much as we can as quickly as we can. Seems we’re really not all that quick when it comes to sheet metal and structure work, but we’re having a good time doing it!

 

 

 

Dad working on getting those bent hood hinges off.  I'd sure like a pair of billitt hinges but just can't really justify the price range there. I'll be figuring out something else there.

 

Dad working inside the door panel, removing the guts.  I have no idea how he got his arms in there, I know mine would barley reach to unbolt all the items inside the bowels of the doors.  What a job, really dreading that one going back together.

 

Over all shot without the doors and hood, just getting started.

 

First load of goodies.

 

There are a few minor twists up front where it took a little hit or two at some point in it's life.  Some vey minor bracket straightening will be needed. That is dad's El Camino in the background.  It's covered right now and raised up on the lift since we have been doing so much grinding and dirty work.

 

A few parts to go into the pile.  A few will be getting reused, a few others are just not up to the task of being called on again.  Those that are not reused will be getting sold on Ebay.

 

Trunk lid and tail lights off.  The rear will be getting a bit of a redesign, both inside and out.  I just gotta scratch that itch.

 

Parts is parts...

 

Day 1

Moving the Mach into the shop from the field did take a little bit of work since it had been sitting there for several years in the same spot and was quite settled into its role of sundial and varmint homestead.  Dad’s tractor would be called in to action to aid with this task.  Actually the tractor did most of the work.  We wrapped a heavy strap around under the front bumper supports and the loader on the tractor then lifted the front end of the car while dad pulled the car around to the front of the shop.   Then we pushed the car back into the shop, the tires were still at least half full of air after sitting all this time.  (ok, it really wasn’t this easy)   This is not actually the only field the car had sat in, but this latest pony corral had seen it for about 8 years at least.

With the car in the shop one of the first things we did was pop the hood; again.   What a mess!!  Rat city!!  Actually the Mach’s latest inhabitants were rabbits who had gained control of the apartment complex under the hood.  It made a nice nesting area with the carb removed years ago for some reason.

That first day was getting the car moved, taking a little inventory, sitting in the car looking around, pondering what and where to start.  I snapped some pics of the car as I knew I wanted to document this rebuild very well, and would most likely need them to get things back the way they were.  Reference photos.  Lots of ideas and future plans were discussed that day between me and dad.  How we’re gonna do this, how we’re gonna do that.  Oh, the possibilities!

                                  Nice shot of "Engine Bay Deluxe Apartment Towers"

                                           As you can see they had a luxurious suite.

   It had taken a hit on this quarter and had a few pounds of filler here. It will need replaced with all the damage and rust.

                               Another replacement prospect with al the rust hard to see damage.

Hmmm... guess the back end took a hit sometime too. I see alot of replacements coming.  How do you like those shackles hanging down there??  Nice huh?  Also the factory rear louvers are on the shelf in the corner already.

 

 

 

 

Yes, more rust and more parts to buy.  Over all for sitting outide for this many years the thing really wasn't in too bad of shape. Could have been alot worse.  Now lts see what the interior is looking like. 

 

 

 

Factory blue, which will be making the change to black.  Right, not stock.  The original dash pad is in the back seat and the new dash pad I bought twenty years ago is still in the box on the shelf, along with the new seat covers.

 

 

There's that dash pad.  Just how much of this original interior will be used remans to be seen, but I will be trying to utilize as much as I can.

 

 

I guess as an overview it is really not terrible considering the time it spent in the weather.  As you might imagine the floor pans are toast and included with that was the unfortunate find of my build sheet under the front floor pan carpet instead of tucked up under the rear seat.  Toast would be a good word for it as well.

Ideas...

I have owned this car for 22 years now and have never really stopped thinking about what it would be like when it is restored.  I never really planned on making a concourse correct car, or even coming close to that achievement.   My early plan was to make a nice, solid, strong running weekend driver.   I even had the color picked out which at the time I called “safety yellow”.    GM has produced this color for me now so there will be no guessing involved when it is time for paint.  Velocity Yellow is what they call it, and it can be seen on more and more cars lately. Hopefully that little fad will phase out soon, as one of the reasons I wanted this color is it was not too frequently seen.  

So, enter the 21^st century and so many advances have been made in the way of upgrades for our classic cars that I am way behind on the subject.  I’m happy just to get this car inside the shop with a burst of energy to make something happen. 

Like I said I had never planned on building a stock car, in looks or otherwise.  Original parts would be used where they survived to be used again, but I am not afraid of reproductions or fabbing my own stuff. 

So, without giving all the details I will say this about the design of the restomod—it will be a mild pro-tour type car.  Meaning it will have many modern upgrades over the stock configuration without being full on Pro Tour.  I plan to keep a few of the Mach 1 monikers just to let someone know what it is, while containing my own formula of what I like.  So please follow along as I describe the work me and dad are doing and will do along the way.   Hope you enjoy!!

Early Recods..

My early records were somewhat short and sweet.  Nothing much to talk about, just a date, a few short lines and maybe a price associated with the latest work being accomplished.  For example it started this way:   Sept. 4^th, 1990   /   Purchased Mustang Mach 1 from Steve xxxxx   /    $2250.00

That’s it, that is the way it began.  I’ll run down through a few of them until I get the time when the new restomod started.

·         Quick cleanup and detail on engine compartment.

·         Replaced water pump, fuel pump, & rebuilt carb.

      ·         Drove once a week until Engine stopped charging.

·         Alexandria Nicole Ball Born 7lbs. 9 oz.

·         Opened the hood a few times just to look.

·         Battery is dead.   January 1992

·         May 7^th, 2012—Moved car into dad’s shop to start resto.  Wow!!!  Really??

I had made a special form with several blank copies of the same page to fill in over the years of restoration.   I kept these records in a three ring binder along with any receipts or other information I deemed pertinent.  This binder still exists today and I still add to it, but it will remain short worded for it has limited space.  Seems I wasn’t doing a very good job with the records, but that is because I was not doing anything with the restoration.  I had ordered the original invoice back when Lois still held them and sold them, and this is also kept in the binder.   Not sure of the exact date, but it had to be along 1991 or so.   I will do most of the talking on this blog, showing several of the pictures I have taken along the way to the finish line and stories to go with.