Welcome back.
I’ll be working on the the front bucket seats for the next few posts. I’m starting with the passenger seat because I want to keep #ProjectSportsRoof mobile.
Here is the beginning of the work.
More coming up and wait until you the mess that was the driver’s seat. It required a donor car part.
Thanks for stopping by.
Tim
Thanks checking in. I’m finishing up the bottom of the rear bench seat in #ProjectSportsRoof. If you recall the original foam for my 73 Mustang was all one piece with a wire rod running along the seam where it folded. The new foam came in two pieces and did not have the wire. That wire rod was used for support and for creating the tucks for shaping. I had to find a way to make happen. Take a look:
To finish the back rest of the rear seat I’ll have to seek a professional as that portion of the kit does not fit properly and I won’t be able to make it fit. But don’t worry. I have the completed one of the front bucket seats and have of the other so you’ll see a bit more of the upholstery.
Also have some door work coming up, exhaust hangers to install and leaf springs.
Thanks for stopping by.
Tim
Thanks for checking back in on #ProjectSportsRoof (my 1973 Mustang – #SR73).
This post covers a little more on adding support for the seat springs. I’m working on bottom of the back ‘bench’ seat.
Not a purest approach but I think very effective in giving 47 year old springs a little help. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Thanks for stopping by!
Tim
Here we go again.
Ordered Mr. Gasket valve cover gaskets on line from JEGS for #ProjectSportsRoof. Here is what I ordered:
This is how they fit:
So I have the car apart and thought, well let me try locally. Here is how that went.
Called local parts store.
First call: O’reilly’s Auto Parts how can I help you?
Me: I need valve cover gaskets for a 1972 Ford 351 Cleveland.
OAP: What kind of car?
Me: Doesn’t matter any Ford 351 Cleveland
OAP: I have to know the kind of car.
Me: Ford Mustang
OAP: I don’t find that listed here, let me change computers.
Me: OK…huh?
OAP: I can only find 1971 Mustangs in my system.
Me: Thank you. <click>
Second Call: Auto Zone how can I help you?
Me: I need valve cover gaskets for 1972 351 Cleveland.
AutoZ: What kind of car?
Me: Ford
AutoZ: Yes but what kind of car?
Me: Mustang
AutoZ: What is the engine size?
Me: 351 Cleveland – Not a Windsor
AutoZ: It is an automatic?
Me: That doesn’t matter.
AutoZ: Are you sure it’s 351?
2nd AutoZ guy: Sorry sir he’s new what can I get for you?
Me: Repeated everything above
2nd AutoZ guy: Yes, we don’t have them here but I can have them this afternoon
Me: These are for 351 Cleveland correct? Not a Windsor.
2nd AutoZ guy: Yes.
Me: Cool call me when them come in?
2nd AutoZ guy: Yes.
Show up 4 hours later. The valve cover gaskets were 2 inches too long.
Me: What are these for?
2nd AutoZ guy: I don’t know.
Me: Can you look up what I need?
2nd AutoZ guy: What was it?
Me: Repeated everything above.
2nd AutoZ guy: Is it an automatic?
Me: I gotta go.
Thanks for therapy !!
Tim
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to take my ’73 Mustang for a nice drive. Today was the day.
And to swap the passenger seat into the driver’s position until I can find the bottom seat frame and springs for the that side. But it worked great!
And don’t those new wheels look great? Yeah…I think so too!!!! I’m happy with the 15″ wheels!!! If you turn the volume you might catch how #ProjectSportsRoof sounds!
TURN IT UP!!
Still got a list of things to do. You’ll see most of it there!!!
Thanks for stopping by.
Tim
Pushing though the upholstery replacement on #ProjectSportsRoof (#SR73), as you might expect from a car that is 47 years old, the seat supports need some help.
In this episode I’m working on the bottom rear seat and discovered that the metal tap that holds the end of one of the main springs was not fastened. Most likely a ‘miss’ at the factory.
Here’s a bit of an analysis for the seat springs and the fix for the tab:
I’ll be working on the spring in the next video and then move on to foam and the recovering.
Thanks for checking in.
Tim
Thanks for checking in!!
Progress is moving along with #ProjectSportsRoof (#SR73 – what will be it’s new hash tag when it’s mostly done).
I’ll be focusing on the interior for a bit. As you’ve seen the floors were done some time ago with patch panel installed and a layer of heat and sound proofing and new carpet. I have the headliner to do (which I’m not looking forward too!!) and some dash work including these:
Mach I triple gauge center dash panel. I have a set of working gauges for it as well!!
One of the more time consuming is re-upholstering the sets so I’m tackling that while I’m still on break from teach, which really doesn’t give me much time (my district starts back in mid July), of course with all the on going issues (COVID19 and other stuff) we’ll see what happens.
Here is my introduction and quick plug for TMI, super quality products and the beginning of the work on the rear seat for my ’73 Stang.
Thanks for stopping by!!
Tim
I should have added “Sort of” in the title.
I really wanted to show the work on #ProjectSportsRoof. But a few things made that difficult. Top of that list was the 20 stitches gash I put in my knee, while trying to loosen the bolts on the bracket for the caliper.
So I’m piecing together some clips to include a couple of tips for installing the new calipers. So hang on this ride will be a little….choppy!!!
Check out the video:
Check back!
Tim
If you stopped by to see a video on measuring for brake shoes, you’ll have to read instead. I was pretty frustrated at the time and my selection of verbiage would have been Rate R. Sometime a story is best told through pic only.
I’m not inventing something new, merely showing where I went sideways and what I should have done.
For the record, most you know, I went with what the all the parts books said were the proper size, 10 in x 2 in. Again, I took a quick measurement and it looked to be 10 in.
Here is what I should have done.
 Measure the back plate. |
 yeah….11 inches not 10! |
 Inside Diameter |
 I captured my mistake on camera – just wee bit off not 2″ but 1.75″. |
These are the measurement I should have taken.
So the story dragged on with the ordering of shoes for a Ford Galaxy – they were huge and finally finding the 11 in x 1.75 in from a 1973 Bronco. That was it!! They were the right size….even brought the old shoe with me and matched them at the store.
Insert huge sigh
I installed them…almost. Here’s why that didn’t work.
Old shoe is on the top and it’s tapered.
Here is a closer look.
That little bit of taper was key to getting the brake shoe under the shoe retainer washer.
The width of the new brake shoe was too side and forced the washer (times referred to a shoe guide plate) too far out on the pin and left no room for both springs and the auto adjuster.
So my solution failed. What’s next? Maybe a different direction for #ProjectSportsRoof?
Thanks for checking back!!
Tim
#SR73
Oh well this is crazy…of course it would have been easier if I followed the old adage, measure twice – post once. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Every one of the parts house and everyone in one of the online forums and Facebook groups (including mine Average Guy’s Car Restorations and Projects) said the rear brake shoes for #ProjectSportsRoof were 10 inch by 2 inch. Maybe because that’s what the parts books said it should be so I went with that. I did a quick measurement of the shoes (not the drums).
Ordered the 10×2 and went to install them I noticed they seemed too small. I ordered a set from NPD and attempted to put them on, too small. Called them up and went over it with them. Together we thought they were just miss packaged. They comp’ed them and sent me another set. Check it out:
Those were (of course) the same as the last set. By chance I thought let me order a set from SummitRacing. Those too were too small.
Here a quick video:
Clearly there’s been a swap of some kind. Now if I had taken the measurements and done so thoroughly, I could have saved some frustration. Taking the shoes back and forth the local parts stores (more then one and more then one time) I found little help. I will say that CarQuest – which is way across town from my place, were the best at helping me track down the shoe size. The guys on 3 Facebook groups all were helpful…but I made a mistake there. I had mocked up the drums you see in the video just to show them the size difference. Well that led to a lot of post freaking out about the lack of auto adjuster parts – which aren’t necessary, if you don’t mind making the adjustments yourself, when you feel the braking a bit off – NOT RECOMMEND however for general/common drivers and the spring wouldn’t fit…because the shoe were too small to hold them in place I popped any spring that I could get on easily. As always you’ve a few condescending “experts” that missed the point of the pics/videos but that’s gonna happen on the web.
So the hunt began. I’ll fill you in on that in the next post and show you the measurements I “SHOULD” have taken.
Thanks for checking in!!
Tim
