Category Archives: Ford GT

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down – Crank and Cam Removal/Inspection

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Welcome  to #ProjectSportsRoof and the seeming never ending processing of tearing down the 351C.  We are in the final stages and I wanted to show you the crank and cam condition.  I put together the video below.


 As you can see the crank is not in great shape and the cam is a bit worn.  The crank is going to have to be turned and the cam might be beyond polishing.

Leaving the flange on was a time set back as I had to stabilize the engine with the hoist so that I could unbolt it from the engine stand.  I had intended to drop it on an engine cradle but I hadn’t even un-boxed it yet so I removed the flange and the flex plate and bolted it back on the engine stand.

It’s now clear that the engine had severe oil starvation at some point and this caused all the damage – ring wear in the cylinders (you’ll see that coming up), severe wear crank and main bearings.

It just about time to get this block off to the machine shop.  I’m going to have them do some measurements for me and help decide what needs to be done to save this engine.

I have a couple more posts for the tear down and those are coming up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

HoodPrimer-14

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73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 7 – Mains and Pistons …

Aug 25, 2016 … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. This the beginning of rebuild of the 351 Cleveland for the 73 Mustang. 73 Mustang 351 Cleveland …
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The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …

 

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 7 – Mains and Pistons Part 2

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Welcome back.  This post will show you the removal main bearings for the crank for 351 Cleveland.

You’ll notice that I’ve added some captions correcting some of my theories like there’s seems to be plenty of oil getting around the bearing and the crank.  Of course because it’s happening now, or was happening just before removing the engine that doesn’t mean it’s ‘always’ had oil flowing properly.  Take a good look at the bearing when I remove them and see what you think.

 


I’m going to guess that prior to having the heads being done, based I what I see on the mains, there was some oil issue, rather major oil issues. You recall the valve issue on the #2 cylinder?

Oh!!!!

Oh!!!!

In the next two posts I’ll be removing and taking a look at the pistons and then we’ll inspect the crank, so keep an eye out for those.

Thanks for reading and remember drop me a note.

Tim

HoodPrimer-14

351C Removal and tear down – YouTube

Jul 19, 2016 … Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. This the beginning of rebuild of the 351 Cleveland for the 73 Mustang.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal 4 – YouTube

Aug 1, 2016 … I’m So close to getting #ProjectSportsRoof engine pulled and starting the tear down.

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The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof. Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took forever!!! Seems longer since I have driven it in months. Now if you missed …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Video 5 – Oil Pan and Crank First Look

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Thanks checking back in with the 1973 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof).

I’m moving right along with getting the progress on the 351C tear down posted up.  In this post I’ve pulled the oil pan and we can take a quick look at the crank and mains.

You have to love Ford engineers. Each main is numbered with an arrow…come on…that’s cool!


I was hoping that there would be something obviously out of whack at this point, but everything looked O.K. from what I could see.

Coming up next I’ll unbolt the mains and we’ll look at the bearing, piston and crank.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

HoodPrimer-14

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 3

Jul 31, 2016 … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this …

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

Source: average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com projectsportsroof … for the 73 Mustang, #ProjectSportsRoof, I’m about to remove the intake manifold.

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

Aug 13, 2016 … Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed: #ProjectSportsRoof. We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin …

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 3

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Thanks for checking back in on the progress on the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof’s 351C tear down.

In the last post I still needed to remove the lifters and the right side head.  To remove the remain head, you have to remove the rockers to get a socket on them.

Also took the time to recheck the push rods, with all the noise coming from the bottom end of the block, you can’t be too careful.

I’ll apologize now for a couple of things.  First the fan noise.  It’s pretty hot here this time of year in southern Arizona and that fan makes it bearable, barley.  But even worse is the compressor noise, so don’t crank up the volume too much.  And finally, if you notice, the captions are a bit higher on the video.  I’m trying to hide the brand name of my BVDs.  Last time readers got a glimpse of the brand, they started sending me their brands to wear on the next video.

 


 As you could see at the end of the video, the cylinder aren’t horrible but not great.  But we’ll look at them a bit closer coming up.

Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportsRoof.

Tim

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

6 days ago … Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed: #ProjectSportsRoof. We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin …

1973 Mustang 351 Cleveland Tear Down Part 1

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Finally the fun part begins.  Well actually it’s all fun, just varying degrees of it.   Welcome back to the 1973 Mustang project dubbed:  #ProjectSportsRoof.   We have the 351 Cleveland out and now I’m going to begin disassembly and see if we can get to the bottom of the “bottom end noise” it developed.

Here’s the first video.  Don’t be distracted by the Corvette t-shirt from my corvette club, it’s ok to own both!!

 

Here’s a look at one of nuts from the torque stall converter:

They are pretty rounded.

They are pretty rounded.

As you can see I didn’t have you watch as I unbolted the fuel pump or the brackets, even though this is Average Guy’s Car Restoration which equates to average skill set, average tool hoard  and average (or below) budget, but I’m thinking you get the removal of a couple of bolts.  If things get tricky (for me) I’ll cover it.

Next up we get the intake manifold off and heads.

Thanks for check back.

Tim

 

351C finally on the stand!

Classic Cars / Car Projects / Car Shows – Your Car/Truck Projects …

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m getting ready to pull the 351C from between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof for a complete rebuild.

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 4

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We are so close to pulling out this ’72 351 Cleveland out of #ProjectSportsRoof.

In this post I continue to prep for the removal and I needed to do a trial run  fitting the engine load balancing/leveling unit and if I had a enough room to maneuver.

Here’s why:

  1.  First there’s a lip I have to take into consideration.

    There is a 2" lip between the garage and the driveway/car.

    There is a 2″ lip between the garage and the driveway/car.

  2.   The distance between the 2″ lip and the car bumper is a concern.

Not much room

Not much room

Just about 45"

Just about 45″

It’s a tight squeeze.

This is the foot of the hoist.

This is the foot of the hoist.

It's 48" long.

It’s 48″ long.

So I have to fit all of this under the Mustang – BTW there’s jack stands hold up the car and the transmission.  When you lower the arm to reach out over the bumper (damn those safety bumpers) the hoist is pressing on the bumper.

Keep in mind that just past the front tires the drive slopes.  I had visions of the getting the engine out and having to roll the hoist out past the car and swing it around to lower it on to the engine stand and it getting it away and rolling done the driveway and dumping its self in to the street…I actually had a nightmare about it.

So a dry run was necessary just so I could sleep.

Here’s the video:

I’m going to finish up the prep in the next post.

Thanks reading.  We love comments!!! Drop us a note!!!

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

projectsportsroof

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this posting I’m still …
Great American Muscle Cars – muscle cars – Community – Google+

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …

73 Mustang 351 Cleveland Rebuild – Removal Part 3

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We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt.  Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay

In this posting I’m still fussing around with getting what’s left to be removed and being extraordinarily careful about leaking fluid don’t the driveway.

 

I have a couple more post dealing with prepping engine to be pulled.  So far no real stumbles, nothing has broken and that’s HUUUUGGGGEEEE!!!

Thanks for reading, more coming up.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

projectsportsroof

Average Guy’s Car Restorations, Mods, and Racing

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m prepping the engine for removal in the … Classic Mustangs – #ProjectSportsRoof’s Marti Report · Classic Mustangs …
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Welcome back to the final few posts of the floor pan replacement for # ProjectSportsRoof. Let’s get right down to it. I realized that I didn’t catch much of the work …
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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …

A Couple of Mustang Things – Line-Lock and Mustang Crossing

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As I work on getting more restoration work on #ProjectSportsRoof I thought I’d share a couple of Mustang things that popped up.

There are a number of reasons I love Ford products, in particular Mustangs.  One of those is the fact that it didn’t need the bailout money a few years back, choosing to tough it out and some of the innovative/purposeful special purpose options.

I recently received my Ford Mustang ‘Go Further’ brochure.  I’m not including the 310 hp they are dragging out of the 2.3L EcoBoost (I’ve often said “I don’t want anything on my dash that says Eco!!!!”  but wow to the 320 lb-ft of torque. Don’t even think bout the 435 hp and 400 lbs-ft of torque from the 5.0L in the GT…come on!!!!  I can do with out the heated and cooled seat…meh…   However, the Track Apps, MagneRide and launch control are bomb.

The most #awesome purpose built is the Electronic Line-Lock!!!!  Come on…that’s what every weekend racing warrior (and spirited every day driving!!) wants a car manufacture to be thinking about!!!    The Electronic Line-Lock keeps the front brakes locked while you ‘warm up’ the Mustang’s rear tires….come on I don’t have that in my Corvette!!!  But maybe I can figure it out for my 1973 ‘Stang.

It looks something like this…exactly like this:

 

Here’s a great little destination (after you warmed up the tires).  Located at the corner of “No Where” (Hwy 90) and “U’r Lost” (Hwy 82) is this little place called Mustang Crossing.

Great place for a 1973 Mustang photo shoot!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  More coming up on #ProjectSportsRoof.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Exterior Walk-Around

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof.  I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects.  You always have to know where to start and know the end game.   As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, you have to work with what you’ve got, …

1973 Mustang SportsRoof – Floor Pans Getting To It! – Welding

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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof.  Floor pan are ready to be welded into place on the 1973 Mustang Sportsroof.

Now I’m not a welder and there was no way I was going to experiment on the Mustang.  So I enlisted the assistance of my neighbor Dan Thomas.  Dan is quite the artist with his welding and metal work and although this build didn’t require much fancy design work…just quality welds and Dan delivered.

The goal here is to tack the fitted metal patch panels in place.  The welds need to be strong and in the proper places.   Now you might say, “Hey did you say that the Mustang is a unit-body and that the floor needed to be strong since that’s what holds the car together – mostly?”  Yes that is true, however this Mustang will have frame connectors added to make this reasonable.

Just a note about the welding, you have to use gas with the mig…the metal for the patch panels are not that thick and the portions of the floor you are welding it to are old…so you need the added gas.

To start with I needed to strip the tack locations down to bare metal.  You can see some of that in this image.

PreWelding-1

Here a little video clip of the work.  Note: Don’t adjust your device’s volume….there is no sound on the first part of the video…well there was, but it was mostly me chewing gum…not very cool to listen too.

Here is some of Dan’s most excellent work.

LtWelded-1 RtWElded-1
RtWelded-2 RtWelded-3
Weldpic1 Weldpic2
WeldPic3 Thanks Dan!!!

Thanks for following along with the project.  Drop me any questions, comments and/or your thoughts!!!! Coming up next is the coating of the floor and the heat and sound barrier.

Tim

STangATWork

Stang at work!

 

1973 Mustang SportsRoof – Floor Pans Getting To It! – Part Four …

Apr 19, 2016 … Finishing up the right side rear foot-well on #ProjectSportsRoof.

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1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Pertronix Ignitor Update

Well win some and you lose some.  If you’ve seen my other posts related the replacement of the points and condenser for the 351C you’ll notice that I gave conversion high marks.  This was all based on the years of use I got out of the conversion I did on …

Ford Mustang Shelby – Remote Controlled – LEGO Like

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This pretty cool.  I found it on Reddit r/Mustang sub-directory.   After I finish #ProjectSportsRoof – I may just build one of these!!!

Check out the well constructed LEGO ‘Stang:

 

 

These are the construction instructions:

http://www.sheepo.es/2014/01/ford-mustang-shelby-gt500-instructions.html

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

1973 Mustang SportsRoof