Thanks for picking backup with blogging of the work done on the 1973 Mustang Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof).
The floors are done and the heat and sound barrier are completed and it’s time for the carpet.
I’ve seen some pretty awful quality carpet for cars and I’ve had friends that attempted to use the one piece kits with not great success. I chose to go with ACC Carpet 2 piece set. Because my car was ordered special ordered with the Mach I Interior I went with their “Original Style Molded Fastback Mach I for 1971-1973” (CJ’s Part Number MC9-V). It is really well-formed and pre-cut for steering column and even dimmer switch.
The pieces come folded in a box and needs to be laid out flat for a while before installing. Luckily I live in Arizona and the sun makes quick work for that.
Here are the two pieces laid out on the hood of #ProjectSportsRoof.
This image shows the pre-cuts and forming in the front piece. ‘A’ is the cutout for the steering Column, ‘B’ is the quality built-in vinyl floor mat, ‘C’ is the cutout for the dimmer switch and ‘D’ is the very well-formed door jamb and finally ‘E’ is the transmission tunnel formed part.
Here’s a pick of how it just lays there and conforms to the floor.
Now check out the full shot with the front sections in place and the shift bezel in place. Looks pretty good, yes?
At point ‘A’ you can see the contour of the floor mat portions of the carpet piece. ‘B’ is the hole with the seat mounting stud protruding (you have to cut that) and both ‘C’ locations show just a simple X cut to allow the seat bolts to slip through.
This last still shot is with the rear pieces laid out.
You can see the forming in the carpet where the rear mount of the front set lays. The circle is where I had to cut to allow the bolt to slide in.
Here is little video.
I’m very please with this carpet. As of this blogging I haven’t finished trimming it. In real-time it’s been a few months. I had to put the seats back in and get it to a charity car show. Before I had a chance to get back to carpet, the Cleveland developed a bottom end knock and that’s were we are today. I can finish up more interior work while the engine is out.
The 351C rebuild is coming up next for #ProjectSportsRoof.
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 …
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 …
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 really an easy project and the benefits are noticeable.
The tools are pretty simple:
Hard Rubber Roller
A pair of good scissors, marker, a utility knife and a measuring implement (used both a ruler and measuring tape)
You won’t see step by step in this post. It maybe the most straight forward part of restoring the floor. Some may say that adding heat and sound proofing isn’t really part of the restoration. I’d have to disagree. These cars had an underlayment that served as heat and sound barrier. It wasn’t much and no where near the effectiveness as new aftermarket materials. I actually purchase the aftermarket underlayment that mimicked the original and it was close to what I pulled out of the car when I removed the carpeting. If you are going for factory correct/concours restoration it is what you should use but it’s was not going to last as long as the new material. In fact, after fitting it to the floor and see how easily it tore, I tossed it out – not great for the budget but I needed something a little more durable and effective – especially with the heat out here in Arizona.
The process is pretty simple, lay it out, measure, cut, peel off the back and stick it to the floor. No loose dirt or rust, get that all removed before you start. Once it’s down and in place roll it with a hard rubber roller. Keep the wrinkles to a minimum and make sure you get good contact with the surface.
This is the lay out.
You can still see the backing that will be pealed off.
I started off with Eastwood’s X-Mat, which is good material and should work just fine. However, I didn’t order much and switched to Cool It Thermo Tec. It came in larger rolls, less shipping cost, lower over call cost and I could get it quicker with Amazon. Among guys I know that have used various products they recommended it.
Honestly, I did some measuring (mainly to see if the left over pieces would fit with overlap), but not much was required. I laid out the strips, gave some over lap and trimmed most of it with a utility knife. Here are some pics:
Rolled out.
Rolled out.
My son stopped by to help out for a few hours. Ryan removed brace/guides that keep the back of the rear seat from sliding left or right. BTW – ensure you have old clothes on, the tar like substance on the underside is messy!! Thanks Ryan for the help!
I also covered these areas.
There was no barrier between the seat and the trunk ares when I removed the rear seat but I’m sure there must have been at one time. This was not a fold down seat.
Covered area B below the trunk pass through and A the wheel well.
This area is where the rear class would roll down but they don’t in the SportsRoof. So I put a layer of COOL IT behind the support and adhered it to the inside of quarter panel.
Here’s what that looked like when it was done.
Arrows mark the cut outs needed for the clips/tabs that hold the back and bottom of the seat and seat belt mounts. “A” (up in the right hand corner of the right picture) is the brace that keeps the back of the rear seat from sliding left and right. Ryan removed those (rather than cutting around them) and screwed them back down after putting the Cool It on.
Used the utility knife to do the same cut outs for seat and seat belt bolt to pass through and the groves for the seat belt warning wiring – yes they are getting hooked backup and the floor body plugs/drains.
A is the channel for the seat belt warning light (a light on the dash would illuminate – driver’s side was a buzzer) you can see the wire laying here. B is the body/floor drain plug. This is before covering.
Again A is the seat belt warning wire channel and B is the drain plug. It’s easy to just use the utility knife to make those cuts.
Thanks for view the progress on #ProjectSportsRoof. Coming up next is a look at the carpet install.
Other duties happen outside of working on #ProjectSportsRoof…like yard work!!!! ! While attempting to tame the foliage in the backyard on Sunday, my electric …
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 …
In these next two videos, you’ll see just how ‘off’ these fenders are in some areas and surprisingly how well they fit in other areas. If you have an experience or a hit for anyone taking on this part of a restoration – drop a comment here and we’ll share them. https://youtu.be/Ga9EHbDpSfg https://youtu.be/FBKs7EG4kK0 Thanks …
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.
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, …
If it seemed to you like I was never going to get to the end of the floor pan part of #ProjectSportsRoof, you weren’t alone, it seemed that way to me as well. With power plant problems (Knock..Knock…Who’s There? It’s the bottom end of your 351 Cleveland!!!), digit maiming (Injury Time Out – 1973 Mustang SportsRoof) and life occurring in between the actually completion of the install and getting to the blogging/sharing part of this project. So here is the final two posts.
After my neighbor Dan Thomas skillfully tacked the panels in place it was time to seal the seams and give the passenger cabin floor a coating.
Here is what I used to carry out the next to last task.
The Eastwood seam sealing putty was warmed up by rolling it around in the palm of my hand and then wedged into the seams like those indicted in this pic:
If you recall we just tack welded the panel so there were a number of seams that need some putty.
I roughly sanded and vacuumed the rest of the floor and then used the truck bed liner from a rattle can and made several pass over the entire floor.
Take a look:
This was just the first coat.
This leaves the application of the heat and sound barrier and replacing the carpet to finish up the this part of the project.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 on the floor plan under the right rear seat. That was really a lot of work. They don’t make a panel for that on the 1973 Mustang SportsRoof. So I had to use a foot well panel and “customize” it to fit. See here:
This shot is that pre-welding and it shows the hole above the muffler, under the seat. (Sorry for the short clip)
This image shows the customized foot well floor panel:
A lot of work went into forming that panel.
Yes it was tough to make it, there were a lot of cuts. (The tub there is Irish Spring soap – it keeps pack rats out of the Mustang while it’s parked!)
If you recall the left side of the car wasn’t bad at all and I replaced just the foot well panel. It cut the same as the right side and here it is in place. Here’s a little recap of the work done.
Next up is the welding, coating and heat/sound barrier.
Hey, welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof (1973 Mustang). We are working through the rusted floor pans and I’m about to make the cut for removing rust from …
I’ll say it again, it’s not part of my daily routine (Although I which it was!!!) that I get to deal with some rare cars. By day I’m the Director of Information Technology for a retail company with stores throughout Arizona at home I’m a Corvette and Mustang (check out #ProjectSportsRoof) loving car guy. But today the two intersected and that equaled a cool day.
We pushed the Detroit out of the building and into the sun light again – most likely will be its last bit of Arizona UV rays. This beauty is on its way to Hood River, OR where the owner is loaning it to a transportation museum. The guys in this video, Tom, David, Lynn have worked and lived with this rare mode of transportation for over 10 years. It will be missed.
As if that’s not enough for one post, there’s more to this ‘most excellent day’ (to steal a phrase from Bill and Ted).
It’s tough to pick a transport company to move your special vehicle across country. I have used my share, transporting a Mustang, a Torino, a VW bug and a motorcycle via different carriers and it’s a big deal. The company selected for this rare car was FSI Transport Service and the care the driver showed was very reassuring that this 1929 electric car was in good hands. FSI is operated by Frank and Laura Martinez, out of El Paso, Tx. Their rig was perfect for the job – being that the Detroit is a bit taller than the average car.
Often the car you are shipping travels with several other cars that are headed the same way. But this time there was only one travel mate for this trip. It just happened to be a beautiful 1953 GMC Custom pickup, according to the driver it build by the folks at Gas Monkey Garage and headed home to the owner.
That’s a beautiful truck and a worthy travel mate for the old electric car.
Remember the Detroit Electric SP:01? Announced in 2013, it followed a well-thumbed recipe and promised to be an esoteric entrant in the eco-friendly sports car class. SP:01 Well, it’s back and in production form ahead of official sales in 2015. And it’s a bit different to before, adopting a new fastback …
I haven’t done a Parking Lot Spotlight in a while and this is a great car to pick the series back up with. Check this one out!!!!!
Wheels look great!!!!
Love the chrome work and the wrap around backup lights. That two tone paint is pretty good looking too!!!
I find these to be such a great looking vehicles and dare I say in some cases even better than some of their Mustang cousins. The hidden headlights and the full (nearly full) length tail lights make these so distinct and much more difficult to restore then the Mustang – as far as getting NOS parts.
I’m not alone in thinking that the new for 1967 Cougar was unique and that first year through 1970 were the best years. After that they became cross-bred with a Marauder and then by the mid 70’s virtually indistinguishable from the squared off T-bird not to mention it’s overtly plushiness.
In 1969 you could get the Cougar with a 302, 351W in either a V2 or V4 configuration or Boss 302. Previous years a 289 was available and in early 70’s the 351C, 351 CJ, and 351 Boss were options. Those are the best engine Ford had to offer at the time!!! (May be ever!!)
For 1969 you could get the Cougar in the Coupe, Convertible with a standard trim, Eliminator or XR-7 packages. Production numbers totaled just over 100k units broken down like this:
I enjoy seeing readers’ cars. Here is a 1982 Mercury Cougar Stationwagon…..YES!!! That’s what I said…”They did what????” Submitted by Steve Sears. There were 19,254 Cougar wagons built, in GS and Villager trim, in 1982. The only other year there were Cougar wagons was 1977 when 9,700+ built. I’d be willing to bet that …
The option that, perhaps, makes the most sense is to rebuild the existing engine. These days there are so many rebuilding scenarios, it can make your head spin and really lighten you wallet. With each one of the scenarios brings with it even more decisions and a host of mathematical calculations.
The major concern is just how bad it might be in the block. You can see much with just the heads removed, but what I could see of the cylinders and piston heads, seemed serviceable. Scored cylinder walls – bad; just trashed bearings – not so bad. This is the first unknown you need to know. From this point you’ll know the cost of just making it run again and how much $$$ you need or have left in the budget for any upgrades.
For me I don’t think I’m in this for just a ‘repair’- e.g. bad bearings – replace them and snap it back together.
Option 1: Rebuild it just like it is. Simply get a $600.00 kit and replace everything and put it back together – same heads, same intake nothing changes other than the knock goes away.
Typical 351C Rebuild Kit
Option 2: Rebuild it better. For my 351C 2v, the simplest way is to add the kit and give it more room to breath. Add a 4 barrel carb and matching intake.
Option 3: Rebuild it bigger. Have the engine bore to 0.030 or 0.040 and find the matching kit (you can buy the rebuild kits to match the new bore) and add a 4 barrel carb and matching intake.
Option 2 and 3 give you more decisions you’ll have to make. How much horse power and torque will this changes make? Can you existing stall converter and transmission handle that increase? (My concern as I have C6 automatic) Will you need to change the gearing in the rear end to optimize the new power? Will this new power impact handling or frame/body? (The concern here keeping that body from twisting/rolling – my Mustang still has the sub-frame – being a unit body – installation of sub-frame connectors is on my list.) You are looking at a few Benjamin’s to make this all happen like it should – all based on the basic rebuild direction.
So these are some of the considerations I’m weight now for #ProjectSportsRoof.
I’ve done all the clean up and all the adjustments necessary to get a good reading on the health of the ’72 351C engine in my 1973 Mustang. The next step is to check the compression. First up was to warm the car a bit and then pull the plugs. Here’s what the …
This is the wrap up on the compression testing for the 1973 Mustang w/ a 1972 351 Cleveland power plant. You’ll might have notices that I referred to the remote tester, which is my code for remote starter…yeah…that’s it!!! All of these tests were dry test and I should have done a …
It’s pretty cool to happen upon a car show in the course of running weekend errands. I normally have a calendar event for the major shows and/or the ones I plan on attending. But now and then I see one in passing, and of course I am compelled to stop and usually do. Sometimes there are some real gems. By gens I mean cars you don’t see at the average car show as they may not be in top condition or even restored at all (that doesn’t stop me) and the owners would enter them.
You don’t need shiny paint to go to a car show. Here’s #ProjectSportsRoof at its first car show.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up my son at his place and we took care of some business. I always have my ‘old car’ radar on and it went off as we passed a little church. We had finished all of our tasks so I stopped. There may have been 15 cars in the parking lot with hoods up and doors open. True to form there were a few cars that one rarely sees at a car show.
This awesome Fox-body Mustang Vert was in the line-up:
Fox-Body Vert w/ Whale Tail!
Oh MAN!! Look at that plumbing!!!!
There was this 1964 Chrysler 300 K. You don’t see many of these at a show. Love that it’s a 2 door.
’64 Chrysler 300 K
Cool Steering Wheel!!
Here is a rare sight!!! Mercury Comet Caliente VERT!!!!
This Comet is in O.K.shape
This cars is nicely preserved and a little body work has been done, but still very nice car.
But this next car was my favorite as unlikely as that may seem, I’d buy this car and I’d show it big time!!! Check out this 1974 Mustang II:
I think it’s a sharp little car!!!
Nice wheels!!!!
Yeah..that’s a V8 – 302!!
Still lots of room under that hood.
Interior is so awesome.
You can tell that this car was stripped and restored. It was painted with, even the interior, with a white rhino lining/satin like paint. It is just amazing and I’m was impressed.
