I know it’s been a while. But final my 1973, 351 Cleveland powered Mustang (the last of the big Stangs) is back on the streets.
Here the ride’s home. I’m not sure what’s up with the audio but at times is sounds like I’m recording under water.
Thanks for stopping buy.
Tim
#ProjectSportsRoof
The other day I was reading, yet another list of cars that someone had owed. Of course that always makes me think of my past rides (in some cases losses). I’ve recently lost my C6. Long story. Short version – catastrophic transmission/clutch failure (while racing) and a small fire in the rear. So the C6 is added to my list of past rides.
Today as I was running some errands in my red Ford Sports Trac, I was trying to recall how many red cars I’ve owned. So here the list of cars and colors.
1. 1966 Chevy Impala Vert, 283, automatic – Red
2. 1969 Dodge Dart, 318, 3 speed manual – Blue
3. 1970 Chevelle, 350, automatic – White
4. 1971 Buick Skylark – 350 automatic – White
5. Two Toyota Celica – blue/silver blue
6. 1974 Ford Torino, Cobra Jet, automatic – blue
7. 1984 C4 Corvette – 305 Crossfire, Automatic – Red
8. 1970 Ford Mustang – Bored .o40 302, 4 speed manual – White
9. 2007 C6 Corvette – LS3 – 6 speed manual – Black
Those are gone. My 73 Mustang is red – or will be red and my 04 Ford Sports Trac is red.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof.
Valve gasket installed, zinc added and now it’s time for quick power test. I have yet to get the pedal to the floor and now it’s time and I took the captured the fun….and…well…take a look:
A quick troubleshooting proved that the car was still getting fuel but would not start. After setting for a bit still not firing up. I suspect distributor. When I have time I’ll dig into.
The day ended with a flatbed trip home. 🙁
More to come!!!
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Yesterday started out just great, weather-wise.
In the two videos below I talk about valve cover gaskets, the current lack of experts at your local parts store, and online “No Help” clerk and a recommendation for the Mustangs regular dosage of Zinc – not in table form for the Mustang’s 351 Cleveland!!!
First valve cover gaskets:
Tim
It’s been a while!!!!
Ya know, one would think that as you get older there’s more time for leisurely things. But as second year teacher (at the age of “past 50”) and coaching our school’s basketball team there is no slowing down. That’s my only excuse for not working much on Project SportsRoof. Ok there’s one more….we’ve had a colder and wetter than normal winter. This episode is purely due to “Spring Break” and having our taxes done (almost).
If you’ve followed along (did you know you can find Average Guy on YouTube as well?) you’ll know it’s been a long road with my 73 Mustang. Multiple starts and stops, often caused by me exceeding my ‘Average Guy’s’ skill set and man power and even my car disappearing for a couple of weeks (but I found it). Oh and don’t forget the tow truck driver that “broke” my front end!
Now SR73 (not SR71 the blackbird aircraft) or #ProjectSportsRoof is back on the road. Having only driving about 30 miles since the engine rebuild, I noticed a lifter noise. Not something you want to hear after all the time and $$ spent on it’s 351 C, in fact it’s a bit concerning.
The best place to start troubleshooting is to make sure the engine is getting the oil it needs. That requires pulling the valve cover and running the engine. Since I put the heads together myself, it’s a good idea to check the torque on the valves. What better time to check that than when you have to take the valve covers off anyway?
Here is my quick video recap. There are a couple good tips in this one and here is a one more great tip. I can’t take credit for it because was shared with me sometime back. Should you have an old set of valve covers, cut the tops off to make viewing possible. That way when you let the car run (it’s the easiest way check if oil is flowing) the spraying oil is somewhat contained. You won’t see that in these videos….but you will see the mess it makes when you don’t use them!!!
Don’t forget to drop a comment, if you are so inclined. Oh, if you have an event you’d like to tell other car peeps about, let me know and I’ll post it up!!
Tim
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression Test Part I
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression Test Part II
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods and Heads
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Engine Bay Components.
Over on Facebook one of the groups has a Then and Now series of posts. That consisted of folk posting the cars they were driving 10 years ago and now. I thought that was cool so I put quick clip together for my rides then and now.
For sometime now I have a Mustang Corvette combo, my ’70 Mustang/84 Vette combo and my ’73 Mustang/’07 Vette combo.
Just a little trip down memory lane!!
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Let me start out with a couple of pics of something most followers of my sight haven’t see in a couple years.
Project SportsRoof – not up on jack stands!!!!
The Stang getting a full tank….IN PERSON!!!!
It’s great to have it back on the road!!
As you know, I had a recommendation to have some work done on #ProjectSportsRoof. The story was this shop was expanding into Tucson and the son of the owner was going to run local ‘branch’. That was only 20% true. The son (for whatever reason) rented a bay from a garage here in town. Instead of paying rent he was going to do free repairs for the shop owner. Shortly after the Mustang was at the location, his deal with the owner went south and so did my car!!!
For two weeks I could not get hold of guy and when I showed up at the place he was supposed to be working, I was told they had no idea what was going on. Shortening the story about 2 months, my car is finally returned to me. Running great, but missing ‘stuff’. You can see the that part of the story here: https://wp.me/p2YxYx-5fK
BTW Twisted Addiction was the name of the shop and I still hear good things about the work they do in a town about 50 miles from here. But my experience was beyond crappy!!!
After wrestling with the shifting lever I needed to get the car on the road (O.K. – more like a want) I turned to a unique garage. They are unique not because they are one of a kind, in fact they are a chain. They are unique because the owner/partner pushed the envelope on the range of cars he would allow his team to work on. Work on older cars was (and is) not part of the chain’s business model, and certainly helping out the locals on their old project cars wasn’t either. But they did and with the new owner/partner, they’ve grandfather me and my project in. They were there when I needed help on my current project. From my 1970 Mustang to my 1984 Corvette and now with 73 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof) they didn’t hesitate.
I had the SportsRoof towed to the shop and the damage to the suspension wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but there was not need for it to occur. You can see the story here: https://wp.me/p2YxYx-5hV.
I have the Mustang back and there was a mix of used and new parts added to fix the suspension damage.
And now I have it back and still stinging from the series of set backs, but happy to have it drivable again. Here is a video update.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Exterior Walk-Around
1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Pertronix Ignitor Update
So today the Mustang was going to make a quick trip the shop down the street to have the valve body put back in the transmission. The tow truck driver got the ‘Stang off-center on the flatbed and decided to winch it sideways. Only problem he wrapped the chain around the lower control arm. I was on the phone and heard a sickening snap. The bottom of the lower control arm is now facing the front of the car and you can see the rest here. Video is below the pic.
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Will update when I have news.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
#ProjectSportsRoof
More work on my 73 Mustang’s shift lever. I have the pan off and removed the valve body. You can get a good look at the what needs to happen next.
Here is the bolt pattern for the valve.
The dots show the bolts to remove.
Over on www.7173Mustangs.com one of the experts modified a open end wrench like this:
We’ll see what I can find to remove this nut. That will be coming up shortly.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
#ProjectSportsRoof
Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof). The struggle is real!!!
You saw in the last video my replacement of the linkage that was lost by the repair shop (along with my new battery and started). This repair shone the light (as often happens with older cars) on a previous repair. Some might call it a hack and I get it, there are times when you need to take short cuts, but as usual short cuts often have short life spans.
Take a look at the video:
When you have issues with shifting an automatic transmission and it’s related to the linkage you have the option of fixing it right or fixing it “wrong” (i.e., short cut). At some point in my Mustangs earlier life the C4 transmission was swapped our for a used C6. It seems that the C6 (from a 1972 Ford – which really doesn’t matter the C6 has changed much in all this time) had a broken shift lever. Take a look:
Here the run down:
A is the broken shift lever. What you should see there is something like this:
B is what is commonly called a ratcheting shift lever. It’s a replacement that is ‘clamped’ on to the stub of the shift lever to shift the trans. This is done because to replace the unit you have to drain the transmission, remove the pan, the filter and the valve. This is a PITA. Especially true, if you just put the transmission in and filled it with fluid!!!) So the after market ratcheting shift lever is common. This what the parts looked like when I took them off:
Custom hack
Of course C is a washer and D….well, D is a very special customization or it’s just a hose clamp.
As you can see at the end of the video the ratcheting shift lever was just sliding. I suppose I could have just tightened clamp down and see if it shifted, but how reliable would it be…might as well fix it right!!!
Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportRoof.
I have more coming up on my 1973 Stang and more on Bill’s ProjectBeepBeep as well.
Tim
