Thanks for checking in on the 1973 Mustang project. Below is the last part of the discovery process for determining the extent rust damage. Here is the driver’s side.
This shot doesn’t look too bad, especially compared with the right side. Below is a video recap of what needs to happen.
Of course still need to remove the rest of the carpeting. All indications are that everything else is solid!!
Mar 2, 2016 … Among these things are coins and #ProjectSportsRoof had an abundance of lost change. The first coin I found was a nickel. It was under the …
Feb 29, 2016 … Thanks for following along with #ProjectSportsRoof. Over the next couple of weeks (giving myself a lot of time to get this all down in the blog) …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor ( the …
You can see my 2007 C6 and the 1973 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof) and my son’s 1991 Chrysler Le Baron vert and good friend’s 2011 Mustang vert(with the nicest seats ever!!!).
Constant reader of this blog Bill and my son Ryan
This was my son Ryan’s first car he’s entered in a car show. The 1991 Le Baron is a true collector and is in excellent survivor condition with over 140k miles he is the only the second owner. Bill (sitting next to my son) was the Le Baron’s first owner – that’s Bill’s 2011 Mustang V6!!!
Besides those cars – here is my favorite late 50’s car at the show.
Clean 282 Engine!!
One of my favorite attributes….a painted dash!!!
The fender skirts are great and the detailed side molding is outstanding!!! (And all original!!)
This 1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan has 282 engine, 3 speed column shift and has just over 30k original miles. It all original except the tires (the spare is original). This was an Ebay buy and originated in PA.
There were a couple beautiful pickups and a Lotus and 1988 Shelby Dodge Charger – very cool!!
The voting, interestingly enough, was done by the car owners and everyone that came to view the cars.
Trophies were handed out and one of the winner was this car:
#ProjectSportsRoof took home one in the 1970’s/Under Construction category
Yup lots of love shown to my 1973 Mustang SportsRoof.
It was a small but fun show. Lots of time to have long conversations with the owners and the crowd.
Thanks to Hagerty Insurance, Mothers Wax and Car Guy Garage for supporting the car show. We raised awareness and money for Southern Arizona Autism Society!!
Oh…and if you are in Tucson, AZ there is a walk that raised money for this worthy cause as well.
As with most car restoration projects discovering what needs to be worked on and to what extent is an experience to say the least. Sometimes that discovery is a bit disheartening like the rust to floor pans on the right side, sometimes is a major relief and sometimes it’s cool.
As I began removing carpet – which I’m now sure was 33 years old, it uncovered the normal dirt, pens, papers (no build sheet… bummer) and just about all the normal things that slide between the seat cushions and work their way under the carpet. That can show a lot about its previous owners and how the car was used.
Among these things are coins and #ProjectSportsRoof had an abundance of lost change. The first coin I found was a nickel. It was under the underlayment which I found to be a tough place for nickel to have worked its way. Interesting enough it was dated 1973.
1973 Jefferson Nickel. Placed by a a worker at the factory? hmmmm….
This reminded me of an often told tail of auto workers leaving tokens of some sort in an inconspicuous place. Wouldn’t that be interesting.
Over all nearly $30.00 in coins were found and of those 3 were from 1973 (a nickel, a quarter and a penny). With a huge cap between 1979 and the 2005 (perhaps indicating it’s break in service when the car was left in a field, junked and then saved.
Someone in the Ford factory back in the day leave this 1973 Jefferson nickel so that someone years later might find it? Interest thought!!!
2 days ago … Thanks for following along with #ProjectSportsRoof. Over the next couple of weeks (giving myself a lot of time to get this all down in the blog) …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor ( the …
Thanks for following along with #ProjectSportsRoof. Over the next couple of weeks (giving myself a lot of time to get this all down in the blog) I’m going to take you through my process for repairing the floors in the 1973 Mustang. I’ll be interrupted by (air quotes)REAL (end air quotes) work and a couple of car shows between now and then.
As much as I’d like to say I was aware of the rust on the floor of the Sports Roof, I can’t. I really missed seeing the extent of the damage. Needless to say I was a bit depressed when I brought it home and climbed in the back seat and notices the floor seemed a bit….’crunchy’.
Take a look at these videos:
You might be able to tell by my voice that I wasn’t overjoyed with the condition of the passenger side floor. To make matters worse I eventually found out they don’t reproduce a patch for under the rear seat for the 1973 Sports Roof. More to come on that in a future post.
Just to issue a reminder as you might be wondering why you see the back seat now in the car as in the previous video it was out, but my goal is to have this as a rolling project and able to at least speed on down to the local petrol station fill it up and grab a Pepsi. (You just can’t work on a car without a Pepsi!!! – Hey maybe they’ll sponsor this rebuild and I’ll change the license plate to read “1973DrinkRealSugarPepsi”.)
O.K. so if you were listening closely you’d realize that I started the floors back in Dec (2015) and it’s now the last day of the Feb 2016 and I’m just getting to post this up now. So it’s taken me a good chunk of time to do this all by hand – including all the cutting with just a hand-held dremel and some metal snips.
I appreciate any and all comments so let ’em fly!!!!
BTW day on this Leap Year day – we’ve surpassed 20,000 registered user on this blog, thanks everyone!!!
1 day ago … This will be a longer post as I finish up the vacuum system on #ProjectSportsRoof , the 1973 Mustang Sports Roof. We have to make a repair, …
This will be a longer post as I finish up the vacuum system on #ProjectSportsRoof, the 1973 Mustang Sports Roof. We have to make a repair, hose to the master cylinder, charcoal filter, and the transmission.
Take a look at the broken vacuum “T”:
So from the broken “T” I moved to the master cylinder and then to the transmission and finished off with the charcoal canister.
One final task to finish up the vacuum system and that is the charcoal canister that is supposed to catch the fumes from the gas tank.
Back at the beginning I mentioned that I need to get this done because the Stang was coming due for its renewal and smog check. Just a couple of days after finishing I planned driving over to the emissions testing facility and I got my renewal notice via email. Here in AZ you can register you car online after you pass your smog check. The notices normally tell you that a an emissions test is required. My said “No Emissions” required!!!!!!! Well the vacuum system needed tending too anyway and now it’s check off the list.
Jan 7, 2010 … Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof. Progress is being made and I’d like to finish up these post on the install of the Mach 1 grille …
A fun car show for a GREAT cause!!! Autism Society of Southern Arizona.
JOIN US ON MARCH 5, 2016
Bring your classic beauty, your muscle machine, your chopper, your tuner, your daily driver or your project car!!!! Heck – bring your farm tractor!!!! You’ll get a swag bag with goodies (Car Guys Garages free t-shirt offer, Hagerty Insurance and more) and a cool T-Shirt. There will be raffles for collectible die-cast cars, and other prizes from O’rielly’s Auto Parts, Hot Rods at Old Vail Road, car wash packages and more.
Come on out and hang out with some cool cars!!!!
FUN AND A GREAT CAUSE!!!!!
I’ll be there with my 1973 Mustang and 2007 Corvette!!
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor (the valve on the water pump. Here is a pic:
Here is the video:
As always when I’m holding the camera and recording I miss a few things, like there are only two vacuum connections on the valve assembly distributor and the vacuum hoses I referred to at the end go to the charcoal canister – that supposedly filters gas fumes.
Here are the clamps I used.
I’ve got more coming up on the vacuum system and then we’ll jump into the floor pans.
As I get started I’m reminded of watching my father working though the vacuum systems of the cars we use to own – mostly Chevy. Those always ended with vacuum hose tide off in knots or screws/nails unused holes. But back then in New York emissions weren’t tested as part of the annual State Inspection.
I am sooooooooooooo far behind in my blogging in general and specifically with the work on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m catching up this weekend (actually it’s going to take a week or more to go through the videos) with the work I’ve done on the vacuum system.
The goal started out to get this all completed before the end of January when I had to renew the registration, but first it needed to pass emissions. So I had to hustle. The next few blog post cover this process.
There are some questions that come up and most of them were solved. In particular the Vacuum Distribution Solenoid locations. All the diagrams I pulled off the web were for non-A/C cars. This solenoid was moved to the back when A/C was installed. Take a look.
Of course the long vacuum hose leading down under the firewall does in fact run to the transmission.
In a earlier post I picked out two sleeper cars that were totally awesome (does anyone use that phrase any more?). Here is how they did at auction.
The odd Pontiac Beaumont – Chevelle/Nova/Chevy II build by GM and sold North of the border by Pontiac-Buick dealerships throughout Canada brought a nice price. Seems someone liked the 375hp, 396 – Chevelle SS trim car to the tune of $32,000.00 (USD). Yeah…no kidding!!!!
I love this car!!!
The other sleeper was a 1966 Chevy Chevelle 300 Deluxe. It was a plain jane looking Chevy with painted steel wheels. But it had a big surprise – 502 crate GM motor with 502 hp. AWESOME!!!! As was the hammer price…………………… $41,800.00. WOW!!!!
Of course there were many, many other awesome cars. Look for a few more posts on the Barrett-Jackson auction from last week.