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 on this ‘plain old’ sports roof.
This was pretty much straight forward, with a small change.
If you recall on the last post we started with a NOS Mach 1 grille I acquired from Ebay…..SCORE!!!
NOS in original box
Box label – so what? Hey it’s cool!!!
For now I’m using the signal lights from the old grille and a new proper pony badge.
New Pony Badge
The new badge is different from the original (that being just a large Mustang running), which I preferred. Of course this new badge is made in Taiwan and not as sturdy as I would have liked. In fact while tightening the one of the nuts provided the prong sheered off. Luckily there were enough threads to make it secure.
Here it is installed:
Here are a couple of videos on the install.
Now there are still a few thing I need to buy to finish up the grille:
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 …
As with most plastic exterior trim pieces on Arizona cars, the original grille in #ProjectSportsRoof has seen better days. Although this one is still mostly intact, it is brittle with a few missing tabs. Couple that with the look of the Mach I grille for the 1973 Mustang and I have to say I really like the look of it better than the standard.
Among the main attractions at this year’s Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals was the unveiling of 13 rare muscle cars, several with drag racing pedigrees. In this group, the freshly restored silver-blue Performance Associates 1965 Ford Fairlane revealed the talent of the crew at A&R Classic Restorations in Emory, Texas.
The car’s journey to the MCACN floor took more than 35 years.
Check our the entire story of this historic car at the source link below.
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 the 1970 Mustang 302 engine. One install and no problems.
As you know I had the heads rebuilt for the 351C and after re-installing them and all the components (intake, distributor…etc.) the car would not start. Popping the distributor cap showed why:
Drop me a note if you’ve had a similar experience.
Here are your Auto Factoids for the end of Nov. 2o15. (Yes only 24 shopping days left!!!)
Nov 30 1960 De Soto ceases production. The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the brand was terminated.
1961 Windsor
1961 DeSoto
Nov 30, 1900 Germany patented an automobile front wheel drive. Although this is a common historic fact, there is some evidence that the first production car with front wheel drive was a French car. There exists a French Patent around 1898 or 1899. The manufacturer was Société Parisienne and the car was the Victoria Combination.
It was a lightweight two-seater trailer, known as a ‘Victoria’, combined with the back axle and mechanical components of a motor tricycle, but this axle was placed in front of the trailer and steered by a long tiller on which the controls were located. The first examples were powered by 1.75 or 2.5 horsepower De Dion Bouton engines geared directly to the differential, but larger engines of this make were fitted as they became available.
1900 Victoria Combination
December 1, 1925 GM purchased Vauxhall. Vauxhall started out as engine manufacturer mainly for pumps and marine use (1857 – Alex Wilson). They began making cars in 1903. Here is a video of a 1903 Vauxhall. They are still producing cars using the Opel name under GM.
One more of it on a road test.
Dec 1, 1913 Ford fired up the first “continuous” assembly line. (Olds is considered to be the inventor of the assembly line…maybe.)
Ford’s Production Line
And just one day and 14 years later (Dec 2, 1927) Ford unveiled Models A which would soon be produced from this assembly line. The Model A was announced on May 25, 1927 and sold as 1928 model. Ford sold 607,592 units in 1928, nearly double that of the previous year.
1928 Model A
Thanks for reading
Tim
If you’d like to sponsor a week of Auto Factoids contact me directly.
Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T. There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …
#ProjectSportsRoof. 73-17. 1973 Mustang Project Sportsroof – Engine Walk-Through. There is a quick walk-through of the 351C tucked between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang Sportsroof. (It took about 5 takes to get this …
#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …
Thanks for checking back on the 1973 Mustang #ProjectSportsRoof.
The power steering cooler is pictured below. It’s pretty ugly even when cleaned up.
Keeping the Power Steering fluid cool!!
Non-A/C car power steering fluid cooler
Here is a little info from a fellow Mustang owner.
Steering coolers were an option from what I understand. My A/C car did not come with a cooler. I added one to my car later as it was just a simple bolt on.
Originally the extra long return line for the power steering box was U’d on top of the drivers side cowl brace that acted as a primitive cooler before returning back to the pump.
Someone told me that the ‘competition suspension’ option included the variable ratio power steering box and included the power steering cooler. However I have seen cars with the competition suspension option that did not have coolers. The owners claimed it never had one.
There are 2 different coolers one designed to be bolted on A/C cars over the compressor and the one designed for cars without A/C.
Ford had a revision to the return line in later cars, originally the return line was U’d on top of the drivers cowl brace then later they shortened the return line and just left it next to the high pressure line going to the box.
For the variable power steering box there was another power steering pump that had a different tag on it. HBA-CG was used with the variable box and HBA-CF was used with the standard box, nobody knows if the pumps are in fact different or not internally.The variable box was tagged SPA-T or SPA-V. The normal box was SPA-S and SPA-U.
I have a 72 H code originally with a FMX, A/C car, no competition suspension.
As for requiring a different pump, no, not that I am aware of I use standard power steering pump with the cooler, works fine.
Typical hose layouts for the coolers
Power Steering Fluid Coolers Diagrams
I’ve seen a with the cooler painted or powder coated. However, that would severely hamper it’s ability to cool the fluid. They do look better.
Here is the example in an A/C car – unpainted.
Another Mustang owner recommended spraying the cooler with black radiator paint. That should do the trick.
#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …
#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …
Any diagram I find has the hose vacuum from the Distr going to the Valve assy.
The Valve assy has nothing attached which is located on the front right side next to the alternator on the water pump housing.
The diagram for the 1972 351C shows that instead of going directly to the carb, the hoses from the distributor vacuum run to the Valve Assy. There also seems to be a second line running from the back of the distributor (in the diagram) – but that isn’t very clear.
Any ideas? Clearly the car runs without any of these connected – do I just plug them all?
For the purpose of these series of posts let’s assume that I want to seriously limit the performance and power of #ProjectSportsRoof’s beautiful 351C and restore it back to factory configuration. Now if you are expecting an …
#ProjectSportsRoof. 73-17. 1973 Mustang Project Sportsroof – Engine Walk-Through. There is a quick walk-through of the 351C tucked between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang Sportsroof. (It took about 5 takes to get this …
Most car enthusiasts know that by the 1970’s all cars even ‘former’ muscle cars, were strangled in terms of power by a host of tubes, solenoids and funny looking flat or funnel like space age devices that were responsible for eliminating harmful emissions. In some cases they funneled fumes back in to the engine to be burned and supposedly rendering them less harmful.
When you are restoring a car of this vintage – especially one like my 1973 Mustang that has been sitting around a while, those tubes/hoses are often cracked, dried, split or ends stretched at the least for missing all together.
You have the option to remove all the space ag hardware (depending on the emissions regulations in your area) or replacing it all to restore to factory specifications. For the purpose of these series of posts let’s assume that I want to seriously limit the performance and power of #ProjectSportsRoof’s beautiful 351C and restore it back to factory configuration.
Now if you are expecting an expert run down on the care and feeding of the vacuum system for this project – you aren’t going to get that right up front. Why? Because it’s really not that straight forward at first and I have a few questions.
As I look at the diagrams for the vacuum system on a 1972 351C, I am not seeing anything that matches my set up.
Let me start back of the engine.
There is a solenoid on the back of the manifold (only bolted there) that I think is some diagrams is shown on the opposite side and in the front.
Here’s a better shot.
As you can see it has no power connected nor hoses. Is that the Solenoid Dist vacuum? I think so.
For the 1972 351C. The solenoid is #12 in the diagram –
Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all.
#ProjectSportsRoof. 1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods … Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted …
So after inspecting the head further, I noticed a few more reasons to have them reconditioned. Take a look:
Gonna Need some touching up.
As you can see there a lot of rust and old stuff plugging up some of the water passages.
The heads were sent out to a local machine shop run by an old hot rodder.
Here’s a quick video of the valves that were removed. You can see the build up as the oil (from the tappet hole) and the gas was continually ignited by the spark plug.
The good news the heads are back and installed. The bad news in my haste to get the car back together, I forget to get some shots of the completed heads. By the time I realized it was too late to go back.
The Cleveland is running strong, but needs a lot of work on the vacuum system and – I’m thinking of replacing the carb. Send me your on what to replace it with.
Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all.
Next up will be the install Pertronix system and cap and rotor, then plug and wires. Thanks for reading and drop me a note. Tim. #ProjectSportsRoof. projectsportsroof. 1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Interior Walk-Through.
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