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 …
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 …
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 the cylinders. The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …
Mustang lovers check this out. There is place in El Mirage, AZ called Marti Auto Works. They own the rights to the Ford databases and records prior to 1974 (some models up to 1989). These guys have everything..I mean everything. Give them the VIN number and they’ll pile on the data (it’s not free but very reasonable). They are authorized by Ford to reproduce window stickers and Protector Plates (identification plates that go on the inside door jamb) and more.
If you have a classic Mustang you’ve got to get this report. I thought I’d share mine with the readers. The link below is to the .pdf and here is an image.
Whether you are just interested in the car history or doing an original restore this report comes in very handy. It’s pretty cool to see when it was ordered and build and all the original options are there to match.
The Statistics section – so cool!!! This section lets you know where your car ranks compare to those produce that year. As you can see above #ProjectSportsRoof is o1 of 76 with that paint and trim coat. If nothing else it bragging rights and in some small way this may add to the value of the car, but that’s tough to measure.
The list of items in the Door Data Plate Info, helps you determine how original your might be. For example you can see that my 73 Mustang left the factory with 302 and if you’ve followed my posts on #ProjectSportsRoof you’ll know it now sports a 351C V2 date coded 1972 and a C4 transmission but now it has a date code 1972 C6.
Visit the Marti report site and see what they offer.
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 …
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 …
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 …
Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof. I’m about the finish the cuts and fitting for the right rear foot-well that was rust all the way!!!!
Final Fit for foot-well.
This video is pretty comprehensive so I’m just going to just let it roll.
A couple of things worth noting. The “flap” what was clearly not going to work and leaving the sheet metal running up the side of the transmission/drive shaft tunnel was going to give too much flex in that panel, as the welds would be pretty high. It’s important to have that solid because as most must guys and gals know the Mustang of this vintage only have sub-frames which lease the floor as the most important body stabilization part of the car. I will eventually put sub-frame connectors under this beast.
In case you are wondering what that electrical wiring is to the right of foot-well that is for the seat belt switch which when pressure is applied to the seat bottom there must be a connection completed by the seat-belt male end and female end to turn off the “Seat Belt” light and or buzzer.
I have a lot more coming up on the floor pans so stay tuned!!!!
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor ( the …
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 the right rear foot-well.
Quick note about the video sequence. As executive director, camera guy (well smart phone guy) and film editor (is that still a real thing?), I don’t always plan out the steps like you might see on a TV show. (There goes my chances of being on Counting Cars – I’ve got a better chance of being a walk-on-the-set zombie on the Walking Dead – I love both of those shows!!!! ) Perfect example is in the next few posts and videos. Instead of stripping out all the carpeting, I made a cut along the tunnel on the right side and just removed that carpet. You can clearly see that. Then I removed the rust from the foot-well (you’ll see that below) and then worked on cutting the re-pop floor patch.
That went so well, I felt confident enough to remove the driver’s seat and the rest of the carpeting. So when I show that video you’ll notice both patch panels on the right side are fitted. There just no ‘do overs’ on this project.
Here are the next two videos. By the way you can see all the videos on my YouTube channel just search for #ProjectSportsRoof and you’ll find most of them.
Once again in the video I mention getting the replacement pan for under the rear seat – above the muffler. However, as I mentioned previously that portion of the floor is not reproduced.
More floor panel work coming up. If you have comments or tips/hints use the comment box below. Love to hear from you.
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 the cylinders. The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …
