Dad's Mach 1

[Totalled]

Today was frustrating. No one in town had rear wheel bearings in stock. The repro muffler hangers had the holes 1/2" too far apart. Not sure if they changed in '73 or if it's a repro thing.. There definitely was a repro thing with the replacement center gauge bezel. The holes were too far apart for the cargo pocket, to narrow for the map light, and the pedestals for the gauge mounting screws were different heights..

I assembled the cluster today. I previously trimmed the side shielding from the gauges to allow more light on them to make them brighter.

Here's some differences between the tach and non tack speedo and backing plates:

And the hacking they did to my idiot lights to fit the tach in there:

So, I took my speedo, and stuck it on a tach cluster backing plate, and took my tach and put it on the proper tach backing plate. It's basically a factory tach cluster now minus the trip odometer.

I left off tonight with the dash harness set back in place. Still need to finish routing it and plugging everything back in.

 

[Totalled]

Harness just arrived from Midlife. :D I know what I'm doing today.

 

[Totalled]

Got the dash harness back in, headlight harness is through the firewall and hooked up, and dash cluster and center stack in. Also put a new printed circuit and regulator on. Working on routing the harness through the engine bay now.

 

[KarlVP]

Awesome job Pat. :awesomework:

We all know how much wiring sucks.

 

[zukkev]

Pat, I LOVE that you are taking the time to do this right...Know that your Dad would be proud...:awesomework:

 

[Totalled]

Thanks guys.

Lunch time update: Got the headlight harness routed in the engine bay this morning.

 

[Totalled]

So, after lunch I thinned out the engine harness. In '73, they had an electric choke, and some EGR and throttle solenoids. I only needed three... the oil pressure, temp, and electric choke.

I also deleted this harness that went through the firewall, since it wasn't plugged into anything under the dash anymore.

Finished product:

Installed:

 

[Totalled]

Almost ready to apply power. Just have to finish reworking the starter cables.

 

[Totalled]

:bigsmile:

[YT]http://youtu.be/DQfHR0sXFu4[/YT]

http://youtu.be/DQfHR0sXFu4

 

[nowires]

Always nice when everything works. Nice work

 

[Totalled]

Used some DEI heat sleeve on the trans cooler line that is nearest the header, starter lead, and where the fuel line contact the radiator hose.

Cleaned lots of little stuff. Got a vacuum tree installed.

Finally have the correct battery hold downs.

 

[Totalled]

Got a big, black, shaft. And got it installed.

Got the engine filled with oil, primed, and distributor in.

Plan on making some noise tomorrow.

 

[Totalled]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uRn1xjEOSQ&feature=youtu.be[/YT]

 

[Poohbair]

Bad ass .... :awesomework:

 

[jeepmauler]

Congrats.....so sick:cool:

 

[NOISYBOY]

Needs a bigger cam!!:redneck: no great job :awesomework:

 

[Totalled]

Not much done. Spent most of the weekend trying to figure out why the wipers wouldn't work. Got some paint on the inside of the cowl, tried to move the wipers... nothing. Turns out the motor lost ground when I swapped the motor fasteners for the new ones. Cleaned its ground and they work again.

Did a bunch of small things. Replaced the rear side marker light seals, started on the tail light seals... Got mad when I saw the awful job that was done replacing the tail light panel... No seam sealer was used, so there is rust creeping out of the seams..

Moved up front. Used these clips from the wire clip set to secure the MSD pickup line:

Dropped the front shocks in and got the caps and braces on. About all I had time for.

 

[dvdswan]

awesome!

 

[Totalled]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL69UnT0UIg[/YT]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ3Fla95_kg[/YT]

2.5", x-pipe, hooker aerochamber mufflers.

The springs settled. I may need to add a thicker insulator to gain some height back. We'll see.. I still have to align it.

 

[!ton327]

my girlfriends 70 cougar has the same setup 351c with headers and the same mufflers, the only thing different is there's no x pipe just duals and it sound awesome.

 

[Poohbair]

Not a fan of an X or H Pipe.. kills exhaust tone


When you think you are done, watch this and you will start all over again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMBLu0Na6mg#t=171

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMBLu0Na6mg#t=171[/YT]

 

[Totalled]

Finally back on this.

Tweaked the alignment of the passenger door. It shuts better, and the window seals better now.

Got the fenders, hood latch support, and head light extensions in after that:

Fitting sign is fitting:

 

[Totalled]

Got the bumper brackets straightened, and installed this weekend.

The aftermarket headlight extensions are a quality part, but the buckets on them are ****. They are thinner metal, so the tabs the adjuster screws go into, bend, and, they are stamped with the locating slots for the bulbs 90 degrees rotated, so the "top" of the bulb is rotated to the right 90 degrees... So I had to mess with restoring my originals. But it's down to the small things. Grill, bumper, caltracs, front swaybar, and some interior.

 

[Totalled]

Found another quirk in the repo headlight extensions... the threads for the grille mounting screws are a larger diameter than stock... I'll have to pick up some backing nuts.

The '73 bumper is a HEAVY pig... Almost too much for one person to install on their own.

Going with H4 conversion lights.

As I suspected, front ride height ended up too low. Gonna pull the springs and install the 1" spacers I got in case of this.

 

[Totalled]

Got the grille in:

Also got the spacers in.

 

[mudmaster]

Looks great!

 

[Totalled]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThUAuOxl5K8&feature=youtu.be[/YT]

 

[Cucv]

wow its quite in side the cab!

 

[Totalled]

Yeah, I'm surprised how quiet the exhaust is. It's less loud with headers and aerochambers than it was with manifolds and turbo mufflers.

 

[!ton327]

one of these days you should swing by and we could compare exhuasts my girlfriends cougar has a 351 c with headers and ereochambers aswell