UPDATE - READY FOR PRIMER - SOON

Block sanding almost completed - then off to paint.

UPDATE - ON THE ROAD AGAIN

On the way to the paint shop for round 2...

UPDATE - ALL APART

Sure does come apart easier that it goes together...  Mach is ready for respray - goes in at the end of the month.

UPDATE - BAD NEWS

The car went back to the paint shop in the beginning of September to have the hood reworked - I got the car back on Tuesday....to make the long sad story short - they ruined the paint on the front of the car, the rear quarter and got over-spray on everything (engine - even the oil pan, radiator, hood latch, wiring, rubber plugs, suspension, even the front wheel) - and they still didn't get the hood's stripe fixed.  So the next 'Step' is to disassemble the entire car and have it block sanded, repainted and re-detail all of the over-sprayed suspension and engine components....I will continue this blog where I left off - I'm shooting for January to re-start Step 66.
Drop me an email at sethcantrell@bigfoot.com if you care to know the ugly details....

Residual Stripe and Heavy Clearcoat

Step 65 - Prep Door Panels

The Mach went back to the paint shop to have some re-work done to the hood and front end.  No car - no problem.  I purchased replacement door panels from the Mustang Market (http://www.mustangmarket.com/door.htm) - in my opinion these duplicate the originals better than what anyone else offers.  The original panels were beyond repair and passenger side was even stamped REJECT.  Cleaned the wood grain panels.  Polished and repainted the the running horse.  Sanded, buffed and polished the stainless trim (amazing how many dings the seat belt puts in them...).  My car came equipped with two driver-side door courtesy lights (one of which was installed upside-down on the passenger side) - I found an original passenger-side bezel on ebay.  Swapped out the light bulbs for some LEDs (these are polarized - so make sure you ops-check them before final installation).  Stripped and repainted the original door cups.  Door felts are new from Re-Pops, lock inserts are new from Mac Auto, hardware from AMK.  Everything transferred over to the new panels with out any issues.

Step 64 - Headlights

Installed new headlights and original retainer rings.  Upgraded to Wagner Brite-Lites - don't worry, relays are tucked in next to the battery - this car used to play 'blinking headlights' on me (all the time) while returning to Dover AFB from Carlisle.  Reproduction buckets required a little tweaking to fit the original retainers.






Parts: new headlights, original retainers, all hardware new from AMK

Step 63 - Door Internals and Windows

Installed all of the door internals and door windows.

• Windows: original tinted (some light scratches and slight pitting), cleaned glass and polished window trim, installed new vertical rubber seals and new window weatherstrips
• Wiring Harnesses: original, cleared and repaired
• Locks: original, polished and lubricated, installed new gasket
• Inside Door Handles: new reproductions
• Window Regulators etc: all original with the exception of the window bracket gaskets and stop bumpers (new via NPD), cleaned, lubricated and adjusted - over and over again...
• Hardware: new from AMK

Step 62 - Roof Rail Trim and Weatherstrip

Stainless steel trim from yesteryear is awesome.  I buffed (using a $36 bench buffer from Harbor Freight) the Roof Rail Trim pieces back to like new condition - granted it took me a couple of hours - but the results were outstanding.  The original passenger-side trim piece was in excellent condition - not so with the driver's side - it was dinged, dented and cracked beyond repair.  I managed to find a good replacement up in Ocala (thanks again Roger).

Step 61 - Splash Shields

LH Front Splash Shield

RH Front Splash Shield

Installing the splash shields was not an enjoyable mustang experience. The originals were long gone so I did not have a template to compare against. This pair came from MP Products - not sure what other vendors reproduce them. Anyway, be prepared break out the heat gun and scissors - because I had to bend the crap out of both sides and trim a good 3/4 inch off of the LH side. The holes for the wiring clips were way too big - so I glued in a couple of washers to keep the clips in place. Should keep the headlight connectors from getting 'splashed'.

Parts: Reproduction front splash shields from MP Products, bolts from AMK

Step 60 - Fender Extensions

Installed the LH and RH fender extensions. Both original extensions were in excellent condition and came back from the paint shop looking great.  The original grilles had multiple layers of over-spray and required a little TLC with some Easy Off followed by a fresh coat of trim black.  The original headlight buckets were rusted out - I replaced them with new reproductions.  All hardware from AMK (extension studs, bolts, grille screws, and headlight bucket adjusters).

Parts:  original extensions and grilles, new rubber seals, reproduction headlight buckets, all new hardware

Step 59 - missing Holes

Driver's Side

While pushing ahead with the door wiring harnesses, I noticed that the paint shop forgot to drill the harness holes in both doors - aaargh...  Rather than take the doors off and attack the problem with a hole saw, we elected to use a 2 1/4 inch punch to make the holes in the front of each door.  Worked perfectly with minimum hassle (since the doors remained in place).

Step 58 - Door Mirrors

Installed both door mirrors. The original RH mirror was great condition - paint shop did a fine job on it. The original LH mirror's glass was chipped and the remote cable was toast. Replaced the whole thing with a reproduction.  Harbor Freight's $17 rivnut tool did the trick on the threaded inserts.

Parts: Original RH, reproduction LH, rivnut and bolt kit from AMK, gaskets/pads from NPD

Step 57 - Door Vents

Resurrected the original door vents.  Fortunately, the rubber flaps were in pretty good shape - but the plastic needed a light coat of paint.  To keep the paint off of the flaps, fill the bottom of the vents with two layers of BBs - works great!

Parts: original vents, stainless screws from Ace

Step 56 - Coil

Installed a new coil and coil bracket.  All of the usual places to install a coil are all gone - improvised by mounting it on the intake manifold by using a longer front left intake bolt and a 1/2 inch aluminum spacer.

Parts: coil - epoxy filled MSD Blaster (sans garish sticker), bracket - Scott Drake by way of NPD, 12pt flange bolt and spacer from McMaster-Carr

Step 55 - Transmission Cooling Lines

AOD + 351C + Aux Cooler == bend some transmission cooling lines because nobody makes a set that actually fits.  Picked up some stainless steel line from McMaster-Carr (5/16 OD). Spent some time practicing on some old steel line to get angles around the starter right.  Annealed the stainless before making a bend and at each stage of flaring.  Buffed off the heat marks (thanks Chris).  Used rubber hoses to attach the lines to the radiator and the output of the cooler.

Step 54 - Transmission Cooler

Installed a new B&M Transmission Cooler to help keep the AOD running cool.  Lines run from the transmission to the radiator then from the radiator to the top of the cooler and then back to the transmission.  I tried the next size up (1.5 inches thick vs. .75 inches) but it interfered with the horn - so it's on it's way back to Summit.

Parts:  B&M 9,800 BTU Cooler, custom bent lines (took me a bunch of tries to get them bent just so...)

Step 53 - Front Marker Lights

Installed Front Marker Lights.  Lenses are original, bezels (too pitted to salvage) and retainers (rusted to pieces) are new reproductions.  Used a little strip-caulk to reduce metal to metal contact between the bezels and the fenders.

Parts: original lenses, reproduction bezels and retainers, bolts from AMK

Step 52 - Hosed

Installed new radiator, heater, AC and power steering hoses.

Radiator Hoses:  Upper and lower radiator hoses and clamps from Marti AutoWorks, lower radiator hose spring from NPD and radiator overflow hose from Dead Nuts On Restorations.  Everything fit perfectly - no issues.

Heater Hoses:  Water tube, hoses and clamps all from NPD - the position of  Classic Auto Air's AC/Heater assembly made it necessary to use two hoses with a 90 degree bend at the firewall vs. just one that comes with the kit - yep had to buy two kits - anyone need some heater hose?

Power Steering Hoses:  Borgenson did not test their hoses in a '70 - they do not fit on the pump side.  So I engaged a local hydraulic shop to make a custom set of hoses.  They run along the top of the engine vs. underneath.  Borgenson gave me the okay to return the pair that comes with their steering box.

AC Hoses:  Classic Auto Air's hoses fit pretty good.  We had to shorten the lower condenser hose by about an inch, other than that, no issues.

Step 51 - Hood

Installed the hood on those freshly refinished hinges.  Required tweaking hinges, fenders, doors, etc...  Cowl positioned for reference only.  Now on to figuring out how to plant the shaker on that Air Gap Intake.
Parts:  original hood, NOS latch, bolts from AMK

Step 50 - Unhinged

Normally I don't blog about about what goes into or onto the parts and systems that are going back into the Mach during its reconstruction - but this step had some pretty cool stuff behind it.

Freshly refinished hinge

The original hinges were in good condition with some light rust and a couple of coats of black paint.  I did not want to repaint them, so when I read Jerry Heasley's article in March's Mustang Monthly I decided to try to put the original phosphate and oil finish back on.

I started with some paint remover followed with some time in the media-blaster to remove all rust, paint, primer and grime.  I safety wired the hinges closed (using stainless steel wire) to expose the inside of the spring's coils.

Manganese Phosphating in action

This is the stuff.  I used a turkey fryer with a 30 quart stainless pot.  I had to use 4 gallons of water to fully submerge one hinge.  14 ounces per gallon heated to 200F - the propane burner had it to temperature in about 30 minutes.  Drop the part in for 10 minutes then hose it down with WD-40.  Just follow the included instructions and it works awesome.  Note that you do not have to remix to treat additional parts - after I cooked one hinge - I just dropped in the other one.



Following the three prescribed WD-40 wash downs, the hinges looked great.  In my opinion, there is no way to emulate this finish with paint on a part that is as dimensionally complicated as this.  After everything cooled off, I filtered and stored the leftover solution in plastic containers - who knows what other Steps will require some more backyard chemistry.

Step 49 - Radiator and AC Condenser

Before

Installed the Radiator, Fan Shroud, AC Condenser and Hood Latch Support Brace.  All parts are new reproductions - and they all actually fit!  The Mach was not graced with factory AC, so all cooling components had to be updated from the old 20 inch radiator, 5 blade flex fan and missing shroud.  The original support brace was mangled on the bottom, too far gone to restore.


Parts: new radiator, new upper and lower radiator brackets with inserts, new shroud, new support brace, new condenser from Classic Auto Air, nuts and bolts from AMK body kit.

Step 48 - Door Latches and Striker Plates

Installed Door Latches and Striker Plates. Latches are original, spent some time with the parts washer and they cleaned up great. The original strikers were a different story. I found a set of NOS ones (thanks Roger...again). Driver's side still needed a little tweaking to get the striker's backing plate in the correct position to preserve the doors lines.
Parts: original door latches, NOS strikers, screws from AMK

Step 47 - Fan and Clutch

Since the Mach is getting some A/C and I live in Florida - I replaced the original 351C-2V flex fan with a 7 bladed clutch fan from a Cougar (part number: C9WE-C).  Clutch is new.  
Parts:  fan, clutch, bolts from AMK.