JayEstes

OK, well I strongly recommend you rebuild the proportioning valve (brake distribution block). There is a great rebuild kit and musclecarresearch.com with fantastic instructions. Make sure you order the right rebuild kit for your distro block. I learned some hard lessons doing one, you can read about it here: https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-rear-brake-issues-don-t-let-this-happen-to-you Lot of stuff on 7173mustangs applies to our cars, and that thread is a recounting of some issues I had. It should have some good tips on how to rebuild the block.

Watch out about stainless brake lines. Stainless sure sounds great, but I have heard a lot of guys saying that these lines don't seal well at the double-flair because the stainless is not as ductile. I don't have first hand knowledge of this, but this is what my research showed. Based on what reading about them I could find on this site & 7173mustangs.com, I decided to cut and re-flare my original steel line where I had to (had to get a tool and teach myself how to double-flare). I completely removed my lines, and filled it with laquer thinner and let it soak for awhile. I blew the lines out with compressed air to finish. Maybe another option would be to use the stainless, but install some copper "flare-savers" (a cone-shaped copper washer) for compression fittings if you can buy the right diameter, and bevel angle (I have not tried these before, but I know industry will use these to help eliminate compression coupling leaks).

Posting all these pics is great. This will be a good thread for people to review when they encounter a similar situation. I have a suggestion you might consider for the master cylinder depending on your sitation. I left mine bare metal when I replaced it, and I have regretted that. I live in a humid environment, so as this unit warms up and cools down, it condenses water onto it's surface. This causes a bad problem (aesthetic) with surface rust on the outside of the master cylinder. Next time I pull mine I plan to put a water proof coating such as brake-fluid-proof paint or a clear 2-stage epoxy. The rust looks terrible, and it is quite an eyesore. Just a thought.

My personal opinion is moving to disc in the rear isn't worth it. I rebuilt the rear drums (cheaply), and if I stand on it, they lock up, so it's got plenty of stopping power for that light rear end. You're probably gonna spend 300-500 to replace everything back there, and then the master cylinder is different, and the proportiing valve ($80) and, and and... I wouldn't drive the car much without disc in the front, but in the rear, in my opinion, what is there, is adequate - unless you are racing it or are putting in ABS or something.

Can you provide any pictures or electrical diagrams on your implementation?

Thanks - copy that.

You know, the problem is, WHERE can i get quality points and condenser? Crap I get at AutoZone or Oreilly's is low quality stuff. My son has a 71, and it's still running point / condenser. I have replace that condenser so many times now (upwards of 5x) that I am frustrated doing that because the replacement parts are cheap chinese garbage. My best so far has been to buy the lifetime warranty condenser at Oreilly's. The last one has lasted quite a while now, but it seems that all of these reproduction options are terrible. Suggestions on parts suppliers?

Ya know I’m not even sure if I put in a Pertronx II or III, I’ll have to check it

No I did not. They say it’s ok not to, but I know lots of folks say you should. Didn’t want to change from stock any more than absolutely required because everytime I move away from stock I regret it.

I've had a really weird issue come and go on my ignition system: I have a Pertronix electronic ignition, but otherwise the engine compartment has new parts and a stock rebuild. Everything is pretty new. Maybe a few years old but less than 10K miles. Everything had been running terrific, but I had a leaky radiator, and decided to replace it. I had noticed a few times recently that I had a hard time getting the car started after it sat for a week or two. I wondered if the fuel pump was getting weak, or what, but it usually started after 20-30sec crank worst case.After I had completed the radiator replacement, and repainted some of the idler pulleys, cleaned things up and put it all back together, suddenly, the car would not start. just crank & crank. My first thought was I must not be getting fuel, but it's a bit messier to check, so I opted to hook up a timing light and see if I was getting spark. Sure enough, no spark - at all - out of the ignition system. At that point, I had no idea why. "Well, I wonder if the coil is bad" I thought. I had a known good one here, I'll swapped that to see. Swap coil - still zero spark. huh. "That must mean ignition module... dammit" was my next thought (and it was starting to piss me off cause the stupid things are not cheap). I cranked it some more, and after a few minutes of trying intermittently for 10-20 sec each try, I felt the battery was getting a little weak. So, I decided to just leave it for the weekend - I had other plans, I set the battery on a trickle charge and I left scratching my head. SO, here's the weird part. after charging the battery back up to full, I decided to crank it again, and it cranks right up. Runs smooth - no issues. WTH?? How can this be? I didn't do anything other than charge the battery. This would seem to point to a condition where, the pertronix wasn't getting enough juice to get a spark thru the pertronix, but there was plenty of battery energy to crank the engine for quite awhile. I find that REALLY odd. Have any of you had this happen? I drove the car around for half-hour tonight - it's running perfect. No pertronix or ignition symptoms whatsoever. So weird, the whole "no spark" condition is completely gone. I need help figuring out what happened there, cause I sure as hell didn't imagine it. Thanks for any thoughts. Jay

I just bought one of these on Amazon. Looking forward to this, should make things alot easier. Am I right in assuming the fatter end of that tensioner is threaded, and you just twist it to drive the jack out (hence, push both pulleys into the belt) to tighten? That looks like it might be hexagonal, the one I bought looked round though.

That's actually what I wound up doing after pinching the heater hose. Worked pretty well, took me 3 or 4 tries to get the right sized block, but that made a nice leverage point when I did. Overall, functional, but felt ghetto. A good free solution for sure - dissatisfies the mechanic in me tho..

Guys, I had an alternator belt go wimpy on me recently, I went to tighten it up, and it was a reminder that I don't really have a great method for getting some good tension in the belt. I have a 302, Alternator on the passenger side, and it seems like there is just not a good way to really pry & hold the alternator in position to get the belt nice and snug. I tried a large prybar against the engine, but this time I would up cutting a small hole in the heater hose (pinched against structure) which was a pain to have to fix. The power steering unit has a nice lip on the housing that allows you to use a regular screw driver to pull up on the housing and get plenty of leverage to tighten that belt. Anybody got a cool tool for this, or a tip for how to get good leverage on the alternator housing while still having a free hand to tighten the bolts to hold it in place? Seems like such a basic thing, but I couldn't find any tips using a search of this forum. Let me know of your best advice on this. Pictures encouraged as always. Jay

I suppose you also need to remove them via screwdriver?

Thats' one of the things with Australia - they have some critters down there that are seriously bad news! Glad he's ok after all that!

I had the same problem with mine. I was unsure how to finish them, but they were in good condition. I believed they weren't bright chrome finish, but some kind of coating. What I chose to do (which i figured is always reversible) is to paint them with a bright aluminum paint. Just rattle can that is a bright metallic aluminum color. It's not a glossy paint, but not flat either, just kind of a nice semi-gloss. I'm actually very happy with how they came out. This trim is well back under the hood anyway, and not facing forward, so I'm satisfied with it. Installed pics attached.

I'll have to look that up. Somewhere based on recommendations. I heard you need to be sure to get "3M" material, but many vendors have that. If I remember right they were <$100 (but takes a few hours to put on carefully). Let me dig it up somewhere.

I dunno danno.. I'm strangely intrigued and satisfied by the natural contours - my only complaint is maybe the finish is a little too heavily applied - overdone. Less is more....

Well, Canted - you're definitely second on my list right now! Mike is edging you out ever so slightly right now! ;-) Thanks for the offer tho!

Mike! What a deal! Name your shipping cost! ZIP=77546 (TX) I will PM you the address.

Thanks! The red is FORD's late model "ruby red metallic". It's a 3+ stage paint, but it's the same color on the new mustangs/F150's etc. I've been really happy with it, and my body man did and awesome job on the body work. Once I got over the wallet-burn from the whole deal, I am very happy with it. I was going to have the GT stripe painted on, but the delta-cost to do that made me move to vinyl stripes. I'm happy with these tho, and they are 100% removable.

I had mine professionally done, and the shop stripped them down and sandblasted the frames, them painted them (I think this would be one of the more important steps to at least address and kill any rust in the frames. They bought new burlap and put that on. It seems very original that way, and the stuff doesn't wear out or rot (unless it get wet). If you were going to reuse your burlap, I would consider washing it good before re-install. Again tho, if you are down that far, I would address rust on the frames if you can.

All, I really screwed up and lost the striker for the glove box latch when I did the rebuild. Now, I can't figure out where to find/buy the part that the glovebox latch catches on ( I'm calling that the striker). Anybody got any ideas where to buy one? Do I have to buy a whole latch assembly to get the striker?

You should also remove the headlight buckets, and rear quarter extensions for paint. You will need new seals for them when these are re-installed on the car after final paint.

I know my coupe didn't come with them originally, but I really like the look of them. I think the trim option also had a rocker moulding which I didn't not include because I put on a GT stripe. It's not original for me, but I really like the looks.