Klutch

Lucky you! Thanks anyway. Hope you get your upholstery soon.

Buckeye, Did you replace the cowl on your Mach 1? I looked back through your build, but didn't see if you replaced your cowl. The 69/70 replacement cowls come as an assembled unit; top and bottom already welded together. On another forum, someone pointed out this makes it difficult to weld on the bottom, inside area (just above the fresh air vents.) I already installed my cowl. So, I'm not sure what to do now. So, if you replaced your cowl, I was wondering how you approached this. Thanks.

I'll have to check out that show. I sure hope it's about restoring cars and not about shop fights and who stole who's tools.

Do you think a temporary booth is necessary for priming?

Thanks for the warning, Bruce. Like California, Colorado has many "Tree Hugger" laws. But they tend to vary county to county. (In Boulder, I doubt you can paint anything anywhere.) I'll be sure to check into my local codes.

OK. Thanks, Cougar.

FYI, I saw a 428 shaker assembly for sale recently over on the VMF forums. I'd post a link, but I don't think links to other forums are permitted. So, you might want to poke around and do some searching over there. EDIT: Sorry. It appears someone was asking about the value of a 428 Shaker assembly. But he apparently never listed it for sale on VMF.

My car is currently a bare metal rolling chassis. I'd like to shoot on a coat of primer before I take it to the frame shop next week to get the rear frame rail adjusted. (It's off by 5/8".) I have SPI epoxy primer. My 2-car garage has a lot of tools and cabinets in it. Should I cover everything in the garage with plastic, lay a drop cloth under the car and shoot the primer inside the garage? Or, would it be OK to just roll the car out onto the driveway with a drop cloth underneath and shoot the primer outside? Thanks!

It depends on how much you stroke it. What is your objective? A Cleveland with a factory stroke can be easily turned into a screaming Banshee.

When I first confirmed the frame rail was bent, I expected it to be $1,000 to fix it. My buddy says it shouldn't be that much. I guess well see. But I will offer to pay in cash. Thanks for the suggestion, Ash. Of course, I'll have the shop check the front end as well. No telling what they'll find up there.

Now I'm getting somewhere... I was trying to line up the taillight panel again and, again, the left side of the crossmember was just too high. I measured at the frame rails just in front of the leaf springs and made sure they were the same distance above the garage floor. Then I measured at the rear of the frame rails. The left frame rail is a full 5/8" higher than the right. Sheesh, it's becoming more and more apparent that my car really tooka beating on the left side. I guess whomever replaced the left quarter panel didn't bother straightening the frame rail. I'm not sure what kind of problems that's going to cause. But I talked to a good friend of mine who recommended a very good alignment shop not far from me. My friend had his '66 fastback project there several months ago where they really had to tweak the front and rear frame rails to get it aligned. Apparently, they can handle pretty much anything. I'll give the alignment shop a call to see when they can get me in. The bummer is in addition to paying to have the frame rail straightened, I'm going to have to pay to haul my Mustang to the shop and back. At least it still has the front and rear suspension in place and can easily roll on and off a flatbed. Stay tuned. It's always something!

FYI, the "10" in 10w30 is irrelevant when the engine is at operating temperature. The 10 means the oil provides the protection of a 10 weight oil at startup. The 30 means the oil provides the protecion of a 30 weight oil at operating temperature. Thus, the difference between a 5W-30 and a 10W-30 is the 5W-30 provides better protection in very cold weather. Once at operating temperature, both oils are the same. For the OP, you might want to try a 10W-40 oil. Typically, I would recommend 5W-30 or 10W-30 for a new engine. But typically, people aren't cruising at 100MPH. The 10W-40 should give you a little more oil pressure at operating temperature while still not being too heavy to get where it needs to be. You're probably fine with the synthetic 5W-30, but I can see how a little more oil pressure would provide that warm and fuzzy feeling. :smile:

I have used the same Lee Valley kit Buckeye used. Only I used it for woodworking projects like bandsaw boxes. I also thought it worked great. Of course, preparation makes all the difference. Just make sure the surface is very clean, mask everything in the area on which you don't want flocking, then carefully paint on the glue. Load up the cardboard sprayer and have at it. I'm always amazed at the results. I don't see how another type of sprayer would make any difference. FYI, you can buy the flocking kits at Woodcraft stores.

I did not know of the Weld and Seal Manual. I will look for that. I hear you about the factory assembly. These cars were just thrown together quickly with no laser guided robots back then.

Welcome! Yeah, that's a nice Mach 1. Nice to see so many Mustang fans from across the pond and down under.

I have a copy of the 1970 body assembly manual. As far as I can see, there are no references to welds anywhere in the manual. It only covers assembly on the body after it's already completely welded together. If I'm wrong about this, I'd like to hear about it. Having some kind of guidline for welds would be helpful to me as well. FYI, in case you haven't drilled out many spot welds, I've been using the $5.00 spot weld bits from Harbor Freight. They work pretty well if you keep them lubed with WD-40 and you drill small guide holes in each spot weld. What's nice about the Harbor Freight bits if one breaks or just gets dull, I just drive down to Harbor Freight and buy a few more at $5.00 each. Typically, they last me a long time. But then I broke two of them very quickly. (??) Like Buckeye said, just get a good light and look closely. You'll be able to see where the welds are. Take your time and carefully remove the pieces you want to remove. Have fun! :smile:

Welcome! Looks like a great fastback you've got there. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I'm building a '70 Mach 1. (See build thread.) I'm learning, and making mistakes, as I go. But I am making progress. Wow, a Boss 429. The Holy Grail of Mustangs. And the only type of Mustang I've never see "in person". Order a Marti Report for your pony. It will tell you everything it had when it was delivered to the dealer.

Well, this just keeps changing... Being a woodworker, I have some long straight edges. When put a straight edge against the bottom of the taillight panel, it lines up; it's straight. Putting a straight edge against the bottom of the rear crossmember reveals a definite arc. Thus, it's not the taillight panel that's arcing down toward the center. It's the crossmember that's arcing up toward the center. (Everything is relative, right?) So, I think I'll bolt in the fuel tank, tack the crossmember in place, then gently bend it down in the center. I'm thinking this will solve the taillight alignment problem. (But perhaps I've been over-thinking this whole issue.) Anyway, thanks again for your input and assistance everyone. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me. I likely appear to be a meatball surgeon here. But this is the way I learned woodworking. I did a lot of reading and talked with many people online. Then I just did it. Sure, there were some screw-ups. But I eventually got pretty good at it. Honest. :innocent:

This is the second time I'm installing the taillight panel. The first panel was too high on the driver side. This time I'm trying to get everything lined up before I weld anything. I'm replacing the crossmember, but it's not yet welded anywhere. I'm just claming it in place with vice-grips. Last night I bolted on a quarter extension and it fit very well with the taillight panel clamped in place. I haven't yet test-fitted the trunk lid. I did this last time and it appeared to fit very well. I had the same issue with the first taillight panel not lining up with the crossmember. I ended up bending the bottom of the taillight panel up to align with the crossmember. I didn't think that was a wise move. But now, it appears I'm going to have to do this again. I clamped in the original crossmember and the bottom of it also sits above the bottom of the tailllight panel. Thus, I'm pretty certain the issue is with the replacement taillight panel. The bottom is too low, especially in thecenter. On the ends, it lines up OK. But then it arcs downward toward the center. (I will also try clamping in the original taillight panel. But it's in such rough shape, I'm not sure how helpful that would be.) So, I guess I'll have to again bend up the bottom of the taillight panel. I bought both taillight tpanels from Mustangs Unlimited. I've had good fitment with other parts they sold me. But the taillight panels are apparently not right at the bottom. I'm not sure who makes their taillight panels. There's no brand name. (Which might be a bad sign?). Last night I also attempted to test fit the rear valance. But I didn't really get very far with that. I will try to get this done today.

Thanks, Buckeye. I was afraid you were going to laugh at my bending method. :smile: I'll keep trying until I get something sharper. As for the taillight panel, I'm having a very hard time linine up the bottom of the panel with the bottom of the crossmember. The crossmember appears to be 1/2" too high which doesn't leave anything to weld to. (??) I just tried to get some pictures, but in the pics, you can't really see the area that doesn't line up.

Thanks, Mike. Is the bottom edge of the taillight panel supposed to line up with the bottom edge of the rear crossmember? If so, there's something wonky with my car. If I line up the taillight panel just as yours is, the bottom edge of the rear crossmember is more than 1/2" above the bottom edge of the taillight panel. Maybe I've got the crossmember too high? It's not yet welded in. Right now the top of the crossmember is clamped in up against the bottom of the trunk pans. I'll try to get some pictures up.

I put the sheet metal in a vice then put a thick piece of steel over it and hammered down the end to a 90 degree bend. I'm open to suggestions. Did you see my question about the taillight panel? Is it supposed to be plug welded on the bottom? My original panel was such a mess, I'm not sure I can follow what was done before. I have a body assembly manual, but it doesn't appear to include welds.

I ordered the same part from Mustangs Unlimited. They carry the Dynacorn version: http://www.mustangsunlimited.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=DA240+01 MU didn't have it in stock. But it took only several days for it to show up at my door.

I removed the misaligned taillight panel. Today I test fitted the new taillight panel. I'm still having an issue as it does indeed appear the left quarter was installed a bit too low. I'm pretty sure I can make it work. But I'm confused about how the bottom of the taillight panel attaches to the rear crossmember. There doesn't appear to be enough contact area for plug welds. Last time, the taillight panel was higher up which increased the contact area. So, how does the bottom of the taillight panel attach to the rear crossmember? Should I just make small plug welds?

Yeah, that's a lot of dough for something that will essentially make no difference in performance. I like shakers. But I like them because they're cool! If there's any performance difference at all from a shaker, it's negligable.