Vicfreg

Car should be back home in a week or so...final assembly of body panels, then I get to start bolting on all of the rest of the parts that have been sitting in my garage for the past 5 years!

Rich, that is a cool setup. The way it hooks up to the front spring mount is interesting. How do those shackle looking plates fit in between the front spring eye and the stock mounting point? I was at Carlisle in June, went by your club tent and asked the people there if you were around, they didn't know. Not sure if you went. It was hot. Vic

Well done! Great to see the engine in the car!! What kind of water pump is that? Was wondering about your fan to radiator clearance with that water pump.

Once everything is painted, windshield glass will then go in with the windshield lower trim, post trim and header trim, and the cowl panel. Then the car will be assembled. The hood is on already and aligned, so that will consist of fenders, splash shields, front fender extensions, stone shield, front spoiler, trunk lid, rear fender extensions, rear bumper (this will be painted body color) , and rear valence. They will do all the door and trunk weatherstripping and final alignment, then the car comes back home. It will go back in a few months to get the convertible top installed. As the car will be fully loaded then, I am going to have them do a final front ride height check, and front end alignment. I can adjust my ride height with my Viking coil-overs. Will also have them charge the Vintage Air system and start it up. More to come...

Uploading some pics from the last 2 weeks. Car is being cleaned and wiped down, will be masked off by Thursday. Then paint goes on next week. Yay!

SMH....I have had success with: Rear main seal. I use a one piece oil pan gasket, does not leak (Fel-Pro Performance OS34508R Oil Pan Gasket Set). I have deep sump oil pan on my 351W based stroker. I used studs and nuts to mount the oil pan to the block, as sometimes bolts could be too long and bottom out, and impact the clamping force. Headers - Stage 8 locking bolts - they come in different lengths - https://www.stage8.com/ford-performance-locking-fasteners/ford-locking-header-bolt-kits/ Copper Seal Header Gaskets - https://www.holley.com/products/gaskets/header_gaskets/parts/7160?utm_term=&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping+-+Mr.+Gasket+-+Non-Brand&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=7848552874&hsa_cam=1486388069&hsa_grp=56206890863&hsa_ad=284461341250&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=aud-359098808090:pla-1589485846272&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyJDR7sPG_wIV1DrUAR2cOALXEAQYAyABEgKQ4PD_BwE Sniper - If you have a MSD box, use it to drive the EFI for the RPM reference signa.. The MSD box sends a square wave output signal to the EFI for the RPM/Tach signal it needs to work. Not sure what distributor you have. To keep it simple, you can use that to set the timing, the traditional way if you want. MSD has tons of information on how to do this and lots of reference material and good tech support on their website. Good luck Vic

Hey Mike, looks good. Not sure if you are planning to use any LED tail lights. I have them on both my cars, they have a built in sequential function. Not that expensive, and they look cool. Vic

My convertible is in the paint shop, check out my 1970 convertible thread.

Wow, impressive. Yeah, you almost need an "X" pipe at the rear. The resonators are a nice touch. It should sound insane....

Yes, on Ebay, but they are 7", not sure if they will fit a '69 https://www.ebay.com/itm/374521203380

Wow, that is incredible... your workmanship and fabrication skills are to be envied. I like how you integrated the exhaust cut-outs....

Ridge has a great point about the direction that the spring clip is facing. The body book shows the spring facing up so it gets more compressed when you tighten it. Bending it out a little is a good idea. The repro '70 hood mouldings are not all consistent. I just examined 2 cars that are Concours level with NOS trim, and there is a difference for sure from what we all can get as a Re-Pop.

The orange body book shows item number "B" as D0ZB168746 which is a "Type 8" moulding retainer. That is shown on page 248 of the AMK fastener book. Item "C" is show in the body book as part number 384102 S100, which is a hex acorn nut, shown on page 214 of the AMK fastener book.

The 1970's have the metal backing strip riveted in 3 places to the outside front of the hood. The trim uses 6 of the oval shaped spring clips, and they go through both the backing plate and the hood. There are special acorn nuts with a small rubber washer used to mount this. The 1970 body book has a good illustration of this. The '69 and '70 mouldings are not compatible, the profile of them is different. I will post something that shows this shortly.

Well, things happen to a 55 year old car. This occurred on my '68, but directly applicable to '69 and '70. I was installing LED headlights on my '68 coupe, and went to adjust them, and noticed that the adjuster screw heads were stripped. I attempted a small vise grip slow turn, but the result was the plastic insert in the headlight adjusting screw retainer came out. Oh-oh... Reinstalling them properly means removing the bumper and headlight bucket. Not going to happen, as my headlight buckets are very happy where they are with the as-new paint from 15 years ago. I did some digging around in my hardware bin and came across these license plate mounting screw inserts. Very close in size. I tried one and it fit in the hole but was too wide in one direction to properly seat. So, a pair of diagonal cutters solved this, and resulted in enough clearance to place the insert in the hole cleanly. I had a fine thread tap that was close to the thread pattern of the headlight adjuster screw. I tried to tap the insert, and was somewhat successful, but got the threads started at least. I removed the screw, installed the insert, and it works like a charm. I used some really nice original screws I had in my headlight hardware container, after an overnight dip in Evap-O-Rust. Lesson learned is to install new adjusters screws and inserts before you install the headlight buckets. The LED headlights work great, they are so bright, and also have an original type lens look. Pics below.

DocWok is right. This is what I did. An easy way to check is to get the tires straight ahead and check the center to lock on each side to see if they are close.

Thanks, everyone for the feedback. I should be able to run plenty of caster as my UCA already as a (+) 3 due to geometry. I will let you know what others say and document what I do.

The centering of the Pitman Arm is important. I remember moving the steering box back and forth to do this. I believe the Borgeson instructions address this. Vic

Upon further examination of my pictures, I stand corrected. The part number in my picture is C9ZA-3590-A. That is a power steering Pitman Arm. Smhoon - apologize for that. Vic

Here is a link to a site that has pictures of the pitman arms. http://www.stangerssite.com/pitmanarms.html

Here is what the complete power steering assembly looked like from a parts car.

Here is what I have

I am getting to the point where I am going to be driving the car soon, and need to revisit my initial "garage" alignment... My setup: 1" Shelby Drop Global West +3 Upper Control Arms Borgeson Power Steering Open Tracker Lower Control Arms Open Tracker Roller Idler Arm Camber Plates (no eccentric washers) My notes from a few years ago show the following alignment specs: Caster: Right: (+) 3.5 Left (+3) Camber: Zero both sides Toe In: 1/32" both sides Any suggestions/lessons learned would be appreciated!! Vic