70 Convertible Project

[70mstang 11]

Just a mobile upload it was getting dark by the time we got her pushed into the garage.

 

I am so happy with the work these two friends did =) Now they have room for the next! So if anyone is around Atlanta looking for a greatbody shop/painter for not the cost of those "professional" Mustang Restoration shops .. PM me

 

[ATTACH]7815[/ATTACH]

[flight96 14]

Looking good !!!:thumbup1: Gotta love a freshly painted car !! Can't wait to see it all put together !!

[70mstang 11]

Here's some pics now that the sun is up.

 

[ATTACH]7828[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7829[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7830[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7831[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7832[/ATTACH]

[jkskinsfan 19]

nice!

[Pakrat 1,043]

I'll bet you were sitting at the table with a coffee just waiting for that sun to come up too eh?

 

Just remember to cover and pad every single surrounding area you are working on well during the reassembly, I thought some heavy moving blankets would be enough and no matter how careful I thought I was being I still put a small ding in the new paint at the top of my door when putting the convertible frame back in place. It was easy enough to fix but got me bent as hell for the rest of the weekend after it happened. If only I had bent over some old sections of cardboard under the blanket which I had plenty of lying around just doing nothing.:crying:

[stangme428 33]

looking great!!! love that trunk setup!

[rangerdoc 22]

That looks pretty good. The ease of your fiberglass pieces makes me jealous!

[70mstang 11]

Thank you Rangerdoc :biggrin: It was anything but easy LOL

 

Pakrat knows what I mean. When the kit arrives and you go to fit it, nothing comes close at all and there is a 1 - 2 inch gap between the tail light panel and the extensions. So there was a lot of custome fiberglass work to get the gaps closed in. I'm glad the tail light panel is flat on the 70's! That curve would have been hell on a 69.

 

I've been swapping out the old 8" rear for a 3.73 9" but it got so dang cold, my little heater can't keep up. So waiting for a little warmer weather. I'll inventory my parts again :clap:

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah filling in for that curve on the 69' was extra not fun for sure, made me think more than once about using the shleby tail panel too but in the end it was worth it to be different.

[70mstang 11]

No pics today but have been working at getting things together. I've mounted the 9" diff onto the leafsprings and pulled off the front drum spindles to swap out for disc brakes.

 

Have to place things on hold till I get some more parts which should be coming in in a day or 2. Need to replace the upper ball joint dust shields, since they were destroyed. The ball joints are fine, I think it was just the car sitting on flat tires for so long that the rubber got pinched and tore up.

 

In the back I need new parking brake cables. Once that stuff is done, I can put the car back down and see how the car sits with the 2" lowering blocks.

[70mstang 11]

I was having a great time working on the Mustang over my vacation. Got the rear brakes done, ran the new parking brake cables, got the disc spindles on ... sort of....

 

Long story short .. when you feel too comfortable working on front end springs .. step away from the vehicle :blink: I didn't lose any fingers but it was pretty close. I was adjusting the spring to get it closer to the right position when the spring compressor let go ... OWEEE! At least my 11 y/o knows how to dial 911 LOL.

[flight96 14]

Oh no !!! Are you OK ??? What spring compressors were ya using ?

[rangerdoc 22]

Dang, hope you're ok. Which compressor do you have? I'll be sure not to buy that one!

[BAdass70 14]

oh man thats why i had a friend who used to work in a auto shop do it.. thats some scary crap right there hope your alright!

[70mstang 11]

Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for my parents 50th anniversary.

 

Yep I'm fine, fingers are still sore but nothing to stop me from working on the car =)

 

I used the internal spring compressor from harbor freight which I've used all the time. I was trying to rush and get the spring moved around instead of taking the spindle & sway bar off to let the A arm drop all the way to the bottom, so it's my own darn fault. The compressor does have a mind of its own though. it holds half the time and slips the other half. But normally it will slip in the first few seconds when tension is put on the spring. They'd probably work better if there was a rubber coating around the end so the springs don't slip so much.

[70mstang 11]

So dang happy to get the front spring taken care of! I ended up taking the entire passenger spindle off again so I could get the spring centered better AND had a friend swing by and help my out. Just in case I needed someone to get my fingers unstuck without calling 911! LOL

 

[ATTACH]8096[/ATTACH] Now, I can move on to the rest of the car without worrying that that spring would pop off and break through the wall! I'll get the brakes finished up today and work on routing the stainless brake lines.

[dpuwookie79 11]

Nice job mstang! Nothing like a job well done and you can still count 10 fingers!

[70mstang 11]

Today's objective was getting the brake power booster & Modern Driveline cable clutch bracket lined up, drilled out, banged into shape and then at least hung on the firewall.

 

[ATTACH]8134[/ATTACH]

I was a little confused about how to modify my clutch pedal to get the pull mechanism to fit, but then just figured that to get the bracket to fit I could pretty much cut off anything having to do with the spring. So got that all cut off, got the nuts ground off of the pedal assembly so the power booster studs would go through. While I had everything out of the car, painted it all satin black with a couple of coats.

[ATTACH]8131[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8133[/ATTACH]

 

Next step is to figure out how the brake lines go in, since they are all new stainless steel from Mustangs Unlimited, nothing quite has the bends like the original, plus I swapped from drum in the front to disc. I may need to find me some pictures of how some folks have their lines run.

 

I played around with the NPD sequential tail lights. They seem sort of lacking in bracing, it lookes like they just sit in the light housing and the wiring harness holds them in place. Anyone else use them?

[ATTACH]8130[/ATTACH]

[stangme428 33]

interested to know how it goes on the brake lines... i just made the mistake of removing mine to paint and they are not cooperating at all... i may order new lines and clean up my clips etc..

 

--- update---

ended up ordering from NPD for a few dollars less and also ordering the clips.

not installed yet.. PDB and rear drum from factory

 

---------------

Next step is to figure out how the brake lines go in, since they are all new stainless steel from Mustangs Unlimited, nothing quite has the bends like the original, plus I swapped from drum in the front to disc. I may need to find me some pictures of how some folks have their lines run.

---------------

Edited February 17, 2011 by stangme428

[rangerdoc 22]

I have those lights. That hole in the middle is for the little screw/stud setup. I had to play with the different lengths to get mine to fit correctly. But yeah, it all just sort of hangs in there. But they make a HUGE difference.

[70mstang 11]

I've run into a slight issue with the SS brake lines from Mustangs Unlimited. I have my original proportioning valve. I'm not sure if there is a difference between a disc/disc, disc/drum or drum/drum proportioning valve. My original set up was drum/drum. I swapped out the from for stock 69 discs.

 

The issue is that the brake lines have smaller fittings going to the proportionnig valve. I'm looking around for a local shop that would simply cut the lines, slip on the right size fittings and flare the lines for me.

 

The question is, before I do that, does anyone know if there is a problem just bolting up disc/drum to a drum/drum proportioning valve? I can get an aftermarket valve for about $130 that comes with all the various sized fittings.

[SparkyGT 26]

im sure that the disc ones have a different psi resideual pressure check valve, they keep a few psi in the lines.

[70mstang 11]

Can anyone say they enjoy bending brake lines? I tell ya my 3 dimensional planning was seriously put to the test trying to take the aftermarket brake lines and make them fit anywhere close to what they are supposed to. Even the front disc brake hoses didn't fit the original calipers! I'm almost done with the brakes .. I'll get some pics when I am done.

 

I ordered an American Autowire harness. After digging through the underdash harness I figured it was so torn up that I'd replace just that part of the harness. But for around 200 dollars less I could get a whole new harness with beefier wires that would be able to handle any aftermarket fun stuff I wanted to throw in.

[70mstang 11]

I got so carried away I forgot to get pics of progress.

 

Brakes are done. All in all I swapped out the drums in the front for discs, added the power booster and stainless steel lines put in all new hardware in the back drums. Most of the lines were pretty far off from the aftermarket. So had to man handle them. Just need to clean up the clips so they'll stay in place. everything works! I'll bleed em again before I put her on the road.

[ATTACH]8452[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8453[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8454[/ATTACH]

 

Thanks everyone for the pointers for all of the brake work!

 

 

I purdied up the dash and mounted so I could start on the wiring harness. I'm still getting the hang of where everything is supposed to plug up. The American Autowire upgrade is really good, but it doesn't swap out piece for piece so I am still feeling my way around it.

 

[ATTACH]8455[/ATTACH]

[70mstang 11]

I was in contact with American Autowire R&D about their classic upgrade. They are 2 weeks away from finishing there mock up on a 70 Mustang. So they asked me to wait on tearing into my new harness so they can figure out all of the differences between 69& 70. I let them know my little alterations, LED Sequencial tail lights, 5 speed swap and they said they'd be able to provide all of that in a couple of weeks.

 

So moving on to door handles & weatherstrip. I had a fun time playing with my original latches but both doors work now with new hardware.