1970 Convertible Restoration

[Vicfreg 771]

Headed over to Mike's (latoracing) today to troubleshoot a wiring issue with my EFI system, and get the car started.  Turns out I had swapped a connector location that fed the FiTech ECU (white wire).  This was easily fixed.   Then logged on with the FiTech handheld and put the basic settings in.   The car did not start, and I adjusted some of the Crank Fuel and Prime Fuel settings that I obtained from other users.  After some cranking and Mike fussing with the throttle, finally got the car to start, run, and idle.   Let it warm up and checked for leaks and for proper operation of my main cooling fans.   One minor drip from my oil cooler, and all else ok.  A subsequent hot start also did not work well.

Would like to hear what FiTech settings you are running that are different than the default, in particular for hot or cold starting.  Also, if you made any manual idle and/or IAC adjustments.

Thanks!

[bryonbush 85]

if you have a facebook account, go to FiTech Owners Group. they have several pinned messages on startups that are very beneficial. ill post some screen shots of some things thatll help.

one of the admins, Josh, has a 69 mustang and is very informative on this. crank it over and if it doesn't start, pull a plug and see if its soaked or dry. then you'll know for sure which way to start tuning.

[Vicfreg 771]

Thanks....

I had the same conversation with FiTech and why they didn't include any throttle plate adjustments in their set up, or any voltage checks during cranking.

I will be fully armed with lots of data next time I try, but we did get it started and it ran really good initially.  

 

[bryonbush 85]

I think under the pro tuning section it shows cranking volts. Maybe I’m wrong though. I tried to post some screenshots in here but it wouldn’t let me. If need be I’ll transfer the photos to my computer today and upload them 

[Vicfreg 771]

There is a voltage reading available on the Dashboard display.  The concern is it does not go below 10 volts when cranking or else the injectors wont fire

I don’t think I have that issue, as I’m feeding the EFI ECU (white wire) directly from my AAW fuse box.   
 

I will check that next time

 

 

 

 

 

 

[latoracing 256]

Down to the small details and little jobs. Vic brought me some aluminum perforated metal to cover his trans cooler. I was going to try some really thick stainless screen, but this stuff was too good to pass up. A little bending and some creative riveting, a couple of bolts (that I have yet to install) to hold it in place, and it's ready to ride.

Starting on the front fender marker light erasing I've got to get rid of the previous attempt and do it a little neater.

All chopped out and ready to wheel a new patch.

[Vicfreg 771]

The grill looks nice. Got the material from the NASCAR used part store.   

Yeah, the fenders were "patched"....didn't see it until I blasted the fenders

 

 

[latoracing 256]

Patch is all ready to tack in place. There is some tape on the back holding it up.

The general fit, tack, beat, repeat until it is all fully welded. A little sanding and its ready for more beating. Sanding the inside is helpful to get a smooth finish.

Between filing off the proud weld, more beating and a ton of planishing it looks presentable. Once again, I left some of the minor imperfections that will only require some putty to get ready for primer. There are a couple of places I'm going to take care of while I'm at it, then it"s on to the passenger side fender.

[Vicfreg 771]

MIke, you are a sheet metal wizard.....    Looks great!     

[latoracing 256]

Been messing with the passenger side fender the past couple of days. I took a little more time getting the surface fairly flat but still have minor issues around the welds. Getting all the shrinking out of 20ga and not cutting through the part is difficult. Maybe with a little more practice I might get the hang of this metal working stuff. 

[RPM 1,190]

 Dude, how good is good enough? Looks great to me. 

[newstang 388]

looks more than fine to me

 

[Caseyrhe 650]

Some artist work with brushes, your tool my friend is a welder

[Mike65 475]

Nice work, looks good to me.

[Machspeed 219]

Very nice work, Mike!  

[Vicfreg 771]

Hi all.   Back working on the car, after spending most the summer travelling/working in Canada/Quarantining...    Back in NC for a couple weeks, and trying to get some mini-projects out of the way.  I am headed over to Mike's (Latoracing) who has kept a watchful eye on my car over the past months, while putting some finishing touches on it.    I plan on hanging the doors on the car, so Mike can have his beautifully welded door braces back.  To get ready for that, I pulled the doors out of storage, I had stripped the contents off the doors and had them media blasted and epoxy primed.  Over last day or so, I put some Boom Mat in the doors, installed new window regulators, window guides, internal bump stops, and the door latch on both doors.  I also replaced some of the worn parts on the window guides and rear bump stops.  I also put new gaskets on the bolt in window mounts.   This is all a lot easier to do when the door is off of the car.  

First 3 pics  Old window guide spacers.  Note that taper faces to the center of the guard.  New bushings from NPD.  Refurbished window guide with new bushings and new gasket.

Next pic - door where you can see Boom Mat and window regulator.  The two bolts and the oval plate at the latch end of the door hold in the rear bump stop.  The door has a slotted hole in it to allow up and down movement.  I always start with the stop pushed all the way down.  The oval plate will need to be painted body color, so don't lose these when you take your door apart.  (There are also smaller oval plates used for the rear window regulators on coupes and convertibles)

Next set of pics - the rear window stop has a felt pad on it to keep the window from scratching when going up and down.  One of mine was missing, the other was worn out.  I couldn't find an exact replacement, but I found some in the NPD Catalog for earlier year Mustangs. They are slightly longer, so a quick cut with the hacksaw solved that problem.  Mine were riveted in, you can see the rivets in the picture with the rear stop flipped over.   So, I drilled out the rivets.  The window felt kit came with a couple large staples, which I did not use, due to less than great results by the installer (me) in previous attempts with these type of stapled installs.  So, I used 3M double sided body tape instead. I double stacked it and compressed it in my vice.  I have used this tape to hold body parts on for later model cars, so I am sure it will last here.

Last project was to drill a hole and put in a riv-nut to mount my 1969 Sport Mirrors.  I had 2 existing holes that were much too close for the approx 7" distance between the new mounting hole.   My car had these on both doors.   The front "riv-nut" that was existing on both doors was actually a rubber/composite insert, which was easy to remove.  I got a sport mirror mounting kit from NPD that had the correct screws and riv-nut.   So, measure twice, drill once, and had a new hole (17/64") for the 1/4" riv-nut.  I use riv-nuts a lot they are great for flush mounting stuff where you can't have a screw/bolt-nut combination.   A while back, I got myself a riv-nut driver attachment for my DeWalt 20v drill.  It works great. You progressively work your way tighter by using the clutch setting on the drill, until the riv-nut doesn't rotate anymore.  If you go too far, you will deform the metal. Mine worked with the clutch setting on 10-11.   It makes a nice, flush connection if done properly.    I have included a pic of the adaptor if anyone is interested. Mine came with a bunch of dies that are for all your common machine screws and 1/4 -20 fasteners.  It also has the equivalent metric sized dies.   The only thing I am not really happy with is the "gasket" for the mirrors, that I got from NPD.  If anyone has a mirror gasket that doesn't look like it is "squished" out on the sides, I would appreciate the info.

The window project is a great weekend/weeknight project to do, which will give you better window operation in the end. Don't forget to use lubricant (lithium grease) when you do the final assembly. 

Vic

 

 

 

 

 

[Vicfreg 771]

 Oh, these are the door braces.  Like everything Mike does, fits perfectly and a work of art.

[RPM 1,190]

Hey Vic, car sure looks bad a$$ in the last pic! Don at WCCC says that the repop glass guides are looser than most worn originals. He swaps them front to back on the brackets, as the vertical tube doesn't ride in the center of the plastic guides, allowing them to be reused for a tight fit. I found Don is spot on when I replaced mine. 

I recently bought a rivnut kit for the mirror mounts also, should've bought it years ago. 

[aslanefe 333]

28 minutes ago, RPM said:

Hey Vic, car sure looks bad a$$ in the last pic! Don at WCCC says that the repop glass guides are looser than most worn originals. He swaps them front to back on the brackets, as the vertical tube doesn't ride in the center of the plastic guides, allowing them to be reused for a tight fit. I found Don is spot on when I replaced mine. 

I put masking tape on bracket (sometimes a few layers of it) and install the original guides over the tape to get a tight fit if still loose after swapping them.

[Rich Ackermann 174]

6 hours ago, RPM said:

Hey Vic, car sure looks bad a$$ in the last pic! Don at WCCC says that the repop glass guides are looser than most worn originals. He swaps them front to back on the brackets, as the vertical tube doesn't ride in the center of the plastic guides, allowing them to be reused for a tight fit. I found Don is spot on when I replaced mine. 

I saw the same video from WCCC. If you put a good original next to a repro, the repro is a hair thinner. I ended up using as many of the originals as I could by moving them around to minimized contact with their wear spots. I used the repros only where I had an original on the opposing side to minimize creating any looseness and put the unused repro guides on the shelf.

[Rich Ackermann 174]

Hi Vic,

The car looks fantastic! Love the attention to detail. Glad to see you are getting back at it. Looking forward to following your progress.

I was not aware that window felts were used. Where exactly are they placed?

Thanks,

Rich

[Mike65 475]

Vic, the car looks great, did you get the Fi tech running right?.

[Vicfreg 771]

Rich - window felts are used on the rear window stops.  See my pics above.  It is a weird shaped bracket that I had in my "window" carboard boxes, and I finally figured out where it went...  ugh, a senior moment....

Hey Mike.  Got the EFI running, but not satisfied with the cold start.  I hadn't really played with it enough.  I need a couple hours to go through the various settings to get it right.  Once it starts and warms up, it has a very stable idle.  The warm up above a certain temperature puts it in closed loop control with the O2 sensor.  In open loop when warming up ,it has not been great.   I am sure I will get it right.  Plenty of help out there.  

Happy to see you are headed to Virginia.   I am still working up in Canada, but permanent home is in NC.  Can't wait to see/hear your car running.

 

 

[Vicfreg 771]

I was over Mike's (Latoracing) on Saturday, putting finishing touches on the undercarriage of the car.  He has a great lift, so keeps me from doing this laying on the floor....  Thanks Mike!

Installed my Lokar kickdown cable, bled the brakes for the last time, lowered my rear suspension 1", did some touch up on the underbody with black paint, tightened up some suspension parts, re-tourqued some exhaust connections post-first-time-heat-up.   

Re-set my FiTech back to factory settings and got the car started.   Tried to adjust my IAC settings, but not really a successful outcome.  Need time to play with that.   

Lost my rebuilt door hinges (darn).  Headed back to the parts bin/storage building to dig for them before I order new ones.   

Tried to remember the left hand/right hand/hinge side/etc orientation of my window channel guides.  Any help would be appreciated.  the black one on the right is labelled "Hinge side, RH"

All my other door channel guides are original

[Rcodenewf 44]

Vic..on the 70 convert i'm finishing up those window guides above are stamped RH and LH on the flat base.

....John

I also had a few questions for you but it says you can't receive emails?