Converting my 69 Mach 1 to Right Hand Drive - Australia

[bigmal 225]

It hadn’t occurred to me that the bezel is on the other side. I think changing that would require a new shifter.......Nah

[bigmal 225]

Though I'd share the Monte Carlo Bar I made. I thought the 'off the shelf' ones looked a little flimsy. I had some spare 1" pipe and some brackets of my old boat (cavitation plate adjustment). Worked out pretty well. I can screw the end fitting out to take the load off the Export Brace. Makes fitting that pretty easy now.

[RPM 1,190]

Nice work Mal. 

[mustangstofear 608]

Turned out  nice .

[Mike65 475]

Very nice work.

[mikee 51]

Are those brackets on body bolted only? Looks nice...

[bigmal 225]

12 hours ago, mikee said:

Are those brackets on body bolted only? Looks nice...

Hi Mikee, yes. They use the two top bolts on the shock tower plus another I added. I thought that would give it the most rigidity.

[mikee 51]

Great idea, adding to my "mod-list" :) Thanks

[MAC390 327]

nice job mate.

[bigmal 225]

Still doing a bit of finishing off with the conversion. The original plastic cover that goes around the steering column no longer fits so I had to make one. I chose steel because it’s easiest to work with. I’d hate to be paying me by the hour. Probably 40 hours in this. I’m a bit slow and drink too much. Pretty happy with how it turned out 

[RPM 1,190]

 Pretty happy with how it turned out? Pretty happy? I'd be ecstatic. That's a work of art. Outstanding fab work my friend. 

[bigmal 225]

2 hours ago, RPM said:

 Pretty happy with how it turned out? Pretty happy? I'd be ecstatic. That's a work of art. Outstanding fab work my friend. 

Thanks Bob

[paulb 112]

That’s turned out really good

[Vicfreg 771]

Mal, hope the fires are nowhere near your place and that your family and friends are safe.

[bigmal 225]

On 1/8/2020 at 12:49 PM, Vicfreg said:

Mal, hope the fires are nowhere near your place and that your family and friends are safe.

Thanks mate. We are okay. Had one a couple of miles away but the wind was taking it away from us. 

We have had constant smoke for weeks. Dozens of lives, hundreds of houses and millions of acers have been lost and they are still going. 

I lost two relatives trying to protect their house. While they were cousins I hadn't met, it makes it all the more real.

At this stage there is no significant rain forecast so the fires will continue for some time.

I am a wildlife rescuer (snakes and lizards) and the toll is unbelievable. Nothing survives and will take decades to recover.

[Vicfreg 771]

Mal, thanks for sharing that, tough story about the cousins, prayers to your extended family.    Many of us don't understand the landscape of Australia.  One of the other mates on the forum from there said that "Australia is a barren wasteland surrounded by a small strip of green  around the perimeter"    I guess we always see the lush green part of the country and the ocean side on our stateside TV.   Terrifying how fast the fire can move through the bush.

Stay safe.  If any Mustang'ers have damaged cars, I am willing to donate parts to help rebuild.

Cheers

Vic

[Hux 45]

21 hours ago, Vicfreg said:

Mal, thanks for sharing that, tough story about the cousins, prayers to your extended family.    Many of us don't understand the landscape of Australia.  One of the other mates on the forum from there said that "Australia is a barren wasteland surrounded by a small strip of green  around the perimeter"    I guess we always see the lush green part of the country and the ocean side on our stateside TV.   Terrifying how fast the fire can move through the bush.

Stay safe.  If any Mustang'ers have damaged cars, I am willing to donate parts to help rebuild.

Cheers

Vic

Bloody sad Mal.

Vic,

Not sure if I would call it a barren wasteland :-). But the reality is that the centre is pretty much all desert or close to it and its damn flat so no ranges catching weather patterns and rain.  

“Warning Weather Nerd”

Australian weather is unfortunately one of always in extreme weather cycles - the La Niña/El Nino weather patterns dominate most of the northern half and there is a similar weather phenomenon that comes out of the Southern Ocean (which is what’s hurting us at the moment)

One of our famous poets Dorothy Mackellar wrote “My Country” which pretty much sums up Australia.... 

I love a sunburnt country, 
A land of sweeping plains, 
Of ragged mountain ranges, 
Of droughts and flooding rains. ......

 

 

[Vicfreg 771]

Yeah, I am sure it is not a barren wasteland, but a desert/sunburnt country makes sense.  I can see now how the fires can spread so fast. Flat land and wind...  

Anyway, be safe.   

I am currently up in Canada way north on Lake Huron.   Grey skies and snow nearly every day.  I could use a little sunburnt country...  :)

 

[bigmal 225]

Hi guys, thanks for the thoughts. As far as Australia goes with the drought at the moment there certainly are large areas of Australia that barren wasteland sounds about right. Although typically in spring most of the areas green up and only dry out towards the end of summer. The last couple of years has been really tough for all those in the land. While this drought is extreme Australia typically has periods of drought and then rain. One of the big issues apart from the fires is that a lot of country towns are running out of water. Sydney has severe restrictions on water use as well. 

Can only hope that the drought breaks soon.

[bigmal 225]

Taking advantage of being at home. Decided to tidy up the rear end. I still have to replace the brake lines when I have some tube. This has been bugging me since I got it. With the new rubbers all the squeaks in the rear are finally gone.

[bigmal 225]

When I did the right hand drive conversion I had to change the location of the wipers. I had just bought a TIG and as I was learning so warped the panel. I tried hammering it out and even with bog I wasn't happy so I decided to get a new panel and have another go. This time with the old faithful TIG. As I have no idea what sort of paint or coating was used on the bonnet I can't match it so will need to repaint that as well. I'm pretty happy this time round.

[bigmal 225]

Did a resto on the steering wheel. Pretty happy with the result. Although I buggered 3 horn rim blows before I got one right. A costly exercise but finally happy.

[aslanefe 333]

3 hours ago, bigmal said:

Did a resto on the steering wheel. Pretty happy with the result. Although I buggered 3 horn rim blows before I got one right. A costly exercise but finally happy.

 

Looking good; what brand horn switch did you use (or buggered :) )? And does it work on every spot with ease instead of squizing it with both hands?

I  have a plan to fix buggered switches, would like to find some buggered switches with soft intact rubber to see if my plan works. 

[Kris 90]

The messed up switches are actually fixable. I’ve don’t it a couple of times. Must of the time the only thing that happens is the copper strip gets pushed out of the little channel causing it to stay in contact with the other side. If you just pull the strip out and feed it back through it will typically work as long as the copper isn’t bent. 

[bigmal 225]

12 hours ago, aslanefe said:

Looking good; what brand horn switch did you use (or buggered :) )? And does it work on every spot with ease instead of squizing it with both hands?

I  have a plan to fix buggered switches, would like to find some buggered switches with soft intact rubber to see if my plan works. 

Hi mate, don’t know the brands. The first two were from a local mustang shop at $270 each. They were quite a tight fit. The second two were from a classic ford falcon shop at $110 each. These fitted much better. As I fitted the last one I kept a multimeter connected to see if I had a problem during the install. Luckily I didn’t. Could have bought a new wheel cheaper, but where’s the fun in that.