Category Archives: Classic Car Restoration

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – This Just In – Cooler and Gauges

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Just received a few more parts in for the 1973 Mustang project.

Check out the video.

 

Thanks for reading.  Keep checking on #ProjectSportsRoof.

Tim

1973 mustang mach 1

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Money!!

#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …

George Barris, famed “kustom car king” and creator of TV’s original Batmobile, dies at 89 | Classic Car News

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Innovative and imaginative. Sad when icons pass.

Thanks for all memories Mr. Barris

George Barris, the “King of Kustomizers” best-known today for the original Batmobile of the 1960s TV show, died Thursday at his Encino home. He was 89.

Source: George Barris, famed “kustom car king” and creator of TV’s original Batmobile, dies at 89 | Classic Car News

Thanks for reading.
Tim

george barris

George Barris, creator of the Batmobile, dead at 89

LOS ANGELES — George Barris, who created television’s original Batmobile, along with scores of other beautifully customized, instantly recognizable vehicles that helped define California car culture, has died at age 89. Barris Kustom Industries …

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods and Heads Part II

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So after inspecting the head further, I noticed  a few more reasons to have them reconditioned.  Take a look:

Gonna Need some touching up.

Gonna Need some touching up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see there a lot of rust and old stuff plugging up some of the water passages.

The heads were sent out to a local machine shop run by an old hot rodder.

Here’s a quick video of the valves that were removed. You can see the build up as the oil (from the tappet hole) and the gas was continually ignited by the spark plug.

The good news the heads are back and installed.  The bad news in my haste to get the car back together,  I forget to get some shots of the completed heads.   By the time I realized it was too late to go back.

 

 

The Cleveland is running strong, but needs a lot of work on the vacuum system and – I’m thinking of replacing the carb.  Send me your on what to replace it with.

Motorcraft?  Holly?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods …

Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all.
1973 Mustang Project Sportsroof – Engine Walk-Through.

Next up will be the install Pertronix system and cap and rotor, then plug and wires. Thanks for reading and drop me a note. Tim. #ProjectSportsRoof. projectsportsroof. 1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Interior Walk-Through.

IMG_20150923_162001327_HDR

Auto Factoids for the Week of Nov. 1, 2015 – Packard Week

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Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week of Nov. 2015. I’m going to call this Packard Week (like Shark Week only on wheels)!!!   Here is why:

Starting right off on the Nov. 1st 1955 Studebaker’s Hawk showed up on the car scene.

  • They when on sale in 1956 and came in the Flight Hawk, Golden Hawk and Power Hawk and Sky Hawk. As you may know these were tough time for Studebaker/Packard so the Flight, Power and Sky Hawk models were only available in 1956.   The power plants for these cars ranged from Studebaker’s old straight 6 cylinder bored and stoked to displace 185 CIDs for the Flight Hawk, and their OHV 259″ V8, which came in a 2bbl and 4bbl configuration (180 HP and 195 HP ) for the Power Hawk to the Sky Hawk’s OHV 289 CID with the Golden Hawk sporting Packard’s 352 CID (5.8 L – V8) that managed to produce 275 BHP. That is pretty good power in fairly light car.

Sky Hawk

Sky Hawk

Flight Hawk

Flight Hawk

Golden Hawk

Golden Hawk

Power Hawk

Power Hawk

On Nov. 2, 1935 we have two events.

  • Cord’s 810 debuted as did the Fords’ (Lincoln’s) Zephyr. Cord 810 was a beautiful and advanced car. It was the first US designed and built front wheel drive car with independent suspension and sported a set of very cool hidden headlights (operated with a crank on the dash-board) – another US first!! It was power by a Lycoming 289 V8 (125HP) and had a 4 speed overdrive transmission.
1935 Cord 810. This the Sportsmen Convertible

1935 Cord 810. This is the Sportsmen Convertible

  • The Zephyr was produced under the Lincoln sub-brand and was powered by 267 cu in (4.4 L) L-Head with 110 HP. It sold 15,000 units in its first with was over 50% of all Lincoln sales for 1936.
1936 Zephyr

1936 Zephyr

Continuing on with Packard Week, on Nov. 5, 1863 John Ward Package was born.

  • Before building his first automobile in 1899, he successfully operated his own business, Packard Electric
John Ward Packard

John Ward Packard

On Nov. 6 is a very busy day in Automotive history we have 3 major mile stones.

  • On this day in Carlo (a.k.a. Karl) Abarth was born in Austria in 1908. He was ultimate gear-headed business man!!! Started out designing bicycle and motorcycle frames in Italy as a teenager for Castanga, then back to Austria and motorcycle racing where he managed to become 5 times European champion. After begin seriously injured in a racing accident he gave up racing, designed a sidecar and started a company with Ferry Porsche (and couple other guys) that was eventually called Cisitalia. They produced the Tipo 360 F1 prototype – which was a flop. Later on he founded the Abarth & C company that eventually produced racing cars with the scorpion logo then moved into the production of performance exhaust now called Abarth. He should the company to Fiat and they named a car after him.

Abarth Race Car

Abarth Race Car

Logo

Logo
  • Edsel Ford was born in 1883 in Detroit, MI on this same day. Often only known for the Edsel sub brand he was instrumental in design and development of the Lincoln as well. But we all love the Edsel.

1959EdselCorsair

  • To finish up Packard Week the first Packard car was test driven on Nov. 6, 1899.
The first Packard

The first Packard

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#AutoFactoids

Auto Factoids for the Week of 5/10/2015 – GM and Corvair

Here is this weeks AutoFactoids (#AutoFactoids). May 10, 1923 – GM names Alfred P. Sloan as president. They didn’t just pick from the streets. He was actually, a draftsman for a bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing.

Auto Factoids for the Weeks of March 15 and March 22 2015

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the week. Actually, I’ve combined two weeks because I forgot last weeks and this week’s was limited. So let’s start off with the week of the 15th (’cause going in chronological …

Lisa’s 1973 Mach I Restore!

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I love it when a fellow car enthusiast shares their projects.

This is Lisa’s 1973 Mach 1

1973 Mach I

1973 Mach I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saved after sitting in a junk yard for 21 years.   WAY TO GO LISA!!!   Daunting project to be sure…but you GOT THIS!!!

Lisa73MachI-b Lisa73MachI-c

Lisa wrote:

“Thank you. That is the stock engine out of the original car. The car sat in a junk yard for 21 year before I got it, I thought for sure that it would be too far gone to do anything with but I was completely wrong. The fluids still looked new and once we had the engine out and sitting on a pallet, we rigged it so we could see if it would turn over and sure enough it did. Mine is also a 2v with a 4brl intake. ”
“I wanted to rebuild the engine as affordably as possible so the cam and lifters and the valve guides and seals are the only thing new other than the valve covers which I had to get because sand blasting the factory ones was pointless. The oil pan a friend of mine bought for me after I helped him install his transmission.”
My husband and I own a performance shop that also does machining and I was able to learn how to do the machining on my heads and block to save money on labor. I’ll definitely keep you posted as I progress. I hope you decide to get that mustang and restore it. I would love to see pictures.
You can definitely use my pictures on your blog.”

Here is the engine for Lisa Mach I.

So nicely done!!

Getting ready for some paint!!

Lisa73MachI-Engine2

So nicely done!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa, we are looking forward to seeing the progress on this beauty!!!

Oh…and google #ProjectSportsRoof or just stop by http://www.agcarrestoration.com/ and you can follow the progress on my 1973 Sports Roof.

Thanks again for sharing your project.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Exterior Walk-Around

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof.  I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects.  You always have to know where to start and know the end game.   As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, you have to work with what you’ve got, …

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods and Heads

Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all the cylinders.  The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …

1973 Mustang Project Sportsroof – Engine Walk-Through.

Next up will be the install Pertronix system and cap and rotor, then plug and wires. Thanks for reading and drop me a note. Tim. #ProjectSportsRoof. projectsportsroof. 1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Interior Walk-Through.

 

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression, Rods and Heads

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Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof.

If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all the cylinders.  The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke was blue).  Clearly there were some issues.

Here are the links to the posts were you can view the compression tests – RIGHT BANK – LEFT BANK.

To summarize, the cylinders topped out like this:

Cylinder 1 (Left Bank) – 130

Cylinder 2 – 25, 35, 60, 90 (Fail!!!)

Cylinder 3 – 140

Cylinder 4 – 135

Cylinder 5 (Right Bank) – 160

Cylinder 6 – 155

Cylinder 7 – 160

Cylinder 8 – 140

Clearly cylinder 2 has a serious problem and it could a host of things.  Since it was so bad, I didn’t feel it necessary to conduct a wet test and just planned out pulling the heads.

Well the time came to get take care of that and it wasn’t long to disassembling that it was clear what was wrong with cylinder 2.

What the....?

What the….?

At first we thought…”Hey Cool!!! Extra parts!!” But of course that’s just not the case!!

Tappit-3

 No extra parts.

It couldn’t be that the tappet just rolled there. Something else has to be an issue.

Oh…maybe…one of these was the problem?

Rods

Ya Think???!!!

Close inspection of the piston in cylinder 2 showed no signs of impact. As it appears thus far, that the bottom end of the engine is in good shape and the compression numbers for all the other cylinders and we bolstered that assumption with a visual inspection.

Think the heads need to be rebuilt and machined?

That’s coming up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

IMG_20150923_162001327_HDR

 

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression Test Part I

Thanks for reading. Tim. #ProjectSportsRoof. projectsportsroof. 1973 Mustang Project Sportsroof – Engine Walk-Through. There is a quick walk-through of the 351C tucked between the fenders of the 1973 Mustang Sportsroof.
1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression Test Part II

#ProjectSportsRoof. projectsportsroof. 1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Compression Test Part I. I’ve done all the clean up and all the adjustments necessary to get a good reading on the health of the ’72 351C engine in …

 

1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Fender Fitment – Extensions I

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With still some adjustments need on the fenders, I need to tackle the fender extensions.   If you recall the first video at the beginning of the fender fitment series of post you can see that the there’s no way it will fit (view the link HERE).

As I fitted them up here is what the left site looked like (this is after the altering the hole):

 

Gap

Gap

Pretty large gap.

Pretty large gap.

The right side was better with almost no adjustments to the holes.

Not to bad right out of the box.

Not to bad right out of the box.

Almost acceptably gap

Almost acceptably gap.

This video clearly shows the difference in quality of the fenders.  Quality control measures are that great.

Clearly the right side was much better formed then the left.

With a little more adjustments with a body dolly I was able to close the gaps.

Thanks for reading.   Next up “What caused the compression issue?”

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Fender Fitment Part I

Nothing But Curves – Should have packed the Vette!!!!! Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof). We stripped the old fender and retained all the usable parts. Next we are going to fit the new fenders up to the …

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Fender Removal

In case you didn’t notice, the fenders that were on #ProjectSportsRoof look as though car had driven into a half pipe at a skate park. Left Fender – major.

1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Fender Fitment Part III

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Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof – the fender edition  (:^o).    Here is the next set videos that show the fenders on the 1973 Mustang.

 

There’s more coming up on the fender extensions but here is how the other fender fit.

 

The gaps need to be addressed with some shims  and a little persuasion, but these are going to be near perfect!!!!

 

Thanks for checking back in with the project.   Don’t forget to drop me a note.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof.

1973 ford mustang sportsroof

The Automobile and American Life: Cars in Film: A List

Gone in Sixty Seconds 1973 Ford Mustang Sportsroof “Eleanor”. Horatio’s Drive 1903 Winton. Iron Man 2008 Audi R8. Lawrence of Arabia 1920 Rolls Royce. Lemans 1970 Porsche 917K; 1970 Porsche 911S. Mad Max 1973 …

 

 

1973 Mustang – Project Sports Roof – Fender Fitment Part I

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Ok so these were suppose to kick off while I’m over here in Italy, but they failed to post up, so I’m taking a few minutes to fix that.

Oh well as long as I’m typing, here is my favorite Italian road sign:

Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof).  We stripped the old fender and retained all the usable parts.  Next we are going to fit the new fenders up to the Mustang. Here is the first video.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

1973 Mustang Project SportsRoom – This Just In #1

It’s almost like Christmas every time part come in for #ProjectSportsRoof. Here’s what came in this week: Fresh from North of our border are these wood insert for.

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Front Valance and Old …

Thanks for check back with #ProjectSportsRoof. While I’m headed off on vacation I’ve scheduled a few post to get published while I’m out. As a note the progress is moving well and I’m posting these in order, but they are …

 

 

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – Fender Removal

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In case you didn’t notice, the fenders that were on #ProjectSportsRoof look as though car had driven into a half pipe at a skate park.

Left Fender - major dent a lot of rebuilding necessary

Left Fender – major dent a lot of rebuilding necessary

Right Side Fender - lots of crinkles, a few creases and good size dent.

Right Side Fender – lots of crinkles, a few creases and good size dent.

Now, these are fixable, with a lot of  heating and dolly work and bondo – but I’m trying my luck with re-pops and that’s what is coming up in the next few post.

 

 

 

Drop me a know if you have a project you are working on.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

1973 Mustang – Project SportsRoof – What are You Gonna …

#ProjectSportsRoof will be the way I want it, which I haven’t nailed down yet, so suggest way by dropping me a comment (got your crate motor idea swimming around in my head, Bill) and that will happen fast or slow and cost …

Project Large Marge: New Fuel Tank and In-Tank Fuel Pump on a 1973 Mustang

Our 1973 Mustang is 42 years old, which means the gas tank has seen 42 years worth of various qualities of gasoline, sludge, condensation, residue, and most likely rust. Since we’re upgrading the engine to a blown and injected (Holley Terminator EFI) …