Over on Facebook one of the groups has a Then and Now series of posts. That consisted of folk posting the cars they were driving 10 years ago and now. I thought that was cool so I put quick clip together for my rides then and now.
For sometime now I have a Mustang Corvette combo, my ’70 Mustang/84 Vette combo and my ’73 Mustang/’07 Vette combo.
Let me start out with a couple of pics of something most followers of my sight haven’t see in a couple years.
Project SportsRoof – not up on jack stands!!!!
The Stang getting a full tank….IN PERSON!!!!
It’s great to have it back on the road!!
As you know, I had a recommendation to have some work done on #ProjectSportsRoof. The story was this shop was expanding into Tucson and the son of the owner was going to run local ‘branch’. That was only 20% true. The son (for whatever reason) rented a bay from a garage here in town. Instead of paying rent he was going to do free repairs for the shop owner. Shortly after the Mustang was at the location, his deal with the owner went south and so did my car!!!
For two weeks I could not get hold of guy and when I showed up at the place he was supposed to be working, I was told they had no idea what was going on. Shortening the story about 2 months, my car is finally returned to me. Running great, but missing ‘stuff’. You can see the that part of the story here: https://wp.me/p2YxYx-5fK
BTW Twisted Addiction was the name of the shop and I still hear good things about the work they do in a town about 50 miles from here. But my experience was beyond crappy!!!
After wrestling with the shifting lever I needed to get the car on the road (O.K. – more like a want) I turned to a unique garage. They are unique not because they are one of a kind, in fact they are a chain. They are unique because the owner/partner pushed the envelope on the range of cars he would allow his team to work on. Work on older cars was (and is) not part of the chain’s business model, and certainly helping out the locals on their old project cars wasn’t either. But they did and with the new owner/partner, they’ve grandfather me and my project in. They were there when I needed help on my current project. From my 1970 Mustang to my 1984 Corvette and now with 73 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof) they didn’t hesitate.
I had the SportsRoof towed to the shop and the damage to the suspension wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but there was not need for it to occur. You can see the story here: https://wp.me/p2YxYx-5hV.
I have the Mustang back and there was a mix of used and new parts added to fix the suspension damage.
And now I have it back and still stinging from the series of set backs, but happy to have it drivable again. Here is a video update.
I am looking forward to finishing up the interior, some electoral, dash components, heater/AC box, and more. So check back.
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, …
Well win some and you lose some. If you’ve seen my other posts related the replacement of the points and condenser for the 351C you’ll notice that I gave conversion high marks. This was all based on the years of use I got out of the conversion I did on …
So today the Mustang was going to make a quick trip the shop down the street to have the valve body put back in the transmission. The tow truck driver got the ‘Stang off-center on the flatbed and decided to winch it sideways. Only problem he wrapped the chain around the lower control arm. I was on the phone and heard a sickening snap. The bottom of the lower control arm is now facing the front of the car and you can see the rest here. Video is below the pic.
Hoping the frame isn’t bent…but it might be. That would require some framework. If that doesn’t work then it might require a new front end.
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 my 1973 Mustang. The next step is to check the compression. First up was to warm the car a bit and then pull the plugs. Here’s what the …
Bill gets “techie” in a “tachful” way as he restores the rare Tach option on his 68 Road Runner. #ProjectBeepBeep More coming up!!! Thanks for reading!! Tim #ProjectBeepBeep #ProjectSportRoof Project BeepBeep – 68 RoadRunner – Body Bumpers Kit Bill takes a look at MOPAR Body Bumper Kit for #ProjectBeepBeep and shows a common mistake made when a …
Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportsRoof. So here is the last set of initial questions. Here is an image of the current set up: Any diagram I find has the hose vacuum from the Distr going to the Valve assy. The Valve assy has nothing attached which is located on the front …
Thanks for checking back in on #ProjectSportsRoof. My 73 Mustang doesn’t what to get it in gear so I have to troubleshoot the shifting linkage. For this round, I’m putting in new bushings to remove the slop when shifting. Here is the video: I’ll be tightening up the shift lever and linkage to …
Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof). The struggle is real!!! You saw in the last video my replacement of the linkage that was lost by the repair shop (along with my new battery and started). This repair shone the light (as often happens with older cars) on a previous …
As I get ready to start the new round of mods for my 1970 Mustang Coupe, I’m reminded of a couple of issues that came up when I was assisting a fellow Mustang owner doing a trans – transplant. The first tip is partially dependent on what stage you are in …
Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof). The struggle is real!!!
You saw in the last video my replacement of the linkage that was lost by the repair shop (along with my new battery and started). This repair shone the light (as often happens with older cars) on a previous repair. Some might call it a hack and I get it, there are times when you need to take short cuts, but as usual short cuts often have short life spans.
Take a look at the video:
When you have issues with shifting an automatic transmission and it’s related to the linkage you have the option of fixing it right or fixing it “wrong” (i.e., short cut). At some point in my Mustangs earlier life the C4 transmission was swapped our for a used C6. It seems that the C6 (from a 1972 Ford – which really doesn’t matter the C6 has changed much in all this time) had a broken shift lever. Take a look:
Here the run down:
A is the broken shift lever. What you should see there is something like this:
B is what is commonly called a ratcheting shift lever. It’s a replacement that is ‘clamped’ on to the stub of the shift lever to shift the trans. This is done because to replace the unit you have to drain the transmission, remove the pan, the filter and the valve. This is a PITA. Especially true, if you just put the transmission in and filled it with fluid!!!) So the after market ratcheting shift lever is common. This what the parts looked like when I took them off:
Custom hack
Of course C is a washer and D….well, D is a very special customization or it’s just a hose clamp.
As you can see at the end of the video the ratcheting shift lever was just sliding. I suppose I could have just tightened clamp down and see if it shifted, but how reliable would it be…might as well fix it right!!!
Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportRoof.
I have more coming up on my 1973 Stang and more on Bill’s ProjectBeepBeep as well.
Welcome back to my 1973 Mustang project #ProjectSportsRoof. In the last post I mentioned that some how the shift linkage bar was lost when I had the car in a local shop to help put with the transmission. They took another look around their place and I did the same…no luck. …
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 …
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 Right Side Fender – lots of crinkles, a few creases and good size dent. Now, these …
Welcome back to my 1973 Mustang project #ProjectSportsRoof.
In the last post I mentioned that some how the shift linkage bar was lost when I had the car in a local shop to help put with the transmission. They took another look around their place and I did the same…no luck. So I purchased a replacement link.
Take a look….warning the audio is not great in spots.
Well we are now moving into, what I hope is an adjustment phase for the transmission. However, it might be something….more expensive!!!
The story didn’t match the damage… View On WordPress. 73 Mustang is back!! Project SportsRoof is Alive! 73 Mustang is back!! Project SportsRoof is Alive!
After many month and some craziness my 73 Mustang is back and it’s sporting a new drive Shaft.
If you recall when I purchased the Mustang the car looked like it had driven into a concrete tube, mashing in both front fenders and doing damage to the front end. Here are the pics from the day I purchased it:
As you can see the damage on the fenders are similar. The story didn’t match the damage but I didn’t care, just interesting. What I didn’t notice then or even when I pulled it off the car was that the drive shaft had been welded about 5 inches from the rear end. I also didn’t notice, when I removed the u-joints that the yoke was damaged – flattened on multiple sides.
When the shop tried to replace the u-joints the new ones would not go into the yoke. (I wish I had saved the pic of that damage.) The specialty shop give an estimate for what the repair might be, but after discovering the welded repair and the damaged yoke, they decided to replace everything. What was really cool is they did it for the same price!!!
Here’s a look at the new shaft. (NOT A CRANK SHAFT….geezzz – you see…).
I have a lot of projects to get to on #ProjectSportsRoof and I can’t wait to get started.
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, …
I thought I’d take a minute and catch the readers up on #ProjectSportsRoof. I wanted to touch up some of the engine bay components, horns, vacuum canister and battery tray. I didn’t want to alter some of these too much, I like having the numbers, logos and other info visible, not …