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 the 1970 Mustang 302 engine. One install and no problems.
As you know I had the heads rebuilt for the 351C and after re-installing them and all the components (intake, distributor…etc.) the car would not start. Popping the distributor cap showed why:
Drop me a note if you’ve had a similar experience.
#ProjectSportsRoof. 73-17. 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. (It took about 5 takes to get this …
#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 …
Thanks for checking back on the 1973 Mustang #ProjectSportsRoof.
The power steering cooler is pictured below. It’s pretty ugly even when cleaned up.
Keeping the Power Steering fluid cool!!
Non-A/C car power steering fluid cooler
Here is a little info from a fellow Mustang owner.
Steering coolers were an option from what I understand. My A/C car did not come with a cooler. I added one to my car later as it was just a simple bolt on.
Originally the extra long return line for the power steering box was U’d on top of the drivers side cowl brace that acted as a primitive cooler before returning back to the pump.
Someone told me that the ‘competition suspension’ option included the variable ratio power steering box and included the power steering cooler. However I have seen cars with the competition suspension option that did not have coolers. The owners claimed it never had one.
There are 2 different coolers one designed to be bolted on A/C cars over the compressor and the one designed for cars without A/C.
Ford had a revision to the return line in later cars, originally the return line was U’d on top of the drivers cowl brace then later they shortened the return line and just left it next to the high pressure line going to the box.
For the variable power steering box there was another power steering pump that had a different tag on it. HBA-CG was used with the variable box and HBA-CF was used with the standard box, nobody knows if the pumps are in fact different or not internally.The variable box was tagged SPA-T or SPA-V. The normal box was SPA-S and SPA-U.
I have a 72 H code originally with a FMX, A/C car, no competition suspension.
As for requiring a different pump, no, not that I am aware of I use standard power steering pump with the cooler, works fine.
Typical hose layouts for the coolers
Power Steering Fluid Coolers Diagrams
I’ve seen a with the cooler painted or powder coated. However, that would severely hamper it’s ability to cool the fluid. They do look better.
Here is the example in an A/C car – unpainted.
Another Mustang owner recommended spraying the cooler with black radiator paint. That should do the trick.
#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 …
#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 …
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 right side next to the alternator on the water pump housing.
The diagram for the 1972 351C shows that instead of going directly to the carb, the hoses from the distributor vacuum run to the Valve Assy. There also seems to be a second line running from the back of the distributor (in the diagram) – but that isn’t very clear.
Any ideas? Clearly the car runs without any of these connected – do I just plug them all?
For the purpose of these series of posts let’s assume that I want to seriously limit the performance and power of #ProjectSportsRoof’s beautiful 351C and restore it back to factory configuration. Now if you are expecting an …
#ProjectSportsRoof. 73-17. 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. (It took about 5 takes to get this …
Most car enthusiasts know that by the 1970’s all cars even ‘former’ muscle cars, were strangled in terms of power by a host of tubes, solenoids and funny looking flat or funnel like space age devices that were responsible for eliminating harmful emissions. In some cases they funneled fumes back in to the engine to be burned and supposedly rendering them less harmful.
When you are restoring a car of this vintage – especially one like my 1973 Mustang that has been sitting around a while, those tubes/hoses are often cracked, dried, split or ends stretched at the least for missing all together.
You have the option to remove all the space ag hardware (depending on the emissions regulations in your area) or replacing it all to restore to factory specifications. For the purpose of these series of posts let’s assume that I want to seriously limit the performance and power of #ProjectSportsRoof’s beautiful 351C and restore it back to factory configuration.
Now if you are expecting an expert run down on the care and feeding of the vacuum system for this project – you aren’t going to get that right up front. Why? Because it’s really not that straight forward at first and I have a few questions.
As I look at the diagrams for the vacuum system on a 1972 351C, I am not seeing anything that matches my set up.
Let me start back of the engine.
There is a solenoid on the back of the manifold (only bolted there) that I think is some diagrams is shown on the opposite side and in the front.
Here’s a better shot.
As you can see it has no power connected nor hoses. Is that the Solenoid Dist vacuum? I think so.
For the 1972 351C. The solenoid is #12 in the diagram –
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.
#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 …
#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 …
So after inspecting the head further, I noticed a few more reasons to have them reconditioned. Take a look:
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.
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.
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.
I love it when a fellow car enthusiast shares their projects.
This is Lisa’s 1973 Mach 1
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!!!
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.
Getting ready for some paint!!
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.
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, …
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 …
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.
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….?
At first we thought…”Hey Cool!!! Extra parts!!” But of course that’s just not the case!!
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?
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.
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.
#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 …
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
Pretty large gap.
The right side was better with almost no adjustments to the holes.
Not to bad right out of the box.
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?”
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 …
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.
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