1970 mach 1 mustang restoration photo journal

[oldrockfan]

got the radiator hooked up so I took a short video of the engine running today. I am gettting closer and really looking forward to getting it on the road.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b51kFCSK8lc]1970 Mach 1 mustang w/ 351 cleveland - YouTube[/ame]

 

[iblive]

Good job ORF. Until I saw that last picture with the engine back in between the shock towers I forgot how tight a fit it is.

That ain't tight mate..... now a Boss 429 stuffed in there.... Now that's tight.

 

[oldrockfan]

I don't know Iblive... you should have seen me trying to tighten up all those long tube header bolts. It felt like I had about an inch of clearance to squeeze my hand thru to reach a couple of them.

Teleb, I love the holley doublepumper carbs. Used a 750 dblpump on my big block 390 on my last mustang and a 650dblpump on my son's charger with a 318. People who hate holley carbs just don't know how or don't take the time to tune them. Once properly tuned, a holley carb will get the most out of any v8 engine.

 

[iblive]

I don't know Iblive... you should have seen me trying to tighten up all those long tube header bolts. It felt like I had about an inch of clearance to squeeze my hand thru to reach a couple of them.

I just remember that when Ford had to install "X" number of the Boss 429 engine in cars so they could run that engine in NASCAR, to get it to drop into the engine bay, Ford actually had to notch the shock towers on both sides for valve cover clearance. If memory serves, the intake valve on that monster was like 2 1/4 inches or so.

Teleb, I love the holley doublepumper carbs. Used a 750 dblpump on my big block 390 on my last mustang and a 650dblpump on my son's charger with a 318. People who hate holley carbs just don't know how or don't take the time to tune them. Once properly tuned, a holley carb will get the most out of any v8 engine.

My 77 Vette's OEM carb was a quadrajet. I know many people out there love the Qjet... understand it.... can make it run correctly.... tune it.

I cannot.

I stuck on a Holley 650CFM spreadbore, which I do underatand and have never looked back. Still working on the tuning. Runs great and seems crisper than with the larger CFM Qjet, but I have gas mileage issues. Too many people over on the Corvette forum with VERY similar cars are getting 15-18 mpg. I can't seem to get better than 12. I'd be happy with 15, but 18 would be fantastic.

 

[oldrockfan]

iblive, the 429 was a beast. I've seen a couple of them in cars at shows and they pretty much have to cram them in there. You would probably have to pull the engine to get to a couple of the spark plugs HAHA!

Mileage is always a challenge with 4 barrel carbs. You could try leaning down the jet size and adjusting air mixture and timing to maybe get a couple more miles per gallon. Another way to get better mileage would be changing out the gearing. Not as easy on bowties as fords with the 9" rear wehre you can just pull the pumpkin and drop in another gearset but still an option.

The thing alot of mustang guys do to get better mpg though is to convert to a modern aod tranny. That change usually nets 30% better mileage by itself for the vintage mustang guys. I had a couple buddies telling me I should do it during my engine rebuild but money is tight for me so I couldn't justify doing it right now.

My last mustang got about 12mpg when I drove it easy and about 8mpg when I really stomped on it. My sons charger with the souped up 318 using a 650dbp only got 12mpg also.

 

[John J]

That ain't tight mate..... now a Boss 429 stuffed in there.... Now that's tight.

You're right about that. What I was referring to was the fact that the engine bay on those cars were originally designed around a straight 6 or 289 engine. Once they started putting FE series and Clevelands in them things got kind of tight. Changing spark plugs became a job.

 

[iblive]

You're right about that. What I was referring to was the fact that the engine bay on those cars were originally designed around a straight 6 or 289 engine. Once they started putting FE series and Clevelands in them things got kind of tight. Changing spark plugs became a job.

I had a 1977 Chevy Monza that had a 305 small block in it. Now remember.... the Monza was in essence a reskinned Vega. I could get all four plugs out of the passenger side - no problem. Drivers side... different story. Steering shaft was in the way. Had to actually slide under car and take motor mount loose and jack up that side of the engine about 4 or 5 inches to get to the back 3 plugs. I got pretty good at it.

 

[John J]

I had a 1977 Chevy Monza that had a 305 small block in it. Now remember.... the Monza was in essence a reskinned Vega. I could get all four plugs out of the passenger side - no problem. Drivers side... different story. Steering shaft was in the way. Had to actually slide under car and take motor mount loose and jack up that side of the engine about 4 or 5 inches to get to the back 3 plugs. I got pretty good at it.

I remember the Monza well. Yes, changing spark plugs on those that had V8s was nasty.

 

[telebutcher]

Those Boss 429 Mustangs were beasts, they sent them to Kar Kraft to have the towers "massaged" a bit to get that motor to fit. I knew a guy who had one, the engine, not the car, the only car he could find on short notice that would accept that engine without a ton of chassis mods was a '70 Mercury Marauder. Even in that gigantic engine bay it was wall to wall Boss motor, it completly filled it up!
iblive, another thing to check on that carb is the power valve, if its a two stage unit, toss it in favor of a standard valve. As ORF said, jetting is critical too, where I live, I generaly have to reduce jet sizing by 3-4 sizes from stock to conpensate for altitude.

 

[iblive]

iblive, another thing to check on that carb is the power valve, if its a two stage unit, toss it in favor of a standard valve. As ORF said, jetting is critical too, where I live, I generaly have to reduce jet sizing by 3-4 sizes from stock to conpensate for altitude.

Thanks for the info. It's odd... I'd just read somewhere else about Holleys and bad mileage and that guy said to check the Power Valve. Something about if you ever have/had the carb backfire... which I did... it can blow the valve, which I did not know. I Installed a Performer manifold at same time as carb and dropped distributor in about a tooth or two off. Thought I had it marked.... but... ya'll know how it goes. Didn't take too much to figure it out after I turned dist about a 1/4 of a turn before it fire and run. Felt like a darn rookie.

And yes.... plans are in the works to mess with jetting till it's right. This whole layoff (not working) thing really and truly messes with our hobbies.

 

[oldrockfan]

blown power valve can happen with backfire. Don't get too down on yourself though as all of us wrenchers have it happen. I think you can easily gain 2 or 3 mpg by simply leaning out the tuning on your carb. Just go slow on jet changes and don't try to save a few dollars and skip steps on jet sizes. One size at a time and then test drive and inspect plug color is the way to go.

btw, am now working on electrical wiring which is the one part of restorations I totally HATE! I can't afford the full painless wiring harness so am just working my way thru the wiring slowly and patching where wires are cracked, burned, chaffed, corroded, etc. Not fun but necessary so just grinding thru it a section at a time.

 

[iblive]

btw, am now working on electrical wiring which is the one part of restorations I totally HATE!

The part I've always hated was the sanding. Have not done a resto on anything I own... ever.... but just out of HS I worked at the local Farm Service and since I seemed to keep getting hurt working on grain bins and fertilizer wagons , etc.... they stuck me in the shop working on the trucks. We painted our trucks in house. Do you know what a pickup truck that's been exposed to fertilizer looks like? Makes salt damage look pretty tame.

Anyway.... I learned to hate body work.

I've got some simple stuff my Vette needs and will more than likely do that myself.... until it comes time for the completed paint job. I'll pay someone for that.

 

[oldrockfan]

paint is actually kinda fun and you can do it yourself for a fraction of what they would charge you. You should consider painting yourself. The money for a paint job basically will pay for the paint gun setup. Sanding was never one of my favorites either. I have done a ton of it on the car already and ended up getting quite a few scratches on the primer during the engine install so I will be doing some more sanding before the car is ready for paint.

I did at least get the wiring where I can start the car with the key now although I still have work to do before I get all lights and blinkers working and that isn't even considering all the courtesy lights and other little stuff.

 

[iblive]

When I worked at that Farm Service I was given the opportunity to do some spraying... and yes, that is kind of fun because you start seeing the end result.

There's special crap you have to do and/or be prepared to deal with when working with fiberglass. I've worked with glass before and no matter how good you are at covering up, those fiberglass fibers find their way to open skin and I promise you.... you will itch for a week.... you cannot wash it off.

 

[telebutcher]

btw, am now working on electrical wiring which is the one part of restorations I totally HATE!

Thats one of the tings I like the most, even more than engine building. Fitting rings and the like is a bit tedious for me, and body work? Can't bring my self to enjoy it. I guess thats the coll thing about the hobby, there's enough different systems involved that there is something for everyone. Here is something I have in the shop now.

 

[oldrockfan]

Thought I should do a quick update to the progress on the 1970 mach 1 mustang i have been restoring. I am not quite ready to drive her but have gotten quite a few things done. The engine, cooling and brakes are working well now. Just got the transmission all up and running and seems to be working fine up with car up on blocks but the true test will be when I take it out and drive it. I have about 80% of the electrical going now. I am still having trouble with the brake lights and little stuff like gas gauge isn't wired yet but stuff like headlights and signals are all wired up and working fine. I hope to figure out the brake issue this week. I still need to get a new windshield since the one is cracked.

I decided to hold off on painting until I got it up and running and I am sure glad I did. The body has picked up plenty of scratches and dings and would have almost surely messed up the paint job had I done it earlier. I plan on getting a windshield this week so if I can sort out the brake lights, I will be ready to do the first test drive!

Here is a quick video of the car so you can see how she looks so far. Since the video, I have done a few little things like attached the front bumper and re-installed the center console, etc. Can't wait to do that first drive
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_BW_OuTjaw]1970 Mach1 mustang - YouTube[/ame]

 

[iblive]

Sounds awesome. Did you do anything to the engine besides intake, carb and headers? Does not sound like a stock cam @ idle.

 

[oldrockfan]

I went with the high performance street cam. Didn't want to go quite as aggresive as i did with my last build but still fairly aggresive. According to the comp cams software, it should be making 413HP and 432 ft lbs torque. Nice thing is it makes max hp at 5500rpms and max torque at only 2500rpms so should be a fun street rod.

 

[telebutcher]

What are the cam specs? It sounds real good.

 

[oldrockfan]

the cam is a 270H grind which gives up some HP at high revs but makes up for it with great torque an low rpms. The torque peak of 432 is at only 2500rpms and holds above400 ft lbs thru 4000rpms. Hard to argue with that!

pic with some of the chrome bits installed up front