1970 mach 1 mustang restoration photo journal

[oldrockfan]

quick update to say the car is officially insured and has plates and the basic signals/lights/brakes work now. I replaced the windshield over the weekend and only took about 2 hours so wasn't too bad and turned out pretty nice. Still lots to do but at least I am driving her now!!! It really needs some exhaust badly though as it is currently running straight off the headers and when I get on it, I can hear the echo bounce off the houses as I drive by. So next big project will be welding up a dual exhaust setup for it and then the really fun project of painting will be next. And by fun... I mean really not fun at all

whoops, forgot to add the pic

window turned out pretty good, first time I tried gluing one in

 

[smitty_p]

I can hear the echo bounce off the houses as I drive by. So next big project will be welding up a dual exhaust setup for it

That reminds me of when I still had my '71 Cutlass. It had the Olds 350 Rocket engine and dual exhaust with turbo mufflers. I lived in an apartment at the time and worked nights. When I'd leave for work at night, the rumble from my car would sometimes set the car alarm off on the dude's car who parked next to me.

I didn't do it on purpose, but I did chuckle at it!

In addition to the Olds Rocket 350 and dual exhaust, it had an Edelbrock OL4B manifold, which is a semi-high rise aluminum manifold and (of course) a Holley 600 cfm carb. Sometimes I would run a Q-jet that I did some minor mods to. However, at the time of the above story, it was still breathing through its stock Rochester 2GC carb and iron manifold. I also later rebuilt the TH350 transmission and put a B&M shift kit in it.

That was a fun car. It ran well and took my money well, too.

BTW, is it just me, or are Holleys like Marshall amps? Even if its not your favorite, you have to really try one out, at least once!

 

[oldrockfan]

when it comes to carbs... holley is the only way to go for me. Easy to tune, easy to rebuild and capable of really putting out some nice power. I haven't really got serious aobut fine tuning mine yet since I know I would just have to redo it all once I get the dual exhaust installed. Finally broke down and installed the seatbelts today. What a pain that was. Had to remove seats and carpet so i could find the stinking anchor bolt holes. Got it done though so now it is legal except for the crazy loud exhaust. Should have that fixed up this weekend if I can scrape together enough money to pay for the parts.

 

[oldrockfan]

Happy to report the dual exhaust is officially installed and car is sounding great! Still has that nice deep tone I like but not so loud that it rattles the neighbors doors when I get on the gas.

 

[telebutcher]

when it comes to carbs... holley is the only way to go for me. Easy to tune, easy to rebuild and capable of really putting out some nice power.

+1
I have to agree about Holley carbs. Funny thing though, they have taken a really bad rap from a lot of people lately. It seems to stem mostly from speed shop employee's who try and solve a perceived Holley carb problem by selling a customer another brand, usually Edelbrock. Nothing wrong with Edelbrock carbs, but I have seen many times when just going through the basics, or finding someone who can do that for you, solves the problem. Usually its also much cheaper than replacing the carb, and it actually fixes the problem.

 

[telebutcher]

Happy to report the dual exhaust is officially installed and car is sounding great! Still has that nice deep tone I like but not so loud that it rattles the neighbors doors when I get on the gas.

Nice view, the one I trust most guy's will get at any stop light challenge!!

 

[oldrockfan]

hehe, wife has already gotten on to me for doing that at a stop light. Part of the fun of having an old muslce car I say. Speaking of carb tuning... I need to get some jets and tweak mine... Probably gonna have to bump it up a jet size or two with the mods I've done and thinking I may need a little quicker shot on the double pumpers too. Nice thing about holley is all that is super easy to swap out and tune.

 

[smitty_p]

Nice thing about holley is all that is super easy to swap out and tune.

Yup. When I had mine I eventually got everything dialed in just right. I had the right jet size, accelerator pump cam and volume. I could stomp it and get instant response with no hesitation or lag and I had strong acceleration. Plus, all the speed shops in town usually have a pretty good assortment of parts right in stock.

When I moved closer to the city and had to drive in traffic more, I swapped to my Q-jet. I could never quite get the fuel economy out of the Holley that I could squeak from the Quadrajet. The tiny primaries and triple venturi of that carb did help the economy side of things. Of course, a Qjet doesn't look as cool. Nothing looks quite as gutsy as the front and rear float bowls of a Holley peaking out from under an open filter chrome air cleaner housing.

 

[Tah-lee]

Amazing project...thanks for sharing all the details and the pics. Looking great - keep up the good work!

-Bryan

 

[oldrockfan]

did another video of the mustang with the new magnaflow dual exhaust installed. Not nearly finished but getting a little closer every week now. Actually not too bad to drive now other than the loose steering and it really needs some new front shocks still. Let me know what you guys think of the sound on the exhaust.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Wb2coisuU]1970 mach 1 mustang 52812 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[telebutcher]

Sounds great! Nice throaty exhaust, kind of evil and sinister sounding.
Loose feeling steering in an early Mustang? Perish the thought! Ok, in all seriousness, any ideas on the steering? Control valve possibly?

 

[oldrockfan]

haha, I know loose steering and old mustangs just go together. It is prob just a combination of worn ball joints, and worn linkage plus soft shocks and all together just kinda stacks up to make for loose steering but I will eventually get it tightened up. Just going to take time to scrape together the money to replace stuff. For now, at least it is driving and I think the exhaust came out pretty good. Not overly loud but still know it is a v8.

 

[Alex_SG]

I used to work with a guy with an early '70s Rambler Matador (AMC) with a totally flipped out 360 in it and a powerglide tranny.

Can't remember the exact specs, but on the 1/4 it was doing 10. something.... INSANE!!!

 

[oldrockfan]

I dont remember the matador but know a guy with an amc javelin and that thing flat out runs! I haven't really had the chance to fine tune the carb since I put the exhaust on but plan to work on that soon as I get a chance. It still has a bit of a flat spot on acceleration so need to do some tweaking on it.

 

[telebutcher]

I used to work with a guy with an early '70s Rambler Matador (AMC) with a totally flipped out 360 in it and a powerglide tranny.

Can't remember the exact specs, but on the 1/4 it was doing 10. something.... INSANE!!!

10's with a 360 in a big car is impressive! There are a number of AMC guys down in OZ, their stuff is really impressive. Anyone who runs an AMC there or in Europe (quite a few there too) is a real devotee of the marque.

 

[telebutcher]

I dont remember the matador but know a guy with an amc javelin and that thing flat out runs!

A little refresher, :)!

71 hardtop Matador.

401 powered police interceptor. LAPD used some of these and they showed up in the TV show Adam 12.

A modified Matador coupe. This is the only way these cars look ok, lowered with the bumpers removed.
There it is, the Matador!

 

[iblive]

Hey..... I had one of those Matadors. 1974, 350-4bbl, 3.54 rear gear. Had no top end, but it would go 0-60 pretty darn fast.

This is the car my eventual wife and I dated in. Got rid of the car. Still got her.

 

[telebutcher]

This is the car my eventual wife and I dated in. Got rid of the car. Still got her.

Looks like you kept the good one!! My parents had one, 6cyl power. What a road slug!

 

[oldrockfan]

I am suprised nobody at my high school had one of those. We had a very large segment of my high school that drove hot rods and I was really into that so knew pretty much everyone's cars. We even had our own area of the parking lot where only the hotrods parked. Nobody had a matador but hey big car with big engine compartment... would have been a fun platform to work with. that white one in the pic looks like it has some good torque

 

[iblive]

Hey..... I had one of those Matadors. 1974, 350-4bbl, 3.54 rear gear. Had no top end, but it would go 0-60 pretty darn fast.

Oops.... meant to say 360-4bbl.