'69 Mach 1 - The Journey Begins

[Legion]

Hey Fellas (and ladies?), I've been lurking in the shadows for a while reading the threads and looking at some of the great work many of you have done, very impressive...let alone the valuable knowledge you have contributed to help many people along, great job! I'll be picking up my car this weekend in Michigan and bringing her home for some much needed cosmetic surgery. Of course with the snow that just dumped on Ohio I may have to delay my trip with the trailer :scared:.

My mother purchased a '69 Fastback at the age of 19. I have one picture remaining (after the house fire) of me and my brother hanging out of the driver side window of the old girl probably in '72-73. Ever since I can remember I wanted that car. By luck, I ran across it in high school...but didn't have the money to purchase the vehicle...so one of my friends and his father did:asshole:. Good thing is, I knew where it was located. My friend and I lost touch after high school but I was told he held onto the car. Unfortunately he was killed in an automobile accident a few years ago and I have been unable to find out what actually happened to the car...my search continues. In the mean time, to quench my thirst, I purchased a '69 Mach 1 this week and the project begins. Hopefully I can contribute something to these forums...even if it's a good laugh or to play the fool once in a while. From all that I've read, you've got a great online community here and I hope I can become a part of it...and like any good politician or lobbyist, I'd thought I'd start out with a little bribe and donate to the site...a little payola never hurt :whistling:.

[MAD IN NC]

While my story isn't as long standing as your's I to have been bit with the tang bug. It has helped me develop the great case of OCD :tongue_smilie: I now have. The car I'm restomodding was my son's first car when he went to high school. It had a 70 front end and 80# of bondo on it:surrender:

In the time I've been here I've also learned so much and still have a long way to go. Early this Sat I'll pick mine up from a 1 yr body restoration and will promptly tear our her heart for a rebuild:scared: , a rebuild of the interior, and send her back for the final paint work! Goal - driving by June - this year:helpsmilie:

I've learned so far patience, patience, patience and the UPS man brings great presents!

Good luck - look forward to the progress pictures!

[Legion]

Thanks! Where are you in NC? I'm actually in Greensboro (High Point) tonight on business. I'm supposed to fly out tomorrow back to Cincinnati, but it sounds like there's going to be freezing rain here tonight :(.

[MAD IN NC]

Thanks! Where are you in NC? I'm actually in Greensboro (High Point) tonight on business. I'm supposed to fly out tomorrow back to Cincinnati, but it sounds like there's going to be freezing rain here tonight :(.


Down in Raleigh.. awaiting the natural disater of the day. We really need the damn rain but NO we get ICE! Well it should rain about an inch tomorrow.... only down by 25" till we get out of the drought here.

looks like it's starting there by you.....

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?ID=RAX&region=c5&lat=35.90025711&lon=-78.70611572&label=Raleigh%2c%20NC

good luck getting home!

[bnickel]

welcome!!! nice project car you have there, looking forward to following it's progress. i recently finished the resto of my first car, 69 GT coupe, and will be putting it on the market soon so i can buy the family a house and get out of this 60 year old drafty thing we rent now. soon, though, i'll be starting the rebuid process on a 69 cougar that i bought from a friend who started the resto and due to problems with hhis eyesight is unable to finish it. even though it's not a mustang many of the thing i'll be doing to to it will apply to a mustang so i will start a project thread on it for all to see. hope you will do the same with yours too.

BTW, hope you get home safely and don't have to spend too much time away from home.

[R4K]

soon, though, i'll be starting the rebuid process on a 69 cougar that i bought from a friend who started the resto and due to problems with hhis eyesight is unable to finish it. even though it's not a mustang many of the thing i'll be doing to to it will apply to a mustang so i will start a project thread on it for all to see. hope you will do the same with yours too.

Yay, another Groupie to keep me company! :tongue_smilie:

[bnickel]

Yay, another Groupie to keep me company! :tongue_smilie:

yeah, well i am still the only full time moderator here.....Trin stops by occassionally but i'm here pretty much every day, though i do sometimes take a day off during the week

[Legion]

Thought I'd add to the thread since it's been about 8 months since I first posted. First some shots of the car once I got it home. It ain't pretty...

As you can see, the car was full of parts, some that belonged, some that didn't. The quarters are shot, the passenger side quarter had more mud in it then a hog pen (yes, it was well over a quarter of inch thick in spots). I have another shot from the inside. It looks like the patch panel was cut out of the side of an old International Harvester tractor, screwed on from the inside and lathered up with mud..and of course, there were the floors...or the lack there of. More to come...

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[Legion]

Some more shots...

Taillight panel needs replaced, battery tray gone...and yeesh, the cowl has to be replaced.

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[Legion]

...and rear seat pans need replaced, the cowl side panel/kick panels are shot along with the transition pan and rear cross-member. Here's another shot of the passenger side quarter from the inside. Unfortunately, some little girl is missing her Bunny FuFu...or DustBunny as I call him. Amazing what you'll find in the trunks of cars. The car had been hit in the passenger quarter...and the trunk drop off, quarter panel and transition pan had been welded...stick welded that is...it was pretty rough looking to say the least. BTW, do they make a repro cowl side panel (inside) for the '69...haven't been able to find them.

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[Legion]

Well, here she's up on stands and I started stripping her down. I cut out the tail light panel and trunk drop off's to find the right rear frame rail shot...suprise!. the left rear frame rail was in good shape...but I said what the hell and decided to cut it out and replace it to.

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[Legion]

Here I've dropped the rear end out of the car and cut most of the floors out, rear cross member and transition pan and replaced the right side rear frame rail. I worked pretty quick on the two frame rails since I had so much cutout of the car, I was worried about the car sagging...should of thought about that before I started cutting. But I got it done over a weekend (both frame rails, transition pan and cross-member) and all of my original measurements matched up perfect when I was done.

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[Legion]

I purchased the transition pan and crossmember...but it came as one unit welded together. So I got to enjoy drilling out 48 spot welds to separate the two so I could install the cross member first and then the transition pan.

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[Legion]

The rear torque box covers looked OK, but I thought I'd replace them while I had it stripped down.

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[Legion]

I figured the tranny tunnel probably should be replaced as well, so I hand fabbed the tunnel out of 16g sheet metal. I used 4" electrical conduit clamped to a table edge to get the rounded corners up front hear the shifter hole. It took a little arse to get it to bend:blink:, but I damn near got it perfect. I kept the old one as a guide and was able to lay it inside of the new one to make sure the contours were correct. For the back end that connects to the transition pan, I used an 8" conveyor roller from work for the shape, put the sheet metal in a hydraulic bearing press and 'stamped' the shape into the end. Minor adjustments and it fit like a glove. I mocked up the rear and front seat pans to get some measurements for the final cut.

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[Legion]

Here's some shots after I got the rear seat pan welded in. I've mocked up the floor pans and hope to have the drivers side, including the toe board, welded up tomorrow. I'm heading to a car show tomorrow, hope to get some good shots...should be 700-900 cars there. I'll post some if I get some good shots. Well, I'm up-to-date on the progress I've made. I was hoping to be farther along, but I'm enjoying it at least...except for the weld spatter that bounced off the inside of the car, ended up in my welding helmet and decided to land inside my ear.:cursing:

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[bnickel]

oh man this has to be one of the most extensive restorations i've seen in a long, long time. i hate to say it but this car looks almost as bad as unfrozen69's original vert project, not his current one but the one he chopped up and parted out.

if you don't mind my asking why did you decide to save this particular car? i honestly wouldn't have taken it on unless it was a super rare R-code drag pak car. i did notice it has the big block shock towers though, which appear to be in need of replacement as well, so i'm assuming it's at least a 390 car.


BTW, Dynacorn supposedly has the inner cowl side pieces you need now, or so i've heard anyway.

[Legion]

The condition is pretty rough, much more so than I thought when I bought it.

I saved this particular car because I like it...not much more than that. Money's not an issue and I have nothing but time with one daughter starting college next year and another to follow the year after. I like a challenge...and when it's done I can say I touched every piece of the build, lol! Super rare R-code drag pack car, GT, Shelby...that doesn't mean much to me in terms of the car. If I liked Gremlins and found one I liked I'd probably buy it and fix it...but I don't like Gremlins.

It was originally a 390 car according to the Marty Report I have, and I have the motor, just not sure if it's original. It came with a 390-4V, black jade paint with blackout hood treatment, hi back seats, 3.00 standard axle ratio and a C-6...and air...I can't stand to sweat in a car :) The towers do need replaced, some idiot heated them up with a torch and pounded the hell out of them...I imagine to get headers to fit...can't really come up with any other reason. But there coming out any way as I'm not restoring this car to original, more of a resto-mod. Well, off to the car show, I'll hopefully have some pics to post tonight.

BTW, my brother bought a '71 Duster and my sole purpose now is to dust his arse at the track when his is complete. It's that twin brother competition thing for us.

[daneyb]

[quote=bnickel;42097]if you don't mind my asking why did you decide to save this particular car? i honestly wouldn't have taken it on unless it was a super rare R-code drag pak car. i did notice it has the big block shock towers though, which appear to be in need of replacement as well, so i'm assuming it's at least a 390 car.quote]


REALLY!! The guy looks pretty talented to me? Cheap aftermarket parts + able to do the work yourself sounds like to me a kick ass job to do after you retire or hell a part time weekend job!! Keep up the good work. I will take every MACH1 I can find in that condition for a good price.

[Legion]

Middletown eh Daneyb, I'm just down the road from you, about 45 minutes south. Just got back from the Pumpkin Run...roughly 3,000 cars over the last three days. Got some good shots (I hope) of the Mustangs and Cougars.

[Jay H 237]

Nice job! I like seeing cars like this be resurrected. If I had the space I'd get a basket case to work on, then when it's done you can call it all yours and get the satisfaction out of saving it and doing the work yourself.


Interesting Marti report. Looking at the pics of the back end dismantled I would have guessed the cars original color as being Silver Jade by the lighter green paint under the package tray area.

[Legion]

Thanks! There are actually a couple of areas inside the car that are sprayed that lighter green as well. Probably leftover paint that needed to be used when the car was manufactured.

[unfrozen1969]

Okay the dust bunny thing is just eerieeee.

You will amazed at how good your car will look once you get it blasted and you can see all of the parts that need replacing. everything is pretty much replaciable. Is the car originally black jade, that is a sharp color.

Look forward to seeing more of your work and please post more pix.

Bill from Ottawa Canada.

[Legion]

LOL, even dust bunnies need love...

Yeah, I'm hoping to have it blasted before the winter actually sets in. My main objective is to get the floors and backend complete and then get it back on wheels for transport. I looking forward to the blasting to see what else is lurking under the paint. The good thing is the front torque boxes and frame rails are solid. Some of the 'grime' on the car is a red mud/clay mixture that I really should have pressure washed off first, but the areas I cleaned off to get a look have solid metal underneath.

[Legion]

Well, it's been a while since I've posted...the company I worked for was sold out of bankruptcy, went through a re-org...complete IT infrastructure change-over, etc, etc...enough of that.

I was able to finish the rear seat pans, floor pans and toe boards. I still have some finish work to do, but I'll get to that once all the structural stuff is done.


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[Legion]

I've been working on the front door post and side cowl panel on the drivers side. I ended up taking off the skin on the inside of the a-pillar and cleaned out any rust I found, rust proofed it and welded back in fresh skin. These aren't the completed photos, but you'll see where I'm headed.

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[Legion]

Here's some shots of the tear down of the of the side cowl panel on the drivers side.

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[Legion]

Here are some additional shots of the components that were removed.

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[Legion]

I cleaned up the pieces and cutout the bad sections and welded in new metal. I had to repair part of the door post section at the top. The toughest part was fabbing up the bottom portion of the a-pillar that connects to the door post. A little stretching, shrinking, some hammer work and a little welding and I was able to reproduce the piece. I also mocked up the cowl side panel blank. I purchased a bead roller and I'm pretty sure I can reproduce all of the beads, cutouts indentions in the panel. I'll also have to make a wooden buck to bend some of the odd shaped lips that the cowl sets into. I saved the original side cowl panel piece in hopes of scavenging all of the brackets so I won't have to fab those.

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[Legion]

I've started the reassembly of the door post. I took a lot of measurements prior to tearing it apart to make sure I get the geometry right. I hope to finish the door post this weekend and get it primed. After that I need to finish the stand I've built for the bead roller and get started on the side panel...then on to the passenger side.

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[Grabber70Mach]

Wow looks like you've been having lots of fun. :blink::001_smile: Looking good and congrats on getting it all done yourself. :thumbup:

[Legion]

I finished the stand for the bead roller but decided to make it a little more functional. I've got limited space in my two car garage, so I made the base with a plate on the top so I could attach multiple tools (Shrinker/Stretcher, bead roller, and bench top drill press. Thanks to BlackGMC for the idea of strengthening the bead roller and putting it on a stand. (BTW, no posts from him since December of '07, was diggin' his build thread). I used 2" angle to create a frame, notched the post and welded the angle to the post. I drilled through the bead roller and attached it to the angle with bolts...just in case it needs to come off for repair or replacement like some of these Harbor Freight tools do:whistling: Maybe a coat of paint to dress it up...

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I finished the door post and finished mocking up the side cowl panel. I'm going to practice running some beads on some scrap before laying the bead work in the panel. I'm also going to take the brackets off the original side panel and weld them to the new one.

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[Legion]

Put some beads on the panel, need to run some additional beads and cut out the centers. Hope to have the brackets welded on tonight as well.

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[MAD IN NC]

Legion - keep going! WOW! It will get better!

[rd49221]

Nice work!

Nice Calendar!

[Legion]

Nice work!

Nice Calendar!

Believe it or not, my wife hung that in the garage...she said it made the garage look a little more manly. I wasn't sure if I should be thankful or wondering if she was questioning my manhood :scared: If it's the later, she won't be getting any from me for a while...:shifty:

[Legion]

A little progress...

Finished the driver side door post and the passenger side door post. Ended up cutting the entire door post out on the passenger side as well, cut out the bad stuff and patched it up and welded it back in.

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I also replaced the top lip of the firewall. When I removed the cowl I noticed the lip was in pretty bad shape...so I cut it off, made a replacement piece, worked the keys balk in my shrinker and then welded he piece in.

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I also fabbed up the inside cowl panel for the passenger side. It's not complete, but I should have it completed tomorrow and ready to go in. I think I'm going to redo the drivers side, the original beads were a little sloppy when I formed the access holes. I still need to cut the holes out, roll the lips of the holes, but it shouldn't take too long.

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I test fitted the cowl and outside cowl panels. It's just about ready to weld up. I hope to finish the cowl by the end of the coming week and start tearing out the front suspension, replace/repairing the metal up front.

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[BuckeyeDemon]

nice work legion!

feel free to stop by if you ever need measurements or any sort of visual reference.

[Legion]

I'll take you up on that offer, and thanks! You'll have to PM me your contact info. I actually used a lot of the photos you sent me last time, really appreciate it. I would like to get a look inside underneath the dash, just to get a comparison of the fabbed pieces I made to mount the cowl. Any progress lately on your car?

[Legion]

Here's a couple of pics of the inside cowl panels I fabbed. I opted not to cut in the vent holes. I've got a couple of small details to finish up on the driver side. Hope to have the panels, outer cowl covers and the cowl welded in next weekend.

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[Legion]

Well, a little bit of progress. Work has been crazy the past few months and hasn't allowed me much time to work on the rusty cage.

I did get the cowl and inside cowl panels welded in place...finally.

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I removed the front suspension to cutout the shock towers. I decided to cutout all the fender aprons and the radiator support as well. They really weren't in bad shape, but when I cut the shock towers out, I noticed a little bit of rust in the seam between the fender apron at the spot welds (at the bottom) and the frame rail...and I just couldn't let it go. Luckily the frame rails were solid under the shock towers. I'm going to work on cleaning up the front end the next couple of weekends.

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I started stripping the firewall as well. With the fender aprons off, I should be able to get to the rest of the areas a little easier. Just like the shock towers, someone decided to beat the firewall in above the tranny tunnel. A little time with a hammer and dolly should get it flat again.

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Originally my plan was to go with a mustang II front end, but I've decided to replace the shock towers. The fender aprons, rad support and shock towers are on the way.

[Legion]

Just about done test fitting everything on the front end before welding it all up.

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[468stang]

Looking good.

[BuckeyeDemon]

it must feel good to see your car going back together!

are you removing the blower motor?

[Legion]

Yes it does! Work has been busy...which is a good thing in this economy, so the progress is much slower than expected. I hope to get to the quarter panels this winter. On a side note, a big thanks to foothilltom for the great deal on the shock tower he sold me.

Yup, blower motor gone, installing a Vintage Air Gen IV SureFit system.

I think I've finally settled on keeping the 390. I'm going to pick up a stroker kit for it and with .030 bore get to 445ci of displacement. With the setup I'm looking at I should get around 500hp.

If you don't mind, I might have to swing down this fall and get a couple of reference photos. BTW, your car's looking great, I love the detailed work.

[BuckeyeDemon]

you're welcome to stop by any time.

there is a very reputable engine shop in the area if you need a reference.

[Legion]

Sounds good, and I'd be interested in the reference. I'll shoot you a PM and make sure you're around before I stop over. Thanks again.

[Ry-speeed]

Your project is looking good!

Did you buy each side (rear apron/tower/front apron) alreaddy assembled? Was the front cross member reused?

Are your braces tack welded in any specific way? I have alot of concerns about keeping the body straight on my car while changing stuctural pieces.

It's funny, the good areas on your car are piss poor on mine. (Frame rails and extensions and torque box area) While my rear frame and trunk area barely need any attention at all.

[Legion]

I bought the components separately. I believe the only way you can get them assembled is if it comes with the front frame rail attached, and both mine were in good shape.

I bought a new front crossmember, as well as strut rod braces.

In regards to the bracing, since I was removing the door posts and the bottom of each a-pillar, I braced it vertically where the front of the dash would be and horizontally right behind the front door posts. I also put some triangular bracing to keep the top of the car from tilting backwards (and forward for that matter). I took a lot of measurements and checked them every week in fear something was going to shift, but everything stayed true.

No two cars rust the same, but I'm glad the front rails were intact on mine. I'm most likely going to end up tearing into the torque boxes...they seem solid, but my curiosity may get the best of me.

[Ry-speeed]

How did the top of the torque box look when you had the floor out? The rot on my torque boxes started eating into the frame rail, as the previous owner said the boxes were what starting going first.

I have the driver side box cut out but I've yet to decide if I'll be replacing the entire driver frame rail or patching it.

No thoughts about subframe connectors? It seems your pretty handy with fab-work.

[Legion]

The tops were solid as a rock, no pitting just some surface rust...same with the bottoms. I used a scope with a video attachment to look inside the torque boxes as well. It was dirty inside as the car sat down in a field for a period of time up to the rockers. I was able to clean it out with a pressure washer, than blew air into it for about an hour, let it air dry and then used Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating...but I'm still questioning myself about whether I want to rip them off.

If you can get by without ripping the whole thing out, it will save you some cash...just make sure what's left is good metal.

I'm going to make some sub frame connectors, probably similar to BuckeyeDemon's...the cars should have came from the factory like that:thumbup:.

[Legion]

I'm a little slow on the updates. I finally finished welding up the front sheet metal and was able to test fit the front fenders. It's nice to see it start to look like a car again...albiet a stripped car in a South America barrio...but a car none-the-less. I've been working on bracing up the back end of the car and removing the roof skin. Lot's of spot weld drilling...my favorite! My brother and I purchased a media blaster and I plan on media blasting the entire car this spring.

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[BuckeyeDemon]

it appears we like the same thing!

[bnickel]

i feel like i'm watching an episode of "Psych" or something.....LOL:001_tongue:

[Junior2561]

anything new on this one???

[Legion]

A little progress. I have the inner structures of the quarters braced and have both quarters off, I'm working on removing the roof now. Once I get the roof off, it goes out to my brothers place for media blasting and a good coat of e-prime. I've been side tracked builidng a paver patio and pergola for the wife. Patio's in, pergola should be finished today and the hot tub goes in this coming weekend. I'll try and get some pics up once the roofs off.