Well guys, I finally feel like starting a thread on my 69' Mach 1.
It started life as a bare-bones 1969 Mach 1, H code automatic car built in San Jose, CA. It had power steering, and manual drum brakes. As far as I know, the car has never left Northern California. I got the car in 2003, and it was in so-so shape. I picked it up for $8500, and drove it home. It had rust in the doors, cracked shock towers (one of which had been replaced previously), and worn out suspension, but I was 17 and didn't care because it was mine.
The first round of mods to the car were some Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and intake, a decent cam (don't remember the specs anymore), 650 Barry Grant carb and some longtubes. :rockon: The car ran pretty well for a couple months, but all the new parts proved to be too much for the bone stock shortblock, with unknown miles on it. This is where my troubles started.
The first person I took the car to slapped everything together, and it never really ran right. I should have known better, but I was 17 and hadn't yet learned the ways of the world. After it started losing oil pressure after putting 100 or so miles on it, I pulled the motor back out and took it back. Of course he tried to blame me, because I was 17 and he knew what he was doing, so I took my motor to someone else.
This guy was supposed to be "the BEST engine builder" in my area. Of course it was one of my good friends that was telling me this, so I thought I'd give him a try. I dropped the motor off, and didn't see it again for 9 months. Phone call after phone call was ignored, and he was never there when I came by. One day I did finally catch him, and he had just finished the shortblock. After some words were exchanged, I ended up taking my shortblock and all my parts home, where I finished assembling everything. I took my time, measured everything, and went by the book when assembling it. This time, it was 11:1 compression, balanced rotating assembly, same heads, bigger cam and a victor jr intake. I also swapped in a c4 w/3500 stall, 4.11's and a trak-lock center section to my 9" rear. I fired the car up, and went through the whole cam break in procedure. The car was running great, and I was finally starting to get excited about it again. I drove it around real easy for two weeks, and put around 150 miles on it before even trying to hammer the throttle.
One day after school I stopped to get some gas, with my dad in the car. I was pulling out of the station, and when I got the car pointing straight, I laid into the throttle. Tires smoking, the car had more power than ever. Until I shifted into 2nd gear... A loud BANG followed by a lot of metallic clattering was all I heard. I was heartbroken. Before the car even came rolling to a stop, I knew the motor was done. By sheer luck, a friend of mine that drove a tow truck saw me sitting there on the side of the road, and gave me a tow home. I had the motor out, and apart in less than two hours, and this is what I found-
The motor broke the top ring lands on 5 pistons, which was an automatic red flag. After some research, I found out that the pistons I had used (Keith Blacks) require different ring gaps for the top rings, which the mechanic that assembled the shortblock completely ignored. I was furious. The car spent 9 months with this guy, and all the money I threw at it was gone. First thing I did after all this, was show up at the guys house, and what do you know? His truck wasn't there. I kept going there every day for 2 weeks, and never saw him again. One day I drove by, and his son's car was in the driveway so I stopped. Turns out the guy had passed away. He was an alcoholic, and diabetic, and passed away a couple days after I picked up my stuff.
I had just sunk a little over $5000 into the car, so obviously fixing it at this point wasn't really possible. I basically put the car away for a while, going from storage unit to storage unit, then to a buddies garage that I was renting for a while. He wasn't using the garage at all, and I figured I might as well pay him instead of a storage facility right? I had lost interest in the car for a long time, and would do little things to it here and there over the course of a few years, but nothing major. I replaced some sheet metal, had the car media blasted, then slowly starting gaining interest in it again.
I had toyed with a few ideas here and there, and since it needed front frame rails, and shock towers anyways, I thought why not? I grafted on the front end of an 03' Mach 1 that my buddy bought that was totaled from the rear. I also picked up an IRS from an 03' Cobra that I modified to fit. I wish I had taken more pictures, because it didn't look half bad. I got it far enough to sit on all 4 wheels, but it was FAR from finished. I just started getting busy again, and I had just gotten engaged so the car was put on the back burner once again. This is how it sat-
I went off to Basic Training for the Army, so that I could go to school. Of course when I came back I was no longer engaged, so I had more time to spend on the car :banana:. I was having trouble finding direction with it though, until recently. I didn't want to have to do a bunch of custom fabrication to get the front end finished, so I decided to scrap the idea. Here's what I've got so far-
AJE front suspension
03 Cobra steering rack
03 Cobra based engine
TKO600 (was going to do a t56 Magnum, but I don't want to hack up my trans tunnel)
Baer 6 Piston 13" front brakes
03 Cobra IRS w/FTBR bushings
Mini tubbed rear
AFS 03 Mach 1 replica wheels, 17x9 + 17x10.5 staggered
04 Cobra seats w/dark suede inserts, or 03 Mach 1 seats (haven't made up my mind yet!)
There's a bunch of various things I will be doing over the next few months, and progress will likely be slow. I will update this thread as often as I feel there's enough progress to report!
Here's what I did over the last couple days-
New sheet metal-
Tear down-
First repairs-
Started prepping shock towers for the AJE setup-
AJE Colt 65 front suspension-
Can't wait to get more decent weather and time to get things done on this car. After I get the front squared away, the rear will be getting attention.
It started life as a bare-bones 1969 Mach 1, H code automatic car built in San Jose, CA. It had power steering, and manual drum brakes. As far as I know, the car has never left Northern California. I got the car in 2003, and it was in so-so shape. I picked it up for $8500, and drove it home. It had rust in the doors, cracked shock towers (one of which had been replaced previously), and worn out suspension, but I was 17 and didn't care because it was mine.
The first round of mods to the car were some Edelbrock Performer RPM heads and intake, a decent cam (don't remember the specs anymore), 650 Barry Grant carb and some longtubes. :rockon: The car ran pretty well for a couple months, but all the new parts proved to be too much for the bone stock shortblock, with unknown miles on it. This is where my troubles started.
The first person I took the car to slapped everything together, and it never really ran right. I should have known better, but I was 17 and hadn't yet learned the ways of the world. After it started losing oil pressure after putting 100 or so miles on it, I pulled the motor back out and took it back. Of course he tried to blame me, because I was 17 and he knew what he was doing, so I took my motor to someone else.
This guy was supposed to be "the BEST engine builder" in my area. Of course it was one of my good friends that was telling me this, so I thought I'd give him a try. I dropped the motor off, and didn't see it again for 9 months. Phone call after phone call was ignored, and he was never there when I came by. One day I did finally catch him, and he had just finished the shortblock. After some words were exchanged, I ended up taking my shortblock and all my parts home, where I finished assembling everything. I took my time, measured everything, and went by the book when assembling it. This time, it was 11:1 compression, balanced rotating assembly, same heads, bigger cam and a victor jr intake. I also swapped in a c4 w/3500 stall, 4.11's and a trak-lock center section to my 9" rear. I fired the car up, and went through the whole cam break in procedure. The car was running great, and I was finally starting to get excited about it again. I drove it around real easy for two weeks, and put around 150 miles on it before even trying to hammer the throttle.
One day after school I stopped to get some gas, with my dad in the car. I was pulling out of the station, and when I got the car pointing straight, I laid into the throttle. Tires smoking, the car had more power than ever. Until I shifted into 2nd gear... A loud BANG followed by a lot of metallic clattering was all I heard. I was heartbroken. Before the car even came rolling to a stop, I knew the motor was done. By sheer luck, a friend of mine that drove a tow truck saw me sitting there on the side of the road, and gave me a tow home. I had the motor out, and apart in less than two hours, and this is what I found-
The motor broke the top ring lands on 5 pistons, which was an automatic red flag. After some research, I found out that the pistons I had used (Keith Blacks) require different ring gaps for the top rings, which the mechanic that assembled the shortblock completely ignored. I was furious. The car spent 9 months with this guy, and all the money I threw at it was gone. First thing I did after all this, was show up at the guys house, and what do you know? His truck wasn't there. I kept going there every day for 2 weeks, and never saw him again. One day I drove by, and his son's car was in the driveway so I stopped. Turns out the guy had passed away. He was an alcoholic, and diabetic, and passed away a couple days after I picked up my stuff.
I had just sunk a little over $5000 into the car, so obviously fixing it at this point wasn't really possible. I basically put the car away for a while, going from storage unit to storage unit, then to a buddies garage that I was renting for a while. He wasn't using the garage at all, and I figured I might as well pay him instead of a storage facility right? I had lost interest in the car for a long time, and would do little things to it here and there over the course of a few years, but nothing major. I replaced some sheet metal, had the car media blasted, then slowly starting gaining interest in it again.
I had toyed with a few ideas here and there, and since it needed front frame rails, and shock towers anyways, I thought why not? I grafted on the front end of an 03' Mach 1 that my buddy bought that was totaled from the rear. I also picked up an IRS from an 03' Cobra that I modified to fit. I wish I had taken more pictures, because it didn't look half bad. I got it far enough to sit on all 4 wheels, but it was FAR from finished. I just started getting busy again, and I had just gotten engaged so the car was put on the back burner once again. This is how it sat-
I went off to Basic Training for the Army, so that I could go to school. Of course when I came back I was no longer engaged, so I had more time to spend on the car :banana:. I was having trouble finding direction with it though, until recently. I didn't want to have to do a bunch of custom fabrication to get the front end finished, so I decided to scrap the idea. Here's what I've got so far-
AJE front suspension
03 Cobra steering rack
03 Cobra based engine
TKO600 (was going to do a t56 Magnum, but I don't want to hack up my trans tunnel)
Baer 6 Piston 13" front brakes
03 Cobra IRS w/FTBR bushings
Mini tubbed rear
AFS 03 Mach 1 replica wheels, 17x9 + 17x10.5 staggered
04 Cobra seats w/dark suede inserts, or 03 Mach 1 seats (haven't made up my mind yet!)
There's a bunch of various things I will be doing over the next few months, and progress will likely be slow. I will update this thread as often as I feel there's enough progress to report!
Here's what I did over the last couple days-
New sheet metal-
Tear down-
First repairs-
Started prepping shock towers for the AJE setup-
AJE Colt 65 front suspension-
Can't wait to get more decent weather and time to get things done on this car. After I get the front squared away, the rear will be getting attention.
