1973 Mach 1 Rebuild

southern_boy

New Member
Apr 6, 2010
20
0
1
Texas
I'm working on a 1973 Mach 1 I bought back in September which hasn't been drivin since the 80s. I got it running Sunday, it runs as smooth as it can considering it has a cam in it. It has a 351 Cleveland. The trunk is rusted out of it, the gas tank was rotted out aswell. The rear fenders are rusted near the wheel wells, enough to where you can see daylight through them. The Floorpans are rusted through a bit, the previous owner apparently just patched it with a piece of steel under the floor pan underneath. The inner fender apron and battery box is rusted out as usual.

What can I do about the rusting in the rear quarter panels and the trunk? I am pretty sure the only thing I can do about the trunk is rebuild it with trunk pans and such. But what are my options for the rear quarters? I believe im also going to have to reskin the passenger door.
 
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I'm working on a 1973 Mach 1 I bought back in September which hasn't been drivin since the 80s. I got it running Sunday, it runs as smooth as it can considering it has a cam in it. It has a 351 Cleveland. The trunk is rusted out of it, the gas tank was rotted out aswell. The rear fenders are rusted near the wheel wells, enough to where you can see daylight through them. The Floorpans are rusted through a bit, the previous owner apparently just patched it with a piece of steel under the floor pan underneath. The inner fender apron and battery box is rusted out as usual.

What can I do about the rusting in the rear quarter panels and the trunk? I am pretty sure the only thing I can do about the trunk is rebuild it with trunk pans and such. But what are my options for the rear quarters? I believe im also going to have to reskin the passenger door.

Do you have any pictures? I haven't had to replace any body panels on my car, so I didn't go through the process of finding them (yet lol). As far as I know, 73 body panels are tough to come by. I google searched "73 mustang sheet metal" and there are actually quite a few vendors out there with them. Do you have a welder :)

This place seems to have a decent selection:
Bob's Ford Mustang Parts: Sheet Metal
Floor pans:
Mustang Parts Ford: Mustang Sheet Metal Parts,Mustang Floors Sheet Metal
 
Wow, dejavu. Sounds rather familiar. We went through pretty much all of that except the passenger side quarter had a huge dent too. We have pics here http://www.cardomain.com/ride/796631 We replaced the passenger quarter with one off of another car that we got from Ohio Mustang. He's about a day's drive (to/from) and we went and picked it up. We replaced the drivers side with a skin and outer wheelhouse. Just an FYI, repop parts rarely fit without "modification" (and some four letter words, lol). We had someone we know do some of the welding and repop "modifications", as well as the passenger side quarter replacement because he's a welder by trade. We did the driver's quarter, wheelhouse, fender aprons, rad support and passenger side shock tower. There's a video slideshow on youtube also: YouTube - Eleanors Story .

This is her now:

eleanor4.JPG
 
Wow, dejavu. Sounds rather familiar. We went through pretty much all of that except the passenger side quarter had a huge dent too. We have pics here http://www.cardomain.com/ride/796631 We replaced the passenger quarter with one off of another car that we got from Ohio Mustang. He's about a day's drive (to/from) and we went and picked it up. We replaced the drivers side with a skin and outer wheelhouse. Just an FYI, repop parts rarely fit without "modification" (and some four letter words, lol). We had someone we know do some of the welding and repop "modifications", as well as the passenger side quarter replacement because he's a welder by trade. We did the driver's quarter, wheelhouse, fender aprons, rad support and passenger side shock tower. There's a video slideshow on youtube also: YouTube - Eleanors Story .

This is her now:

eleanor4.JPG

Im going to try to do the body work myself. Gotta learn some how.
 
We would have done the same, except the passenger quarter was a full on replacement-not just a skin, but the wheelhouses, bracing and skin. I'll have to fin the pic I had of the replacement if it's not on the cardomain, it was literally cut off the donor car with a sawzall. He also did the torque boxes, because they had to be bent and made custom. I don't know if they sell them now, but when we did ours we they didn't.