New guy on deployment

Looks like it'll take days just to blow out all the dust. You should have no trouble with the obvious stuff, the missing wires would have been replaced anyway, along with the belts and hoses. The missing AC stuff should be no problem.

As for "modernize", all you really need, if you feel like it, is a Pertronix I electronic conversion. The rest should be quite easy and reliable, no need to reinvent the wheel.
Get the Ford Shop Manual, it'll pay for itself every time you use it.

Is the hood just off, or missing? The flat hood would need to be a used item, but the repro scoop hood is excellent. I'd go with that. You could even get the functional "ram air" to go with it.

auron said:

Its got the original ram air off to the side, I was thinking set up those HID headlights cause I would have to get some anyways along with digital guadges, the progressive blinkers like the newer gts use, 4-wheel disk and the rack and pinion stearing and maybe an overdrive transmission further on down the road.

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Hmmm… Actual ram air in 73 was quite rare, available only on 351 2V cars, which of course your H code is. The air cleaner shown on your engine is totally useless with ram air, of course. Do you have the ram air air cleaner someplace?

Why do you "need" HID headlights? Doable, of course, but you'll need to get or make a relay setup to power them, the factory headlight switch cannot take the load. Drake has an easy snap-in kit for this.

I would not alter the gauges. You already have the rare full-instrument analog cluster. Digital readouts look really groovy at cruise night, but they really suck for hard driving. You see, your peripheral vision can see the needles, so you can tell the condition without "reading" them. With digital gauges, you have to actually take your eyes off the road, and read the indication. Ask any pilot. We had all the engine gauges turned in our aircraft so that the needles were straight out to the side when normal. Some of them were upside down to achieve this.

Four wheel disc is an indulgence. Your mach1 probably already has front disc. Adding disc to the rear will give a 2¢ improvement in braking, at a cost of at least $600. You could compete in club racing with the stock brakes. Heck, these cars were raced professionally with rear drums-

Auron,
It sounds like you are looking for, or at least open to some opinions, so here are a few:

A>A GOOD headlight relay setup is a good idea all the way around, considering that the nearly 40 year old wiring/headlamp switch (which has almost certainly deteriorated a bit by now) was barely adequate for the original style headlamps, and a definite requirement for even modern halogen lamps. Once you have a sufficiently robust relay system, whatever way you want to go for headlamps is up to you.

B>Your gauge/instrument setup/package is already just about the coolest of the lot for that year, so stick with it, make it all work correctly and spend the corresponding saving$ on other more critical and/or fun/cosmetic/go fast issues.

C>I personally feel that a rack & pinion setup is money and hassle poorly spent in this car. You already have the benefit, in that year, of an integral power steering box (that could be tricked out a bit if desired) and the only real gains notnice from a rack & pinion will be added header clearance issues, wider turning radius and added hassle/expen$e. You could do a WHOLE BUNCH of the many, many available suspension/steering/handling upgrades for the price and aggravation of the R&P and still have $$$ left over, giving you a lot more bang for your buck.

D>Switching to a stick is, IMHO, a definite addition in the "FUN FACTOR" zone! Seriously do your research before diving into this! Once you have the pedals swapped (pretty easy stuff) and decide whether to use cable, Z-bar linkage or hydraulic (my preference) for actuation, a T5 is pretty much a bolt in with few issues, a beefier Tremec is not too tough and may or may not require transmission tunnel mods/massaging, in your year and a T56 (which I believe is much less sturdy than the Tremec) will likely present the most fitment issues.

From the pics, I see there are already headers on the car, which leads one to suspect there may be other mods to the engine (possible cam/valve train, etc) so I would get it running as well as is possible with what is currently there for an engine and as long as the engine runs well, drive it like that through your other mods and THEN decide what improvements in performance are applicable for your use/driving.
Just My Thoughts,
Gene

Where are you deployed to?

auron said:

I just figured that I would go with as bright a set that I could think of cause the majority of miles drinen would be the long stretches of texas highway in between towns at night. The the ram air air cleaner was replaced a while ago by the p/o and is the complete gadge set truly rare? learn something new every day. what should I do for upgrades to the engine to get a good amount of horse power around the same range as the cobra jets of a few years prior to the epa castraiting the mustang?



Edit: I've read on people using the t-5 as a good manual od tranny but how about the t-56 6 speed w/ double overdrive would that work better for power handling / highway milage if so best way to convert it from an auto (c-4 or c-6?)

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I can see where rural TX might be a challenge for stock headlights.

The ram air air cleaner is available new. Does the hood still have the plenum and flapper valves in it?

Cobra Jet performance would require getting the CJ cam, and of course the 4V heads with the huge valves and ports. Can get expensive real fast. At low and medium speeds, though, the smaller valve/port setup of the H code 2V is actually more responsive and peppy. max out the tuning on the engine as is before making that commitment.

Be sure to use a World Class T5 if you go that route, that's pretty close to the torque limit of the T5.

Back from Africa, in Kuwait..I'm an AMC frequent flier......

auron said:

the flappers are gone ATM you look off to the side in one of the pics you can see the hood

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Ah, good eye, I had to follow the link to catch it. But I'll take a contrary view. Unless there is evidence that a plenum was once installed, I'm betting it never had ram air. Probably less than 10% of the scoop hoods had it, and since only the 2V could order it in 73, not many people cared about ram air on a 351 2V with single exhaust. You seem to be missing the scoop insert as well, but that's available new. The vast majority of scoop hoods had black honeycomb block plates inside the scoop. You can get these, too, if you don't want to spend the cash for ram air.

The H code came with single exhaust, even on a mach1. Naturally, people added duals like crazy to any V8 Mustang.

Ford may still be doing their info program, but if not, you'll have to pay Marti a few bucks.

As previously mentioned, get it running and see what you have to start with, and go from there. Where are you at state side? There may be somebody near by that can help you with the car...

If you post up the door data stuff, we can probably decode it from here...

auron,
If you go to a boneyard, the later the year the better! Check this link:

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/Detailed/349.shtml

and read this:

http://www.moderndriveline.com/Technical_Bits/t5_history.htm

If there's no tag on the trans, it's a crap shoot as to what it is and/or has likely been messed with. I have the "199" suffixed unit and while it shifts quite well, is sturdy and in perfect, like new condition, I'm a little bit less than thrilled with the wide 1st-2nd gear ratio split. All that said, if you get the trans, the best way to go, IMHO, is to also get/use the late model bell housing, block to bell housing plate and a flywheel for your engine's balance factor that will accept the later diaphragm style clutch. You will also need a T5 swap crossmember and may or may not need to shorten/modify driveshaft and/or change the slip yoke. You'll need to get manual trans clutch & brake pedals (if 73 works the same as the 70 & earlier, you should only need the pedals and the support should be the same) and work out your actuation. Again, my first choice would be hydraulic. Modern Driveline makes a slick master setup:

http://www.moderndriveline.com/catalog/hydraulic_masters.htm

and although they don't list one for your year, I'm certain that they can fix you up/modify/spec one for your application. I personally am not fond of their style slave setup. I designed a much better/cheaper mousetrap for the slave end and can help you out with it when you are ready. The only other issues that I would address would be to install a new clutch fork and pivot stud in the bell housing, $50-$60-ish and swap the OEM aluminum front bearing retainer (the piece that the throw out bearing slides on) for an after market steel sleeved unit, $35-$50-ish. Also wouldn't hurt to take the trans to a good shop to have them open it up, inspect and refresh anything necessary. And, depending on your rear end gearing, you may need to swap the gears to make 5th gear useful. When you're ready to start purchasing stuff, we'll be here to help with spec-ing/sourcing what you need.
After saying all that, about the best T5 you can get would be a new aftermarket Z-spec if you've got the $$$$.
Just My $.02, or Maybe $.03-$.04,
Gene

And, Oh Yeah, Thanks To You For Your Service And To Your Fellow Service Members Who Put Their Lives In Harm's Way.