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1970 Ford Mustang - Fundamental FixesProject High School Hauler sees reliability improvements for street and track From the May, 2011 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan
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A complete Pertronix ignition... A complete Pertronix ignition system is just the tip of the iceberg when it came to getting this ’70 coupe reliable for road use. We’ll be installing the Pertronix Ignitor III billet distributor (PN D7130700, $295.32), Flame Thrower E-core coil (PN 60103, $72.95), and cut-to-fit 8mm black plug wires with 115-degree boots (PN 808215, $62.54), but first we need to stop the overheating! We introduced you to our ’70 Mustang coupe project last month with an overview of some of the Mustang’s short comings and immediate issues. We also laid out a rough plan of what we want to do to the 40-year-old car to make it a fun and capable street car that can hold its own at the dragstrip, without going overboard and making it a dedicated track car that requires support equipment, a trailer, and so forth; all things way out of our budget. So the first thing on our agenda, before we move forward with power upgrades, suspension, and other goodies, is to get the car to simply run right and be reliable. Right now, the ignition system has a draw (constant voltage to the coil even with the key off), which prevents the car from shutting off. Nothing like having to open the hood and choke the carb or yank the coil wire to get your Mustang to shut off! We also have an electric fuel pump that needs to be rewired, a cracked fan shroud, and a leaking radiator to tackle. First up is the cooling system. As embarrassing as it is to raise the hood and yank the coil wire, it’s more embarrassing to be overheating and blowing steam everywhere, not to mention the car won’t get very far overheating. So, we’ll be yanking the radiator of unknown origin and replacing it with a direct-fit aluminum radiator from the specialists at Champion Cooling Systems. We’ll also add a nice aluminum shroud and electric fan. This will ensure we’re always moving air across the core when needed, shave a few pounds off the nose of the car, save some horsepower, and get rid of the sketchy flex fan. Next on the list is fixing the ignition system. The distributor is original, with a non-working vacuum advance, and still carrying antiquated points triggering under the cap. The coil is an MSD Blaster, which isn’t a bad piece, but again, we have no idea of its age or its current output. So, Pertronix came to the rescue with one of its drop-in, billet Igniter III-based distributors. This is like cramming one of those ignition boxes into a shrinking machine and putting it under the distributor cap. You get multi-strike ignition, full digital control, and a rev limiter, all in one sweet-looking piece of hardware. We’ll add a matching coil and new plug wires, too, to get our spark back up to snuff. Finally, the Holley electric fuel pump will be rewired to power through a relay properly, and to be controlled by an ignition-switched circuit. As it stands right now, it is wired directly to the battery and you have to disconnect the battery or the pump’s wiring to shut it off. In the end, our ’70 coupe will start and run better, hopefully make a little more power, and from now on, the only time we’ll have to raise the hood is if someone wants to see the engine.  [1] Our cooling system has...  [1] Our cooling system has seen better days as well. Not only do we have a leaking core (note the green crud at the top of the radiator), but we also have a broken fan shroud and a noisy flex fan.  [2] We’ll tackle the radiator...  [2] We’ll tackle the radiator swap with this aluminum high-flow direct replacement unit from Champion Cooling Systems. We picked it up from Mustangs Unlimited under PN 339EC-01 for $159.95.  [3] Lucky for us, the ’70...  [3] Lucky for us, the ’70 has no A/C, so the radiator easily unbolts with just four fasteners after draining the coolant and disconnecting the two transmission cooler lines.  [4] The new Champion unit...  [4] The new Champion unit bolts right in and all hoses/cooler lines connect right up with no fabrication. You might notice that the radiator swap occurred at a remote shop location. The leak was so bad we couldn’t even drive the car back to our own shop.  [5] Once back at our own shop,...  [5] Once back at our own shop, we continued with the rest of the cooling upgrades. First, the busted fan shroud is cut away from the new aluminum radiator…then the throwback-to-the-’70s flex fan is unbolted from the water pump hub.  [5] Once back at our own shop,...  [5] Once back at our own shop, we continued with the rest of the cooling upgrades. First, the busted fan shroud is cut away from the new aluminum radiator…then the throwback-to-the-’70s flex fan is unbolted from the water pump hub.  [6] For cooling, we went with...  [6] For cooling, we went with Champion’s matching aluminum fan shroud and electric fan combo, also from Mustangs Unlimited. The 16-inch electric fan and polished shroud setup (PN FS251-01) runs $169.95. Unfortunately, the depth of the two together tried to occupy the same space as our water pump pulley, so it was time for Plan B.  [7] Plan B was to direct-mount...  [7] Plan B was to direct-mount the fan without the shroud. We’d lose just a little cooling efficiency, since the fan would only cover about 90 percent of the core, but we didn’t think there’d be an issue mounting it as such. A test fit showed we’d be fine.  [8] Before mounting the fan,...  [8] Before mounting the fan, we picked up four replacement pulley bolts to secure our water pump pulley. Reusing the stock bolts was not an option, as their length would interfere with the water pump housing.  [8] Before mounting the fan,...  [8] Before mounting the fan, we picked up four replacement pulley bolts to secure our water pump pulley. Reusing the stock bolts was not an option, as their length would interfere with the water pump housing.  [9] The supplied fan attachment...  [9] The supplied fan attachment kit includes four mounting ears, mounting pads, and mounting straps that work like a zip tie. We positioned the fan with its flat edge against the lower radiator tank and then placed the fan straps through the mounting ears installed on the fan.  [10] Once through the radiator...  [10] Once through the radiator core, the mounting pad and locking clip were slid down the strap to secure the fan to the radiator and the excess strap was cut off.  [11] To control the electric...  [11] To control the electric fan, we used a Painless Performance Fan-Thom II fan relay kit with a 185-degree thermostatic switch. PN 30103, the Painless kit includes a relay, temperature switch, circuit breaker, wiring, and terminals for $82.77.  [12] While installing the...  [12] While installing the temperature switch in the thermostat housing would have been best, we didn’t have a housing with a pre-existing threaded opening, and since our ’70 is sans-heater, we simply removed the plug in the intake manifold and installed the switch there for now.  [13] The wiring is quite simple...  [13] The wiring is quite simple and is labeled for easy installation. You’ll need to find a key-switched power lead to trigger the relay and we used the green/red stripe wire at the voltage regulator for that job. Don’t forget when connecting the fan power and ground leads to verify the airflow direction of the fan, and reverse the wiring if needed. Also, zip-tie the fan leads to the fan housing to keep them away from moving engine parts.
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