We say this to our friends as a joke or light hearted banter. I have had it said to me many times and we laugh it off. Aussie’s are always taking the micky out of each other.
The Man has an Incredible Garage, Great Employees, Loyal Viewers, a Hell Cat Challenger and a U Code Challenger. Most importantly, Nick has a Good Heart. Thank You for all you do Sir.
I am the proud second owner, bought brand new by my father a 1970 Ford Torino GT, with the 351c 4bbl and FMX trans,3.00 rear, shaker hood. In my opinion there’s no other muscle car that quite had the looks like this did.
That era of Ford is my favorite. That one is a beauty. They were amazing straight from factory and should be kept as close to factory original as possible for every reason there is. Great advice for anyone Nick! Great video!
I had a 70 GT with a 429 Cobra Jet. Mine was pretty well stock I loved it. Had it from 88-97 and guys in Corvettes of those years would pull up next to me and get the surprise of their lives. Was a great car to go cruising in. Love seeing you tear this one down and explain everything about it. I went with electronic ignition and a bigger coil and caused a lot of other issues.
Hey Nick, I totally agree with you on people who just modify things just for the sake of modifying it. They have no idea in most cases, they actually don’t know why they are doing it. They just copy others who don’t know what they are doing and then tell everyone it works great to justify the huge amount of money they have wasted. Street cars are not race cars. You have to build an engine or a complete car to suit the purpose you intended to use it. No good building a race car for the street, they are just too unreliable in every way. There are too many automotive TH-cam channels pushing products that are totally unnecessary and super expensive for street cars and the people who don’t know any better are lapping it up, with in many cases, having a negative effect to what they were looking for. Keep up the great work mate. Jason from Australia.
Nick, we all have muscle cars way back! my best friend had a 100% stock 69 428 CJ Mach 1 Mustang. he bought it used in 1979 with 29,000 on it for $750 ;). he took it out on the hi-way once and he wind it out just as fast as it would go and he held it. I told him not to do that because it would blow up. well. some 3 or 4 days later he did it again and he blew it up. he put a rod threw the side of the block. we took the engine apart. I was the one that pulled the cam out. when I pulled the cam out only the first 2 journals came out, the rest of the cam stayed in the block. boy he really blew it up good. well he fond another 428 and had it rebuilt, but it was not as fast as the stock engine. you have a great channel Nick! keep it going.
Some of the best advice I've heard in a long time. Keep things simple and stock for the most part! All these mod's & aftermarket parts do almost nothing & in the long run in many cases make the car run & drive worse than before you spent all that money. Then when you have a backyard shade tree guy do the installations things can get really screwed up in one heck of a hurry! Keep up the good work Nick & try to convince the Torino owner to trust you and let you bring that car back to it's glory days, if he bought it new, he has more than a little gray hair and will appreciate having his car done the right way.
EXACTLY !! Why would any one want to upgrade or update a 70' 429 Cobra? Unless you want to try some Alan Root Aluminum Heads. Can you say FORD HEMI???? Interested, I could show you probably the baddest 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback known to man, & it's all Ford.
Thanks Nick. Very good advice. If it's not broke, don't fix (break) it. You brought back many memories with this video. I owned a '70 429 Torino. I loved hearing the sound of the exhaust. Ford built these to be driven. The factory kept it simple for a reason. My friend used to say he wanted to show how much his car could take. I remember my Dad saying as we did repairs, "You just showed me how much your car couldn't take." Leave them alone, respect them, drive them, and enjoy them. Take care Nick, stay well and tell it like it is.
Nick, you are a legend. Doesn't matter the year, stock is the only way to go. What I like is the fact you're willing to tell it like it is and share your wealth of knowledge.
Nick, my wife and I watch you all the time. What a wonderful show you have. Your kindness touches us every time we watch. Thank you for this quality show! Greetings from Victoria BC Canada
When I was 23 I picked up a 1963 Vette. I rebuilt the engine high performance, TRW pistons, Balanced, Huge Cam, Headers, 9 qt oil pan, 205 heads, Cragar wheels and running a Tunnel Ram out the hood with a dual quad set up....cool huh?...If I left it stock I could have paid off my house with the value of it being stock. If we only knew then what we know now.
Unless someone like me comes around I'd rather have the hotrod when there done right many others like me to although I do appreciate cars like the Ford that are stock
That Torino dash shot sent me for a loop! My dad had a ‘70 Ranch wagon with same view of steering wheel and upper dash also in black. When I saw it I just said Oh dad! He’s been gone 9 years but a real nice flash back just the same. Hats why I always look forward to each new video. Always something awesome at Nick’s!
Hey Nick. Glad to see you safe. I wrenched a bit with my Dad growing up. He was always working on other people's vehicles. He never made any money to speak of. He basically just charged people for what it cost for parts lol. Mom used to get mad at him. It was just his passion. He built and raced stock cars and snowmobiles too.He was also one of the only diesel mechanics around and was in high demand. I raced a little here and there but was more into tractor pulling. I love your channel. I have always been a diehard Mopar guy. God Bless you and yours.
A lot of people do things to cars because they do not have someone like Nick in their life to remind them of how the car was enjoyed, ran, and looked when it came right from the factory. Factory condition repairs stand the test of time, hold their value, and are enjoyed by more people. Everyone knows what factory condition is when they see it, but not everyone can see what their car needs to be restored to factory condition. Thankfully, we have Nick's Garage! What a beautiful car! Love it!
Nick! You treat all muscle cars the same! Ford,Chevrolet, Mopar. You enjoy working on them all equally. And it shows! I enjoy seeing the rare cars as well! Thank you Nick! George! Vacili! Manny! And all the crew!
I'm a Ford guy, but I respect many Chevys & Mopars...& have MAD RESPECT for Nick's knowledge & work ethic...so it makes me smile wide when Nick does a Ford like this...not that he would give anything less than his best...but thanks for sharing knowledge & just being a great guy Nick! Keep the great videos coming Nick!
I agree 100% with Nick. Keep it simple! The way it came from the factory is the right way. Example: I hate seeing muscle cars (cruising cars) with big wheels with low profile tires... it kills the look of the car.
Life-long chevy fan here. But no longer. Never been a ford or mopar fan. Won't take anything at all from them, just not a fan. I am, however, a big Nick fan. Would love to work for/with him. A real genius that speaks to hot riders everywhere. No BS, just the facts. Nick, you da man. Truer words never spoken. Thank you for being there for motorheads everywhere. And humble. Rare combo. Please carry on!!
I love the old 429, Years ago I put one in my 1975 Ford F250 pickup out of a 1970 T bird. I had a lot of trouble getting it to run on pump Gas. The motor has a eleven to one compression and in 1970 100 octane fuel was available at any gas station but when every thing went to unleaded 91 was all we could get. I found a old Ford tech and he told me to remove the heads and shave the sharp edge off the squish band at the edge of the combustion chamber and it would help because the sharp edge gets hot and causes preignition. I did and it helped a lot as long as I could get 95 octane fuel leaded fuel but when California outlawed that I found a guy with a Distributor machine and was able to recurve the timing and played with initial lead timing and finally got her to run good. I installed headers kept the stock intake but put a AFB carb and that truck would do 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. I drove that Ford truck for years and loved every minute of it. The truck originally came with a 390 and in 1975 was the start of the smog engines and it couldn't get out of its own way.
Great, Nick-my opinion exactly. We are restoring an 89 Ford Crown Vick station wagon with a 302 that came fuel-injected. The engine was leaking fuel from a myriad of hoses under the fuel injection unit. I tore all that out and changed the engine back to carburetor. It works perfectly now, and NO LEAKS. Somebody had the big idea to change the tried-and-true 302 over to fuel injection, which was stupid.
to think my dad bought one back in 76 off his highschool autobody teacher while still in school...1970 ford torino cobra jet with the drag pack auto shaker and was red....my god it was beautiful sadly sat in a field for years and when i became aware he still had it was shortly sold :(
Unless you're doing 7 grand shifts all the time, breaker point ignition works just fine for everyday driving. I had points ignition for my 72 Torino Sport Fastback with a 351 Cleveland and had no problems what so ever in over 240,000 plus miles. Just do your tune ups as scheduled. Cast iron man. are heavy pieces. I ported and polished and match ported it to the heads which were done the same and a good police cam installed. Good idle and lots if power all the way across the rpm range. Great video Nick. Love all the stuff coming into the shop.
Beautiful Car! Thank you for touching on the subject that the charging system needs to be beefed up. Seen too many classic cars with updated electrical and the charging system is neglected.
Also ,The ultimate street aluminum intake for the 429 SCJ or CJ is the Ford Power Parts Dual plane manifold . Good luck finding that one ! I have a 429 SCJ 4 bolt main with that intake in my stash, under my bench. It came out of a jet boat. One day that motor needs to go back into a Cobra Torino like it came out of....
Had that same problem with a non-altered ignition and the regulator. Friends '69 Galaxie we picked up after new points, plugs, oil change. Took our wives to a state park camping/drinking. His car didn't turn off. Turn key off, everything died but the engine, even take the key out. I popped the hood, removed one of the little wires on the solenoid, going to the coil. Died. Next morning we went for coffee at the marina and I asked when did you put the solenoid wire back on, thought I was up before you. He hadn't, popped the hood and there it dangled. After working on everything for a couple of days changing the regulator and it was back to normal. Don't know why, just forgot about it. Great community you've built with this channel Nick. Love it, love your content!
My mom had her fair share of Torino's and Amx's but one of her favorites was her 1968 Ford Fairlane with a factory 428 cobrajet it was also a fastback!
@@philsmidwestclassiccars150 Yeah, she said when you hammered it you could watch the gas gauge move as fast as the speedometer! She also had a 68 GTX convertible at one point.
Nick, I asked my dad what he thought of oil additives that were around back in the 70's. I was thinking about using some in my 1970 Chevelle. He said, "if that 'crap' was any good, they would've put it in at the factory." I've been a stock man all my life since.
Good advice Nic on all accounts. I did a few things to my Road Runner 69-383 and when it all shook out the only thing that worked was putting an aluminum de clutching fan on the engine. I was when power shifting spinning the seal out of the water pump on the old steel fan. I tried dual point distributor but then had to play with springs to get it to advance quicker. I put a set of Mickey Thompsons on the rear put they threw the car out of balance. I really couldn't afford to play with intakes and carbs-just kept the AVS clean and the motor tuned. Dwell was so important. Keep up the great work Nick
You got the best viewer's because you earned the respect of each one, one at a time. Thanks for being such a great guy. Staff included. Great channel 👍👍👍
Great Video - In high school my friends Dad had a 70 429 cobra Ranchero.Yellow with black stripes, shaker hood,automatic trans,AC car.We used to go street race it on weekends.That car never lost a race.
Thank you Nick, young people should watch this video and learn. Street cars are NOT race cars. As a young man back in the mid-1960s I bought my first nearly new 1966 Chevelle with a 327 and 4 speed transmission. It was a nice car and looking back I should have just leave well enough alone. Was not long and the improving began :( . Well it needed a set of headers a BIG solid lifter cam and a clutch that really made my left leg get a real workout in city driving. I may have not made it much faster than stock but I knew it all LOL. I enjoy all of your videos and I did have a Road Runner 1969 and kept it factory stock. I now drive practical cars and still do my own service work. Again thank you very much for your words of wisdom. Nick stay safe and I look forward to your videos.
Great topic today Nick. I have often been critical of friends who make modifications just for the sake of modifying things,thinking They are making their car better When in fact they are creating problems. I have always been a believer that it is hard to beat the factory engineers.
My friend from highschool has the same thing all original in his garage and he starts it biweekly or at the least weekly. Has had it since 1982 , Bought a brand spanking new BDS blower for it and it sits on his mantle collecting dust since 1987! Great evening to you and your family/crew Nick! God bless and keep safe.
Fantastic. Love the Torino, had a 68 Mustang GT 428 Super Cobra Jet, 4 speed toploader 430 rear gears .It was a stoplight Monster .Raced at the same illegal airport strip as Nick and his racer buddies did back in the early 70s . Had confirmation on this from Nick a while back. Nick is Canada s Mopar King, but he loves everything ...Like and Share ...
had a guy tell the engineers spent millions of dollars making a car run properly and people come along and think a cam alone will make it better. Words worth lisenting too, thanks Nick!
Good morning, Nick and company! That 429 CJ was similar to the 429 Police Interceptor of the same years. These were very popular with young police officers of that time period!
You talked about dropping cars. I used to work in a European repair shop. The young guys love the lowered springs on their Golfs. The vw golfs come with cast aluminum oil pans. Those oil pans love the judder bars (humps) in car parks. I've replaced at least 3 oil pans. The only good thing about doing the job is that we clean the pick up screen while the pans off and it gets fresh oil. LOL Thanks for your great videos. I was sorry to hear of the shooting tragedy in Canada too. I came through a little town in Oregon, while on vacation from New Zealand in 2015 . it was 3 weeks after the school shooting there. Roseberg, OR. A nice farm supply town with decent people who didn't deserve what happened there either. You'll end with the shakes from all that coffee. That looks like a good selection.
I agree with you Nick about keeping things simple and not straying too far from original factory engineering. Thank you for another great video and sharing your wisdom!
Oh, I think it depends on the car/specs. Something like this Torino, sure there's a hell of a lot of value in keeping it as close to original as possible. But that Dart with a slant 6? Probably not so much...
I’ve seen this guys videos pop up in my recommended and I assumed he was a quality mechanic but this video proves it he’s just another one of those guys who starts at one end and replaces parts till he gets to the right one very happy to spend someone else’s money it would’ve taken about three minutes to test that ignition switch Nick get some skills
Really glad you explained your view on keeping things factory I love 70 Torinos and was just about to make an early comment about who the hell has been working on that car thinking to say almost exactly what you said but with extreme sarcasm.your the best Nick.thanks
Amen nick My grandfather's buddies always gave him Compliments on His Chevelle when it never breaks down his secret keep it simple thanks nick for the Great content Much love from Oklahoma
I've lots of personal interests/hobbies, Guitars, Firearms and Muscle Cars. That said I watch many TH-cam videos however rarely will I ever watch any video over 10 to 15 minutes, except for Nick's Garage. It must be Nick and his personality and vast knowledge as I find myself watching all of these videos from start to finish. Thank You Sir, great content.
My son is a mechanic at a dealership, one of his jobs is installing lift kits and wheels on brand new trucks that come in, those truck more often then not are the comes coming back in with transmission and axle issues because people buy them and drive them on the street, and many don’t understand those lifted trucks don’t have the same warranty as regular stock trucks.
All a waste of money and very hard on the entire engineering that went into those trucks from the factory. Some folks should just stick to tattoo parlors with their spare time.
That's funny. I work at a major used car dealer and we have to take the lift kits off of used vehicles. Sometimes it's a real pain to take them off as the upper control arm contacts the shock etc.
You are SO RIGHT about modifications we commit on our cars! I probably will never forget what I did to my '65 Mustang, looking for more power. It came with the 271HP 289. Didn't mess with the valve covers, as they were chrome from the factory, but I did pull the OEM Holly 4 barrel, and installed an Edelbrock intake with two AFB carbs. To my chagrin, it didn't seem to run as well. After much consternation, I was convinced that I didn't have enough cam for the setup. So, I bought an Isky 302 hydraulic cam and kit, replacing the original; sold lifter setup, expecting to lose my lumpy idle. I didn't. And, it ran much better for it. A bit better than stock, perhaps. Later changed the rear to 3.80:1 gears. Much better. Traded it in on a new '67 with the 390 engine, and had learned my lesson (sorta).
Had a 72' buick skylark 350 gs ,same problem frieken voltage regulator.Release springs were weak so when de-energized the contacts wouldn't stop feeding voltage.Being the ignition switch powers the ignition coil,field winding from the regulator,to the alt,and other accessories. Cheers Mr.Nick .
I couldn't agree more Nick ! simplicity works for me and you can have more than enough fun on the street ! make the car stop great and do a burn out every now and then doesn't take much. my example is I just recently upgraded to front disc and rebuilt the front end along with heavy duty sway bar of my 64 chevy and I love the brakes but I tell myself I could of saved some money and just used the stock sway bar. people tend to waist time and money on parts they'll never use or use it the way it was intended... and you're an honest man being in the repair business... you could easily tell people you need this and that but you're honest !! enjoy all that coffee WOW !! stay safe and cool effects at the end George !!
I may only be 16, but these '70-'71 Torinos are pretty much my dream car, and have been pretty much since i first saw one. And i would keep it just the way it was when it rolled off the assembly line.
The curse of the Ford voltage regulator! I them and starter solenoid ANY time I do any work on the charging system, batt., alternator, anything. I learned that lesson after my bronco tried to start all by itself and started driving across a parking lot. I was a 100ft away with the kys in my pocket!
@ Nicks Garage This video on stock rocks is perfect and 19 years late for me. I had a lot of problems with my 74' Javelin/AMX, my 76' Cherokee S and eventually my 93' G20 A-Team Van Clone. Mainly because I put so many race parts on them, butchered the wiring, steep gears, single plane intakes, big holley carbs, electric fuel pumps, batteries in the trunk, big cams, headers, unilug 15x10 wheels etc. I'm now a big fan of stock rocks and buying a project that performs stock the way you like it. Even race cars that start out race cars like Drag Pack Challengers, Hellcats, or 392 cars out perform cars with major mods and are less difficult to maintain and race more reliably. That's why I'm building my 70' 440 motor to stock HP specs. Thanks for your experienced feedback!
Here's a few mods that will drive the Ford guys nuts !!! Charging system can be simplified by adding a jumped off single wire high capacity Chevy Alternator . A few strokes of a file and it fits right up . Second is the Distrubter. A friend with a lathe and welder can mate the Chevy coil top distrubter to the Ford bottom assinating the govoner's 55 mph care taken for higth. And get the good drive shaft so it doesn't twist . I was having carb an milage problems. A 2x to 4x carb adapter a 1"spacer with an Edelbrock carb with the tiny primarys an huge secondarys . Mileage doubled as did power . For a portable house 14 mpg ain't bad . And acceleration to surprise you !!! Thanks Nick ...
Nick I am a little older than you but I had the same problem 40 years ago because we had a fleet of 6 cylinder Torino's and yes it was the voltage regulator because it runs throughh the ignition circuit funny how history repeats it self .
A young beemer "driver" had me set up his front to "track settings", 0 toe and 2 degrees camber, wanted 2 degrerss rear camber too - he came back and said it was turning too quick twitchy as hell! The boy can really drive though and wish he had a chance to really test at a circuit - of course it was reset to factory PDQ
camber and toe work together, change one you have to change the other. 2 degrees camber means the wheel is trying to roll away from centre line. must have toe in to compensate. Negative camber requires toe out!
the automobile is man's greatest invention. affordable, large variety, different fuel types and an aftermarket designed to customize to suit personal taste. everyone wants to shine...
Yay, Number One! Hi Nick, loving you videos. Thanks to you and George and the rest of your staff for taking the time to post. Look after yourselves chaps.👍
Thanks for sharing! I inherited a Chrysler 300. Never did hard-driving with it. I always thought of it as a luxury car. It did have power though. And I guess it would be called a boat nowadays. It was huge. Stay healthy Nick!
Good morning Nick from the uk, I have exactly the same switch off problem with my 302 Ford since I fitted a new alternator with an internal regulator... This has given me some ideas 😀
Converted a 62 Nova from a 4 banger to V8. Added an alternator in place of the generator. When I turned off the ignition switch the instrument panel warning lights would remain on eventually would go out. Solid state regulator. Had to do with polarizing the regulator.
Nice green paint on the Torino. I went through a similar situation on a '77 Ford truck bought at an insurance auction in Az. The truck would go about 1/2 mile and then it would die. It would restart and run for another 1/2 mile. Replaced just about everything and found the problem when I went to change the engine wiring harness. There was a switch under the dash that broke a circuit in the electronic ignition module. You break that one wire and it will run and die shortly after.
I did a comment about this engine and it was deleted instantly. I drag raced a 70 Torino Cobra with a 429 scj back in the early 70's. I know this engine inside out. My Torino weighed 3884 lbs. Push rods pat number is DOOZ 6565B. Lol. I am near 70 years old now.
I agree with you Nick about leaving the cars alone. When you start poking around and looking at how the factory co-ordinated everything together on any vehicle you soon realize there was a lot of thought and engineering put into the building of Muscle Cars.
I drove by today leaving some rubber and smoke , street was looking naked with no rubber on the road . love that Torino I like keeping it stock looking with a few upgrades to make it more reliable if it is a street car If it is to be raced go to it , but keep the parts so it can be brought back to stock . Thanks and good luck to all
How true ,keep it simple. I played with suspension so many times and always sway bars really make a massive difference. My old Aussie Mopar will easily out handle my moder crap. The reason I love these old cars is the simplicity and any long distances especially in the out back of Australia they can be fixed . Nothing beats a carburetor.
I really liked this video and a huge thumbs up. I'm a licensed auto Tech in Alberta and I tip my hat to you, you are a wealth of knowledge and that's really cool to see, very rare actually. You went above and beyond on the Torino and took the time to do it right. Everybody, please take a moment to understand the level that Nick is at and anybody who apprentices under him is lucky.
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What I meant was, do it right, or do not do it at all.
Amen brother
We know what ya mean Old Car Master!
I heard my father and his friends say that 1 million times pounded into me!
Thank you Nick!
We say this to our friends as a joke or light hearted banter. I have had it said to me many times and we laugh it off. Aussie’s are always taking the micky out of each other.
The Man has an Incredible Garage, Great Employees, Loyal Viewers, a Hell Cat Challenger and a U Code Challenger. Most importantly, Nick has a Good Heart. Thank You for all you do Sir.
I agree with all you said here and like to add ...he is blessed
I watched it 4 years ago and I'm watching it again. Thanks for the good videos I can watch over and over for years Nick .✌
Appreciate you watching! Glad you enjoy them.
I am the proud second owner, bought brand new by my father a 1970 Ford Torino GT, with the 351c 4bbl and FMX trans,3.00 rear, shaker hood. In my opinion there’s no other muscle car that quite had the looks like this did.
What about the 69 Mercury Cougars? They are quite unique
That era of Ford is my favorite. That one is a beauty. They were amazing straight from factory and should be kept as close to factory original as possible for every reason there is. Great advice for anyone Nick! Great video!
agree 100
'71 Ranchero with that engine. Fun beast!
I had a 70 GT with a 429 Cobra Jet. Mine was pretty well stock I loved it. Had it from 88-97 and guys in Corvettes of those years would pull up next to me and get the surprise of their lives. Was a great car to go cruising in. Love seeing you tear this one down and explain everything about it. I went with electronic ignition and a bigger coil and caused a lot of other issues.
Hey Nick, I totally agree with you on people who just modify things just for the sake of modifying it. They have no idea in most cases, they actually don’t know why they are doing it. They just copy others who don’t know what they are doing and then tell everyone it works great to justify the huge amount of money they have wasted. Street cars are not race cars. You have to build an engine or a complete car to suit the purpose you intended to use it. No good building a race car for the street, they are just too unreliable in every way. There are too many automotive TH-cam channels pushing products that are totally unnecessary and super expensive for street cars and the people who don’t know any better are lapping it up, with in many cases, having a negative effect to what they were looking for. Keep up the great work mate. Jason from Australia.
Nick, we all have muscle cars way back! my best friend had a 100% stock 69 428 CJ Mach 1 Mustang. he bought it used in 1979 with 29,000 on it for $750 ;).
he took it out on the hi-way once and he wind it out just as fast as it would go and he held it. I told him not to do that because it would blow up. well. some 3 or 4 days later he did it again and he blew it up. he put a rod threw the side of the block. we took the engine apart. I was the one that pulled the cam out. when I pulled the cam out only the first 2 journals came out, the rest of the cam stayed in the block. boy he really blew it up good. well he fond another 428 and had it rebuilt, but it was not as fast as the stock engine.
you have a great channel Nick! keep it going.
The factory manifold works really good I flow tested mine on a flow bench it was excellent. My 429 SCJ was making 540 hp
By no means was it stock. Let's be real 🤣
Some of the best advice I've heard in a long time. Keep things simple and stock for the most part!
All these mod's & aftermarket parts do almost nothing & in the long run in many cases make the car run & drive worse than before you spent all that money. Then when you have a backyard shade tree guy do the installations things can get really screwed up in one heck of a hurry! Keep up the good work Nick & try to convince the Torino owner to trust you and let you bring that car back to it's glory days, if he bought it new, he has more than a little gray hair and will appreciate having his car done the right way.
Ford got it right on this one, leave it alone.
EXACTLY !!
Why would any one want to upgrade or update a 70' 429 Cobra? Unless you want to try some Alan Root Aluminum Heads.
Can you say FORD HEMI????
Interested, I could show you probably the baddest 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback known to man, & it's all Ford.
As far as I'm concerned, a Ford Torino is the competition to Chevrolet Chevelle SS-which is my fav-and that is coming from a mopar guy
It’s so peaceful to have your video playing in the background while I work. Your knowledge of Muscle Cars is phenomenal
Our Dad had a '70 Torino Gt 351 Cleveland, Shaker hood, laser strip -fun times back in the '70's !
You can tell even after 40 years , Nick Loves what he does. Visiting Nicks Garage is like going to a car show. So many beautiful Cars.
Thanks Nick. Very good advice. If it's not broke, don't fix (break) it. You brought back many memories with this video. I owned a '70 429 Torino. I loved hearing the sound of the exhaust. Ford built these to be driven. The factory kept it simple for a reason. My friend used to say he wanted to show how much his car could take. I remember my Dad saying as we did repairs, "You just showed me how much your car couldn't take." Leave them alone, respect them, drive them, and enjoy them. Take care Nick, stay well and tell it like it is.
Nick, you are a legend. Doesn't matter the year, stock is the only way to go. What I like is the fact you're willing to tell it like it is and share your wealth of knowledge.
Nick, my wife and I watch you all the time. What a wonderful show you have. Your kindness touches us every time we watch. Thank you for this quality show! Greetings from Victoria BC Canada
Thank you both, very much.
When I was 23 I picked up a 1963 Vette. I rebuilt the engine high performance, TRW pistons, Balanced, Huge Cam, Headers, 9 qt oil pan, 205 heads, Cragar wheels and running a Tunnel Ram out the hood with a dual quad set up....cool huh?...If I left it stock I could have paid off my house with the value of it being stock. If we only knew then what we know now.
But the value in what you learned and the memories of building it to make it your own was priceless. Stock cars are built every day.
Unless someone like me comes around I'd rather have the hotrod when there done right many others like me to although I do appreciate cars like the Ford that are stock
That Torino dash shot sent me for a loop! My dad had a ‘70 Ranch wagon with same view of steering wheel and upper dash also in black. When I saw it I just said Oh dad! He’s been gone 9 years but a real nice flash back just the same. Hats why I always look forward to each new video. Always something awesome at Nick’s!
Hey Nick. Glad to see you safe. I wrenched a bit with my Dad growing up. He was always working on other people's vehicles. He never made any money to speak of. He basically just charged people for what it cost for parts lol. Mom used to get mad at him. It was just his passion. He built and raced stock cars and snowmobiles too.He was also one of the only diesel mechanics around and was in high demand. I raced a little here and there but was more into tractor pulling. I love your channel. I have always been a diehard Mopar guy. God Bless you and yours.
A lot of people do things to cars because they do not have someone like Nick in their life to remind them of how the car was enjoyed, ran, and looked when it came right from the factory. Factory condition repairs stand the test of time, hold their value, and are enjoyed by more people. Everyone knows what factory condition is when they see it, but not everyone can see what their car needs to be restored to factory condition. Thankfully, we have Nick's Garage! What a beautiful car! Love it!
That is a very rare Torino! So glad to see it so well preserved. He's brought it to the right place!!
Nick! You treat all muscle cars the same! Ford,Chevrolet, Mopar. You enjoy working on them all equally. And it shows! I enjoy seeing the rare cars as well!
Thank you Nick! George! Vacili! Manny! And all the crew!
Phillip. Thank you Phil.
Nick! I Love it! Nothing like Simplicity! You make seance ! But some people just have to Play and learn the hard way! your Awesome!
I'm a Ford guy, but I respect many Chevys & Mopars...& have MAD RESPECT for Nick's knowledge & work ethic...so it makes me smile wide when Nick does a Ford like this...not that he would give anything less than his best...but thanks for sharing knowledge & just being a great guy Nick! Keep the great videos coming Nick!
I agree 100% with Nick. Keep it simple! The way it came from the factory is the right way. Example: I hate seeing muscle cars (cruising cars) with big wheels with low profile tires... it kills the look of the car.
Life-long chevy fan here.
But no longer.
Never been a ford or mopar fan.
Won't take anything at all from them, just not a fan.
I am, however, a big Nick fan. Would love to work for/with him. A real genius that speaks to hot riders everywhere. No BS, just the facts.
Nick, you da man. Truer words never spoken.
Thank you for being there for motorheads everywhere.
And humble. Rare combo.
Please carry on!!
I love the old 429, Years ago I put one in my 1975 Ford F250 pickup out of a 1970 T bird. I had a lot of trouble getting it to run on pump Gas. The motor has a eleven to one compression and in 1970 100 octane fuel was available at any gas station but when every thing went to unleaded 91 was all we could get. I found a old Ford tech and he told me to remove the heads and shave the sharp edge off the squish band at the edge of the combustion chamber and it would help because the sharp edge gets hot and causes preignition. I did and it helped a lot as long as I could get 95 octane fuel leaded fuel but when California outlawed that I found a guy with a Distributor machine and was able to recurve the timing and played with initial lead timing and finally got her to run good. I installed headers kept the stock intake but put a AFB carb and that truck would do 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds. I drove that Ford truck for years and loved every minute of it. The truck originally came with a 390 and in 1975 was the start of the smog engines and it couldn't get out of its own way.
Great, Nick-my opinion exactly. We are restoring an 89 Ford Crown Vick station wagon with a 302
that came fuel-injected. The engine was leaking fuel from a myriad of hoses under the fuel
injection unit. I tore all that out and changed the engine back to carburetor. It works perfectly
now, and NO LEAKS. Somebody had the big idea to change the tried-and-true 302 over to
fuel injection, which was stupid.
to think my dad bought one back in 76 off his highschool autobody teacher while still in school...1970 ford torino cobra jet with the drag pack auto shaker and was red....my god it was beautiful sadly sat in a field for years and when i became aware he still had it was shortly sold :(
It's rare to see Fords in Nick's Garage. I was thrilled to see this
Unless you're doing 7 grand shifts all the time, breaker point ignition works just fine for everyday driving. I had points ignition for my 72 Torino Sport Fastback with a 351 Cleveland and had no problems what so ever in over 240,000 plus miles. Just do your tune ups as scheduled. Cast iron man. are heavy pieces. I ported and polished and match ported it to the heads which were done the same and a good police cam installed. Good idle and lots if power all the way across the rpm range. Great video Nick. Love all the stuff coming into the shop.
Beautiful Car! Thank you for touching on the subject that the charging system needs to be beefed up. Seen too many classic cars with updated electrical and the charging system is neglected.
Also ,The ultimate street aluminum intake for the 429 SCJ or CJ is the Ford Power Parts Dual plane manifold . Good luck finding that one ! I have a 429 SCJ 4 bolt main with that intake in my stash, under my bench. It came out of a jet boat. One day that motor needs to go back into a Cobra Torino like it came out of....
Had that same problem with a non-altered ignition and the regulator. Friends '69 Galaxie we picked up after new points, plugs, oil change. Took our wives to a state park camping/drinking. His car didn't turn off. Turn key off, everything died but the engine, even take the key out. I popped the hood, removed one of the little wires on the solenoid, going to the coil. Died. Next morning we went for coffee at the marina and I asked when did you put the solenoid wire back on, thought I was up before you. He hadn't, popped the hood and there it dangled. After working on everything for a couple of days changing the regulator and it was back to normal. Don't know why, just forgot about it.
Great community you've built with this channel Nick. Love it, love your content!
My mom had her fair share of Torino's and Amx's but one of her favorites was her 1968 Ford Fairlane with a factory 428 cobrajet it was also a fastback!
Your mom liked to go fast didn't she.
@@philsmidwestclassiccars150 Yeah, she said when you hammered it you could watch the gas gauge move as fast as the speedometer! She also had a 68 GTX convertible at one point.
Best part I like about this car ? The radio. >>> 2:22
Nick, I asked my dad what he thought of oil additives that were around back in the 70's. I was thinking about using some in my 1970 Chevelle. He said, "if that 'crap' was any good, they would've put it in at the factory." I've been a stock man all my life since.
1970 Torino 429 super cobra jet drag pack....Nicks rocks with the best cars!
IMHO the most beautiful car ever made, wonderful post! Nick
Good advice Nic on all accounts. I did a few things to my Road Runner 69-383 and when it all shook out the only thing that worked was putting an aluminum de clutching fan on the engine.
I was when power shifting spinning the seal out of the water pump on the old steel fan.
I tried dual point distributor but then had to play with springs to get it to advance quicker.
I put a set of Mickey Thompsons on the rear put they threw the car out of balance. I really couldn't afford to play with intakes and carbs-just kept the AVS clean and the motor tuned. Dwell was so important. Keep up the great work Nick
You got the best viewer's because you earned the respect of each one, one at a time. Thanks for being such a great guy. Staff included. Great channel 👍👍👍
We appreciate that!
Great Video - In high school my friends Dad had a 70 429 cobra Ranchero.Yellow with black stripes, shaker hood,automatic trans,AC car.We used to go street race it on weekends.That car never lost a race.
You're not allowed to go to sleep you bring out the best in humanity
Thank you Nick, young people should watch this video and learn.
Street cars are NOT race cars.
As a young man back in the mid-1960s I bought my first nearly new 1966 Chevelle with a 327 and 4 speed transmission. It was a nice car and looking back I should have just leave well enough alone.
Was not long and the improving began :( . Well it needed a set of headers a BIG solid lifter cam and a clutch that really made my left leg get a real workout in city driving.
I may have not made it much faster than stock but I knew it all LOL.
I enjoy all of your videos and I did have a Road Runner 1969 and kept it factory stock.
I now drive practical cars and still do my own service work.
Again thank you very much for your words of wisdom.
Nick stay safe and I look forward to your videos.
Mark. Thanks for watching our channel.
Great topic today Nick. I have often been critical of friends who make modifications just for the sake of modifying things,thinking They are making their car better When in fact they are creating problems. I have always been a believer that it is hard to beat the factory engineers.
My friend from highschool has the same thing all original in his garage and he starts it biweekly or at the least weekly. Has had it since 1982 , Bought a brand spanking new BDS blower for it and it sits on his mantle collecting dust since 1987! Great evening to you and your family/crew Nick! God bless and keep safe.
Fantastic. Love the Torino, had a 68 Mustang GT 428 Super Cobra Jet, 4 speed toploader 430 rear gears .It was a stoplight Monster .Raced at the same illegal airport strip as Nick and his racer buddies did back in the early 70s . Had confirmation on this from Nick a while back. Nick is Canada s Mopar King, but he loves everything ...Like and Share ...
andy. I remember those days.
had a guy tell the engineers spent millions of dollars making a car run properly and people come along and think a cam alone will make it better.
Words worth lisenting too, thanks Nick!
Good morning, Nick and company!
That 429 CJ was similar to the 429 Police Interceptor of the same years. These were very popular with young police officers of that time period!
Yeah, nice place to work, for sure. Thanks.
You talked about dropping cars. I used to work in a European repair shop. The young guys love the lowered springs on their Golfs. The vw golfs come with cast aluminum oil pans. Those oil pans love the judder bars (humps) in car parks. I've replaced at least 3 oil pans. The only good thing about doing the job is that we clean the pick up screen while the pans off and it gets fresh oil. LOL Thanks for your great videos. I was sorry to hear of the shooting tragedy in Canada too. I came through a little town in Oregon, while on vacation from New Zealand in 2015 . it was 3 weeks after the school shooting there. Roseberg, OR. A nice farm supply town with decent people who didn't deserve what happened there either. You'll end with the shakes from all that coffee. That looks like a good selection.
I look forward to Mondays for Nick's garage video. Reminds me of the old days👍Austin TX
Thanks for joining us, James.
I agree with you Nick about keeping things simple and not straying too far from original factory engineering. Thank you for another great video and sharing your wisdom!
Original owner? Wow!
I agree, Nick. Keep them factory specs.
Oh, I think it depends on the car/specs. Something like this Torino, sure there's a hell of a lot of value in keeping it as close to original as possible. But that Dart with a slant 6? Probably not so much...
I’ve seen this guys videos pop up in my recommended and I assumed he was a quality mechanic but this video proves it he’s just another one of those guys who starts at one end and replaces parts till he gets to the right one very happy to spend someone else’s money it would’ve taken about three minutes to test that ignition switch Nick get some skills
I'm a mopar guy but a 1970 Ford Torino with the 429 Cobra jet is a awesome carI love the looks of the 70 Torino that is my favorite Ford is the Torino
That's a beautiful Torino, truly it's a badass ride....
Really glad you explained your view on keeping things factory I love 70 Torinos and was just about to make an early comment about who the hell has been working on that car thinking to say almost exactly what you said but with extreme sarcasm.your the best Nick.thanks
My grandpa, had a bunch of that stuff at his motor sales co. I loved getting a look at all the ol fords . Machs etc. Galaxies, t birds . God bless
When he said Spanaway Washington i was like that is were I live. cool i am not the only one watching nick's garage here in Washington.
The old saying goes, what comes around goes around & this is a perfect example of what ur receiving, stay safe sir & enjoy !
Amen nick My grandfather's buddies always gave him Compliments on His Chevelle when it never breaks down his secret keep it simple thanks nick for the Great content Much love from Oklahoma
also from Oklahoma...am a Chevelle guy too. Have had them in the past, looking to get another.
I've lots of personal interests/hobbies, Guitars, Firearms and Muscle Cars.
That said I watch many TH-cam videos however rarely will I ever watch any video over 10 to 15 minutes, except for Nick's Garage.
It must be Nick and his personality and vast knowledge as I find myself watching all of these videos from start to finish.
Thank You Sir, great content.
My son is a mechanic at a dealership, one of his jobs is installing lift kits and wheels on brand new trucks that come in, those truck more often then not are the comes coming back in with transmission and axle issues because people buy them and drive them on the street, and many don’t understand those lifted trucks don’t have the same warranty as regular stock trucks.
All a waste of money and very hard on the entire engineering that went into those trucks from the factory. Some folks should just stick to tattoo parlors with their spare time.
That's funny. I work at a major used car dealer and we have to take the lift kits off of used vehicles. Sometimes it's a real pain to take them off as the upper control arm contacts the shock etc.
You are SO RIGHT about modifications we commit on our cars! I probably will never forget what I did to my '65 Mustang, looking for more power. It came with the 271HP 289. Didn't mess with the valve covers, as they were chrome from the factory, but I did pull the OEM Holly 4 barrel, and installed an Edelbrock intake with two AFB carbs. To my chagrin, it didn't seem to run as well. After much consternation, I was convinced that I didn't have enough cam for the setup. So, I bought an Isky 302 hydraulic cam and kit, replacing the original; sold lifter setup, expecting to lose my lumpy idle. I didn't. And, it ran much better for it. A bit better than stock, perhaps. Later changed the rear to 3.80:1 gears. Much better. Traded it in on a new '67 with the 390 engine, and had learned my lesson (sorta).
Had a 72' buick skylark 350 gs ,same problem frieken voltage regulator.Release springs were weak so when de-energized the contacts wouldn't stop feeding voltage.Being the ignition switch powers the ignition coil,field winding from the regulator,to the alt,and other accessories. Cheers Mr.Nick .
I couldn't agree more Nick ! simplicity works for me and you can have more than enough fun on the street ! make the car stop great and do a burn out every now and then doesn't take much. my example is I just recently upgraded to front disc and rebuilt the front end along with heavy duty sway bar of my 64 chevy and I love the brakes but I tell myself I could of saved some money and just used the stock sway bar. people tend to waist time and money on parts they'll never use or use it the way it was intended... and you're an honest man being in the repair business... you could easily tell people you need this and that but you're honest !! enjoy all that coffee WOW !! stay safe and cool effects at the end George !!
Keeping things simple is best. I agree with you Nick one hundred percent! Love the Torino. I owned a '70 351 Cleveland years ago.
Thank you Nick I have been preaching keeping it original for years. I glad I am not the only one who thinks like this.
70 429scj torino was my first car o how i miss it. So it’s nice to see. Ps it was a drag pack car as well.
My old man still has a 71 ford torino cobra jet 351c Hurst 4-speed grabber green with the shacker hood M code. Crazy ride i love it
I may only be 16, but these '70-'71 Torinos are pretty much my dream car, and have been pretty much since i first saw one. And i would keep it just the way it was when it rolled off the assembly line.
Right on, Joseph.
The curse of the Ford voltage regulator! I them and starter solenoid ANY time I do any work on the charging system, batt., alternator, anything. I learned that lesson after my bronco tried to start all by itself and started driving across a parking lot. I was a 100ft away with the kys in my pocket!
@ Nicks Garage This video on stock rocks is perfect and 19 years late for me. I had a lot of problems with my 74' Javelin/AMX, my 76' Cherokee S and eventually my 93' G20 A-Team Van Clone. Mainly because I put so many race parts on them, butchered the wiring, steep gears, single plane intakes, big holley carbs, electric fuel pumps, batteries in the trunk, big cams, headers, unilug 15x10 wheels etc. I'm now a big fan of stock rocks and buying a project that performs stock the way you like it. Even race cars that start out race cars like Drag Pack Challengers, Hellcats, or 392 cars out perform cars with major mods and are less difficult to maintain and race more reliably. That's why I'm building my 70' 440 motor to stock HP specs. Thanks for your experienced feedback!
Here's a few mods that will drive the Ford guys nuts !!!
Charging system can be simplified by adding a jumped off single wire high capacity
Chevy Alternator .
A few strokes of a file and it fits right up .
Second is the Distrubter.
A friend with a lathe and welder can mate the Chevy coil top distrubter to the Ford bottom assinating the govoner's 55 mph care taken for higth. And get the good drive shaft so it doesn't twist .
I was having carb an milage problems.
A 2x to 4x carb adapter a 1"spacer with an Edelbrock carb with the tiny primarys an huge secondarys .
Mileage doubled as did power .
For a portable house 14 mpg ain't bad .
And acceleration to surprise you !!!
Thanks Nick ...
Nick I am a little older than you but I had the same problem 40 years ago because we had a fleet of 6 cylinder Torino's and yes it was the voltage regulator because it runs throughh the ignition circuit funny how history repeats it self .
Love the 70 Torino my grandmother had one it had the inline-six loved that car wish I had it now.
A young beemer "driver" had me set up his front to "track settings", 0 toe and 2 degrees camber, wanted 2 degrerss rear camber too - he came back and said it was turning too quick twitchy as hell! The boy can really drive though and wish he had a chance to really test at a circuit - of course it was reset to factory PDQ
camber and toe work together, change one you have to change the other. 2 degrees camber means the wheel is trying to roll away from centre line. must have toe in to compensate. Negative camber requires toe out!
First time in a long time I see purdy Darn quick
the automobile is man's greatest invention. affordable, large variety, different fuel types and an aftermarket designed to customize to suit personal taste. everyone wants to shine...
You’ve got true friends. They’ve sent you two of my favorite coffees. Great ways to start the days.
The best!
Everything you said about modifications made me happy. Ford knew what they were doing.
429 Cobras are one of my favourites! Awesome machinery! Awesome video Nick Sir!!
Car repair that isn't normal maintenance. Repair of the mistakes people make on their "improvements". Thankfully Nick is there to help them.
Yay, Number One! Hi Nick, loving you videos. Thanks to you and George and the rest of your staff for taking the time to post. Look after yourselves chaps.👍
Thanks so much!
Nick what's great about your channel is we ALL SHARE the love we have for cars and each episode you bring that out . can't get much better than that !
Thanks for sharing! I inherited a Chrysler 300. Never did hard-driving with it. I always thought of it as a luxury car. It did have power though. And I guess it would be called a boat nowadays. It was huge. Stay healthy Nick!
I am all ears. NICK HAS A VAST KNOWLEDGE OF of keeping things simple.
Good morning Nick from the uk, I have exactly the same switch off problem with my 302 Ford since I fitted a new alternator with an internal regulator... This has given me some ideas 😀
Put it back to external. Works fine.
Converted a 62 Nova from a 4 banger to V8. Added an alternator in place of the generator. When I turned off the ignition switch the instrument panel warning lights would remain on eventually would go out. Solid state regulator. Had to do with polarizing the regulator.
What more can a man ask for in life you are.....World famous now...WOW that is something to think about....Thanks as always for the upload...!
Nice green paint on the Torino. I went through a similar situation on a '77 Ford truck bought at an insurance auction in Az. The truck would go about 1/2 mile and then it would die. It would restart and run for another 1/2 mile. Replaced just about everything and found the problem when I went to change the engine wiring harness. There was a switch under the dash that broke a circuit in the electronic ignition module. You break that one wire and it will run and die shortly after.
Had one, canary yellow, miss it, made my spine tingle
I did a comment about this engine and it was deleted instantly. I drag raced a 70 Torino Cobra with a 429 scj back in the early 70's. I know this engine inside out. My Torino weighed 3884 lbs. Push rods pat number is DOOZ 6565B. Lol. I am near 70 years old now.
I agree with you Nick about leaving the cars alone. When you start poking around and looking at how the factory co-ordinated everything together on any vehicle you soon realize there was a lot of thought and engineering put into the building of Muscle Cars.
I drove by today leaving some rubber and smoke , street was looking naked with no rubber on the road . love that Torino I like keeping it stock looking with a few upgrades to make it more reliable if it is a street car If it is to be raced go to it , but keep the parts so it can be brought back to stock .
Thanks and good luck to all
Right on!
How true ,keep it simple. I played with suspension so many times and always sway bars really make a massive difference. My old Aussie Mopar will easily out handle my moder crap. The reason I love these old cars is the simplicity and any long distances especially in the out back of Australia they can be fixed . Nothing beats a carburetor.
If you want a new car then go buy one, keep it like it was and appreciate an old car and experience it like you went back in time. LOL Amen Nick!!!
I really liked this video and a huge thumbs up. I'm a licensed auto Tech in Alberta and I tip my hat to you, you are a wealth of knowledge and that's really cool to see, very rare actually. You went above and beyond on the Torino and took the time to do it right. Everybody, please take a moment to understand the level that Nick is at and anybody who apprentices under him is lucky.
You said it right Nick !!! Don't borrow trouble !!!
I have one. White, black hood, 4 speed, shaker. Had it since 1976.
I had a 70 GT but it was only a 302 .
Beautiful Ford Nick
Thanks for the memory, Gary.