The first big obstacle

This weekend I finally got the interior completely gutted, and pulled back the carpet to reveal two pieces of shitty sheet metal pop riveted over the rear seat floor-pan, where the passengers put their feet. I instantly knew what that meant. There was rust, and the cheezy PO fixed it using the ostrich-head-in-the-sand method. If you can't see it, it isn't there. So tonight I drilled the rivets out and pulled the sheet-metal out.

This is one of the things I was afraid of. While the front floor pans will need a little (very little) work, the rears are in bad shape. My only problem is I don't know how bad-a shape they are. I know this will mean cutting and welding...whether it's beyond my grasp to do it is another question entirely.

And so for the record, here are my rusted-ass floor pans:

Passenger Side:



Driver's Side:

Generic Updat

I haven't posted for a while. A trip down to disney followed by a crazy work week has kept me from doing too much to the mustang, and completely kept me away from posting here. I have a huge update on the gauge cluster coming soon, but I am still waiting for some paint for my needles, and don't want to start posting pictures until the cluster is done. I know starting with the gauge cluster is backwards, but I have always loved interior work, and on my car (despite what the pictures might indicate, the interior is going to require the least work and money...so I'd rather start there and move forward. And the gauges was something I could start on before I even got the car here, so when the car showed up I wanted to stay on that train of thought.

Anyway, I also threw away about 1500 pounds of shit that was floating around in the interior (Otto the garbage man will be pleased on tuesday) and pulled the seats, to start rehabbing them. The front seats are actually from a 71-73 Mach 1, which has a pattern I adore, but they severely need a new set of covers. When i installed them a hundred years ago, I was very unhappy with my mounting system on the passenger side. It just didn't seem right. I was pretty ignorant then, and when I pulled them out I realized the problem...the seat is WAY out of "true" and was so twisted it was impossible to install correctly. So I tore the skin off to reveal some of the crappiest welding I've ever seen (and I am GOOD at crappy damn welding) so I've decided the passenger seat bottom frame is pretty much unusable. So I get to start looking for a replacement. This has me nervous because I had only planned on recovering the seats, and this could severely reset my budget. We'll have to see if ebay or the internet elsewhere has the right part at the right price to keep me on track.

I also had another couple of blunders. One was simple...when installing the white face on the speedo, I tore it and had to throw it out. Fortunately, I had scanned the face patterns before I started so I printed another speedo cover out at home, and it worked fine.

The other problem, I had ordered a later model transmission shifter cover, and got an amazing deal on ebay, getting an 80 dollar shifter cover for 11 bucks, shipping included. Well, I wanted to change the colors on the dial indicator, so I tried using nail polish mover to remove the paint, and softened the plastic indicator so much that it got marred up. So I am going to try to duplicate my amazing find, because just replacing the plastic dial indicator would cost more than I paid for the entire cover! I also got a little nail polish remover on the shifter cover, and messed up a little of the paint. I was going to just spray over that to fix it, but now that I'm going to buy a whole new unit, I'll just pitch the one I boogered up.

anyway, that's all for now. Look for some gauge picture soon!

My Mustang Arrives Home!

She's Finally HERE!
After months of trying to figure out how to get the mustang transported to my house, I finally hired a delivery service to just bring it. And this morning, I raced home to meet him and get my mustang into my garage.

There's a LOT of work to do, but overall I'm happy with how it looks! This is a car I haven't touched in years, and it looks surprisingly well. The only thing I am really worried about is pulling up the carpet to see how much rust there is...and looking under the cowl. But, you know, it is what it is and I'll take it as it comes.

So here are some pictures of the delivery:

Gauges...Part 1

Ok, so exciting news! I have booked shipping for the mustang. A company is going to pick it up from my parents' house this weekend, and it will show up at my house on Monday! I'm SUPER stoked!

OK now with that out of the way, let's move along to a little tech info. I've been keeping myself busy by doing whatever I could. One thing I'm going to be working on is the gauge setup. My preference would be to get some AutoMeter gauges, or something like that, but that was cost prohibitive, and this is all about bang for the buck. So I've decided to modernize my old gauges, by applying a white-face kit. I ordered a kit off eBay from this store.

The kit from eBay seller irish.swede was very cheap, and came quickly, with a lot of neat customization options. However, I wish I'd known, and I think everyone interested in this kit should know, that it was just a half-letter sheet of sticker paper with the new gauge faces printed on it with what I assume was a color laser printer. I paid about 10 bucks for it, so I cannot complain, but in the end, this is a lot skimpier than I guessed. I would have loved to order a really sweet electroluminescent package...but, again, 100 dollars for that kit, and 10 dollars for the one I bought.

Another thing I'm working on fixing is replacing the Amps gauge that I pulled out of the car years ago. Amps gauges are crappy compared to a good Voltmeter, but to give the gauge cluster a nice uniform look, I'm going to replace the amp-gauge I removed. So I put up a post on the Vintage Mustang Forums, saying I was looking for one, and a guy emailed me to tell me he had one to sell. I bought it and a few days later received it. The other night I decided to go ahead and apply the white face kit to it...and here are the results:
I think it looks pretty good! the instructions just said to cut out the sticker and apply it, but I actually took the face and put on a two coats of silver paint, followed by a coat of white. I thought the silver would completely black out the existing gauge markings, AND would give the white a more reflective quality. I'm probably full of shit, but that was the theory. Then I carefully trimmed up the sticker and applied it.

BUT I still believe a car needs a volt-meter, so I found an equus unit on amazon for 9 bucks!
Now Equus is notorious for being the "gauges they sell at wal-mart." True, but 9 bucks! Serious bang for the buck! I got the gauge tonight and am throwing a picture up here. I think it looks great. My plan ist to buy a mounting cup for this gauge, and mount it next to the tach on the steering column. I think it's going to work out nicely!

Hopefully the next post will be the arrival of the mustang to my driveway!!

Shipping

Wow, I have a lead on a guy who will ship the Mustang to me from Columbus to Atlanta for $145. I could barely beat that if I just rented a hauler from UHaul and had my own Truck (which I don't)

Looks like the Mustang might be here soon!!!

Update:Well, it's final, I have put down a deposit to have the mustang trailed to my front door! I couldn't believe the price! I used this website called uShip where you put in the item you want shipped, the originating and destination addresses, and a bunch of shippers bid against one another to get the deal. I put my car up expecting the offer to sit out there for 2 weeks with no offers, OR for the offers to be in the 500+ range. But within an hour the guy was offering to do it for 145! I did a little vetting of his company and so-forth, and went ahead and approved the bid (approving the bid costs a deposit + uShip's fees) Now I just have to schedule pickup and delivery times with the guy, and my mustang will be here! Very exciting...also scary, because then I'll start finding out what all is wrong with her.

First Batch of Parts

Today, I went to buy some slightly used parts from a fellow poster named Ernie I met at the Vintage Mustang Forums. He is a really cool guy who I believe might have motor oil in his veins. He currently has 5 "project" cars, including one incredible '66 fastback restomod that has even been covered in mustang magazines and Car Craft! Cool guy! He is trying to get rid of some of the stuff he has around and so I've agreed to buy some of it!

This is the first batch:

Some 4 1/2 leaf Rear Leaf Springs, with the reversed eye, which should give an overall rear drop of 1.5 inches. These are practically brand new. Ernie bought them to go on his fastback, but then decided to go with AirRide suspension...which means that his car is going to stick to the road! And I get a nice stiff set of leafs to replace my saggy 43 year old springs.

V-8 Steering System! So I also got a new setup that includes the Center Link, idler Arm, tie-rods and adjusting sleeves. This will replace the weaker, less cool 6-cylinder steering with the newer V-8 system! The real reason I'm doing this is for the aftermarket parts, like Baer Trackers and roller idler arms. Understandably, nobody makes those parts for the 6 cylinder cars. This will give me a stronger steering system, with more flexibility down the road. AND as a bonus, I got really cool lock-nut based adjusting sleeves, as opposed to the stock "clamp down" units.

Steering Box. aka Ford Spear-o-Matic(see below for story on that name). The steering box is a remarkably expensive but utterly important part of the steering system. It takes the turning motion of the steering wheel and relays that to laterally turn the wheels of the car. The unit I have in my car is sloppier than my handwriting, and Ernie said his was in good shape...so I took his word for it. It HAS to be better than mine. Plus, it has the V-8 pitman arm required to use with the above steering system, so it was a natural purchase.

620 lb. front coils. Ernie removed 1" of height from the springs, giving the car a 1" drop in the front. These will make the front a lot stiffer, and much less "mushy" plus fix the problem with my car now, which is that it points upward, because I have stock height coils on the front. He threw in a couple of insulators...I doubt I'll use them though, cause I don't think they're poly.

Export Brace. So he sold me a 1-piece shelby style export brace. I really had my eyes on the Maier Racing Export Brace, because it's cooler looking, and I believe has to be stiffer...BUT this is bang for the buck, and they want $250 for that brace. Ernie sold me his for $20. Can't beat it.

Odds and Ends
Some Power Coated hood hinges, with springs, and some powder coated Shock Tower Caps. Neither of these are parts that I particularly need...BUT, his are powder coated, and mine are 40-years-of-neglect coated, and the price was right so it seemed like a no brainer.

So there it all is...My first batch of parts for this build. I felt silly dropping all this cash before I even have the car up to Atlanta, but the deal was good and the time was right. I still have a few more parts to buy from him, but the next project HAS HAS HAS to be getting this car into my garage!

Ford Spear-o-matic
So, here is why Mustang Guys call the long-shaft on the steering box the "Spear-o-matic."

The name is a take-off on the 'o-matic' series of transmissions Ford put out. The original Mustang came with a "Cruise-o-Matic" and Mercuries of the time came with a "Merc-o-Matic."

The steering shaft goes from the steering box (which is mounted between the front wheels, directly in front of the driver) all the way up to the steering wheel. The steering wheel actually bolts onto the end of the shaft. Works great. Except in a collison, the steering box is usually ripped right off it's mounting point, and pushed inward into the car. Since the Steering wheel sits on the end of that long shaft, the steering wheel, due to the laws of physics, ALSO starts moving inward...right into the head, chest or neck of the driver.

They are, in my uneducated opinion, one of the most dangerous designs of the original Mustang, third only to the super flimsy seats, and the lap-belts with no shoulder strap. OH and for a while, the Lap Belts were OPTIONAL!

Post the First

Hi,
This blog will hopefully be a place where I can track and comment on the progress of restoring my baby back to life.

My baby is a 1966 Mustang Coupe that I first got in 1992 when I was 16 years old. It was my first car, and I swore I would never sell her. To this day, I have not.

I drove the mustang most of high school (when it was running) and as much as I could in College, but eventually her age, and my neglect got the better of us, and she has been parked ever since.

It was originally a 6 cylinder car, that the PO (previous owner) poorly upgraded to a V8. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with 6-cyl to V8 upgrades...But this guy just assumed that if the motor bolts in and the car moves foward, you're good to go.

So a large part of this restoration will be about correcting the poorly done upgrade, and making this poor old car solid enough to continue moving forward.

Obviously, this blog will contain tons of pictures, and I hope to get those going soon, but it's not time for that yet.

Right now, I live in the Atlanta area, and my mustang is in Columbus, 2 hours south, at my parents' home. I have lived in Apartments for years, and had no place to store my baby, so I didn't feel good about bringing her home. Now my wife (Julia) and I have moved into our first home, and one of my requirements was it have a garage. So I finally have a place for my mustang to sleep, so it's time to get her up here and get to work!

I am planning a multi-phase attack on the car, and phase 1 will be all about budget and bang for the buck. I want to correct as much as I can while spending as little as possible. For example, I need a new Export Brace. I can either go with a re-inforced stock brace that I can buy used for 20 dollars, or the 570 dollar TCP adjustable job. Obviously, the TCP option is a better option...But versus 20 dollars? Even if the used 1 piece shelby unit I'm about to buy only performs at 60% as well as the TCP unit, It will be hard to justify the purchase.

Hopefully Phase 2 will come later, and include all the things I've always wanted to do to the car, but can't justify when Budget is priority #1

SO, here is, as best I can do, my Phase 1 build plan:

Interior

• Recover the Mach1 Seats
• Fix the Mach1 Mounting system
• 3Point seatbelts
• White Face Gauges, using original stock gauges
• Replace broken ampmeter
• Voltmeter set in a gauge cup, mounted on the steering column with the tach (ghetto rally pack)
• Blue LED Dash Light kit from MustangProject
• Repair Horn Button
• Replace driver's side cowl Top Hat

Body

• Install SideScoops(I already have these)
  
• Install Shelby front apron(Already Have these)
  
• Front Parking Lights
• Reverse Lights
• Neutral Safety Switch
• Correct Headlights with Halogen upgrade
• Hook up Fog Lights(already on the car, need to be wired)

Engine

Sticking with what I currently have, but just getting two upgrade parts:

• AirGap Intake Manifold
• Demon Carb

Brakes

• Front Disc Brakes from CSRP
• Rear Disc Brakes (Buying a used kit)

Suspension & Steering

• New set of Wheels and Tires, preferring late model GT or Bullit Rims
• 1" Front Sway Bar
• 620lb 1" drop coils
• 4 1/2 leaf Reverse Eye Rear Leaf Springs
• 1 Piece Export Brace
• Mote Carlo Bar
• V8 Steering Upgrade
• New Steering Box
  
• Mini Sub-Frame Kit
• Koni Shocks
• Roller Perches if budget allows, otherwise Poly Perches
• Sub Frame Connectors
• Underride Traction Bars
• MAYBE some Torque Boxes
• Mildyne or Prothane Bushings everywhere I can stuff them

Paint
uhh, we'll cross this bridge when we come to it. For now, though, I'm thinking of either a deep sparkly blue,OR going completely Murdered OUT SON!