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sitting 29 yrs... time to start on the 69 mustang

8K views 21 replies 7 participants last post by  ford4v429 
#1 · (Edited)
not much yet, but finally getting slightly motivated to get after the poor old mustang... started making the rotisserie mounts up yesterday(a couple years after putting the rotissery/gantry frame up).

rough plan:
1) roll over for comfortable stripping the chassis to bare metal
replace whatever rot we run into
2) RRS tower notching kit
3) some sort of coilover/strut front end- if cant modify something readily available with junkyard/parts store stuff, may have to go RRS, but its awful pricey.
4) discs all around of course
5) still undecided on tranny... have a posi 8.8/disc rear for it, but dont think it would live with a stickshift...
6) my 69 429- cheap rebuild, rings and shells...everything checked out ok long ago, dont require machining, so leaving it dimensionally stock...

motor wishlist:
05 up mustang engine controls- knock sensors, fab a hydraulic cam advance mechanism, port injection/o2 sensors/electronic throttle/everything...thinking mapping a set of 05-up cam profiles and having a similar roller cam made would be cool...built a 4th axis for my mill, could maybe even make one at home...if things go really well, a set of Kaase boss heads top the dream list- the wife will definitely have a issue with that though, even thinking about that kind of cost is a bit scary- but man those are some cool looking heads.

expect this thread to fall flat often, maybe for years or another decade, but I think if I kinda start the diary thing like I did on Ben's galaxie, it keeps my goof butt motivated to get out in the garage and try to do something...

for starters, heres pics of the car from 1984 just before it got mothballed, and as its sat under the rotisserie frame in the messy garage since late '09 (been sitting in a garage engineless since '84):
 

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#5 ·
didnt get to work on it tonight, home from work late, and had a huge brush pile to chip up, tractor ran low on diesel, still about half of it to go...anyone want some mulch :)

anyways, got the new 'bumpers' together pretty much, just need to drill the holes for the bumper bolts and box the front plates- and gotta get some big roundstock for the 'pins', 3.75 diameter, kinda big, but its the tubing I.D. I got... hoping maybe over the 4th weekend we'll get her in the air finally, unless we decide for a last minute vacation or something...
 

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#6 · (Edited)
Airborne! with the rear axle still in it, its bottom heavy, had my 14 yr old sit in it to roll a bit... now to make room in the garage for all the extra crap to come out of it... was a good day today, the lift tables hadnt been used since the galaxie near 10 yrs ago, they still worked fine to lift the whole thing onto the pivots- but I really dont remember my cradles weighing so much, theres gotta be 400+ pounds there to fit up...but lifted along the full length of the rockers, even with wheels/suspension still hanging, picked it up fine... the big pivot pins are a tight fit once bolted up, gonna be fun drawing them out when the time comes...I'll have to drop a threaded plug in to draw them out, or guess I could just unbolt the fronts...whatever- that will be some time from now.
anyways, now shes up, can start pulling the suspension/ interior, should have it lightened up in a week or so- then the fun part of stripping all that friggin undercoating...its gotta be 3/8 thick in the wheelwells... least favorite job.
Expecting quite a bit of rot, its a Ohio mustang after all... body from 20 feet looks decent, but its in need... door bottoms are gone, one torque box shot, frame rail has a bad spot( was worried about rotisserie, so left a lot of weight in it and carefully lowered the cradles...jumped on it pretty hard, no sign of anything moving...without the cradles/suspension/interior there will be a easy 600 pound weight reduction, so think she'll be fine) drivers quarter needs a couple patches, passenger fender 2 small patches... top of shock towers are bad- theyre gonna be removed... think the rear frame/floors/rockers are gonna be fine, but there is a lot of undercoating- at least its a mustang and everythings readily available. Original owner had texaco shoot the car with cosmoline- plugs all over it, still drips out if it sits in the sun...cleaning all that crap out will be fun in areas needing welding... a little worried on how thats gonna work out...
Once the undercoats all stripped and floors patched if necessary, then the empty shell will go on stands for cutting the drivers front frame rail and removing everything above it to make more room for the bigblock. long ways to go, but at least its finally STARTED :)
 

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#9 ·
Looks can be deceiving... Expecting it to be worse than i already know- one frame rail and torquebox definitely shot, expect other side might be similar, expecting the typical inner cowl rot, drivers quarter needs lower patches front and rear of the wheel opening, who knows what the wheelhouses will be like...they look great, but tons of undercoat likely hiding some stuff...

Need to flip to clean/ prep the underside mostly- my old back and knees wouldnt tolerate months under a car again like our galaxie did, still feel that 10 yrs later...
 
#12 · (Edited)
was a 3 ton 15' high Wallace gantry...they scrapped out 2 of them at work, this one was buried in the junk/mud, talked the boss out of it quite a few years ago. it woulda been gone with the scrap, but was a pain in the butt to dig out- was sitting sunk/twisted in mud behind a dozen scrap machines, had to knock it apart by hand and drag it out- the top beam alone weighs probably 500# or more...its way too big, but "the price was right ". the top beam is 10" x 6 wide, I welded some 3/4 plate on the side of the beam so it could bolt on the wrong way with a inside spacing the right distance for the mustang and mounts- it will just roll thru the door with the car mounted...its on 8" wheels so it rolls real easy- gotta watch it dont head for the street :)
the 15' height was 3x6x1/4 rect tube, I cut it roughly in half, welded parallel(making a 6x6) rotated 90 degrees to get web in the right plane and used a holesaw on a mag base drill to bore 4" holes thru for the 'bearing' tubes/pins(had to widen the center plates too, leaving a 4" slot). after the cars done, can rotate the side 6x6s back to normal and put the beam back on properly, but with a 11' ceiling the garage door tracks would be easy to kit... will probably leave as-is or take back in to work if its too much in the way. If I put the beam back on I'd have to figure a way to erect it- as it is I put it togeter all solo/by hand, laying on its side, and used a tractor and 'gator' with one of the kids helping to 'roll' it upright with a pair of chains...couldnt do that in the garage, and if beam upright, wont go thru the door...
a shame they scrapped the other two gantrys, they were nicer, the smaller one woulda been perfect...man when they decide to clean house at work, they throw out everything...if its bent/dirty/rusty I still see potential there, I'm a packrat for sure...

I still have kinda high hopes for the car, at one time it was the most important thing in the world to me, but after a lot of lifes ups and downs, its just a neat looking old car- I just feel really guilty for letting it languish for so long... its way past time to get after it- its rustier than the pics show- much rustier- but ive seen a LOT worse come out real well, hopefully it will come out OK, if not, well at least we tried - right? :)

my biggest worry was if the car was sound enough to support from the ends, so gently lowered it onto the mounts while suspension and all were still there, plus the weight of the lift cradle steel- about 400#... nothing creaked or crunched, so think it should be fine once lightened up- with the overhead beam, I got options for safety straps too before getting under it- even sideways, I'm not at all worried about the beam handling a half ton shell :)

tim
 
#13 ·
well last night got the rearend out, tonight started unbolting the leaf springs, bolts sticking in the spring eyes...shot some penetrating oil to let sit overnight, and moved up front- got the coil springs and swaybar out... so far only a couple broken off bolts.
noticed tonight, man the kids have grown- they are getting a lot more adept with wrenches... heck last year I'd get so frustrated at them fumbling to put a socket on, or rounding everything by wobbling the ratchet around- at times I think I coulda got bolts out quicker with my toes :) good to see them being more careful, quick, and 'stable' for lack of a better word when using tools. cool to see them 'working' at a decent pace and almost looking like they know what they are doing :)
 
#14 ·
Score on the Free more or less rotisserie! I was going to build one, But the place I was buying steel at wanted almost a Grand for drops and other stuff.
I got lucky and through a friend I met while working in NJ, he hooked me up with a guy here in Indy that loaned me one for a month. It pays to play nice sometimes. :)

Glad your kids are helping and learning. All good skills to have, even if they do other things when they get older. My youngest has always been in the garage with me, he is 21 now. He has people asking him to work on cars for them. I keep a eye on him still and help as needed. I know working on my Falcon with my Dad 2 years ago will always be something I remember.

Your car looks good, and I can't wait to see more pictures of it.

Jet
 
#15 ·
got the front suspension all removed, and found holes above both frame rails...was kinda hoping the passenger side was ok, but guess it will all get replaced, just as well probably.
 

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#16 ·
whew...shouldnt have been a big deal to just roll it sideways, but I was getting mighty nervous, the car looks freaking huge once it gets past 45 degrees for some reason...
 

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#17 ·
started scraping undercoating tonight- MUCH easier with the car flipped! anyways, surprised its actually going to be a easy job- cosmoline they used comes right off like peanut butter soft still after all these years...nothing like the asphalt-like ziebart stuff I took off the galaxie. better yet, the floor looks great, rear frame rails, etc... only place I could poke thru was a old repair in the drivers trunk dropoff(lower quarter was repaired long ago). the drivers front torque box is non-existant, knew that years ago- the floor area like behind the brake pedal above the torquebox is bad, but floor bottoms themselves are in great shape.

think in about 2 hours scraped at least 50% of the undercoating off, that was a nice surprise.

know the frontends gonna need surgery, but after looking closer, unsure now if I should replace the whole rails or just a couple patches and both torqueboxes...rust looks mostly localized just in the torquebox metal and the spots under the upper A-arms... patching might be stronger than replacing. the drivers footwell will need replaced above the box, but the rest is nice...really expected more rot spread after sitting so long- that cosmoline was great stuff
 
#18 ·
got the rear springs out finally...one bolt was not wanting to leave the car...the front spring eye bolt on one side wouldnt break loose from the eye bushing, was truning in the rubber- penetrating oil, clamps/pressureimpact wrench, etc, while cranking popped one side, no way on the other...said screw it and cut the spring eye/bushing/rubber/split the sleeve for more penetrating oil, got a pipewrench on the bushing and ratchet/socket on the bolt. let go with a bang (3'cheater pipe on the ratchet) screeched out bit by rusty bit.

springs needed replaced anyways.
 
#20 · (Edited)
eew...hate undercoating- but good news is it did a pretty good job protecting the car- only bad floor is above drivers torquebox(shot too) and rear spring eye area of rear rails will need replaced both sides- was expecting a lot worse...front still needs a lot, lots more undercoat to remove yet, oh joy...

heres after a couple hours wire wheeling...
 

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#21 ·
#22 · (Edited)
no progress since my birthday in Sepember...my 16 yr old son got a little project, been keeping us a little busy:

and so it began- 1997 ranger, 4 cyl, stick...he just got his temps, bought it with his own savings- not expensive, but needed some rust repairs...as we got into it found much more a few little patches needed to the underside of bed, easiest just to pop it off


rear sheetmetal crossmember/spare tire support was swiss cheese after hitting with wirewheel, made a 'origami version' just bent up from flat sheetmetal:






cut out a few thin spots from the bed, fresh eastwood rust encapsulator (ospho/POR15/tie coat primer first for welded areas)



then upon dropping the tank, pulled handfuls of frame out...had no idea rangers c-channel frames would rust like this, usually the fate of salted box style frames. the front crossmember where front tank strap hooks had roadgrime built up in it, just pulled the thing out along with frame bottom. this and the rear shock mounts are a really idiotic design, as they are open on top/blocked at the bottom- built to collect salt/no way to rinse out without pulling the bed. I drilled holes in the shock mount bottoms so at least now water can flow thru at car washings






replaced fuel/brake lines, exh hangers, painted floorpan underside...hes spent near two months messing around underneath. next is a rusty radius arm, inspect/redo brakes, replace core support.


just cleaned up rear bumper last night(por-15 backside) and remounted it and the bed... looks like a truck again. My best friend had a extra set of forged ranger wheels off his sons truck, gave them to Mike...new 15" tires came today. will get some before/after pics in the coming days.

note of caution to salt belt folks with rangers- suggest drilling at least 1/2" holes in the bottom/inside corners of those shock mount stampings so you can wash the crap out of them- reading, see quite a few having rear frame rust/crack issues from inside-out corrosion... the way they are made they simply cannot be flushed out.

anyways, maybe a few more weeks till its done and I can get back after the mustang for a while...

edit- new tire pics:



ever have a impossible to seat bead on a Sunday night? 'pool noodles' can make a bead seating donut:
 
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