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Initial
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Second
Day
Engine
Pull
New
Engine and Stuff
Interior
Restore
A New Home
03/12/05
08/27/05
07-29-06
12-29-06
Links
of Interest
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A
co-worker pointed out a mustang to me that he found online at Country
Classic Cars. I've been in love with the Mustang since before I
can remember, literally.
I checked out the car, a 1969 coupe in red and thought it looked pretty
good. Straight, with minimal rust (HA!), and it was selling for $1650.
I could afford that, and surely it wouldn't take too much to make it
driveable. I did plan on restoring the car, but I wanted a mustang so
badly at that moment that I decided to buy it and see if I could manage
to fit in some repairs.
I
rented a U-Haul and borrowed my dad's pickup and my my father-in-law and
I drove about 8 hours to pick it up. When we got there we found the car
was in about the condition that I had expected from the pictures and description
except the right front fender had a "though-hole", the quarters
were shot and the driver's side floor pan was mostly not there. We discovered
that there would be some work on the frame rails. We loaded
her up and took her to her new home; My dad's garage (formerly an International
semi repair shop). It was a total of 18 hours on the road with minimal
stops. I was very tired, but very happy.
Further
inspection revealed a few more facts:
There was minor damage to the front-end,
wich will cause me to replace the front valance.
The Interior needs major replacing; Seat covers, DashPad, soundproofing,and
maybe headliner.
Trunk area is in very good shape.
Hood is practically perfect.
Doors are nearly perfect.
Decklid is in great shape with very minor rust.
All glass is good.
Came with 250 6cyl which ran, but smoked a fair amount
3-Speed Manual Tranny.
Fuel lines were cut and engine was running on gas being drawn from a
Prestone bottle mounted next to engine.
The trunk contained a few goodies; Low-beam aiming tools (two
plastic rings), Some old ladies hats, a few Sears-type catalogs and
one Headlight bezel ring.
The lettering for the decklid was found in the Glovebox along with the
original owners manual, an Illinois safe driving pamphlet and a few
other odds and ends.
Some basic upgrades and mods I have planned are:
3-Point Seat Belts
351W
Dark Charcoal Paint
Hand Brake
Racing Style Mirrors
I also intend to upgrade to Disc Brakes, and a 5-Speed Tranny, but not until the car is pretty much done, and I can afford to purchase that stuff.
They should be an easy installation at that time too.
1-12-04
- Tear-down continues. . .
Yesterday
the family went to dad's to work on the car. The kids watched
Spongebob on DVD while the wife and I started taking stuff out of and
off the car in preparation of removing the engine and the tranny.
We
removed the hood, hood latch and hinges. The radiator came out and the
radiator hoses were disconnected. We took out the gas tank (Remember
the Prestone bottle in the engine compartment??).
The
engine was not taken out, as the hoist that I borrowed would not reach
the trolley. I'll need to find a longer length of chain to secure the
hoist to the trolley that's about 25ft. up.
Plans
are changing since I found out that the paint for the car is probably
going to be about $1000 just for the color and clear. My plan is to
sink most money into tools and body at this point, while dinking around
with the motor during the winter. I'll have to start locating body parts
and continue removing parts in preparation for the body work. PLan on
building a rotisserie to do the body work on.
BTW
- Shouts out to Jeremy serving our country in England in the Air Force!
Thanks for the CD and the Autographed picture of Boba Fett for Christmas!
That was awesome!
02-04-05
- Update.....
It's
been quite a while since my last update. I have been working on the
car, but not as much as I'd like. Money has a certain amount to do with
that, but the biggest thing is the uncertainty of her repair location.
My dad is selling his building and therefore I needed to be ready to
move the car in short order. I left the wheels on in anticipation of
pulling it onto a trailer. Also, we did do a lot of camping last summer,
which cut into the restore time.
Now,
my Father-in-law has purchased a new house on a few acres with a large
BARN. He is also very interested in helping restore the car and so we
tore out the milking area in the bottom of the barn and cleared out
enough space for 2 car restores. The ceiling height is a bit low, but
I think I can still get a rotisserie to work ok.
We've
got the car moved down there and have even done a little more parts
removal recently, but circumstances have kept me from doing as much
as I'd like. On a plus note, we got a wood stove and blower set up in
his garage, so we can do some work in there and still stay warm, and
everyone knows a garage with heat is better than one without heat. There
were some issues with power, but I think they are mostly fixed at this
point. Not sure if we can do 220V in the barn, but the garage is wired
up with a few outlets.
I
have two good-sized engine stands to start the rotisserie build up.
I'll need to add gussets, and some length of steel to it, but after
consulting some engineers here at work, I'm sure it will work out fine.
I must make sure the rotisserie will be able to handle 2-3 times the
weight of the car body.
My
own personal web server has now been put online, so I'm going to be
updating these pages much more often, and the site in general will evolve
into something a bit better looking. I've already made some changes,
and more pictures and progress will be on display.
02-15-07
- Update . . .
Work on the car has been slow due to the distant location, but has been progressing nonetheless.
If you look to the pages at the left, you can see that I'm still working on the body, patching, welding, etc.
I'm also getting close to having the engine rebuilt. I need to buy some bolts, and a few odds and ends, and once the weather gets
just a little warmer, I think I'll head down and start putting it back together. I also have a 1959 Edsel now too, so that has taken a little bit of my time
as I try to get that on the road. Should be ready in the spring of 2007. Won't look great, but it will have new brakes (already done) and a tuned-up engine
and should get me tot he local car shows and the Ice Cream Store in the summer. It will give me something to drive while still working on the Mustang.
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