1966 Mustang Coupe Restoration

Engine Rebuild Begins

2010-11-07T16:51:00.001-08:00

We have been debating for months on what to do with our 289 engine we bought from a craigslist seller. We were not even sure the engine was even worth rebuilding. We had been advised to just buy a crate motor. The engine we have was a 1966 A code 4bl carb. We opened it up with the help of a friend from the coffee shop (Ed). He is a retired GM mechanic with many years of engine experience behind him. When we pulled it apart we were surprised to find that the engine was very clean a probably recently rebuilt. We are sending it off to the machine shop to be cleaned up and possibly re-bored. We should be able to save most of the parts. Updates to follow.

Off to the body shop

2010-10-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

We said good bye to the stang today. It was flat bedded to our friend Don's body shop in Westport, MA. We finished as much as we could and now it was time for the pros to finish the final body work and paint. It will be painted black with gold gt stripes. The guys at the shop will be removing the engine and the 6cyl will be replaced with a 289 V8 engine and C4 tranny, with an 8inch rear end. We will keep the progress posted as we go along.

Rear door window refurbishing

2010-10-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

We decided to refurbished the rear windows. The replacement parts were very inexpensive and it appeared to be an easy job. Thank god Gramp was around that week as we were not having much luck getting the windows out. Once Gramp figured it out it went pretty quickly. We POR 15 as much as we could and put the new rollers on the tracks and it now works as good as new. Thanks Gramp we really appreciated the help.

Quater Panel replacement

2010-10-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Now that the trunk pan is in we moved on to the inner and outer wheel wells before we put on the quarter panels and tail panel. We had to get all the panels in and clamped before we did the final welding. It took about a month but it is done.

Cowl repair is complete

2010-10-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

It was a long hard road to repair the cowl, yet it is done. The cowl is the mustang's biggest problem and the first repair that needs to be done. We started the repair then were sidetracked by the floors. We had to wait for a heater box to come in from the parts supplier. We needed the box to line up the induction hole. The cowl was POR 15 and then sprayed black before the top piece was welded in place. There was lots of patches and grinding but we saved 400 on parts by restoring what we could.

Sub-frame conectors and Torque box repair

2010-08-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

The sub-frame connectors arrived from Laurel mountain mustang, we went with them because they were the only supplier with a heater box in stock. We also got the rear quarter-panels and tail panel as well. After patching the torque box area and the frame where the leaf spring attaches we were ready to weld in the sub frame connectors. It really went fairly smoothly, once we got the shackles from the leaf springs to finally come off( lots of grinding and banging). Welding has become somewhat enjoyable for us. We have mastered the basics and nothing has come up that's been too difficult.

Trunk Pan Fits Like a glove

2010-07-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

We were skeptical. Will it fit?? Well it did fit. We did have to remove the drivers side wheel wells to be able to slide the pan into place. Once they were cut out, the pan slid into place. We smiled from ear to ear, finally something went according to plan. We drilled out holes so we could spot weld the pan into place. Once we welded the pan down we attached the floor to the trunk. Then we cut out the remaining rust that was left on the floor and fitted a couple of patches. We are not quite finished but we are close to a final grind and then POR 15.

Trunk Comes Out

2010-07-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

We thought that the trunk restore was going to be a piece of cake. It couldn't be worse than the cowl or the floors, could it?? It was downright nasty. Every spot weld was a real pain to drill out, and there must have been well over 100 spot welds in very tight spaces that needed to be broken out. We finally took the sawzall and the hammer and the metal shears and what ever we could to remove small pieces of the trunk until finally the last piece came out. Next we measured the rear frame rails so we would have the exact measurements when we put the replacement rails in. Once we had the measurements the rails were cut with the sawzall then everything was ground down and then finally treated with POR 15. We then fit the new rails into place measured and the clamped the rails into place. After one final check for correct length and height, we welded them into place. We gound all the welds down flush, then re-primed the rails. Next up, dry fitting the full trunk pan.

POR 15 is the Best

2010-06-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

We finished of the floors with a final grind of the spot welds. The we proceeded to seam seal the joints with 3m seam sealer. The final step was to apply POR 15. Not knowing much about the product other than it was recommended by Mustang Monthly as the number one rust preventive and rust converter. We applied it to the whole floor area as well as under the dash and anywhere we could get to. We are going to apply it to most of the car as well.

Floors are in!!!!

2010-06-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well its been awhile, but the floors are finally in. Our welder friend Got them in and we have not seen him since. Jon and Dad picked up the ball and ran with it. We are using his Lincoln welder and after some practice we are having no issues with our welds. The spot welds are all done and we connected the toe board to the firewall and then patched the firewall as well. We also replaced the frame support under the seats. Our next step is to prime then seam seal all the joints then apply POR 15 rust converter and inhibitor.

289 Engine

2010-02-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

We finally found our engine. It is out of a 66 mustang. This makes it a correct date to match our car. We borrowed a truck and our welder friend Al came with us to make sure we got something that was worth rebuilding. Hopefully we start welding next weekend. Now we need to find a C4 tranny and a 8inch rear end. Craigslist here we go again.

More Parts

2010-02-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Jon and Dad took another ride to Mustangs Unlimited in Manchester CT. It was about an hour and a half ride. Two big gulps and 2 pit stops later we made it. We are working on the cowl and needed the patch panels for the drains on both sides, as well as two firewall patches, and the frame to cowl connector that was shot after removal. We forgot to get the POR 15 rust inhibitor and the weld through coating from 3M. We were lucky to find them in Fall River when we got home. We took some pictures of some nice cars we saw at Mustangs Unlimited a great place to roam around and dream. We got home and started cutting out the bad metal. It isn't getting any better the more we open up the more we find. I think we are probably going to pull the dash and wiring and go all the way down to a shell and start from there. Our welding friend Al is going to start soon on the floors, our job is to get as much grinding and removing of the rust and bad metal as we can. Tried some spot welds and I am not having much luck. I seem to be burning through the metal. I'm sure there is a technique I need to learn.. We are going to find some new sheet metal to practice on this weekend.

Cowl Repair

2010-02-14T17:53:00.000-08:00

The dreaded Mustang Cowl. The downfall of most vintage stangs. Our car was no different. We drilled out over 200 spot welds and then re-drilled most again. Finally after some banging with a good chisel we finally felt it give. We removed the top to see all the usual rust problems. Now were doing the research on the replacement parts. Time to buy a welder too.

Shelby Heaven

2010-02-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

You never know what you might find when you deal with somebody on craigslist. We headed off to a small town in Connecticut called Wallingford. We brought our GPS in cased we got lost. It was a good thing, we never got lost but with out it we would have been asking a lot of people for help in the two hours it took to get to this small auto body place. We should have realized what might have been behind the doors from the name of the place Cobra Automotive. We walked in and were greeted a wonderfully nice gentlemen who said we would have to follow him through the shop to see the hood and fenders we were interested. The door opened up and Jon and myself almost couldn't contain ourselves. It was mustang owners heaven. There were shelbys everywhere, a beautiful 54 vette, an old Z28, a near mint original cobra and many more. We finally made it to where the hood and fenders were stored, they were exactly what we wanted and in great shape taken off a shelby that was being modified for racing. The genltemen gave us a deal if we took it all. We did and we saved a lot of money as well as got original ford parts, not repo's. The nice guy then let us go through the whole place allowing Jon to take pictures while giving details of all the cars. Wow we rode home on cloud nine what a trip.

Gas Tank Restoration

2009-09-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Everybody says you should just replace an old gas tank. We were ready to do that until we removed the tank and found that the tar the last owner used to secure and seal the tank and trunk actually preserved the it very well. There was some slight surface rust, but Jon and Dad ground it all off, and then it was ready for primer. We save a couple hundred bucks by restoring the tank. Well worth the time and we got to use our new grinder. Gramp thanks again for all your help and advice.

Original Carlite Glass Be Careful Removing

2009-09-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Once again we called on Gramp's expertise. We have original Carlite glass on the whole car. The trim posed minor difficulties and after some work we finally got the hang of the windshield clips and all the glass came out fine. It is all wrapped up and waiting to go in the finished version.

Gas Tank Removal

2009-09-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

Jon and Dad wanted to get the gas tank out of the Mustang, Gramp, who was here for a couple of weeks proclaimed that if we removed enough of the tar we could see if it was spot welded in. He guaranteed he could have it out in under 20 minutes. So Jon and Dad got to work and removed as much tar as we could. Gramp was ready to go and true to his word it was out in un der 20 minutes( I think he had inside info).

Doors

2009-08-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I decided to do something without my dad. I decided to take off the doors that had original glass. I was very scared that I would break the glass but I did it anyway. I kept the doors shut so they wouldn't fall off. It is not the way it is suppose to work, but it did. I undid the hinges and the doors just popped right off. I didn't break the glass, thank god, I think my dad might have killed me if I did. The next step is to strip offas much of the car as we can to get ready for new everything.

2009-08-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

What we have done so far: new carburetor, new fuel filter, removed interior (seats, rug and the unexpected fiberglass covering the floor), removed the left fender, removed front grill. The car runs but not as well as we want. We will probably have to rebuild the engine (200ci straight six). that's what we have done so far more detailed posts will come later.