[lennyB]

Hello Everyone,

I decided to post my current project and will update along the way. Hopefully I can ask for advice to get different Ideas on How To's when I get stumped. The car is a North Carolina car that is pretty much all original except for basic mechanical repairs and a repaint previous owners did along the way. It is a 302 4V, C4 Automatic, with 3:00 to 1 rear axle. The interior is Ivy Gold and the Exterior is Seafoam Green. The only rust issues I've found so far are on both doors. Each door has a dime sized hole the was mudded over at some point near the bottom front of the door skin. Also there is two dime sized holes under the backlite (rear windshield) at the lower corners. Other that that, the body all original metal and super clean. The engine, trans and rear end are in very good mechanical condition. I plan to rebuild all anyway since I don't really know whats inside and I'd like to step up the performance a bit. The following pics are what I'm starting with.

 

[MikeG69]

Lenny, nice looking Mustang.

 

[lennyB]

Thanks Mike

 

[lennyB]

Up Date 9/06/16

Well it took a total of 63 hours to photograph, document, and remove everything from the body. The next step is to strip the entire body and get it into epoxy primer.

9/07/16

Today I degreased the entire body. I first scrapped as much off as I could and then soaked the engine bay and under body with Gunk Engine degreaser. After it soaked for about 20 minutes I scrapped and scrubbed again followed by hosing it off. Then I let the 90 degree heat and sun dry it. Then it used some wax and grease remover and a rag to get the stubborn stuff. After 4 hours of cleaning I would say it's pretty clean. The only real rust I found was inside the front passenger frame rail. Not sure what I'm going to do with that yet. The drivers side is spotless but the passengers side is pitted on the inside.

 

[69GT350H]

Not bad at all, took me a lot longer to get that done. Wish I had more photos.

 

[lennyB]

Hello everyone,
Well, today was my first day of actually being able to work on the body. There are 5 rusted areas I've identified that need cut out. Today I addressed the driver's fender. It had some small bubbles in the paint so I new it was most likely rust under it. After buzzing it down with a stripping disc, my theory was confirmed. I decided to cut out the bad area and then Mig weld a patch in. Besides the Bondo Worms on the inside from a previous owners half hearted repair, I found a bit of pitted rust on the inner support also. I decided to sand blast the inner support and then used Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator on it. I partially spot welded the patch in today and tomorrow I will finish welding it in and then try to get the welds filed down. This is my first attempt at this, so your advice is more than welcome if you know a better way to address this repair (since I have two similar issues, one on each door). I think this is the right way to fix it, what do you guys/gals think?

Repair Photos:

 

[69GT350H]

Looks good to me. Better than my first attempt anyway.

 

[warthogdriver77]

that is a great solid car to build from. i wish i had the benefit of tearing my project down, p.o did the work and lost interest.

 

[lennyB]

Well I got the entire shell completely stripped and in Epoxy Primer. Fortunately, there was no rust (other than minor surface rust) or dents and the sheet metal is all original. Next I'll move on the the doors, fenders, and lids.

 

[lennyB]

After Epoxy. I had to do the car in sections do to the amount of time available to work on it.

 

[Caper50]

Missed this project when you initially posted, that is a clean car. You are doing a fantastic job.

 

[Mr.E]

Are you going back to the seafoam or picking a new color?

 

[lennyB]

Are you going back to the seafoam or picking a new color?

I picked up a pint of "Seafoam" to shoot on a test panel. If I like the way it looks on the test panel, I'll keep it Seafoam. If I can't get the Seafoam color just right, I'll change it to Dark Highland Green. I'm hoping to keep it the original seafoam, and then find another car that is not numbers matching to make whatever I want.

 

[lennyB]

Missed this project when you initially posted, that is a clean car. You are doing a fantastic job.

Thanks Sir

 

[Caper50]

I think Seafoam green looks fantastic on that body style.

 

[lennyB]

Well I spent a few hours on the passenger door exterior today. I stripped the out side and found no rust, just a small ding that looked like someone shot it with a BB gun at some point. When I flipped it over to strip the inner door edge. I uncovered some pitting along the bottom as seen in the pictures. So far, I have wire wheeled it down and then spot blasted the pits down to clean metal. Tomorrow I will attempt to weld the two small pin holes shut. I'll then clean the inside of that area as best I can and then coat it with Rust Encapsulator. On the outside I'll epoxy it and then use some Evercoat Rage to cosmetically clean up the pitted edge along the bottom.

Do you guys think that will be sufficient of a repair that will last?

 

[Guest]

That is what I do with Master Series silver . . coat both sides when possible, followed by epoxy and normal paint materials from there.

 

[lennyB]

This past week I stripped the Driver's Fender. Had to repair a rust area on the lower rear section, welded in new metal. Coated with epoxy primer. Next I'll strip the passenger fender and epoxy. Looks like no rust on that side. Once all panel are rust free and in epoxy, I'll go over everything with a paper thin coat of filler and level.

 

[lennyB]

Also had to weld some pin holes shut in the head light bucket. followed by sandblasting the bucket front and back. The in side of the fender was really clean.

 

[lennyB]

Well made a little more progress. This week I rebuilt the door hinges, and then test fitted the doors and fenders. I also decided to go 1968 dark Highland Green for the paint. I tried to spray the original Seafoam Green on a test panel but could not get the tone just right. It just looked to pastel for me. I do like how the PPG Shopline JB base looked in 1968 Dark Highland Green. It took 6 coats minimum for coverage. Third pick is the test panel in Dark Highland. Also attached is the final look I'm going for except mine will be a coupe version. Hopefully changing the color from the original doesn't hurt the value. I do not plan on selling it anyway. I think I'll add the GT emblems as well.