Tearin' up the '66

[icbrkr]

Got the car back (finally...) from getting the window and trunk seals replaced. It's now time to redo the interior...

I've bought the majority of the interior from CJ's Pony Parts during their sale last month (can't beat 25% off).

Tonight's first step was removing the seats, carpet, etc, and seeing what sort of shape everything was in.

Next step is stripping the old paint out of there and laying down some Zero Rust. Hopefully that will start tomorrow.

[ArkansasMystic]

Looks like you are making some progress, keep up the good work!

[oxman]

yes sir,,coming along well!

[1low03gt]

Man those floors look reeeal good for the stangs age!!Good luck on the build!

[icbrkr]

Been doing more work off and on. Found out the previous owner had bondo'd the dashboard... of course I found that out while sanding it! :(

I originally planned on doing the interior in Lt. Blue (original) but that looked too silver. I'm going with Medium Blue instead (more what's in there now).

There was a hole in the rear right floorpan. I cleaned it up, put some rust encapsulator on it and a metal patch. That should at least hold it until the 'someday' when it gets a real patch.

[Sketch]

Looking good, wish mine was that clean to start out with.

[icbrkr]

It was nice out today, so I got a bunch done. Back is put back together, first round of paint on the dash and the doors are finished. The dash is going to be resanded in a lot of spots.

I have to take off the steering wheel soon to replace - how does that come off?

[ArkansasMystic]

Looks good, nice progress!

[icbrkr]

Another warm day! I got a lot done.

I resanded part of the dash, removed the steering wheel finally and cleaned the chrome horn ring, repainted the glovebox, cleaned up a lot of the garage (this really is a good thing), restored the air conditioner face, redid the gauges and a whole lot more.

The AC came out just perfect. It looks brand new. It was rust-covered, the registers were toast and the paint was chipped. There's a pic attached of how it used to look and how it looks now. If any cares to know, Krylon's flat black indoor/outdoor paint seems to match the original black perfectly.

For the life of me, I cannot get the dash to look as perfect as I'd like. Found out it looks like the bondo was part of a patch panel to fix the radio opening. Maybe when I get more patient or professional, I'll make it perfect but until then...

[icbrkr]

And since yesterday was the last warmer day for awhile, I crammed to get as much as I could done.

Carpet is semi-laid down (I still have to work on the edges). I managed to break the horn ring retainer putting it back on so there's 3 new ones on order (at 1.50 each, I figured I should get spares.. just in case ;)) I also managed to let some smoke out of the dash lights so those are coming in too.

[ArkansasMystic]

That thing's looking great! You've made a good bit of progress over the last few days, keep up the good work.

[Bigjht]

Did you get the rest put together and get out today? I saw one that looked a lot like yours going down 71 this afternoon in Bella Vista.

[COBRA SCOTTY]

i like building cars

[1low03gt]

Looking good!

[icbrkr]

Did you get the rest put together and get out today? I saw one that looked a lot like yours going down 71 this afternoon in Bella Vista.

Yeah, I was out and about but not in Bella Vista... probably the furthest north was the HWY72 onramp ;). There's another one close to mine for sale in SW Missouri (it's on Craigslist).

[icbrkr]

Small update... car is in the shop getting the brakes adjusted, wheel bearings repacked, lower control arms replaced (they were shot), and all sorts of other fun stuff taken care of. More pics when it gets back...

Still have to go back down to Fayetteville to have my window seals redone.. well... they *were* done, but now they leak. For the cost I paid, it's going back and they're fixing it.

[icbrkr]

Just realized I hadn't posted the final pics. I'll probably hit the cruise with it this Saturday, and on Monday there's a small car show going on at work (Wal-Mart's ISD parking lot) so it'll be there too.

I'm still waiting to get the frame rails done.. still waiting for the Hack Shack to get back to me...

[Bigjht]

Just realized I hadn't posted the final pics. I'll probably hit the cruise with it this Saturday, and on Monday there's a small car show going on at work (Wal-Mart's ISD parking lot) so it'll be there too.

I'm still waiting to get the frame rails done.. still waiting for the Hack Shack to get back to me...

Looking good. I was going to ask you if you worked with ISD. I've noticed an '10 that looked like yours parked out close to the highway away from other cars. I see it as I'm getting off the exit right there in the mornings. I work on the Sam's side in the new building. I was thinking about going to that car show until I realized it was on Monday. I wish they were having it on a weekend, I can't afford to miss that much of the work day.

[ArkansasMystic]

Wow, very nice, impressive work!!!

[icbrkr]

Looking good. I was going to ask you if you worked with ISD. I've noticed an '10 that looked like yours parked out close to the highway away from other cars. I see it as I'm getting off the exit right there in the mornings. I work on the Sam's side in the new building. I was thinking about going to that car show until I realized it was on Monday. I wish they were having it on a weekend, I can't afford to miss that much of the work day.

I'm thinking that's someone else's ride. I get in late and I park with everyone else since I hate walking any sort of distance to get to the building ;) You should at least stop by around lunch to check out what's there.

[533stroker]

I swear this looks just like a car I sold to a guy up near Pea Ridge about two years ago. Did it come from Fort Smith ?

[icbrkr]

Nope, Norman Oklahoma (and Wichita, Kansas before then).

It's currently sitting at: http://www.musclecarrestoration.biz/

The frame rails are getting replaced, engine is getting rebuilt and transmission is being repaired. I couldn't find anything reliable around here so I drove it to Claremore, OK.

He already found an issue with the trunk area. It seems that someone replaced the trunk floor at some point in its life and they didn't weld it to anything so it's floating right now with no support. Nice.

[icbrkr]

Got the report back today from the shop. The valves were toast in the head from, besides age, using unleaded gas over a period of time on it. The valve seats weren't replaced/hardened so that it didn't need lead, and well, they deteriorated. Rings look okay so we don't have to drop the engine and do the block.

Shifter was toast. I took it to be fixed last year at another shop which just added bushings and such, but that's only a temporary fix. The shifter housing was worn, bushings, bearings gone, seals gone, and who knows what else. The other shop should have spent more than a few seconds attempting to diagnose it and it would have been fixed right the first time...

The tranny is being completely rebuilt since it's out.

The rear frame rails are being replaced, and some cancer around the torque boxes was found but he said it's structurally sound there for quite sometime. I'll change that out when the car gets repainted someday.

The good news is, my car should run like new soon. Getting it back in a few weeks.

[icbrkr]

Wow.. guess I hadn't updated this in a bit.

Engine completely rebuilt and running great. It's nice to be able to drive without it backfiring ;) Transmission was rebuilt and the back end was rewelded together. Found out the trunk wasn't even welded to the rear rails (!) so it was just 'floating'. A nicety is they noticed my gas tank was leaking a bit so replaced it with one from a '68 that was sitting in the shop - no extra charge. The only bad thing was it's 2 extra gallons so it sticks above my trunk floor a bit.

Ordered a bunch of exterior chrome today, and it goes in next month for the interior to be done more professionally than I ever could.

[weeloGT]

Nice. Any updated pics? Sounds like a fun project you got going there

[03MistyV6]

glad things are coming along great, like weelo said got any pics?

[icbrkr]

When the weather gets better, I'll take some pics of the engine bay after I clean it up a bit. The rest I'll post after I get it back next month ;)

[03MistyV6]

sounds good!

[icbrkr]

The Diseased Oval (what my friends call it) got dropped off in Claremore, OK today. They're going to rip out the interior, reweld the dash (someone made a home made radio patch panel which was glued on), repaint the doors, fix up the carpet, interior quarter panels, repaint the dash, replace external chrome and possibly replace the windshield while they're at it (it's hard to see out of it... it's scratched up/pitted). Of course no trip to get the car repaired would be complete if I didn't have some sort of breakdown. Coming off the turnpike I noticed the car seemed to be revving awfully high.. and it was. The throttle spring had broke off the exhaust manifold. We got it rigged and managed to finish the trip.

I figure I have 2 or 3 more years before it's done - next year is the front frame rails (expensive) and then the only thing left is body work/paint. What is an average price for having something sanded down and repainted?

[Sketch]

Looking good. Can't wait to see it at a gathering.

[weeloGT]

Glad to see your bringing life back into it. Makes me want to pick up an older one when I'm done with the one I got

[icbrkr]

I promised pics so...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086662&id=1170907465&l=29c6d216e2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086746&id=1170907465&l=1fda11f81b

Pics!

It came in $500 over budget, however, a lot has been fixed replaced. Originally the interior was to be repainted and reworked, but a lot of new metal was added to the dash/doors (where it was bondo'd), new door handles and regulators, lots of fixed wire - the old one was held together with masking tape and was arcing/shorting against the frame. The gauges have had their needles repainted, new chrome/door panels, interior door handles, radio, horn ring, heater plate and controls, dash pad, quarter panel ornaments, and a heck of a lot more. Lots of parts added since much was missing or rigged.

For next year is the front frame rails and engine bay repainting (cash permitting).

[1low03gt]

Looking good!!

[03MistyV6]

nice! looking real good!

[Chicken]

Turned out great. Attention to detail is the key to making those old cars look good. You can read a cars history like a book when you tear them down like that. Makes me miss my 68.