My 71 Build thread

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What  can I say except "wow".  It's always neat to see a car go through the restoration process.  The best part is when you have it completed and get to step back and admire your work and the beauty of the car.   
Thanks.. and your correct as the best part to doing this is going to be seeing it completed 

 
No I wasn’t sure on correct finish on those brackets so I did them black. I did the gray on some of the hood latch support brackets .

Geoff could you post the pics that you have of those brackets from your car?

im not trying to build a 100% correct mustang but I’d like  it detailed and close to original as I can get it with in reason .

thanks, Brent
Brent, these are the pics of my car. As for "slop grey", I used NPD's rattle cans. They only sell the one shade now though. You can easily make your own up as there was no such thing as a "correct" color. It depended on whatever paint was left over from the paint line.

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Thanks Geoff for the pics. So basically the only headlight brackets  that got the grey was the 2   that bolt to the rad support?  And then  the 2 vertical hood latch supports  and other latch mount bracket.   I’ll have to do some mixing of paint to see what I can come up with for a grey color .

Brent

 
Thanks Geoff for the pics. So basically the only headlight brackets  that got the grey was the 2   that bolt to the rad support?  And then  the 2 vertical hood latch supports  and other latch mount bracket.   I’ll have to do some mixing of paint to see what I can come up with for a grey color .

Brent
Brent, 

the baseplate of the headlight bucket was supposed to be grey, too. Other slop grey parts are generally the front suspension spring covers in the wheel wells, the front license plate mount, the rear bumper mounts and the shock tower braces, as Geoff showed. That are the most common slop grey parts. The slop grey varies from light to almost black per car. So you could find a shade of your gusto and apply it. That's how I did and the parts look great  :thumb:

 
Thanks Geoff for the pics. So basically the only headlight brackets  that got the grey was the 2   that bolt to the rad support?  And then  the 2 vertical hood latch supports  and other latch mount bracket.   I’ll have to do some mixing of paint to see what I can come up with for a grey color .

Brent
Brent, yes I believe that was all. When I got my car, all these parts were untouched (below) and were some sort of grey, but a bit darker. From other info I found, theses look to be the only parts done that way. When you mix up some "slop grey", don't get it looking too much like "battleship grey" if you know what I mean.

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Brent, 

the baseplate of the headlight bucket was supposed to be grey, too. Other slop grey parts are generally the front suspension spring covers in the wheel wells, the front license plate mount, the rear bumper mounts and the shock tower braces, as Geoff showed. That are the most common slop grey parts. The slop grey varies from light to almost black per car. So you could find a shade of your gusto and apply it. That's how I did and the parts look great  :thumb:
Tim, thanks for mentioning the other parts that ought to be slop grey. 

On mine, I honestly don't remember if the headlight bucket base plates were grey or not. Mine are black. It's entirely possible they were so dark, I though they were black. Oh well, they're black and stayin black!

 
Just went through this thread... Great job so far!

 
On the slop grey parts I get the paint from NPD and matches what was on my 73. We all know that the shade will vary from car to car due to left over paints being mixed. My rear bumper brackets were not slop gray but satin black dipped had runs.

This is my list of parts that have Slop Gray.
Shock tower braces.
Center vertical grill support that holds the hood latch.
The two brackets that hold the grill to the radiator support going to headlight buckets.
The square tray under the headlight buckets.
The small braces that go from the bottom of the radiator support and connect to the lower valance and front fender on each side.
The covers for the front coil springs under the front fenders.
Front license plate bracket.
Some service parts came with satin black instead of slop gray after end of production so they vary from production line parts.

Satin Black parts in grill are the headlight bucket assemblies. Springs and screws are Manganese Phosphate.

Parts that I have found with the Manganese Phosphate or Parkerizing as follows. You can find the chemicals and process on line. GM used Zinc Phosphate which is different.
Hood hinges.
Upper caps on the shock towers.
Hood latch assembly.
Parking brake assembly with some satin black on part of the foot pedal.
The gas pedal bracket.

Ford used the Manganese Phosphate on parts they had concerns with sticking due to paint. It is also a natural lubricant and does prevent rust to some extent. The gray rough looking coating on a new cam is Manganese Phosphate to aid in lubing the cam for break in.
You can buy it online but sort of pricey. A local plating shop can do parts for you. You clean all the grease and lube off the parts with oven cleaner. Then glass bead and wash with lacquer thinner and then go into the Manganese Phosphate until desired finish is done. They you dry and spray with WD-40 repeatedly. If you lube the hinges too much the hood will probably not stay up even with the flat springs. If hood hinges are sloppy you can have someone hold the hinge with the rivets on an anvil or vice and place a ball peen hammer on the center of the staked end of the rivet. Hit it with a big hammer and this will swell out the rivet and tighten them back up. Don't go too far or will be too tight.
Quite a few bolts on the cars have this finish and the Osborne reproduced Ford Assembly Instructions lists all of the finishes used so a great reference they are reprints of the Ford originals.
Couple pics but not much detail this is unrestored car all original finishes.
Having the correct and varying finishes on the car really makes it look better. When everything is rattle can black does not look as good.
 

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Sorry I have not kept up with this thread lately. Haven't had as much time to work on it as i would like but I have made some progress from the last post. Was able to get the car back on its wheels /install all the side glass and almost have the interior done. Next step is to get the motor ready to install. posted some pics of the progress
 

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Can you tell me what was the brand and formula of the paint you used? Was it a purchased paint or was it a booth mix? I really like the color, it really looks like the true Grabber Blue to me. A lot of cars I have seen are a shade or hue off one way or another. I will be painting my car soon and I am looking for a good match to the original Grabber Blue. Thanks
 
Can you tell me what was the brand and formula of the paint you used? Was it a purchased paint or was it a booth mix? I really like the color, it really looks like the true Grabber Blue to me. A lot of cars I have seen are a shade or hue off one way or another. I will be painting my car soon and I am looking for a good match to the original Grabber Blue. I
Can you tell me what was the brand and formula of the paint you used? Was it a purchased paint or was it a booth mix? I really like the color, it really looks like the true Grabber Blue to me. A lot of cars I have seen are a shade or hue off one way or another. I will be painting my car soon and I am looking for a good match to the original Grabber Blue. Thanks
I used Ppg dcc 2230 single stage paint. It’s actually a little differant shade than it was when I used lacquer in this car back in 1986.
I kinda liked the lacquer color better but I’m sure with the newer types of paints these formulas change slightly. Especially since the tints and toners are much differant than they were years ago.
The underside of my deck lid was factory paint and it matched this currant version pretty close? I think it depends on what brand of paint you use also as there are variations in all colors from different company’s in my experience ?
 
Finally found the time to get the motor and trans installed in the mustang. Forgot how heavy those top loaders are! Thankfully I had a trans jack.
Hopefully can find some time to get it up and running soon.
 

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Finally found the time to get the motor and trans installed in the mustang. Forgot how heavy those top loaders are! Thankfully I had a trans jack.
Hopefully can find some time to get it up and running soon.
Exciting to have the engine back where it belongs! I can't wait until My engine gets back from dyno and I can share that feeling. Congrats!
 
Finally found the time to get the motor and trans installed in the mustang. Forgot how heavy those top loaders are! Thankfully I had a trans jack.
Hopefully can find some time to get it up and running soon
I love the white interior with the silver stripes on the Grabber Blue with the argent accents. I am painting mine Grabber Blue with black stripes due to a black interior, IMO. the silver accents looks classier, but chose the black because of the interior. I really like the argent accents with the white interior, I started redoing the black interior when I was planning on painting the car white and was too far down that path to back up and change interior colors.
 
I love the white interior with the silver stripes on the Grabber Blue with the argent accents. I am painting mine Grabber Blue with black stripes due to a black interior, IMO. the silver accents looks classier, but chose the black because of the interior. I really like the argent accents with the white interior, I started redoing the black interior when I was planning on painting the car white and was too far down that path to back up and change interior colors.
My car original had white interior but someone dyed all the white black before I bought it in 1983. You could see all the black coming off in places so I parted out a mach1 years ago and installed the black interior from that car . It looked fine with black interior and the silver stripes but I wanted to go back to the white for something different 🤷‍♂️
 
It's coming along really nice. Don't know what your time frame is but looks like you might get it on the road before the snow flies in Pa.
Yes that’s my plan but I also planned on having it done this summer! Lol
Other things always get in the way it seems.
 
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