1971 Mustang Grande restoration.

[mustang7173]

KC1971Grande,

Eastwood has some good products. From the rust side of things, Media Blast it (sand blasting) and treat with a good rust treatment , or cut it out and replace it with fresh metal. While I was looking for the rust treatment Ospho, http://www.ospho.com/index.htm, I found this rust prevention solution. Looks like it performs much better than the Ospho product.

http://picklex20.com/

mustang7173

 

[KC1971Grande]

Well I played some with the car tonight and managed to get the hood up a little higher, so I took a few pics under there. I forgot to mention that my father and I hand sanded and hand painted the shock towers and some of the firewall when we noticed some rust years ago. You can see in one pic that those shock towers held up nicely. Can't say the same for the radiator support or the cowl but I have in my mind that both those will need to be replaced.

I do remember that the hood was replaced after an accident. It held up well for the most part but it is very bad right at the point where hood and chrome trim meet. It has enough little rust holes in different areas that I have decided not to waste time on it and just replace the hood as well as the hinges. Tomorrow, I plan to begin to remove some chrome and begin to store those pieces. Most will need to be replaced as they have not aged well.

Before I forget and keep going on here are the pics.

 

[KC1971Grande]

Well today was another day of exploration to see what kinds of fun stuff I can find that needs fixing on this car. First thing I found was the side effect of shoddy body work, or in other words slopping a bunch of bondo over rusted metal. I had seen some crack developing in this area over the years and now I know why. Check out the pic.



And another pic, you can see the mess of bondo I flaked off there today. Going to have to keep chipping that away so I can decide what to do about the right rear quarter and also do a treatment to halt the rust for a while until I get the bucks together to fix this.



So it looks like I found some ugly now thanks to some half a@#$% body work from an accident back in the 70's.

Ok so now back to the front fender. Did some more rust removal and temporary priming. This fender doesn't look too bad so far and other than one spot down near the front valence, it shows only little rust spots. None of those have gone through the metal so I am thinking of removing the fender and working on it inside and out to preserve this piece. The right side fender is pretty much the same so as long as I don't run into any more shoddy body work, these two should stay. Now a couple quick pics.



Ok, here is some ugly but I was expecting to see this. The front of this car just isn't quite right. So having to replace the radiator support, bumper brackets, light boxes, and the hood latch mount is something I have known was probably going to have to be done. I will replace the front valence too and use the good metal from the old one for patches elsewhere. So now a pic of some more ugly.

 

[matrixx]

You definitely have your work cut out for you.

Seems like the best thing you could do is just start stripping the car down and make sure you organize your bolts. (The ones that don't break anyway) unfortunately I think you may want to get a good look under that car and see how the frame and structure is. She looks pretty rough my friend.

May need a Eric's touch. ( mister4x4)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KC1971Grande]

This one is definitely a serious challenge. However, I have been under the car as best I can at this time and have been surprised at what I didn't find. I really expected the way the car is setting to find the front frame rails rotted away at least in spots. There are a couple places I still can't see but so far I am just finding some surface oxidation. I still need to get the motor out to see better what I am facing up front but I am not worried so far. This is another reason I am taking the approach of stop the further deterioration and then begin the task of restoration.

My major areas of concern are still the chassis in total and I am also a bit concerned about the front suspension cross member. This old gal is in pretty bad shape but I have assessed and continue to assess what it's going to take to get her back up and running and have decided it is worth the effort.

Also I have seen cars in far worse condition than mine brought back to life. It isn't going to be easy, nor is it going to be cheap, but I am in this for the long haul and will see the project through until my Mustang is back in the stable. Now I'm going to go cue up my old recording of the "Impossible Dream" again.

 

[1973grandeklar]

#1 thing to do, go get some round up and kill all the undergrowth around the car.

#2 get that rear trunk and filler panel cleaned off. I suspect that this area is rotted out from the leaves and pine needles. Heck, just get the water hose and a bucket of soap water and clean the whole car. Do not worry aboout a little more water getting into stuff. Wash out the cowl, the front fenders in the lower rear corners, spray off any all dirt daubers living under the car.

#3 Remove all the carpeting and padding from the interior. Nothing holds water better. Also check the trunk that there is no mat or carpet in there.

#4 Buy a couple cans of PB Blaster and start spraying all the fender bolts, hood bolts, headlight bucket bolts, bumber bolts, suspension blots... You get the picture. Do not be afraid of getting this stuff all over the place. Then after a couple of days spray these areas again and again. I have done this on my 1973 that was sitting in the weeds (see signature line) and I was able to disassemble this car with very few of the bolts breaking off.

You definetly have a challenge, but the car does at least appear to be all there. Take a lot of pictures and buy a bunch of quart ziplock bags or start collecting small plastic containers (I like the frosting containers my gets) to place bolts and screws into and then label them. I was not always the best at labeling and would scribble onto the bags. Take your time and describe exactly what is in the bag/container! Nothing like trying to interpret a bag that simply says "mounting screws".

 

[KC1971Grande]

Hey 1973, I'm already cleaning the car and removing the undergrowth. Roundup, hmmmm you must want to hear the weeds here giggle at me. I use Spectracide because I don't like having to treat the same area a dozen times just to get a chemical kill going. But it won't be ready for that until I finish removing the last of the volunteer trees that sprouted in the way.

Once I get a good clear work area, I am going to finish getting the car cleaned up some and get after the interior removal. My brother collects plastic food containers like they are going out of style so his collection is going to come if very handy for my project. Don't tell him, I don't want him to start hiding the things from me.

I also found my permanent work space but will have to leave the car in the temporary digs until I get the part of the garage that is being used for storage cleaned out, well and a new garage door installed. That won't be finished until next spring and will require the building of a shed beside the house to store some of the stuff that is in my way. I can still make some progress on the tear down and also pick up some needed parts, supplies, and tools. Today I did some replacement of tools again. This time a new hose and quick releases for my compressor. The old parts were getting leaky and so it was time to upgrade. Oh and thanks for the tip about the PB, I picked up two cans today while I was getting my new hose for the compressor.

I am really looking forward to tearing into this project full bore but have to take it slow for a while. Still a lot going on in the preparation arena.

 

[KC1971Grande]

I'm still pumped about figuring out my work space for the Mustang. This idea just came to me today when it suddenly hit me that I don't need to have another concrete slab poured when there is a perfectly suitable one being used for other purposes. Basically in the pictures you can't see my house. It is just a few feet to the right of the car and one half of the garage is being used now for storage. That area also happens to be the wider bay of the garage as in more room to store parts and tools.

So for the next few weeks I am going to work on the car a little and start talking to some folks I know about building a nice shed beside or behind the house for storage. Then when that is built move stuff and get the garage ready for it's new resident. This is the ideal situation for me.

Also ordered some more tools today. Once I get a few more tools and some supplies here, I am going to prep the car for winter storage. Then next spring or summer the real work begins.

 

[KC1971Grande]

Things are starting to look very different around the car. I have spent the last few days removing weeds and trees from around the car and sprayed the Spectracide this afternoon. I have to get the area ready since I ordered a temporary garage from work that will be here in a week or so. Also I made sure the tires are inflated so the car is setting a little higher off the ground.

Before:



After:



Next project is to give the car a good wash down to get the rest of mother nature's droppings off the trunk and cowl. The cowl is a surprise so far, I was expecting it to be a goner but so far I can only find a few rust holes that might be able to be metal patched. Still have to finish getting the hood, hood hinges, and some other stuff out of the way and finish cleaning the cowl before I can say for sure.

Also began working on the permanent work space this week. I still have to get all this stuff out of my way before I can get the car into it's new digs. Yes that used to be a garage and will be again by next spring.

 

[1973grandeklar]

You know; seeing that green car in that thicket of green, makes me think you were camouflaging it so people like me who drive down back roads looking for old cars sitting in the backyard would not see it and stop?

 

[KC1971Grande]

You know; seeing that green car in that thicket of green, makes me think you were camouflaging it so people like me who drive down back roads looking for old cars sitting in the backyard would not see it and stop?

I might have been doing that. Of course with the heavy growth of trees on my place you would have to be standing in front of the car to see it even now.

I've been making up my mind these last couple days what tools I need to upgrade or buy for this project. Number one is a bigger air compressor of about 60 gallons. I have a 20 right now but it will just work itself to death trying to do this project and won't even come close to running the media blaster I have at it's peak. I will need some shelves for tools and small parts, some air tools I don't have now or need to replace due to age and condition, and I am going to go on and get an engine hoist. All total about $1000 to $1400. But I have all winter to buy them one at a time. The compressor is probably first (or maybe the engine hoist since I want to get the motor out some time soon) on the list since I will need to get a friend who is an electrician to hook me up a 220 box for the one I have picked. (Well that and it needs to be mounted to the garage floor.)

Lots to do just to get ready to do this car but it is coming together.

 

[1973grandeklar]

I've been making up my mind these last couple days what tools I need to upgrade or buy for this project. Number one is a bigger air compressor of about 60 gallons. I have a 20 right now but it will just work itself to death trying to do this project and won't even come close to running the media blaster I have at it's peak. I will need some shelves for tools and small parts, some air tools I don't have now or need to replace due to age and condition, and I am going to go on and get an engine hoist. All total about $1000 to $1400. But I have all winter to buy them one at a time. The compressor is probably first (or maybe the engine hoist since I want to get the motor out some time soon) on the list since I will need to get a friend who is an electrician to hook me up a 220 box for the one I have picked. (Well that and it needs to be mounted to the garage floor.)

Lots to do just to get ready to do this car but it is coming together.

My opinion, focus on the first steps. If you want to start on the engine, I would purchase the engine hoist and engine stand. If you want to tear down the engine yourself, a good socket set and decent ratchets. I would also purchase a good valve spring compressor to disassemble the heads. Even if you send them out for a valve job, it is always nice to be able to disassemble the valves so you can clean and inspect. Another focus is perhaps a few measuring devices. A good caliper to start with and a good micrometer for checking crank and rod sizes. Plastigage works good for the assembly checks. The compressor is a great tool to have, but if your 20 gallon is working, use it for now. Keep your eye on CL for a good deal. By the way, I did not mount my 60 gallon compressor to the floor. I purchased large industrial mounting pads to mount on my compressor. They work great and I think they dampen the vibration a lot. My compressor does not walk around when running.

From your posts seems you are motivated to do most of the work yourself. Myself, that is how I do it. If I do not know something, go search out a good source and find a good book. I believe there is a couple of good Ford engine rebuild books. If you want to tackle the transmission, there is a couple of good Ford transmission rebuild books. The nice thing about the books, I like to read them a little each night before going to bed. It is like an adult bedtime story for the avid car lover (like me) Having read the books several times, especially with the cold weather coming, it gives you a clearer picture of what you can do and plan for. Then when you are ready to start, the books are references and the knowledge is in you.

Good luck!

 

[KC1971Grande]

I decided to do a little wrenching before work this morning. I have been treating the hood hinge bolts for a couple days between rain showers and today I removed both hinges and the hood is off. The hood is pretty much a goner but I am going to store it for the the time and maybe cannibalize it for sheet metal for other places. Under the hood is much better than I expected. Both frame rails show minimal rust and can be cleaned up, no replacement needed there as far as I can see. Aprons and shock towers are perfect and will just need a little clean up and repaint. Fire wall is good as far as I can see (will know more when the motor is out). Cowl needs some work but it doesn't appear a total replace will be needed. Radiator support and battery tray will both be replaced, the strut rod support is still a big question but I am looking at all options to deal with that, and front valence and front bumper will need to be replaced.

Moving back I can't see well enough underneath yet to say anything about floor pan or floor supports. Roof skin is going to need to be replaced. Passenger side door is very rough and will probably need at least a new skin. Both rear quarters as well as wheel wells will have to be replaced, and the tail light piece will need to be replaced. Due to the shoddy body work done by a shop in the late 70's on the back end I am probably going to do new frame rails back there too. The back end is probably something I will have done. Just too much there that is beyond my skill level.

A lot to do and I am not sure how much I can do myself. Detail work is my specialty as is prep work so I am still trying to decide what to do and what to have done. The motor is still a big question with me. One day I say rebuild, the next I say crate motor. That 306 crate motor still has my buttons pushed and since the rebuild is something I would have to have done, I am leaning more and more toward the crate motor.

I have made up my mind to get an engine hoist first and leave the bigger compressor off until I have the garage ready and a place for it to go prepped. I want to get the motor out first and see how much I need to do up front before winter gets here. Still need to finish getting the car cleaned up too. The rain storms yesterday deposited a bunch more leaves and stuff on the car.

 

[KC1971Grande]

No progress is being made right now due to mother nature and all the rain we are having. So I decided to tinker with some things. Right now I am working on the bolts I removed from the hood hinges when I pulled the hood and removed the hinges. I cleaned them up a little with a wire brush and then decided to give some Eastwood Fast Etch a try. After a long bath in that I let them dry and then gave each bolt a little clean up with Pre.

After inspecting the few bolts I have worked on so far I am encouraged. These should be fine to use again especially with a little of my favorite thread dressing applied before putting the new hood and hinges on in the future. I think I am even going to try to salvage the hinge springs. After the results I have gotten so far it's worth a try to blast them and then try the Fast Etch again. I've already made up a bucket complete with labels to store these parts for the future. (I lightened my brothers load of plastic food containers to the tune of about 20 the other day complete with lids.)

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

I just joined this forum a few weeks ago and feel quite welcome. Now it the time to begin to put together a plan and act to save and restore my '71 Grande. If you have read my introduction thread you know the history I have with this car. If not let me just be brief, this is a second owner car and the first owner was my father. So the car is 43 years old and has been with the same family since the day it rolled off the dealer's lot.

So here is the basic run down on the car. It is a 1971 Grande, still has the original 302 2V with the 3 speed manual transmission. The transmission is not original, it was replaced with the car had about 115,000 miles on the odometer. The car actually has over 170,000 miles on the original engine. (Yes, I can take care of a motor. My current truck is a 1999 Ranger with almost 270,000 miles on the original engine the clutch went out at about 200,000 miles. Yes, one owner truck too.)

So today I did an evaluation of what I can easily see on the car. Body has some rust but most of the outer panels are in tact with few spots rusted through. Concern areas the roof is not looking good, I am very concerned about the chassis, torque boxes, floor supports, floor pan, and some of the inner panels front and rear. Suspension will have to be upgraded as well as brakes, tires, wheels, and wiring. Interior will need a total replacement of all seats, foam, carpet, headliner, interior door panels, and so on. Engine, right now I am leaning toward the 306, 340 horsepower, Ford Racing engine. This is a very significant increase in power over stock and will mean I have to get the car prepped and built up in the chassis, suspension, rear end, brakes, and transmission to handle that motor. I think we all know where most of the money on this project is going but nothing here is going to be cheap. I can do some work myself but where it comes to the serious business of chassis and body work, well that will have to be left to those with much more skill in that work than myself. I can do rust removal, the tear down in terms of getting the car down to a point where I can see what all is wrong (and right).

I will do everything I can on my car but I will readily admit the limitations of my skills and hire out or get friends to help when it gets beyond my ability.

::welcome::::beer::Something to settle my nerves before an upcoming return after the years of cleveland rebuild from the q to r code and further with an increased compression to 9.5:1 w/solid lifters and a Lunati Hi Performance flat camshaft by the engine man at 350hp however since the 650 Holly 4v to a 700cfm 4 barrel Holly 'Avenger' MPEFI w/ forced air but by one dyno shop rated at 255hp engine and 289 ft lbs torque w/an Edelbrock 2v intake manifold to the 4speed Holly wide ratio on the floor to the 3.5A:1 rear axle ratio currently being tweeked out at a dyno tun shop supposed to be rated @ 300hp from the engine. Who is to believe what? Returning shortly to road test for myself w/that summit dash/window unit not only for the hp but also the 0-60, 1/4 mile, and braking time.

I just joined this forum a few weeks ago and feel quite welcome. Now it the time to begin to put together a plan and act to save and restore my '71 Grande. If you have read my introduction thread you know the history I have with this car. If not let me just be brief, this is a second owner car and the first owner was my father. So the car is 43 years old and has been with the same family since the day it rolled off the dealer's lot.

So here is the basic run down on the car. It is a 1971 Grande, still has the original 302 2V with the 3 speed manual transmission. The transmission is not original, it was replaced with the car had about 115,000 miles on the odometer. The car actually has over 170,000 miles on the original engine. (Yes, I can take care of a motor. My current truck is a 1999 Ranger with almost 270,000 miles on the original engine the clutch went out at about 200,000 miles. Yes, one owner truck too.)

So today I did an evaluation of what I can easily see on the car. Body has some rust but most of the outer panels are in tact with few spots rusted through. Concern areas the roof is not looking good, I am very concerned about the chassis, torque boxes, floor supports, floor pan, and some of the inner panels front and rear. Suspension will have to be upgraded as well as brakes, tires, wheels, and wiring. Interior will need a total replacement of all seats, foam, carpet, headliner, interior door panels, and so on. Engine, right now I am leaning toward the 306, 340 horsepower, Ford Racing engine. This is a very significant increase in power over stock and will mean I have to get the car prepped and built up in the chassis, suspension, rear end, brakes, and transmission to handle that motor. I think we all know where most of the money on this project is going but nothing here is going to be cheap. I can do some work myself but where it comes to the serious business of chassis and body work, well that will have to be left to those with much more skill in that work than myself. I can do rust removal, the tear down in terms of getting the car down to a point where I can see what all is wrong (and right).

I will do everything I can on my car but I will readily admit the limitations of my skills and hire out or get friends to help when it gets beyond my ability.

::welcome::::beer::Something to settle my nerves before an upcoming return after the years of cleveland rebuild from the q to r code and further with an increased compression to 9.5:1 w/solid lifters and a Lunati Hi Performance flat camshaft by the engine man at 350hp however since the 650 Holly 4v to a 700cfm 4 barrel Holly 'Avenger' MPEFI w/ forced air but by one dyno shop rated at 255hp engine and 289 ft lbs torque w/an Edelbrock 2v intake manifold to the 4speed Holly wide ratio on the floor to the 3.5A:1 rear axle ratio currently being tweeked out at a dyno tun shop supposed to be rated @ 300hp from the engine. Who is to believe what? Returning shortly to road test for myself w/that summit dash/window unit not only for the hp but also the 0-60, 1/4 mile, and braking time.

 

[KC1971Grande]

Well the weather finally let up for a few days so yesterday I started erecting the new temp garage.



Today I started putting on the side wall pieces and removed the tarp I had spread over where the hood used to be. I will put the end pieces on as soon as I can figure out how to make it so the electric company can have access to the meter each month.



I can now get back to removing the front bumper, grill, radiator, and a few other pieces to prep for getting the motor out. Right now a lot of bolts and screws are treated with penetrating oil. So time for a little patience while it does it's work.

It's nice to see leaves no longer able to collect on my car.

 

[KC1971Grande]

I was going to get the front bumper off and the grill out today but the bolts on the bumper still aren't giving. So I just settled for getting the headlights out and the trim pieces around the lights. I have also been removing some fender bolts so I decided to wire brush those and give them a metal etch treatment. Then I sprayed rust encapsulator on the hinge springs that I prepped the other day and set them out to dry.

When it became too dark to work outside I came into the garage and began cutting up pieces of card board that I am using to make lists of things I need to do and parts I will need. I am not trying to make complete lists for the project but am focusing on the current part of the project. I'm just the type who likes to have a list to keep me focused on the tasks at hand. Plus I have to say I stole the idea of using scrap card board to make lists from Roadkill. I'll just try to do a better job of making my car road ready than they do on the show.

Also made a little road trip today on the motorcycle to pick up some ratcheting flat wrenches. Some of the bolts I have been working on are in tight spots that a standard ratchet won't get into and using old school wrenches gets the job done but what a waste of time. Ok so I just used getting tools as an excuse to get away from the house and ride for a while.

 

[KC1971Grande]

Still removing front pieces. I am labeling parts I intend to keep for reuse so the process is going slow. Plus the bolts holding the bumper and bumper braces refuse to give after several treatments of PB. The braces are badly rusted and I have decided to replace both so I might just sacrifice them and cut them away. All the bolts are what I deem to be more important as well so all will be replaced with new bolts. So the other possibility is just to select the bolts to cut and go after them with a cutting wheel.

This is what it looks like so far.



And this next picture is a Holley 500 cfm two barrel carb with a manual choke. When I was younger and the auto choke carbs were becoming a pain to fine around here, I replaced the last one with this.

 

[Mustang Dynasty]

Well the weather finally let up for a few days so yesterday I started erecting the new temp garage.

Today I started putting on the side wall pieces and removed the tarp I had spread over where the hood used to be. I will put the end pieces on as soon as I can figure out how to make it so the electric company can have access to the meter each month.

I can now get back to removing the front bumper, grill, radiator, and a few other pieces to prep for getting the motor out. Right now a lot of bolts and screws are treated with penetrating oil. So time for a little patience while it does it's work.

It's nice to see leaves no longer able to collect on my car.

That is really awesome. at least you know what you have before starting the restoration. Mine was all put together nicely with a promise that the toploader was from a 429 1971 Mach one set up and having positraction and a 4:11 rear end on the Cleveland as reason it had so much gforce perse but in actuality was and still exists an Edelbrock 2 Barrel intake Manifold that creates a lot of torque at low miles an hour when introduced with a high carb 4 barrel and the Hurst wide ration 4 speed. See what mine was reduced to when I finally had it sand blasted. on my pp2-5 on my photo album.

 

[KC1971Grande]

Still slowly and methodically taking the car apart. Making decisions as I go as to what is going to be good enough to keep and what is scrap. The bumper and supports are bad so I decided just to go after the bolts and supports with a cutting wheel and get the bumper out of my way so I can save the grill. The grill is going to need quite a bit of clean up so I want to get it out and make it into one of my winter restoration projects.

The bumper is loose on one side in the first pic.



Decided to stop for the day and hit it fresh in the morning. So this morning I went back after the support and bolts on the other side and now the bumper is laying on the ground.



Then to the grill and some more PB to get those screws loose. Wouldn't you know it the heads would round out on one screw on each side and not ones that are easy to get after with a 3 inch cutting wheel. Oh well I'll get back after it in a couple days when I am fresh and ready to do some work again. Have to get cleaned up and go to the office now.

This is a slow process but when you are trying to save parts to reuse later you have to take it easy and walk away when you get a little frustrated. I'm beginning to sound like my father now.