- Joined
- Jul 27, 2012
- Messages
- 3,129
- Reaction score
- 504
- Location
- Brisbane - Australia
- My Car
- 1973 Mustang Convertible
Hi to all,
OVERVIEW.
My'73 Vert's front bar was in very good condition with the original paint still on the bar. Time had taken it's toll though, and the paint was wearing too thin.It's interesting to note that Ford did not put a lot of color paint on the bar to start off with. I decided to have some fun and restore it while i was in the mood.
As always, there is more to fixing things on the old cars that what you first think.
THE PROJECT.
I removed the bar myself with the help of a floor jack placed under and in the middle of the bar. It's easy to remove on that basis. The '73 has a solid metal back up reiforcement plate running behind the bar. Boy, is the whole bar heavy. That had surface rust which i sanded down. I could have gone to town and removed the metal backup and had it all sandblasted and reprimed and painted, but i took the easy way out for now and just refinished it without removing it.
I broke the project into three separate sections. 1. Refinish the entire back of the bar in 2Pak satin black. 2. Refinish the entire front and top faces with Gold Glow metallic and 2Pak clearcoat. 3.Refinish the top inner black strip in 2Pak satin black. This process means you have to do a lot of separate masking off as you move through the job. In steps 2 and 3, i prepped up the old paint by sanding down well. I used a 2Pak primer filler with about 3 coats all over. I chose not to use flex aid additive in the primer or clearcoats and black. Handy hint! I removed the four clip nuts that hold the bar on, and separately refinished them in 2Pak satin black. The trick is to mark the position of the clips with a dremmel mini cut off wheel to score lines where the positioning of the clips were layed out and positioned on the backup plate. Number your clips as well to corrrespond with what holes they go into when you install them back in. This process saves you a lot of mucking around later when you are putting the bar back on, and you're lining the bar up.
When it came to the Gold Glow part of the bar, i rubbed all the clearcaot down with 1200 and 2000 wet and dry paper, wet, to denib the finish , and give me a peeless gloss as well. It then got a good buff and polish. Without going into too much technical detail, that was basically it. I reinstalled the finished bar with the jack again, and took in the new look! If you don't have access to a baking booth, then give yourself about a week to do this project. See my pics below. Also, see my grille makeover project too.
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-grille-makeover-project
BTW - A bit of trivia! The State of Queensland where i live here in Australia, lets you choose when you order your very own set of personalised number plates, to have Australian style (which is letter boxed shaped), or American style size. I chose American style and paid the State Government about $450.00 for the plates. (not cheap) You can order many different color and theme combinations as well. GWS are my initials, and 56 is my year of birth.
Thanks,
Greg.
OVERVIEW.
My'73 Vert's front bar was in very good condition with the original paint still on the bar. Time had taken it's toll though, and the paint was wearing too thin.It's interesting to note that Ford did not put a lot of color paint on the bar to start off with. I decided to have some fun and restore it while i was in the mood.
As always, there is more to fixing things on the old cars that what you first think.THE PROJECT.
I removed the bar myself with the help of a floor jack placed under and in the middle of the bar. It's easy to remove on that basis. The '73 has a solid metal back up reiforcement plate running behind the bar. Boy, is the whole bar heavy. That had surface rust which i sanded down. I could have gone to town and removed the metal backup and had it all sandblasted and reprimed and painted, but i took the easy way out for now and just refinished it without removing it.
I broke the project into three separate sections. 1. Refinish the entire back of the bar in 2Pak satin black. 2. Refinish the entire front and top faces with Gold Glow metallic and 2Pak clearcoat. 3.Refinish the top inner black strip in 2Pak satin black. This process means you have to do a lot of separate masking off as you move through the job. In steps 2 and 3, i prepped up the old paint by sanding down well. I used a 2Pak primer filler with about 3 coats all over. I chose not to use flex aid additive in the primer or clearcoats and black. Handy hint! I removed the four clip nuts that hold the bar on, and separately refinished them in 2Pak satin black. The trick is to mark the position of the clips with a dremmel mini cut off wheel to score lines where the positioning of the clips were layed out and positioned on the backup plate. Number your clips as well to corrrespond with what holes they go into when you install them back in. This process saves you a lot of mucking around later when you are putting the bar back on, and you're lining the bar up.
When it came to the Gold Glow part of the bar, i rubbed all the clearcaot down with 1200 and 2000 wet and dry paper, wet, to denib the finish , and give me a peeless gloss as well. It then got a good buff and polish. Without going into too much technical detail, that was basically it. I reinstalled the finished bar with the jack again, and took in the new look! If you don't have access to a baking booth, then give yourself about a week to do this project. See my pics below. Also, see my grille makeover project too.
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-grille-makeover-project
BTW - A bit of trivia! The State of Queensland where i live here in Australia, lets you choose when you order your very own set of personalised number plates, to have Australian style (which is letter boxed shaped), or American style size. I chose American style and paid the State Government about $450.00 for the plates. (not cheap) You can order many different color and theme combinations as well. GWS are my initials, and 56 is my year of birth.
Thanks,
Greg.
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