I am in the process of just cleaning my 73 Mach 1. Not doing a restore some areas are getting some attention to stop any rust that has started.
The Eastwood material is good for someone that does not have spray equipment. The original as you can see in my pics is very crappy finish. Was not smooth or even semi gloss.
I would take everything our, wires, fuel lines, brake lines and you can do a much better more professional job. I also took my front suspension off and put new rubber parts in the sway bar and such.
On the fasteners you can take pictures of where everything is and how the wiring and components are placed. If you have a local plating shop that does just normal plating you can take to them. If you wash the bolts and nuts in lacquer thinner and get any oil or sealer off then use a de rusting solution. Evapo rust or such to take the rust off. I have a tank of molasses but it is slow if you are in a hurry.
I took grill and fenders off so I could clean everything easily. Trash, leaves and such get caught inside the fenders and can hold water. Also check the cowl for trash or mice nests. I use mesh wire to put behind the vents and stainless steel scrubber pads the in the drains of the cowl to keep the mice out for good.
I did not want my car to look restored just a survivor original so I just wire brushed the fasteners some and spray satin clear on them to prevent rust.
I am taking all the parts that need phosphate coating to plating shop to have that re done. I sand blasted them. Parts that get phosphate are, hood latch, hood hinges, caps on front shocks, AC bracket on top and AC adjuster, cast iron AC compressor mount and the accelerator cable bracket on the engine.
The parts that get slop gray are the bracket in the center for grill and hood latch mount, the braces that go from the front fender to the radiator support, some of the headlight bucket components and the front license plate bracket. You can look at previous posts and see some great pictures on the forum.
When doing the slop gray I prefer to strip the parts using aircraft stripper and then blast them because they will have rust.
Sounds like a lot but a couple good weekends will get the job done. Just take lots of pictures and know there are lots of fasteners.
I sent the brake booster to booster Dewey for rebuild and I did the master cylinder myself to keep the original. I am going to do my next booster myself. It was over $120 in shipping for the booster plus $155 to rebuild. I was looking and I think NPD sells the components.
I polished the stainless on my grill if you do you will need to order a set of I think 16 clips they break when you remove the trim.
A clean, correctly painted under hood makes a car pop at the show for sure and anyone can do it especially while the engine is out.