New owner, rust under vinly top

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Welcome to the forum. If you found rust in all those areas then the cowl upper and lower is probably bad. There is a great mustang junk yard in Oxford N.C. if you are near there I can give you the contact phone number. There are several coupes in the yard I saw. Your car has the Decor Group which gives the side trim with black out on bottom, black panel between the tail lights and should be a Mach 1 grill. One of the members here calls the side trim "Unobtanium" so difficult to find but makes car look much better. I think a member is going to put a set up for sale soon.

Before you toss anything make sure you can get another some items are like gold so never toss anything. If you are going to try to do the welding check into a Henrob or Cobra torch. It will cut like a plasma and can weld anything from thick to thin with less warping. Much less operating cost also.

Be ready to do lots of searching and lots of late nights to get one back solid.

Oxford is about 3 hours from me, so I'll definitely try to take a trip out there once I have a parts list together. They don't have a website or anything do they?

Thank you guys for letting me know my car has the Decor Group, I have definitely never heard of it before now.

Good that you are close to a great mustang junk yard. Scotty will talk your ear off. You have to ask him to crank up his 69 R code that he put a Tunnel port 427 in. You will be amazed at all the cars he has. He has many R code car but will not sell anything but parts off the junk cars. The way I went in was beside an now long closed rail line. Trees a foot in diameter in the middle of the tracks. What made me laugh was a sign saying Clarksville. I thought of the song last train to Clarlsville when I saw it.

Build your car for you not some judge that thinks he knows it all. Enjoy the car and have fun I have for over 50 years.

Oh I forgot Scotty Strickland has not web site he does advertise on cl some it is a one man show. He has more rare Fords than anyone I know but will not sell says it is his retirement. You can look him up on Facebook and make friends with him and communicate that way. Make a list of what you need before you go and negotiate with him. Buildings, trailers full and cars in the woods.

 

[CFrance729]

So, the general idea seems that, if there are no holes, and if metal beneath the rust is all still good, I would just need to strip the paint and rust with my angle grinder, prep and clean the metal, prime it (some kind of epoxy primer, like Boss1Ray suggested above?), and paint it.

Does this sound about right?

I plan on getting the entire car repainted in the future, so I don't really care to spend a lot of money on painting the roof or how good it looks at the moment.

Should the primer be enough for now to protect it and prevent rust, or might I be better off doing a quick nice coat of rattle can black?

 

[midlife]

After removing the rust, use epoxy primer then a coat of rattle can black will keep the rust at bay for a couple of years.

 

[mustang7173]

CFrance729,

I have tried most of the rust prevention products,that includes POR15, and the rust come back. The only solution that has worked for me, is media blasting. Once blasted, coated with epoxy primer, and approx. 3 to 4 years later, with no installed vinyl, Not one spec of rust at all.

http://www.northcarolinasodablasting.com/ - These folks are located in Greenville NC 27834 US

Just a recommendation. I understand people have budgets.

mustang7173

 

[CFrance729]

So it seems that the way to do this would be to sand down to bare metal (provided there are no holes), get it all cleaned up and taped up, prime it with a self-etching primer, then use how ever many layers of an epoxy primer to build it up, then paint.

Does this sound right, or close?

 

[CFrance729]

Nope.

Definitely no.

 

[73pony]

Damn. That's bad.

 

[1mach1]

Woah!

Sorry to see that, man.

 

[73pony]

Can you find a donor car with a good roof and cut that out and weld in? Me thinks that might be beyond trying to patch.

 

[Wolverine]

Wow. That is a mess. But hey, it's only the roof. No one is going to look under the vinyl.

But, if it is like that UNDER the vinyl, I can't imagine what the frame looks like.

My heart bleeds for you.

 

[mach71351c]

Yikes!! That's a mess.

 

[CFrance729]

It amazes me the interior is as great as it is with no water damage. Kudos to the previous owner for keeping it covered 24/7

 

[CFrance729]

Took off the rest of the vinyl and the exterior trim today so I could see how the sides were. About as bad as I thought they would be at first, but at least I was able to get to metal (somewhat) easily.

Now I'm still new to the whole restoration thing, and especially bodywork.

I used one of these

https://www.amazon.com/3M-SandBlaster-9681-2-Inch-Clean-N-Strip/dp/B000BQURDI

style discs to remove the paint and rust...and it worked alright, except I ate through pretty much the whole disc for just that little section. Is this normal? Is there a better attachment I should be using? I thought about using the grinding wheel but I don't want to deal with the heat and warpage, and the extreme care I would have to use.

Can anyone fill me in on what exactly I'm looking at? For instance, what is that rectangular bar towards the top? At first I thought it was structural, but it's got a little wobble to it.

In the mean time, I'm gonna go get educated on body stuff, roof parts, what is an A frame, the pillars, etc etc.

If anyone can recommend some good books (preferably ones available for electronic download, but I'm not against waiting for paperback) on body repair and general Classic Mustang restoration, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[jeff8877]

The larger rectangle and smaller one both look like metal patches to the roof that were done at some point back. Good luck with your car.

Jeff

 

[1mach1]

If you are going to keep the car, you almost need a donor roof. That is the easiest and best way to go. There are a lot of coupe parts cars out there. Looks like your roof is too far gone.

 

[midlife]

Yes, those sanding wheels don't last long, but they are quite effective in taking paint and rust off. You just have to be patient and use a lot of them.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

For sure you need a donor roof. Check with the contact I sent, Scotty Strickland in Oxford, N.C.. If he has good roof that was not vinyl top that is what you need. There are many opinions of what to do. Change the skin or just cut the A post and separate at the factory joint at the rear.

I was sending a 71 Maverick Grabber to crusher because of a couple dime size holes under vinyl roof. Ford did not put top coats of color if there was a vinyl roof going on so not real protection there.

You probably need some help on this one for a first restore. Replacing a roof is not a big thing but they do not repo coupe roofs.

 

[CFrance729]

I knew after I took the vinyl off the first time I would need a new roof. Right now I'm just trying to see how far down the "salvageable" goes.

I plan to contact Scotty, but it won't be for at least a month or two, until I'm sure I know what I'll be doing with the whole process. I'll be starting a couple month long welding course here in the next month or two and I will be practicing on scrap in my off time, maybe be able to find some body panels somewhere cheap to practice on too.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I knew after I took the vinyl off the first time I would need a new roof. Right now I'm just trying to see how far down the "salvageable" goes.

I plan to contact Scotty, but it won't be for at least a month or two, until I'm sure I know what I'll be doing with the whole process. I'll be starting a couple month long welding course here in the next month or two and I will be practicing on scrap in my off time, maybe be able to find some body panels somewhere cheap to practice on too.

Since you are just starting on the welding learning process. Take a look at the Henbob or now Cobra oxygen acetylene torch. You can do about anything with it with some practice. I have told others if you had never seen a basket ball and someone told you to dribble it and go down the court and go behind your back and do a dunk you would have said impossible. All skills need practice and the Cobra torch can do amazing things with sheet metal. You need their gauges also 4 lbs. of gas is very low but that is what they work with. Practice makes perfect for sure.

 

[judge]

There is a Mustang junkyard on I 95 just above Richmond VA. Old Dominion Mustang. They will have the top. You should get it cut into the trunk and wheelhouses. And six inches down on the quarters. No need to weld between the trunk and window.