The Rickster - a 73 Mach 1 work in progress

[73MustangCoupe]

Thanks, Lazarus.  It is kind of a neat color, although it isn't exactly what I was expecting.  

Yes, Midlife.  I've heard stainless lines can leak after adding brake fluid, so I'm thinking of not adding any. ;-)  Actually, I've heard you have to tighten them much tighter than steel or NiCopp lines.  I will keep an eye out for leaks, though.  Thanks.

I got the car unmasked, and took a quick picture of the floor. 

 

No I can get the pedal box, brake booster and master cylinder, parking brake and bunches of Kilmat installed.  

 

[73MustangCoupe]

After consulting with a couple of experienced body and paint guys, I decided that the only thing to do was to have the Rickster repainted.  With that, it came down to "do I trust the prep work that was done before that paint was laid down?"  Well, I don't.  So, I have decided to have the paint stripped back to bare metal, so that the paint job can be done right.  Dustless Blasting is coming out on Sep 25th, weather permitting.  Five and a half months, and I'm right back where I was on April 3rd. 

Well, that's the latest update.  More to come, soon.   

 

[rio1856]

Ron, Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, if not and you settle for something that just wasn't right, it will always gnaw on you.

 

[rackerm]

After consulting with a couple of experienced body and paint guys, I decided that the only thing to do was to have the Rickster repainted.  With that, it came down to "do I trust the prep work that was done before that paint was laid down?"  Well, I don't.  So, I have decided to have the paint stripped back to bare metal, so that the paint job can be done right.  Dustless Blasting is coming out on Sep 25th, weather permitting.  Five and a half months, and I'm right back where I was on April 3rd. 

Well, that's the latest update.  More to come, soon.   

You have come a long with your build and put a lot of love, time and money into it, I think you made the right decision to take a step back as painful as it feels. Once you it's blasted you will moving forward again with a better end result. It a hard decision to make now, but down the road it will be a distance memory and you will be happy you did it.

BTW: I had my 70 Mustang Dustless blasted in my driveway. Don't know if you have had it done before. Yes dustless but very messy, be prepared for a lot of cleanup. Make sure they use a rust inhibitor in the solution to minimize flash rust from developing quickly. So long as the car is inside and dry, it will hold up for many weeks and maybe months while you work the body and prep it for paint. Important, the sand gets into every nook and cranny. I spent weeks, blowing sand out and tapping the body with a rubber Malott to vibrate the body and loosen up more sand and blowing it again and again as it dried. Eventually you get it all out.

 

[mach71351c]

Some times you have to hit the reset button. Good luck with next go round..

 

[RD-72]

Your project is coming along nicely! I am watching with great interest.

It seems like nothing always goes according to plan (ie paint)...it’s just more time and money, but it will be well worth it in the end.

I have a question on your April 30, 2021 post with respect to the dual sending units for temp and oil pressure. 

I too am in the process of adding gauges (albeit OEM instead of the VDO’s you went with) and plan on running both “ idiot lights” and gauges.

I am interested in your comment that someone makes/sells dual sending units where both the gauge and idiot lights would work from one sensor sending unit.  I too would be interested in not having to use a “T” for the oil pressure sender and finding another spot for the water temp sender.

I wasn’t aware that anyone combined these 2 types of sending units into one unit. I googled and found dual station sending units for marine applications, but it was unclear if they worked for dual purpose.

When you have some time, please tell us more/ send details of these products.

thx

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Thanks guys for the words of encouragement and support.  It was a really tough pill to swallow, but in the end, with all I've put into it, I need it to be right.  I know with that lousy paint job, it would gnaw on me, every time I saw it, and it's good to know you agree that I'm doing the right thing. 

RD-72, you asked about the sending units.  They are VDO brand.  I got them from Summitt, IIRC.  The oil pressure sending unit is VDO360 019.  It's reads 0-80 PSI +/-2 PSI and the warning light kicks off at 8 PSI. I had to do some research as they have them with metric threads, different ranges, etc, but this one fit my Cleveland block. 



The water temp sending unit I purchased is the VDO 323 026.  It goes to 250F, with the warning light going off at 209F.  They have others that have higher warning light contact points, but they would require an adapter to fit into the block and I am hoping that the light going off at 209 will not be a problem. 



Anyway, you can get both of them at Summit, JEGS, etc.  You can also check out the VD) gauges web site, www.vdo-gauges.com, to see what other sending units they may have that would fit your needs if you want a different range, size, etc. 

I hope that helps.      

 

[RD-72]

Thx for the info, I appreciate it and the product numbers.

This gives me a huge kickstart for research on my 302 cid and oem gauge application. 
 

cheers

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Well, last Saturday Dustless Blasting came out and stripped the new paint from the Rickster.  



What a mess.  Rackerm, you were right.  Sand is everywhere.  I got it back into the garage before nightfall, and since then, I've been vacuuming, brushing, sweeping, wiping, vacuuming, wiping, sweeping, blowing it out, and then repeating it, again and again.  I noted when they were stripping it, that in several areas, the paint seemed to be peeling instead of chipping off.  



On the fenders, I noticed some of the pieces of paint that peeled away from the primer were close to 1 x 2 inches.  It appears that the paint didn't adhere to the primer very well at all.  In retrospect, stripping it was the right move.

I forgot to have the rear bumper filler blasted, so I used chemical paint stripper to strip it down to bare metal.  When applying it, the paint was lifting from one end before I got to the other end.  A quick run down the piece with a putty knife cleaned it completely.  Hmmmm.  No primer at all.  Seriously.  In a few areas, surface rust was also present.  Again, stripping was a tough call, but it turns out to be the right call. 



So now, it's completely stripped, and sitting in the garage, again. 





I'm still working on finding someone to paint it.  I think I've found someone to paint it, but he's concerned about fitting it into his paint booth along with all the parts so they can be all done together.   So now I'm waiting, but working on things that won't interfere with painting.  Slowly, but surely.

 

[midlife]

Ahhh...stripping (makes an old man's heart beat faster), and even pictures of the stripper.  But where is the bikini and the pole for dancing?

I agree, stripping was the right thing to do.  Now be sure and get it ospho'ed ASAP or epoxy primer to prevent surface rust.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Midlife, it was a male stripper.  I'm not sure you'd want to see some middle aged guy in a bikini, . ;-)  I think the wife was a little disappointed, though, when she realized the male stripper I hired wasn't an exotic dancer, bur dustless blasting guy.

I'm still working on getting the blasting media out of all the cracks and crevices, but making progress.  And when I use the compressed air to get that media out of small cracks and crevices, it makes dust, that gets everywhere, again.  It's like vacuum, blow, vacuum, blow, lather, rinse, repeat.  I'm making progress, though.

I did get the honeycomb taillight panel attached.  I used the new honeycomb panel to mark where the holes needed to go, and with much trepidation, drilled them out.  It bolts in fine now, but I do need to tweak them just a bit.  



But I am happy with it, and can check off one more item off the list.  Slowly, but surely.

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Slowly, but surely, I have been working on things for the Rickster.  I did spend a couple weeks out of town helping my daughter install new flooring in much of her home, or I'd have gotten more done by now.  I have gotten headlight brackets and buckets cleaned up and in primer, and have Kilmat covering the floor of the front half of the cabin.  I spent a good part of one day cleaning the paint (I guess it was paint, it bubbled up easily with wax and grease remover) from the underside of the hood.  I'm ready to cover the body and hood with epoxy and then I can start working on the doors and fenders.  

I pawed through my stash of parts and pulled out the fuel system vapor canister.  This one was from the coupe that burned, and looked pretty rough.



I was able to open it up, paint the interior, replace the center stem, replace the charcoal and close it up.  New coat of paint, and it looks like new. 





If you're interested, I did make a tutorial on restoring the vapor canister.  It's at https://7173mustangs.com/forums/tutorials/article/53-vapor-canister-rebuildrestoration/

I did find the button that goes on the center vent but it arrived just after the last picture was taken.  It's now been painted and installed, too.  One more thing to check off the list.  

I'm still working on getting the car painted, but in the meantime, I'll just keep doing what I can, to keep it moving forward.  

 

[timachone]

Good work and awesome tutorial  :goodjob:

 

[73MustangCoupe]

With the car stripped, it as time for some primer.  The guy I am going to have paint the car suggested High Teck DTM primer, so that is what I went with.  I laid down the first with some reducer to thin it out and to be more of a sealer,.  It was followed by a coat with no reducer making it a high build primer.   

With a nice coat of primer laid down, it was time for body filler where the roof meets the A-pillars and the quarter panels.  I started with the quarter panel/roof joint.  First, I applied an additional coat of Fibrall to fill the joint, where the blasting had eroded some of the filler.  After sanding the Fibrall down, I started with the body filler.  It took several coats of Rage Ultra and a lot of sanding, but I finally got the body line nice and straight and the curvature of the quarter panel just right. 

I drew a pencil line down the longitudinal body line using a long, straight piece of 1/8" aluminum.   I used a piece of TIG rod to make sure the quarter panel profile was round, even, and symmetrical.  I turned a lot of body filler into dust on the floor.



Up front,  I applied a coat of Fibrall and sanded it down, and the started with the body filler. 









I used the windshield trim to confirm the profile and used body filler to allow the edge of the windshield pillar to match the profile of the trim and minimize the gap and keep it nice and straight.



Yes, it was kind of a pain, but it went quicker than the quarter panel/roof joint, just because there was a lot less sanding.  But overall, it came out good, and I'm happy with it.  

 Now, it's on to sanding the roof and getting that nice and straight.  Slowly, but surely.

 

[Sheriff41]

More excellent work, Ron.  I look forward to seeing the body in paint and hope your new painter delivers for you.

 

[rio1856]

OUTSTANDING!!! Job! Ron, man, you got skills my brother!!

 

[73MustangCoupe]

Did I ever mention how much I enjoy block sanding?  There's a reason for that.

I've gotten a couple coats of hi-build primer on the roof, and guide coat revealed a few low and higher spots.  A thin coat of body filler allowed it to be leveled, and another coat of hi-build and guide coat revealed it to be straight, level and true.  I'll need one more coat of hi-build for final blocking, but for now, the roof is good to go.  





The driver's door needed some more work.  Both corners had been repaired previously, and I'd repaired some old, not so great dent repairs, but the dustless blasting removed all the filler I'd applied, so I had to start over.  After priming, I blocked it to see where the lows were, applied body filler, and got to sanding.  So much mind-numbing, tedious, dusty fun, but the drivers door is now straight.  I've got it on the car, and need to tweak the gaps just a bit.  Then I can smooth the transitions between the rear of the door and the quarter panel, and then the front of the door and the rear edge of the fender.  I also got the irregularities where the mirror attaches smoothed out and got rivnuts installed so the sport mirror can be attached after painting.  







And just when you thought it was safe to put the welder away..... 

When blasting the doors, apparently, there was some really thin metal along the bottom corners of the passenger door and several small rust holes revealed themselves.  So again, like I did on the drivers door, I repaired the corners with new metal, building the complex shapes in several pieces and welding them together.  The front corner was more difficult, because I didn't extend my patch far enough and wound up trying to weld into thin metal.  It caused me some problems with burn through until I burned back to thicker material.  Overall, it came out okay, but not really my best work. 







The rear corner went much more smoothly, and I got it welded in without much problem at all.  



















I welded up the holes for the previous rear view mirror, and using a hammer and dolly, got the area really pretty "flat".  Blocking the contour revealed it was really smooth and true, which is what I was looking for, so after some measuring I drilled and installed rivnuts for the passenger door rear view mirror.  I made sure to measure the drivers side and put it in the same location so both sides match.

The passenger door only had a few dings, except for the lower panel that had a number of scallops.  They're not that deep, but they do show.  I measured the deeper ones to be about 3/32 - 1/8 inch deep, which isn't bad, but I was hoping to reduce them prior to applying filler.  I tried heat shrinking, but that didn't do much at all.  I was able to get to the 3 toward the rear and used a hammer and dolly to bring them up, so they were only about 1/16 inch deep, but from the middle of the door and forward, I couldn't really reach.  







I would have loved to have had a stud gun, but I don't, but I had heard about using a nail and pry bar, and it works!  I was able to tack weld some small nails in a few places in the deeper low spots and then using a pry bar, apply pressure bring the metal back up.  It took some time and effort, but I was able to reduce the depth by close to half.  





I applied body filler to the low spots and after it set, started sanding, and sanding, and sanding.  Three coats of body filler later, it's finally getting there. 

The last coat (I hope) is on, and I'll sand it in the morning, and hopefully, it will be done.  If not, I'm sure that I will be a lot closer.  



I've also got the hood lock openings cut out and the hood locks test fitted in the hood.  The hood is now in primer, too, so making progress.  Slowly, but surely.

 

[midlife]

Nice work!  As for your love of block sanding, I'm sure there are many on the forum that would love you to work on their cars.

 

[mach71351c]

Looks good!

 

[turtle5353]

NICE!!!!