What order did you do your restore

[scgamecock]

I am stuck in a rut and trying to figure my way out.  I don't know where to start so I am just procrastinating at doing anything to it!!!  Here are the major areas that need attention but in what order???? :shootself: :shootself:  

1. Engine runs but needs carb rebuilt and new headers.  PO dropped the car or bottomed out on something and crushed it.
   
2. Interior is all out but the drivers seat.  I have to replace most of it as it was missing 
   
3. The floor pan needs some welding to finish the PO's R&R.  
   
4. Needs tires
   
5. Needs some dent repair
   
6. needs painting
   
7. Parts of the AC are missing.
   
8. Heater controls not working.
   
9. Suspension is in decent shape so I was going to save that till later and do an upgrade instead of OEM rebuild.
   
10. Brakes are done.
    

So where do I start? rofl rofl rofl

 

[Don C]

I would start with carburetor and headers. Header damage likely parking lot speed bumps.

Finish welding the floor pan while you look for seats or have them on order.

Tires, so you can drive it while working on the rest.

Winter is coming, heater controls.

Dents

Paint

A/C last, summer is almost over.

 

[TheRktmn]

What Don said. Get it running & driving, then worry about making it pretty or comfortable. Chrome won't get you home.

 

[Vicus]

Wade

I would follow Don's order.

I don't know the interior colour code of your ride and I also do not know the shipping costs to the US but I do have a complete fold down rear seat with quarter panels and sailpanels in avocado in stock. If you're interested I can provide you some pictures and we can negotiate on the price.

Cheers Frank

 

[73pony]

Just being honest here. Don’s advice is very good. But I really think you need to decide what you want the car to end up as before doing anything. I’ve seen mention from you of a 460, keeping the 351, etc. decide what you want and go from there. If you’re going to paint then do the interior last and build the engine while it is at bodywork and paint unless you plan on doing that yourself.

 

[Mister 4x4]

• Tore it all apart
  
• Repaired/replaced the rust
  
• Suspension/Steering
  
• Brakes
  
• Fuel System
  
• Engine/Transmission/Rear Axle/Exhaust
  
• HVAC
  
• Electrical (part 1 - get the basics to get it running)
  
• Body & Paint
  
• Electrical (part 2 - lights, horns, HVAC controls, radio, restomod accessories)
  
• Interior/Glass
  
• Final body details (Mach 1 stickers last)
  

Took me right at 4 years to get it driveable - still not 100% 4 years after that (little nit-noid things).

 

[c9zx]

I am stuck in a rut and trying to figure my way out.  I don't know where to start so I am just procrastinating at doing anything to it!!!  Here are the major areas that need attention but in what order???? :shootself: :shootself:  

1. Engine runs but needs carb rebuilt and new headers.  PO dropped the car or bottomed out on something and crushed it.
   
2. Interior is all out but the drivers seat.  I have to replace most of it as it was missing 
   
3. The floor pan needs some welding to finish the PO's R&R.  
   
4. Needs tires
   
5. Needs some dent repair
   
6. needs painting
   
7. Parts of the AC are missing.
   
8. Heater controls not working.
   
9. Suspension is in decent shape so I was going to save that till later and do an upgrade instead of OEM rebuild.
   
10. Brakes are done.
    

So where do I start? rofl rofl rofl

How bad is the header damage? I've watched a friend take out dents by sealing the header with two plates with a valve stem in one of the plate. I think he pressurized it to about 20 PSI. He then heated the middle of the dent first and worked his way outward in an expanding circular motion. It worked amazingly well. Keep the heat moving or you can budge/blowout the tube. I've never done it myself so, reader beware. Chuck

 

[scgamecock]

Wade

I would follow Don's order.

I don't know the interior colour code of your ride and I also do not know the shipping costs to the US but I do have a complete fold down rear seat with quarter panels and sailpanels in avocado in stock. If you're interested I can provide you some pictures and we can negotiate on the price.

Cheers Frank

Thanks Frank but I dont have a fold down rear seat.  I really wish I did!  The original color of the interior was white.  I need pretty much everything including 1 seat bottom.

Just being honest here. Don’s advice is very good. But I really think you need to decide what you want the car to end up as before doing anything. I’ve seen mention from you of a 460, keeping the 351, etc. decide what you want and go from there. If you’re going to paint then do the interior last and build the engine while it is at bodywork and paint unless you plan on doing that yourself.

I appreciate your honesty and you are right I have been all over the place but I do have a goal in mind now.  After a lot of research I am going to keep the Cleveland even though I do have a 460 block and heads.  From a cost stand point I think rebuilding the 351 will allow me to do a little more motor work including aluminium heads.  As for the rest of the car it will be stock with the exception of upgraded suspension.  Im going to do everything myself with the exception of the R&R front and rear glass and the headliner.

How bad is the header damage?

Chuck.  the headers are rusted and crushed bad at the weld where the tubes come into the collector. 1 of the tubes is almost completely crushed and has rust holes in it.  There is no saving them.

Thanks all for the advice!  Once this God awful heat goes away and we get some nice fall weather I will start working on it again.  Since it is running I am going to try and get it driving by finishing the welding of the seat perch, getting a seat so I have 2 seats in the car, then rebuilding the carb and replacing the headers.  Then I will start  on the body work.  Luckily the car is structurally sound with no rot in the sub frame or shock towers so I can focus on the external body itself.  once the body is finished and primed I will move on to these in this order.  

Suspension

rebuild engine

paint

interior

headliner 

replace front and rear glass.

aftermarket wheels and tires 17x8 fronts 17x9.5\5.5 bs rears.  Not sure tire size yet but biggest I can put on the rear without having them stick out. Any suggestions?

AGREE????

::thumb::

 

[rackerm]

Using Eric's format.

Tore it all apart (took pictures of every little detail)

Repaired/replaced the rusted/damaged panels

Paint undercarriage and engine bay

Applied sound deadener to wheel wells and firewall

Suspension/Steering

Rear Axle

Wanted a rolling chassis at this point..

Final Body & Paint

An old driver's seat

Pedals

Brakes

Fuel System

Electrical (lights, horns, power windows, HVAC controls, radio, accessories) used a battery to test everything

Detailed trunk ( sound deadener, spatter paint with over spray)

Engine/Transmission/Drive Shaft

Exhaust

Heating/A/C airbox and hoses

Glass

Electrical - Gauges, ignition to get it running)

Convertible Roof

A/C compressor and hoses

Complete Interior

Final body details tape/ trim

Still have not charged the A/C system

 

[Hemikiller]

Disassembly

Unibody rust repairs/strip to bare metal if going that route/remove surface rust

seam seal etc

Prime entire car



-- at this point, you essentially have a "body in white" as Ford did wen they started assembly

Paint engine compartment & undercarriage

suspension/brakes/fuel lines/electrical

dash & wiring



-- now you have a roller

At this point, I installed engine & trans so it could move under it's own power.



mask off finished areas and do finish body work on shell

body work on bolt on items (fenders/hood/doors etc)



final paint & body assembly

exterior trim/lights etc

interior



frt & rear glass & trim last

If you plan on doing a rolling restoration while driving the car, then I'd leave the engine and suspension in place while doing the rust repairs and body work. At some point they need to come out, preferably before final pint.

As others have noted, you need to come up with a firm plan, or you'll chase your tail for years.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I am stuck in a rut and trying to figure my way out.  I don't know where to start so I am just procrastinating at doing anything to it!!!  Here are the major areas that need attention but in what order???? :shootself: :shootself:  

1. Engine runs but needs carb rebuilt and new headers.  PO dropped the car or bottomed out on something and crushed it.
   
2. Interior is all out but the drivers seat.  I have to replace most of it as it was missing 
   
3. The floor pan needs some welding to finish the PO's R&R.  
   
4. Needs tires
   
5. Needs some dent repair
   
6. needs painting
   
7. Parts of the AC are missing.
   
8. Heater controls not working.
   
9. Suspension is in decent shape so I was going to save that till later and do an upgrade instead of OEM rebuild.
   
10. Brakes are done.
    

So where do I start? rofl rofl rofl

What color is that, anyway?  I ask because mine looked very similar and turned out it was Light Pewter - big difference!

 

[Mikes73]

It looks like medium copper metallic ro me, but I am usually wrong when it comes ro these cars haha.

 

[Don C]

Thanks all for the advice!  Once this God awful heat goes away and we get some nice fall weather I will start working on it again.  Since it is running I am going to try and get it driving by finishing the welding of the seat perch, getting a seat so I have 2 seats in the car, then rebuilding the carb and replacing the headers.  Then I will start  on the body work.  Luckily the car is structurally sound with no rot in the sub frame or shock towers so I can focus on the external body itself.  once the body is finished and primed I will move on to these in this order.  

Suspension

rebuild engine

paint

interior

headliner 

replace front and rear glass.

aftermarket wheels and tires 17x8 fronts 17x9.5\5.5 bs rears.  Not sure tire size yet but biggest I can put on the rear without having them stick out. Any suggestions?

AGREE????

::thumb::

It's good to have a plan. Try to be flexible, though. When you get delayed on one thing, which will likely happen, you can move on to something else while you're waiting on parts or engine machining, or ???

 

[Mister 4x4]

It's good to have a plan. Try to be flexible, though. When you get delayed on one thing, which will likely happen, you can move on to something else while you're waiting on parts or engine machining, or ???

Truth!  I didn't much of a rigid plan, per se, but my intent was to follow the order of things as I listed them.  I wound up pulling off of something one day to work on something else while either waiting on something or just plain old got tired of it (for instance, I ditched rust repair for a few days to work on the engine build, because I'd had enough of cutting, welding, grinding, etc., for awhile at that point).

Don't let yourself get burned out.  Look at each thing as a small project until itself.  If you're replacing a quarter panel, for instance, but the whole car needs replacing (such as the case with mine) work on that quarter panel project until it's done - having moments of feeling accomplishment is huge for morale.  Trust me on this.

 

[mach71351c]

My opinion is get the nasty body and paint work done 1st. 

bondo dust

primer over spray

wet sanding sludge

paint over spray

cut and polish sludge

The crap just gets in everywhere. No point in detailing the engine bay and under carriage to have it messed up from one or all above. I can't tell you how many nice ride I've seen over the years that have visible over spray or sludge in the engine bay and suspension.

To me it's just easier to plastic up the body and detail the engine bay or splatter paint the trunk then have it screwed up by body work. This way when you bolt on your freshly restored or new parts your done.

 

[scgamecock]

As others have noted, you need to come up with a firm plan, or you'll chase your tail for years.

Yep!   Im chasing mine right now!!!  Thanks for the detailed write up.  Your car looks great!

 

[Mister 4x4]

My opinion is get the nasty body and paint work done 1st. 

bondo dust

primer over spray

wet sanding sludge

paint over spray

cut and polish sludge

The crap just gets in everywhere. No point in detailing the engine bay and under carriage to have it messed up from one or all above. I can't tell you how many nice ride I've seen over the years that have visible over spray or sludge in the engine bay and suspension.

To me it's just easier to plastic up the body and detail the engine bay or splatter paint the trunk then have it screwed up by body work. This way when you bolt on your freshly restored or new parts your done.

Ding, Ding, Ding!  We have a Winner!  I was thinking the same thing when I got mine back from the paint, and the engine compartment, suspension, rear axle, and the entire underside (pretty much everywhere) was choked with bondo dust... after I'd just spent the last 2.5 years making it all nice.  Still finding more places to wiped down when I get it in the air to this day.

EXCELLENT tip!

 

[Pegleg]

I started with mechanical. Then sprayed all the exterior black parts-Engine bay and underside followed by trunk. Now the engine is back in i will tackle the A/C. This will involve removing dash to reinstate A/C so the interior will be bare metalled and resprayed over winter. I will strip dash down and spray that along with all interior trim at same time. Spray exterior next summer then refit remaining interior.

 

[Spike Morelli]

I, as well, think I'd do the body and paint first. Afterall, things like engine accessories, or wheel/tire combinations, etc, are not the valuable part of what you have. It's the CAR, the straight body and paint that is the toughest to change for most people, if that's done, the rest can be done incrementally while you drive it. ( You did say it's running, right?). If for some reason you had to sell it, if the bodywork was done, you'd get the most for it as a runner. Wheels, exhausts, engine stuff, is a subjective thing to anyone other than the owner. The basic car must "be there" before any modifications. Just my biased opinion.

 

[mrgmhale]

I did some enhancements first, on both 1973 Mustangs (Convertible and a Mach 1). Both got a Classsic A/C kit installed (both were non/A/C from the factory). Both had idiot lights instead of gauges, so I got Dakota VHX analog gauge panels for both. Both gor a full length center floor console, and the ash trqays were outfitted with power panels (12 volt outlets and dual USB port outlets). Both got WebCams. Both then got Garmin Drive 72 GPS units with backup cameras. I then outfitted both with Aluminum radiators and fan shrouds with dual electric cooling fans. After that both got LED taillight panels with dequential turn signal capability (VintageLEDs.com) Then I upgraded their alternators to handle all the additional electrical load.

After all that their roads diverged. The 73 vert had been barn stored for 40 years, and had only 29,000 original miles on it, so the only things I added were a front spoiler to give it some visual edge, and a stripe kit for the vertical panel part of its trunk. It is in such excellent original condition that not one thing needs to be restored, nothing. It is nearly perfect as it sits.

For the 73 Mach 1 it was different. The years had taken a toll, much of it hidden in the depths of seams and behind trim parts. By the time we got the car, and not finding those elusive, deep lying rust spots, we began to do some minor looking work on the body. Not long after we began to find the hidden/hiding/unseeable corrosion behind trim pieces and deep inside various seams. The car was in restoration for 13 1/2 months. I do not even want to speak of the expense, but with both eyes wide open we opted to save the car and had the work done correctly. I am kind of glad I did all the upgrades before we found the rust. Otherwise I may have cut my losses and sold it for a crash derby or something. As it turns out it is a gorgeous car that really looks, drives, and performs perfectly. See for yourself:
https://youtu.be/_Fl0B-qmlLI

No regrets, no complaints.