saving 2nd owner 68 mustang coupe.
 

I recently was on the hunt for a 67-68 mustang for the wife's 30th birthday..

She was pretty depressed the week of her birthday and was on pase to being a really crappy birthday..

Till I surprised her with this 1968 mustang coupe (her dream car) witch shocked her and made her cry with happiness lol (got it on video, it was quite the fiasco getting it home to surprise her. That's a long story lol)
it seems it was a second owner stang that was un restored and has 24k miles on it.
Sadly it was crashed head on with a pole or tree..
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It had a 200ci, c4, powersteering,a/c, and super clean with no rust or anything.

It hit so hard it broke the frame mounts & pushed the motor back witch hit the firewall and bent the cowl (or the hood did) partly ripped off the floor brace and bent the crap out of the crossmember then broke the cast center section on the rear end..
The driver wasn't wearing the seat belt and hit the steering wheel witch bent it back over the column and his leg bent the dash in a bit at the ash tray.
The frame rails were also damaged pre the coil towers but someone before me poorly repaired them and need to be fixed. But the car came with half the parts to fix it..

So the plan is so far..

Cut the stock front suspension out and cut the frame rails in the middle and replace the damaged sections.

Install a mustang II front suspension.

Properly re install radiator support and other panels.

Fix the firewall and cowel and floor support,

Swap 289 and c4 and 8" rear end,

It will be painted dark purple and be a nice cruiser for her to injoy.

Pitchers and more info coming soon.

I tried to get the motor to run with no luck, there was rust in the cylinders that wouldn't let it turn all the way over..
Sad cus it was super clean inside and the little bit it could turn over showed grate compression..

But I wound up trading it for a 67 8" 5lug rear axle.
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I took the pan and tail housing off the c4 and inspected it and found it to be in grate shape and I'll be putting a v8 bellhousing on it and re using it.

My wife isn't mechanically inclined but we are going to be tackling this together so her first job was replace the steering wheel.
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I picked up a "rebuilt" 289 that came out of a 66 mustang coupe...
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I paid a little more then I liked but trusted the guy...witch bit me in the butt..

I got it home and took the valve covers off and found what looks and feels like sand..
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Then took the pan off and found more of this junk and what looked like dirt so took a main and rod cap off...
Rod
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http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/u...pspoaioemt.jpg

Main,
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The motor was rebuilt but not very well..

At the least it needs new bearings and possibly a crank.

Love the poverty caps.

As a general rule, if I'm buying a used motor I insist on either hearing it started cold and run for several minutes or popping off the oil pan and a couple of caps & the valve covers. I have never had anybody legit object to those, what I think are, reasonable demands.

Haha, they are pretty sweet they would be perfect on a sleeper.

Love your government warning.

The motor was still in the car and he had no issue with me doing that.. but I was on a time crunch and by myself so I pulled the plugs looked inside each cylinder.
all the Pistons are marked .60 & look new, as did the cylinder walls and it seemed to have good compression... so called it good. Lol

Live and learn...

It did come with a new starter, Mallory points eliminator kit, new senders,new water pump, fuel pump, accel plug wires and cap, and came with powersteering bracket and pump (tho I probably won't use em) so it helped a little bit...

Best of luck restoring it.

Here is more photos of the frame rail damage and the so called "repair work".

Passenger side, the worst.
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It's a 1/2" shorter then the driver side.

Drivers side.
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With any project,luck is in short demand. Haha
But even with the damage it's in such good shape,I feel compelled to save it.

Found this baby for inspiration.
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Is there a good way to remove the rubber undercoat ford sprayed all over this thing??

Judicious use of a propane torch & a putty knife.