With Christmas over and only a few more days of work before going back to school for my last semester I finaly got some time to start restoring my 66 mustang. Here is a pick of the beast that iam bringing back to life.
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang019.jpg

I have almost finished stripping out the interior and taking apart the drivetrain. Iam taking out the 289 v8 and I sealed the deal on a new 302 and a 347 stroker kit. I got a t5 out of the deal for temp use but iam really debating on getting a tremec tko but 2grand is pretty pricey. Iam planning on installing disks on the front and back and getting new suspension parts like springs and leaf springs. Tires and paint will be decieded in early summer hopefuly.

Here's a pick of the engine bay. I will have the engine out later this week.

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang011.jpg

I found a few problem spots so far with rust. I plan on cleaning up the engine bay first and re-paint it. Iam planning on taking off the vinyl top and checking for rust. I want strip the paint off and try and fix a couple rust issues i found so far.
Here is a few pics of the interior so far:
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang004.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang006.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang007.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang008.jpg

I found some more rust on shackles in the back.
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang012.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang013.jpg

I think it is just surface rust on the toe boards and floorpan.
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang017.jpg
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang018.jpg
It looks like I have some type of leak in either the door or firewall.
http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang006.jpg
I will be installing new weatherstripping on almost everything in spring. While Iam taking apart the engine bay I will take off the fenders and check the cowl for leaks. I want to undercoat the vehicle while iam taking care of all the rust issues.
Iam curious though about some of the tools I need to sand and strip the metal of paint. I was thinking of some Aircraft remover for the paint but i will have to wait till the weather is better before I can use a hose. Iam wondering what kind of sanding tools to get. Do I want to get an Orbital sander or a Die Grinder and what type of disks to use with them?
I was wondering about rust paints as well. Should I use Rustoloem or is Por 15 a better compound to use to stop rust from coming back.

 

Sweet car, looks like a great project!



I'd get rid of that vinyl top, at least for piece of mind that there is no rust lurking under it.

 

it looks like someone rivited a piece of sheetmetal to the toe boards... may wanna fix that.

looks awesome though !

 

My grandfather used Por 15 on his 66.

 

That is the classic sign of a rusty cowl on the drivers side floor:



Also, you need to replace at least that section of the passenger side rear frame rail. That is major rust damage:

 

Yeah I noticed the framerails when I got it home and as soon as I ripped the carpet out I knew right away that I had a rust issue. Iam going to strip off some of the body panels and get a better look at the cowl this weekend. Ive read a few things about reproduction cowls. I should probably get the dash apart to because this is starting to look like a full rust resto.
Iam no pro to installing new framerails, cowls and floor pans but I will be able to weld it for sure. I will have to do a little research on my spare time cuz I should probably devote myself to stopping this cancer before it gets any worse...\

 

Mine had rust through (still does) where the toe board joins the floor and where the toe board joins the kick panel. Really just the welded areas. The majority of the floors were just fine. Turned out the top of the cowl was fine but I had a small hole behind the front fender which allowed water to drip down the inside. Easy fix.

 

I love your avatar. How about a full size photo. On the FeO2, take your time and think the process thru before you start. I would do a complete plan of everything that needs to be replaced and go from there.

 

Haha I have been screwing with it for a few days trying to add that picture in my sig, no luck so far it doesn't show it for some reason. "Shrug" It is a nice day here so its pretty toasty in the garage. Iam gonna pull off the front end today and maybe get the fenders off as well.

 

My floor pans looked a bit like yours (mine were a bit worse) so we cut out both full length floor pans and one toe board then welded in new ones. Decided it was faster and easier to just buy new seat risers instead of trying to get the old ones separated from the old floor pans.

However, I had a decent sized spot on the passenger side right where the front of the seat riser meet the floor where you could see day light.

Also had a hole about as big around as a silver dollar on the drivers side where the floor meets the toe board.

For the most part, my back seat floor was good. There were a couple of small spots back where the floor meets the wheel well on the drivers side. I cut a couple of smaller (maybe 2" X 3") spots out of there and patched it up...only took me a couple of hours and luckily I was at my buddies shop with the air tools, welder, etc when I found the spots in the back seat.

Sure makes me feel better getting those old panels cut out and new ones welded in. I would have preferred to not go there but in hindsight sure glad I did. Looks like in one of your pictures the old floor had rusted through and someone put some sort of patch on it, see the second floor pan photo you posted:

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/o...Mustang017.jpg


Your car looks good but I have to admit I like your avitar more, LOL!

Working on restoring these cars is a labor of love but a lot of fun. Hoping you have a great time with it.