Hello there all. My wife and I have recently purchased a 1967 coupe. This will be our first attempt at restoring a classic car and I have a couple of questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated. First of all, I need to know the best plan of attack. We're looking to get some things going on the restoration as quick as possible, but don't really know where to start. The car came with all original drivetrain, 289 bored out to 302 and completely rebuilt, automatic trans completely rebuilt. Car runs like a top. Needs mostly interior and cosmetic work now. Really need to replace or restore all interior parts, a little body work, paint, minor electrical (turn signals don't work, etc.), a few minor mechanical things (tighten up steering, shocks, etc.), replace vinyl top, things like that. Car was originally painted lime gold with black top and interior, we want to go to Candy Apple red with white top and red and white interior, where should we start? Should we remove all interior parts prior to painting, paint inside and out, and go from there? Or should we work on the mechanical and electrical problems? The vinyl top? We're at a loss. PLEASE, PLEASE, someone let us know the best point to begin with and likely order for restoration thereafter. Thanks, Brian.

 

welcome to the site, this post sohuld help a little, but most people recomend starting with the engine so that you don't damage a nice fresh paint job while banging exhaust pipes and engine parts around. I'm doing body, suspension, paint, engine, interior but I'm a little different. Have fun

https://mustangforums.com/m_872810/tm.htm

 

Thanks a bunch. I didn't even see that earlier post. When doing paint, would you suggest stripping the car down to the bare essentials so it can be painted inside and out?

 

Welcome to you and your wife to the forum. You will find that this site offer some of the best experience onthe earth. I join it about 3 months ago and believe me it has been a great help.

Sounds like your power train is in good shape. But what about the engine bay? Is it in good shape with no painting reguired? If so you could skip on the to electrical and other mechanical items. Once you get everything working on it I would go for the getting the interior stripped out of it. If you are going to paint it a different color you will want to remove most of it that will have metal exposed, depending on how detailed you want to get. It think I would stip it out completely, so that when it is painted you can get it all. Also consider the underside. A nice red oxdize coat will protect it well, just do not do any of the rubber undercoating. It traps water and will cause a big rust probelm. Once the car is painted top your satisfaction, then the last part will be the interior replacement. Of course you can be working on the interior outside the car while it is being painting. Hope this helps and keep in mne everyoneis different and this is all in my humble opinion.

 

ya, i recomend stripping it completely too. makes life a little easier because when your sanding or blasting or whatever, it gets a little messy. I had to repaint my entire car, my engine bay was an awkward teal so i had to put it back to semi-gloss black, now I'm on the floors and underside with Satin Black for my San Jose Mach 1. At the same time I'm doing the suspension.

 

Thanks a lot guys. And thanks for the welcome, by the looks of it this site is going to become our new best friend. LOL

A couple of questions. The engine bay looks pretty good, but could use a once over in the paint department. Is there any way to touch up the engine bay without having to pull everything out?

When painting the underside, should it be stripped of drive train and suspension parts as well or can it be masked off?

If you can't tell we're trying to get away from having to pull the drive train apart. Since we have no prior experience in this department at all yet we thought it best to try to leave the drive train in tact. We do, however, want to restore this beauty to as close to perfection as possible, so if pulling the drive train for perfect paint will be required, I guess we'll learn as we go. With the help of the experienced members of this forum, it should be a snap. LOL. Pics coming soon.

 

yes, bring pics, we love pics. as for the drive train, i have mine off, dont have a choice for me but for you...it depends how far you want to go, if you want to make it perfect, take it out and clean the entire body and then lay some paint on it. I'm in the process of removing the rear end, (axle, diff., suspension) to be able to get to the entire underside and paint it.

 

If you want a 400 point resto, then the only way to do it is take the entire car apart. If you want a nice driver, tear it down far enough to find and fix any rust it has. If its a SO CAL car, I envy you. Good luck finding rust in that case.

Where to start depends on what is wrong with it now, how bad certain aspects of it are, like interior, paint, body, drivetrain, and what upgrades you want to do.

If it looks this bad then you have my sympathy.

https://mustangforums.com/m_810799/tm.htm

If not and its driveable right now, that changes things. Post up some pics of it, and check the floors for rust spots.