| John
& Ben's 1965 Mustang Coupe Restoration
Project |
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My son, Ben and I wanted to restore an old
Mustang so he could drive it to high school. We
began to look early in 2010, scouring Craigslist, the
newspaper and other online sources. I even looked
at one in Tucson while on a business trip. We
almost bought that one. Some days I wish we had.
If you click on the pictures below, they will come up in
separate windows for you.
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| 5-23-10
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Well we finally bought a 65 Mustang to
restore. Initially, it looked like it was in pretty
good shape. On the outside the body showed very
little rust. Likewise, there was very little rust
underneath. The engine looked to be in decent
shape, but we knew it was a 302 and not an original
289. The Pony interior was in excellent
shape. Unfortunately, the previous owner did not
have much in the way of paperwork, which we've come to
regret.
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| 6-30-10 |
| The car
sat for a while, since we took a vacation, but when we
came back we took it to our local mechanic. That's
when we found out the car had some minor mechanical
issues, mainly a few leaks in various systems, but
nothing too serious. Today we popped out a dent in
the passenger side rear using a hair dryer and CO2, and
guess what, the bondo that was underneath popped
off! We're not sure why there was so much bondo
there, the metal looks good |
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| 7-16-10 |
| Well, we
started in earnest. We removed the fenders,
bumpers, doors, hood and started on removing the
wiring. The wiring was such a mess, we decided to
just replace it all. Overall, it looks like the
sheet metal has come from different Mustangs over the
years. The hood is blue, the trunk is red, one
front light bucket is white, and the original color was
"Prairie Bronze." |
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| 7-17-10 |
| Continued
on with our removals, including the rear bumper, trunk
lid, interior, etc. We continued the rest of the
week removing lots of little stuff and started removing
components from the engine compartment to make the engine
removal a little easier |
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| 7-27-10 |
| Spent the
evening removing the engine. We were
surprised. It only took a couple of hours.
The rest of the week we worked on removing other
components from the engine compartment. Found out
that the engine is a 1980's era engine. At least
that's what it looks like from the number stamped on the
block (it starts with E). So now we're looking for
a more original 289 engine |
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| 7-31-10 |
| Removed
the transmission today, and to our surprise the
transmission is a Nissan transmission from the early
80s. Time to look for a more original transmission
now too. Oh well, live and learn. We're
really pleased overall at how easily the Mustang came
apart. Next up is stripping it down to bare metal
for the painting |
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| 9-5-10 |
Here's "Jenny" on the trailer off
to be soda blasted, primed, and painted. We'll miss
her, but she should come back ready to put back
together. We also spent the day cleaning the
upholstery and vinyl. Overall everything looks like
it's in good shape. No major rips or tears.
We will need to re dye some of the leather that is
showing some age.
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| 9-27-10 |
Well, "Jenny" has been soda
blasted. I had it sent up to Bryant Soda Blasting
in Stillwater. I thing they did a great job.
There was some rust/damage found after blasting on the
right rear quarter and in the engine compartment, but
overall the car seems in good shape. Now on to
painting. We're going to paint her Caspian Blue
with Wimbledon White stripes. It's not original
(Prairie Bronze), but it's what Ben wants.
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