New sound for our Mustang

Even Santa helps out with the project

Santa has come and gone, but he didn't leave without dropping a little something off for Daniel. In this case, it was a new stereo system for the little Mustang.
Daniel's brother, T.J., is visiting this week. T.J. is a sound engineer by trade, so it seemed like a good fit to have him help Daniel and I get the stereo components installed. With my head full of visions of making huge progress with a pair of extra hands, we went down to the shop today to make things happen!
I know this is jumping ahead a little in the process, but I feel it's important and helpful to keep Daniel's motivation to see some tangible progress. The interior of the car will be sealed off from dust and paint spray, so our work shouldn't suffer any damage as we continue to massage the sheetmetal.

Looks like some serious supervision

As usual, things never go as planned. About the only thing that did happen as expected was T.J. getting a taste of how frustrating this project can be sometimes. We first had a bit of difficulty fitting our new package tray in. Once that was positioned, we marked where our speaker holes needed to be, and, using the supplied template for the speakers, cut our holes. Of course, our screw holes didn't line up with the factory ones, so I crawled into the trunk with my handy Dremel to rout out some new holes for the mounting screws. After getting two done quickly and cleanly, the Dremel bit bound up and snapped off, leaving that portion of the installation incomplete.
On to the front, where we unpacked our new dash pad and tried a

Some finish work

test fit. It dropped in perfectly, so with renewed vigor we began to bolt it in place. Again the gremlins appeared, this time in the form of one of the studs on the new dash pad pulling out because we overtightened it. Back out with the dash pad, to set it up and re-glue the stud in place.

New dash pad going in

The new stereo is a modern reproduction of the original radio, with electronic innards and modern conveniences like USB ports and bluetooth compatibility. Unfortunately, our dash suffered some "surgery" in the past and the opening is no longer "original". Even though it was cut, the sheetmetal was merely bent back instead of completely cut out, so it seems like I may be able to straighten out the cut sheetmetal in the dash and make it work properly, but the jury is still out.
T.J. is leaving tomorrow, so he won't get the satisfaction of seeing the final installation. However, with the way things go on a car restoration, that could be months from now!

Little by little, piece by piece

Quarter windows in and on track

After last weekend, Daniel asked me if we would be able to drive his car to the Spring swap meet here in Daytona, held on the last weekend in March. I pointed out to him that it was 120 days or so until then, and if we worked diligently it might be a possibility. He then boldly stated "100 days!" which caught me by surprise and gave me a chuckle. Hey, I'd be happy to have him prove me wrong!
Progress was slow this week, but we did get a good afternoon's work in one day this past week and got some sandblasting done (yes, there's still more of that to come) and had a chance to poke around on the little motor. We also began reinstalling the rear side windows. It continues to surprise me as to how beat up this poor car was. Even the window regulators were bent up! Not to be discuraged, I spent the day today straightening and tweaking until the windows seem to operate pretty darned good. At least I'm sure they won't be falling out of the tracks!

Looks pretty good from this angle

We also have started working on the front fenders. Today I shot a good coat of undercoating on each of them, and even got to hang the passenger side on temporarily. It was immediately apparent that our amatuerish repair of the fender well and radiator support is going to cause us fit problems. I'm not getting too worked up about it yet, though. At least not until we make a concerted effort at fitting the fender properly. For now, it's just fun to see a major body part on the car.

Not so good from this angle

We're going to try and start up the motor sometime this week--maybe
tomorrow. I've taken the plugs out and they don't look half bad. The plan is to just fire it up for a few seconds, and if no parts or pieces come flying out of the exhaust manifold, it's going to get a paint job and dropped back into the car.

Another good weekend of progress!

It's been an absolutely beautiful weekend here in central Florida. As an old friend of mine used to say: "This is why we live here!"
The annual Turkey Run was another beneficiary of the beautiful weather. Daniel and I visited on Friday, and although the day started out chilly, it was blue skies and upper 60s all day--perfect for trolling the aisles looking for obscure parts for our Mustang. We had a list, which was mercifully short, and I think we got everything on the list and only strayed off topic once. We came across a complete set of hubcaps correct for our model year, and the guy was willing to take $50 for them. We now have, I think, two and a half sets of hubcaps for four wheels!
One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to spend time with an old Chevy enthusiast/good friend from Atlanta. When I met Gary we were both members of the Atlanta Classic Chevy Club, and he was immensely helpful with the rebuilding of my 1957 BelAir. We became fast friends and have stayed in touch over the years. Gary has moved on to restoring early 70s Chevelles, and this year he brought his crowning achievement to the show, a frame off 1970 convertible SS454. He had the car up for sale and it was a regular feeding frenzy all weekend as people waved cash and offers in front of him. It was exciting to see such interest, and I was really happy that my friend was reaping the benefits of his hard work and attention to detail. By midday Friday he had half a dozen firm offers, and ended up selling the car for a nice profit.

One more hole closed up!

Daniel and I got a little wrench time in this afternoon, and focused on some tedious details that had been hanging over my head. We got our trunk finished, and I must say it looks better than I had hoped.We're also working on reinstalling the rear side glass, with the goal of closing the car up so we can begin painting and sanding.

Daniel exploring our little motor

At the end of the day, we rolled the six banger our from the corner of the shop and began looking it over. We took the valve cover off and I was pleased to note that there wasn't much sludge or debris in the top of the cylinder head. We'll pull the plugs out tomorrow and if they're not rusted, We may just put a new set in and see if she cranks over. We'll definitely replace the water pump, fuel pump and alternator, and hopefully that's all we'll have to do. However, given some of the roadblocks we've encountered, that's a slim possibility at best!

Taking the little pony out for a walk

Daniel tries out the ride--sitting on the floorpan!

It's a beautiful Thanksgiving day here in central Florida. Since we had some time this morning before the feeding frenzy, Daniel and I decided to take the little car out into the sunshine on her own four wheels for the first time in 19 months.
When we installed the trunk lid last week, it became apparent that the taillight panel, which had taken a beating in the past, was in sore need of alignment. The whole panel curved in at the middle, which makes the trunk seal miss the trunk lip across the back, and causes the rear valence to not fit tightly against the body. Some sort of adjustment was needed.

The front of my dubious stretching system...

I came up with the idea of "stretching" the car between two stationary objects (other vehicles), putting just enough pressure on the taillight panel to facilitate a good beating to try and pull it out. As you can see by the photos, my methodology leaves quite a bit to be desired, but it did seem to work. Once we cranked the come-along just enough to get everything tight, I commenced to beating with a sledge and a block of wood. It appeared that the plan was actually working, as evidenced by a fairly straight trunk lip against a straight edge. We still couldn't beat the lower part out at all to make the valence fit any tighter, but since the bumper hides that area, I'm not too worried about it.

..and from the rear

Once we disassembled our stretching system, the trunk lip sprung back in a little, but it's still better than it was, and it means a whole lot less bondo to make it smooth. We made a few adjustments on our trunk alignment, and now the trunk closes fairly easy and lines up to an acceptable degree--at least for us. Given the abuse this car has suffered in the past, combined with our limited skills, I think we'll come out OK.
We have made some visible progress this week as well. The front and rear windows are back on the car. I decided that it would be prudent to turn that task over to a professional, so Auto Glass Master, who services the glass on my company vehicles, was called in to make sure the job was done right. Matt and his father were really excited to lend a hand on our project, and the results were better than I had hoped. The installation and workmanship were tight and clean, and we can be assured that our little car will go for many years without leaks or rust around the windows.
Today is also the start of the annual Turkey Rod Run, and Daniel and I are looking forward to walking off our calories tomorrow at the Speedway. Hopefully, these two pilgrims will come home with some bounty of our own. Happy Thanksgiving!

We have boots on the ground!

OK, so not boots, exactly, but the little Mustang is off the dolly and back on her wheels!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, with lots of parts going back on and even some painting. Before we took the plunge and lowered the car to the ground, I wanted to make sure everything we could possibly do under the car was done. It's a whole lot easier to work when you have a couple of feet of space to work in.

Last night on the dolly

First, we reinstalled the emergency brake system, which came together nicely and looks good as well. Next, we completed the installation of the new brake lines. This took longer than I expected, but this is something you don't want to hurry through. Once the lines were all installed, we bled the brakes, and this is where I began to doubt my wisdom of making our own lines. As we pumped new fluid through the old girl's veins, it seemed like every fitting was leaking to some degree. Most were solved by a few more cranks of the wrench, but I had one in the engine bay (the most inaccessible one, of course!) that just wouldn't stop weeping. I finally decided to pull the line out and start over with my flare block. It was a good thing, because the flare had gotten gnarled up in the distribution block and never would've worked right. The repair didn't take too much trouble, and finally things seemed to be nice and tight. We bolted on our restored wheels with new rubber and, after adjusting the rear drums, we seem to have a really good pedal. Moving on!

Back on terra firma!

Last weekend, again in an effort to inspire Daniel, I decided it was time to put on some paint. There are a number of spots that could be painted in advance that would not be accessible on the final round of painting, so I decided to get a can of (relatively) inexpensive acrylic enamel and shoot the underside of the hood and trunk, door jambs, trunk lip and rear corners. These are all areas that will be out of sight, so quality wasn't as much of an issue. My hunch was right about Daniel, though, because the application of a little color has gotten him really excited. I think he can finally see real progress and a glimmer of light at the end of our still-long tunnel. We're going with Ford Wimbledon white, and I have to say it really looks good!
This past Wednesday, after wracking my brain, I couldn't think of any reason not to put the car back on the floor. So, after school, Daniel and I winched up the car (using a very dubious method that The Wise One wouldn't approve of) and carefully pulled the dolly out from underneath. For 19 months it's been high in the air, so after slowly lowering the car to the ground, Daniel couldn't get over how small it seemed!

The fresh paint looks great!

Next on the list was to reinstall the trunk lid, and this
is where the past abuses of the car again came into play. The lid closed fairly well, and our new trunk gasket seemed to line up quite well--except across the rear, where the beat up rear taillight panel showed it's ugly scars. I knew that the car had taken a hit in the rear at some point in the past, so I wasn't too surprised to see a gap of about an inch between the trunk gasket and the rear lip of the trunk. The whole rear panel has a slight bow (which was much more than slight before we beat it out many months ago. After reflecting overnight, I decided that we needed to pull that back panel out some more. My plan doesn't include any more banging or beating, but I'll hold off on describing it until we try my idea.
Yesterday, we finally opened up the box containing our new gas tank. So nice to see shiny new parts! I believe the tank has some sort of galvanizing or some other rust preventative, but I decided to go even further by applying a good coat of aluminum-colored epoxy paint to the bottom. It came out really good and I think it should last

New gas tank ready for install

for many years. We installed the new sending unit and bolted it in, finally filling that vast opening in the bottom of the trunk. One more bite of that elephant!
It's a rainy, dreary day here in central Florida. My hope for today is that I can rally Daniel to finish the trunk area. I want to put a good protective coat of our Rust-Seal black on the inside portion of the gas tank, and then finish the whole area with a good coat of trunk splatter paint (I know, not correct for Ford, but I like the look and it hides a lot of blemishes).
We're coming up on the annual Turkey Run next week, so I'm looking forward to another fun day of hunting for parts with Daniel. I know we need all of the trim for the front and rear windows, as well as the trim panels that go around the grille. I hope that Daniel's enthusiasm stays high, because I need his sharp eyes to spot those obscure little parts.

Why I enjoy this hobby

One of the things I enjoy about working on old cars is getting to meet lots of interesting people along the way. I can honestly say I've never met anyone who was crabby or rude. I've never met anyone who couldn't take the time to talk or brainstorm, or share their experiences with you, either.

New exhaust for the little Mustang. Thanks Len!

Yesterday was a beautiful fall Veterans Day here in central Florida, perfect for a road trip to look at a complete exhaust system for our little '66. It was advertised on Craigslist, and the price was good, so it was worth the three hour round trip drive. Of course, skipping out of work and taking a drive in the country made it all the more enjoyable.
The gentleman I had been corresponding with, Len, is a fan of early-90s Fox body Mustangs. In fact, he's a walking encyclopedia of the special models of that body style! When I arrived at Len's house, he happily took me through the gate and, after presenting me with the object of my quest, regaled me with stories of how he acquired his many Mustangs that were parked around his house. I had a great time talking with him, and walked away with a great deal on a brand new exhaust system. It's people like Len who make this hobby even more enjoyable!

Little by little, piece by piece

Work continues, in spite of the delay between posts here.
Things have again slowed down, however, due to a combination of roadblocks--namely, shoulder surgery for me and a busy marching band schedule for Daniel. Daniel is also suffering again from apathy, brought on by the feeling that "it's like we're putting parts back on, and then someone comes in overnight and takes everything back off." But we're still eating this elephant, one bite at a time!
We've got all of the front suspension together, and it looks really nice! I just hope that the frame trauma that we discovered when sandblasting doesn't hinder getting a good alignment.

New front power disc brakes

We've also go the rear suspension done, after suffering another of those roadblocks. When we took the car apart, I thought I was careful in saving every nut, bolt, spring and clip to be either reattached or replaced when the time came. Unfortunately, if I did, I can't seem to find any box that holds a bunch of missing pieces. For the rear brakes, we started to reassemble them, but could find only a few of the springs and such needed to put the new brake shoes on. After a few frustrating days of no progress while I searched, I gave up and ordered all new parts (which was probably for the best). As of this weekend, we've got all four corners ready for the road again!

New rear brakes too

Out of deference to our "budget", which is quickly falling by the wayside, I decided to make all of our brake lines, instead of purchasing a pre-formed set. This has turned out to be a good decision, because after wrestling in place our pre-formed fuel line (which was on sale and a lot harder to reproduce) I feel like our homemade ones went in better than the pre-formed ones would have. It's also been a good opportunity to teach Daniel how to use a flaring block.
In between these frustrating moments, we've tried to do some little things to keep the project moving forward, as well as give Daniel a sense of progress. We've installed our new windshield washer system and a new wiring harness for the engine bay. I also decided to re-hang the passenger door, rather than try to restore it off the car. I think it will be easier to ensure a good final fit if we have the lines of the car to help as we smooth and patch the outer skin.
We also removed the entire heater system, which has turned out to be very fortuitous. The little

Daniel vs. the fuel line....who's winning?

defroster box on our car was crumbling, so we purchased a reproduction with new ductwork. In trying to take the old box off, we realized that the only way to do so was to remove the entire heater assembly, which is only held on by four nuts and a bolt. I also suspected, correctly as it turned out, that if the engine cowl was in such bad shape, the heater box must be as well. When we opened it, it was full of leaves and debris. There was no way the fan motor would ever be able to turn. In addition, the leaking cowl had allowed water to permeate the heater box, so the bottom half of all the metal components were mostly rusted away. The final insult was the heater core, which revealed a complete rupture down one side once I gave it a good cleaning. I can only imagine what a mess we would've had in our new interior when we started the car up for the first time!
Coincidentally, there had been a complete assembly at a really good price advertised on our local Craigslist for months. Unfortunately, once I finally was able to make contact with the

The heater box....full of surprises inside!

seller, he had sold it the previous day. Again, in the interest of budgetary constraints, I think I can rebuild the components, at least sufficiently to make the system function somewhat properly. If so, then we can continue to look for a replacement down the road.
The biggest swap meet in our area, the annual Daytona Beach Turkey Run, is again coming up in three weeks. This time last year, I had expressed to Daniel the possibility that we might be able to drive his car this year. Alas, committments, surgeries, travel, and a (somewhat) apathetic teenager has killed that dream. However, we're definitely over the hump, and each day sees us coasting down the other side faster and faster to completion.

The suspen(sion) is killing us!

OK, so I don't know why, but I've come to the conclusion that Ford must've had a devious plan to drive shadetree mechanics mad when trying to work on the suspension of the original Mustangs.
First, way back when, we had a heck of a time removing the leaf springs, finally figuring out a way to cut the old bolts at the front to drop the springs down. That little endeavor took hours over a couple of days.
This past week, we had the same level of frustration trying to re-install the front coils springs. What looked like an easy "compress-insert-decompress" turned into multiple days of wrenching, fitting, and scratching our heads.

Good compressor on the left, baaaad compressor on the right

It started when we tried compressing our springs with the type of compressor that has two bolts and clamps onto the outside of the spring. We eventually realized that there was no way to fit the entire assemblage into the shock tower, so we moved on to plan B.
I sent Daniel down to the auto parts store to rent a compressor that fit inside the coil. The tool he returned with used a forked "plate" at the top to compress the spring. It did an adequate job of compressing, but again we couldn't fit it inside the tower with the fork thingy protruding out. Plan C. Do some Internet research, where we found out that we weren't alone in our struggles. We also determined that the only compressor that seemed to work for others was the type that fit inside the coil and used the hooks on either end to draw the spring together. Again to a different store, returning triumphantly with our final solution. More wrenching, sweating, cursing. We couldn't seem to get the darned thing compressed far enough without the end of the bolt protruding from the bottom of the coil. This seemed to prevent the coil from seating properly on the spring perch.
More research, a couple of phone calls to mechanics (who were perplexed that I was having so much difficulty). Daniel was getting really frustrated, and finally threw up his hands and went home. By the way, this was day two, and about three hours of wrestling with the the springs. Dejected, exhausted and frustrated as well, I plopped down on a bucket and called my wife to cry on her shoulder. She, of course, had no sympathy for us boys with our toys, but she's always encouraging and she often inspires me. As we talked, I sat there staring at the suspension geometry (yes, I was listening to her as well, at least a little) when it hit me.

Victory (finally)!

In our excitement to be reassembling the car, we had installed both the upper and lower control arms connected to the spindle. I could see that this prevented the upper arm from traveling to it's lowest possible position. With the last vestiges of my strength and patience, I unbolted the lower arm from the frame. The upper arm dropped down another two inches. Excited with the possibility of finally solving our dilemma, I cranked the compressor down once more. Fitting the spring time and again as I compressed further, I could see that if positioned just right, there would be just enough space to squeeze the spring in with the compressor bolt just millimeters away from hitting the spring perch. With a couple of well placed smacks with the heel of my hand, I was finally able to get it in. Victory!
I'm sure there will be many more frustrations and skinned knuckles to come, but hopefully there's more behind us than ahead of us.
We've moved on to installing the disc brake conversion, so the next post should and will be a lot more upbeat!

The suspens(ion) is growing

We're finally putting things back on the little Mustang!

The front framework is finally done!

We've gotten the front of the car as done as our limited skills will permit. All in all, I think it came out pretty nice, especially considering how much metal we had to replace and repair. It's nowhere near show quality, but it'll hold up to abuse and be easy to keep clean.
Now we can focus on the front suspension. It is interesting to pull out parts that we haven't seen in over a year, all clean and painted and ready to go. In addition, we're unwrapping a lot of new parts as well. For this stage we purchased new upper and lower control arms,

Acid dipping on a small scale

spring saddles, strut bushings and new tie rods.

Reassembled and ready for paint

We salvaged the old tie rod sleeves, and for this I showed Daniel the effects of acid dipping on old rusty parts. A 50/50 mixture of muriatic acid and water had the old stuff looking pretty good in about thirty minutes. It's important to wash thoroughly and dry anything soaked in acid, as well as getting a coat of paint on as soon as possible. The end results were pleasing, and the adjustment sleeves work again like they were new.
The control arms came with a coat of satin black paint, but I wasn't sure of the quality or durability of the coating, so we brushed on a coat of our Rust Seal for good measure. I showed Daniel all of the little scratches and bare metal on the arms just from shipping, and it was clear that they would've been rusting in no time if we hadn't repainted them.

Ready to reinstall

Lastly, we disassembled the old drum brakes from the spindles and gave the spindles a good blasting. I found an old can of Cast Blast manifold paint that I used on all of the steering components and they look pretty good. Hopefully the paint will hold up over time.
We still have to put the coil springs back in, and new shocks for the

New control arms, fresh paint

front and back. Then we dig into the disc brake set that we bought over a year ago and see if we can get it all installed. I've done this conversion once before on my old '57 BelAir, so I'm hopeful some of the memory cells are still intact.
All of this work has boosted Daniel's spirit somewhat. He was pretty discouraged last weekend and finally confessed that the project seemed overwhelming. After an hour of bolting on some new stuff today, though, and he's getting a little excited. We still have a long way to go,
but we try and do a little something every day.
Just like eating an elephant.

Spindles before and after

All good things must come to an end

In this case, it's sandblasting the body and frame, and no, there wasn't much good about it, unless you consider the removal of 48 years of rust and grime!
We've been so close to this point for about a week, and it seemed like every day something would delay our work on the car. With Daniel back in school,

New radiator support

and having lots of after-school commitments, it's hard to find time in the evenings. We finally got some good work time in on Saturday, and after a couple of hours of crawling around in the engine bay looking for nooks and crannies that we might've missed, we proclaimed the sandblasting done! We hit the bare metal with etching primer, and set to vacuuming the car as best we could. We decided that, since the work we were doing up to this point was to protect the car from water intrusion and rust, we might as well wash it off--and out--to get as much of

Driver's side engine bay

the sand out as possible. It was a good decision, and now we have a pretty clean palette to work with.
In between all of this, we've started putting some things back on the car. I could tell that Daniel's motivation was flagging, so last weekend we reinstalled the rear suspension and axle. That was a huge boost for both of us. I also found a couple of good, inspiring videos online of other boys Daniel's age who have or

Passenger side with new battery box and frame

are restoring the same car. In addition, the weather is finally cooling off a bit, so it's not as difficult to work further into the day.
Next on the agenda is to spray our final coat of black Rust Seal in the engine bay and front framework. After that, I think we'll go ahead and re-install our front suspension, with new control arms, tie rods, and bushings. We have a brand new disc brake conversion that's been patiently waiting in boxes that'll go on next, and then we can put the wheels on. After that, the car will be too heavy to roll around on our homemade dolly, so the little Mustang should find itself back on terra firma within the next couple of weeks.

All washed and ready for paint

We're under a bit of a time pressure now, as I am scheduled for rotator cuff surgery in October. That means no physical work for me for at least eight weeks, so we're trying to get to a point where Daniel can work on his own, with my wise direction to guide him as I look over his shoulder.
Still a long way to go, but it's starting to get fun now!

Having a Cowling Good Time!

The last really rusted spot on our little Mustang is the engine cowl. This is a notorious spot for major rust, and our car hasn't escaped the ravages of water and time. I knew that we would lose all of our hard work on the floorpans if we didn't give special attention to thoroughly repairing this area.
Before we attacked the problem, I did some research on the Web and learned that the design of the fresh air intake on the Mustang was poor to begin with, and Ford didn't help matters by assembling the cowl as a two-piece unit with no paint on the inside. This automatically ensured that rust would begin forming after the first rain or washing that the car endured. In addition, if the car was left outside, leaves and other debris would pile up inside the cowl and eventually block the drain holes. Once this happened, it was only a matter of time before the forces of nature would eat their way through the sheetmetal. Once that happened, the floorpans were doomed to the same fate. After reading all of this, I felt more than a little frustrated at Ford (and all American manufacturers, I'm sure) for basically ensuring obsolescence in their product. Is it any wonder that many Americans used to buy a new car every two or three years?
So, putting aside my frustrations, I picked up a grinder and

Opening up the drivers side of the cowl

cut out an access hole on each side of the cowl below the area where the fender mounts. This is a good place to work from to make small repairs. For our car, though, that small opening wasn't enough, so I took the plunge and cut out a nice-sized hand hole on the top of the cowl on each side. I made sure to make clean cuts, because these pieces were going to be welded back in.

Rust holes around the outside of the "hat"

Once opened sufficiently, I could see what our job consisted of, and it wasn't pretty. Both "hats", which are the shafts that funnel air into the car, were almost completely rusted off at their bases. In addition, holes big enough to fit my hand through were on either side of the hats, which I found after removing the aforementioned handfuls of leaves and dirt.
Since we're still trying to maintain somewhat of a budget, and the project is dragging somewhat, I decided to try and fix the holes without removing the top half of the cowl. This is a very labor-intensive process that requires the removal of around 200 spot welds. I knew that if we started down that path, Daniel would become completely demoralized!

Note the big hole in the lower right

Instead, I decided to clean out the cowl through my openings as best I could with scraper and vacuum. Once satisfied that I had all of the loose stuff out, Daniel
gave each side a liberal coating of Rust Seal, the super hard epoxy paint that we're using on the underside and floorpans. My thinking was that if I sealed the metal from future corrosion, I could also create a good bonding surface for fiberglass matting in there and form it around the hats, effectively fiberglassing them in place.

Applying fiberglass

This worked better than I anticipated! Even the biggest holes were spanned with the fiberglass matte, and in not time we had created a new base of the cowl and bonded the hats back in place. After our glass work cured, we then applied a liberal amount of seam sealer all around each of the hats, and all over the surface of the cowl. When I say liberal, I mean we used about a tube and a half between the two sides. Again, my thinking was to create a durable surface that would
both bond to the old metal and seal out any future water contact to the old rusted areas.

Plenty of seal sealer should do the trick

After a few skinned knuckles and gobs of sealer under the fingernails from daubing it with my hand, we then did a "bucket test". I not only wanted to recreate the water flow that might normally come through the cowl vent from rain or washing, but I wanted to flood the area to know for sure that every possible leak point was sealed. Fully confident in my work product, I positioned myself under the dash with a drop light while Daniel poured about two gallons of water into the cowl. I was met immediately with a flood of water on the inside!
Undeterred, I took stock of the situation. I quickly identified (what I thought was) all of the remaining pin holes and gaps. More caulk was applied. More water was poured in. More water flooded into the car! More resolve was made to stop the leaks!
We did this routine a total of five times.
I could tell Daniel was getting a little tired of the process, but I tried to impress upon him the importance of this repair, probably

The first bucket test...or the second?

more so than any of our other repairs. If we worked this hard to get the car right, only to ignore or overlook a small leak, then all of our work would be for naught after a couple of years. We forged onward.
After the first and second tests, I spent more time under the dash trying to figure out exactly where the leaks were that evaded my repairs. I finally determined that the front seam of the cowl assembly, which is only spot welded, was letting water through to the interior. We both agreed that the only reason that water was getting through there was due to the volume of water that we were pouring in at one time, which was probably more than anything that would occur in normal use. However, since I had figured out the hidden problems, it made sense to keep caulking.

Closing the patient back up!

We did the fifth and final test this morning. With fingers crossed, I again got under the dash, while Daniel poured yet another bucket of water in. And....success! I came out as dry as when I went under the dash.
For final insurance, I applied another liberal coat of Rust Seal over the seam sealer, to fill in any possible pin holes or little spots where water would accumulate.
Finally satisfied with our efforts, it was time to weld up our holes.I feel pretty pleased with the end result. Now we can move on to the final bit of sandblasting in the engine bay, and start some reassembly!

Slowly coming together

Daniel and I are back from our travels (for me, at least

This is what we started with so many months ago

until next month) and we've been trying to work at least a little every day. I say at least, because if you've even been to or lived in Florida in the summer, you know how hot it gets. It's pretty difficult in July to do anything outdoors without dripping sweat all over your work. 95 degree days and afternoon thunderstorms makes for a nice, humid work environment!
We've turned our attention back to the front end, after realizing that our first attempt at repairing the rusted wheel well and radiator

Dry fitting the second time

support was going awry. This time, we've dry-fitted all of the pieces and looked things over time and time again, until we were satisfied that it was safe to begin welding. Once again Daniel has taken up the torch, as is doing a damned fine job of getting the little car put back together. We've had a few difficulties getting some of the spot welds to hold, but as I said to Daniel, it's better to stress them now and make sure they're good rather than have the front end fall off while driving down the road!
While Daniel has been reassembling, I've been taping up the windows and doors to keep dust out of the finished interior. We still have one last round of sandblasting to do on the engine bay once we get our welding done, and I don't want to have to clean the interior out yet another time.
Progress is still slow, but it is progress, and I'm trying to keep Daniel's spirits up during these hot sticky days. He can't see it yet, but I can see that we're really close to putting things back on the car. I suspect the mood will change somewhat once that starts happening!

Clamping everywhere we can

And this is where we are today. A vast improvement!

Progress....little by little

Between Daniel and myself, we've been away from our project for five of the past eight weeks. First I was gone, then Daniel left town for a three week jazz camp. Before he left he asked me to try and get some work done on the car, and I tried to oblige him. So Daniel, this is your update:

After one year, the floor pans are finally done!

A good coat of semi-black epoxy will keep the rust away

A losy picture, but nice to see a restored underside

Summer is looming

Work on the front end continues. Unfortunately, I've had some commitments that have taken me out of town for almost two weeks, so the pace has again slowed. However, Daniel and I have tried to get at least an hour in every evening and that really makes a difference.
We've had some really temperate weather here lately so that helps a lot in getting work done. We hope to have the last of the major sandblasting done this weekend, so we won't have to suit up in all that protective gear in the heat of the summer.

tacking the fender in too soon!

At my last post, we had cut away the rotted inner fender on the passenger side and welded in the replacement frame section. I was really concerned about the final fit as I struggled with getting the replacement inner fender section to fit properly, but we finally got it where it seemed to match the fender contour, so we took a deep breath and welded it in. That was a mistake!

Cutting the fender back out

As we moved to the front of the car and began to try and fit the radiator support, I realized something was out of alignment. There was a huge gap between the support and the inner fender where the two are supposed to meet. After wrestling with the support for more time than I preferred, we gave up and went home--frustrated. I had to keep reminding Daniel that proper fit was crucial to making the fenders and hood line up. It's hard for him to see that, especially since there was virtually no front to the car when we bought it.
After sleeping on it, I awoke the next morning and realized that the inner fender needed to come out. It was welded in pretty good, so I was prepared for a long struggle to drill and grind it off the car. In

Starting over with a clean slate

reality, it took about a half hour, and it was definitely the right thing to do. With the inner fender out of the way, we dry fitted the radiator support and front crossmember, which fit almost perfectly. With those pieces clamped in place, we again struggled to make the inner fender fit, until I realized that it must be bent. It looked OK, but fit really poorly--so poorly that I knew something wasn't right. I began trying to fold down the top edge by hand, and in doing so, the middle section gave way and bent. I thought I had really messed up, but a quick check for fit showed that it was exactly what was needed! We clamped it in place, and everything lined up almost perfectly!

Second time around--things are looking better

I have to travel again in about a week, so Daniel and I have determined that before I leave we will get the front framing welded in permanently, the rest of the underside sandblasted, primed, and a finish coat of black semi-gloss applied. Daniel gets his license in ten days, so I think things will be moving much more rapidly!