Newbie with a rust 67' stang. And some questions.

[Mstang1105]

I will start of with an introduction.
My Name is Erik, im 24 Live in Michigan, Married with one kid.

I have finally bought my dream car a 1967 Mustang as a project.
She needs alot of work mostly floor, and front frame rails. and some other body work.
But my biggest concern is the frame rails. Their is nothing left nore is there floor to support them.
Thanks to yearone,dynocorn and Mustang unlimited. These parts are available at a very resonable price.

My question is as follows. Should I put in a new floor, boxes, frame rails, aprons and shock towers. Or go with a new FULL chassis like the one jegs offers? The jegster complete frame.
Going original is not a concern on this car.
Its my dream car and its worth every, cut, bruse, and debt I get into.
All help appreciated.

Please guys
Need some guidence.

Erik Baxter,
67' stang "Lynn"

 

[Red5oh]

good luck and have fun. Check you my cardomain site and it will give you plenty on the floors... I didnt have to do the frame rails, so good luck there. Post up some pics and have a ton of fun!

 

[2+2GT]

Go stock, it's way easier. Fix ALL the rust first, before you worry about the engine, etc.

Here's a car that was worse than yours. In the first photo, the piece of wood between the tire and rear bumper is all that's holding the back end up. I think you'll agree it came out OK:

1968 Mustang Fastback

 

[Mstang1105]

WOW thanks for the quick responses guys!
Im glad you said stock. So do I do the frame rails first then?
I want to cut everything out that is left.. since the only thing holding the front clip on is the Aprons anyway.

 

[Mstang1105]

Here are a couple of pictures of my Dream car, Although rough... she is still gorgeous!

Pictures of whats left of the frame rails(front) are last.

( she will get new exterior sheet metel and all seams Lead/solder. NO BONDO!)

And this is what used to be a driver side frame rail.....

Any wonder she is still able to roll?? Pour car so sad.
Someday!

 

[6Stang7]

I'm somewhat speechless....

I would say to start gutting her, but I'm almost wondering if the stress that the rails would normally take is being transferred elsewhere.

I would assume that the rails should be done first, but before that I'd imagine that you need to get an external structure going to support that car before you start tearing her down.

You're in for a lot of..................fun.

 

[2+2GT]

OK, here's the deal. Do NOT cut all the rust out as the first step. The car must be supported at multiple points, and do the worst side first, i.e., if the left front rail assembly is to worst, leave all the rest in place and replace that rail. You might consider using complete rail assemblies, as was done with this Shelby:

Once you have all four front and rear rails solid, do the rockers, if necessary, one at a time.

Then replace the floor with a new one-piece unit. Once you have a solid platform, you can work your way outward to the exterior sheet metal.

 

[Mstang1105]

Thanks for the help guys.

In regards to the front clip.
The unit-body crossmember that goes over the tranny, that the transmission crossmember mounts to is rusted out also.
My thought is as follows.

Strip interior.
Weld in cross tubes at the firewall side to side and and weld in a cross section betwean those tubes side to side front to back. Keeping the body from sagging twisting and what not.

Remove everything from the front of the front seats forward. floor, tow boards, frame rails, aprons, and ect.

Build the hole front clip. Frame rails, aprons, shock towers and cross members. OFF of the car on a jig to Factory specs and measurements. thus keeping everything uniform. Then once built... weld it to the firewall, boxes Ect.

Then once its located where it needs to be and all measurment are correct install the floor. (My rear rails are fine along with the Torque boxes.) 'May-be replaced at a later time"

Its almost as if the car sat in a field and the front sank into the ground.

Let me hear your thoughts / concerns, All will be taken as Helpful information.

 

[S'portMustang69]

Wow needs alot of tlc

 

[2+2GT]

The unit-body crossmember that goes over the tranny, that the transmission crossmember mounts to is rusted out also.
These are available new.

Strip interior.
Weld in cross tubes at the firewall side to side and and weld in a cross section betwean those tubes side to side front to back. Keeping the body from sagging twisting and what not.
So far, so good.

Remove everything from the front of the front seats forward. floor, tow boards, frame rails, aprons, and ect.
Oops. Bad idea. Now you have nothing to compare and measure.

Build the whole front clip. Frame rails, aprons, shock towers and cross members. OFF of the car on a jig to Factory specs and measurements. thus keeping everything uniform. Then once built... weld it to the firewall, boxes Ect.
Waste of effort. You already have a jig. Your car. I told you, support the car square and straight, replace the worst side first. I'm not making this up. I frequent a shop that has done hundreds of these cars, and that's how they do it.

 

[Red5oh]

Does this particular car have sentimental value to you? If so... save it... if not, I dont know if it is worth messing with. There are other cars in much better shape out there and you can use this for V8 conversion parts, etc. Otherwise, you are in for a ton of work BUT... it will be worth it in the end.

 

[wicked93gs]

Holy Rusted Metal Batman! You do have a lot of work ahead of you...I'm not sure you realize just how much, luckily you own a mustang and all the parts you need are out there, however I would seriously consider picking up another coupe chasis and swapping things over, for what you will spend on parts, you can buy a rolling shell down here(or out west) and have it hauled up there...not to mention the work you will save...not trying to talk you out of saving the car, but...holy rusted metal batman!(it is after all, just a coupe)

 

[Mstang1105]

2+2. Thank you thats what I was looking for!
I know you explained that in the post before but sometimes I need someone like you to say, Hey your idea is stupid and wont work proper lol.
As for the car just being a coupe... yeah maybe, but its my coupe! lol.
This car meens more then me then alot of other things aside from my wife and daughter.
She is saveable with alot of TLC and hey thats what building a car is all about right? LOVE.

This is my only concern when doing one rail at a time what exactly am I welding the new Assembly too? the torque box and toe board??

Thanks guys.

 

[Red5oh]

We are not trying to talk you out of it... read my page about all I went through to build.... "just a coupe". I like the car, its a ton of fun and the fastback guys like the look and theme of my car.

Ask away and be ready for some long nights and tough times.... what is your sentimental take on this particular car?

 

[67coupestang]

just my $.02 cents buddy that is a LOT of work... looks a lot like the fastback in my garage with that much damage here would be my game plan. chop the front off, firewall and forward--- gone, then get the one piece frame rail/inner fender/shock towers and build them seperatly as a sub-frame. relplace the rocker panels and firewall then start reattaching the front end. My fastback is basically going in that same direction, i've already convinced myself that i'm not gonna rush and even think about having it anysort of "rolling" condition for 5 years...

 

[Mstang1105]

THANK YOU!!

Thats the answer I was hoping for.
I might have a good front clip coming my way anyway RUST FREE. If not ill do it this way!! Thanks so much for that advice.

just my $.02 cents buddy that is a LOT of work... looks a lot like the fastback in my garage with that much damage here would be my game plan. chop the front off, firewall and forward--- gone, then get the one piece frame rail/inner fender/shock towers and build them seperatly as a sub-frame. relplace the rocker panels and firewall then start reattaching the front end. My fastback is basically going in that same direction, i've already convinced myself that i'm not gonna rush and even think about having it anysort of "rolling" condition for 5 years...

 

[6Stang7]

Yea, this is the stage were rushing will only slow you down in the long run. I'd make sure you have proper jigs set up before you make your first cut. In fact, maybe you should make the jigs with respect to another mustang; one that is rust and accident free so you know everything is where it should be.

 

[Mstang1105]

Yeah, that makes sense...
Thank you guys.

 

[kilgorq]

Show us more pics of the car. We can help better that way. What is the passengers side like. Can you start from there and work your way to the drivers side. If one of the frame rails is intact then build from it. If the are both bad then you will need a jig built from a good template. How about pics of the Firewall and the front frame rails.

 

[Mstang1105]

I will get some pictures up tonight when I get home from work.
As far as the frame rails. their Both gone. along with the toe boards..

And is there sapposed to be a torque box on the passenger side front? If so mine is missing. driver side is pretty well gone also.