Mustang5l5's Progress Thread - Archived Progress thread '08-'20.

MIL still in ICU. Stable, seems to be pulling out of this. Day #13 since first coming down with fever. Day #5 in the hospital. We are starting to prep for her to come home.

Our test results came back neg, and this is day 14...so i'm free to socially distance myself at home depot now.

SInce we can take a step back now, I worked on the car a bit. I broke out the die grinder and hacked into the bad side of the car.

Here's the before:



And here's where i am now:


I have some more work to do, but same as the other side, but just more extensive. It seemed like dirt got into the rail from just driving on the road and once it got wet, it stayed wet. I power washed the car about a month ago, and there was still moisture inside. Seems it's in invite for rust.

SO this repair will be a bit trickier. I think i need to drill out the spot welds and remove the top plate and replace it. I hate to spend $270 on the LMR kit, so i will see if i can reproduce it myself, or just weld in a regular plate.



I'm thinking I should remove this top plate. What do you think? Outside rail is solid. I need to remove the surface rust from the inside

I know i need to cut the bottoms out as they are rusted. I left them so i can measure where the K-member holes need to go.

Welder is in route...i am going to start with the "good" side.

Here’s the “good” passenger side.

Still some work to do here to prep it.




Looking down from the top. looks like I have some rust forming between the strut tower and the top plate. I'm debating cutting it out like the other side, or cleaning it up the best i can and leaving it alone. I should just take care of it while i'm here and dig it all out and patch the tower.



I've ordered some scrap steel to start mocking up and measuring. This side can get patched with scraps.


EDIT: actually, in the above pic I can see there's a break in the metal. I hate to cut it out though because I don't want to spend $270/side for the LMR kits if I don't need to. Too bad these parts weren't available seperately.

Thanks. Illl keep you in mind. Might be a bit more work than I want to do to cut that section in there.

Going to try the easy section first, and try this kit with a few extra scraps of steel.


I may open up the strut tower and replace the top plate just to be complete.

I realize I still have more cutting/wirewheel to do. Just didn’t want to go to town til I had critical dims.

But I can stomach $200 for both those kits vs almost $600 for then LMR kits which have more than what I need

95BlueStallion said:

Glad you and the immediate fam came back negative. That being said, don’t assume you can’t still get from being out at large. It seems pretty unforgiving. Keep being diligent man.

Click to expand...

Definitely. Really haven't left the house. Wife is a teacher and is home, and i've been working from my basement office with limited trips to the lab.

The kiddos are going crazy, but fortunately we have a decent yard they can go out in play in. I've gone for hikes in the nearby woods. Our 'hood is quiet, so possible to get outside and not see people.

I'll order one of the scott rod kits shortly, so i can see where i need to cut and carefully cut the rust out, and then clean up everything else. I have time.

BTW, mother in law is home from hospital and recovering at her home. She’s doing well. Still needs supplemental o2 while her lungs heal.