Project Rust Bucket, 1984 GT 350 build

[LX Dave]

Not the current project but there was some interest since I didn't do a build thread.
Just a note...my builds are chaotic at best as I work on several different things at a time. That will explain some of the jumping around on the pictures.

A buddy had this car laying around that he got in trade for something and doesn't have the time to build it, so tried to sell it. After nobody wanting a project this extensive, I grabbed it.
I will try to explain things as best as I can.

Sleeping for the winter before I picked it up.

The next summer before loading it up to take home.

Checking out so see just how rusty this thing is.

Yep, I was fully in it for the punishment.

Right from the start, I said " At least it's got a good roof". Remember that one for later.

 

[LX Dave]

Couple of interior pictures.

Now, this is after we pulled everything out to see what parts were there and re-packed it. The heads were sitting on the passenger seat, note grease ground in the fabric and remember this one for later too.
I knew the car had potential and had to keep that in my mind throughout the build as I was thrown many curve balls.

 

[LX Dave]

Just what you want to see..more rust and damage.

In the second picture, see the ignition module? Would you believe it still works? It's in another car right now and hasn't given up yet.

Bumper smashed in but cover wasn't badly damaged.
There's more rust than it looks. Need to find a doner car.

Washed up to get all the dirt and stuff off.

Looks a little bit better.
Pulled a fender, yup, it's bad.

Frame rails were destroyed. Strut towers where they meet the frame were nothing but rust.

 

[LX Dave]

Doner car found!! Knew this car was in the yard as I've looked it over before and thought it was fairly clean.

I believe it's a '91 vert. Pretty much stripped and with all the loader damage, didn't feel bad taking the front end.

Also from the same yard, spindle parts!!

It was hot and miserable that day, but got what I needed.

 

[LX Dave]

Remember chaos? Yup, that's me.
Decided to start to clean up some interior parts and get painted. Also pulled a rear axle apart that I had to blast and paint.

Yes, I cleaned and painted the tracks and seat parts. I know, I'm weird.

Also, pushed the body out for one more cleaning after pulling a bunch of stuff off.

There were so many mouse nests in it and stunk so bad. Lemon anti-bacterial spray to the rescue. Washed and scrubbed the whole inside twice and a garden hose to rinse. No more smell.
Oh, it has different doors on it too, which I got from a buddy of mine....and started cutting the front off already.

Yep, more rust.

I still call this car Rust Bucket to this day.

 

[LX Dave]

Fun stuff here. Never replaced a front end before and found out, it's really easy to do.

2nd picture is test fitting and 3rd is starting to weld it in. Also added extra welds to help strength.
And, of course, what's replacement parts if they don't have some rust too..

Rust cut out and new metal welded in. Other side was really clean.

 

[LX Dave]

On to the floors.
Old pan cut out.

New pan welded in.

Front pans done.

 

[LX Dave]

And this is where I get carried away on things. Designed and built sub-frame/rocker connectors.

Overboard for a street car? Most definitely.
Worth it? 110%.
Started out with some rectangle tubing and cut it to follow the floor pan and wraps around the front sub-frame, then follows the rear sub-frame for a bit.
It's basically a channel that's pressed onto the front sub-frame. It is also boxed in internally for more strength. These were actually a lot of fun to make.

 

[LX Dave]

What's another post without some more rust? This started to get irritating.

Both sides rusted out at the top door hinge. Couple hours, all repaired. Went better than I thought it would.

 

[LX Dave]

New wheels day!!!! Found these on Craigslist for $100.00. Got a hold of the seller right away and drove about three hours for them. Nice day off for a road trip. 17" with center caps, what a deal.

Also got the sub-frame connectors powder-coated. That will be a good primer.

Picked up one more wheel as a spare in case something happened as these are getting hard to find around here.
Sanded them out and a fresh paint job.

Pretty happy with the results.

 

[LX Dave]

On to some more rust. Remember in my first post I said "At least it's got a good roof"? This was a major disappointment to see.

The first two pictures are back by the hatch and the last two are around the sunroof.

When this was discovered, there was a couple of days deciding on how to proceed, do I fix this, look for another roof, or scrap the body and look for a doner car? This one kind of knocked the will to continue out of me. Then I remembered, there's a 84 GT with a sunroof at another yard I saw and if I remember correctly, the roof was nice.

Cordless sawzall to the rescue!!!

The rust is only light surface rust, totally workable as it almost brushes off with your hand.

 

[LX Dave]

On to replacing the "It's got a good roof" roof. sigh...

Got it taken apart down to the roof skin and sunroof frame. There's a LOT of spot-welds on that.

Got the car prepped....and guess what? More rust! This time, rear, right corner where the roof meets the quarter panel. Another sigh..

Fine, I'll suck it up and get it fixed. Couple hours later, new old roof is going on.

Also found out the right rear quarter was replaced at some time. Whoever did it did a pretty good job and sectioned it at the seam on the wheel tub. Thought for sure I was going to have to take it back off and re-install it correctly. Note weld seam on sail panel (C-pillar). That one was not me.

 

[LX Dave]

Roof complete. Notice orange paint in door jamb? Quarter came off an orange car. (Like I really had to explain that).

On to more fun stuff finally.
Sub-frame connectors fully welded in. They are plug welded and welded along the sides, front and back. Car was fully leveled out before this was done. Also, coat of undercoating on top side where I can't spray when installed.

 

[LX Dave]

Finally, sanding and final body work!! Whoo Hoo!! Any vehicle I go this far on, gets sanded right down to bare metal and gets epoxy primer. I also built a 92 F-150 right after this car and did the same thing.

Coat of epoxy primer.

Got the body, doors, hood, hatch, etc.. jambed in paint.

Re-assembled and paint going down. This is after one or two coats, don't remember when I took this one.

 

[LX Dave]

Being a real GT350, I wanted to keep the stripes true to original. I could find the vinyl lower stripes, but could not find the original door moldings or the mid-body stripe. Heck with it then, drew up everything in CAD and had it cut out of vinyl sheet for a paint pattern.

Vinyl cutter did a great job cutting them out.
And paint... Edit: what a crappy picture trying to show the red paint.

I was so happy this came out as good as it did. Most people don't even realize it's painted on and think it's vinyl.

 

[LX Dave]

Body all painted and cleared.

Couple days later, sprayed an undercoating on the inside of the wheel openings.

Some assembly required.

Sprayed Lizard Skin on the inside. Note: when dry, do not rub anything against this stuff, it removes skin.

 

[LX Dave]

After some assembly, it rolls.

And a picture of the pair just because. The blue one is a 1987 LX T-top V-8 5-speed car that I (with some help from a professional painter) painted Kona blue in my garage. He did a coat, then I did a coat (back and forth between us). He made me do the finish coat.

 

[LX Dave]

Starting to assemble the interior. Do you remember the passenger seat? It took some work but came out great. All of the seat cloth is original to the car. The plastics were repainted with DuPont interior paint (not cheap by the way). Carpet was replaced with new.

Apparently some kids were going to fix the car up before my buddy got it and cut the dash for an aftermarket radio. Wish they hadn't done that. I had to come up with a plate that mounts behind the dash using existing screws to hold a radio I hardly listen to.

Headliner installed. Backer board was shot and falling apart so had to make a new one but came out good.

 

[LX Dave]

Getting towards the end now. Getting a return line fitting in the tank for the Sniper fuel injection.

351W going together.

Added new fuse/relay box on drivers front inner panel. Needed this for breaking systems down further and new power source for fuel injection and headlights, which are on relays inside the box.

Since the air cleaner came with the car, it HAD to be used. I love the way they look and hardly ever see one any more. That air cleaner was the reason for going Sniper injection. Some may remember my thread on all of the pains it to get it to run right. It's been absolutely perfect for the past couple of years....except for an injector that died, but I was able to drive it home yet. So, some credit for that.

 

[LX Dave]

After one year driving the car, I got sick of not being able to see the gauges at night. I even put LED lights in the cluster. Problem no more, went with a Dakota Digital cluster and am very happy with it. Only real down fall, is the engine revs faster that the tach can keep up with. Yup, a very snappy 351.

Now for a story.....

I was at a car show the other summer that is put on by a Mustang club. Let me be clear, I don't go for the trophies, I would rather NOT get one. Yeah, I may be weird that way.
Anyway, I walk up about mid day and look in the car expecting to see 1000 flyers on the seat but instead see the sticker in the below picture. Not thinking, I put it in the back of the car. When they announced the trophies, my name was not called, as I was hoping it wouldn't be (there's too many nicer cars out there that deserve one). At the end of the ceremony, a couple of our names were called and we were asked to come up by the announcer. Turns out the National Shelby Club was there doing their own judging and my car, Rust Bucket, was picked as one of their favorites. I couldn't believe it. Out of all the cars there, they picked mine. I will proudly display that sticker on the car from now on. This was better than any trophy from any show. Someone liked my car so much they picked it as their favorite. This also kind of went along as my dream of meeting Carroll Shelby before he passed. Got to meet him in 2009. What an honor that was.

Overall, this was a fun build. A ton of headaches, but that's to be expected. I'm so happy with how it came out. It rides great, more than enough power, and corners better than anything I've driven. Even have the original adjustable shocks and struts from 1984 on it.

Just a little side note too...any of you that made it to the end of this mess that are new to fixing up cars or working on cars, day by day, part by part, problem by problem. You will get it done. Don't become overwhelmed with it. Like I said in the beginning, my method is chaos at best, but it works for me and keeps me interested by jumping around on things.

And just because, a final picture of where it all started.

If you made it to the end, thanks for looking.