Several questions about my King Restoration

gunnykiln

New Member
Sep 1, 2002
11
0
0
Enid, OK
(This turned out a lot longer than I intended. I have some questions at the bottom of this post of you want to skip to the end.)

After a couple years on hold I am getting back into restoring my 78 King this winter with about 5 - 7K to spend on it this year. I don't have a lot of experience doing body and mechanic work (lately), but I would like to try to do most of the work myself except the paint job. I got the car 23 years ago on when I was 16. In the first couple years I did all the mechanical work on it such as replacing the clutch (a couple times), doing the brake work, replacing a blown head gasket, changing intakes, rebuilding my carb, tune ups, tinkering, etc, and I was a helo mech in the Marine corps 16 years ago so wrenches are not completely alien.

Since I will never sell it (for any reasonable price), I am not concerned about restoring it to original condition, or even close to original condition. There are many modifications I thought about over the years. Some of my tentative plans for the car are:

Replace the original engine with a rebuilt 1987 - 1993 5.0 H.O. engine and T-5. Hopefully I can just buy a wrecked mustang so I can take the engine, trans, front seats etc. From what I have seen on ebay it looks cheaper than buying everything separately. I think will probably ditch the EFI and go with a carburetor. It will be used for street only so I am not going to put in a huge cam, high compression pistons getting 8 miles per gallon or special fuel and the like. I want the engine setup to be a decent compromise of performance and reliability. Nothing too radical, maybe a mid performance cam, port the heads, etc.? I will probably stick with the stock exhaust manifolds (modified) rather than mess with headers.

I am thinking about installing all new white face gauges in a refurbished aluminum bezel. The interior will change from orange to black (lots of good posts on the forums about that). I might have red piping or other accents sewn onto the seats (stock back, fox front), and edge of the floormats, etc. Of course new headliner, carpet, sound deadener/heat shield, etc. If I get a donor car I will look into converting it to automatic windows and remote door locks. Has anyone done this?

I love the stance and wheels on Jon Pearsall's car in the mustang.org gallery. So I will probably get the 2" drop spindles for the front and either use lowering blocks (I think that's what they are called) on the rear leaf springs or have my new leaf springs made 2" less than stock height. Within a month or so I will probably buy one of those "mustang II 2 complete big brake conversion 2" spindles" kit from "fatrodder" on ebay. I will also install the PST polygraphite front end kit and put on new leaf springs in the rear. I will need to get the rear axle redrilled for 5 lug ford pattern to match the front. Probably get new front coils also.

As inspired by Daniel Gervais's car in the org photo gallery I will probably change the color from tangerine to silver. Though it might be little darker. I am not going to put the giant hood snake decal back on, but I might do the side red "king cobra" and the scoop " 5.0" decals, and a few red pen stripes. Then finally, I like the black center / chrome outer rims on Pearsall's car, though I am not sure what the largest wheel tire combo I can have with the lowered configuration.

Anyway, Over the next few months I will have many questions about different aspects of the job. I hope not too many are dumb, or common.

Some Questions:

1. My front air dam is pretty trashed but might be salvageable. It is misshapen and has several tears in it. I would rather not get change to an aftermarket fiberglass version if I can help it. It don't have my air dam to look at right now (it is packed away in my attic) so this may not work due to some ribs or structure on the back, but here is my thought. Could I take a long strip of thin steel (maybe 1/16" or 1/8") and form it to a known good spoiler shape (like a 1:1 plan view tracing on cardboard or something)? Then use an good adhesive to adhere it to the back of the air dam to get give it a good basic shape? I think the adhesive would have to be a little flexible. Any other or better ideas to fix it?

2. The bumpers also have tears. I read that there are "plastic welders" that might be able to repair the tears in the urethane spoiler and bumpers. Has anyone tried this, or have a better way?

3. The back spoiler has a couple of the mounting bosses broke off. What would the best adhesive to reattach them?

4. Assuming I can fix the front air dam, back spoiler, hood scoop, and install the side fender flairs how hard would it be to smoothly blend the edges into the body so they don't have that "bolt-on afterthought" look (especially the side flares)? Other than personal aesthetic preferences is there a good reason to not do this?

5. Probably no matter how careful I am the front spoiler and side flares will come into contact with small rocks, curbs, speed bumps, etc. Are there good chip and scratch resistant coatings that I can have sprayed on the bottom 1" or so of the front air dam and the side flares that won't stick out too much over the paint?

6. My tank is rusted out from setting 7 years with 1/2 tank. Decent tanks on ebay seem rare. Are there any good aftermarket or stock replacements? I would be willing to install a fuel cell assuming that it could be mounted under the car rather than inside, use the stock side-filled gas location, and is a decent size. I have been told though, that they can very expensive and they don't last very long.

7. My factory AC controls have chipped chrome lever tips and the metal pieces are pretty rusty. I don't suppose there are any replacements other than getting lucky on ebay?

8. From what I have read the T-5 shifter handle will move a couple inches to the front. Is there a good aftermarket shifter that will compensate a little for that so I don't have to move the center console forward?

9. What is a good source for the heat shield / sound deadener material that can go under the carpet and against he firewall taking the place of the rubber stuff I scrapped off?

10. My steering wheel spokes have some rust. I could sand it but the might screw up the brushed texture. So is there anything that will dissolve the rust without messing up the surface?



I think that is enough for one post. Thanks much for the help.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Holy cow, are you a writer by profession? I think that is one of the longest posts I've ever seen. :hail2:


gunnykiln said:
1. My front air dam is pretty trashed but might be salvageable. It is misshapen and has several tears in it. I would rather not get change to an aftermarket fiberglass version if I can help it. It don't have my air dam to look at right now (it is packed away in my attic) so this may not work due to some ribs or structure on the back, but here is my thought. Could I take a long strip of thin steel (maybe 1/16" or 1/8") and form it to a known good spoiler shape (like a 1:1 plan view tracing on cardboard or something)? Then use an good adhesive to adhere it to the back of the air dam to get give it a good basic shape? I think the adhesive would have to be a little flexible. Any other or better ideas to fix it?

Steel is going to be heavy so it will weigh the part down and possibly misshape it even more ...plus steel doesn't spring back into place after you run over a curb like urethane does.

gunnykiln said:
2. The bumpers also have tears. I read that there are "plastic welders" that might be able to repair the tears in the urethane spoiler and bumpers. Has anyone tried this, or have a better way?

I've seen plastic welding done before and although the process is easy the knowledge required to pick the right rod is tough. Any plastic part can be repaired using this process but I recommend you find someone who does it on a regular basis.

gunnykiln said:
3. The back spoiler has a couple of the mounting bosses broke off. What would the best adhesive to reattach them?

I've never had luck reattaching these mounting bosses. Plastic welding or just finding a better spoiler would be your best bet.

gunnykiln said:
4. Assuming I can fix the front air dam, back spoiler, hood scoop, and install the side fender flairs how hard would it be to smoothly blend the edges into the body so they don't have that "bolt-on afterthought" look (especially the side flares)? Other than personal aesthetic preferences is there a good reason to not do this?

If you can find or buy these pieces in fiberglass then you can bond them to the steel using a two-part adhesive. But I don't know of anything that bonds urethane (plastic) to steel. Also an adhesive prevents the parts from ever being removed cleanly unlike a bolt-on part.

gunnykiln said:
5. Probably no matter how careful I am the front spoiler and side flares will come into contact with small rocks, curbs, speed bumps, etc. Are there good chip and scratch resistant coatings that I can have sprayed on the bottom 1" or so of the front air dam and the side flares that won't stick out too much over the paint?

I don't know of anything you can spray on but they do make films that you apply over the paint. They are good at preventing chips from rocks but nothing will protect you from hitting things.

gunnykiln said:
6. My tank is rusted out from setting 7 years with 1/2 tank. Decent tanks on ebay seem rare. Are there any good aftermarket or stock replacements? I would be willing to install a fuel cell assuming that it could be mounted under the car rather than inside, use the stock side-filled gas location, and is a decent size. I have been told though, that they can very expensive and they don't last very long.

A lot of old cars have similar issues and most simply replace it with a fuel cell. I don't like this solution as it is expensive and fuel cells require the foam and/or bladders be replaced regularly. I recommend you either make a new tank or find a good one.

gunnykiln said:
9. What is a good source for the heat shield / sound deadener material that can go under the carpet and against he firewall taking the place of the rubber stuff I scrapped off?

Dynamat is used in a lot of restorations.

gunnykiln said:
10. My steering wheel spokes have some rust. I could sand it but the might screw up the brushed texture. So is there anything that will dissolve the rust without messing up the surface?

Wal-mart,Lowe's,etc you should be able to find some steel wool. Make sure you get the very fine or super fine grade so you don't put scratches in the metal.

david
 
gunnykiln said:
2. The bumpers also have tears. I read that there are "plastic welders" that might be able to repair the tears in the urethane spoiler and bumpers. Has anyone tried this, or have a better way?
I know there is also body filler specifically for ureathane bumpers. Depending on how the tears actually are will depend on how this stuff would work out.

gunnykiln said:
3. The back spoiler has a couple of the mounting bosses broke off. What would the best adhesive to reattach them?
I have used 2-part Epoxy on my corners and rear spoiler and have had good luck thus far. Good cleaning/sanding prep is a must and use the stuff liberally only in such a way that it will not interfere how it fits to the body of the car though.

gunnykiln said:
6. My tank is rusted out from setting 7 years with 1/2 tank. Decent tanks on ebay seem rare. Are there any good aftermarket or stock replacements? I would be willing to install a fuel cell assuming that it could be mounted under the car rather than inside, use the stock side-filled gas location, and is a decent size. I have been told though, that they can very expensive and they don't last very long.
Some radiator shops have the ability to boil out a gas tank (repair it if need be) coat the inside of it and return it to you as if it were new. It canbe costly bit if a replacement tank is not attainable, it could be the only option. A company called "Tanks" would probably be the only outfit that might carray a new II tank, but it's doubtful.

gunnykiln said:
7. My factory AC controls have chipped chrome lever tips and the metal pieces are pretty rusty. I don't suppose there are any replacements other than getting lucky on ebay?
E-bay, swapmeets, another II guru, or the local wrecking yard is about it.

gunnykiln said:
8. From what I have read the T-5 shifter handle will move a couple inches to the front. Is there a good aftermarket shifter that will compensate a little for that so I don't have to move the center console forward?
It's not so much the handle itself as it is the stub that sticks up that part of that lower 1/2 of the shifter assembly. The stub is the problem, not secessairly the handle. As far as I know, there's no 'lower assembly' that relocated it to a different position.
 
Good luck with the resto! David has provided excellent replies, I'll add a few thoughts where I can


gunnykiln said:
1. My front air dam is pretty trashed but might be salvageable. It is misshapen and has several tears in it. I would rather not get change to an aftermarket fiberglass version if I can help it. It don't have my air dam to look at right now (it is packed away in my attic) so this may not work due to some ribs or structure on the back, but here is my thought. Could I take a long strip of thin steel (maybe 1/16" or 1/8") and form it to a known good spoiler shape (like a 1:1 plan view tracing on cardboard or something)? Then use an good adhesive to adhere it to the back of the air dam to get give it a good basic shape? I think the adhesive would have to be a little flexible. Any other or better ideas to fix it?

2. The bumpers also have tears. I read that there are "plastic welders" that might be able to repair the tears in the urethane spoiler and bumpers. Has anyone tried this, or have a better way?

I have a Cobra II spoiler that is pretty messed up. To straighten it out, the first thing I did was weigh it down in the hot sun to help get the worst warps settled down, then I used a heat gun to work on the real troubled areas..be patient, eventually you can get most of the problems out. I did use a thin strip of aluminum on this spoiler where it attaches to the valence just to help keep the shape and reinforce the mounting holes (I know this isn't the case with the King. I have also used urethane bumper repair (I believe I was using SMC brand) to fix pits/cracks and tears in spoilers and bumpers with success. The key is to have very clean surfaces for the repair to bond strongly and seamlessly. This stuff can be finished smooth (almost like filler). I am not to sure if our urethane can be welded, seems to me it doesn't really melt well, it just ignites. (Have never tried welding it so I can't say for sure)

gunnykiln said:
3. The back spoiler has a couple of the mounting bosses broke off. What would the best adhesive to reattach them?

Replacement is best but I have used JB weld to repair them (so far so good)

gunnykiln said:
4. Assuming I can fix the front air dam, back spoiler, hood scoop, and install the side fender flairs how hard would it be to smoothly blend the edges into the body so they don't have that "bolt-on afterthought" look (especially the side flares)? Other than personal aesthetic preferences is there a good reason to not do this?

I just finished doing this to one of my cars. THe parts are in primer waiting for the rest to be finished but the spoiler sure feels permanent. I used 3M panel adhesive to bond the spoiler directly to the hatch which was stripped to bare metal and then epoxy primed. Once the adhesive set, it was rough sanded smooth and then filler was used to smooth completely to the car. I love how it looks and no more leaves, dirt, water getting trapped underneath. I will try to post a pic if your interested.

gunnykiln said:
5. Probably no matter how careful I am the front spoiler and side flares will come into contact with small rocks, curbs, speed bumps, etc. Are there good chip and scratch resistant coatings that I can have sprayed on the bottom 1" or so of the front air dam and the side flares that won't stick out too much over the paint?

Not sure about the spray on but 3M does may a clear film used to protect against rock chips. Also I recommend using a color matched primer (with appropriate flex agent) on these parts so at least scrathes and chips won't be quite as visible.

gunnykiln said:
8. From what I have read the T-5 shifter handle will move a couple inches to the front. Is there a good aftermarket shifter that will compensate a little for that so I don't have to move the center console forward?

I have seen somewhere on the web pictures of an adapter made for Merkurs using the T5 transmission that relocates the shifter back a couple of inches...Google search?


gunnykiln said:
10. My steering wheel spokes have some rust. I could sand it but the might screw up the brushed texture. So is there anything that will dissolve the rust without messing up the surface?

A mild solution of phosphoric acid works wonders on the spokes, commercially you can buy a product called "Naval Jelly" Just don't leave anything on too long, a bunch of quick light applications while checking progress is better than ruining a part.

Hope some of this helps, BTW When you switch to five lug, wanna sell me those King rims? :D (just picked up a King this weekend)

Francis "Turbo II"