(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.
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.