Bringing back to life three 1979 Mustangs !

[SuperDuty455]

I've ordered the products for the bodywork : epoxy primer, high build primer, body filler, thinners, black 2K paint, etc...everything for the two Mustangs and the '74 Firebird Formula.
I will get the paint later, I'm still not decided on the exact colors. Do you know of a good looking white ? A very bright white ?

Also how would you proceed to paint the bumpers ?
- black paint first, mask those parts, then body color
- body color, mask, and then black paint

[grabbergreen84]

I suspect body color first. I wonder if you could mask off the original pinstripes, and maybe use some fade-tape (or whatever that stuff is) to keep the black from building up too high around the stripes? I've never seen anyone but Ford get those stripes to my satisfaction...

[SuperDuty455]

If you're talking about the dual silver stripes on the black part of the bumpers, they aren't in great condition. They've been touched up already and are gone in places, on both cars. So I'm not sure yet how I will do them.

[SuperDuty455]

Hi, I've received my products last wednesday so I immediately started working on the "new" doors and fenders. The sanding revealed a few surprises, nothing major on the fenders, mostly small rust spots under the factory primer here and there and a bit of body filler on the driver side.

I had to repair 22cm of the bottom of the passenger door, rot was hidden under the factory seam sealer.

How can I remove the door windows ?

[SuperDuty455]

I had to sand the doors to bare metal, too many rust spots under the factory primer.



I've killed them with vinegar, worked great as you can see. It's a bit hard to spot but in the middle of the picture you can see a defect in the surface of the metal, that was rust developping under the black primer, and it was ALL over the door. :


I've filled the holes left by the european mirrors. :


There are a few dents here so I've applied some filler right after :


I forgot to take pictures of the passenger door but it's at the same stage. There was a little bit of body filler on the rear edge, I've removed it as rust was forming underneath. It's a small scrape. Nothing serious.

Same for the fenders from the Vaquero parts car, but I haven't found nearly as much rust on them, just a few spots here and there where the paint was damaged. They have been repainted at least once (

[Tracer]

I was looking through our local Kijiji and found this!!! http://www.kijiji.ca/v-auto-body-par...ationFlag=true I think someone used your picture.

[SuperDuty455]

That's funny ! Well he's just looking for a part so it's no big deal, it's not like he's trying to sell the car :P

Not my picture though, it's the picture of the ad from the junkyard who sold them to me.


I couldn't work on the cars last week as I got sick. The cold has come back very quick.

I got back my rims, I've been to a few shops asking around if anyone could machine them a bit and got an address. I went to visit a body shop where the guy is building an X-Wing...a full scale steel X-Wing ! He built a Transformer before and an AT-ST, they look really cool.

It's crazy to think there are so little machine shops around anymore. Dunkirk was a still major boat construction site up until the late 80's.

[SuperDuty455]

Just received the US mirrors ! Unfortunately, there a slight difference between the two left and the two right mirrors...left are 83-86 and the rights are 79-82. I didn't know about that. It's subtle, the upper edge is smoothed on the 83-86 mirror. That's a bummer :/
Other than that they're in good condition, I even got a rubber knob with them.

[IDMooseMan]

I love the CX, my brother and I are actually looking for one. My grandfather had a blue CX Pallas in the late seventies, I've only seen it on pictures but it looked like this :

...

This looks exactly my old Citroen CX2200; same wheels; same paint; same trim. I loved the way the speedometer and tachometer rotated sideways. These cars were so unique. I've owned lots of cars through the past several decades, but there are only a few that I would still like to have. This is one of them. Thank you for sharing that picture. It brings back a lot of great memories.

[SuperDuty455]

Everyone says they're fantastic to drive, very confortable.
I've found a touch up paint stick in my grandparents house a few days ago, still usable ! The exact color was "Bleu Delta". My grandfather died in 1982 and they sold the car shortly after sadly. My grandmother didn't drive.


Back on the Mustang, I've got an excellent deal on a three piece rear spoiler on eBay yesterday...$23.50 ! The shipping will be around $100, but despite that, it's still a bargain. And it seems to be in excellent condition.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980-mustang...torefresh=true

I know the car is very original so it's a bit of a shame to modify it, but I'm only doing stock looking modifications. The hatch has a bit of rust so it is not mint, I don't feel bad drilling through it. Though I will need measurements to drill in the right place.

So here's what will change on the white Ghia :
- three piece rear spoiler
- flat black quarter panel trim and windows surroundings, as well as the window trim. The upper and lower trim will remain chrome
- original US mirrors, removal of the various Belgium homologation add ons
- maybe sides stripes of some sort, I haven't decided the design and color yet but it will be something similar to the 80-81 Cobra.
- maybe the wheels if I find something suitable, but right now the stocks rims and TRX are in good condition so they're fine where they are

I've found someone else that can machine the rims for the red notch.
As for this one, the mods will be similar :
- black around the side windows
- 17" rims (that will get rebuilt)
- US mirrors and no more Belgium stuff
- large center graphics as shown in the renders, but I may add one on the roof to blend the aftermarket sunroof


I will also replace the butyl on the side windows, which thickness should I get ?

[SuperDuty455]

Here's some pics of the Ghia in its current state :


Someone had written "Ok" under the sail panel, under the factory primer :


She's got some fun friends


A whole bunch of parts that will be primed for some and painted black, those are for both cars :


I've managed to remove the headliner and the vinyl intact, though I'm not sure it will ever be smooth again. Has anybody tried glueing the old vinyl over new foam ?


4-22-79 written under the driver side rear panel, build date for the part ?


4-20 on the other one :

[SuperDuty455]

Finally, I've shot some epoxy primer on a bunch of parts. The headlight bezels aren't the ones of the Ghia, those are in nice shape and the chrome is very good. No those are a mismatched set, one was originally black and is from the same car I bought the doors from, the other one is from the Vaquero parts car, the chrome was peeling really bad.
I've done the mirrors as well but they're not visible in the picture :



The inner doors are done so I can move on the outer part. I've removed the hinges and bushings and will install some new ones. They were all wobbly.

[SuperDuty455]

I've finally got my 17" rims modified to use common tuner nuts...so I've installed them, but now I'm not too sure about them anymore :/ It's definitely not what I would have chosen if I had access to Fox rims easily, or even vintage rims in the proper size.
They sit right, not too wide. The car looks a bit high on its wheels now, but they're the same overall diameter as the TRX wheels. It's those fake screw heads that annoy me the most, I will remove them.

What do you think ?







I need to figure out what's wrong with the clutch. It's stuck on, whatever I try, yet everything looks good through the inspection cover.

[IDMooseMan]

WOW! That is a lot of progress. Did you get the clutch situation figured out?

[SuperDuty455]

I haven't done anything to the cars lately. Clutch problem is still there. What I will do is replace the engine with the one in the Vaquero, and replace the clutch in the meantime. I'm not sure which transmission there is in the red notch, there's no "%" on the shifter knob, I think it's a RAD transmission, the vaquero has the "%" logo, so it should have the German transmission right ? There's no door tag on this one.

[xctasy]

I haven't done anything to the cars lately. Clutch problem is still there. What I will do is replace the engine with the one in the Vaquero, and replace the clutch in the meantime. I'm not sure which transmission there is in the red notch, there's no "%" on the shifter knob, I think it's a RAD transmission, the vaquero has the "%" logo, so it should have the German transmission right ? There's no door tag on this one.

To be techncially correct, Ford codes the post 1979 German ET and SROD transmissions as RUC, and the shifters interchange. But only the SROD is actually an overdrive top gear transmission. It has the 0.81 or 0.70 overdrive, but isn't a 4cyl trans. The ET has a 1:1top, no overdrive.


The RAD's (SR4 and T4) were just really wide ratio transmissions geared like the SROD, but again, like the ET and earlier FOG German trans, it has a direct, 1:1 top gear, and didn't have the O/D gearknob.


The generic "RUC" code means its shifter fits two gearboxes and is interchangabele (ET and SROD).

The gearknob swaps between any Mustang shifter.


Your gonna have to check the tag or just feel for the shape of the top plate on the gearbox.

Ford SR4 Case 13 32 or 13 40 RAD (A Jeep and Fox transmission)
and
Borg Warner T4 Case 13 51 RAD (1981) has a pent roof cast alloy top, all the others except the later T5 have a flat tin plate on top.

[SuperDuty455]

I've painted a bunch of parts in black, and still working on the Ghia body. I've ordered the new door pins and bushings.
Also I've found a set of sweet vintage Momo "Air system" rims in 15x7, I'll pick them up in a couple days. They seem to be very rare. They will look like this once installed :


I've also ordered a new clutch for the red notch. I have never done a clutch job. Would you recommend pulling the transmission and engine in one piece for this job or is there an easier method ?

[Davedacarpainter]

It's easier to just drop the transmission by itself by far. But if you intend to pull the engine anyhow, it'll be easier on your back.

[SuperDuty455]

That's what we ended up doing with a friend. It was rather easy to get it out and didn't run into much issues. The car is clean, but there's a lot of undercoating in the way. In the end, the clutch was in good condition, but it was stuck to the pressure plate. My friend had to use force to take it off.
Here it is (the cat is for my Trans Am) :


After a good cleanup :


Numbers on the side of the case :


The original clutch :

And pressure plate :


But there's a damaged part I didn't think I'd need, and it's the clutch fork We were about to put the transmission back in after I gave it a good wash, and I found a small piece of metal in the bell. So we removed the fork and there it was, the spring had one tab broken off...


Which one should I get ? No need for a fancy one, just a good deal.

[SuperDuty455]

That's what we ended up doing with a friend. It was rather easy to get it out and didn't run into much issues. The car is clean, but there's a lot of undercoating in the way. In the end, the clutch was in good condition, but it was stuck to the pressure plate. My friend had to use force to take it off.
Here it is (the cat is for my Trans Am) :


After a good cleanup :


Numbers on the side of the case :


The original clutch :

And pressure plate :


But there's a damaged part I didn't think I'd need, and it's the clutch fork We were about to put the transmission back in after I gave it a good wash, and I found a small piece of metal in the bell. So we removed the fork and there it was, the spring had one tab broken off...


Which one should I get ? No need for a fancy one, just a good deal.

[Davedacarpainter]

Clutch forks are cheap, even for a "good" one. No real recommendations from me either, get what's easiest to find for you.

[SuperDuty455]

Well on Summit they go from $25 to $100...
Are the 5.0L forks the same ? They look identical on the pictures, can't find anyone who sells 2.3L specific forks.

[Davedacarpainter]

Good question, I don't know. Let me see what I can find.

[Davedacarpainter]

After a little research I see the problem you are having. Take a look at this short thread and determine what case you have. Hopefully it's a D9. Though you do have a european model.
http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...-fork-question

[SuperDuty455]

I think it's a D9 bellhousing, it has the square bit where the cable goes through.


The part number on the fork is D9BC-7515-BA :