'66 Mustang Restoration

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Ok, here's the deal. I really want a '67-'69 Chevy Camaro. Preferably Pro-Touring if I can manage it.

 

My brother has a '66 Ford Mustang (Coupe) body he wanted to get rid of. He also has almost every part needed to get it running (he has quite the collection of Ford parts). Now, the downside is, I think it's ugly as hell, being a coupe and not a fastback. Still, the plan is to get her running and looking nice, then sell it in order to get a Camaro...which I may also need to get running and looking nice.

 

So, do any of you have any experience with fixing and restoring old cars? If so, I could really use some help getting started. And yes, I realize this will probably be a time-consuming, arduous project, and that I am most certainly in over my head. Still, I think it's worth a shot.

 

What I have:

• '66 Mustang Body (rusted floor panels, needs interior/paint)
• 5-Speed Transmission
• Fuel-injected 302 5.0L V8 Engine
• No money to speak of (will hopefully change soon)

 

What I want:

'69 Camaro

 

 

 

 

Help a guy out?

[IDAN]

talk with athlon

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

Allow me to drool a bit first. This reminds me of that car in "Better off Dead" with John Cusack. I loved that car.

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

OHH makes my mouth water! Im your man, What do you need to know? Where to get parts? How to go about it? You will need lots of money, lots of skill, that 65 mustang should bring a even trade to that camaro. If you restore it to orginal it will bring more money then chopped up modified, if the mileage is low on it.

 

Is the engine orginal to the car? Or at leat one that was a option in it? Is the trans the same way,

289 v8? 200 6 cyc? Muncie or saganaw Trans?

 

You can make a custom out of it as well,

Before starting this project you are going to need a garage or some where to work on it.

Engine lifts

Jack stands, jacks

Hand tools

Air compressior

Air sanders

Some where to get sand blasted or media blasted

Knowage of body work/painting

Spot welding to replace old rusted out panels

Grinders

Alot of time to invest.

 

First evauluate if the car is worth bringing back, if it is.

Strip the car inside and out, storing and labeling all parts that came off of it.

Send car out for blasting

Cutt out old rusted panels/replace with new ones

Prime the core of the car before it rusts up

Paint interior, under, fire wall, inside of trunk, every where.

Do all body work, prepare for paint, then paint to color of choice

Reassemble entire car with new parts, All new front end componets, bushings, ball joints, brakes, tie rod ends ect.

Rear end componets spring bushings shocks ect if the diff is still good.

 

Or you can sell that 65 mustang to a restorer guy for $6,000 or so get a loan and buy a real good camaro for $15,000

Edited December 26, 2009 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

Good luck with this project, this is something I used to want to do, restoring old cars. I ended up following another path.

 

Its not that bad looking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But your right, the fastback looks better

 

 

[Halli~SPARTA~]

Very nice Chevy.

 

But you must compare it to the 70 model Stang.

 

 

I like both and think your Chevy will be nice to see rolling down the road.

 

 

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Very nice Chevy.

 

But you must compare it to the 70 model Stang.

 

 

I like both and think your Chevy will be nice to see rolling down the road.

 

Yeah that looks nice too. Quite honestly I like damn near any fastback from the '64-'72 era, but I've always been partial to Chevy, especially the Camaros. Even the new ones ('09) look damn nice.

 

And yeah Zeno, it certainly isn't the ugliest car I've seen, but the boxy look of it just irks me. The only '66 Mustang coupe I've seen so far that I like was this

If I put a paint scheme that nice on mine then I might be willing to put up with the coupe design.

 

Still though...

 

Fastbacks all the way.

 

OHH makes my mouth water! Im your man, What do you need to know? Where to get parts? How to go about it? You will need lots of money, lots of skill, that 65 mustang should bring a even trade to that camaro. If you restore it to orginal it will bring more money then chopped up modified, if the mileage is low on it.

Mostly where to start. I assume it'd be removing rust and replacing the rusted out floor panels, then priming it to prevent further damage. Then sticking in the engine/transmission, repairing and adding any other damaged or missing parts, and then sticking an interior inside. Then I could finally paint it, purchase some new wheels, and sell the sucker, no?

 

Depending on how much rust it has, would you recommend trying to blast it myself, or is that something better left to the professionals?

 

Is the engine orginal to the car? Or at leat one that was a option in it? Is the trans the same way,

289 v8? 200 6 cyc? Muncie or saganaw Trans?

Not sure, going out to look at it today, will let you know later.

 

You can make a custom out of it as well,

Before starting this project you are going to need a garage or some where to work on it.

Engine lifts

Jack stands, jacks

Hand tools

Air compressior

Air sanders

Some where to get sand blasted or media blasted

Knowage of body work/painting

Spot welding to replace old rusted out panels

Grinders

Alot of time to invest.

Got it all. I'm not totally on my own with this, as my brother is a mechanic and has all the necessary tools, and is willing to teach me some along the way. I'd still like to learn as much as I can on my own though, as he can't sit there all day telling me what to do.

 

First evauluate if the car is worth bringing back, if it is.

Strip the car inside and out, storing and labeling all parts that came off of it.

Send car out for blasting

Cutt out old rusted panels/replace with new ones

Prime the core of the car before it rusts up

Paint interior, under, fire wall, inside of trunk, every where.

Do all body work, prepare for paint, then paint to color of choice

Reassemble entire car with new parts, All new front end componets, bushings, ball joints, brakes, tie rod ends ect.

Rear end componets spring bushings shocks ect if the diff is still good.

 

Great outline, thanks

 

Or you can sell that 65 mustang to a restorer guy for $6,000 or so get a loan and buy a real good camaro for $15,000

 

Tempting, but I don't want to take out any more loans until I pay off my student ones. Plus I'm doing this as much for the experience as anything, as when I get my Camaro, I'll probably have to do a lot of work on it as well.

 

And thanks for your post Athlon. Merely having an outline of all the shit I'd need to do helps a ton.

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Well it was a breaf discription of what your in for. Alot of work and time and money. But if your going to do a worth wile restoration on it and want to get top dollar for it, thats what your up against.

it must look like show room to get enough for a show room camaro. You might be able to trade it for a restoration camaro then restore the camaro. I have been a year or so on the buggy project, That was suppost to be done in a few monthes. I am nearing the end of that project, but you will never figure whats around the next bend. Like me looseing my job has put a real dampner on the project. I still push ahead and do what I can to get it done. I will get anouther job as soon as the crappy economy picks up again. I will finish it! And arise victorious once again! It takes more then a few nasty arbatorie bastards to get me down, I will simpley kick their asses like they need and move on like i have done many times in the past.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[Halli~SPARTA~]

As I work for a Ford Dealership In the Collision Center I can Tell ya you need to cut out the pan (Or rusted area's)

Tack to Place, sand, Prime then seamseal.

If you don't need a whole pan you can cut out what is needed and do the above.

 

Here is what your pan may look like.

 

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Well it was a breaf discription of what your in for. Alot of work and time and money. But if your going to do a worth wile restoration on it and want to get top dollar for it, thats what your up against.

it must look like show room to get enough for a show room camaro. You might be able to trade it for a restoration camaro then restore the camaro.

 

Yeah I'm not going for show room. I'm going to (try to) make the Camaro pro-touring anyway, so I'll probably be putting more work into it than I'll be putting into the '66. I just don't have the money for even a junker Camaro, but I do have a '66 and all the parts needed to get it back into shape, which my brother tells me would be enough to purchase at least a running Camaro. So we'll see how it goes. I'm going out to look at it right now. Depending on the shape it's in, I'll decide if I want to restore it or not.

 

As I work for a Ford Dealership In the Collision Center I can Tell ya you need to cut out the pan (Or rusted area's)

Tack to Place, sand, Prime then seamseal.

If you don't need a whole pan you can cut out what is needed and do the above.

 

Here is what your pan may look like.

Yeah I remember my brother telling me the floor pans were rusted through, so I'll probably need to replace the pans entirely. Maybe not though, I'll know soon enough.

 

And thanks for the help guys.

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Halli Is your man for parts, thats for sure. You would be suprised to find out whats available for it, Everything! Gut it, pull everything out of the inside and see what your going to need. Check with Halli, you can get parical floor replacment floor pans in sections.

Edited December 26, 2009 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[Haloelite]

people of all walks of life are helpful for everything.

[Halli~SPARTA~]

Mine are not Ford(over 20 years) but with that there are Guys Pounding my doors every month on buying

the old stuff.

LMC is # 1

 

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Ok, this thing is gonna need a lot of work. New floor panels, hood, fenders, etc. Currently has a V6 in it that I'll have to rip out and replace with the V8 (since who wants to buy a hotrod with a V6?). There is no real interior to speak of, and I'll probably end up replacing the steering wheel and maybe putting a boot over the stick shift, because I don't like the way it just sticks out (no pun intended). Also thinkin' bout pulling out the current, ancient radio and putting a new CD player/radio in.

 

It has a lot of rust, and my brother unfortunately has no sand blasting equipment...so I'd need to do it all by hand. That's going to really suck. If only I could afford soda blasting. <_>

I figure I'll just sand the exterior by hand and get someone to sand blast all the tough stuff (engine compartment and frames etc)

 

Also applied to some jobs tonight, so maybe I'll have an income soon--crossing my fingers.

 

All in all, this will be one helluva project. At least I'll learn something though, which I can then apply to my '69 Camaro when I get it.

 

P.S.- I'll try to take some pictures next time I'm over at the garage

P.P.S.- I set that picture of the Camaro in my first post as my PC wallpaper. Little bit of motivation.

[Highway~SPARTA~]

MH6- I've done a bit of restoring myself.

 

Although I understand the "get it as nice looking as possible for the highest amount of return" logic. Keep it absolutely SIMPLE.

 

It sounds like the plan is a "remove rust, sand and paint" rustoration so you can sell this to some teenager. You may be better off trying to sell this to someone you wants a solid core to restore. If so, fix as much rust as reasonable with out spending too much money. Give it a clean, fresh coat of primer. (If you spend money to paint, odds are that's not the color they want anyway.)

 

For a quick teenager sell: Fix as much rust as you can and get a decent Macco paint job so it looks nice. Even if you spend $$ on a stereo, they'd probably toss it anyway. IF they like the stereo, you spent too much that you won't get back. Your also going pretty deep by replacing the original V6 with a V8. (Hell, for all that $$ spent, you could have just got your Chevy!) Lots of wasted money you won't get back on a re-sell. Just remove the V6 and reseal/replace gaskets/fix oil leaks/clean. It goes a long way.

 

 

Here's my "restoration-in-progress":

 

 

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Thats why I say to sell it to a restorer and get a camaro project and go with that. Theres serveral aftermarket parts mfgers for the vintage mussle cars out there, I went to the turky rod car show and there was miles of that stuff there.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[MH6~SPARTA~]

It sounds like the plan is a "remove rust, sand and paint" rustoration so you can sell this to some teenager. You may be better off trying to sell this to someone you wants a solid core to restore. If so, fix as much rust as reasonable with out spending too much money. Give it a clean, fresh coat of primer. (If you spend money to paint, odds are that's not the color they want anyway.)

 

For a quick teenager sell: Fix as much rust as you can and get a decent Macco paint job so it looks nice. Even if you spend $$ on a stereo, they'd probably toss it anyway. IF they like the stereo, you spent too much that you won't get back. Your also going pretty deep by replacing the original V6 with a V8. (Hell, for all that $$ spent, you could have just got your Chevy!) Lots of wasted money you won't get back on a re-sell. Just remove the V6 and reseal/replace gaskets/fix oil leaks/clean. It goes a long way.

 

If I actually had to purchase the V8 or stereo, I'd agree. But the thing is, I already have all the parts needed to get it running again, courtesy of my brother. He works almost exclusively on Ford Mustangs, so he has a lot of parts that I can use: transmission, V8, wheels, etc. The only thing I'd really need to buy is a crap ton of new sheet metal to fix all the rusted holes. Mainly some small sections of quarter panels, a trunk lid, two floor pans (may be able to get by with only the front portion, which is $30 each), fenders, and a hood. And remember this is sort of a "trial run", so I'd like to go all the way with it. If I mess up, at least I messed up something I essentially got for free instead of something I paid good money for, like the Camaro.

 

I'll see how it goes. If I'm getting burned out with it by the time it's rust free and primed, I may just try and sell it then. But honestly, if I want to purchase a '69 Camaro, I'd probably need to sell a fully working and painted '66 Mustang Coupe just to be able to afford a rusted out Camaro body. Camaro's go for a lot more than a '66 mustang--or at least the V6 coupe variety. But again, I'll see how it goes. It's going to take me quite a while just to get it ready to even be painted. And I appreciate the input guys.

[Highway~SPARTA~]

If you have most of the stuff already your obviously ahead. And like you said before, you can use this project to learn on before you get the Camaro. Don't buy the first rust bucket you find, you'll find a great deal if you take your time.

 

Enjoy the Mustang in the meantime then.

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Before cutting out rusted panels, inentify the bad area, then check the size of the replacment panel first. Its better to get the new panel in hand before cutting out the old one first, that way you can macth fitt the new one, so their won't be any size differences or large gapps. The v6 wasen't available in the mustangs untill way later. The V8 that was in it was a 289, Correct me if im wrong but the 302 diden't come along untill later. They had a 289 small block v8 and eather 170 or 200 stright six. The biggest stright 6 they had was a 240 in the light truck, but not in the cars untill later.

 

In the early days of ford they had some weard engines

170

200

312

302

351

370 lima

390 car

391 truck

400m car&truck

534 gas truck

maybe more.

Then later

302

351w c

390

427

428

 

Edited December 28, 2009 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[Halli~SPARTA~]

I just checked a Local Aftermarket vendor Keystone and they show most of what you want as in sheet metal.

 

 

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Lets see some pics of it, im curious as to what condition its in.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Lets see some pics of it, im curious as to what condition its in.

 

Yeah I'll be taking pictures next time I'm over at the garage. Would have taken some already but my camera is broken. My brother said he'd lend me his though.

 

Currently disassembling the engine so that I can send out the aluminum parts to be polished and the steel parts to be chromed. I want this car to look just as purdy on the inside as the out.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Heh, I never did post those pictures. Welp' here they are.

 

The 302 5.0L V8

 

 

 

After the strip down:

 

 

 

The paycheck I get this Friday will go towards purchasing the first parts, then I can start doing some real work on it.

 

I've also decided I'm going to with:

 

• Mustang II Front End Suspension (picture) and power rack
• Cobra 13" Disc Brakes (picture)

 

My first purchase will probably be the calipers, because $219 is a pretty damn good deal.

1994-2004 Mustang Bullitt Calipers

 

And while I wait for the parts, I'm going to be putting another 302 into a '92 Mustang. Once I do that, I just need to buy a set of headlights and switch out the exhaust and I'll be rolling around in a V8. Should hold me over until I can finish my '66.

[Athlon64~SPARTA~]

Pulled many of those out, Block looks good. The 302 dident make alot of horspower in the carburated versions. Its a good engine. Why the mustang 2 front end? Old stuff not good enough?

Edited April 14, 2010 by Athlon64~SPARTA~

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Pulled many of those out, Block looks good. The 302 dident make alot of horspower in the carburated versions. Its a good engine. Why the mustang 2 front end? Old stuff not good enough?

 

Yeah I'm trying to modernize it as much as possible because I've decided I'm probably not going to sell it (at least any time soon). So modern suspension, modern engine (fuel-injected 302 from a late-model Mustang), power steering, etc. Want it to handle like a new car with all the appeal of a classic. Might even put a turbokit on it, but I'm not sure yet--it'd require some custom fabrication, but I hear it isn't too difficult.