My 1968 Mustang Fastback (now Satin Black).

[TrueBlue]

I figured now would be a good time to get some pictures in here about the teardown of my '68 FB. The job I’m working on currently is replacing a rotted out cowl that subsequently killed my front floor pan (that will get replaced later.)

Here’s the pics:

Before disassembly.

The area of focus. Note the plastic cowl cover that blocks the vent from the outside.

I can tell you after parking it outside that it’s not helping.

Here’s the sealer, at top.

Before I get started, something that just had to be done. '68 Mustangs have a trim ring, horse, and “corral” in the grille that just doesn’t do it for me.

Removed. The grille will get repainted. Lots bettah.

Why the whole project is taking place… this is driver-side, under the dash looking up, you can see the wiper arm. Rotted completely through.

Better pic. Passenger side isn’t quite as bad.

To get at the 200 spotwelds that hold the cowl to the unitbody, you must remove the fenders, hood, windshield, and dashpad. So, start by pulling the ashtray…

Heater controls, which aren’t operational at this time…

Dash trim…

And gauges. Not shown: my %&%^*& bloody palm after the sheetmetal bracket just below center caught the flesh as I pulled the gauge pod out.

One file, 2 minutes, no more edges.

[TrueBlue]

Back into it…

The seam holding the cowl in. It’s coated with a thick layer of seam sealer that will have to be ground off to expose the spotwelds.

Here’s a cleaned one. You can see the edges of the two stampings. Compare top left of this pic with the previous one.

Side cowl box forms the complete structure of the cowl. Note at top left the drain hole for the cowl. Cowl rot starts when bugs, leaves, and debris fall into the vents and clog these drain passages.

After many moons, they rot through the metal vents (look like dryer tubes) and expose the interior of the car to outside water.

Now is a good time to show off new sheetmetal fenders, frame rail extentions, upper/lower arms, springs and shocks. Not shown, Wilwood 4-piston calipers

Blair spotweld cutter. Spring-loaded with center pointguide, reversible cutterhead with stop flange. And spares.

Can’t wait to give this thing a go.

[TrueBlue]

Who needs windshields anyway.

Not shown, pulling the metal trim that had been urethaned in place, preventing the trim clips from being pulled thusly:

…and the rubber molding that had to be cut out to remove the glass.

This was pretty cool, kind of a “eureka!” moment. I don’t know how well you can see this, but this is the original, virgin, unmolested Highland Green paint from January,1968. It was under the window molding and never was exposed to UV wear.

This is why working on older cars is so cool - there’s a history to them, you kinda feel like a palentologist unearthing some of this shit.

Ate up four wire wheels in the process of cleaning old paint, rust, seam sealer, urethane, and rubber molding out. I took the guard off to reposition it.

The end result, clean spot welds ready for removal.

The new shop mascot - 1968 Highland Green / black bucket fastback - shows exactly what this car came from the factory as. (Model is a GT).

This is pretty much what it’s gonna look like, different stance and different wheels.

Here’s where we are today.

More to come!

[Nikuk]

:tup: Been waiting for this thread!

[HotRodKid]

nice progress

and switch to the cup style wire wheels, the wires wont fly out NEARLY as much, the one i have has lasted for YEARS

[TrueBlue]

Cup style works good, but I need the thin edge of a depressed-center wheel to get into the edges. It’s okay if they get eaten up.

I have a good face shield and I wear a thick hoodie and gloves when I’m wheelin’ - but I’m still picking .020 carbon steel wire out of my arm. :ohnoes:

[bladez]

looking excellent my man…hopefully we’ll get to see this thing out and about this upcoming season :tup:

[newman]

i like threads like this

[Pauly]

I use those blair cutters, they work awesome just keep in mind to let the bit do the work dont push hard and use low speed on your drill if you force it it will shatter, i find a squirt of wd40 while your drilling keeps the bit cool and sharper longer nice work so far i’m going through the same with a 67 chevelle i’m building for my wife its currently floorless and i got to know those blair cutters pretty well

[ly555is]

i like threads like this

yeah… an actual car thread involving hardcore bodywork. no metallica sigs and opinions on hillary clinton over here

                           yeah buddy

[RobHimself]

Excellent car, has to be one of the best looking mustangs ever. Good luck with all the work involved.

[JaysGreenLX]

Can’t wait to see the final result

[POOPRA]

gonna be rolling like Steve Mcqueen huh

[thelosthero]

awsome car can’t wait to c it done

[newman]

trueblue:

are you doing all the bodywork yourself? Interested in teaching me a few things? Maybe helping with my car? I’ll help you with your car…

[TrueBlue]

I’m doing all the bodywork, but probably not this year. My SHO spent too much time on jackstands - I want this car up and running for the summer months so I can actually, you know, drive the thing

-edit- By bodywork I mean cleaning up the external sheetmetal, I’m welding in the new cowl pieces and floorboards this year, along with valveguides, new syncros in the tranny, some fresh wiring under the dash, and respraying the fender/door Wimbledon White so it’s all one color

I don’t know what I could teach you, per se, but I’m always glad to give a hand, and yours looks like one helluva project. Shoot me a PM

[TrueBlue]

gonna be rolling like Steve Mcqueen huh

Pretty much :headbang: I don’t want to do a clone though, I’d like to run 17/18" staggered on a lowered suspension, and maybe use some Shelby goodies, too.

[Dr.Stevil]

very nice tom :tup: give me a call if you need a hand mang

[TrueBlue]

Tonight I started drilling out spotwelds. Interesting work.

They recommend using a punch to get a pilot started for the spotweld cutter to get in and do it’s work, but I wanted to ensure the cutter wouldn’t jump out of a shallow hole (it’s the only cutter I have and I don’t want to buy another one right now )

So I used a 1/16" bit on my Milwaukee Power Hammer drill and started centering spots. When drilling any pilot, the key is a steady hand and slow revs until the bit is biting.

The bit requires lubrication, so I went pretty liberal on my WD-40 apps. You can see the pilots drilled in the welds.

Before I pulled any welds, I wanted to be sure I could reuse the top cowl half again. As a precaution to ensure the halves would fit, I wrenched in 4 self-tapping sheetmetal screws so that I could realign the panels properly. Preparation > throwing shit when I can’t line things up

Sorry about the bluriness.

Finally, down to cutting. The spotweld cutter is tricky to use - you want light pressure until the cut ring is started, then medium pressure to cut out the perimeter of the weld. It’s supposed to stop once the cut is run through the top layer but I found if it wasn’t perfectly perpendicular to the surface, it would start cutting the lower section of metal up. Eeesh.

In fact I went through a few times, but after some practice I was hacking them up like a vet. The trick - the moderate pressure. You can feel the first layer of metal “pop” ever so slightly through the drill handle when it’s through the top layer. In some cases, I was drilling through 4 layers.

Sign of what’s underneath: look at the very bottom cut’s red ring. Rot.

Compare this pic with the earlier shot of the cleaned welds to get an idea of what’s going on here.

All told, I did about 40-50 welds tonight, so about 1/4 of the way there. Can’t wait to see what’s under the surface here…

[TrueBlue]

Well, progress just came to a halt today - I broke the cutter tool.

Eeesh. The pilot guide came off and fell into the cowl - have to find or create a replacement. Such is life…

However - a bright spot…

…I found the original build sheet wrapped up on a wire harness. It looks like it’s been underwater or something.

Pics are coming…