My 69 Vert Project...Let The Games Begin

[flight96 14]

A couple of more pics....I can't wait to see it in the sun !!

[jkskinsfan 19]

Lookin' Good. flight69. Can't wait to see it out in the sun when it's all back together.

[Jay H 237 12]

Wow, looks good! You've got the hardest part done now with the completion of the body.

 

Are you going to black out the cowl area before you put the cover on? Most lighter colored cars I've seen have had this done, and I think the factory would originally have done that too.

[kllerbee 10]

:thumbup: car looks great:clap:

[Legion 10]

Nice Job! Can't to wait to see it buffed out and in the sun! Congrats!

[flight96 14]

Well I went out to the shop to pull the paper off and take her out into the sun. It looks so much better in the sun !! Tomorrow I will do the wetsanding and polishing. Then I'll bring it back to my garage and start putting it back together.

Here's a few more pics in the sun. The pearl on the hood really looks great in the sun. The pics do not do it justice !

And yes, I plan tp black out the area under the cowl.

Edited August 2, 2009 by flight96

[Pakrat 1,043]

Looks slick! I really gotta make some time for my car again, you were so far behind me and had so much body work and now are almost at the same point I was and still am since last year.

[flight96 14]

Well she's back in my garage and she's sporting new exhaust. Went with the Dynomax UltraFlo's, 2 1/4" pipes. I haven't run it yet as it's out of gas, but I'm sure the neighbors will like it better than the straight headers !!:whistling:

It sure looks a lot better in the garage than when it left !!

The Shelby side scoops showed up today, now I have to figure out how to mount them. They have 3 studs but none of them line up to any holes on the 1/4 panel. I'll have to re-mount some studs.

Other than that, I hope to start putting it all back together this weekend.

[cphsonic 11]

Ahh, assembling a freshly painted car. Mmmmmm :shifty:

Looks good in blue.

[stangme428 33]

fight96 - the shelby scoops -- i had planned on installing these also -- did your original sheet metal have the studs?

 

post another video when you can .. im curious of how the clevor sounds!! :tongue_smilie:glad those pistons worked out for ya!!

 

keep up the good work!!

:punk:

 

Well she's back in my garage and she's sporting new exhaust. Went with the Dynomax UltraFlo's, 2 1/4" pipes. I haven't run it yet as it's out of gas, but I'm sure the neighbors will like it better than the straight headers !!:whistling:

It sure looks a lot better in the garage than when it left !!

The Shelby side scoops showed up today, now I have to figure out how to mount them. They have 3 studs but none of them line up to any holes on the 1/4 panel. I'll have to re-mount some studs.

Other than that, I hope to start putting it all back together this weekend.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I opted to cut all 3 posts off my scoops and modded it with new posts to line up with the factory holes for the factory scoop. I wanted to maintain the originality of the quarters without extra holes drilled should the decision to go back to stock ever occur and also lets face it, these scoops are giant wind catchers and 3 bolts just didn't seem to gauarantee that it wouldn't lift up on the highway and/or crack under stress. There are plenty of pics in my gallery.

 

Oh, one other good tip, I added a set of nuts way down the posts that remain inside the scoop on the outside of the car that are set flush with the surface. Reason being that it is way too easy to over tighten from the inside of the car and will leave pucker marks in the scoop that will be visable in the paint. I think this actually happened to Bryans car if I'm not mistaken.

[flight96 14]

Thanks Pak !!

Great idea about the inner nuts !! I plan on cutting the original ones off and mounting the proper 6 studs. Just another part that needs to be modded before it works...Im used to it now. I was also thinking about a rubber seal around the scoop where it meets up to the 1/4. But that may give too much of an air tight bond and make it hard for the scoop to vent air out. I don't want these things flying off on the highway !!

 

stangme428

I will post another vid when I get some gas and fire her up again. Being such a fresh engine Im not sure that firing it up alot is a good thing. I haven't been able to do the 'break in' drive yet. I have heard that idling it right now is not a good thing. I don't know if that's true or not. I really want to hear what it sounds like as well !! :tongue:

[Pakrat 1,043]

Yeah I don't think a rubber seal is such a good idea plus it looks like an add on then instead of part of the body. What I did do though after an initial mock up and loose bolting was go a little larger than the biggest gap and scribe the whole edge of the scoop to the body, it's only a few mm but makes for a nice clean fit once you tighten down and now my scoops don't stick out quite as far as they would stock which I like.

[flight96 14]

slowly getting her all back together...It sure takes longer than tearing it apart !!:tongue:

The front end is pretty much done. The side scoops and mirrors are painted and ready for the install today !!! Then the interior !!

 

Notice the license plate on the wall in the mirror pic...From 1969...

Before and after.....

Edited August 15, 2009 by flight96

[flight96 14]

Well I have all the lights working and the side scoops are on and complete. It took a little shaving to make them fit nice a snug but Im really happy with how they came out. I did leave a small gap on the bottom so water would have somewhere to drain.

Next project is the interior. I have the stick on squares os sound deadner that I plan on using first, then I grabbed a roll of reflectix from Home Depot ala Mr. Pakrats thread. (Great idea !!) The question is, should I get some spray glue and glue the refletix down or just tape it ? I was thinking of using a small amount of spray glue just to keep it in place.

Also the carpet I have has a small amount of underlay in certain spots. Would it be smart to place a thin layer of underlay between the reflectix and the carpet ?

Im hoping to have the car to the mechanic this Friday for the final tuneing and to be sure its all timed right. If I can meet that goal I will be able to do the initial engine breakin drive on Saturday !!!!:punk::w00t:

[Pakrat 1,043]

Personally I did not secure any of the reflectix down, I just made sure to use the foil tape on all the seams and I cut off any excess instead of overlaping, mine would come out looking as one giant molded piece if I removed it, the stuff takes to complex curves very well. I thought about adding the original 100+ lbs of sound deadner on top of it but thought I would try it like this first, my carpet only has a few more years of wear left to it anyway and will need replacing. The reflectix seemed to be enough padding to make the carpet fit nice without it and lets face it, you can only reduce the sound in a vert just so much. Even with the sound deadner material I only applied it to here and there and not the whole floor. The research I looked at showed that just 10% coverage on metal reduces sound by like 85% so 100% coverage doesn't get you that much more and again on a vert wasn't worth the expense of going head to toe with something like dynomat. You can see strips of it between the beads and on the seat pan. Besdies, even though they don't claim it, the reflectix actually does sound deaden to some degree as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[flight96 14]

I looked at your pics quit thoroughly and plan on doing the exact same thing. I have 5 or 6 square sheets (Glue backed) that I plan on cutting into the areas like you did (Sorry for stealing your idea !!). I did look at dynamat but they wanted $400.00 !! Crazy talk !!

Thanks for the info/idea. I hope to have it in tonight.

[Pakrat 1,043]

LOL, that's not stealing, it's a compliment. I put it out there for anyone who wanted to make use of it on a budget build. I had sticker shock from dynamat and the like as well which is why I did all the research, I'd hate to be the only one to benefit from it. If I were to redo it I might try the homemade lizard skin next time around but I think as is will be a huge improvement over stock no matter how you measure it.

[flight96 14]

OK...

So I haven't posted in a while and much has happened...Good and bad...REALLY bad...First I started on the door rubbers. I just want to say right here that I am sick and tired of dealing with aftermarket parts. I pay a lot of money for parts that are supposed to be right. WHY can they not make them right. I paid big bucks for the 'right' door rubbers and they were chit !! Just look at the pics ! These were from Scott Drake. The doors would not close. When I contacted them about the MANY issues I was told that these were the only ones available and I just had to make them work. What a load of BS... It's wrong that we, Mustang restorers, have to FIX the crap parts we get from crap suppliers. EVERY part I have got for this resto has needed some king of mod. It BS !!...END of rant...but Im still mad...so much time wated !!

[flight96 14]

So that previous post was my gripe....Now my piss-off...After many hours of getting the hood nice and perfectly straight, I installed an air filter that was too tall and put a huge dimple in the middle of the hood...I will NOT be posting a pic of that...Im too mad. Now I am seriously considering a hood scoop...

Now the progress parts... I got the floors completed and 99% of the interior is in.

The great news is I actually got to drive her tonight :tongue:...For the most part all went well. It really needs to be timed correctly and the carb needs to be set right. The down sides were ...

 

• Power steering fluid pouring out
  
• Horrible exhaust leak
  
• Signal lights don't work
  
• Temp/Oil gauge don't work
  

The PS fluid may be an easy fix...Im guessing/hoping its a loose line. The exhaust leak I hope is just re-torquing the headers.The rest may be electrical hunting...

 

So thats all the rambling for now....It was great to drive her, and the issues could be much worse....

Any ideas for my issues would be greatly appreciated !!

Edited August 25, 2009 by flight96

[Angel 24]

i can agree to a certain extent. after market is aftermarket. but you're comparing an old, worn out and compressed piece of weather stripping to a new piece and you're expecting them to be the same. i would've been pissed if my new weather stripping would've looked just like my old one. but yeah sometimes we have to modify them a bit. o well. i ordered a complete kit from mustangs plus and it fit rather well with little or no mods.

[Pakrat 1,043]

OK well let's start with compliments, first off the reflectix install came out great, wasn't that stuff easy to work with? Also, you look pretty darn happy behind the wheel and rightfully so, it's been a long battle.

 

Angel is right, the before pic of your weatherstrip is really far gone and not a fair comparison, it was not that size and shape originally. Also, there is a slight difference between the 69' and 70' and with so few numbers on both they combined a couple of the differences into one repro part for both cars. lastly, the factory did a lousy job installing these on the line and usually they did not use the correct location for the screws, they just drilled them wherever as they went along. As a result when you do try to use them they don't line up with the so called "factory holes" all the time. What I did was install them at spots that have to line up like the eyelet and the pop in stud, then I redrilled holes where they needed to be to line up with the spots on the weatherstrip and I broke a lot of drill bits too, that post is hard as hell to get thru. Even then it seemed a little long and I have a small buckle at the curve that I need to eventually glue down. Whatever you do DO NOT break the small seam where the open parts of the strip meat at the curve. I can't believe you paid $250 each for those, I think I got both mine for that just 3 or 4 years ago.

 

On the power steering hose believe it or not the most common reason for a leak is over tightened, not under. The way that brittle flair is at the end most folks don't seat it squarely to the tapered end and as a result when you tighten it down you split the end and nothing will ever stop it from leaking after that, this is why they are notoriously known for being a leaky system. Even though they don't recommend it I used teflon tape on every connection but was careful to keep it well below the tapered end and made sure to keep the line arrow straight then locked it down just a turn past hand tight, so far not a drip.

 

On the exhaust leak pay a little extra and get a set of Percy Seal4Good gaskets, they are life time and never need replacing, their design is very unique (like stacked pie plates) that compress and conform to almost any amount of warpage or design flaw between headers and the heads.

 

As for the hood, well, that's going to be a hard one to blame on Ford or a Repro company. It's too late now I guess but the general rule is to place a loosely crumbled ball of tinfoil on top of your carb and close the hood. Open and remove the flattened foil ball, this is your hood clearance measurement. Just chalk the mistake up to experience and look at it as a happy accident, I think these cars look much better with a scoop anyway.

[Pakrat 1,043]

OK well let's start with compliments, first off the reflectix install came out great, wasn't that stuff easy to work with? Also, you look pretty darn happy behind the wheel and rightfully so, it's been a long battle.

 

Angel is right, the before pic of your weatherstrip is really far gone and not a fair comparison, it was not that size and shape originally. Also, there is a slight difference between the 69' and 70' and with so few numbers on both they combined a couple of the differences into one repro part for both cars. lastly, the factory did a lousy job installing these on the line and usually they did not use the correct location for the screws, they just drilled them wherever as they went along. As a result when you do try to use them they don't line up with the so called "factory holes" all the time. What I did was install them at spots that have to line up like the eyelet and the pop in stud, then I redrilled holes where they needed to be to line up with the spots on the weatherstrip and I broke a lot of drill bits too, that post is hard as hell to get thru. Even then it seemed a little long and I have a small buckle at the curve that I need to eventually glue down. Whatever you do DO NOT break the small seam where the open parts of the strip meat at the curve. I can't believe you paid $250 each for those, I think I got both mine for that just 3 or 4 years ago.

 

On the power steering hose believe it or not the most common reason for a leak is over tightened, not under. The way that brittle flair is at the end most folks don't seat it squarely to the tapered end and as a result when you tighten it down you split the end and nothing will ever stop it from leaking after that, this is why they are notoriously known for being a leaky system. Even though they don't recommend it I used teflon tape on every connection but was careful to keep it well below the tapered end and made sure to keep the line arrow straight then locked it down just a turn past hand tight, so far not a drip.

 

On the exhaust leak pay a little extra and get a set of Percy Seal4Good gaskets, they are life time and never need replacing, their design is very unique (like stacked pie plates) that compress and conform to almost any amount of warpage or design flaw between headers and the heads.

 

As for the hood, well, that's going to be a hard one to blame on Ford or a Repro company. It's too late now I guess but the general rule is to place a loosely crumbled ball of tinfoil on top of your carb and close the hood. Open and remove the flattened foil ball, this is your hood clearance measurement. Just chalk the mistake up to experience and look at it as a happy accident, I think these cars look much better with a scoop anyway.

[stangme428 33]

great work!! great build!! ... post some video!!... great input on the factory install "procedure" Pak ... im about to go thru the rubber replacement on my coupe so thank you guys... i bought my weatherstip kit about 4 years ago... i guess i need to locate it if its 250 a side now...

 

keep the faith flight96 your almost done... i can only imagine what that convert feels like cruisin down the road with the clevor rumbling...

 

gotta be a great ride and a cool feeling knowing all the hard work you are putting into it!!

 

:punk:

[flight96 14]

Thanks all…

 

And yes I realize that the 40 year old rubbers were a bit (OK a LOT) worn . I was just on a rant. It seems every part I've ordered needed some sort of mod.

As for the hood...It was my stupidity that caused this. Strangely it was the first time that I put the hood down without checking for things in the way. Now I have to figure out what to do. There is not enough clearance there for any kind of air cleaner. So I guess I'll be adding a hood scoop...Anyone have a spare kicking around ???

As for the exhaust leak, Im going to re-torque the header bolts and see if that fixes the problem. If not I will replace the gaskets.

The PS issue is another thing. Remember I went with the Randalls rack, not the original equip. So Im hoping that Its just a loose fitting on the bottom where it meets up to the rack.

As for the short drive I took, It was very exciting to have it back on the road. It sure turns a lot of heads. There are a few other small issues...lights and gauges and such...but after all I have done Its not bad. What really suprised me was how well it steered with no wheel alignment. Of course Im still gonna get the alignment, but it was really nice. It cornered nice and the steering was tight, no play !!

The signal lights worked for a while then stopped !! Weird !!