82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 29, 2013 (edited) We picked this car up a few months ago. It is a 69 Mach 1, 351W. The car was a local Mustang member's project that we had been following the progress of for some time. He had two small children and decided it was more important to spend his free time with his family than with an old car. We appreciated his story and decided this would be a nice car for us to put back together for the summer. We pulled the rear suspension and put the car on the rotisserie to respray the bottom of the car. All the rust repair is done, new quarters, floor, trunk floor, deck lid, doors, fenders, hood, etc. The previous owner sprayed gray on the bottom which looked nice, but we wanted to use SPI bedliner. We stripped the bottom to bare metal, epoxy primed and sprayed the bedliner. We started stripping the bottom and pulled the car outside to contain the mess! Epoxy.. Bedliner.. We wanted to try SPI's red oxide epoxy so we gave it a whirl and it turned out great. Now we can start putting her back together! We stripped the red paint off of the interior and floor the best we could.. And my wife sprayed the epoxy.. We also stripped the engine bay and sprayed epoxy. We reduced it to lessen the gloss. Edited September 16, 2013 by 82firebird Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 29, 2013 (edited) We picked this car up a few months ago. It is a 69 Mach 1, 351W. The car was a local Mustang member's project that we had been following the progress of for some time. He had two small children and decided it was more important to spend his free time with his family than with an old car. We appreciated his story and decided this would be a nice car for us to put back together for the summer. We pulled the rear suspension and put the car on the rotisserie to respray the bottom of the car. All the rust repair is done, new quarters, floor, trunk floor, deck lid, doors, fenders, hood, etc. The previous owner sprayed gray on the bottom which looked nice, but we wanted to use SPI bedliner. We stripped the bottom to bare metal, epoxy primed and sprayed the bedliner. We started stripping the bottom and pulled the car outside to contain the mess! Epoxy.. Bedliner.. We wanted to try SPI's red oxide epoxy so we gave it a whirl and it turned out great. Now we can start putting her back together! We stripped the red paint off of the interior and floor the best we could.. And my wife sprayed the epoxy.. We also stripped the engine bay and sprayed epoxy. We reduced it to lessen the gloss. Edited September 16, 2013 by 82firebird Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 29, 2013 We also repainted the engine block and the valve covers. It's almost time to start reassembling the drivetrain. The previous owner had the shell blasted and sprayed with a white epoxy from DuPont. He then used Evercoat Featherfill, which is what the black is on the rest of the car and it's been over a year since he sprayed it. Word to anyone using polyester primer like Evercoat Featherfill or Evercoat Slicksand...don't let it cure for that long. My fingers are literally bleeding from block sanding it. The featherfill is so hard, and we went through a ton of sandpaper because of it. We aren't planning on painting the car right away, but we are waiting for some engine pieces and decided to concur the inevitable of eventually getting the whole car into epoxy. Blocked with 80, 2 coats of SPI epoxy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manley 13 Report post Posted June 29, 2013 Looks very solid! Has it had much metal replaced? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangnet33 88 Report post Posted June 29, 2013 Things are looking great ! Nice to have a solid foundation to start with. I'm going the SPI route when I get started shortly. You should post this over on the SPI users forum, there's a few of us here that wonder on there. What color are you planning ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 (edited) Looks very solid! Has it had much metal replaced? Quite a bit; floor, trunk floor quarter skins, fenders, doors, deck lid, hood. :thumbup: Things are looking great ! Nice to have a solid foundation to start with. I'm going the SPI route when I get started shortly. You should post this over on the SPI users forum, there's a few of us here that wonder on there. What color are you planning ? We will paint her Acapulco Blue. We have used quite a bit of SPI between this project and others. We do frequent the SPI forum quite a bit and have our first project posted over there: http://www.spiuserforum.com/showthread.php?938-A-woman-s-project-1968-Mustang-Fastback-Eleanor SPI Epoxy is a great product and you can't beat the customer service. Edited June 30, 2013 by 82firebird Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 We have been working on assembly the engine between other things. I did not realize until after the intake was on that we had a 16 hole intake. What should I do with the remaining 4 holes? Can they be plugged or do they have to be tapped and threaded? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike65 475 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 82firebird can you see on the quarter skins if they were flange welded, or were they butt welded to the old quarter panels?. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 They were butt welded. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramair351 10 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 so you must have later 302 heads on it? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted June 30, 2013 so you must have later 302 heads on it? The heads are E7TE castings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) We've been working hard to get the engine ready to be dropped in but still have a few things left to do. One being installing the hood hinges for good. We used black SPI epoxy mixed with a little white epoxy to get a dark gray. We're not completely sure, but we might just leave them in this finish. We also blasted and sprayed SPI black epoxy on the door hinges and then got the fenders in epoxy as well. Edited July 5, 2013 by 82firebird Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ash 145 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Good to see the two of you into another Mustang! This is going to look fantastic next to the Eleanor once Rusty and Brian have finished. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Good to see the two of you into another Mustang! This is going to look fantastic next to the Eleanor once Rusty and Brian have finished. Hey Ash! I sure hope so, because this one we're going to tackle the paint ourselves! I see a Mach in your sig, is that yours? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ash 145 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Yes, it is. I have an R-code. I picked it up in Louisiana and brought it back to Australia a bit over 2 years ago. But you are already way ahead in progress compared to me. Mine is a Flintstone mobile at the moment and has been for a while. I reckon after everything I've seen you both work on so far and with all the support the SPI guys have given, you will nail this one. If only Barry did Acapulco too! I'm going to go with some of his new black though when the time comes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miketyler 15 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Paint and body work looks really good. For a primer, it sure has a lot of gloss to it. Was that shot taken wet or is that fully dried? I like the shine regardless. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Yes, it is. I have an R-code. I picked it up in Louisiana and brought it back to Australia a bit over 2 years ago. But you are already way ahead in progress compared to me. Mine is a Flintstone mobile at the moment and has been for a while. I reckon after everything I've seen you both work on so far and with all the support the SPI guys have given, you will nail this one. If only Barry did Acapulco too! I'm going to go with some of his new black though when the time comes. Sweet!! I'm looking forward to watching it come back to life. I've said it for a long time, you just can't beat the SPI customer service and the products speak for themselves. I think the black will be killer on your car. We will be using Diamont paint that came with our car. In fact, Lauren sprayed a little of it today and so far so good! But yes, if only Barry made every color how perfect the automobile world could be. :thumbup: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 Paint and body work looks really good. For a primer, it sure has a lot of gloss to it. Was that shot taken wet or is that fully dried? I like the shine regardless. Thank you. Those shots the primer was still wet but here is a picture of the primer fully dry. It has a gloss to it and the heavier you spray it the more it shines. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 6, 2013 We blasted the door hinges and epoxied them a few days ago. Then we looked at each other and wondered why we did since the primer only has a 7 day window for base, unless later down the road we'd have to sand/scuff and reprime. We've had one heck of a week in the joys of being a homeowner world, so we thought we'd put some color down to brighten our day. Now they will be able to sit and dry for a long while till we're ready to put the doors back on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 8, 2013 Today we installed the engine and transmission. The engine was easy but the transmission was a different story. Long day, but it feels great to put it behind us. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FrozenMonkey 12 Report post Posted July 8, 2013 Man that is so beautiful work you guys are doing. Wish I had the skills and tools to do that to my car. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 10, 2013 Thanks FM. We aren't professionals by any means, we are just weekend warriors who both have a passion for working on cars. If we did not enjoy it together, it would not be near what the hobby has become. We mounted the starter relay and voltage regulator. I replaced the distributor with a new unit and am going to install the Pertronix conversion kit. I also scored a non-a/c heater box that is in great shape. Tonight we installed a new blower motor and gaskets and in she went. We are trying to finish up details on the engine as we work on everything else at the same time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted July 15, 2013 We've been block sanding the last few days. Again we're working on getting the car into epoxy to protect it from the weather and then we can get the car running before bodywork and paint. We laid out the hood scoop template to drill the holes for the scoop. I forgot to take a picture of the scoop on.. Blocked w/ 80 2 coats epoxy Doors blocked and in epoxy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bnickel 10,004 Report post Posted July 25, 2013 i'm going to have the same problem with my 351w using the C90X Ford muscle parts intake and the GT40-X aluminum heads I plan on using. My plan is to weld the bolt holes up and then drill and tap for a very short, probably 1/4" long bolt to match the rest of the intake bolts. that's just how I plan on resolving the situation, I'm curious to see what you guys come up with as well Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted September 14, 2013 We finally got back to this today. We stripped the trunk awhile back, epoxy primed, and seam sealed in attempt for a factory look. Today we sprayed more epoxy and sprayed some blue. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
