Fall / Winter Projects?

**78CobraII** · #1 (**permalink**) 11-02-09, 10:44 AM

Anybody got any Mustang II Projects planned for the Fall or Winter?

Unfortunately a lot of the work I was going to do this Summer has been pushed back by weather and family comittments, so most of my projects are now Fall and Winter Projects!

My '78 Ghia is outdoors, so I've really got to hurry to get paint on the engine compartment and front suspension. I had good weather yesterday, but due to other projects around the house only managed to get part of the passenger side suspension cleaned. Another hour or so of that and I can do my final prep for painting. Nothing fancy here...just a couple of cans of spraybomb, but I would like it to stick for a while.

After the paint is on, I can do the assembly in any temperature, as long as its dry!

1. Fuel and brake lines.
2. Rear suspension.
3. Rear axle.
4. Front suspension and brakes.
5. Fuel tank.
6. Drive shaft and shifter.
7. Exhaust system.
8. Engine tune.
9. Interior.
10. DRIVE!

**78CobraII** · #2 (**permalink**) 11-09-09, 08:54 PM

Not much done the past two weekends which is a shame because we had great clear 70 degree weather...and we're running out of 70 degree weather pretty quickly.

I did manage to get the new gas tank clear coated (indoor/outdoor polyurethane spraybomb) and the under coating sprayed in the rear wheel wells.

I really hated to put the under coating back in as I've been scraping and cleaning under coating now for years. But I had removed so much of the factory Ford abrasion resistant coating to get the rust cleaned up that I had big patches of wheel well sheetmetal with nothing but paint to protect it. And paint would not hold long against road debris coming off of the tires.

I cleaned on the front suspension a bit more. This bit is like the rest of the bottom of the car. Where the under coating stuck well, the metal underneath is clean and shiney. Every where else is 30 year old rust. I just want to get enough under coating and rust off to get paint to stick for a while. Eventually the engine and trans will come out and I'll blow the front suspension apart and have everything sandblasted.

**Mstng2** · #3 (**permalink**) 11-10-09, 06:43 PM

Well I guess I can divulge the results "so far" on my next project. I found it in a field and picked it up for 200 bucks here are some pics of progress and where we are now:

Where we found it...

Stripped it down with a Soda Blast...

72 hour overhaulin Bodywork...

Paint, 2 coats primer, 2 base coats, stripes, 2 coats color, 3 coats clear. 9 Coats total:

Rolling it out...

REassembled... Mostly...

Still to go, Engine, Complete re-do of the interior...

**78CobraII** · #4 (**permalink**) 11-11-09, 06:20 PM

Great body work and great color! I can't wait to see the interior and engine. What do you have planned for it?

**Mstng2** · #5 (**permalink**) 11-13-09, 01:20 PM

The Interior will be black on black, I'd like to do the seats like the 2+2's with a center cloth section in black and then black vinyl on the sides. The Engine will be the 2.8 V6 bolted to the C4. I want to keep the engine fairly mild as this is being built for my kids. However I am building it to take a Turbo Charger somewhen in the future after they get experiance driving.

**78CobraII** · #6 (**permalink**) 11-16-09, 08:53 PM

I had great weather this past weekend, so I finished my "rattlecan restoration"! I repainted the engine, touched up the inner fenders, painted the rusty suspension bits. It's about as good as I could do without blowing the whole car apart (which I wished I was doing everytime I cut myself on a sharp edge while sanding).

Now all I have to do is find my missing fuel and brake line bolts, paint them, and start reinstalling parts!

I'll get some pics up later.

Steel Steeds · #7 (**permalink**) 11-19-09, 05:32 PM

That is some old-school metalflake right there! Awesome. You've been holding out on us John. Hmm, I'll be in your neck of the woods next week for the holiday...

My King Cobra is FINALLY about to be painted. The painter said he only has a few things left to do, including final location of the hood scoop (same scoop as yours John), and the final coat of primer. He's been sanding for the last two weeks. Most likely scenario is the weekend after Thanksgiving, my King will turn Calypso Coral, that beautiful slightly red shade of orange that was so popular in '69-70.

Hopefully it will be back in my garage by mid-December, and I can begin installing all of the powdercoated trim, decals, emblems, and then start gutting the interior for a complete refresh. By April, I want to have the car ready to roll out to the shows. It's finally coming together. I've had this car since 1993...