Optimus Prime - The '68 Coupe
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frist coat of primer - and you thought this day would never come
here are some action shots of the wet first coat of primer, all I can say is the best day to shoot primer in the winter is yesterday or tomorrow if you catch my drift, I tell ya the day before was glorious so I spent it buying the materials and driving around town like a pin head, the day of was border line too cold for shooting epoxy below 60 degreeish and the following day was warm again, go figure - I know, cry me a river is what all of you folks with the white powder on the grown are thinking
here are some action shots of the wet first coat of primer, all I can say is the best day to shoot primer in the winter is yesterday or tomorrow if you catch my drift, I tell ya the day before was glorious so I spent it buying the materials and driving around town like a pin head, the day of was border line too cold for shooting epoxy below 60 degreeish and the following day was warm again, go figure - I know, cry me a river is what all of you folks with the white powder on the grown are thinking
Ta Da - well so far anyways...
here are some pictures of the primed rear end, I think I took these like a week later, I love the way it turned out, it looks so much better and more importantly it seals and protects the car way better than rattle cans would, (as far as pictures I am learning sometimes natural light is your friend sometimes your enemy, and shadows are better than bright sun light)
here are some pictures of the primed rear end, I think I took these like a week later, I love the way it turned out, it looks so much better and more importantly it seals and protects the car way better than rattle cans would, (as far as pictures I am learning sometimes natural light is your friend sometimes your enemy, and shadows are better than bright sun light)
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
It's definitely coming along. 
I'll be following along as I have much of the same kind of body work to do to my '68(filling trim holes, stripping crud, and painting).
It's the weirdest thing, I can think of four '65-68 Mustangs that have been painted that same dark blue at some point. Your '68 is one, my '68 is two, the '65 I had is three, and a '67 belonging to someone I used to know is four. The '67, my old '65, and my current '68 got a coat of the same metallic red in there too. Figure that one out...because I can't.
I'll be following along as I have much of the same kind of body work to do to my '68(filling trim holes, stripping crud, and painting). It's the weirdest thing, I can think of four '65-68 Mustangs that have been painted that same dark blue at some point. Your '68 is one, my '68 is two, the '65 I had is three, and a '67 belonging to someone I used to know is four. The '67, my old '65, and my current '68 got a coat of the same metallic red in there too. Figure that one out...because I can't.
You know what, that blue when wet after a good wipe down looks really, really good in some places still even after all these years, I thought so, and others who have seen it wet thought so too.
Mr. Kelly was right!
My high school biology teacher used to say "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over" well Mr. Kelly was right, or Gene in this case I should say, though his quote wasn't as profound, "...don't cheese out now!".
With those words reverberating in my head I decided to grow a pair and remove the rear quarter extensions. Better late than never right? All that stood between me and them being off, were 3 bolts on the inside of the trunk and 1 phillips screw on the bottom on the outside.
Removing them allows us to examine the Amazing Goop that was used to plug up the trim holes, not bad actually, you can see how it rolled up like some toothpaste, but it's held on solid. I will shoot those when I spray the doors.
Question though, the back side seems like it has a groove for a rubber gasket, I wonder if mine are missing that piece and weather it's worth getting for the reassembly I would think so?
My high school biology teacher used to say "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over" well Mr. Kelly was right, or Gene in this case I should say, though his quote wasn't as profound, "...don't cheese out now!".
With those words reverberating in my head I decided to grow a pair and remove the rear quarter extensions. Better late than never right? All that stood between me and them being off, were 3 bolts on the inside of the trunk and 1 phillips screw on the bottom on the outside.
Removing them allows us to examine the Amazing Goop that was used to plug up the trim holes, not bad actually, you can see how it rolled up like some toothpaste, but it's held on solid. I will shoot those when I spray the doors.
Question though, the back side seems like it has a groove for a rubber gasket, I wonder if mine are missing that piece and weather it's worth getting for the reassembly I would think so?
horseballz
10 Year Member
Yep that goop is 40 years old and still working... good stuff huh!
I dont know if I would put new gasket material on them when you assemble them. You will need to do this at time of final assy post actual painting. The most important thing is sealing of the mounting nuts so you dont pass any water into the trunk.
I still have that set of non-trim extensions if you want them...
Oh, and good job. I just wasnt able to post up all my pics here, so that was the birth of my cardomain site.
I dont know if I would put new gasket material on them when you assemble them. You will need to do this at time of final assy post actual painting. The most important thing is sealing of the mounting nuts so you dont pass any water into the trunk.
I still have that set of non-trim extensions if you want them...
Oh, and good job. I just wasnt able to post up all my pics here, so that was the birth of my cardomain site.
jcode68
Active Member
You are doing good work there and looking forward to seeing the updates as you progress along. The extensions do have a rubber gasket and you can get them at any of the mustang part suppliers for fairly cheap. They will help seal the weather out and prevent paint chipping when you reassemble.
HALFTIME
Phase 1 - The Rusted Roof - COMPLETED
Phase 2 - The Trunk and Rear End - COMPLETED
Intermission: So you gotta ask, what's up with that stupid "Optimus Prime" title? Who's Optimus Prime? Well some of you may be too young to remember, other's too old, but to the rest of us Miami Vice, The A Team, and ... [wait for it] ... Transformer watching 80's generation, Optimus Prime was one bad @ss dude! He was an 18 wheeler semi truck that could change to a robot, yeah you heard me. LOL Those of you who know what I'm talking about give this post a bump, those of you who may have owned Optimus, two bumps, LOL
i like this picture of Optimus because he's all dirty looking kinda like my car started out not to mention he's blue and needs a paint job, I think his real color is red
Phase 1 - The Rusted Roof - COMPLETED
Phase 2 - The Trunk and Rear End - COMPLETED
Intermission: So you gotta ask, what's up with that stupid "Optimus Prime" title? Who's Optimus Prime? Well some of you may be too young to remember, other's too old, but to the rest of us Miami Vice, The A Team, and ... [wait for it] ... Transformer watching 80's generation, Optimus Prime was one bad @ss dude! He was an 18 wheeler semi truck that could change to a robot, yeah you heard me. LOL Those of you who know what I'm talking about give this post a bump, those of you who may have owned Optimus, two bumps, LOL
i like this picture of Optimus because he's all dirty looking kinda like my car started out not to mention he's blue and needs a paint job, I think his real color is red
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
Whatever you do, don't use abrasives on the textured interior metal or it will knock down the texture. You probably already know that, though. 
Textured Door Interior
Actually sir no I didn't know that and I appreciate the tip very much. Though like a true amateur I thought what better way to get inside those grooves and crevices than with a wire wheel. Damn it! Though I only took it to one side, but you know what it cleaned it up pretty good and did not knock down the texture, go figure. So now I'm perplexed.
Whatever you do, don't use abrasives on the textured interior metal or it will knock down the texture. You probably already know that, though.
Actually sir no I didn't know that and I appreciate the tip very much. Though like a true amateur I thought what better way to get inside those grooves and crevices than with a wire wheel. Damn it! Though I only took it to one side, but you know what it cleaned it up pretty good and did not knock down the texture, go figure. So now I'm perplexed.
Anatomy of the Mustang Door
well here we go some more boring detail that must be done, all of you thinking, come on man really you're gonna show us every little part, those of you thinking that, ask yourself what happens when you forget to put the "little" spark plugs back in - nothing!
removing the armrest pads, that's not a screw driver it's a socket on the end, I thought it would have been a phillips screw but nope
well here we go some more boring detail that must be done, all of you thinking, come on man really you're gonna show us every little part, those of you thinking that, ask yourself what happens when you forget to put the "little" spark plugs back in - nothing!
removing the armrest pads, that's not a screw driver it's a socket on the end, I thought it would have been a phillips screw but nope
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
Fortunately a wire wheel is one of the more benign abrasives you could have used. Usually people hit the panels with a sanding block and wonder why it looks like crud after the paint goes on.
Paint stripper might work alright. It's more expensive, but "graffiti remover" in an aerosol can is more convenient IMO than the brush-on "aircraft remover" or similar. I hate handling methylene chloride, but it works so well...
68stang351
Founding Member
It's definitely coming along.
It's the weirdest thing, I can think of four '65-68 Mustangs that have been painted that same dark blue at some point. Your '68 is one, my '68 is two, the '65 I had is three, and a '67 belonging to someone I used to know is four. The '67, my old '65, and my current '68 got a coat of the same metallic red in there too. Figure that one out...because I can't.
Ha! No way!
My 68 was originally Meadowlark Yellow, then someone painted it blue like that, then it was repainted a metallic dark red.
Hell, in the front part of the door jambs you can see all 3 colors!
I've got a few spots like that on mine. It started out lime gold, then was painted resale red, and I had it painted highland green. My paint and body guy was supposed to strip it and primer, but I was lucky to get it back at all. Ironically, I'm better off with a deep chip to the lime gold than a light chip to the red which really calls attention to itself.
Glad to see Greg doing things the right way.
"resale red" I love that, LOL, hey guys remember this post where I talk about sanding the doors from white only to end up back with white doors
http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/827419-i-once-sanded-4-layers-off-white-door-till-white.html
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