This is the first in a series of tech articles on a Mustang convertible. If you've grown up in New York State, then it will come as no surprise that road salt can take its toll. This is a 33 year old New York car and the chassis and sheet metal condition will verify it. There are numerous structural failures and cosmetic deformities. We'll repair them one by one and bring it back to its once youthful beauty and structurally sound state.
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Except for the smog pieces the engine was otherwise in tact. The radiator is shot due to the fan impacting it and there are numerous fluid leaks. All the cast parts are rusty but not pitted and most of the engine sheet metal is rust free and will clean up nicely. |
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We're getting serious now. The core support has been removed as well as the front and rear fender aprons. The engine, suspension and associated pieces are ready for removal. |
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| Since the core support had been removed, I opted to extract the drive pieces together. It's much easier than crawling around under the car to break the transmission loose. | After removal I broke the power package down into the important pieces. Bell housing, engine, transmission and clutch assembly. |
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| We're in deep now. The complete front suspension and steering linkage has been removed. Clean up on the frame rails has begun and it's time to start generating a list of sheet metal pieces to buy. The list will be long for this one. The good news is that with all the new sheet metal there'll be less old stuff to clean up when we're ready for paint. | After removing the bulk of the fender aprons using the plasma cutter, the remaining pieces of the aprons are separated from the shock towers with an air chisel. You can get away with this since the shock tower steel is so much thicker than the remains of the aprons. Care still needs to be taken not to gouge the shock towers. They'll be in plain sight when the job is done and the engine compartment painted. |
That's it for this month and there's much more to come. See you in the April newsletter.
Joe Quaranto