1966 Mustang Coupe Restomod

[GPR]

This is what we are starting with. There is not a lot of rust but since Ford did not prime a lot of the inner structure we will be removing all the sheetmetal do any needed rust repair and epoxy priming. The plans are to install Rod & Custom front and rear suspension, Wilwood brakes, Currie 9", AOD and a 347. The body mods will be fender flares, drip rails removed, cowl vents filled in and maybe a few other things as we go.

One of the first things we did after bracing the body was to remove the cowl

The quarter panels were removed

The roof was also removed and there was only surface rust but in a few years it will get worse if it is not cleaned up now

 

[Horseplay]

If after 50 years there was only some surface rust hidden in places the exterior panels hide, why do you think it would grow into any significant problem in just a few years? Do you guys always tear into these cars that deep or was this more of a customer request? Just curious as I had mine media blasted as a stripped shell but didn't go to this extreme.

 

[GPR]

If you are building a high dollar restomod do you want to take a chance and have the inner structure starting to rust. We have worked on a least 8 1965 - 1969 Mustang in the last few years that all had rust in the inner structure and as you will soon see so does this one.

 

[Horseplay]

If you are building a high dollar restomod do you want to take a chance and have the inner structure starting to rust. We have worked on a least 8 1965 - 1969 Mustang in the last few years that all had rust in the inner structure and as you will soon see so does this one.

Sure now you warn me! lol

I had next to no metal repair necessary on mine. There were a couple places that when doing modifications I separated spot welded metal and encountered a very small amount of surface rust hidden between. To my thinking if that was all that developed in 50 years I wasn't too concerned about anything else lurking. Now I will get to fret about it for the rest of my car's existence. Thanks, Rusty!

 

[GPR]

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why do we remove all the sheetmetal. The quarters were replaced at one time and we did not trust the workmanship and once they were removed we found rust in the outer wheelhouse. The roof was removed because Mustangs are known to rust in the inner structure in the front by the top of the A pillar. In this case we were lucky and only had surface rust but over time would became holes. The other area on coupes is the sail panel inner structure and we did find rust. A little rust on the left side but the right side had a few small rust holes starting.

 

[HuntingKy]

I pulled the quarters on my fastback and found some surface rust on the upper sections. Current plan is to invert it on rotisserie, plug corner openings and then fill the roof area with Evapo rust and tilt back and forth a couple days, maybe rig up with spray into the channels. Then change out Evapo rust for thinned down Rust Bullet coat inside nooks.

 

[GPR]

All I use is SPI epoxy primer

 

[GPR]

New firewall and cowl was sanded and epoxy primed

The cowl side panels and A pillars needed to be replaced

Test fitting

 

[HuntingKy]

What do you do around seams etc. where you don't disassemble everything? Do you treat it some how or does the SPI get into and control the unseen pockets of rust?

 

[GPR]

Ready for epoxy primer

Two coats of SPI black epoxy primer

 

[GPR]

Lower cowl welded in place

The welds were ground down and epoxy was brushed on

Upper cowl fit and welded

Fender apron to cowl extensions welded in place and started to test fit the roof after it was sanded and the back side epoxy primed

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Amazing work

 

[Fast68back]

Wow

 

[janschutz]

Great work, love watching your work.

 

[GPR]

Brian has done a lot of work since I last posted

The rear frame rails had a little rust and needed to be replaced

Test fitting the trunk floor and gas tank

Plug welding the trunk drop offs

Fitting the rear package tray and sail panels

The quarter panels were shaped wrong and had to be modified

Fitting the taillight panel and end caps

Left outer wheelhouse welded in place

The right side was to long and had to be modified

Starting to weld the sail panels

Rear panel welded in place along with the sail panels

 

[Fast68back]

Amazing work!

 

[RapidRabbit]

Looking good. I need to win the lottery so I can send you my car.

 

[GPR]

The quarter panels, roof, rear deck panel and taillight panel lined up and welded in place

 

[GPR]

The drip rails were removed and welded

Welds ground

We still have more work to do inside the car but to stop the surface Brian sanded it down to bare metal

I sprayed two coats of SPI black epoxy and it is back in the fab shop

 

[GPR]

Brian is welding the rear floor and modifying the inner wheelhouse for more tire clearance.

Rear bulkhead panel welded in place

Welds ground and interior sanded and ready for SPI epoxy