My 1968 Mustang Rustang

[Tiggie]

Thought I'd start a thread to post about my 68 Mustang. I am a member on several Mustang forums, but I don't actively anything on them because Mustang people, especially online Mustang people, are not generally people I share any interest with other than the car body.

I bought this car in 2013 and have been working on it since, when time allows. Between the birth of two kids, taking care of a family, house, a job, and life in general, there hasn't been much time.

I don't expect I will post the entire saga, but here it is fresh off the rollback in Summer 2013








Got the Marti Report today. It looks very different here than when it did new. Apparently, it was a rental car in Florida.
8F01C191017_dlxrpt.pdf

[Tiggie]

I dug into it a bit. The goal was to get it running and driving for a fun beat around car for a little while.

The motor was not original. It is a 302 from a 1970 F100, or at least that is my best guess. It ran when it came here but not well.

I had to retime the engine. The distributor was stuck and it was out of time, someone rotated the wires to make it run.

No PCV. Instead the valve cover was hooked directly to vacuum at the carb. No wonder it had no visible blowby.

Fix that, rebuilt the carb, and tune up stuff. It ran fine and sounded fine but had virtually no oil pressure. Maybe 30psi cold at 2500rpm. About 10psi hot at same rpm. Guess what it was as idle... that would be zero. Trans shifted good.

Did the brakes all around.

Found the floors looked like this. I bought it from an area in Virginia called Rustburg. Literally. I should have known. These floors looked decent from underneath. I should have lifted the carpet when purchasing it.

[Tiggie]

Last post for now.

I got it running and all back together. It ran and drove like this for a few months but ran very hot all the time. Me and the wife spent some time on the side of the road, overheated and boiling antifreeze, and I decided it was time to make this thing a real project.

Here's the pictures I sent the insurance company, Winter of 2013. They ensured it for $2500.

[packman]

Nice project! Are you gonna garage that Stang? A quick look on NPD showed that most any part (floor boards, etc.....) can be bought for that Mustang. Take your time and build it up.

[Tiggie]

Nice project! Are you gonna garage that Stang? A quick look on NPD showed that most any part (floor boards, etc.....) can be bought for that Mustang. Take your time and build it up.

It quarantined in the garage from 2014 through this past November. I am currently working on getting the front suspension and steering back under it. But more on that later.

So Spring of 2014, I started cutting. The floor was the first item. Keep in mind I knew very little about sheet metal fabrication and nothing of welding, so the floor was chosen because no one really sees the finished product.

Both floors got cut out, one at a time.



I didn't take pictures of the left side, but it was replaced as well.

I also had to repair the area under the rear seat on the left side.



The right side had to be patched as well but wasn't as bad.


The inner wheelhouses needed patched at this same time since the rust had gotten into those (they touch the floor in the area where it rusted).

[Tiggie]

I don't remember exactly what happened next.

I made more patches for the trunk floor. Mainly the area around the bottom. These cars have drop in gas tanks that make up the majority of the trunk floor, and the area around that was pretty soft in some areas. I don't think I have pictures of that.

By spring 2015, I felt confident enough to work on a small barely visible area. Both sides had rust like this which was cut out and replaced with more metal patches.



Some of these are turning upside down even though they are right side up on my computer...

Now my welding was functional if not pretty. I discovered some nasty cracking in the shock towers. Come to find out, it's common on these cars with lots of miles and/or hard use, especially with power steering which this car has.

Stuff had been patched and screwed around with. Long story short, the shock towers needed replaced, and I would find out the frame rails would need patched, and one inner fender portion needed replaced where the A/C drips (think typically panther frame rust area). Both sides got replace one at a time.

This was more than a 120V MIG was going to do. So, my dad brought over his stick welder and I learned that. Not many pictures here once we get to installation because I was more focused on learning to really burn in some metal.






The PO's bad repair job:


Removal of that bad repair job:



The car remained without an engine and front suspension to present day...

[87gtVIC]

Thanks for finally sharing. Just been hearing about it for the past few years with no pics to show.

Definitely a project car.

[Tiggie]

All that rust and metal work was not planned. I knew the car needed quarter panels when I got it, I mistakenly thought the rest was fine. Haha... Rustburg was such a great place to buy this from.

The hood and deck lid were trash. Those are easy bolt on items. I also installed a door skin on the left side to correct some heavy accident damage.

The quarters were holding me back. It was time to get to the point of no return. The cut off wheel came out. I left enough at the top to flange, if desired, for a skin, and I did end up doing that.

The back end of the skin incorporates the area where the rear valance mounts. It is vital to rear valance fitment. The repop skins were horrible. I ended up cutting off the rear of the original quarter and grafting that to the skin. Luckily, the front edge of the skin was pretty good.

The outer wheel houses were too bad to patch. I cut those out as well and put new ones on. That was a dice roll but it worked. They were butt welded because the thought of any overlap in the wheelhouse area just made me smell rust.

I don't have any pictures of the reattached quarters except for the last one. The top edge was flanged and welded very slowly.

[Tiggie]

Thanks for finally sharing. Just been hearing about it for the past few years with no pics to show.

Definitely a project car.

SOOOO much more project than I ever wanted!

[TecNickal]

Definitely the era of Mustang I hope to own someday. Heck of a project and an undertaking. Lots of work ahead of you. Does Rustburg equate to Lynchburg VA?

Pretty funny to see it has power steering, and AC...but no power brakes?! Weird.

[Giraffe]

Great project! I wish I could get a Marti report for my '66. Ford didn't retain any detailed records on cars until 1967.

If you're needing some advice or pointers on sheet metal replacement, look up Jo Daddy's Garage on YouTube and Facebook. He has a lot of videos that have helped me and is more than willing to offer advice to DIY restorers if needed.

The floors on my '66 were in a similar state. So much so, that I ended up just going with a one-piece replacement floor pan. Mustangs probably have more aftermarket support than any other classic vehicle. I'm definitely glad for that!

[packman]

SOOOO much more project than I ever wanted!

Isn't that the truth!

When I originally planned to do the CV engine swap; I was just thinking of engine swap and nothing else. Then things got out of hand after the lopo came out. Still chipping away at it LOL

[Tiggie]

Definitely the era of Mustang I hope to own someday. Heck of a project and an undertaking. Lots of work ahead of you. Does Rustburg equate to Lynchburg VA?

Pretty funny to see it has power steering, and AC...but no power brakes?! Weird.

Yes sir just outside of Lynchburg. It still doesn't have power brakes. I would have expected to see that option in a rental car, but maybe times were different back then. The A/C is fairly rare for a '68, and was expensive at the time. I guess that's there because of the Florida location.

Great project! I wish I could get a Marti report for my '66. Ford didn't retain any detailed records on cars until 1967.

If you're needing some advice or pointers on sheet metal replacement, look up Jo Daddy's Garage on YouTube and Facebook. He has a lot of videos that have helped me and is more than willing to offer advice to DIY restorers if needed.

The floors on my '66 were in a similar state. So much so, that I ended up just going with a one-piece replacement floor pan. Mustangs probably have more aftermarket support than any other classic vehicle. I'm definitely glad for that!

I wanted a one-piece pan. They had just came out and were expensive at the time - like $600, compared to about $80 in patch panels. I think it would have been easier to go the full route and would have certainly looked better from underneath. I do wonder how they work if the car has been twerked a little in an accident and the rockers aren't square. Times were lean back then and $600 just wasn't gonna happen!

Isn't that the truth!

When I originally planned to do the CV engine swap; I was just thinking of engine swap and nothing else. Then things got out of hand after the lopo came out. Still chipping away at it LOL

Project creep is a serious problem. I know you've been working on the CV a while. What seems like it's only going to take a few months turns into years at my house. I am getting older and wiser about choosing projects but that doesn't stop the want to make old worn out junk into something nice and useful.

[tjc78]

Thanks for sharing. Enjoying reading about it!

[Tiggie]

Last project of 2016 included getting the bottom side ready for red oxide as original. Everything was scuffed with 80-grit. Oh this was a pain. I honestly think that if I ever get cancer, it will be from cleaning all the nasty junk off the bottom and being in such close contact with the epoxy as it went down. All this happened on jack stands. I have access to a rotisserie but it didn't fit in my garage. I wore a respirator, but the eyes and skin were still open.



2017 bought work on the quarters to make them look nice. Lots of filler but it's all thin. About 1/8" is the most, at the top of the quarters where they blend into the old metal.

Lots and lots of blocking. Then two coats of of black SPI epoxy just to see if it was slick enough. I was pleased. You have a short window to get the next coat on, if it's not epoxy. I did a little more filler work where needed, another coat of epoxy, then SPI regular build urethane primer. The engine compartment also went SEM Hot Rod Black at this time (finally something was in its finished state).