Black Gold 380R's 65 Mustang Build Thread

Black Gold 380R

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10/4.. Ugly isnt always the issue in and of itself, the lack of penetration is what i was more referencing. Just remember to change your welder's settings when you move from sheet metal to the heavier gauge stuff.

Okay. Yes sir, I get what you are saying and appreciate the advice. I do recognize I'm a novice, but will ensure anything that my life and other's lives (anyone riding in the car with me) may depend on will be taken care of by an expert/professional.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Hello Everyone,

Well, hit my first significant mile stone this weekend. To say I'm ecstatic is putting it lightly. I'm VERY happy on the way things turned out...…………:D….

This weekend I needed to install the front mounting tabs/plates for the fenders. In order to do this I had to mock up the complete front end. This was going to do two things. First, it was going to ensure I mount the tabs/plates in the correct area. Second, and more importantly, it was going to verify my work and see if I installed everything correctly and ensure my measurements were on. I cannot believe how good it actually is.

All I can say is, man I am stoked!!!!!!

Got the fenders remounted and made sure they were aligned with the cowl and the doors. Then bolted them down so they would not move. I was MORE than pleased with the fitment at this point to say the least.
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Here is the driver's side tab. Got it bolted to the fender and then made the appropriate bends to ensure I could tack weld it to the engine panel.
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Here is the passenger side plate. Got it bolted to the fender and then made the appropriate bends to ensure I could tack weld it to the engine panel.
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Black Gold 380R

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Okay. Once I got to this point I wanted to make sure the front stone guard, valance and hood fit properly BEFORE I welded the fender mounts in place.

So, I finished the mock up. Damn!!! For a rookie I think it came out amazing!!!!!:D.... (NOTE: The white you see on the edges is residual polish/compound that was in between the body panels. I'll get it cleaned up during final assembly).
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This is just a mock up and the hood lines up with the fenders GREAT!! Man, going slow and steady and making multiple measurements really paid off.....
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This is the driver's side hood pin hole. Lined up perfectly...…...
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However, it wasn't all great. The passenger side was way off and this is exactly why you do a mock up. However, if this is my only problem then I think I can live with this easy fix.:D
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Black Gold 380R

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So, got the tab removed and welded in the correct place.

Much better now...….
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Got the area marked....
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Tab reinstalled and now both sides line up as they should. SWEET!
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Now I get to remove everything and get back to metal and body work. But, it was a GREAT weekend concerning my build....
 
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Black Gold 380R

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Looks good Glenn. It's coming along nicely. Let me know when you're ready to do some smoothing in my engine compartment. :)

LOL, thanks Bob! Yeah, we can get it done. Heard a company makes engine panels for the engine bay. Matter of fact these guys do it all the time. Kind of my go by that got me started.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Coming along nicely. You make it look easy, you sure this is your first rodeo?

Hello Grabber70Mach. Thank you! Yes sir, this is my first rodeo to this level. I have painted parts before (painted the hood and spoiler on my 03 Vert). I also installed a motor and transmission into this car before as well.

However, I have never cut old metal out and put new metal in. I have never installed redesigned parts (meaning going from a stock front set up to a Mustang II set up). I have never welded before and I have never done body work before. Yes, on my hood I had to use glazing putty to fill in some rock chips, but never have I used body filler to this degree.

I will admit that I have been planning this build for years and have done my homework on techniques and procedures. I have an exact idea of what I want and how I want it to look. So, I am taking my time and ensuring I'm giving this build my undivided attention. I'm VERY motivated, but if I'm not in the mood I work a little bit and then walk away. I could probably be further along, but I only work 4 to 8 hours at a time. I do not burn the midnight oil and when I get tired I'm done for the day.

It seems to be working so far and after seeing it come together this weekend it has renewed my confidence in what I'm doing. I know I'm no expert and when people make negative comments on this build I take it as constructive in order to learn and to try and improve areas where I know I'm weak in.

It's been fun so far and people like you, @01yellercobra, @DSG2003Mach1 and @98 svt who follow this build and provide comments make it enjoyable as well because I enjoy the conversation and feedback (positive and negative) as well.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Hello everyone,

Just wanted to give a heads up to those who follow this build. I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks starting next week. Normally when I come to work on Monday morning's I update this thread. Due to me being out of the office I will "most likely" not provide any updates for a couple of weeks. Some progress will still be made, but the updates will probably not be posted for a few weeks.

Just FYI..... Thank you!
 

01yellercobra

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Hello everyone,

Just wanted to give a heads up to those who follow this build. I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks starting next week. Normally when I come to work on Monday morning's I update this thread. Due to me being out of the office I will "most likely" not provide any updates for a couple of weeks. Some progress will still be made, but the updates will probably not be posted for a few weeks.

Just FYI..... Thank you!
This is like when TV shows go off the air for the holidays. Leaving us hanging.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Okay to tide you over.

I found this video. This is the process I went through when installing my engine panels. This is a 68 Mustang, but the process was the same on my build.

Enjoy...……..

 

Black Gold 380R

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Okay everyone,

Been mainly doing body work on the engine bay during my vacation (nothing interesting to look at). However, I did a couple things you guys might find interesting. First, I replaced the lower cowl panel on the passenger side. After taking a closer look, it looks like the car was probably hit on the passenger side between the door and fender. Lots of twisted metal in that area.

My brother told me he was on a budget when he messed with this car years ago. So, he installed this "cover" panel and used foam just to keep water out.
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After removing the cover you can see a huge hole and how twisted the metal is.
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Here you can see how the metal is pushed in at the firewall.
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Got part of the panels cut out.
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Got the pushed in metal cut out.
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Got the rest of the side panel cut out. This car needs the lower cowl replaced, but it's just too much work at this point. So, it will stay.....
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Welded in a new patch piece to extend the firewall back out. The metal is VERY thin here so, I did not grind the welds all the way down here.
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Here is the firewall after installing the new side panel.
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Here is the new side panel in place. Still need to grind down some welds where the splash shield mounts and then clean up the burn marks since this will be painted at a later date. I will add some seam sealer where the panel meets up to the door panel area.
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Black Gold 380R

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While I was working one day a friend of mine came by and was checking out my work. He also likes to rebuild cars from time to time.

He noticed my crappy welds on my MTF frame rail supports. So, he said lets fix them. So, he took my grinder and started to grind down my welds. Then he took my welder and filled in the welds and grinded them down again to get a cleaner look.

I still have some work to do (filling pin holes, metal filing and grinding), but I think he made my crappy work look much better LOL...……….
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Black Gold 380R

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And lastly, I got some cool new parts in the mail.

I ordered a complete Ford 9 inch (31 spline axles, Eaton truetrac posi, 1350 Yoke and 3.89 gears). The manufacturer shipped my Wilwood rear brakes.....

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These came painted black. So, I took them to my powder coater and had the rotor had powder coated mirror silver. I like them much better now.
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4 piston rear brake calipers.... I'll be getting the matching 6 piston calipers for the front a little later.....
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Black Gold 380R

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I think what really impresses/scares me is you're doing all this on a car that has a good paint job.

LOL, I hear you Bob. I'm really nervous about that as well. I went to Walmart and purchased some really nice blankets and have wrapped all the painted parts and placed them under the car or on the roof. I also wrapped the car in that 3M welding protectant paper. Then there are areas I placed tape on where I felt I needed extra protection.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to screw something up, but hopefully it will be minor and my screw ups will be minimized LOL.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Okay everyone,

I got tired of doing body work. So, I wanted to take a break from it (Don't know if this was a good decision or not LOL). So, I decided it was time to start cleaning the undercarriage. Man was this a pain in the @$$. I took a break from one tedious task to take on another. I ended up spending four days laying on my back and cleaning the undercarriage using a 3 step process.

  • Step 1: Utilize a torch to heat up the under coating and scrap it off.
  • Step 2: Utilize a grinder with a wire wheel attachment to clean off any remaining debris chunks and dirt and rust.
  • Step 3: Utilize my air sander to finalize the clean up and remove any old paint and prep it for the new under coating process (I will be using Raptor liner bedliner to under coat the car).

Holy crap was this an undertaking. My wife told me that at the end of the day I was so dirty that I looked like I just finished working in the coal mines LMAO!!!

And for those of you who say I should have invested in a rotisserie I have 2 issues. 1, I do not have enough space in my garage to use a rotisserie (length wise) and 2, I do not have a lift and would not be able to raise the car high enough to attach it to the rotisserie.

Anyway, it was a major pain, but I got most of it done. I still need to do the passenger side wheel well and the trunk area (this wont be too bad because most of the trunk area is taken up by the gas tank. So, not a lot of work needs to be completed here).

Here is the result:

This is what the undercarriage looked like originally. The yellowish/tannish areas are oil soaked under coating from years of service.
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This is the drivers side wheel well.
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This is the amount of garbage I scrapped off just from the passenger side floorboard (Those squares are 12in x 12in).
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Here is the passenger side floorboard after the third step in the cleaning process.
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There are some areas I could not get into. I'm not too worried about it. This will not be a show quality car, but a VERY nice driver that will never see the rain (If I can help it).
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Driver's side wheel well after clean up.
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And here is the final result...….. After the cleaning I did go over this one more time with a fresh sanding disk. Here you will notice the subframe connectors are sanded as well.
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Black Gold 380R

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The behind the scenes stuff you never see in the shows.

I think that's very true Bob. People like to see how bad it was and then see how good it looks. We want the instant gratification. No one is interested in how it got there LOL. Yes metal work and painting is cool to see, but no one cares about sanding or grinding because it's a necessary evil, but boring to watch and a pain in the @$$ to do LMAO!!!
 

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