Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang

[daveSanborn]

Re: Salene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Just bought a 4.5" grinder

Buy some cutting wheels for it. Normally they only come with a couple grinding discs. Cutting discs will cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter.

 

[crustycurmudgeon]

Re: Salene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Abe, have you seen (on the "other" forum) Stephen67's drawings of, among others, Kate Beckinsale? He does some pretty awesome work. Just do a search for Beckinsale.

Frank

 

[tarafied1]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

You couldn't have picked a better first project. As you probably noticed, everything is available to build a 90% Brand New Mustang! Building one on a budget can be done too, trust me I know. Just a word of advise, from experiance too. Try not to take the car all apart if you can't do all the work. If you have a large pile of parts and a stripped car, you're more likely to become discouraged and possibly abandon the project. If you get the car draivable, and I don't mean so it's a daily driver, but just so it can pull into and out of the garage on it's own, you'll be more likely to stay excited. Develop a plan and don't be afraid to NOT do it right the first time. By that I mean, if you can't afford a 347 stroker with a Vortech blower, don't wait until you can. Build a mild rebuild. There is nothing wrong with updates or upgrades later. For example, you have the seats out and are working on the floor, great. Put the radiator back in until your ready to work under the hood. Keeping it close to a drivable car will help string the project out over a longer period of time because at any one time your only a small amount of work away from driving it to the local cruise night. It's not a bad thing to drive a project either. Just today I saw a guy driving a 68 Camero with no bumpers and most of the trim was gone but it had waht looked like new fenders and good primer on the quarters. It had decent wheels and best of all, he was driving it! Anyway, I'm no expert and not trying to tell you what to do but I've seen a lot guys give up on overwhelming projects because they got discouraged and never enjoyed the car in anyway. I just offer this because I share a lot with you. Check out the Eleanor coupe build trhread and you'll see what I mean. Good luck and you are at the right place! Car looks like a lot of potential too.

 

[Fast68back]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Well said Craig!

 

[abrahamfh]

You couldn't have picked a better first project. As you probably noticed, everything is available to build a 90% Brand New Mustang! Building one on a budget can be done too, trust me I know. Just a word of advise, from experiance too. Try not to take the car all apart if you can't do all the work. If you have a large pile of parts and a stripped car, you're more likely to become discouraged and possibly abandon the project. If you get the car draivable, and I don't mean so it's a daily driver, but just so it can pull into and out of the garage on it's own, you'll be more likely to stay excited. Develop a plan and don't be afraid to NOT do it right the first time. By that I mean, if you can't afford a 347 stroker with a Vortech blower, don't wait until you can. Build a mild rebuild. There is nothing wrong with updates or upgrades later. For example, you have the seats out and are working on the floor, great. Put the radiator back in until your ready to work under the hood. Keeping it close to a drivable car will help string the project out over a longer period of time because at any one time your only a small amount of work away from driving it to the local cruise night. It's not a bad thing to drive a project either. Just today I saw a guy driving a 68 Camero with no bumpers and most of the trim was gone but it had waht looked like new fenders and good primer on the quarters. It had decent wheels and best of all, he was driving it! Anyway, I'm no expert and not trying to tell you what to do but I've seen a lot guys give up on overwhelming projects because they got discouraged and never enjoyed the car in anyway. I just offer this because I share a lot with you. Check out the Eleanor coupe build trhread and you'll see what I mean. Good luck and you are at the right place! Car looks like a lot of potential too.

Thank you soo much for your kind words Craig, they have been very inspirational and have been taken to heart. It really means a lot, just the fact that you have taken the time and shared all that you have with me and us all. Thank you all to those that follow my build thread and share, I really appreciate it. My little guy is really my driving force, he loves this car, I think more than I do and it has always been something I dreamed of sharing with a son since before he was thought up. I have read through your build thread Craig and it does really give me hope that the car will one day be done so the little guy and I can enjoy it, you demonstrated that even though life may throw you a curveball you can still grip it and rip it out of the park for a home run. I really have enjoyed this site and hope to give back to it very soon. I appreciate the experience, the wealth of endless knowledge that is contained by the members of stangfix. Here are a few pics of me and Stefan having fun with the car.

 

[Fast68back]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Those are classic pictures! Enjoy them, they grow up fast!

 

[daveSanborn]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Heck yeah man, you better hide the keys from him once you get that car running.... he's ready to go RIGHT NOW!

The photos bring back cool memories of working on the cars around my kids when they were younger.

I remember when my '70 came back from the paint booth and I was wet sanding it out in the driveway. My 3 year old son was outside milling around "helping me". I lost track of him for a second and found him hard at it sanding away on the opposite side front fender.

:yikes

It all buffed out and funny to look back on, but it wasn't too funny at the time.

 

[tarafied1]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Those pics are great! They do grow up fast. I grew up being my dad's shadow. Probably at times getting in the way but he never let on like I was. I learned so much about cars but even more about life. If I'm half the dad to my boys that he was/is to me then I will call that a success. You have a great oportunity with the car and your son. Here is a link to another cool thread on how we all got the Mustang bug. You may enjoy reading these stories too!
http://www.stangfix.com/testforum/index.php/topic,1119.0.html
Now, not to get too mushy... you have already begun to contribute to the site. We love this stuff! Keep the pics and story going!

 

[abrahamfh]

:doh Okay, so when I posted that there was nothing under the FG I was very wrong. I ran out into the garage with a flash light and there is metal underneath. Here is a pic of what it actually looks like under there.

Here are some pics of the front frame rails the battery tray/PS apron, and rear quarters.

DS

I have decided to now focus only on one area at a time. Looking through the photographs I am noticing that I have been jumping from one area to another very randomly. Unfortunately Craig, I did throw away the radiator, and the engine seems to not be in what would be running condition. When I rolled it off the trailer into the garage the brakes didn't work at all. I completely agree with you that if I could drive the car even just a little bit it would be a great motivation and would keep me even more focused, but at this point I don't think its within my grasps.

I have the day off today and going to be heading out to the garage to see what I can get done. I will be trying to remove the FG from the rear PS floor for starters, I bought a wire wheel for my new grinder so I'm going to take that to the floor as well. What should I use to protect the floor once I'm done giving it a massage with the wire wheel?

 

[Fast68back]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

I would suggest DO NOT throw anything away. Even if you dont use something, you can sometimes sell or trade pieces for other parts, or cash towards other parts. The brakes not working is very typical of a car that has sat for a period of time. The brake wheel cylinders are shot, you can purchase new ones or get a rebuild kit for them. The rubber will eventually wear out and the fluid will run out.

http://www.dallasmustang.com/mustang-parts/product/BRAKE-WHEEL-CYLINDERS-ASSEMBLY-1965-1973-Front-RH-260-289-302/2952

I pulled these from a "Mustang" parts website, but remember that most of the parts can be found at local auto parts stores and it will save you the cost of shipping....

 

[daveSanborn]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

What should I use to protect the floor once I'm done giving it a massage with the wire wheel?

SEM makes a quality surface primer and sells it in a rattle can that should protect your bare metal until you're ready to paint it.

 

[abrahamfh]

So today, I tried to get a little work done. Put the wire wheel on the grinder and away we went. So my plan today was to first try and remove the FG patch and then start wire wheeling some of the rear floor. So, first half hour didnt go so well. I couldnt figure out how in the world to remove the FG patch without having to cut the floor. It seems as though I might not have any other option. Does anyone have a secret home remedy on how to remove fiberglass. It sounds far fetched but I have this funny feeling that if I heat it, it should some how detatch from the floor?
So this is what my wire wheel work uncovered.

 

[gotstang]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

Lots and lots of Acetone might help persuade the fiberglass to come up. I don't know how well it would work on old, cured 'glass though.

 

[abrahamfh]

A little update, havn't had too much time to work on Selene/Fred especially with having to go down to Los Angeles for a funeral. The little guy and I made the most of it though, got him his dream car at Toys R Us and he showed exceptional skills in driving it, I was very impressed.

Since we we're in the Los Angeles area I decided to look on Craigslist to see what I could find for Selene/Fred. Ran into a posting for a rust free drivers side door for 100 bucks in West Covina. Went and checked it out and it was as advertised. So I was so excited that I had completely overlooked the fact that it has a cutout which I believe to be for the pony interior. Yeesh, I really need to learn to stop getting overly excited about stuff and start thinking a little more clearly on exactly what it is that I need. So I figured I could cut out a rectangle around the existing two little holes, rectangle cutout and weld in a patch from one of the rusted doors from Selene/Fred so it has the texture. It wont match perfectly but I hope it wont look too bad.

Photograph of the new door coming soon

 

[tarafied1]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

uh oh, he's got the tools out on the new ride!

I agree with Rick, never, ever throw ANYthing away!!! (well maybe the mouse turds from inside the headliner). Okay, the rad is gone already but brakes are an easy fix like Rick says. And as you pointed out, you need a plan. Maybe a radiator before a door? Anyway, even if you don't plan on getting in drivable condition, don't take too many things apart or spread the car all over. Pick tasks you can do in a weekend or a couple weekends so you have a sense of accomplishment. Even if you do a temporary job, like rebuild the drum brakes so they work and sometime later you plan upgrade to disc, don't think of it as going backwards. When things work right you feel better even if it will be upgraded at some point later. It may cost a little more in the long run but the idea is to have some fun with the car so you don't get over whelmed. So even if you don't plan to get it running before doing the floors, don't take off the fenders and doors, hood trunk, etc. and pile up the parts so your tripping over them and the car looks like a heap. A rough looking project car looks better than a gutted rusty shell and a pile of parts. I hope I don't sound like I'm telling you what to do, just offering some hard learned advise.

 

[crustycurmudgeon]

Re: Selene/Fred is a San Jose built 1965 Mustang C code

So I was so excited that I had completely overlooked the fact that it has a cutout which I believe to be for the pony interior

Is this cutout for the lights (near the rear of the door) or for a speaker (near the front of the door)? If it's for a light, why not cut a matching hole in the other door and add the lights? They look really good.

Frank

 

[abrahamfh]

Thanks for the suggestion Frank, your idea is perfect. If the electrical aspect isn't to difficult I will proceed with the door light cutout on the PS door.

 

[abrahamfh]

I haven't done too much lately due to trying to do as much research as possible. I figured I would do little things while I try to learn and organize. I removed the drivers side door and disassembled it. I noticed that there was some very light surface rust on the lower steel frame of the window so I hit it with some steel wool. I had some silver metallic rattle can paint but it wasn't the rust stopper line so I went and bought some rust encapsulating and preventative primer, then hit it with the silver metallic. Here's the pic. The gray paint on the glass was there prior to me purchasing the vehicle, after some thinner I'm sure it will be just fine.

 

[abrahamfh]

The 351W has been sitting on a tire on the floor for a while and Craig was nice enough to lend me his engine stand. As soon as I see a engine hoist on craigslist I will jump on it to get the beast off the ground. Thought I would share some pics though.

 

[abrahamfh]

I was surfing craigslist yesterday browsing to see if anything that would catch my attention was floating out there somewhere. I ran across an add for a media blast cabinet. Whoorahhh! I picked it up this morning in Corta Madera. Its perfect, next on the list is a air compressor to get this thing up and running.