Hello all. I am hoping to soon start the restoration process on my 1966 coupe. The question I have for you all who have done this is Where do I start? I have confirmed that it needs a new floor, trunk, tons of body work, some firewall work, frame rails could use replacing also. I was on a site that showed a custom frame mount out of 2x4 rectangular tubing that I would like to incorporate into this project, but am not sure if this should be my starting point or not. (I would post the link, but I am unsure if that is within the rules here or not). I dont want to cut the floors out without additional support and collapse the vehicle, and yet dont want to do the modified frame if I am going to replace the frame rails. I have been back and forth for sometime about this, can anyone help me??
You need a plan before you start. Ideas include: How often and how far will you drive it? How well do you want it to handle? Originality? What do you want it to look like when it's done? How much power? All of these need to correspond or you'll have problems.
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65-2&2, 63 Falcon vert, 32 coupe, 76f-250 4&4,72 Ranchero GT-Some is good,more is better,and too much is just enough.
On a major restoration like this you also have to make sure you have all the tools and skills you are going to need to make it happen. I have bought a lot of cars cheap because people take them apart and become overwhelmed with the amount of work it takes to put it back together.
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Mike
I've had 60 cars....most of them Mustangs :-)
You need a plan before you start. Ideas include: How often and how far will you drive it? How well do you want it to handle? Originality? What do you want it to look like when it's done? How much power? All of these need to correspond or you'll have problems.
BINGO! Absolutely this is the way to start. So many restos cost way more than they should because a direction is changed during the process. Scratch out on some paper what you really want to achieve with the car (restomod, concours, etc.) and that will help tremendously.
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66 Coupe Tahoe Turq - 200, Pertronix & Flamethrower, 3 Row Rad, Cliff. 6/2 96 GT Vert Laser Red - FMS pulleys, Bullet ProM, BBK CAI, Prof. Prod. Elbow and 70mm TB, MAC Off-Road H, Borla side exhaust, Tokicos, B&M Ripper, 18x10 & 18x9 DD Bulletts 06 GT Tungsten, UIP, Red Leather, Stick, 18" blades, Steeda CAI, SCT XCal 2 w/ MC Racing 91 tune, MACs, BMR SP010 springs, BMR Adj Panhard, CDC ducktail & quarter louvers, Rear louver, painted black stripes
Hi moosefire66,
I actually have a very similar situation to your own whereby my fastback needs pretty much the same work done as what you have described.
Having never done anything like this before I've turned to a couple of books to get me started and I can highly recommend How to Restore Your Collector Car (Motorbooks Workshop) which I have now read 2 or 3 times. It is not Mustang specific so you will still need a workshop manual, but I just found that the lessons learned, techniques discussed and products recommended in this book will have saved me so much time and money that it has paid for itself many times over already!
As others have mentioned above you need a plan, so talk to people, read as much as you can for ideas and techniques, then go for it!
Cam.
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1965 A-Code Mustang Fastback (restomod project...long way to go!)
That's how i was with my stang. I didn't know to begin. My under carriage looked good but the floor pans are rusted thru. My starting point is striping it all the way down and sand blasing to remove all the rust. Then i will go from there.
I agree with everything that's been said above. Also, before you start taking stuff off the car, make sure you have a realistic idea when you are going to be putting stuff back on the car. There are thousands of halfway done mustangs out there from where somebody got all gung-ho and pulled out the drive train and interior before they had the parts or the money to buy the parts to put the thing back together. Now they have a shell of a car, the interior of the car sitting in a pile and not being protected by the shell of the car and an engine/tranny sitting in the garage with rags plugging the holes and all the fluids dumped out. The car will rot much faster taken apart like this than it will if you just leave it together. Only take off only the parts you need to in order to complete a certain task.
The other class of halfway done mustangs are the ones that you see driving around town all the time by some assclown kid that doesn't know how to restore a car or that there is such a thing as restoring a car. All he cares about are the cosmetic things. He's got an old mustang that runs OK but everything else about the car is falling apart. He's got shiny rims and tires and a loud radio, but only one of the 4 wheels stops when he presses the brakes. There's rust holes in the floor boards, exhaust pipes, and trunk. But he's got a new paint job on the outside of the car. Oh yea, he also got those retarded lights for under the car and a skull shifter and he has 5 of 8 spark plugs that are firing.
OK. So my point is, it doesn't matter where exactly you start at. But PLEASE don't be that kid in the second group. Fix the important functional parts before you worry about rims and paint. And at the same time don't completely gut the car in a weekend just to weld in a new floorpan and then go sit on the couch and leave your poor mustang in pieces. Otherwise I'll track you down and smack you in the mouth.
If You have to ask where to start on a project like this, You shouldn't tackle such a project until You have done a lot of small projects first, and got some experience. A major restoration is not a way to get Your feet wet. Before You tear apart this car either look for a donor body, that is solid, or needs a lot less work, or experiment on other cars that don't mean as much.
If You do not have help from someone who has, on hand experience, You will probably not be happy with Your results and get discouraged. You can read all the books You want, but without actual experience on the job You wont catch some tricks that will benefit, and You might do somethings not needed.
All that said, if You still want to proceed, the first thing I would do is draw out a plan, take all kinds of measurements, and take it slow. Also, if You don't have the tools, it can't be done, and it takes a lot of tools.
I restored My 65 Coupe replacing all and more that You mentioned about Yours. It took over 3 years to do, a lot of patience, and a relative that is in the body shop business to coach. Even though I am a mechanic of over 30 years, and have done some body and frame work.
Also, the aftermarket body parts are not a direct fit. It took a lot of work to make them fit.
Where to start resoring a 1966 mustang? 
