[Angela1981]

Okay, so I'm hoping for some advice here. I have a 1966 Mustang Coupe that I bought about 8 years ago. It's been housed in my husband's shop ever since. Kids and money and work and just life in general caused the car to just sit. But we are now empty nesters and the husband has suggested that we start working on my car. Yay!

Okay, so here's where I need some advice. This is *my* car and my husband is willing to back off and let me do whatever it is I want to do but will help me where I want his help. I am not afraid to get my hands dirty (I actually broke every single nail on both hands yesterday! LOL!) and I really, really want to do as much of this myself as I can because I want to know this car inside and out and what makes it tick. I have always loved cars but first my dad and then my husband were really more content to just let me drive while they did all the fun stuff. So I'm coming from a really base level of knowledge. (i.e. I had to just go look up what a rocker panel was. Sigh.)

So anyway, the husband and I spent yesterday pulling the interior out of my car and assessing what needs to be repaired. The engine is in fairly good shape but the exhaust is shot. I have also discovered that I will need to replace the floor pans. That is something that the husband will do since he knows how to weld and I don't. I don't want to learn to weld on my car! That being said, he has suggested that he will give me some metal and teach me to weld on something else so that in the future, I can maybe do some welding.

What I'm looking for are some good sites for a newbie to read and learn about both Mustangs and just general classic car restoration. I need to learn as much as possible. While my husband is a great guy and willing to share his knowledge, I'd really like to not have to pepper him with questions constantly. I'd like to have some good basic general knowledge to start with. So any suggestions?

P.S. What the heck is all that brittle tar-like cardboard crap that was under the carpet? That stuff was N A S T Y.

 

[65coupe302]

under your carpet is an under-layment, basically used as an insulation/sound deadener. As for newbie sites, well you are on the best one for classic mustangs! when I started out I used this site and have learned a lot along the way. Search the forums, ask questions. Someone on here will be able to help you out, we have a lot of veterans on here that know the in's and out's of these cars! So I'm positive you'll find all if not most of what you're looking for on this site. Welcome and Good luck! :bigthumbsup

 

[Sick467]

Welcome to the club Angela (and husband). You've come to the right place. AFM will make a big difference in your project. The following list will help you get started...

Get some catalogs from these companies,
1.) CJ Pony Parts
2.) National Parts Depot
3.) Mustangs Unlimited

Put these sites in your favorites,

Vacuum and Wiring Diagrams,
Mustang Wiring and Vacuum Diagrams

DIY article sites,
http://averagejoerestoration.com/how-to/

Ford Mustang - Covering Classic, Vintage, & New Ford Mustangs - Mustang Monthly Magazine

Suspension and Handling Site (great reads for the technically minded regarding handling improvements),
DazeCars, Ford Galaxie Mustang tech and restoration

And, you being one of the few ladies into the classics, check out Veronicas Mustang pages...

The Care and Feeding of Ponies

Enjoy, and stick around for a while.

 

[Angela1981]

Thanks for the awesome links! I'm off to do some reading and request catalogs. :yup:

 

[will65]

Welcome! As sick467 suggested check out the mustang monthly website they have some good how-to articles also another mustang site/vendor that I like is mustangsplus.com it's full of great stuff and they have a few how-to's as well.Also something that might help you and your husband out are the Jim Osborn manuals which include chassis,Body,weld & sealant(which shows where all the seam sealer was applied),Interior, and electrical. You can find these manuals through most mustang vendors. Hope this helps.

 

[BigSecz]

To add to it, since you want to do as much of the work as possible I recommend getting a good set of shop manuals. I have a set that came in PDF format on a CD and I love it. Because it's in PDF format its searchable by key words which comes in handy.

Like others have mention this site is a great resource as well as the Mustang Monthly site.

As for vendors I noticed one person posted Mustangs Plus. I have had good experiences with them but their prices are little high on certain things.

CJ Pony Parts is good and they have free shipping on everything and I have found their prices are real competitive.

Mustang Depot is another good site. Mustangs Plus, CJ Pony Parts, and Mustang Depot have a lot of restomod options.

If you are looking for a more stock style restoration then I recommend National Parts Depot and my favorite is Virginia Classic Mustang.

These are all vendors I deal with regularaly. Of course there are plenty of others; Year One, KAR, Dallas Mustang, etc. but I have never had any experience with them.

Good luck with everything.

 

[Jonk67]

Lots of good suggestions so far, start saving files and links on your computer and break the car down into sections> brakes, suspension, steering, etc. so you can find what you saved when you get to that area. I would focus on getting the floors done and anything else that is part of the unibody - subframes, cowl, trunk drop offs, etc. make sure these parts that support the car and don't come off (like fenders, hood do) are solid and 'done'. Next I'd focus on getting it to a roller stage - suspension/brakes/steering.
Part of Noels post has an excellent link in it for explaining the mustang suspension and places where you may want to upgrade/improve the stock setup, read this before deciding to redo the suspension:
DazeCars, Suspension 101

I use my shop manual weekly in the garage and keep notes in it of part numbers, casting numbers on parts (engine, etc.) and maintenance, etc.

Start taking pictures of it together and as it comes apart, it'll help in the restoration and is great to look back on. Open a free pic hosting acct. at a free site like photobucket and start files there just like on your computer, file the pics by area - suspension, interior, etc. You'll need them later and may need to post some to ask questions.

Jon

 

[andrewmp6]

Check and see if the cowl vent is rusted out,Its easy just pour water don't the vent holes under the windshield it should come out under the fenders and on the ground.If it comes out in the car its rusted out.

 

[6T6Coupe]

Ill add to the above...use a garden hose & let it run full speed for at least 3 minutes. Have a helper hold the hose so it runs in the vents. You be in the car looking under the dash looking for leaks so you can yell STOP if it does leak. Do one side at a time.

If it passes that test, that's a major issue that you wont have to deal with. :yup: Good luck.

 

[Veronica]

Hello. :welcome

You have the perfect car to start figuring out how old cars do all of the stuff that they do. Nothing on it is terribly complicated. Some things will be difficult due to stuff being stuck by time and rust, but, it is never complicated. To avoid having 'issues' develop down the road somewhere, it would be a good idea to replace the headlight switch, ignition switch and turn signal switch while you have the car apart. Also, carefully inspect all of the wiring of the car, and, if you have a harness that is all ratty looking and hacked up with a bunch of butt-splices and stuff, go ahead and replace that. That is trouble waiting to happen. When you get around to painting the car, you might notice something when someone opens a can of acrylic enamel paint that was used on the cars by Ford. This stuff smells just like fingernail polish. :headscratch: As it turns out, fingernail polish is actually cheap car paint sold in tiny containers for ridiculously high prices per unit volume. I haven't actually bought any fingernail polish since the early 90s, :nogrinner and, with the car paint, you can get it mixed to exactly the shades that you want. Occasionally, someone will ask me about my nail polish, and I just tell them " I had them mix it for me. You can't get this shade straight off the shelf.' without mentioning that 'them' was the local PPG distributor that did the mixing for about thirty bucks a quart.

 

[Lizer]

Chalk another one up for CJ Pony parts. They're the only mustang supplier with free shipping and they are constantly having 10-15% off sales (almost every weekend). Their customer service is excellent too.

I also maintain a blog chronicling the restoration of my 67 partly for myself, but also for people like you. This is my third summer on the project so there's a lot of stuff here, much of which will be directly applicable to you. The order at which things are done here is a pretty good order to go in.

1967 Mustang Restoration: D-Day...Welcome Home.

 

[andrewmp6]

And get a few cans of pb blaster it helps break loose old rusted bolts that are stuck.And get some ziploc style bags and mark where and what it went to that helps a lot later when its time to put stuff back a week later.And any books you find online can help show how things come apart and go back together.