1965 A-Code Mustang Fastback Project

http://www.vintage-mustang.com/topics/myproject/myproject.html


The Beginning

This is how the car looked when I bought it. I had a cheap $400 paint job done on the car in 1987 which left the car somewhat respectable looking in black with white GT stripes. I drove the car as a daily driver until 1990 when I took it apart.


The Tear Apart Stage

Suffering from delusions of grandeur I tore the Mustang apart as far as I could and thought I would be taking it directly to the body shop for sheet metal replacement and paint. I then realized that I had limited resources financially for such an undertaking and I left the car as you see it here for roughly 1 year! Lesson: drive the car until all of your funds are in place, you have a body shop scheduled, and all of your parts are labeled and present. This mistake slowed me down to a crawl when I tried to put the thing back together!


The 'Oh My God!' Stage

I panicked alot during this phase of the cars progress. A good friend (who should probably be doing this sort of thing for a living, he's that good) and I were not doing things on any sort of schedule and things really started to fall apart. The car was in the shop for over a year. The only original metal left on the car is the roof and the hood, pretty much. The floors, trunk floors, quarter panels, fenders, and door skins were all replaced. I spent a ton on parts and labor (thank god for my friend, though, labor should have been about three times as much) during this phase and was ridden with frustration the whole time.


The Balls in My Court Stage

After going through hell (moving twice, getting married, changing jobs) I finally got my car back. Most of my parts that I had bagged and labeled were missing labels or missing altogether. We had a major flood in Des Moines at this time and there was almost constant rain during the summer of 1993; so little work was done on the Mustang. It wasn't until I moved into a brand new house with a two car garage that I finally brought the car back together. After getting into shape mechanically I turned it over to another (read: more expensive) body shop for final tweaking (my friend, I felt, had been punished with this project enough already).


The End Game

What do you think? It was a long four years in the making and a butt-load of cash to do but man, is it fun to drive around.

About the Car

* 1965 Mustang 2+2, Factory Poppy Red with Black Interior
* A-Code (Factory Four Barrell) 225 HP 289 Engine
* Automatic
* Power Steering

Jason's Mustang Restoration Project - Tires And Shocks(Part 11)

http://www.svs.com/users/zim/mustang/index.html

This is a set of photos showing my new tires and wheels, and the CVMC project day where we changed the shocks...

November 29, 2002

Well, today it was my turn to host the monthly Chicago Vintage Mustang Club "tech meeting". This is something we do once a month in the winter to keep our minds on our cars when we can't (or won't) drive them.

I asked anyone who was interested to stop by and help me change the shocks on the convertible.

As you can see, it was long overdue. Both rear shocks were seized, one was even bent so bad I had to cut it off to get it out.

The fronts were both un-damaged, but both of them had stopped providing resistance.

Too bad I will have to wait until spring to see how the car rides now!

Also included here are the newly refinished wheels and new tires that my dad set me up with. The wheels are all original Ford 1965 or 1966 steel 14" rims, which were sand blasted, and repainted with black on the outside and cast grey on the inside. The tires are BFG "The Advantage Plus" P195/75 R14 Whitewalls.

They look good with the original hubcaps!

December 26, 2002

I took a closer look at the shocks today, (last 2 pictures) and although it is hard to tell in the photos, I scraped a little of the rust and undercoating off and found the original Ford part numbers on all 4 shocks. Yup, they were ORIGINAL!!!

No wonder they didnt work right anymore...

Jason's Mustang Restoration Project - Winter Project Prep(Part 10)

http://www.svs.com/users/zim/mustang/index.html

This is a set of photos showing some of the things that I need to work on this coming winter...

October 31 - November 4, 2002

I have been looking closer at some of the things that I would like to work on this winter.

The first few pictures show the old door shells now stripped of all their parts and a milk crate full of the window and latch parts that I will use to rebuild the new doors.

Also, I decided to remove the lift cylinders for the top (again) to see if there is any way to fix the leaks... I am beginning to accept that I might have to just buy some new cylinders and get it over with...

Finally, I pulled the right rear wheel to try to locate the problem that was causing a horrible clanking noise when I go over bumps.

I took a few shots of the rear end, leaf springs, and brakes while I was at it.

I think the rear end is due for a good cleaning as a future weekend project...

I think the missing bushing in the 14th photo pretty much solves the noise mystery!

The last few photos show my continued attempt to get the power top mechanism working again. I think I have finally found 2 good cylinders from the 6 units I have laying around. The last pic shows the differences between a 69 Cougar cylinder and a 67 Mustang cylinder (on right).

The car currently has one of each installed!

I will run the top occasionally over the winter to see if it develops any more leaks...

-Zim

Jason's Mustang Restoration Project - Mostly Primer(Part 9)

http://www.svs.com/users/zim/mustang/index.html

This is a set of photos showing the installation of the new doors, hood, and trunk lid...

September 16, 2002

Finally! Some major progress!

As noted earlier, I was able to find a new trunk lid and passenger door on my own, and the body shop was able to find a hood and drivers side door.

All of the parts are original sheet metal off of other cars, and the hood is even an original 64.5 hood with the correct un-folded leading edge!

The parts were all media blasted and primed to match the euro-primer already on the fenders and quarter panels. Now the car is almost all one color for the first time in about 2 years.

Not that it is a great color though... :)

The 14th picture shows the hood during the smoothing and priming process...

Next? Nothing big. I need to pay for all of this... I will slowly begin to move the parts from the old doors to the new ones, and also begin to clean, paint, and re-assemble the convertible top frame.

Eventually - I will do the convertible top for the next project.