Det_Riot Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 @Det_RiotHell, appearance is the lowest priority of this project! I am still going to leave the body close to exactly how I found it! Kind of like an SN95 Mustang rat rod. I already got a dent-free driver's side fender installed, and I will also be getting a straight front bumper cover to put on. I will also clean up the tail lights a bit. Only new part I plan on adding to the exterior is a set of Cobra headlights.Everything that I just explained is the only body work that will be happening in Budget 302 Build. I do not really think that one can use budget and body shop in the same sentence.Body work is all about the prep. You can get a quality paint job done if you do all the prep yourself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95opal Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 @Det_Riot Everything that I just explained is the only body work that will be happening in Budget 302 Build. I do not really think that one can use budget and body shop in the same sentence. /\ truth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Spring break 2015, Day 2 of 5 I did not get very much done today. No MIG welder, grandparents were at a St. Patrick's day parade, and Justin and I had to watch the dog at home most of the day. Justin took a wire wheel to more of the sound-deadening tar in the interior in order to weld the upper battle boxes. Word of warning when wire wheeling the interior tar, THAT CRAP GETS EVERYWHERE. Windows, door panels, carpet, floors, trunk, your shirt, your shoes, your pants, everywhere. The pic of the lower torque box plate below shows only a fraction of the mess inside. Luckily, the splattered tar is easy to remove, and it will be vacuumed up tomorrow. We finished the day up with getting the upper battle boxes bolted in. Before officially bolting the plates in, I sprayed some primer on the metal that was wire wheeled. As posted yesterday, the driver's side went in without issue. Passenger's side had a little kerfuffle with a bolt stripping AND rounding off on me. Home Depot trip took care of that. Passenger side got bolted down soon enough. Plates underneath the car were primered and painted after being bolted in. Grandpa also bought some CO2 gas today. Hopefully, we hook the CO2 up and the MIG welder works right. Update tomorrow will reveal whether the MIG welder works or not. Stay tuned... Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 (edited) Spring break 2015, Day 3 of 5 DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT!!!!!!!! OF ALL THE WORST POSSIBLE TIMES FOR RAIN TO HAPPEN, IT HAD TO BE TODAY!!!!!! *Sigh* That being said, I barely got anything done today. I could not have any welding equipment out in the rain, I could not have any electric tools out in the rain, and Justin did not wake up until 3:00 p.m. All I did today was take a razor blade to the rear glass and scraped most of the old tint off of it. I still have to take a vacuum to the car in order to vacuum up the old tar and tint. I will probably get even less done tomorrow. My grandpa got the CO2 gas we needed, but there is a little gasket at the valve that he forgot to save from the old bottle. Weather is also supposed to be rainy tomorrow as well. DAAAAMMMMMNN...... Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 Spring break 2015,Day 4 of 5Sad to report that I did not get to do anything with the Mustang today because of the damn rain. Weather was a bit colder than normal today as well. Grandpa got the little gasket needed for the MIG welder... I think.Hopefully, the rain actually does clear up tomorrow. I cannot wait until the end of summer when I will buy all suspension parts needed to put the car on its wheels again and roll it into my grandpa's shop. That way, I will never have to deal with this $h1+ (rain and cold) again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 (edited) Spring break 2015, Day 5 of 5 Nice! The MIG welder is working and there is no rain today, so many jobs for the Mustang were accomplished. First task at hand was actually moving the MIG welder out next to the car. The thing weighs near 500 pounds, and is about 6' 6" tall. Rolling it out the door of the shop was not an option. So my grandpa used his 1994 Chevy truck equipped with a Tommy Lift gate in order to haul the welder around the shop and out to the car. Once the MIG welder was set up, Justin welded the battle box plates inside the car. He did a pretty good job. We had to take an oxyacetylene torch and a hammer to the tops of the upper plates in order to make them flush with the floor. I put primer down on the plates after they were all welded up. Justin also welded up all of the torque box seams underneath the car. He kept complaining how it was a tight fit underneath the car on jack stands, but he managed to push through the task all the way until the end. Torque boxes are all finished up. Justin ended up having to leave around 3:00 p.m. so that left me alone to install the subframe connectors. I used a pair of pipe jacks in order to hold the subframe connectors underneath the car, and it took me about half an hour to weld each one in. Even after doing so, the body of the car does not seem to be too flexed. The doors still open and close perfectly, the subframe connectors are rigid. I believe my subframe connector installation is a success. "Ahhhh, my day is finished," I thought. "All of my parts are installed and the welding is finished." As I was putting all of my tools up, I noticed that the 3/8" nuts on the upper battle boxes did not seem to be tight enough. I got my grandpa to help me tighten them up some more. I remembered the torque spec that I got from that mikefordmustang.com website. 50 ft. lbs. OK. I set my torque wrench to 50 ft. lbs., tightened one of the nuts on the driver's side further, and... SNAP ............... AHHH DAMMIT!!! THE BOLT SNAPPED!!! I now have advice to offer to all Mustang battle box installers. DO NOT TORQUE THOSE 3/8" NUTS TO 50 FT. LBS. OR THEY WILL SNAP!!! The lock nut still looked usable, so I used a pair of vice grips and a wrench to remove the lock nut from the broken 3/8" bolt. Luckily, I had another good 3/8" bolt to use, so I put the new 3/8" bolt through the hole, my grandpa held a wrench on one end, and I attempted to torque down the lock nut. However, the lock nut would not tighten down at all. "Damn," I said. "The threads in that nut must be screwed up too." We removed the lock nut and sure enough, the threads of the nut AND bolt were both gone. This mess was going on at about 6:00 p.m. so I had no time to get new hardware. New hardware will be bought tomorrow and those 3/8" nuts will be torqued to 30 ft. lbs. instead. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 looks good. some good work getting done. Like any project if you set the bar really really low you will only be happy with your progress im the king of this. Youll be very happy with the subframe connectors also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) March 2015, Upper battle box installation is all finished up. Got myself a new 3/8" bolt and lock nut, and torqued all of the nuts down to 30 ft. lbs. instead of 50 ft. lbs. Next task at hand is cleaning up the underside of the car. Got quite a bit of scale and surface rust to remove. Those blue things in the last pic are latex gloves that are covering the fuel and brake lines. Stay tuned for more small updates on that over the next few months. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 looks good! the underside of the car is a spot that i have been dreading to tackle. I think you'll be pleased your getting it done and out of the way in the beginning. cant wait to see how it comes along! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 @Sleeperstang1994 Thank you for the kind words. Is the underside of your car still pretty dirty? All that I am going to be doing to clean up underneath my car is wire wheel (a lot of it), primer, then flat black paint. I will say that the job looks like it will be a lot easier for me without the drivetrain and gas tank in the way. If you ever have to pull the rear axle and / or gas tank out of the car, that will be the best time to clean up underneath the trunk floor, where most of the rust accumulates on these cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 I had my car down to a shell like yours and wire wheeled and primer painted the back half. My arms and shoulders got so sore and tired I have not finished the front half yet lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) March 2015, I got off work early today, so I cleaned up and painted the subframe connectors and floor pan underneath the car. I previously thought about undercoating, but I researched about undercoating, and read a bunch of horror stories about how it can crack, trap moisture, and cause even worse rust than what was cleaned up. All I did was wire wheel, primer, then flat black. It turned out pretty good. Then again, I did not have to remove any major rust or scale from the floor pan. The trunk pan is a different story... That orange spot is a towel covering the shifter hole in the floor. Before After Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det_Riot Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Nice!!! I'm dreading this project lol trying to figure out where I can borrow a lift from lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 @Det_Riot Cleaning up the underside of your car are ya? I do not want to think that yours is very dirty underneath. A lift would be a good idea for any type of cleaning or welding to be done underneath the car. I have had to do both on jack stands. Neither were all that fun. I do have to say that cleaning and painting underneath my car was not all that bad. My arms just got tired from wire wheeling on my back, and I got paint all over my face and arms. If you divide the whole job up into smaller parts, then anybody can do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Yep doing that on jackstands suck I know I had a differnt skin tone for about a weeks worth of showersSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 @Zach Ha! That is a funny story. Luckily for me, I had some goggles (not typical safety glasses) and a dust mask. My face did not get hit too bad. I had some latex gloves available, but did not put them on for some reason. My hands and arms still have a bunch of little gray and black spots from the primer and paint even after I washed my hands with Gojo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted March 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) March 2015, Did some more cleaning and painting underneath the Mustang today. I got the lower torque boxes, floor pan underneath the back seat, and the spare tire well all finished up. I would have done more, but I ran out of primer and daylight. The rest of the trunk pan should be cleaned up some time this week. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 looking good. looks like you are making quick work of it. what type of paint/primer are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 @Sleeperstang1994 All that I am using is some simple Rustoleum stuff. Gray primer and flat black paint. I think it might not be the best product to use. I got it from Auto Zone and it was pretty cheap. I scratched some of the paint on the car with my finger nail, and a little bit came off. You get what you pay for, I guess. I do believe though, that the Rustoleum primer and paint should work just fine for my application. When finished, the car will not be my daily driver. It will be driven on nice days, and occasionally during winters to keep the fluids fresh. Never driven during bad weather. I think that with how I am going to drive the car, the primer and paint should hold up just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) March 2015, GAHTDAYMN, CLEANING THAT TRUNK PAN SUCKED MAJOR DONKEY BALLS!!! First off, while cleaning the trunk pan with the wire wheel, I discovered some structural rust on the car. Right behind the driver's side wheel well, there is a good-sized rust hole in the trunk floor. It is very difficult to see. One has to look underneath the car to see the hole, as it is covered up by the quarter panel and bumper cover. Description is not very good. Pics will help. The rust hole underneath the car behind the wheel well. Sunlight shining through the rust hole into the trunk. The biggest pain in the ass was getting the driver's side of the trunk pan cleaned up. There was so much scale in so many tight spots in the area that needed to be cleaned up. I had to use a small pneumatic wire brush to get in the tight spots. If there is anything that I regret, it is that I did not get a before pic of the driver's side of the trunk pan. It was probably the area underneath the car that needed to be cleaned up the most. Underside of the car is all cleaned up and painted! Before After Dat is me. If you look closely, you can see where my safety goggles and dust mask were at while I was cleaning the trunk pan. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 looks like you have some decent sized holes back there! time to break out the welder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 @Sleeperstang1994 HA, I wish I could break out the welder again, but it is an annoying process to get the welder out to where the car is. Have to bring my grandpa's truck into his shop, load the 500-600 lb. welder onto the Tommy lift gate, and drive the welder out to behind the shop where the car is at. Maybe when I roll the car into the shop, I can fix the hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 March 2015,GAHTDAYMN, CLEANING THAT TRUNK PAN SUCKED MAJOR DONKEY BALLS!!! First off, while cleaning the trunk pan with the wire wheel, I discovered some structural rust on the car. Right behind the driver's side wheel well, there is a good-sized rust hole in the trunk floor. It is very difficult to see. One has to look underneath the car to see the hole, as it is covered up by the quarter panel and bumper cover. Description is not very good. Pics will help. The first pic is of the rust hole underneath the car behind the wheel well. The second pic is of sunlight shining through the hole into the trunk.The first pain in the ass was wire wheeling and painting around the fuel lines. Some of the lines around the fuel filter area are made of rubber, so those could not be touched. I also had to avoid the braided lines that attach to the fuel pump. The second pain in the ass was getting the driver's side of the trunk pan cleaned up. There was so much scale in so many tight spots in the area that needed to be cleaned up. I had to use a small pneumatic wire brush to get in the tight spots. If there is anything that I regret, it is that I did not get a before pic of the driver's side of the trunk pan. It was probably the area underneath the car that needed to be cleaned up the most.Underside of the car is all cleaned up and painted! I included before and after pics. Next up for cleaning is the engine bay and miscellaneous small parts that I saved.Dat is me in the last pic. If you look closely, you can see where my safety goggles and dust mask were at while I was cleaning the trunk pan. yep that's wat i looked like for about a week HahaSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 @Evilcw311 Ohhh, it is not really the MIG welder itself that weighs 600 lbs. but rather the cart that holds the MIG welder along with a TIG welder, various welding tools, and some pretty big ass Argon / CO2 bottles. I will get a pic of it tomorrow. On a good note, my only class at school is cancelled for tomorrow. That gives me a chance to sleep in and a full day to work on the car. I have everything I need to clean and paint the engine bay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 @Evilcw311 I got a pic of that MIG welder that you were asking about. Compare it to the box that my subframe connectors were delivered in. I am about 6 feet tall, and that MIG welder is about a foot taller than me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 thats a serious looking set up. and i want it was your grandfather a welder by trade? or is it just something you all enjoy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) April 2015, Today was a good day. My only class at school was cancelled, and I just barely avoided a rain storm that happened this morning along with another storm that is supposed to happen tonight. I had a whole nice day to clean out the engine bay. I pulled the lower cowl cover off. It is the plastic part that covers the wiper motor. I cleaned, primered, and painted it flat black off of the car. Cleaning the engine bay was a bit more difficult than the rest of the underside of the car. Not because of major rust, but because of many tight little spots that needed cleaning. I had to use a mini grinder with separate scotch brite and wire brush attachments. I also had to do the cleaning around the brake lines and ABS pump, which was a pain. Progression pics of the engine bay cleaning. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 im liking where this is all going! your making some good progress. cant wait to see what happened today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 @Sleeperstang1994 Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh............. Nothing happened today. I had to go to school all day and rotate the tires on my Volvo when I got home. By the time I was done I thought, "Meh. I am tired now and I think it is a bit too cool outside for working on the Mustang today." All I really did was check the paint in the engine bay, and it appears be stuck on there pretty well. It endured the rain storm last night without a problem. You also asked about my grandpa John, and he never welded for a living at all. He was just a construction worker and farmer who simply loved building things. After building his shop in about 1995 I believe, he went to town on buying so many tools to run his farm and to satisfy his building hobby (including that big ass MIG welder). He could do just about anything. Sadly though, John is retired now and does not do much any more. All of the tools in his shop are collecting dust. My grandpa John has helped me so much with this project though. He has supplied me with so many tools that have made this project be able to be done on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 looking good man...sucks about the rust but at least you have a NASA sized welder to get the job done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-Oh Posted April 4, 2015 Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 @Evilcw311 I got a pic of that MIG welder that you were asking about. Compare it to the box that my subframe connectors were delivered in. I am about 6 feet tall, and that MIG welder is about a foot taller than me.That weld setup is a breathe of fresh air! Just need to work on getting those overhead welds to lay flat and you're gold!!! Great progress though, coming along very nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thanks for the kind words men / ladies. When I roll the car into the shop, I will work on patching that rust hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 April 2015, Had to work most of the day today. All I did when I got home was throw all of the necessary wiring back into the engine bay. I will work on cleaning up the inner fenders and K-member tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted April 5, 2015 Report Share Posted April 5, 2015 April 2015, Had to work most of the day today. All I did when I got home was throw all of the necessary wiring back into the engine bay. I will work on cleaning up the inner fenders and K-member tomorrow.in for pics of inner fender clean ups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 (edited) April 2015, Thanks to Easter, work closed early today. That gave me quite a bit of time to clean up the Mustang some more. I cleaned up the inner fenders and underside of the K-member. I did not get all of the inner fenders because they were pretty clean. Not very much to clean up down there. I do regret painting the engine bay before the inner fenders though. Because of some wind, a noticeable amount of primer over sprayed into the engine bay. Before After Also, I had to take the wiper arms off a few days ago in order to pull that lower cowl cover off. Well, I decided to put them back on tonight. I opened up one of the arms (like if one were to raise the arm up if it was still attached to the car) to mess with the little retaining clip, and it closed shut in my hand... AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That arm pinched the fvcking holy $hi+ out of my hand. I eventually got the wiper arms put back on though. Next up for cleaning is some of the small parts that I will be reusing. Grandpa has a good sandblaster which should make the cleaning go very smoothly. Edited July 10, 2016 by BrettNorton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeperstang1994 Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 NOT to add more work for you. however you might want to drop your K member and wire wheel between the K and the Frame rail. I guarantee there is rust laying in there. Would hate to see you do all this nice work and leave that spot to eat at your car. engine is out any way right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 @Evilcw311 I feel ya on the whole "Laughing with you and not at you" thing. I have an uncle Jim who always calls me "You little bastard," because I am a kid. So, I always call him "You fat bastard," since he does have a bit of a beer gut. We always insult each other in creative ways. Recently, Jim broke a folding chair. He was not doing anything in the chair, just sitting down in it. The chair collapsed on him, and one of his buddies posted pictures about it on Facebook. I commented "I am going to have a field day with this," and just went gung-ho on the fat jokes. Ahhhhh, fun times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrettNorton Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 @Sleeperstang1994 Yeah, I am aware of possible rust in the area that you are speaking of. The engine is still out of the car. I do plan on reusing the stock K-member for this build. I just do not have the motivation to drop the K-member to simply clean it up a little bit more. Think it would create more of a hassle than happiness. However, that stock K-member will not be in the car forever. This Budget 302 Build project is just the first step I am taking with this Mustang while I own it. I intend to do much more with the car (including a tubular K-member) after I graduate from college, get a good job, settle into a house, etc. etc. Thank you for your input though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Psychorugby Posted April 7, 2015 Moderators Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 It would only take a few minutes to drop the K member if you already have the motor out... only 8 bolts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted April 7, 2015 Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 Ya most time consuming thing about dropping the k with the engine out is squaring it back up when you put it back.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
