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Thread: 1983 Mustang GT Project

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    Quote Originally Posted by 86T3 View Post
    I'm glad you found one, I felt bad about giving you blue balls with my neighbor's. Enjoy the road trip with your daughter, that will probably be one of the best memories of this build.
    Don't feel bad at all Joe. Hell you didn't know. We're both pretty excited for the trip. My wife's sister and brother in law lives in Colorado Springs and we're driving down there after picking up the car on Saturday. We'll hand out there for the night, have dinner and come back Sunday.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Mexico
    --
    9,001
    Father daughter road trip, yeah!!!!! Pack the Hard rock collection and enjoy 10 years old! Mine turns 16 in a few months and no longer thinks I'm cool. I went from Super Dad to Super Dork a few months back. I should have had her freeze dried when she was 12.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Surprise AZ. In the garage working on trikes.
    --
    2,502
    I always preferred the LX 5.0 or even better the Mercury Capri of that generation and I am a Chevy guy. I saw a black LX a couple months ago, it was pristine!!

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496

    29 hours in the truck since midnight Friday night till 8pm Sunday evening and a total of 1800 miles. The ecoboost averaged 14 mpg over the whole trip.

    The car is rough around the edges, hasn't been on the road in 16 years, but runs and sounds good, plus it's 99 percent rust free from what I can tell. There might be some hidden, but nothing in the usual spots.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Prescott az
    --
    685
    Quote Originally Posted by bkm View Post

    29 hours in the truck since midnight Friday night till 8pm Sunday evening and a total of 1800 miles. The ecoboost averaged 14 mpg over the whole trip.

    The car is rough around the edges, hasn't been on the road in 16 years, but runs and sounds good, plus it's 99 percent rust free from what I can tell. There might be some hidden, but nothing in the usual spots.
    Nice find dude. I haven't been in the mustang game in a while but mostly had 4 eyed foxes had a
    79 hatch
    2 82gts one I swapped a 351 w in
    And a 93 vert. My favorite was my 351 82 ran hard but was a curse to me. Was going down the highway once at 65mph with my new girlfriend first time she rode in it, hood flew open on me destroyed the windshield the cowl and dinged the top. Did manage to fix it all
    [/SIGPIC]
    85 350x
    83 200x-sold
    ×2 85 200x-sold
    06 kx250f-sold
    86 tecate-sold
    86 tri z powervalved
    85 BIG red
    18 rmz250
    87 lt80
    19 ttr110

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    I pulled the nose off to get the fenders off so I can start the body work on them and the hood. I also pulled the dealer installed A/C off and going back to it being a non AC car like it was intended. I'm going to do the body work one panel at a time so I don't get overwhelmed and buried. I've never really attempted body work/paint so I'm not really expecting a show car. I keep telling myself even a 75 percent quality job is 100 percent better than it sits right now.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    new england
    --
    1,391
    Why dump the ac? Parasitic power loss?

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Mexico
    --
    9,001
    Quote Originally Posted by bkm View Post
    I pulled the nose off to get the fenders off so I can start the body work on them and the hood. I also pulled the dealer installed A/C off and going back to it being a non AC car like it was intended. I'm going to do the body work one panel at a time so I don't get overwhelmed and buried. I've never really attempted body work/paint so I'm not really expecting a show car. I keep telling myself even a 75 percent quality job is 100 percent better than it sits right now.
    The difference in time that it takes to do a great paint job and a piss poor one is not much. Would be happy to coach you by text, starting with don't do any heavy work (welding or large dent removal) on a panel that's off the vehicle if possible.Front fenders and doors in particular. They tend not to fit back on very well after the fact. Sanding and light body filler work off the frame is fine, but only if you're not working on edges that need to match with other panels.

    Wipe every thing you intend to paint with prepsol before you do any sanding. Keeps you from rubbing wax, or oils into the surface when sanding. Repeat before priming and painting and use a tack rag before every coat of primer or paint.

    Bondo on bare metal is old school. The best way is to roughy the surface of the dent with 40 to 80 grit and prime it before you apply the filler. It's ok to leave some of the original paint on too as long as it's stuck on well. Bare metal under Bondo will eventually rust.

    If your working on any plastic bumpers or clips make sure you use an adhesion enhancer like DuPont 223S or even Auto Zone on any bare plastic before you apply anything else on it. There are also special primers for plastic that allow some flex.

    Sand wet whenever possible. It'll save you a bundle on paper and time. The only side effect is that your hands will dry out and crack after awhile. Use the wife's hand lotion at the end of each day. Start with 220 or 280 and don't go down to bare metal if possible. Your primer will bond better to the old paint than it will to bare metal in most cases. Finish with 400 grit before priming and use a two part epoxy filler primer. The stuff is amazing and will fill a lot of scratches and seals Bondo well. Wet sand it with 600 and then 800 before painting. The rougher the grit the better it sticks mentality is old school as well. 800 overs more scratches per square inch therefore it holds the paint better and you won't be able to see the scratches up close like you can with a 400 grit finish.

    Use a base coat/ clear coat for the final finish. You can get away with murder using base/clear. Almost Anything you do wrong can be turned into perfection with a bit of sanding and polishing. I'll post up a couple of before and after repairs I had to do on my bike recently.

    Paint the door jambs, trunk, under side of hood, etc separately and then bolt your doors, fenders and lids on before painting the car in one piece. You can run masking tape around the edges of the painted surfaces befor you spray the car and then remove the tape befor you clear it. By doing this you will be able to later buff the transition and make it look like you painted every panel off the car which is a terrible idea unless you have a dozen skilled buddies to help you put them back on after painting.

    Nasty run in the clear
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Sanded out 90 percent of it with 220 dry so I could see the high spots
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Looked like this about 15 minutes later. Had I used enamel paint I'd have been screwed.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Same with this fender. The base wrinkled up on me where I cheated by not using an enhancer on a patch that I'd sanded through to bare plastic. I was able to dry it with a heat gun, scuff it and fog in a few light coats to seal it before giving it a final coat of base. Like I said, you can get away with murder. This could have been in the center of a car hood and no one would ever know.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by El Camexican; 04-01-2017 at 10:59 AM.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    Quote Originally Posted by El Camexican View Post
    The difference in time that it takes to do a great paint job and a piss poor one is not much. Would be happy to coach you by text, starting with don't do any heavy work (welding or large dent removal) on a panel that's off the vehicle if possible.Front fenders and doors in particular. They tend not to fit back on very well after the fact. Sanding and light body filler work off the frame is fine, but only if you're not working on edges that need to match with other panels.

    Wipe every thing you intend to paint with prepsol before you do any sanding. Keeps you from rubbing wax, or oils into the surface when sanding. Repeat before priming and painting and use a tack rag before every coat of primer of paint.

    Bondo on bare metal is old school. The best way is to roughy the surface of the dent with 40 to 80 grit and prime it before you apply the filler. It's ok to leave some of the original paint on too as long as it's stuck on well. Bare metal under Bondo will eventually rust.

    If your working on any plastic bumpers or clips make sure you use an adhesion enhancer like DuPont 223S or even Auto Zone on any bare plastic before you apply anything else on it. There are also special primers for plastic that allow some flex.

    Sand wet whenever possible. It'll save you a bundle on paper and time. The only side effect is that your hands will dry out and crack after awhile. Use the wife's hand lotion at the end of each day. Start with 220 or 280 and don't go down to bare metal if possible. Your primer will bond better to the old paint than it will to bare metal in most cases. Finish with 400 grit before priming and use a two part epoxy filler primer. The stuff is amazing and will fill a lot of scratches and seals Bondo well. Wet sand it with 600 and then 800 before painting. The rougher the grit the better it sticks mentality is old school as well. 800 overs more scratches per square inch therefore it holds the paint better and you won't be able to see the scratches up close like you can with a 400 grit finish.

    Use a base coat/ clear coat for the final finish. You can get away with murder using base/clear. Almost Anything you do wrong can be turned into perfection with a bit of sanding and polishing. I'll post up a couple of before and after repairs I had to do on my bike recently.

    Paint the door jambs, trunk, under side of hood, etc separately and then bolt your doors, fenders and lids on before painting the car in one piece. You can run masking tape around the edges of the painted surfaces befor you spray the car and then remove the tape befor you clear it. By doing this you will be able to later buff the transition and make it look like you painted every panel off the car which is a terrible idea unless you have a dozen skilled buddies to help you put them back on after painting.
    Thanks buddy. Prepare for me to be a pain in your arse here in the near future.


    Quote Originally Posted by plastikosmd View Post
    Why dump the ac? Parasitic power loss?
    It was a factory non A/C car and the dealer installed unit is a complete monstrosity, not to mention would take a small fortune to get working again. I bet the bracket and unit itself weighs 25-30 pounds.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Mexico
    --
    9,001
    You quoted me while I was still adding to my post. Damn this curssed edit button!

    Forgot to add, go with a non-metallic paints until you get good at painting. White is the easiest for hiding body defects, painting and future repairs (your daughter will be 16 before you know it). Black is easy to paint, but it hides nothing. In fact it shows things you didn't know were wrong. What color are you thinking? Perhaps a Blues theme?

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    Quote Originally Posted by El Camexican View Post
    You quoted me while I was still adding to my post. Damn this curssed edit button!

    Forgot to add, go with a non-metallic paints until you get good at painting. White is the easiest for hiding body defects, painting and future repairs (your daughter will be 16 before you know it). Black is easy to paint, but it hides nothing. In fact it shows things you didn't know were wrong. What color are you thinking? Perhaps a Blues theme?
    Factory Black. I'm not ready to do a color change.

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Mexico
    --
    9,001
    Quote Originally Posted by bkm View Post
    Factory Black. I'm not ready to do a color change.

    Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
    Cool. Get the car wet and under good light before you start sanding. Find every dent, ding and ripple and mark it with a light shot of white, or yellow from a so you can deal with it before you get into sanding the whole panel. That's another great thing about wet sanding, you can look at the panels when they're wet and see if they are flat. If you work dry you have to put a cloth rag under you palm and rub the panels to find small variations in the surface.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    --
    1,735
    I agree with everything Camexican said.

    My 2 cents.......

    I'm glad your attempting this on your own. Usually a projects finish is the most expensive part.......period. Knowing this long ago I started painting things myself and it's WAY easier than you may think. I absolutely paint everything I've done and if I can do it anyone can. The only thing I would add to his post is if you can swing it.........a better spray gun would be ideal. I use Devilbiss starting line products and Sata. The starting line kits are not overly expensive and get you the touch up guns, primer, etc.........things that are nice. I have a couple of compliant Sata guns that are awesome but not cheap.

    I know my limitations and bigger body work I leave to the pros. There's guys on CL that will come to you and perform body work. Just a thought.

    Good luck.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    House Springs MO
    --
    5,496
    Not really much progress with this project, but I did buy a new power plant. It's an 06 Mustang GT 3 valve 4.6. Makes 300-315 hp depending on the year and should make for a fun street car. Most swaps I've seen with long tube headers and custom tune are putting down 300-310 hp to the wheels. Reliability should be rock solid and have excellent street manners. Transmission will be a T45 or TR3650? I haven't decided yet?

    I'm seriously considering doing a plasti dip paint job in satin black with a set of black chrome 5 star drag wheels. Has anyone messed with this stuff? I'm not looking for a Barrett Jackson car, because my plan is to beat on this thing until it cries and do it on a budget.

    So far I have $800 for the car and I traded a gun for the engine. I had $100 in the gun.

    I want to see if I can run mid to low 12's and keep the budget around 3k for everything. I still have to sell the original engine and transmission.

  15. #30
    fabiodriven's Avatar
    fabiodriven is offline Aspiring romance novel cover model, and the Official 3WW slayer of thieves and swindlers. Catch me if you can
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    The woods
    --
    10,515
    Good stuff Bryan. I wanted to do the complete opposite with mine. I wanted to stuff a honking FE big block in mine. Total wrong engine for that car, but right for me.
    85 Tri-Zinger 60
    85 ATC250SX
    86 ATC250SX
    87 ATC250SX
    02 XR650L conversion
    84 ATC 480R

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