Dan's 1969 Mustang January 2006

Dan's 1969 Mustang
January 2006

01/30/06

Not a lot to see but I have been working. Got front apron welded in, shock tower, misc. So I now have a place to put an engine in!! I am doing some detailing of the engine compartment and inner fender areas. I was actually polishing break lines if you can believe that. In thinking about putting in the engine I want to be sure the car will stop as well as go so I am putting in new break lines and a new master cylinder.

Also I am putting in the final coat of Eastwoods ultimate black frame paint in the inner fender areas so that I can put the shocks and springs in. Then I can put the tires back on the car and push it out so I can clean up the garage!! What a concept my mustang will have 4 tires again.

In the next two weeks I want to tackle the dreaded inner passenger rocker panel, as painfull as that sounds so that I can then put the engine in.

ENGINE ISSUES

All along I have said I would rebuild the engine myself, except for sending heads, block, crank out to a shop. BUT in pricing it out I can get a re-manufactured engine for $1050, of course the car would no longer be numbers matching so I would pay the $160 core to keep the old engine. To have the work done at a local shop would run best case $1800, worst case $2200 or god only knows. BUT I think I can have ATK REMANUFACTURE MY engine for about $1100 and I would get a warranty too.....SOOOOOOOO I am going to talk to them tomorrow and we will see.....

As for the Tranny I am going with a remanufactured C4 with an 18 month unlimited mileage warranty for $460, not to bad. I thought about rebuilding it myself but I would just make a cluster out of it.

So I am starting to actually think about driving the car again! WOW. It won't be to long now....I hope.

01/22/06

I got the frame rail installed, the shock tower and the seat pan rail this weekend, didn't get a lot of house work done though....oh well. So I am now the proud owner of a mustang with a drivers AND a passenger side frame!! I did not weld in the inner front apron so I can get in and out of the engine compartment easier. I want to do some detailing in there and would rather not climb over. So this is kind of a milestone, I am now at the point where I need to start doing engine work. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter!

Well, there it is, passenger side frame and shock tower installed.

Inside of passenger side inner frame rail rust protected before I seal it up with the outer frame rail.

This is the template I made last ...April out of metal studs when I removed the engine. If you look close you can see I put the engine mount bolts back in to make sure that when I drop engine in it will bolt up ok.

01/21/06

Well so far so good got a lot done today, Inner frame rail is welded in Shock tower is all prepped and in place ready to weld, seat pan frame rail is welded in, front apron is prepped.
As I am working on the car I am watching the Berrett Jackson auto auction, it is on for 10 hours today and I saw a non-Shelby 69 Mustang go for $475,000. So I tell ya what, first one who offers me $100,000 will become the proud owner of a partially restored 69 mustang convertible!!!

Inner frame rail welded in, shock tower in place ready to weld, front apron in place.

Same thing different view

Seat pan rail welded in.

01/20/06

This weekend my goal is to have a mustang with both a Drivers side frame AND a Passenger side frame!!! What a concept!! Today I got all the old brackets cleaned up and the seat pan frame rail ready to install. I also put in the new frame, shock tower, and front apron to test fit them for fun and see what the finished product will look like.

New seat pan rail ready to weld in. Got the holes for plug welds all drilled out

New shock tower, apron and frame rail from inside.

New shock tower, apron and frame rail from outside.

01/15/06

Got the passenger side front frame rail removed. Seat pan frame rail removed Shock tower is out, Part of seat pan and toe board removed, as well as seat mount is now out.

Empty hole where front frame rail, shock tower and apron used to be.

New inner frame rail test fitted in place.

View looking the opposite way with new frame rail in place.

Big hole where toeboard, seatpan and torque box used to be.

01/07/06

Started cutting off the front of the passenger side, basically I am doing the exact same thing I did to the drivers side

Front apron and part of shock tower removed.

Another View

This is a close up of the inside of the shock tower. Here you can see the rust damage to the tower and frame rail. This is hard to see until you remove the A-Arm and clean it all off. This area collects dirt and is normally filled in with 1/2 inch or road dirt, muck etc..Replacing it was the right thing to do

Previous updates and progress
April/May 2005 - Engine removal.

June 2005 - Front end disasembly

July 2005 - Frame removal

August/September 2005 - Drivers front frame installation

October 2005 - Drivers seat pan, frame installation, inner rocker panel

November 2005 - Drivers inner rocker panel and outer rocker extension

December 2005 - Drivers inner rocker panel and outer rocker extension

January 2006 - Finished Passenger side frame, engine area

Links to other Mustang sites

This is what I hope to wind up with when I am done.

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