So, my plan was to start with the upholstery, figuring that would be an easy way to get back into things. In the end, it turns out that upholstery work is fairly time-consuming. Not so much the actual re-assembly of the seats, but getting all the materials together and getting the seat frames cleaned up of rust. Details to follow.
Here are some useful links to articles on how to do upholstery:
I also had a paper copy of a similar article from mid-90s and a Mustang restoration book. Each sources has its strengths and weaknesses. None were quite as thorough as I'd wanted to see.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Mustang Saga
It started back in spring of 2006. The pivot pin for the driver's seat snapped off. It turns out that Ford had recalled these seats in the 70s and there is a replacement pin available through the Mustang repro parts houses. I removed my seats and welded the replacement pin to the seat frame for good measure. Time to order new seat upholstery and start on that project.
Well, after I had the seats out, I looked at the carpet and thought it was looking pretty old. Might as well order a new carpet while I'm at it. So, I pulled up the old carpet and underlay. Much to my surprise, I found a lot more rust in the floor boards than I had expected. I had looked underneath the car lots of times, but the floor didn't look too bad from there. I figure what happened is that the heater core leaked at some point in the past and all that water just sat on the carpet forever, rusting through the floor.
So, it was time to order floor panels and learn how to weld them in. I met with good results on the driver-side rear, which is just a small panel. On the passenger side, I decided to do the full-length pan, as both front and back were rusted. Here, I ran into some difficulties with the plug welds holding the floor pan to the frame rail. Only about half my welds were good, so I needed to drill out the bad ones and start over. The key bit, however, was that I needed to practice my welding significantly, so that I would make good welds at least 90% of the time.
That's where things sat for 4 years. Fortunately, I have now been able to arrange some time off work and get back to this project...
Well, after I had the seats out, I looked at the carpet and thought it was looking pretty old. Might as well order a new carpet while I'm at it. So, I pulled up the old carpet and underlay. Much to my surprise, I found a lot more rust in the floor boards than I had expected. I had looked underneath the car lots of times, but the floor didn't look too bad from there. I figure what happened is that the heater core leaked at some point in the past and all that water just sat on the carpet forever, rusting through the floor.
So, it was time to order floor panels and learn how to weld them in. I met with good results on the driver-side rear, which is just a small panel. On the passenger side, I decided to do the full-length pan, as both front and back were rusted. Here, I ran into some difficulties with the plug welds holding the floor pan to the frame rail. Only about half my welds were good, so I needed to drill out the bad ones and start over. The key bit, however, was that I needed to practice my welding significantly, so that I would make good welds at least 90% of the time.
That's where things sat for 4 years. Fortunately, I have now been able to arrange some time off work and get back to this project...