Project Mustang Part 2 - Dissassembly begins.

Cars and Places Magazine Mustang restoration project

In this article, we started the disassembly of the project Mustang. We decided to start with the front sheet metal as this should reveal most of the hidden areas of potential rust.

Even after almost 40 years, most of the fasteners were relatively easy to remove. We made sure to use 6-point sockets and box-end wrenches whenever possible to avoid rounding the fasteners. A little shot of rust-busting product was also used to help persuade the parts to turn.

It's always easy to take stuff apart. But later, when we go to reassemble the Mustang we need to remember where all those nuts and bolts and washers go! Bag and tag all of the fasteners as they are removed, even if you plan to replace them with new ones later. Keep the quantity to each bag small, small sets are easier to interpret months (or years) later than just one bucket marked "Mustang".

Don't throw anything away. Although we plan to replace parts such as most of the fasteners, fenders, bumpers and such, the old parts can be invaluable. In some cases the replacement will have small differences making it difficult to install. Having the old part handy makes it easy to compare to the new part and modify as needed. Oh, and after the project is finished, don't forget to get rid of all that old stuff.

We removed the fenders and grill as complete sub-assemblies to ter down later. Reducing these subassemblies to their component parts can be a nice project for friends or up-an-coming young restorers that would like to help with the project.

Using a 6-point socket to get the best grip on rusty fasteners. Sometimes shocking the fastener with a mallet will break loose years of rust.

Here we had a good grip, but the fastener failed. Not a big deal in this case as the other half is in a removable Tinnerman nut. At least it came apart!

Remember to bag each screw, even if you will be replacing it, so you have a clue to what screw goes where.

Now we can check the condition of hidden but critical areas such as the inner cowl panel and shock towers...oh yes, more rust.