Day 27 - Playing with the Sandblaster

After work today, we ran off and bought some Aluminum Oxide sand blasting media so Mike could actually use his new toy. So then we came home and he got to try it out. I am happy to say the sand blasting cabinet works wonderfully. I even got to try it out. It was kind fun!

As you can see, there is a huge difference in the shock tower caps. The one of the left was freshly sandblasted, where as the one on the right hadn't had a chance in the sandblaster yet. I am very impressed with how well they cleaned up.

Mike then went in the garage and worked on getting the rear leaf springs off the car. He ended up having to cut the end of the leaf spring into pieces in order to get it out.

This is what is left of the end of the leaf spring. It isn't pretty. Luckily we do have new leaf springs for my car already, so it wasn't a big loss.

Mike was showing me how the number on the leaf spring shows that they had never been swapped out. This is an original Mustang leaf spring. So I guess for the fact that it's one less original piece on the car... is kind of a bummer. That's ok though, at least they are off.

Mike also kinda cleaned up some of the undercarriage a bit and tried to get rid of a lot of loose dust. There is still some more paint to be stripped in a few places as well. Oh we also will be getting the floor Piece ordered on Thursday, so hopefully we will have that in a few weeks and can get it welded onto the car. That will be exciting!

The Rotisserie and Christmas Gift (Day 26)

I wanted to start out this post by sharing one of the things I got Mike for Christmas.... a sandblaster. It was something he had been looking at and something I knew would be a big help to him in the Restoration. This picture is not the best quality because it was foggy outside when I took it, but there it sits in all its glory. Mike seems pretty happy with it. He hasn't actually gotten to use it though because I didn't buy any sand for it. So hopefully the thing will work once we get the sand.

I am pretty excited about restoration. I was able to watch a good portion of the restoration of the Pace Car. The first time I saw the Pace car, it was on the Rotisserie, sideways in the garage. I was actually rather amused to see a car on its side, hence why that image of the Pace car has stuck with me. Anyways.... I was very excited with Mike told me he wanted to put my car on the Rotisserie. I told him I wanted to be out there to help out, and to watch the process. To me... this is a BIG step. So anyways.... let me present in this next picture, the Rotisserie....

It doesn't look like much... but this thing is awesome when all put together. Before we put it on the Rotisserie, I couldn't resist a photo opportunity. The floor is cut out of my car... and on the cart it was perfect height for me to stand in there and pretend to be driving. So Mike handed me the steering wheel and snapped a few photos. I usually don't like pictures of myself, but this one was a fun one.

This is the car put on the Rotisserie. Mike was able to lift the back end of the car on his own and I helped steer it onto it. The front end took Mike and my dad lifting to be able to get it in.

This is the car flipped sideways. It seriously amuses me to no end to see my car on its side. As Mike put it, this is the one time having a car on its side is actually a good thing.

This is the underside of my car. Its from the front end looking back. Mike was able to see some rust he hadn't really noticed before, so it will be good to get that taken care of.

This is one of the dealer tie down plates. I guess when the car was delivered new to the dealer, there was a sign where the rear license plate would go that reminded the dealers to remove the tie down plates before selling. Well I guess this dealer didn't do it. So they were still on my car. Mike is going to sandblast them and get them all cleaned up, and put them right back on my car since we want it to look as much like it did when my dad owned it.

So that's the progress we have made thus far. Its all so exciting!!

Day 25 - More paint stripping

Mike spent a few hours in the garage today. He managed to get a bit done. He spent most of the time stripping paint. He got the Drivers side Door Jamb stripped.

He then moved to the trunk and removed the trailer towing bracket. Sad to think my car use to tow a trailer. Anyways he had to cut the bolts to get it removed. As you can tell, the metal fractured where the bracket was. So that will have to be welded.

He then stripped the tail light panel

As you can see in this next picture, it looks like swiss cheese on the passenger side tail light. So they will have to graft in some metal there.

Progress is slowly being made. It really makes me happy to see such progress. My car sat on the back burner for so long. I am also so grateful for my sweet husband for getting out there and doing this restoration. He is incredible!!

Day 24 - Sparks

Mike went out and did some grinding tonight. He had to smooth out where the welds were that he had cut to remove the floor. He bought a nifty new tool just for that purpose. We of course had to get a picture with the sparks flying. It makes me nervous being in the garage when the sparks are flying like that. I am always so afraid that something is going to catch on fire. Thankfully, there were no fires.

Mike also worked on removing the bolts for the leaf springs. He had a bit of a problem with those, so he decided it was time to call it a night and would get with his dad for ideas on getting those bolts out. I have faith that between him and his dad, it will get figured out and will get done.

Day 23: While the wife's away...

I had to head to St. George for the weekend to help my dad pack and clean his house so he can rent it out. Saturday morning I headed out, and Mike headed to the garage. I was half way to St. George when I got a text message with the following picture:
He got the floor of my Mustang out. I honestly never thought I could get so excited over a big chunk of metal. I was very anxious to see the car, and went out there with Mike shortly after getting home. I am very impressed that he managed to work on it while I was gone, and he even remembered to take pictures!! He also said that his parents came over and they discussed a game plan for the restoration. Things are really starting to happen, and it makes me very excited for the future!!

Day 22

I came home from work to find Mike in the garage today. He managed to get about an hour of work in between the time he got home from work, and the time we had to leave for the NUMOA Christmas Party. He is still working on pulling up the floors, and seems to be making good progress. Its exciting getting back into the car again.
Mike wasn't too happy about how rusted out the torque box is. He had me worried because he made it sound like something unfixable. After giving me a good scare, he reassured me that it is fixable... its just more work. At least I know between Mike and his dad...they can fix anything. My car is definitely in good hands!

Day 21 - The car fights back

After going out to dinner tonight, Mike wandered into the garage to look at my '67. I went out with him and he looked over the car and thought a few things through. I then wandered back outside to finish scoping out rocks for an Owl I am painting for a friend. A few minutes later, Mike walks by and tells me that he wants to work on the car tonight. I was not going to stand in the way, but I was a little concerned seeing as it was already 8:30 pm at that time. I knew he wouldn't have a ton of time, but he did manage to get a bit done.

For the next two hours he worked in the garage, while I did some painting. I went out periodically to check on him and his progress, and to get pictures for blogging purposes. He managed to get a good portion of the floor up. We are going to take out the entire floor and buy a new floor in the next few months when the funding comes through.

The last time I wandered out, he showed me his bleeding hand. As he put it, he was ripping the skin of the car, so the car in turn ripped his skin. So needless to say, from here on out, he will be wearing gloves when dealing with the sharp metal. Its sad when he gets cuts and bruises from working on my car, but I guess its part of the process. At least it wasn't a cut worthy of stitches, and there were no ER visits. I am hoping we don't have any of those through the entire restoration.

Anyways, it was exciting to see some more progress being made on my car. I am so excited that someday soon my car could actually be restored. It is going to be an exciting day when its all done and put together. I am thankful that I have a husband that knows how to restore cars, and is willing to put the time and effort into fixing mine up. I am also thankful that we got the ball rolling again. Lets hope nothing else comes up that gets in the way. Now we have a deadline though. Tuacahn 2012... my car WILL be there!

There is Hope for my Mustang!!

Nothing has gotten done on my Mustang for awhile. It is sorta my fault since I lost interest for awhile while grieving the loss of my Mom. Another problem, was funding. That has been our problem from the beginning. We were able to buy a bunch of parts for it in the beginning of 2009 with our tax return, but have not bought much since then. We have still been able to do some things without money, but we are getting closer to the point of needing to buy more things for the car before we can proceed.

So I recently changed jobs. Because of changing jobs, it freed up some money that I could not access before. So with that money I am able to access... it should be able to pay for the majority of the restoration. I do plan to use tax return money also which should hopefully be enough funding to finish the car. So I finally feel like there is hope for it.

I guess that was one of the biggest struggles is financing a restoration. Now that that obstacle is pretty well out of the way.... it makes Mikal and I even more anxious to get back to working on the car. So hopefully I will be back to blogging again soon! I even went out to the garage today and spent some time staring at the car (since that's about all I can do with it at this point). Mikal and I discussed our next move and the things we should be able to get done. I really want to be able to have the car done in time for the Tuacahn show in 2012. Mike and his dad think that it is possible.... so that's what I am going to push for. So hopefully we can get back on track and just get her done!