2017 and it’s time to get back to the Mustang

I took a two year break from the Mustang and focused on another project instead.

The shop got a new neighbor and it just so happens that he’s a retired auto body guy. He was visiting and we were talking over the Mustang. I told him I was contemplating redoing the Aprons. He took a look at the areas I was complaining about and said they were actually looking pretty good. Wow, a professional telling a neophyte like me that his work is good…that was all I needed to boost my ego and get me back on the Mustang again.

My plan, upon returning to work on the Mustang, was to weld in the upper rear shock mount so I could have my staggered shock absorbers but a small spot of rust on the lower edge of the right torque box grabbed my attention. I had the parts to replace the rusted panel. It looked simple enough so I decided to take care of this small rust issue and then move on to shock mount.

At the time, I had this idea of building the car in phases. Changing the Shock towers and getting the 302 back in to make it drivable was Phase one. Phase two would have been when the Cammer and a Tremec T56 were finally installed. Phase three would have been crazy stupid. Phase three was to be a full tube chassis and a twin turbo Cammer. The phase levels went out the window when I noticed the rust. I didn’t know what I was about to find.

Removed the lower torque box and found about a pound of sand inside the box. A big lump of sand inside of a car panel is never a good sign. Thinking of where this car lived, Ohio, just made the sight of the sand gave me even more reason to be nervous..

and this is what I found behind the sand.

I’m not prepared for this.

Maybe if I ignore it, it’ll go away.

No such luck.

I’m pretty sure that the rust has gone through both layers of steel. Just how bad the damage is underneath the floor support is only a guess at this point.

I crawl underneath the car to see how the floor support is connected and also what it would take to remove the right frame rail if the damage is real bad.

The Ford thinking is sooo different from GM. My first car was a 73’ Camaro. I took that apart at one time. The subframe is completely spot welded to the body on the Mustang. The Camaro bolts together. I can see how the Ford design can save a lot of weight.

Lots of spot welds holding this car together. Spots welds holding the floor support to the frame. Spots welds binding the floor support to the floor. This is going to be a pain.

Feeling despondent, I lay flat on my back, still under the car. Something catches my eye. The floor along the trans tunnel has a seam in it. Is that supposed to be like that? I look farther back and the floor has been replaced in the footwell for the left side rear passenger. Uh-Oh.

This picture is much later after the interior rust was discovered.

When I tried to remove the upper section of the torque box, it looked like the floor above it had been welded to the top of the torque box.

Pulled the carpet back to expose the floor. I was looking for spot welds. Cut those out and release the torque box upper so I can put the new pieces in and move on.

I found the spot welds. I also found that the floor over the torque box was rusted through.

Pulled the carpet up on the driver’s side. Not as bad but, yeah, rust was cracking the sheet metal.

I’m thinking about the seam in the trans tunnel. Turns out that that seam went all the way around the right side of the floor pan.

Pulled the seats and removed the entire carpet kit from the car. Entire floor is covered with this black tar like stuff. Broke out the undercoat remover and a scraper and started to remove the black stuff.

I have it in my mind that I can salvage this. It looks like that whomever, put a large patch in the right side floor pan. Probably rust repair job. Maybe if it’s oversized enough, I can remove the patch, clean up the hole and then fit the patch better and butt weld the sheet metal instead of the overlap.

I’m scraping away and I pull a lump of this tar off and I can see the shop floor.

The guys messed up somewhere. They didn’t have enough material to cover that one spot, That just made a decision for me. The whole floor pan is getting replaced.

I have a task ahead of me. I’ll be replacing the torque boxes in the front. I’ll patch or maybe replace the right front frame rail. Definitely replace the right floor support. The firewall will get replaced and the entire floor pan. When you replace the pan, the seat platforms have to get replaced as well

At the very least, by pulling the old floor pan out, that will make it easier to replace the right floor support.