65 Mustang Restoration: Post #9, 5/2/10 Cowl, Quarter & Dash removal

65 Mustang Restoration

Well I decided to finish tackling the removal of the cowl section. My killer spot weld remover is nice in certain areas, but won't work in all places,,, and the spot welds that ford used on this car are really big,, so this week I picked up a different style of bit that you use in a regular drill, one that is a pretty large diameter bit,,, boy did it work well,, much better. I also bought a spot weld chisel that also made a big difference at getting the panels apart.

I guess I didn't realize what a big job this was going to be,, very time consuming, but once it was removed, thank goodness I decided to do it. It's totally rotted out in areas underneath,, right where they say they are prone to rotting out. Good thing I ordered a new one earlier this week!

The sad thing is,, this is a California car that spent most of it's life in California. They say that those rotted areas on the cowl are the most common reason for the floor boards rotting out in Mustangs. Water runs out of the holes and down into the carpet,, and the lovely underlayment (nasty stuff under the carpet) acts like a sponge, and eventually rots out the floor boards,, something we will be rectifying on this car.

Once the cowl was out, it was time to clean up all of those sharp edges. Spot weld removing is something that definitely takes time to learn how to do properly without screwing up the metal that you want to reuse,,, however, one nice thing about steel,,, even if you mess it up, like I did in a couple of areas,, it's easy to repair. And with all of the years I have fabricating with metal,, I definitely know how to work with steel & sheet metal.

Next, we moved on to the removal of the right rear quarter panel,, or at least the majority of it. Since we are going to have the car blasted, and since the quarters are going to be replaced anyway,, we cut a large section of the skin off so it would be much easier for the blasting company to get into more of those hidden areas that they normally wouldn't be able to get to.

Before:

After:

Nice rust huh? Now the blasters will be able to do a much better job,, and since it's easier to do, it'll take less time,, therefore saving us money on the job. It's also a bit easier for you to see why we'll be replacing the rear floor panels & wheel houses,, just too much rust & too many holes.

Now do you see why we're replacing everything,, like these quarter panels? That is some quality workmanship right there! NOT! I had to laugh at how sad of a job someone did,,, but you see stuff like this all of the time,,, people just don't take pride in their workmanship. Whatever it takes to get by,,, most likely by the person who was selling the car to the next unsuspecting owner. This tiny little section had to weigh almost 10 pounds.

Next it was back to the front cowl/dash area.

Even with just the removal of the cowl section, you can see how much easier it would have been for the blasters to have gotten to the normally hidden, back-side of the dash. However,,, if you look closely, you'll see that some ya-hoo did a fantastic job of totally screwing up the radio area of the dash. The guy I got this from, included a radio repair panel, when I picked up the car,,, but my goodness,, talk about something that fits like total crap,, Not even close to fitting. So,, since we're already this close,, and there's only about 15 more spot welds to remove,, what the hay,,, out came the dash. Now I just have to fine a decent one,,, news ones are almost $400 shipped,, just too expensive,,, but I have a lead on a couple of real nice used ones that aren't all messed up like ours was.

The removal of the dash does have it's benefits. Look how much room there is for the blasters to get to the firewall,,, and this does give me a lot more room when it comes time the replace those messed up floor pans. Look how nice those so-called new floor pans look,,, really a sad job,,, and it's going to take a lot of work to properly repair/replace them. It would have almost been easier to have gotten on of those huge all-in-one floor sections,,, but they are to short up front,, and I would have had to replaced even more metal,, with the pans I have already purchased,, they should work very well,,, hopefully.

I wonder about a couple of holes in the firewall,, one above the blower motor, and the right round hole above the rectangular hole(by the master area.) Anyone know for sure?