289 Engine

We finally found our engine. It is out of a 66 mustang. This makes it a correct date to match our car. We borrowed a truck and our welder friend Al came with us to make sure we got something that was worth rebuilding. Hopefully we start welding next weekend. Now we need to find a C4 tranny and a 8inch rear end. Craigslist here we go again.

More Parts

Jon and Dad took another ride to Mustangs Unlimited in Manchester CT. It was about an hour and a half ride. Two big gulps and 2 pit stops later we made it. We are working on the cowl and needed the patch panels for the drains on both sides, as well as two firewall patches, and the frame to cowl connector that was shot after removal. We forgot to get the POR 15 rust inhibitor and the weld through coating from 3M. We were lucky to find them in Fall River when we got home. We took some pictures of some nice cars we saw at Mustangs Unlimited a great place to roam around and dream. We got home and started cutting out the bad metal. It isn't getting any better the more we open up the more we find. I think we are probably going to pull the dash and wiring and go all the way down to a shell and start from there. Our welding friend Al is going to start soon on the floors, our job is to get as much grinding and removing of the rust and bad metal as we can. Tried some spot welds and I am not having much luck. I seem to be burning through the metal. I'm sure there is a technique I need to learn.. We are going to find some new sheet metal to practice on this weekend.

Cowl Repair

The dreaded Mustang Cowl. The downfall of most vintage stangs. Our car was no different. We drilled out over 200 spot welds and then re-drilled most again. Finally after some banging with a good chisel we finally felt it give. We removed the top to see all the usual rust problems. Now were doing the research on the replacement parts. Time to buy a welder too.

Shelby Heaven

You never know what you might find when you deal with somebody on craigslist. We headed off to a small town in Connecticut called Wallingford. We brought our GPS in cased we got lost. It was a good thing, we never got lost but with out it we would have been asking a lot of people for help in the two hours it took to get to this small auto body place. We should have realized what might have been behind the doors from the name of the place Cobra Automotive. We walked in and were greeted a wonderfully nice gentlemen who said we would have to follow him through the shop to see the hood and fenders we were interested. The door opened up and Jon and myself almost couldn't contain ourselves. It was mustang owners heaven. There were shelbys everywhere, a beautiful 54 vette, an old Z28, a near mint original cobra and many more. We finally made it to where the hood and fenders were stored, they were exactly what we wanted and in great shape taken off a shelby that was being modified for racing. The genltemen gave us a deal if we took it all. We did and we saved a lot of money as well as got original ford parts, not repo's. The nice guy then let us go through the whole place allowing Jon to take pictures while giving details of all the cars. Wow we rode home on cloud nine what a trip.