# 94 Mustang rejuvenation



## mustanggarage (Sep 5, 2016)

I decided to do a build thread.  As the regulars on here know, this car belonged to my Dad. He recently decided to move to the nursing home and so I bought his cars from him. this is a pretty low mileage convertible only 78,000 miles on it, it runs great. there is no real problems with it. but I can't just leave things alone. I have 3 other mustangs, a 65, an 89, and my Dad's 94 coupe. Both my 65 and my 89 I have built up as hot rods and my dads coupe is as well. So this car I want to keep the drivetrain pretty much stock so this may be a boring thread for most of you. but I like to keep track of what I do on my cars and this seems to be the best way. So without further adieu, the slow whitey thread begins.

ok here is what it looked like when Dad got it. This is not the best picture, because it was Dad's car, and I was just taking a picture of my garage stuffed with mustangs lol.













so after Dad got it we put new brakes on it, and Dad drove it that way off and on until this year. He decided he wanted to put some stripes on it. so he ordered a stripe kit and I put it on for him.







Then he had another really bad episode of congestive heart failure and wound up in the hospital and from there to the nursing home. he never drove it. Anyway after I bought it from him I wanted to drive it. I had never liked the wheels that were on it, and the front drivers side had been damaged and it had a slow persistent leak so the first thing I did was to get a new set of wheels and tires for it.
















that made the car look really nice in my opinion. the stripes were supposed to be red. they turned out more of an orange, but they still look good and I have had a lot of compliments on the car since I started driving it. so from there I did a few little things. I cleaned the carpet of all the stains and put some gt floor mats in there to make the interior look nicer. someone has replaced the front seats at some time in the past and they do not match the back seats so that is something I am going to have to address at some point. it doesn't look as bad in person as it does in the picture, but it is bad enough.







I also spent some time with some convertible top cleaner and managed to make the top look relatively presentable.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 5, 2016)

So after that, I am more of a mechanical guy than a paint and body guy so I started checking out the mechanicals.  Dad and I had replaced the brakes when he got it so they were good, I really need some subframe connectors, man this thing flexes and creaks way too much for my taste.  also the engine compartment was a mess.  I hate a dirty engine, and I hate rust, so I took a couple cans of engine degreaser and a pressure washer.  a wire brush, etc.  then I painted some parts, and removed, polished painted and cleared the intake manifold cover and overall I am not ashamed to open the hood now.









then when I was driving it I kept getting distracted by the instruments.  I also hate it when dirt and grime gets in behind the lens and you can't clean it.  also the gauge lens was pretty scratched.





so I took it apart intending to clean and polish the lens.





but I have always preferred white face gauges and I found a nice gauge overlay kit from american muscle.  I prefer a simpler less colorful gauge kit, but this will do.

then my wife painted the needles with traffic cone orange fingernail polish lol and I put a new lens on.





it is a bit dusty on the outside in that picture, because my hands were dirty of course, but it cleans up nice.

then I had to figure out the wiring instructions.  it is actually simple, but I misread the instructions.  they said to tap into the large grey wire in the middle of the switch connector that is the switch on hot wire.





in my car that wire is brown and it is the same gauge as all the other wires except the constant hot feed wire, and I misunderstood the directions at first.  I read key on hot wire not switch on hot wire so it took me a while to figure it out, but that brown wire is the correct switch on hot wire and I ran the ground to a chassis ground.  





and there you have it.


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## Rusty (Sep 5, 2016)

Nice job......


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## havasu (Sep 5, 2016)

I sure wish you were my neighbor.


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## oldognewtrick (Sep 5, 2016)

havasu said:


> I sure wish you were my neighbor.



Houses for sale every day here in the mid west...


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## Rusty (Sep 5, 2016)

oldognewtrick said:


> Houses for sale every day here in the mid west...



And a lot cheaper than in Commiefornia.:carcash:


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## mustanggarage (Sep 5, 2016)

I appreciate it guys.  I went ahead and ordered some subframe connectors for it today.  these convertibles all need some strengthening in the undercarriage.


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## Chris (Sep 6, 2016)

What is a subframe connector? Are those a unibody?


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## mustanggarage (Sep 6, 2016)

yes mustangs are unibody.  and so there is a lot of body flex especially in convertibles.  the sn95 is better than the foxbody was, but the subframe connectors are very helpful in preventing body twist, and improving handling.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

I got my subframe connectors in the other day, but I have not gotten the car up on the lift to work on them yet.  I am still working on some things to make the engine compartment look a little better.  I plan to pull the intake and swap valve covers and plugs, wires and cap and rotor as well as hopefully swap the fuel filter when I get time.  the 94-95 mustang is kind of odd for mustangs.  it has the old school 5.0 pushrod engine.  they changed to the 4.6 in 96.  so it shares a lot of parts with the fox body mustangs.  the intake manifold however is a 94-95 only model and leaves very little clearance for the valve covers.  finding an aftermarket valve cover that fits is basically impossible.  you can use a fox body valve cover but the oil filler tube needs to be extended to get the cap on.  so it is really hard to find a good looking solution for the valve cover.  so I decided to play around with my eastwood powder coater to see what i could come up with.  I did not want to pull the old valve covers off and ruin them if I did not like the result so I bought a nice used set from  prestige mustang parts.





spent a lot of time with paint stripper, wire brushes and my blast cabinet.





then powdercoated them in a metallic red.









I think they will look good, I will have to see if they clash to bad with the other colors.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

Those look great, I really need to look into that powder coating set up. Do you have an oven in your garage for this or how do you do it?


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

Is this the kit you have?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006YVF2HU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

Or is this all I would need? Do you run any harbor frieght powder coat through yours?

http://www.eastwood.com/dual-voltage-hotcoat-powder-gun.html


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

yeah I bought that first kit you showed.  it had several colors etc.  the stainless steel wire and the high temp tape as well as the plugs and the book are useful.  but I didn't like most of the colors so I ended up buying several other colors over the years.  I bought one of those dual voltage guns a few years ago and didn't like it so I went back to my old one and it works great.  I just bought a new used oven the other day for 50 bucks from someone on swap here in town.  I had an old oven that a friend gave me but I broke the leveling leg on the front and ripped the handle off the door, so I finally after about 7 years broke down and bought one for 50 bucks.  it doesn't need to be fancy just any old oven that will get to 400 degrees.  the key is  just like in painting getting the thing down to bare metal, then bake it in the oven for a while to burn off any residual oils etc.  clean it good with PRE from eastwood and a red scotch bright, put it back in the oven to get it warm then spray on the powder bake it again for at least 20 minutes and done.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

I have never tried harbor freight powder I just always buy mine from eastwood.  really it is not expensive.  one of those small plastic jars full of powder is less than 15 dollars.  I did both these valve covers, and the coil mounting bracket, and i still have about half the jar left, so the cost of the powder is really negligable.  I mean a can of engine paint goes for around 10 bucks.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

OK, sounds good to me. I think I will pick up the kit. I always wanted to do that instead of painting parts. How does the powder coat hold up compared to how the pros do it?


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

Instead of buying the kit I am piecing it together to get more of what I want. I can't find extra bottles sold by themselves. Are they same bottle that the powder comes in or do I need several bottles?


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

Found one thing I don't like about their site. Went to figure out shipping and I got this message.

In order to provide you with the most competitive rates, our agents are researching shipping options. 
Please proceed to checkout to complete your order. After your order is placed, we'll contact you with your personalized quote.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

Chris said:


> Found one thing I don't like about their site. Went to figure out shipping and I got this message.
> 
> In order to provide you with the most competitive rates, our agents are researching shipping options.
> Please proceed to checkout to complete your order. After your order is placed, we'll contact you with your personalized quote.



huh, I have never seen that before odd.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

I found a code online for free shipping, we will see if it works or if they call me. I ordered a bunch of stuff but could not get the PRE since I live in California and we can not have chemicals that work here. Only ones made from granola and bee's wax. I ordered Ford Blue, Black, Chrome and silver. Probably won't get to play with it until I settle in at the new house and hook up an oven but at least I will have it waiting for me.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

Chris said:


> Instead of buying the kit I am piecing it together to get more of what I want. I can't find extra bottles sold by themselves. Are they same bottle that the powder comes in or do I need several bottles?



yes they are the same bottles.  all you need is one empty one, or a jar of some kind to put part of the powder in temporarily.  it works best if the bottle is only about half full when you are blowing the powder on.  and you need to shake it up good before blowing it on, or sift it so that it doesn't have any clumps.  but if you took half the powder out of the container and put it into something else you could do it and put the rest back in the container when you were done.  then when you empty the first bottle you can just use it instead of buying an empty.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

two things I forgot, one is that this needs very little air.  about 15 psi is all you need, and in fact over that it tends to blow the powder off and waste it, so you need some way of regulating your pressure down to that point.  I bought one of the little regulators, and gauges to go with mine.  the other is that you obviously can't use the oven you powder coat in for anything else after words lol.  they hae a new one stage ultra chrome that I have wanted to try.  I need to check into it, to get the best results from the regular chrome you need to coat it in mirror black first then spray the chrome, followed by clear.  that will give you a pretty near chrome result.  as far as the Pre goes you can also use just regular reducer, just something volatile that will evaporate off quickly and not leave a residue.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2016)

I bought that new chrome. We still have acetone here I think? By the time I use it I will be long gone so it won't matter anyway. I can't wait to try it out. Old stoves are cheap everywhere.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 15, 2016)

Chris said:


> I bought that new chrome. We still have acetone here I think? By the time I use it I will be long gone so it won't matter anyway. I can't wait to try it out. Old stoves are cheap everywhere.



yeah I looked on craigslist and they had several for under a hundred and a few for 50 and under.  obviously electric is better than gas, and I prefer the old type with removable burners instead of the glass top.  that way you can remove the burners and not risk fire when you turn the wrong knob and have something sitting on it, and unless you are unlike me, every flat surface in the shop will eventually have stuff sitting on it lol.


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## oldognewtrick (Sep 15, 2016)

mustanggarage said:


> have something sitting on it, and *unless you are unlike me*, every flat surface in the shop will eventually have stuff sitting on it lol.



When I run out of flat places to stack stuff I'll invent new spots...


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## Chris (Sep 21, 2016)

You ever have any issues with Eastwood? I placed my order six days ago and it is still showing as pending on their site. I have been trying to get a hold of them by phone.


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## mustanggarage (Sep 25, 2016)

sorry chris, my middle daughter lost the cord for her computer so I have been letting her use my computer for a few days.  and I have not had any time at work.  as to your question.  I have really had pretty good luck from eastwood.  they are not as fast as amazon but usually within a week I get my order.


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## Chris (Sep 26, 2016)

I just got an email that my order shipping on Friday. Took a couple weeks. As long as it shows up I am happy.


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## Chris (Sep 30, 2016)

mustanggarage said:


> yes they are the same bottles.  all you need is one empty one, or a jar of some kind to put part of the powder in temporarily.  it works best if the bottle is only about half full when you are blowing the powder on.  and you need to shake it up good before blowing it on, or sift it so that it doesn't have any clumps.  but if you took half the powder out of the container and put it into something else you could do it and put the rest back in the container when you were done.  then when you empty the first bottle you can just use it instead of buying an empty.



All my powder came in ziplock bags, no bottles.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 2, 2016)

Chris said:


> All my powder came in ziplock bags, no bottles.



did you order your powder from eastwood?  if you order the 8oz quantity it has always come in the bottles for me.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 2, 2016)

My computer crashed on me so I had to reload everything.  but I finally got some time to work on the 94 this weekend.  Harison, Sarah's boyfriend offered to weld my maximum motorsports subframe connectors in.  I gave him a dual voltage powder coating kit and some accessories because he wanted to start powder coating also.  anyway.  anyway he offered and I gladly accepted.  So he came over and we worked on it Saturday.  the hard part about it is that you have to weld them in with the suspension weighted.  so we positioned everything, dropped it down on jackstands to weight the suspension, then tacked it in really well.  then we raised it back up and welded it in.  





the original mufflers were long since gone, and the new ones were too close to the passenger side subframe to weld around, besides they looked like this.





so a little reciprocating saw action was called for.  hacked those out of there, then I managed to get the tailpipe un bolted from the catalytic converter without breaking the studs.  un believable.





I ordered a catback exhaust system yesterday so it should be here some time in the next couple weeks.

anyway after that Harison finished welding everything up.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 2, 2016)

we ran out of welding wire and Harison had to help his Mom last night so he came back today and finished welding it.  

since he had to leave I decided to swap those valve covers.  on a 94 mustang you have to practically pull the engine to change that passenger side valve cover.  you have to remove the export brace, pull the upper intake manifold, move the heater hoses, and since they are metal tubes screwed into the intake manifold that is a challenge, pull the alternator off and disconnect the EGR tube from the exhaust.  once all that was done I decided while I was there I would replace the plugs and plug wires.  so I did that, swapped the valve covers using ARP chrome valve cover studs.  then I put everything back together.  I only had one day off call so I stayed up until I finished at about 0300 this morning.  and of course I got called in to work at 0800 this morning.  but I did get it done.














I also put a new serpentine belt on while I had the alternator off.
I have not decided what I want to do with the export brace yet.  I am torn between keeping it black, powdercoating it chrome, or red like the valve covers.  anyway I will figure that out one of these days.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 2, 2016)

ok, so once I got home from work, Harison came back and finished welding the subframe connectors in.  after that I spent some time with a wire wheel and knocked down a bunch of rust, then I sprayed the whole underbody with eastwood rust convertor.  left it dry while I had supper and came back and sprayed on some eastwood rust encapsulator to protect everything.









I still need to replace the fuel filter, but I will do that some other time.  I am tired tonight.

anyway a productive weekend.  once my new exhaust gets here I will get this baby back on the road probably for about a week before it starts snowing lol.


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## Chris (Oct 3, 2016)

Looks great!


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## mustanggarage (Oct 5, 2016)

thanks Chris.  I haven't got my exhaust yet, but I scored a nice set of leather seats from a 2004 convertible on craigs list tonight.  My wife drove over to Des Moines to pick them up for me.   they are in really pretty good condition.  so instead of having to upholster my old ones I will just swap them.  the best part is I got the whole set for less than half what it would have cost to upholster my old ones even using cloth.  to get leather it would have cost about a thousand dollars more than I paid for these. I will take some pictures when I get a chance.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 5, 2016)

mustanggarage said:


> I will get this baby back on the road probably for about a week before it starts snowing lol.



Snow is a four letter word....we don't allow that kind of talk on here...


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## mustanggarage (Oct 6, 2016)

yeah I agree lol.  


I got off work early today and found this waiting for me!






so since I had a couple hours before I was supposed to go get Dad to take him out for dinner, I decided to see what I could get done.  









It was a pretty straight forward install, I still need to tweak it a bit, the one tail pipe is slightly lower than the other for some reason, and I will have to drive it and see if it rattles or anything then retighten all the clamps, but it went together pretty quickly.  I finished just in time to go get Dad.  

I mentioned yesterday that I picked up some seats from craigslist.









they look pretty nice.  They are not new obviously but they are leather and they match.  there are no holes in them, and overall they look pretty darned good.

since I was under the car I unbolted the seats from the subrame connectors and then after supper I pulled the old seats out.

the carpet is kind of stained but I used some heavy duty carpet cleaner and a little elbow grease and it cleaned up ok.  this is after I worked on the drivers side.









then I pulled that passenger side rear quarter panel off and cleaned and lubed that window regulator.  hopefully it will work better now.

so then I put the rear seat in, I just had to drill two new holes for the rear seat back anchors.

then I had a pleasant surprise for a change.  I knew the front seats on this car were out of a different vehicle, but it turns out they are basically the same as the ones I am putting in there, if you look closely at that picture of the passenger side carpeting you can see that someone had modified the seat wiring harness.  well it turns out it is an exact plug and play match for my new seats.  lucky me.  direct bolt in woo hoo.













now I just need to swap the fuel filter and powdercoat my shock tower brace.  I may do that tomorrow, but Dad says he wants to come over and watch me work this weekend so maybe I will wait until then.  or maybe I will just bring him over tomorrow.  patience is not one of my virtues lol.


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## Chris (Oct 6, 2016)

Those seats look good. are you going to use Lexol on them? Might brighten them up a bit. I bought an 04 F350 yesterday that I need to make a litle prettier before I give it to one of my employees.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 6, 2016)

never heard of lexol.  I have some meguires leather cleaner and conditioner I will try on it.  but basically I think they look a ton better than the old ones.  I am going to save the electric seat track and then either sell or junk the rest of the old seats.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 6, 2016)

I use to use lexol on my horse saddles, worked really well.


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## Chris (Oct 6, 2016)

Lexol I think is the best out there for cleaner and conditioner. I use it on all my leather. Even the swing......


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## mustanggarage (Oct 6, 2016)

I looked at walmart.  they don't have it.  I will check at oreilly's next time I am there.

in the meantime I got some more powdercoating done tonight.

I find the powder sticks a lot better if you preheat the part.  so first hang it up with wire, then get out my IR light and heat it up.





then spray the powder on and start baking.





then when I was done there were some areas that I did not get adequate coverage on so I sprayed on some more powder and did it all again.  I worked on this for about 3 hours tonight.









but it turned out pretty good.





I will let it cool tonight I could bolt it on about 20 minutes but I don't feel like it tonight lol.


it is so much easier coating things that will fit in my oven lol.  but this IR light gives me the capability to do pretty much anything I have the patience for.  so it is a useful tool.


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## havasu (Oct 6, 2016)

How long does it take to do a specific spot with the IR light?


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## mustanggarage (Oct 6, 2016)

I don't know really, I just start at the bottom, and you can see the powder "flow out"  it goes from the particulate powder to  a liquid and becomes glossy, then you move it around in a circle so you get all sides and always try to keep a "wet edge so that it flows smoothly.  it really is something you just kind of have to watch.  the good news is that it really is not all that touchy.  I did manage to burn a spot on my jeep oilpan once, but in general as long as you keep the light about 3 inches from the part it is pretty forgiving so leaving it on a bit long won't hurt anything and helps to cure it better.  the most important part is making sure it is well cured.  so I tend to take it pretty slow.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

I guess I should explain a bit better.  you see you have to heat the metal not just the powder so different gauge metal requires different amounts of time to get hot.  this went a lot faster than when I did my axle housing.  but it is a slow process anyway.  with the oven you just pre-heat to 400 then bake it for 20 minutes and your done.


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## havasu (Oct 7, 2016)

Can you use one of those heat guns to cure it?


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

oh well I went ahead and bolted it on anyway.





btw I really like the sound of the new exhaust.  I will change the fuel filter tomorrow and then get the car off the lift and take it for a drive.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

havasu said:


> Can you use one of those heat guns to cure it?



no idea.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 7, 2016)

What about building a box say big enough to put a axel in for powder coating? Then anything bigger than the oven could just be put in and heated.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q7PK33s-ak[/ame]


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## havasu (Oct 7, 2016)

I don't have much experience with powdercoating, but do remember taking a Honda 50 frame to a professional for powdercoating and damn, this was alot of money!


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

oldognewtrick said:


> What about building a box say big enough to put a axel in for powder coating? Then anything bigger than the oven could just be put in and heated.



there are lots of write ups for diy powder coating ovens.  but anything big enough to make a difference takes up a lot of space and is still not going to be cheap so for me since I don't do big things that often I can get by.  maybe someday I will build a bigger oven.  who knows.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

havasu said:


> I don't have much experience with powdercoating, but do remember taking a Honda 50 frame to a professional for powdercoating and damn, this was alot of money!



I used pretty much the whole 8 0z bottle of red for the valve covers, the coil mount and the shock tower brace.  I wasted some because I like to put it on pretty heavy so I got a fair amount of overspray.  it is 18 dollars for one 8 oz bottle, it cost 14 to have it shipped to me.  the shipping is not as bad if you by more stuff. but you can get basically the same powder from harbor freight.  anyway with just my time and 30 bucks I did all that powder coating.  I have long since paid for my equipment.


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## Chris (Oct 7, 2016)

Amazon also carries powder with free shipping if you have prime. I haven't bought any but I saw it there. I have all my stuff to get started and my buddy who flips houses just came up on an electric oven for me for free so I might give it a try. I am looking at the lamps like you have, how many watts is yours?


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 7, 2016)

I was thinking metal studs, fire reared insulation, smooth aluminum sheet covering, heat source, freezer door for access and a way to hang it from the rafters what not in use. Just a thought.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 7, 2016)

awesome diy powder coating oven instructions.

http://www.powdercoatguide.com/2014/09/how-to-build-powder-coating-oven.html#.V_fVoiTFmh4


1800 watts.
http://www.eastwood.com/infra-red-powder-curing-lamp-1800-watts.html


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 7, 2016)

Here's a thought, build it so all the walls and roof can be taken apart for storage. Then it won't be in the way as much...just another random mussing...


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## mustanggarage (Oct 22, 2016)

today I went over and got my Dad from the nursing home. he is still able to get out and about, and although he has very little endurance these days, he is still the best mechanic I know. So I brought him over to "supervise" some work on the vert. I really wish I had come up with a better title for my thread now. it was kind of tongue in cheek when I did it, but I am liking this car so much now that I feel like I am insulting my buddy lol. anyway onward and well, onward.

first thing I did was to paint my door hinges. It looks unlikely that I will get those swapped this weekend, but we will see.





then I put the car on the lift, pulled the wheels off and started removing the rear control arms. first I supported the axle with my screw jacks. then unbolted the shocks in the trunk. then removed the rear sway bar and swapped the speed nuts to the other direction as they say to do on the LMR website. then I sanded it down and painted it with vht black paint.

then I removed the shocks, and the springs, and tried to remove the bolts from the lower control arm.

and this is when things started down the typical murphy path every project I do seems to follow lol. now in the video they just unbolted the lower control arms and they came right out, but that was not how it went for me lol. the bolts had seized inside the sleeves of course. just like trying to remove the leaf springs on my 65. what a pain in the butt. I ended up having to cut the heads of the bolts off with a 4 inch angle grinder and then drive them out with an air hammer. but I finally got them out. both sides had to be cut out like that. the upper part came out easier. so once I removed the lower control arms I cleaned up the mounting brackets with brake cleaner and a steel brush then painted them with rustoleum gloss black. then after that dried we put the new lower control arms in place. then removed the uppers and put them in place. everything went fine until the last control arm. for some reason the last metal tube that went inside the upper bushing was 1/4 inch longer than all of the others. now I know the later model cars had a larger bolt and sleeve, and this one was the correct one, it was just too long. so I had to cut it off a bit to get it to fit. once I had massaged all that and finally got the upper control arms in I put the new lowering springs in.

here is a little tip for anyone doing this. it is probably obvious to everyone but me lol. anyway when putting the new springs in, I dropped the screw jacks all the way out and tried to put the new springs in, It was a struggle until I got smart and put the screw jack back in on the opposite side and lifted the opposite side up, that dropped the side I was working on enough to get the new spring and isolater in easily. then repeat on the other side.










after that I installed the new kyb agx adjustable shock and the sway bar. the instructions do not tell you how the heck you are supposed to mount the emergency brake bracket back to the sway bar mount now that the bolt is coming from the other side. There did not seem to be enough threads coming through to get a nylock nut on there so I went to orshelins and bought a couple longer 10mm bolts and nylock nuts and that worked perfectly.

then I removed the pinion snubber bracket and removed the old snubber from the bracket.




then cleaned and powder coated the bracket and installed the new snubber.




bolted it back in. torqued everything but the bottom bolts on lower control arms to 60 foot pounds. put the wheels back on and dropped it on the ground to torque the lower control arms to 60 footpounds.

and finally I am done. with that part. tomorrow I will tackle the front. hopefully it will go a bit smoother, but knowing me I will not be holding my breath.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 22, 2016)

Title can be changed, what do you want it to be?


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## mustanggarage (Oct 22, 2016)

oldognewtrick said:


> Title can be changed, what do you want it to be?



I think 94 Mustang rejuvenation would be a better title.  people would at least know what it was then.


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## havasu (Oct 22, 2016)

That looks lots better to me!


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## Rusty (Oct 22, 2016)

havasu said:


> That looks lots better to me!



"Naked Strippers" would get more views.


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## Chris (Oct 23, 2016)

I'd view it twice.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 23, 2016)

true, lol, but then we would just get more spammers.

well if anyone who reads this thread has ever installed lowering springs on the front of one of these cars they will know that I have never done it before or I would not have been so optimistic yesterday lol.  no this did not go easier than the rear springs in fact it took me even longer to finish.  but I did get it done.

first I put it up on the lift, pulled the front wheels, and then put a jack under the lower control arm to load the spring.  then I removed the upper strut nut with a 1/2 inch drive impact.  so far so good.  then I removed the abs mounting bracket, and the two bolts holding the strut and removed the strut.  easy peazy.  then I removed the 2 15 mm bolts holding the brake caliper in place and wired it up out of the way.  then I removed the abs sensor, then the sway bar nut and dropped the jack.  then I simply removed the spring,,,, ok not so simply.  I pried and cussed and pried and could not get the spring out.  so I went to oreilly's and rented an external spring compressor and came back and could not get it to work.  so I just tied a ratchet strap on it to keep it from exploding out at me if it should suddenly give way and just let my mad out and pried it with two long pry bars until it finally came out.  that took me hours.  so then I cleaned it up and went to put the new spring back in.  I decided to leave what I thought was a spring isolator in the control arm but there was simply no way to get the spring in there.  so I decided to remove the isolator.  that was when I finally realized why it was so hard to get the spring out.  I drove a 3 inch pry bar under that isolator and pried it up, put in another and drove it in, pried up, and slowly moved around until I finally got that stupid thing out.  this is what I found.





It wasn't a spring isolator, and if I had ever done this job before I would have known that lol.  the stupid spring had rusted so bad it was rusted in two.  I literally had to pry that last ring of the spring out of the a arm like it had been welded in there.  It should have just fallen out.  I think that the previous owner must have parked this car with the drivers side facing north for years and let snow and crap just rust that side completely.  it was the drivers side in the rear that was the worst as well. 

anyway I finally after several hours got the new spring in, unfortunately I discovered that the drivers side ball joint was also shot.  so I asked my wife to go back to oreillys and get 2 ball joints and there ball joint compressor. in the meantime, I pulled the other side apart, it was so much easier, it was like I had done it before lol.  then I  watched a couple utube videos and tried to replace the ball joints.  unfortunately the ball joint compressor was not big enough.  the hole that the ball joint stud was supposed to fit through was too small.  I made it work anyway.  but it was a struggle.  I had to get out my big breaker bar to get the old ones out and new ones pressed in.





but once I finally got those replaced I went back to oreilly for another trip, took back my rented tools and got some new sway bar endlinks.  came back and put everything back together.  several mistakes putting things back together. of course.  important safety note, you can't get the stupid abs sensor back in if you have re-installed the strut already. 

anyway I did get it back together.





then while I still had it on the lift I replaced the broken drivers side fog light with the new assembly I got from late model restoration.  and finally put the wheels back on, dropped it to the ground and torqued the wheels back on.


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## havasu (Oct 23, 2016)

Since I'm being lazy, can you advise how many miles you have on the car? Can you feel the difference in the ride with the new suspension?


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## Rusty (Oct 23, 2016)

havasu said:


> Since I'm being lazy, can you advise how many miles you have on the car? Can you feel the difference in the ride with the new suspension?



That was the problem I had with the 60s Mustangs. They rode like a truck. And they were only a Falcon with different skin. Did not handle well either at high speed.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 23, 2016)

havasu said:


> Since I'm being lazy, can you advise how many miles you have on the car? Can you feel the difference in the ride with the new suspension?



The odometer says 78,000. But the car looked like it has seen a lot more than. That to me

As far as the ride. I finished the suspension at about 12:30 last night and got it off the lift. That is as far as it has moved. I will have to let you know about that later


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## mustanggarage (Oct 23, 2016)

ok.  well I took it for a drive tonight.  the ride does not seem to have been adversely affected.  it still rides fine.  it handles better.   the suspension feels tighter, less wallowing etc.  no tire rubbing around corners yet either.  so,  I will have to take it on a longer drive to say much more than that.  but there was obviously some seriously worn components in the suspension so I am sure it will be more apparent when I have a chance to drive it more.  btw here is a finished pic after my test drive.


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## havasu (Oct 24, 2016)

Damn MG, did you go off-roading?


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## mustanggarage (Oct 24, 2016)

just the joys of living on a gravel road.  I usually clean the car before I take pictures.


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## oldognewtrick (Oct 24, 2016)

With those spoke wheels, powder coating the calipers would make them pop, says the armchair quarterback...


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## mustanggarage (Oct 24, 2016)

yeah I considered painting them with caliper paint.  but it was getting late.  I plan to upgrade the brakes with some nice slotted and crossdrilled rotors and pads, I will probably get the powdercoated covers for the rotors at that time.  in order to powder coat the calipers though you have to remove them from the car, thoroughly clean out all the brake fluid, dissasemble them and replace all the seals after you bake them because the baking process tends to dry out and crack seals.  so it is a pretty involved process.  paint or covers is much easier.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 29, 2016)

I got the Hinge on the drivers side replaced tonight.  that was a minor pain, but we got it.  I also took my Dad and daughter home tonight.  it was A LOT of weight.  and no rubbing.  I am very pleased with the way the car handles now.


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## Chris (Oct 30, 2016)

Thats awesome!


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## Chris (Oct 31, 2016)

Question for you, can you powder coat aluminum or other metals? I'd like to do the mirror housings on my RV.


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## mustanggarage (Oct 31, 2016)

Chris said:


> Question for you, can you powder coat aluminum or other metals? I'd like to do the mirror housings on my RV.



the short answer is yes.  many aluminum wheels come powder coated.  the same things apply with the caveat that aluminum must be very clean the oxidation must be removed.  all polish etc.  must be removed.  I believe eastwood PRE is ok to use on aluminum but some kind of solvent should be used to make sure it is clean.  I don't know about pot metal.  I guess as long as the melting point is over 400  it should be ok.


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## mustanggarage (Nov 7, 2016)

ok.  well as I said I had considered using those covers.  but I found they cost 199.00.  then I decided to paint them.  but that will require a lot of cleaning, waiting for it to dry.  painting, waiting for it to dry.  etc.  then the  paint may or may not stay on.  but instead I found a kit from auto anything that includes new powder coated calipers for less than the cost of the covers.  so I ordered this set that has new zinc coated rotors, new pads and new powder coated calipers.  I also bought some caliper decals to put on them.  I will hopefully get them installed this weekend.  but I decided to post a little preview of coming attractions.  also this weekend my oldest daughter wanted to go for a ride with the top down.

here are a couple pictures.
here is my wife driving the car for the first time.


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## Chris (Nov 8, 2016)

I really like those wheels on that car. It's looking good.


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## havasu (Nov 8, 2016)

Damn, it is becoming a showpiece. Those calipers will make it pop.


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## mustanggarage (Nov 8, 2016)

next up for how to spend money and time on the mustang.





I chose the powerstop z26 option with powder coated calipers for many reasons.  I researched several options.  first the ever popular cobra brake option.  going with that option from late model restoration would be around 1400.00 for front and rear.  Or if I could find them on ebay I could possibly have gotten used brakes for a bit cheaper.  The Baer and wilwood options were very similar in cost.  I also considered just getting new pads and rotors and buying those caliper covers.  I decided that option  was just too rice for me.  I considered painting the calipers and that was actually the way I planned to go until I found this kit on auto anything.  It has new powdercoated calipers and nice zinc coated rotors and pads.  I have the same pads and rotors on my 89 convertible and they have worked well there so I am sure these will be more than adequate for my purposes.  This car is primarily a driver so buying the big brake kits would be solely an ego thing.  totally for appearance and I decided that thousand extra dollars it would cost me was not worth it to me.  so here it is. 




















now I need to bleed the brakes and bed the pads.


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## havasu (Nov 8, 2016)

Wow, what a difference!


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## Rusty (Nov 9, 2016)

Fess up., I bet the dog is doing all the work.


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## mustanggarage (Nov 9, 2016)

Rusty said:


> Fess up., I bet the dog is doing all the work.



that dog is crazy.  I love him to death.  he is always right by my side.  last night I was trying to get the e-brake cable attached and look down and he is laying down with his head on my foot.  but that is my poor buddy who is sick. I worry about the poor guy


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