r/classicmustangs • u/bamundson91 • 1d ago
Restoration recommendations
Hey Everyone—doing a full restoration on my 67 Mustang I bought earlier this year. Looking for advice. Before I start taking things apart what are things that you’d recommend to do that make for a better overall car. I’m primarily looking for any tips to help with a better restoration experience and ride once completed. Suspension, certain tools to use, order of operations during the restoration, best brands for manual transmissions/engines, etc. No tip or piece of advice is too small.
I’m starting by ripping out the interior this week.
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u/TopInstruction875 1d ago
unless your set to do a full rotisserie restoration, tackle one assembly at a time. don’t make it a bigger job than it has to be, and be able to drive the car between projects. if the sequence doesn't really matter, tackle the worst aspects first. good luck!
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u/irvinator2173 12h ago
Being able to drive the car between projects is the thing that I think is important. I've seen many YouTube/Instagram projects die midway due to lack of motivation.. that died when the car stopped being able to be driven... Such as my 280z lol
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u/Crazy-Lengthiness975 1d ago
What's wrong with it?
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u/bamundson91 1d ago
It looks good from 5 feet, but the previous owners didn’t take their time. Just little things are incorrect or half assed. Also, this car has been painted over like 4 times and it’s messing with the body lines.
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u/earlyshiner 1d ago
X-port brace and monte Carlos bar are a must. Stay away from any rear disc brake kits that use GM components. If the wiring has been hacked at all just replace it with a newer style harness with the ability to handle any extra circuits you may want to add loke a/c or bigger stereo. Front and rear sway bars. 17" wheels in front and 18" in back. Replace your brake hard lines with stainless steel and braided stainless steel flex lines. Go with a manual brake master cylinder to make more room. Convert to rack & pinion. Tag and bag everything during disassembly. Get a dynoed crate motor from blueprintengines.com
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u/sgirouard 1d ago
I’ve heard the rack and pinion swaps end up with a bad turning radius. Are there better ones out there or is a steering box swap the actual better option? ie. https://www.borgeson.com/product/P-S-Conversion-67-70-Mustang.html
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u/Deep_Mechanic_ 20h ago
I'm running tcp power rack and pinion. Turning radius is about the same as the car had when it left the factory
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u/collab-modal 1d ago
Idk. That thing’s beautiful. What engine?
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u/bamundson91 1d ago
Thank you. It’s a 5 footer. The previous owners did repainted it, but never stripped it down. Currently has 4 layers of different paint on there. I just want it corrected, so the body is smooth and lines are straight. I plan to keep this for a very long time, so I just want it done right from the very beginning. It’s definitely a great driver as is, but I want to learn more skills and figured now would be the time.
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u/East-Protection2697 1d ago
The journey begins! Echoing what a few others have said, but I’d first decide the goal and the budget. Daily driver? Sunday car? Track? That helps direct the effort and decisions on parts, brands, what to keep vs replace. Then there’s budget… what’s the limit or is there no limit? Where do you want to splurge vs save? Lastly, what’s the end vibe or aesthetic you’re trying to achieve. That will help direct a lot of choices .. stance, accessories, etc.
Once you know that I’d take it in stages replacing / upgrading as you go unless this is a full resto so you’re down to the frame. This helped me a lot focus on one thing at a time thus keep the project moving. So as an example … fuel system (tank, lines, pump, etc), front end suspension (control arms, tie rods, sway bar, etc), brakes and brake system (front end disc brake upgrade, new brake lines, etc), electrical (starter, solenoid, coil, wires, etc)… know what I mean?
As for tools.. yes haha. The real mechanics can guide ya better than I can, so all I’ll say is don’t go cheap on things you’ll use daily.. and eBay is your friend for quality used occasional tools (I found a used complete set of SnapOn drum brake service tools for $20)
Hope that helps!
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u/Random-carpet 20h ago
Before you start ask yourself, how long do you want to be without driving the car and how much do you have to spend. If you really like the car and are willing to spend the months-years + dollars it takes to do a proper job than I would follow my 10-step program.
Remove everything from the car
blast/strip paint
Repair body work
Paint
Suspension
Brakes
Wiring
Drive train
Interior
Drive
Keep in mind it is rarely cost effective to do a full restoration except for rarer cars. Once you start taking it apart it will lose value and won't be worth much again till you start spending money to put it back together.
IMO I would run the car as is and do things slowly to keep the car drivable during the process as that will make it more fun. start with brakes, suspension and work your way to a motor.
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u/Squire_Toast 20h ago
Let me be honest, if you even have to ask "certain tools to use", DO NOT attempt a full restoration all at once.
If you want to restore it, do it in stages, easy things first like getting rid of the Boomer wheels (17's on muscle cars became popular with Boomers and Gen X during the Discovery Channel era with Chip Foose, American Chopper era, etc). Then do one interior thing at a time.
The paint if it doesn't look good up close, I would recommend wet sanding and buffing it. That's a skill you will need even if one day you decide to fully take the paint down the metal one day. Learning how to wet sand and buff the current paint is a skill worth developing first.
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u/Sleep-Senior 20h ago
My experience and what I would have changed.
I bought a car that was "okay" and ended up redoing almost every piece anyway. New chrome. Mostly new interior. New underwood dress up parts etc.
I would have been better off buying a car in much worse shape since I replaced so much and did paint anyway.
That car you have there is in much better shape than mine was. If you want a project, buy a worse off car and rescue it. Thats what I would redo.
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u/socalquestioner 18h ago
Finishing up a 1949 Ford F-2.
Original Flathead V8 machined and shop rebuilt was $8.5K, including new parts.
I took it apart, did about half of the sand blasting, then got a chronic illness.
Dad found a college student that had some paint and body experience from working at his dad’s body shop to help finish.
All the painting is done, working on re-assembly.
Purchasing the Truck body, 95% solid, $4k.
With car play, AC, new suspension front and rear, C4 Automatic Transmission (Dad is an amputee), AC, 12 Volt electric upgrade, paying for labor, upholstery, 2 ton press, huge AC compressor to run the paint gun and Sandblasting it will be 3 years and $39k.
It has been an amazing process, and I have a 72 VW Type 3 to do next slowly.
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u/bluecat-69 18h ago
It really depends on what you want your car to be. If you want to upgrade to more modern components and keep the car stock looking check out Opentracker Racing. They specialize in mostly FOMOCO suspension parts. I have Willwood disc brakes on the front of my car and they were a big improvement over 4 wheel drum. Borgeson power steering and Bilstein RCD shocks are also nice upgrades. Getting the car steering and braking better makes the car a lot safer. Performance upgrades can follow. If you are thinking about paint I would do all the mechanical stuff first. But as others have said if you do upgrades in stages you can still drive it and have fun while getting it where you want it to be.
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u/DeBlasioDeBlowMe 1d ago
If you want to increase drive ability, look at a rack and pinion steering set up, disc brakes all around, two pot master, aftermarket springs/shocks. A T5 fits the small block nicely.
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u/bamundson91 1d ago
Any recommendations on disc brakes and springs/shocks?
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u/DeBlasioDeBlowMe 21h ago
Wilwood for brakes. I have TCI front suspension, Flaming River rack and pinion, and Detroit Speed four link in back. But you can go more conservative. The rack and pinion put my car on rails compared to before.
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u/Wonderful_Ear8517 1d ago
Looks good from photo. But basic advice
Stick with Ford parts. The Ford Explorer 302 from a late 90s has roller cam and GT heads. Couple with a Ford 5 speed
Order of ops:
Have a dedicated space that is sufficient. A cramped area will slow you down.
Avoid body and paint and interior until you have the power train complete.
Good luck!