Hey there all,
Picked up a pretty decent 69 a few weeks ago and have been taking care of some things. New brakes, brake hoses, brake fluid… new coolant hoses and coolant… new shocks, a few new vacuum hoses, switched my distributor over to manifold vacuum and capped the vacuum tree etc. New spark plugs, fuel pump and rebuilt the 2bbl (2100) carb. I do still need to put the timing light on it and check the float level, minor stuff like that.
Got bushings on the way to fix my loose shifter, which I’m thinking will make the car pretty much road worthy. Will have to drive it to see what else needs attention. I guess I’ll pull the back seat side panels and service the window mechanicals since the back seat is out (to get at the shocks). And may as well pull off the door panels and do the same for those windows… Driver side is loose, probably unglued, will find out soon!
So what’s next up after that? Car NEEDS a paint job and I’d like to get on that relatively soon. Interior isn’t too ratty and actually stay as-is for a minute. Headliner has a small spot and the vinyl top is completely trashed, so apparently I’m going to have to pull the back window for that? Probably need to go ahead and get the headliner (and sail panels? Package shelf?) while the glass is out. What about the windshield?
And what order does this need to happen in? I’m kind of thinking like pull all the trim, emblems, side markers etc, and the vinyl top, then maybe clean and fix rust (hopefully there isn’t any!) then spray epoxy sealer where the new top will go on. Next, strip paint off the whole car so we can see how much hail damage has been bondoed and painted over. Got one spot cracking, so I already know of at least one. Smaller hail dents exist on the hood and trunk as well, so there could be quite a few. I’m not going to do any metal work, but I want to see what all is going on before I just hand it over to someone.
At that point, when all has been revealed, do I drop it off at the body shop? Pull the back glass and drop it off? Back and front glass? Headliner after paint, I assume…
And I’ll probably rebuild the front end before it goes. Not that I couldn’t do it later, but I don’t really need to drive it to know that the 57 year old rubber bushing aren’t in great shape. Probably do the Shelby drop and weld in some shock tower supports while I’m in there…
Gonna be my daily driver once it’s back together. Original headlights and tail lights/turn signals all work, wipers, washer high/low beams all work fine, got 2 year old tires, new-looking single exhaust, runs nice and smooth and quiet. …really seems not bad at all as a starting point for a really decent ride.
351W/FMX/3.00 open diff. For now!
Maybe in a couple years it’ll have headers, dual exhaust, stroker alum heads, 4 bbl, 3.5(ish) lsd, 15" wheels… But definitely stock for a while at least.
Wade
