My Sallie '65 Mustang Restoration

by Patrick G
(Redding, Ca.)

Questions:

I have finally got my dream car.

Unfortunately, there is more work to be done on this thing than I truly realized. I have a lot of ideas for this beauty but its come to having time and of course money.

It took me 20 years to get to this point, if it takes another 10 to get it where i want it, then so be it. You see, I am also into racing, oval asphalt track.

I recently bought my own car and am in the process of building my motor for the up coming season. My 1965 mustang right now, is in the sanding and prep phase of the restoration and honestly is not costing me to much money.

But I am stumped in some places on what to do next. I have sanded 2/3 of the car, minus the roof and front clip.

The roof has that after market textured spray on it to look like vinyl. I haven't figured out how to get it off yet.

Well today, I decided to remove the back window, what a task that was. I know both windows have to be out in order to install a new headliner, which i don't have to begin with.

I was praying for the best, taking out all the weather stripping and BAM, I saw it. Rust in the lower bottom corners of the window frame. Minor, but its there.

I plan on keeping up on this website in the future if someone out there can help me out in what to do.

The last rust spot i found, I cleaned it up, and fiber glassed it. Do i do the same in this circumstance?

By the way, My pictures will be coming soon.

Answers:

Congratulations on your 1965 Mustang !

It's always fun and games with a restoration, but the great thing about restoring a classic Mustang, is the abundance of parts and options.

I'll give you a few suggestions, here, and hopefully others will be able to contribute to help out.

Rust in the lower corners of the window frame are pretty common and usually caused by wearing out of the window seals.

You first, need to know exactly the extent of the rust damage. I can tell you that what I thought were only pin holes on the floors of my 1965 Mustang coupe, turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg!

If the damage isn't huge, you may be able to simply clean up the area with a grinder, wheel or small sandblaster. Then use a mig welder to fill in the small holes.

If the damage is larger, you could cut out the bad metal and either replace it by welding in some 18 gauge steel, or even cutting and welding in pieces cut out of a donor car.

Pieces like this can usually be found for nothing or next to nothing from guys that have just parted out a non rebuild-able Mustang, so long as you are willing to cut the piece out yourself.

Brett from Australia did a nice job on a much more serious rear window rust problem, and I've included a link to his page, showing how he repaired his 1972 Mustang Grande rear window.

If you need more information, you could add a comment to his page, and he could maybe offer some further information on his rust repairs.

I haven't had the opportunity (or chore) to have to remove the rock guard or bed liner stuff that's being sprayed on some cars, to imitate a vinyl roof, but if it's asphalt or tar based, a solvent like xylene should be able to break it down.

As far as the rubberized stuff goes, maybe someone can offer a solution.

By the way... Looking forward to the pictures. Just fill out another contact form and upload them, and I'll see that they get attached to your post.

B.






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