I just managed to get hold of a 67 Mustang Convertible that I would like to restore.  The car is in good mechanical shape as the engine, transmission, alternater, electronics, powertop, etc. seem to all work fine.  The underbody needs considerable work including new floor pans, rails, cowl, etc.

My question is this....  The outside body Fenders, wheel wells, door edges, and a few other places are showing minor to moderate rusting.  I want to preserve the condition of the car as much as possible as I begin working on this car.  

Should I chip away any bubling paint and sand any rust to get the car down to bare metal and then paint it with a primer?  The car is now parked in my garage but it had been sitting in a barn for about 7-years.  

I am also curious if I should consider doing something for the inside of these same parts?  Is sandblasing the only way to really do this?

How to I control the rusting with the expectation that this may well be a 2-year project?  Oh yea, I have solid mechanical experience but little to no body work experience.  Likewise I do not have any of the bodyshop tools that I will need such as sandblasing equipment, painters, etc.

Thanks for any advise!

Ok,I have good news and bad news.

Good news:it will be easy to keep the rust down after you do what I tell you to.

Bad news:I'm going to tell you that you have to do all the sanding and body work ASAP and get the primer be for you can set the can up.

With out being able to see the car it's tuff to say but I think the way to go will be a frame off with that much rust.(5% rust is alot)

Put in the floor pans so the body will stay in one peace then pull it off and work over in side and out.

You will find more rust in side I bet but it should not take long to deal with.

DO NOT USE BODY FILLER! weld in new steel and keep everything you take off,it will blow your mind what you can't get today(nuts,blots,ect)

You should be able to get the body back on in 6 months if you work about 4 or 5hrs. a day every Sat.

Good luck.

smarty_pants,

So you are suggesting that it is a darned good idea to get all the rust off the car as soon as possible.  Accordingly, this means that I should sand and paint both the inside and outside of these pieces such as the quarter pannels etc?

I am expecting that I will need to do a sizabel amount of this work with most of the body pieces removed as the rails, floor pans, and cowl are major projects.  I am hoping that I will be able to leave the engine and transmission in the car but what do I know?

At this point I am trying to learn just how I do the pan and rail repairs as obviously these are the only components of the car that keep the middle from sagging.  As for finding more rust, I am sure that you are right and I likewise plan to restore this car the right way as much as possible.  For now, I have a couple books on order and I am trying to get/find as much help as I can.

This car thing sure is a whole lot more work than an AR-15 project!

Quarterbore,

I'm in kinda the same boat.  I'm going to do some bodywork on my '83 F150.  I've been visiting the [url=www.autobodystore.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?index]Autobody Forum[/url].  These guys are very helpful to folks like me who don't have much experience in bodywork/painting.

BTW, I ran across your site while doing a search for information on the 338-06 caliber.  That's probably what I'll chamber my next project rifle.  Good info.  Thanks.

I had a '66 Mustang 2+2 that had to have the rust removed and other stuff done to it. I also helped my friend restore his '65 coupe (these were back in high school, 10 years ago).

smarty_pants is right:  get rid of the rust ASAP!  

Depends on where the rust is.  If it's in one of the places listed below, forget sanding.  With classic Mustangs, by the time the paint bubbles there is plenty of rust underneath that paint.  Sanding it all away will thin out the metal.  Your best bet will be to cut out the rusted metal and weld in new steel, as smarty_pants says.  Get some restoration catalogs (Mustang Depot is one of the ones I used, though pricey) and order the correct steel.  
[list]Mustang trouble spots:[*]front fenders behind the wheels (toward the bottom)[/*][*]rocker panels below the doors[/*][*] bottom of the door skins[/*][*]rear quarter panels both in front and behind the wheels[/*][/list]
The drain holes often got plugged by debris and not cleaned out.  The water just sat there and worked from the inside out, so by the time you saw the bubbling paint, it became a cut/weld job.  If these are the places you have rust, then a frame-off restoration would probably be the way to go.  If you only have a couple spots, then it MIGHT not be necessary.

Sanding and painting the inside of the panels shouldn't be necessary, but do spray them with a rust inhibitor.

Do a search on "Ford Mustang restoration" and that should give you plenty of places to get the right info.

Thanks for the additional feedback!  I have been looking at the various web pages and I have set up a links page where I am keeping track of the information that I have found.

[url]http://quarterbore.com/mustang/stanglinks.html[/url]

It is clear that this project is going to allot of work but it is also clear that guys have restored cars that are far worse than the one I have!  I hope to get some pics on-line soon and start a page where I can share this project.  In hindsight, I wish I had choose a car with a fraim as a GM Camaro would have been a much easier project!  Just the same, the wife really wants the 67 Mustang Convertible so as long as I can do it, I will?

Thanks again for the suggestions!  I promise any and all advise will not fall on deaf ears!  P.S. Compared to this car [url]http://www.karmustang.com/resto1.htm[/url] our Mustang is showroom quality!  If a car like this can be restored, then ours is a walk in the park!  (Then again I don't own a shop and have 23-yrs of experience doing this kind of work [:(])

If you don't already have one, get a digital camera! (saves on having to get film processed and easily put on Bulliten Boards, when assistance is needed)

I have helped on several project's and having pictures, can help immensely! Also, start saving plastic containers, to keep little parts in and make sure you mark it well, as to what it is!

Good Luck!

i guess i disagree on the time schedule for the bodywork. for the rust i'd suggest doing is little work as possible now, but with the maximum benefit. in other words, don't spend tons of time and effort on a+ body work if you wont paint the car for two more years. just do enough so thar your investment is protected.

in that time. your skills will improve and you'll probably be able to do any body work better and faster than you could now. also, you'll come to think of rust work as a pain in the ass that takes time far too much time away from other more significant mechanical things. also, you may even acquire many of those panels and parts in far better shape from the contacts you'll make while the project is under way.

if the car is going to remain in a cool and dry garage, the rust will proceed much slower than it would if out in the elements. i might even argue that in that environment, you probably don't even need to do anything to it.

however, you can learn a good bit and get some idea of what you have to look forward to by taking care of the bubbling and any "crunchy" areas. a course grit disc on an angle grinder should expose the metal jsut fine. take out the most heavily rusted areas and see what will need to be replaced. if you're going to wait a while, jsut paint the touble spots with whatever paint you have handy. (most primers will allow oxygen to reach the metal and rusting will start or continue if you dont seal with a paint topcaoat. )

if the car is going to be in the elements at all, then the rust is more of an issue. the already rusted areas will trap moisture from rain, condensation, humidity, etc. and the rusting can increase exponentially. in two years significant corrosion can occur on unprotected metal if left outside.

unless you have access to industrial sandblasting equipment and facilities, don't plan on it for anything more involved then trouble spots or small parts. it creates an insane amount of mess and takes a good bit of time. with all that involved, you're probably better off sending the stuff out to be handled by someone with the ideal set-up.

btw, where are you? im in central pa and probably have a lot of the body stuff you may need.

eurotrash,

Thanks for the comments and advise.  I live in South Eastern PA near Valley Forge.  The car will be remaining in the garage from this point forward and it wasn't previously due to the lack of space in my better half's previous garage (or lack there of).

I do have a digital camera and I have a ton of pictures that I need to get on-line but as always I have too many projects on-going and I have not had time to sit down at the home PC and upload the photos and I can't do it at work.

Regards,
Quarterbore

Quarterbore,

You will need to pull the dive line out but it will come out as one after you pull off the front end.

Body off is the only way with rust,I get Euro's idea but the key word here "restoration" not fix up, if thats really what you want then you will need to work it over inside and out.
You don't want to get good at body work anyway and if you do take a class do try it out on your car.

A good body man(and for the folks in Cal. body woman)will cut out the rust and weld in new steel,there is not real work just know-how.
This way you should prime it all now you will have new steel that will rust in about 2secs. if you don't and you will want to act now to save your body.
Rust will not stop even if there is no water the rust will eat you steel up,yes you can buy new ones but it would be better to 1966 body parts on your 1966 Mustang.

Put it this way a 66 Stang with good body work is $7,500 to 12,000 one that had a total frame off restoration and good numbers can go for $50,000 to hell with the fact that it will draive like a 96 not a 66 after.


BTW: get the pans in first, the body will not hold up off the frame with out a stiff floor.
And don't do what I just did, if you buy wheels for it do it when the body is on.
They ALL fit with no body[;)]