The Ghia Will Run This Year!
September 2008 - The Ghia sees daylight for the first time in a year! Even better is that it's outside on jackstands for easy access so that I can get more done to it. With the silver car cover, no front wheels, no rear axle, and raised on jack stands, it looks like a flying saucer of some sort. I'm still working on the undercoating removal and rust spot cleaning. Funny how much you can see in the daylight, even under the car.
October 2008 - Yet more undercoating removal and rust spot cleaning. I keep finding small cracks or chips in the paint with a tiny bit of rust underneath. Sanding usually reveals the rust spot is a good deal larger than the crack or chip, but they are easily cleaned up.
I'm getting close to reassembly! The bottom cleaning has been completed and all bare metal coated with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. It just needs a coat of spraybomb black enamyl to be done.
In the driver-side wheelwell I have removed the undercoating and factory protection from around the rust through spot that I already knew about. Its not any larger than I expected and is surrounded by clean metal. It looks like Ford went to some lengths to protect the MII wheelwells. The sheetmetal is galvanized, joints between panels have seam sealer, the sheetmetal is painted, and there is a coat of a textured plastic-like material over most of the wheelwell. Now to decide between a quick fiberglass cover repair or a cut and patch of the damaged area...
October 26th - Big afternoon! I managed to get all of my previously primed spots scuffed, wiped with thinner, and painted with Krylon gloss black. I'm finally done with cleaning and protecting the bottom of the car! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the wheel wells...then its onward to re-assembly.
November 14th - Another productive day! I used the template that I created to remove a donor patch from the '76 2+2 to remove the rusty area from the Ghia's driver side rear wheel well. the original removal from the 2+2 took several days with a series of tools, but this time only took 2 hours because I bought a $40 right-angle air grinder and some 3 inch cut-off discs. What a difference the correct tools makes! Now to trim the donor patch to exactly fit the hole and to have it welded in...
I also drilled my forward leaf spring mounts to raise the front leaft spring mounting point one inch. When the rear shackles are drilled simarily, the rear of the car will sit one inch lower, without using lowering blocks. I got the idea here: Mustang II Tech Page . Thanks guys!
Sadly the Ghia is not likely to move under its own power this year...too many family things to do around Christmas. However I'm to a point where refinishing one fuel line will allow me to start reassembly on the fuel and brake lines, and then move on to the rear suspension.