Project 1990 country squire resto/modification - Page 43 - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

andyfanshawe · 04-09-2012, 14:25

Got to panel beat it almost flat.

Then stripped all the lip ready for welding repairs in 2 spots.

Also took the paint off the other lower end of the fender to discover some pitting that would have bled through my new paint! Media blaster out next then.

Andy

andyfanshawe · 04-29-2012, 12:44

Media blasted the remaining rusty areas of the fender on the garden!

Here's the pitted area photographed above blasted

And then gone over with a polyester wheel on an electric drill and any deep pits gone over with a die grinder.

Final job to do on it before prepping for paint is to replace a section of the rusty lip and reducing it all in width.
Here's the bad bit cut out

Part of a cornflake packet being used as a template!

To be honest the fender was junk! Its took me weeks to get all the corrosion off, and will take me loads longer to get it flat! But, none available here in the UK so thats that. And I've got to do it all again on the other side!
Andy.

andyfanshawe · 05-05-2012, 15:23

Lip welded in

Now its time to reduce the width of the lip. Masking tape on and a pencil line to cut down

and cutting

Here's an interesting discovery. Final paint sanding and this line of rust appears through the paint

Same line with rust ground out

That would have caused some paint bubbling a year or so down the line.
Here is the fender all flatted back and ready for a skim of bondo and primer.

Andy.

**djzx3** · 05-05-2012, 15:33

Very nice work, glad to see you posting updates again.

andyfanshawe · 05-06-2012, 12:34

Over to a very suspicious looking A post.

So, what I am going to do is to peel back the layers and try to see what exactly is going on.
First section removed

Second bit peeled up

Third bit peeled back (hinge reinforcement)

and last bit clear so far.

This is some heavy rust. And I know for a fact that the passenger side is far far worse - to a point where someone has welded the hinge to the A post because the bolts dont work anymore!
I still need to find out why its rusted in the first place.
Andy.

andyfanshawe · 05-10-2012, 13:58

Finally finished removing enough steel to know roughly why its rusting.
Take a look here

I think the moisture is coming down the A post here as well as creeping around the hinge.

I'm going to have to cut out here and replace this first

But its dash out first because I ain't setting fire to it when welding it up! And I'm going to need full access to the firewall when moving the floor up.
Andy.

**djzx3** · 05-10-2012, 14:35

Dam. That's a lot of rust.

This car is going to be so clean when done.

**R.S.LOGAN** · 05-10-2012, 15:00

Hard to see right from pictures but is it not mostly surface rust ? For the year of car not too bad compared to other makes of same era ? But knowing how much of a perfectionist you are , you wont be happy till it's replaced and up to your high standards , rightly so .Keep up the good work mate , all the best .

andyfanshawe · 05-14-2012, 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.S.LOGAN

Hard to see right from pictures but is it not mostly surface rust ? For the year of car not too bad compared to other makes of same era ? But knowing how much of a perfectionist you are , you wont be happy till it's replaced and up to your high standards , rightly so .Keep up the good work mate , all the best .

Hi. Circled bit on the right is not surface rust. Will be coming out. Thanks for your continued support though. Stay tuned.

Now its dash removal time. And if anyone tells you that its easy, well they are a big fat liar :nono:
The main problem is that there are 2 huge bunches of wires that go through the firewall and into the engine compartment. The one on the drivers side is reasonable,

but on the passenger side the loom goes under the heater box, so that and the passenger inner fender will have to come out to get access. So move the car out of the garage a bit

and out it comes

Thats not going back!
Here's the dash partly removed awaiting loom removal

Took a big decision to remove all the AC and airbag wiring and components. For 2 reasons really. I dont know when the AC worked last and the compressor was seized when I bought it, so it could cost a fortune to put right. And the weather in the UK doesn't really justify the cost.
It will also make the engine bay look a lot cleaner. The airbag is now 22 years old and very unlikely to work efficiently - so out it all comes.
Here's all the AC stuff out so far

Here's a before and after photo of condenser removal

Looks a lot cleaner now (photo taken just before inner fender removal)

andyfanshawe · 05-15-2012, 15:14

Finally got the dash clear

Took me 1 hour to try to remove the wiring plug from the fan resistor pack on the firewall behind the plenum. Eventually gave up and had to spend another hour trying to undo the 2 8mm bolts holding it on. Here's the little sucker

Even then it took some pulling and levering to get the plug off. This is why

You can just see the rust on the pins. These are going to need a good clean up.
I said earlier that dash removal on this 1990 cv was a PITA, but I was wrong. PITA is a complete understatement. This could be a new punishment for criminals. Rather than going to jail they have to remove the dashboard on a box panther.
I'm seriously looking forward to putting this back :nono:
But it wont be going back like this - many mods will be done including removing some of the wires and possible rearrangement. More of that later. Now I can get back to the welding.
Andy.