Putting the Front End Together

Although today was the day before Christmas, Lauren still had to work so I went over to my parents to work on the Mustang. My goal was to get it out of their driveway before the end of the year and I'll be close to meeting that goal although it will likely be there for a little bit past the new year.

Today I spent some more time going back over the car with some 3M rubbing compound and a finishing polish called Finesse. The car is even more glossy now than it was before! I also went over the majority of it with a coat of wax to protect its lovely new finish. I'll have to finish up the rest of it on Monday.

I also took the time to put on the lower grille support, grill, headlights, and front fender extensions. The car looks much more complete now. I still don't have the bumpers so I wasn't able to put them on.

I also put in the firewall heat shield that was left over from the portion that was used for the headliner. I had to do some measuring and cutting in order for it to fit in as one whole piece since the steering column and pedal support were in the way. It fit in quite nicely.

The plan now is to install the headliner and the front/rear glass on Monday only to leave the side windows to install before I can put in the carpet, gauges and seats. Mustang Monthly did a good article on installing a headliner which can be viewed HERE. Once that is done. I'll pretty much be able to drive it if the need should arise. I'll still need to have mufflers and pipe installed and I'll need to install the 22-gallon gas tank, but it's just about there. I'll have another "on-call" checking coming my way in about a month or so which will cover the exhaust as well as some other parts (maybe the bumpers, reverse lights and turn signals.)

Final Coat of Clear on Interior & Heat Wave Installed

I had the opportunity to get some work done on the Mustang yesterday before mens group so I decided to install the Second Skin Heat Wave Pro along the roof of the car to help keep it cool. First I wanted to get some pictures of the interior since it was wet sanded and resprayed with a second coat of clear. It turned out great and I'm looking forward to installing the headliner, glass and interior.

'66 Mustang Driver Door

'66 Mustang Painted Dash

'66 Mustang Painted Dash

I also installed more Damplifier along the firewall and under the cowl to help keep the heat and noise to a minimum, but I didn't get any pictures of that. I'll be installing some of the heat shield along the firewall once I have some time to patiently sit and cut it to fit all of the various holes and items that are coming through the firewall. I measured and cut the firewall section at 55" x 21" and set it aside.

The front piece of the roof measured at about 23.5" while the sides measured around 22.5" so I had to cut it with a bit of an arch to match the front roof line. I used Second Skin's Contact Adhesive which seemed to tack up very well. It seems like it won't let go and is formulated to withstand heat.

I didn't need to measure the rear section because the product I had left barely filled it out. There was one section that had to be pieced in , but it wasn't very big. I even had a little left over to fit in the sail panels where there were sections that had nothing between the outer body and the interior.

Roof View from Rear of Mustang Looking Forward

Roof View from Front of Mustang Looking Back