As I continue my dismantling, I have found a theme from the previous owner who clearly slapped it together to unload on to some unsuspecting sucker: Hand Tight. I didn’t find many parts that needed convincing to be removed. In some cases, like the shocks, one bolt was tight, the other was half on. This takes dedication to do it that poorly as they are lock nuts and the harder of the two to reach was done right.

Alternately, I also found the theme of “If there were two, one is good enough”. There were many places where I found nuts missing, or some parts half gone. The motor mount brackets come to mind. I thought I would see this theme only on the last few pieces that would normally be slapped on, but it went all the way down to the last few parts I am removing. I can’t help but feel that I saved someone’s life by buying this car so they couldn’t.

Anyhow, on to the tear down.

As you can see, the thing holding the battery in place is the alternator. Wrong size battery, but don’t let that slow you down. If you are familiar with Mustangs, you might also notice there is no battery hold down bracket. Gravity, do your thing.

Once I took out the battery, I found that the battery tray was similarly attached. Meaning just gravity holding it in place. Plus the radiator keeping it from sliding out further. Taking out the battery tray revealed the lower half of the passenger apron to be missing. There is nothing to bolt the tray to. Not unexpected though. That’s pretty common for these cars. Picture jumps ahead a bit since I didn’t seem to get a good one at the time.

I was a bit chaotic taking parts off. When I ran into something annoying, I would often go to a different part of the car and start working on it. I do this sometimes to let my brain work in the background on problems so when I get back to them I have a better idea of how I am going to tackle them. That’s my story anyhow.

Jumping back to the body, I wanted the top off. I also wanted to avoid breaking the seal on the hydraulics power top lift if I could (I could not). But I could get the top off and separated from the hydraulics so the top could be removed. Essentially, the power lift is just 2 hydraulic rams, a central pump/motor and some hoses. I was able to remove the rams to release the top.

And of course, staying on theme, the pins in the top are falling out without retainers.

Jumping ahead a bit, I now have the top off, the seats and carpet out, and much of the dash apart. With a clutch, the steering column gets complicated since the original Z bar makes that part under the hood pretty cramped. I will get to all that in a bit. As I am also equipping a new shop, I had to order a steering wheel puller and go to the hardware store yet again for a 15/16″ socket for the steering wheel nut. Once the puller came in, I found the standing theme to be true. The nut was hand tight and the wheel just came off without the puller. Always good to have more tools though.

Part by part, its getting lighter. I realized I have never removed or installed the trunk torsion bars. So I watched a couple videos and now I need to find or make the tool to tension them and remove them in order to take off the hinges. Being a specialty tool, its a bit harder to find, but I’m sure I will soon.

At some point, someone decided to put in this silver reflective foam backed padding. Fortunately it was not glued down from the seats back, but it is under foot and on the firewall. Lots of scraping in my future. I also have to figure out what to do with the gas. All my ideas are bad.

Back to the engine bay. This one was a shocker for me. I have previously assembled my 67, so I am familiar with the motor mount brackets that go on the shock towers. They shouldn’t look like this. Both sides are the same.

For reference from when I assembled the coupe. This is the driver side, but the bracket on the front is gone on both sides. One side was holding the engine up (and down).

Mostly cleared out now. Just have to deal with the tight spot with the Z bar and steering box so I can also remove the column and pedal assembly.

Next, I wanted to take the glass out. This is also the point I realized the steering wheel wasn’t really attached and would come off easily, also leading to the removal of the column. But for the glass, I had to remove the trim first. The sides and bottom are like the coupe with the little metal clips on the studs. The top is different in that is had a total of 4 studs going through the header, requiring 4 nuts to be removed before it would come off. From there, I cut the gasket around the edge of the window and it all came right out. True to form, there was no gunk in it to seal it from rain. It even looked like a brand new gasket. More slap it together to sell it evidence. Too bad I ruined the gasket, expecting it to be full of goo.

From here, I am left with the drive train and suspension. Most everything else is out. I am making good progress as I can spend more time in the shop while waiting for deliveries for the house. The new shop in Arizona means we have to get some things setup in the new house (attached to the shop), as well as new shop equipment, like cabinets and tool chests, etc. When they arrive, I also need to take breaks to assemble things, but its all coming together, while its coming apart. Good times.