Interior Mustang Mods

I scooped a couple of trashed wheels from the backalley for a BBQ stand, but we changed our backyard layout, so we don't need them. Chop, chop!

 

You could attach them with zip ties.

 

Yeah! Good tip! Thanks. I'll get the 'accordion' tops glued to the tube sections, and then zip tie them to the base of the plunger screw. I thought they were like GM's old ones, where they used a solenoid, but its actually a screw drive 'popper'. Guess Ford didn't want to pay a patent license fee.

 

I love this city's transit system.

The wife gives me a short list of stuff she wants for the week and I needed a couple more cans of SEMS spray cans. Bus stop is 6 minutes away to go about 3 klicks south and on the return stops right in front of the neighbourhood Safeway. I leave at 7:23, catch the bus at 7:31, get to the bodyshop paint vendor by 7:40. They open at 8:00, but the guy lets me in. I'm back on the northbound bus at 7:50, and at Safeway's by 8:03 AM, and the sun's just starting to turn on the heat! They open at 8:00 AM too.

All done and home by 8:30. Is that efficient or what! We learned how a shopping list saves time and money. No impulse buying, except on a roadtrip, buying videos, junkyard shopping , or the kitchen and bedrooms, and her clothes. I'm predictable when it comes to clothes and tools - built to last.

 

Got snagged off course, restoring our old BBQ in the morning and afternoon, so I didn't move ahead as much as I wanted to, but here's some pics to date.

I used SEMS' Camel Vinyl/Plastic dye (Color Coat line) to refinish the console and dash parts.




Here's the last piece, the dash panel. My 1979 and Andy's 1978 didn't have as many metal braces to reinforce this plastic disaster, but this one from the 1981 Capri is in excellent condition. This picture shows the backside with all the crusty, rusty braces. I took them all off afterward but it was too late to take a picture (sundown is around 9:15 PM right now, and it took me about 90 minutes to take the screws and clips off.)


All those parts were soaking in my vinegar/water/salt tank overnight, so I can rinse them and paint them. I'll leave all the screw locations bare, because they also serve as grounds for the dash instruments and controls. The rest gets an Anti-Rust paint to slow down rusting in the future.

Just have the dashpanel and maplight to refinish today. Then on to the wiring. It's going to rain this evening, so I'll start using the old Bissel steam cleaner on the carpet and seats to give them a chance to dry before I install them.

 

You are an artist when it comes to interior work.

Here's a picture of the VECI label on my car. This is the clearest I could get.

 

Excellent! Thanks! Between yours and the one from the 1981 Capri, I'll be able to draw one up for mine and get all the hoses connected properly. BTW, the Chilton manual for Fairmont/Zephyr has all the diagrams for all the models from 1978 to 1983. California, 49 states, Canadian. I found it the other day.

 

Never got to the electrics today. The dash refinishing was really time consuming. Looked like somebody dropped pop or coffee with a lot of sugar in behind the dash.


Also got the map light done. Now this map light is from a newer Mustang (1988 or 89), so it doesn't have the extra domelight on the end. The other thing is how you turn it on. IIRC, Andy's turns on by twisting the tip. This one turns on by lowering it. The tiny switch is in the surface of the cavity. When you return the lamp shaft, it shuts off. It was bright Mustang red.



The dash on the Capri, didn't have any location for the rear window washer/wiper, so I marked it and drilled it out, using my old dash and the switch mount as a template:


This is how it looked before today:


These are different shots after trimming any old sloppy factory sprues, washing, washing again, washing with SEMS' soap, rinsing, letting it dry, wiping down, and finally... spraying 2 coats inside (1 can) and 3 coats outside (1.5 cans) with about 5 minutes between coats (otherwise wait for 24 hours ):


I also gave the glovebox and fuse panel cover, and console another coat of this same paint batch (batch number is on the can label) just to make sure it all came out right.

Kind of gray this evening, because we've got a thunderstorm brewing for tonite.

My steel dash brackets came out like new galvanized steel! I was impressed! The vinegar/salt/water recipe is one gallon vinegar, 2 tablespoons salt, one gallon tap water. Stir to mix it all together and drop the parts in. Leave for 2 hours to up to 2 days (really crusty stuff). I left them for about 20 hours. Rinse in clean water, wipe off any stains, rinse really clean and wipe down dry. Leave the parts to air dry. Wipe down with acetone, and paint. I'll do pics of those in assembly stage. I used Zero Rust satin black to finish them. Even the screws came out perfectly rust-free.

Oh yeah, the rust stains on the plastic got wiped off and sanded and primed with a touch of the same SEMS paint. There were only 4 small ones on the back side.

If the rain stops tomorrow, the carpets and seats come into the house to be steam cleaned and make room for the rewiring job.

 

As expected for Stormin' nice quality work.

 

Norm, you are definitely going to town on her. That color looks very nice. It's got a very modern look to it. Keep the photos coming!

 

I had packed the Bissell away for the renos, way in the back. Took me an hour to dig it out.

What's neat about this cannister model is that it gets its fresh water from the tap which also gives it extra pressure.

Like most of my stuff, there's a story behind it. On the other side of our back alley, lives a little old lady who was rescued from a German POW camp in Poland by the US Army. She's German. Her hubby was Polish. The War of the Roses in spades.

Seems the old boy figured she needed a steam cleaner, and bought it. The biggest, best of the day. Made in the USA, under license from the German company. Problem was that all the instructions were in English and French. She barely knew the grocery names in English. She used it once and he criticized her results. He couldn't read English either. She kicked the crap out of it and broke a wheel, put it back in the box and in the basement. He died in the early 80's.

When we came here and bought this house, the old gal had nobody to do fixups, so she asked if I could do a few things, and offered to pay me. I refused payment. She gave me the Bissell with a six-pack of shampoo, and the story.

Anyway, I found a picture and an EBAY ad. Parts are still available and so is the owner's manual (PDF) on the Bissell site. These things were like $500 in their day, and man does it dig deep. I used it on my original carpet in the car, as well as the first set of LTD beige seats. Outstanding results!



EBAY Ad - For $40 bucks and a few attachments, you can't go wrong. The upholstery tools are well made, and the shampoos and sun protecting solutions are great too. But this thing could suck a Black Hole into oblivion!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200479041307

EDIT: That's NOT my ad. I wouldn't sell this one. It's only been used twice and it's still in its original box!

 

There's a few other Bissell PowerSteamer models like it, 1630, 1632 and mine, 1631, listed in this 'Used' steamer site's pages:
http://www.portugalcove-stphilips.c...e-Cleaning-Organizing/Carpet-Steamers_6.shtml

Here's one for $11.00. Shipping in the USA is $24! Still worth it, if its in the condition mentioned:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220616107931

I noticed one model called Bissell AutoCare going for $123 to 125. Sounds like a good machine too.

 

" Earth to Norm???...Earth to Norm???...Come in Norm??? " j/k of course.

Back to the wagon, please! That new dash is gonna look great all assembled again.

When I did my dash I wiped down the galvanized steel brackets, but didn't think to remove them and paint them as well. Maybe I should have done that huh...:confused:

Maybe next time around, because it was a job getting all that taken apart.

 

Thanks Steve. Your roller paintjob looks shinier than mine. Must be the low humidity with the right temperature ranges.

You ain't seen nuthin' yet! This swap from a Fairmont column shifter to a floor shifter is probably the best I could have thought of. Some of the Fairmont shifter parts are just plain not available. The little plastic noodles to the column shaft. They break so easily. The shifter rods being reduced to one give me more room to tinker with either an EFI or a Turbo on the six.

And the Capri had a nice black column shifter delete cover in black!

My only quandary is locating the vacuum gauge. If I found a Mustang that was a Turbo, it would be where the Ammeter goes. Then the Voltmeter location. Haven't quite figured that out yet. With the Voltmeter, I don't need the Ammeter. But the vacuum guage needs a spot. I may just build an overhead console. Not sure yet. I could store 8 tracks and CDs and Cassettes for the media room in the back!

 

Well I usually do high-jack/sidewind my own threads too, but the upholstery dye job is coming soon, so I thought I'd throw in something about how I prepped it.

On the brackets. These Fox dashes are all plastic. They really crack, snap and pop. This Capri dash frame has two extra horizontal steel brackets and one vertical one, and they all connect to make grounds for the controls, instrument panels and buzzers, relays. I had to get that rust off. If they were just structural, I might have (not likely) left them. I think the car had sat there through a few snow storms and spring melts, but the brackets were in fairly nice shape after the vinegar soaking.

EDIT: Besides it'll look better in the pics.