1966 Mustang NEW project Questions

[chriscklam]

Hello all, i am new to mustangs and the forums and am hoping to learn a lot from all of you veterans. I just purchased my first Mustang, a 1966 convertible 3 speed manual car. I want to restore the car to a very clean driver. There is no rust on the car and the motor was rebuilt already. I believe the original color was blue but it has been repainted to a gold. I want to repaint the car and redo the entire interior. I need lots of tips on doing this. What is the correct way to repaint/prep the car for repainting? Do the fenders NEED to come off? What color combo looks the best in everyones opinions. The car has a white interior now that was originally blue and i was leaning towards repainting the car either blue or red. The car has a white top. The car was not originally a pony car but i wanted to add the pony interior and shifter console ect. How much would this run me and where would i get the supplies from? Any reasonable places to order all of my parts? I'm sure i will have plenty more questions to come but here are a few. Thanks for all of your help in advance!--Chris

[chriscklam]

bump.....anyone have ANY tips on the restoration? I was planning on doing the undercarriage and engine compartment before i repainted the car. Anybody know what the correct way to restore these two are and what paint is used (brand+color). Any tips would help as i am completely new to mustangs. Thanks.

[DeltaMustang65]

I think the reason you're not getting responses too quickly is because this question is a bit of a tall order, and this site is usually not very busy around this time of year since few people are working on their cars due to the weather.

The first thing you want to do is go to your local Barnes & Noble and get a few books on restoring classic Mustangs. Shop manuals can help as well. I'd steer clear of the ones about modifying for now, especially since they're mostly full of mods that you probably already know about or will learn about very soon on your own. If you still have questions, go ahead and ask here. As for the fenders, you'll be surprised how easily they come off. This is work you can do yourself in a couple hours with no prior experience, basic tools, and save yourself a ton of cash. Don't let the car intimidate you. Unless of course it's your ONLY car and you can't afford to have it non-operational even for a weekend.

If I were you, I would have a look at members rides here and search around online for pictures of classic Mustangs to decide what color combo you like best. Chances are we're not going to have the exact same taste as you. Besides, YOU're going to be seen in the car, not us. If you really want my opinion, though, I’d say don’t go with red simply because it’s way overdone on Mustangs and most that I’ve seen have really shoddy work. The only way I’d paint my Mustang red is if it was originally that color from the factory, but this is only my opinion.

Here’s my member ride page:
http://www.mustangworks.com/cgi-bin/...splay.cgi?3760

http://www.californiamustang.com/
San Jose

http://www.mustangsplus.com/
Stockton (10 minutes from me )

http://www.sacramentomustang.com/
Sacramento

Here are some links for well-known businesses that carry parts for your car. I don't know if you live in California or not, but these are what I use. At the very least, you'll get an idea on what your project will cost you.

You're welcome, Chris.

Matt

[bmxmon]

If your changing colors you'll have to repaint the jams too, which is a bit more work. If its rust free you could probably just sand the top coat and respray directly over that, but if you you have rust/dents you'll want to sand all the way down to bare steel. I personally think a dark blue with the white interior would look better than a red exterior. Like Matt said, pick up some books, Chiltons are probably the best IMO. I dont think you'll find much on this site about straight up restoration, as most of us dont do that and use the best products rather than "correct" products. As far as paint goes, PPG is a really good brand, along with Sikkens. Spendy stuff though. Mustangsplus is a good company as mentioned before, another is Dallasmustang. Good luck eh.

[DeltaMustang65]

Sikkens is what my '65 coupe was done with, and it came out great. If you plan on keeping your Mustang for any length of time (read: not selling it on ebay), I suggest that you have whoever does the work take it down to the bare metal, that's what I had done and I'm glad. Keep in mind that having it done right WILL be more expensive, but you get what you pay for.