[flyfisher]

I've been going through some tough times in my personal life lately and so today is the first day I actually started the Mustang. I thought it would be good therapy to do a restoration project, I'm in for a lot of therapy. This might be more a fix up than a restore.

The entire underside is coated with roofing tar, luckily it doesn't stick to rust, especially rust layers that thick. There are small pieces of sheet metal welded in wherever a hole used to be. Almost the entire passenger side floor is a piece of sheet metal. I found a mouse nest in each collector of each header, I don't want to guess why the mufflers are so heavy. The gas tank is out and it contains about 50% jelly gasoline, and it's absolutely perforated. The only perfect spot on the underside of the car is right above the gas tank. I'm not exactly sure if the front bumper assy. is what it's supposed to be, it just doesn't look right.

I'm lucky I guess, a local supplier has the floor panels from the front to the back, pricing TBA. The tunnel is solid, and the rockers are solid. The other body panels seem to be in excellent shape, there's a new drive shaft, new steering box, and the steering linkages are tight. Could be worse, I suppose.

How many times have you had high hopes in a resto, and then have them killed off by reality?

 

[CET]

I

How many times have you had high hopes in a resto, and then have them killed off by reality?

What keeps my hopes up is the fact I was blessed with the knowledge and skill to do a resto. Most of the people I know can't even check the oil.

My 67 T-Bird had almost no floor in it. It just made it so there was less cutting to get the old metal off.

 

[Beenaway2long]

Therapy? Sounds like your being "committed"..


Seriously, if its a car you want, and willing to see through to the end, then its worth every minute. "Get er Done"!

 

[Ghetto Jet]

All you have to do is channel that underlying anger and aggression into sanding.:thumbup: You'll be ok.

 

[flyfisher]

Thanks guys, I suppose I'm rambling on about the car when the restoration project is really me.

Before I got married, I lived in the shop. I had a lot of projects either painting or rodding or just anything that had to do with cars or anything mechanical. The resposibilities of a marriage made it a little more difficult to do as much of the (hobby)mechanical things that I used to do. It also made it more difficult to fish as much as I used to. Actually, it made a lot of things more difficult. I don't think I would trade marriage for more time in the shop or more time curling lines, I just think that sometimes a man has to have his time to himself. Time to reflect on his life and where he wants it to go--all we have in life is time and health, we should spend both of them wisely.

For me personally, nothing clears the mind like driving, fishing, or rebuilding. They give me a chance to make sense of the world around me.

A restore project is more than just welding a bunch of steel panels where there was a rust hole, more than sliding a bunch of new pistons in a machined block. The finished product is a culmination of craftsmanship, thought, labour, personal reflection, and so many more things that are distinctive to the people that make that accomplishment.

It's kinda nutty, but I'm waiting to hear the "voice" of that 351 as it comes rumbling out of the pipes. I hope that sound will mark the end of a very bad time in my life. It will be an accomplishment that will allow me to move on to bigger and better things.

Varying degrees of therapy as I see it:

1. Copious amounts of Jim Beam perhaps coupled with a night on the town with the boys, maybe even seated in the splash zone with a magnificent view of brass. (an all night marine water park of course...why?what did you thnk?)
2. Driving (to be done at least 24hours after #1 and not before the nausia dispells)
3. Project of some kind; duration and difficulty dependant on severity of illness.
4. Curling lines over bodies of water as maintanance therapy.

What's your prescription?