When you carry 10-second timeslips in your glovebox and you still drive your car on the street, it doesn't much matter what your automobile looks like. Chances are, people won't see much else except your taillights. To these hard-core enthusiasts, showing their taillights to the competition is all that matters. Paint? What paint? That's just extra weight. But when you ramble to the faithful the importance of having clean lines with a hot hue, as we often do, you have to practice what you preach.
Motor City's Luis Henriques...
Motor City's Luis Henriques dismantled the coupe, beginning with the decklid. As you can see, there was a bit of car-cancer residing underneath the lip. In order to take off the trunk lid, Luis removed the wiring harness and unbolted the hinges.
If you've been hanging around these pages for a while, you'll remember our '01 Lightning-powered Pony, dubbed Project Frightning. The 5.4 Triton-inspired coupe sees a good bit of print on the pages of MM&FF, so we thought it was time to rejuvenate our dented and demented project Frightning. While relatively quick (mid-10s are the norm), the appearance was definitely lacking, all with its rust and dents and lack of interior. Heck, it's been good to us on the strip, so it's only fair we reciprocate.
Our '86 notchback's sheetmetal has seen better days, receiving its fair share of spray paint from its previous owners. The massive fiberglass cowl-induction hood never did get painted, not to mention it has been hacked--umm, modified--to allow the towering upper intake manifold to peer out like a periscope.
Having two sets of hands helps....
Having two sets of hands helps. Here, Motor City's Custom Project Specialist Joe Carreiro helps Henriques remove the decklid. Despite the rust, the piece looks salvageable.
In order to get the LX looking as good as it runs, we enlisted the service of Motor City Auto Body in Newark, New Jersey, to revitalize our notorious notchback. Motor City has customized several Mustangs that have graced the covers and pages of MM&FF, and having to visit the shop for tech articles also gives us a good excuse to head downtown for a quality, Rodizio-style dinner. For those who are unaware, Rodizio is an all-you-can-eat barbecue where the waiters bring skewers of meat cooked to perfection and sliced right at the table.
Anyway, our plan is not to overindulge on meat, but to completely disassemble, paint, and reassemble Frightning. First we'll have to repair what has been abused, and then we can slap on some shiny, stylin' paint.
While we haven't quite decided what Frightning's new look will be, the early polls suggest something in Silver. We're considering going with the '86 GT appear-ance, but we're also considering some stripes or flames. We haven't completely ruled out going hog wild on it either, so check back in the next couple of issues to see how Frightning goes from scuff to shine with the help of Motor City Auto Body.
Frightning's taillights are...
Frightning's taillights are in good shape, having no cracks or major scratches, but they could use some accent paint and maybe a shot of clearcoat, which we'll address later.
A project such as this--especially...
A project such as this--especially where the car is of a decent age and when there may be a paint color switch in its future--requires that all the body panels come off, including the doors.
After the door panel has been...
After the door panel has been removed, the wiring harness needs to be excised from the door itself so that the door can be taken off the car.
Since Frightning has no inner...
Since Frightning has no inner fenderwells, it was easy to access the six bolts that hold the door's hinges to the body.
The hinges will be cleaned...
The hinges will be cleaned up, and then new pins and bushings will be installed. While offering a new-car-like feel, the hinges also allow proper alignment of the doors and fenders.
The hood is next. It never...
The hood is next. It never did get painted (like so many other cowl hoods out there), but we'll fix that shortly.
When the hood was cut open...
When the hood was cut open for the intake manifold, its gelcoat was cracked along the cut line. This will have to be repaired.
Remarkably, our cowl panel...
Remarkably, our cowl panel is in good shape. It's a little faded, however, so we may have to paint it or possibly give it the clay-bar treat-ment along with some polish.
All the trim pieces will come...
All the trim pieces will come off. These at the base of the windshield can be taken off by hand, but the molding around the windshield uses a special removal tool.
There are bolts on all four...
There are bolts on all four sides of each fender that must be removed. Frightning's front fenders are in decent shape, but the driver-side front extension is cracked. We'll have to try and locate another extension or repair this one.
Our MIA inner fenderwells...
Our MIA inner fenderwells aided fender removal.
All '79-'93 Mustangs have...
All '79-'93 Mustangs have this barrage of studs that attach the front bumper cover to the fenders.
If, as with Frightning, the...
If, as with Frightning, the fenders have already been taken off, then there are only a few more brackets and these fasteners below that hold the front cover on.
Awesome among some, atrocious...
Awesome among some, atrocious to others, the MM&FF staff is a fan of the four-eyed Mustangs. To keep the black trim or not to keep the black trim--that is the question.
Henriques removes the passenger-side...
Henriques removes the passenger-side fender, followed by the door.
Having been subjected to the...
Having been subjected to the elements far more often than to the detailer, Frightning's Weld Pro Stars have tarnished a bit. We'll bring them back with a little bit of aluminum wheel polish.
Frightning still wears the...
Frightning still wears the rubber from its last track attack. It looks as if we're going to have to do something about our MAC tailpipes as they've rusted a bit. So much for burnt rubber acting as an undercoating. Maybe we'll leave the tailpipes this way--it's fairly popular these days.
Looking like something out...
Looking like something out of Mad Max (or And They Walked Away 28), Frightning has been dismantled. We expect it to get worse before it gets better. In our next installment, we'll cover the bodywork and maybe the paint, if we can make up our mind on the paint scheme.