I'm finally starting to build!

The gas tank and straps have been cleaned and painted. The plastic cover cleaned up really well, so I'm going to leave it alone. The sending unit tests okay so I'm hoping it will work with whatever gauges I end up with in the car. I'm going to cut an access opening in the trunk regardless so even if it goes out I don't have to drop the tank to swap it.

And I'm finally starting to put some things together!

The donor isn't completely stripped but I'm tired of fighting dirty parts for a while.

I've cleaned up and painted the stuff for the front end so I decided to put it together.

First up was an upper control arm. I installed the ball joint as per the instructions but used some lock-tite on it rather than tack welding it in place. I also marked it so I can tell if it turns.

Then, with some bubble wrap around the frame to protect it, I bolted the arm into place.

After that I put on the lower control arm, spindle adapter and spindle.



With the help of my trusty assistant Flash, I installed the KONI coilover shock assembly and brake disc and caliper.



Then it was lather, rinse and repeat for the other side.



Back to the dirty, nasty parts, I pulled the steering rack out of the Mustang. It was, like everything else, nasty.



I scrubbed it with Simple Green and then wiped it down with Acetone. A coating of Hammered Black paint followed for the body while the lines got cleaned and sprayed with silver. I didn't get a picture of it before I installed it but it looks really nice. I installed Energy Suspension mount bushings and then installed the rack into the frame. Then I put in the FFR rack spacers and reinstalled the inner tie rods. I'm waiting for the rack boots to dry and then I can install the tie rod ends.

Here's a shot of it painted up and installed.



While I was at it, I installed the steering column and placed the steering wheel on for a picture.



And thus endeth Box 1.

The gas tank is out!

And I didn't even blow up myself or my garage. :-D

Overall it was fairly uneventful even though the mounting strap bolts were pretty corroded.

I used a jack with a piece of wood on it to support the tank while I removed the strap bolts. Once those were out I dropped the tank down a bit and disconnected the fill tube. With that out, there was enough slack in the hoses to set the tank on the ground. Of course it shifted but I only spilled about a cup of gas.

Ford uses special fittings on the gas lines and the method for disconnecting them is not terribly obvious - especially when you're working upside-down under the car. Once I got the tank on the ground, I could get a clear look at them and see how they worked.

So, everything got disconnected and I took the tank outside to drain it. Important point here - make sure it's as empty as possible before beginning this whole operation. My tank had about 2.5 gallons left in it and it sloshed around no matter how carefully I carried it.

I put an empty gas can on the ground and bungee-corded a funnel to it. I had my son hold a light (this was 9:30 at night, of course) so I could "see" what I was doing and I proceeded to aim the tank discharge at the funnel.

That didn't work too well.

Gas still splashed everywhere. I'm glad I put down plastic and rags to catch it before beginning. So, my son got another, smaller funnel and held it against the tank to minimize splashing and we pointed that one at the funnel stuck to the gas can.

Success! Mostly.

We still spilled a bit but it worked a lot better this way. I'd say we got 98% of the gas into the can and the remaining spills got soaked up by the carefully positioned rags surrounding the can.

I wiped the spillage off of the gas can and set it to the side. Then I picked up all of the gas soaked rags to dispose of safely.

Feeling happy with a job well-done, I walked back into the garage and was treated to the sight and smell of a large pool of gasoline under the car. It seems that by removing the tank, there was no longer any sort of vacuum holding the gas in the lines, and despite my carefully placed bolts-in-the-rubber-fuel-lines, they leaked.

Cat litter was rapidly and liberally tossed about on the pool of gas. It soaked up the spill quickly and was swept up and set outside. Momentarily I considered seeing if gas-soaked cat litter would burn, but it was late and I figured I'd done enough dumb things for the night.

So now I have to clean and paint the tank, cover and mounting straps. I also need to test the sending unit since the gauge in the car never worked.

But I'm getting ever-so-closer to being finished with the donor and then I can finally start building my car.

Here's the dirty tank picture.



It's just getting cleaned, de-rusted and painted black. No-one will see it after it's installed so I don't see any point in putting a lot of effort into it.

Here's the tank after cleanup and paint.


And here it is installed in the chassis.


And lastly, the fuel filter mount cleaned, painted and installed.

Wiring is out.

I finished removing the wiring harness. This entails pretty much stripping the interior completely. Since the Mustang is either going to salvage or become a racer when I'm finished, I didn't bother with removing the nasty carpet to get to the wiring. My razor knife did a quick job of hacking through it and this made the job a lot easier.

But man, there's a lot of wiring behind the dash. There's this huge knot of sticky-goo covered wires that feed all manner of mystery boxes back there.

Thankfully it's all out now and I get to look forward to the thrill of dieting the harness later to remove all of the circuits I don't need. For now though, all of the separate harnesses will be plugged together and I'll roll it up and store it somewhere until I need it. That is, unless I wimp out and go with a newer, simpler generic harness from somewhere.

Next up, fuel tank and line removal. Then I can drag the carcass out to its final resting spot and remove the steering rack, lower control arms and rear axle.

BWAAAHAAAHAAAAAA!!!

Nothing better than an evil laugh when something works out according to plan.

The engine and transmission are OUT! My lovely bride and I spend some quality time on Friday night and got them out.

I had most everything unhooked before she came out but she still spotted a couple of things I missed.

Then we attached the new Harbor Freight engine leveler and raised it slightly.



A few more checks to make sure it was free and up it went some more.



A bit of persuasion with a breaker bar and it came clear of the radiator support. And then it was out!



Here I am after a successful operation separating the engine from the transmission.



And the bare engine bay. I'll get the steering pump and rack out soon but it was easier to leave them in for now.



Today I got the clutch and flywheel removed and mounted the engine on the stand for cleanup and storage. I also cleaned the 20+ years of scum off of the transmission. Surprisingly the rear main seal on the engine isn't leaking - all of the oil drippage appears to have come from the valve covers.

The PCV screen appears to be plugged solid so that probably contributed to the leaks as well. That will be replaced when I install the Explorer intake anyway so I'm not too worried about it.

That's about it for now. Sunday should see me finish removing the wiring harness and I may have time to drop out the gas tank.