Rustoration of 1991 FOXBODY Mustang GT as a Cobra Clone

It's been quite some time since I last got into the garage. I haven't done much cause work got the best of me and I was discouraged with having a broken thumb. I painted the brake booster and began taping the engine bay for paint. Yes I still have the drivers side to do. I took a dremel cutting wheel to clean off some light rust where the strut tower meets the frame rail. Then sprayed it with phosphoric acid. I have left the engine bay raw metal for a few months with only the phosphoric etch to protect it in order to watch for stability. Everything looks good so I am getting ready to prime and paint and a little fibreglass for the welds. There's a little rush cause I want primer done before it gets too cold. Another project I ended up doing recently is a hitch riser that I have had for 3 years has had the paint fail. I stripped as much as I could and gave it a week in a 50% vinegar bath. Rinsed it and scraped some more paint and then tested the phosphoric acid on it...

I treated the frame rail, k-member and radiator core support with phosphoric acid after removing as much rust and paint as I could get to. I will probably go over it a few times. This is the tedious part so I just have to stick with it until I am ready to tape and paint.

I am almost done with the degrease process in the engine bay. The radiator support and inside passenger frame rail are done.

So I finished removing everything from the radiator support. Ac condenser brackets, radiator bracket, crash sensor bolts, power steering pump and cooler hood prop, radiator support skirt. I vacuumed out the frame rails and scrapped the grime from the drivers side frame rail. There was a ton of sand packed into the drivers side frame rail around the k-member mount. I vacuumed out about half and then took the air compressor to it and the frame rails. Out of curiosity I blew out the other side and just a little dust came out.

Sometimes you have to choose not to go too far and that can be difficult. That rabbit hole can go as deep as you let it. Engine out led to cleaning the engine bay, cleaning the engine bay led to repairing surface rust. Repairing surface rust led to painting the engine bay. Painting the engine bay led to cleaning out the cowl and k member. Cleaning out the cowl led to painting the inside of the cowl. Painting the cowl lead to paint the brake booster and the wiper motor. Painting everything lead to wire tuck. Wire tuck lead to rewrapping the entire wire harrness. Wire tuck lead to removing the charging ports. Removed charge ports left room for washer fluid tank and closing the charging port holes. Now I can certainly do more, close all the inner fender holes. Repair the tiny frame rail ripple and the little chain mark from the frame puller, but I need to draw the line cause it's not a full restoration and it will always only be a driver.

With the return of the washer tank, the charging ports I put in the drivers side inner fender do not fit. Rather then fudging it I decided to close the holes I made. The steps: 1 tape single ply cardboard over the holes. 2 rub a dead blow hammer over the cardboard to make an impression 3 Cut out the impression 4 trim card board to fit in the holes 5 trace the cardboard into scrap metal with sharpy 6 use snips to cut out the rough shape. 7 snip to outside sharpy 8 mark top of shape and hole 9 use a magnet pickup to hold the piece and take little bits of metal until the piece is a tight fit. 10 clean the weld sites with a sanding cone. 11  put welding magnets behind the hole 12 tack away from the magnets where it is flush 13 Hammer the edge of the patch until it is flush and tack on opposite sides. 14 connect the tacks 15 grind excess weld flush 16 fill pin holes and low spots on other side of the panel 17 smoother with Flap disc 18 ap...

I treated the brake booster to flap disc and a scuff with scotch brite, then phosporic acid. Finally i wiped down with acetone. I pulled the balancer again and cleaned it and added rtv to the keyway and snout because it will leak if not done that way. I removed the wiper motor because it's pretty rough and needs paint. Finally I added the washer fluid tank and wired it up so I can wrap up the drivers side harness.