After it had become obvious that the car needed some heavier restoration than just replacing the floor pans, I started comparing the different ways of cleaning the old paint, dirt, antirust compound, bondo and rust out of it.
I decided to take the car to be washed with high pressure water. It is a method where water is pumped with the pressure over 2000 bars. This kind of pressure removes everything but the metal, it even removes the rust. In order to prepare the Mustang to be hung in the grill (or a rotisserie) during the wash, I started designing a supporting structure for the car’s body.
As the doors were removed I installed support braces in their place.
Then I bought about 20 metres of 40x40mm square tube with thickness of 1,5 mm. I bolted four crosswise bars to the body. The first in place of the bolt holes for lower control arms, the second between the front frame rail extensions, the third between the front end of the rear frame rails and the fourth between the rear of the rear frame rails. Then I welded two longitudinal bars which connect them on both sides of the car. These longitudinal tube were left under the crosswise bars to leave space between them and the floor structure. Now I had a solid subframe connectors which would prevent the car from twisting during the blast and restoration. The structure is solid but has some disadvantages too, which I discovered later.
I then welded the grill supports for front and rear and bolted them to where the bumbers usually are bolted. I tried to line the tubes so that the front and rear tube would be in line which each other so the car would roll easily in the grill.
I decided to take the car to be washed with high pressure water. It is a method where water is pumped with the pressure over 2000 bars. This kind of pressure removes everything but the metal, it even removes the rust. In order to prepare the Mustang to be hung in the grill (or a rotisserie) during the wash, I started designing a supporting structure for the car’s body.
As the doors were removed I installed support braces in their place.
Then I bought about 20 metres of 40x40mm square tube with thickness of 1,5 mm. I bolted four crosswise bars to the body. The first in place of the bolt holes for lower control arms, the second between the front frame rail extensions, the third between the front end of the rear frame rails and the fourth between the rear of the rear frame rails. Then I welded two longitudinal bars which connect them on both sides of the car. These longitudinal tube were left under the crosswise bars to leave space between them and the floor structure. Now I had a solid subframe connectors which would prevent the car from twisting during the blast and restoration. The structure is solid but has some disadvantages too, which I discovered later.
I then welded the grill supports for front and rear and bolted them to where the bumbers usually are bolted. I tried to line the tubes so that the front and rear tube would be in line which each other so the car would roll easily in the grill.
Now the car was prepared for the car-wash. It was lifted on a trailer with a help of a couple of friends.This picture below tells a lot about the truth lying under the nice paint. The inner rocker viewed from the driver side wheel well.
I just hope that there is something left of my car after the high pressure wash...
