Trunk drop-off dropped off

This is the trunk floor drop-off and rear frame rail before the high pressure wash. The lower end seems like something is about to burst out. An Alien maybe ?

This is a picture of the same area after the wash. The one who made this was not the chicken farmer because he would not have wasted this excellent net for Mustang risking his chicken to escape meanwhile.

First thing to do is to make some room for the operation by cutting off the most of the dirt.

The floor has some spot welds to be drilled out. Thanks to the wash they are well visible as the subframe support that I'm so proud of.

The fitting and welding was done pretty much like I did on the driver side except that I first welded the trunk drop-off panel (needs modifications, made in far-east, btw.) and after that welded the lower quarter repair panel and the wheelhouse patch.

The lip of the wheel house is waiting for a couple of patches which will be welded from outside. Now all the concours correct restoration specialists can see a huge mistake here. Yes, the bumber bracket should have been removed and welded on top of the floor. I did not want to do this ( as I did on the driver's side ) because it ruins the taillight panel when you drill it out.

I'll cover the trunk with a carpet...

History is repeating itself

I marked the lines for the quarter repair panel and for the lower rear as I did on the other side. As this side was in better condition, I decided to use a smaller patch this time because I want to avoid too much seam welds on the visible sheet metal.

Some tape was used to help to line the angle grinder for cutting. The inside was sanded and primered.

Light blue primer looks good though I think that this one will be red one day.

Another look to the same before the quarter repair panel was installed.

The repair panel looks Ok. It needs some bending on the corners and on the lower flange before it fits.

Passenger rear wheelhouse

Maybe I was too eager to proceed and made a mistake when welding in the passenger side floorpan. The right order is 1) weld it to the inner rocker 2) then to the frame rails 3) then to torque boxes and finally to the propeller shaft tunnel. I had to detach a couple of tack welds as I did not follow this rule. Afterall the pan went in quite well. Under the rear seat is an area which was so lousy patched (by the swede ?) that I removed it and will fix later.

Then I made some space to be able to fix the frontside of the rear wheelhouse. This side required smaller patches than the driver side.

Luckily the wheel flare arch has remained and helped me to shape the new parts.

And the quarter repair panel was test-fitted and marked.

The shape may be not as round and smooth as the original, but is made of thicker material and will do it's purpose.

Passenger side for a change

The car was easily turned around with the kind help from my friend's wife (!) and a couple of men. As I'm starting to restore the passenger side of the car, it is great to see how they made it in Ford's Dearborn assembly plant 40 years ago. Note the picture on the wall to the right of the windows. That fellow in the picture is most obviously the reason for this (and many other) Mustang being so rusty. What is he doing ? He's posing for the camera while he should be spraying rust-preventive paint over the body ! Read the full story.

Actually the passenger side was in better condition that the driver side.

The cutting and drilling and preparations take a lot of time. The work was pretty much the same on this side as it was on the driver side. Due to my experience I had the courage to cut bigger pieces and save some time and a lot of cutting discs.

After a week the new inner rocker and torque box was installed. A huge gap is waiting for the floor pans. The frame rail has been grinded and primered. My subframe connector is well exposed in this picture.