Mustang Deconstruction......Final Push

Brian came down for the weekend and our objective was to get the car ready for the paint and body shop.  First job was to finish up some interior work, which included removing the windows on the passenger side.   I had done the driver's side, so Brian gets to see how it goes on the other side:

Vent window out, now the main door window

He had an interested observer (for a few minutes)

Rear quarter window next.  These windows are going to be great fun putting back in.

Every bit of chrome trim has to go.  This one can be unbolted once the window is out.

Brian compares the right and left windows to do some re-assembly before storage. 

We removed the hood and now the hood hinges are unbolted

Back to the inside, the clutch and brake pedals are removed

Now we get ready for some serious underside work; loosening the bolts holding in the transmission and the motor mounts.  The parking brake cable is also removed and proves to be our only real sticking point. 

Front and rear shocks removed

We lowered the car back down and rolled it over to the shed, where I have a chain hoist installed in the rafters.  A lifting chain is attached to the engine and the chain hoist hook lowered.

With the engine secured, the trans is removed using my ATV jack as a transmission jack.

Just to show it wasn't all Brian doing the work with me twiddling my thumbs;  I got dirty too. 

The engine is free of the car.

After removing the bell housing, clutch and flywheel, Brian bolts the engine to the engine stand.

Engine on the stand, waiting for a time in the distant future when it will either be rebuilt or replaced.

At this point we were pretty much done, and it was only noon on Sunday.  Still to do, however, was a massive amount of cleanup (including the coolant spill in the picture above), and calling the body shop guy to come and look at our work.  He said it was good to go, so he and Brian went over the contract that Brian had written up (being the construction manager that he is).

Steve the body shop guy is signing the contract, while Brian's checkbook waits alongside ready to be ravaged. 

We also had a shop floor full of new and old parts that would be installed by the body shop. In the foreground is a new right front fender.  This is not a junkyard part, but a new part made using the same Ford dies that stamped out the original parts. 

Steve had not brought his car hauler trailer (was he doubtful that we would really have the car ready?), so he left to go get it.  Meanwhile, Brian had to leave to get back to Tacoma, so he missed the bon voiage of the car

Steve attached a winch from his trailer to the car and we proceeded to load it.

Look, I'm driving the Mustang again!

All secure and ready to go

Mustang heading for its makeover

All in all, it was a good weekend; a bit of hard, hot dirty work, but Brian and I worked well together.  I think he appreciated my knowledge and tool collection, and I appreciated his strength and agility.   We solved problems together and got the job done ahead of what I expected.