Lola - Tear Down

 Since our garage was a little bit full while we were doing a tranny swap in my Dad's 428 mach, my buddy Kody and his dad Mike let us store the car at their house for a bit. While it was there, Kody and I got everything prepared for the engine pull and starting pulling a few things apart to see what we were really working with. We first scrapped the hood because it was fiberglass, along with the bumpers.

 To prepare for pulling the 302, we took off the export brace, monte carlo bar, headers, radiator, and some other stuff like the fan and battery just to get them out of the way.

 A real first look at the drivers side floor pan and it seems solid, a little bit dirty and covered in factory seam sealer but solid. You can see this car was originally a manual transmission and someone had just pushed the clutch pedal to the floor and put in an automatic transmission instead. 

A nice surprise after pulling up a bit of the carpet for the first time. Factory paint in awesome condition, hope the rest of the floor is like this.

 A nice aftermarket radio.. and no heater controls.. Further inspection revealed there was no heater box either.

 After removing what was left of the headliner and trim pieces this rust was revealed. Although it may look a little rough most of it is just surface rust.

 A common thing to do with these cars was to cut holes in the package tray to add speakers in the back of the car since they only came with factory front speakers in the dash. This will need to be fixed.

After ripping the rest of the carpet up, we were pretty happy with what the floor looked like. Only problem was a couple of small holes where it looks like somebody cut with a torch for some exhaust hangers.

 

Back home with the mustang so its time for the real tear down!

 

 The engine came out in a matter of minutes with all of the prep that we did back at Kody's house.

 Looks like Dad is taking the dash apart. Having fun?

 Most of the interior sheet metal looks like it is in fairly good shape.

Looks like we're missing some stuff behind the dash...uh oh.

 Engine is pulled!

 

After pulling the front windshield, we really weren't happy with what we had found. At some point in this cars life somebody had done a terrible job at replacing the front windshield and used a type of sealant that held in moisture, result in major rust issues all around the edge of the windshield. Because of this, the cowel panel, A-pillars, and roof panel will all need work or need to be completely replaced.

The rear window lip is in a lot better shape than the front.

 This is also another reason why we are going to need to replace the cowl panel assembly. The rust hole in the left of the picture is a result of leaves and debris inside the cowl holding moisture eventually rusting through the panel.

 The rest of the panel and firewall may also look rusty but most of it is just surface rust and will easily be removed with a wire wheel or fine grinding disc.

 The floor is looking even better after a bit more clean up! No rust issues here.

The driver and passenger side floor pans are solid after cleaning the seam sealer off of them. Only a few small pin holes to fix later.

 Quarter extensions off

 Grille and front valence off

 Seats disassembled and ready for rebuild

 Dad inspecting my work after the fenders and extensions were off

After taking the fenders off we found out that somehow the drivers side coil spring cover was missing and the passenger side spring was broken. What were they doing with this car?!

The plan for the steps of this restoration is to have all of the interior parts and exterior trim/mounting parts all restored before we start body work so that once the car is painted it will all come together in a matter of days! That being said..I think the seats are up next.

Lola - Pickup Day!

This 1970 fastback mustang didn't look all that bad on Ebay, but we were really in for a treat after picking it up and looking it over. The previous owner had put aluminum wheels on it, fiberglass hood, and fiberglass bumpers as well. All four lips on the fenders and quarters were "rolled" to make room for bigger tires. We had asked the previous owner if there was much rust on the car or any serious problem areas and he didn't mention much as the pictures that were on ebay looked fine. He failed to tell us some serious issues in both rear quarter trunk drop offs, and that the right quarter had been hit at some point in its life. There were also several other small issues that weren't mentioned like the rust at the front lip of the roof panel. Lets take a look at the ebay pics and see if we notice anything..odd.

Ebay Pic Analysis

Alright! Looks good, body lines look straight. No serious gaps anywhere..minor surface rust popping out from under the primer..no big deal. California car..this is the real deal.

Alright, I guess there's no hood springs since the hood is propped up like that... Missing the racing mirrors, and the trim along the upper part of the windshield. One thing we didn't notice as well, where are the front marker light holes?

Okay.. now why would someone want one reverse light?

The doors look awesome! Hope they look as awesome from the inside as they do on the outside.

Most everything is there. He said he'd throw in the original bucket seats with a set of upholstery. Carpet obviously needs replaced. Upper dash looks a little bit sun baked. Original gauge cluster is there, steering column with an after market steering wheel. B&M pro stick shifter. Somebody must have been trying to race this car or something...or something. Lol

The interior in the rear is all there! Can't see the headliner or sail panels in this picture though..odd.

Sweet engine bay, looks like someone did a bit of work here. It has the aftermarket export brace and monte carlo bar. A 302 with aluminum intake, water pump, and headers. Hope the battery tray area is in good condition because it's not in these pics...hmm.

It's all about the angle.. from this shot this area looks all good besides some minor surface rust. Move the camera and inch further and you'll see major rust issues at the bottom of the trunk drop off. This is the same way on both sides of the car.

I don't know how we didn't see this in the picture, but there is a "repair" to the trunk cross brace. Somebody took a piece of angle irons and welded it in. Wonder what happened there..

No noticeable holes anywhere in the floor. A lot of undercoating so the floors must be in great shape.

At least it's got a Ford 9 inch!

Pickup Day

We had the car shipped up from Texas to New York, where we picked it up and brought it back across the border to Canada. Time for the real analysis of the car!

Here's my sister Ashley steering it onto the trailer as we push it on. Looks like the drivers side exhaust hanger broke!

My sister was being very photogenic and liked the "Pony Express" etched in the back window.

Sweet truck and trailer combo! Yeah..the truck looks better without the cap Dad.

 After bringing it home we started to take a closer look at things. Notice the hole for the shifter cable? Looks like somebody punched through the metal. Very professional..

 Hmm, this wasn't mentioned in the ebay ad.. Some serious rust issues along this lip.

 Sail panel lights missing, at least the headliner bows are there!

The VIN for this car is 0F02F203220. The code says that the car is a 1970 built in Dearborn, Michigan that is a sportsroof with a 302-2v in it from the factory. By the time this car is finished into a boss 302 clone, the only way to tell it isn't a real boss should be by look at this VIN plate on the dash.

Time to start taking this car apart and have some fun!