flo"RIDA" 65 A code mustang ute

[shermatt]

Scotts (LOL) ute finally arrived a few weeks back. It sat around for a few days until I couldn’t help myself just staring at a blank canvas of a mustang. All sandblasted and ready to go.

I had the old mustang ute project that some of you may remember from way back but I gave up on it. Got all the front suspension in and finished off the interior and that’s where it laid for another 6 months until this one came along

I went down on a Saturday and re-blasted the car as it had a lot of surface rust on it and was only going paint the under chassis. I ended up metal finishing the engine bay to about 90% as it was hit in the top left hand corner on the inner fender and had a lot of creases. Thought I would rather salvage the original than put in a replacement one.

Spent a whole day on it and this is as far as I got

[bages]

nice work

wish the guys that did my engine bay worked that quickly!!

[shermatt]

Last week I spent a few hours on the car fitting up all the suspension and the diff out of the other (donor) ute parked on stands out front.







We stripped the donor ute down to a shell and Sheri blasted all the parts in the blaster. Got them prepped and painted for a quick re-assembly. We sprayed rust converter under the dash and then painted it with red oxide. Still debating if I should use Rhino liner uner the dash or leave it red oxide at this stage









We sat the engine in there just to keep it out of the way. I still need to get back in the engine bay to finish of a few spots.

The rest of the pics are as the car sits now. Don’t know when Im going to get back to it at this stage but everything is there ready to go.

I think Im going a little over board on this ute. Ive nicknamed it floRIDA as in Flow rider as that’s what a friend of mine in Adelaide calls Florida. I think I have pretty well decided that Im going to paint it the worst colour in the world. A colour that I have despised since Ive seen it on any car. Its going to be a dark, deep metallic green. Similar to highland green on the 67/68. Were going with a sand/tan interior with a little black. Basically a 2 tone interior. Should look really nice as I had already done this in the donor ute.

The engine is a 347 with gear drive. Running a dual quad Ofenhauser tunnel ram. Should stick out the hood a few inches…maybe 7…lol

Anyway, heres the rest of the pics

[Pinto-Pete]

will be following this thread with intrest,looks like you could nearly use xa-c coupe door glass in ya uterus there Matt..

[unilec5544]

Going to be a very unique ute when you are finished. What brand of underbody paint have you used in the wheelwells?

Cheers Neil.

[shermatt]

The other ute has perspex for door glass but Mike suggested another thing I can use that is alot stronger and looks better.

The roof rails for the rubbers are cut down as is the rubber and drip rail chrome but I want to experiment with the drip rail chrome.

Im still waiting on the title from Ken so I may give him a call and ask him what the rear window came out of. Worst case, I will use flat tinted glass and cut it down to size.

I had planned on working on it today but Im going to do some landscaping at home instead

Still waiting on the vented rotars and disc brakes.

Matt

[m67gl]

If she's going to be used as a ute, you know..for carrying things, heavy duty rear leafs could be a thought. Looks good BTW, I need to update my '95 Rodeo soon and a Mustang Ute could definately fit the bill.

[jusTANG]

why you scrap the other body for this body Matt, maybe i have missed something so if i have i apologize now....lol

[shermatt]

Going to be a very unique ute when you are finished. What brand of underbody paint have you used in the wheelwells?

Cheers Neil.

Its called Rhino liner

Bit like old body shutz (if they still make that) Comes with 4 one litre bottle filled 750ml and a bottle of hardener that is added. Has its own special spray gun that comes in a kit. Really good stuff

[shermatt]

If she's going to be used as a ute, you know..for carrying things, heavy duty rear leafs could be a thought.

I dont plan to throw anything in the back at this stage. Its just a show pony

Have considered turning it into an Esky but thats just talk

Matt

[shermatt]

why you scrap the other body for this body Matt, maybe i have missed something so if i have i apologize now....lol

The other one was toast compared to this one Justin. Rear rails were shot. Front floor pans needed replacing.....was just to much.

This one has rust in the front sections of the floor pans but only specals/pin holes. There allready tack welded up on both sides and linished flat. Havent had to cut a panel out of the car. Still need to straighten up the front radiator support and dolly the LH front inner fendor but thats about it.

Still needs alot of welding as everything is tack welded together but thats probably a good thing for the fella that has to finish were someone else left off

Once I have stripped everything off the old ute, Im gonna flog it off locally so whoever buys it can see what there up against.

Matt

[scott66stang]

Scotts (LOL) ute ]

All yours Matt not mine, i had plenty of chances to snap it up, i even delayed posting it up at the reduced price i was told a definate NO by the boss.
Anyway its in good hands now and will watch and enjoy its build.

So what do you think of the overall way the conversion was done compared to others? It looked real good in the pics.

[shermatt]

Theres some spots that I look at that I say WTF but thats in the cabbin and nothing major at all.

Symmetry is the only problem on the car. I will need to do a bit of cutting and grinding along the rear window roof line and top corners.....thats about it. Just time consuming.

The rest of the car is rock solid. The front floor pans where a bitch.

Every try welding in rusty pin holes in a floor...."patience luke"....and lots of it...one pin hole can turn into a 10 cent piece real quick if let it

Matt

[scott66stang]

Yeah the front floor pans in my fastback were excellent apart from a few pin holes in each corner. I braised them up with an oxy instead of using the mig.

[shermatt]

Still need to do the drivers side so I think I will do that also. Good idea