From Rustang to Mustang: Part One

This is a big, huge project that Rick and I seriously underestimated how much work would be needed to complete it.  Wow, did we. People normally allow like 6 months to a year for a project like this. So for our car project, we've been having lots of all-nighters in order to make deadlines. You can see the bags under our eyes, haha. :)

We're very fortunate to have the use of a friend's shop, where we are set up with a mini fridge, a microwave and a cot. I really hate that cot. It is definitely not intended for two people, haha.

However, we are unable to cook food with our sweet set up, so our diets have been suffering badly. Wyoming has become quite idyllic for us, as we keep saying that once we get to Wyoming we will focus more on taking care of ourselves. Oh, and living in Wyoming will be the first time we will have a place of our own. That's wonderful to think about just by itself. ^_^

We don't currently have a camera, but we were able to borrow Rick's dad's camera for a couple days. So some of our project is documented, but not all of it. :(

Our original goal: Get the mustang repainted and prettied up, pack up and get to Wyoming by June 15th.

This is essentially what we have to fix up, The Rustang:

• What needed to happen: sand down the car with 80 grit to get all of the paint chips out of the car, then go over it with 150 grit sand paper to smooth it out before priming. 
• Fill in any damaged spots with bondo, which is a body filler that you mix up and then smooth on with a putty knife, before it sets and starts to harden. Rick got upset a few times because he'd be in the groove smoothing things on and it would harden on him and he'd have to mix up another batch. Grr. >_<
• Basically we wanted to destroy any rust spots, smooth out any bad spots, and grind down anything that stuck out in unsightly ways.
• Paint the interior and exterior in the following steps, primer, block sand with 220 grit and then 320 grit using cross-hatching, spray on the sealant and paint, then wait 48 hours before putting things back together.
• Replace everything and go!

• The trunk lid is removed so that Rick can grind away the rust inside of the the trunk, which is a very nerve-wracking job as those grinders can spark, and the gas tank is in the trunk!

• There are no seats, as they were recently reupholstered, and now look beautiful in their sweet black leather material!

• The carpet is also gone, so we have bare metal floors, which is covered in factory body tar, which has started to rust. When body tar starts to rust it turns into this disgusting white, incredibly-difficult-to-damage material. I wish I had a picture of it. >_< You can see some of the not-rusted tar right under that wire by the shifter.
• The steering wheel and most of the dash has been disassembled, so we can paint those black with spray. 
• The panels on the interior are removed for painting as well. 

• The bumpers are gone, front and back, and all of the little metal decals. At this point in time, Rick and I were getting ready to spray the white headliner black with fabric paint. We decided not to do that because we would have had to mask off the headliner when we got the car painted.
• Eventually we had to remove the hood, the fenders and the doors, in order to get everything sanded properly. 
• We also took out the windshield and back windows, so we could remove the headliner and have the ceiling painted to prevent more rust. We slightly cracked the windshield as we were pressing on it to try to pop it out of the frame. So now we have to get a new windshield made. We also will have to have someone come and help us pop the windows back into place after we replace the headliner.

The backseat, notice the large amounts of rust. >:(

Amount of goal achieved:

• Well, as you can see, it's after the 15th and we haven't even put the mustang back together yet. Grr. So our fall back date is leaving by the 1st, though that is definitely later than we would like. >_<
• We are challenging ourselves to get the Mustang all put together by Wednesday, so that the guy who painted our car can see it completed before he leaves on vacation.
• We'll be working from like 10am to 11pm most days, starting Saturday, which is the 48 hour mark after having the car painted.