1997 Mustang - Who Needs Enemies?

super clean works pretty amazingly on carpets in my experience.  

Combine that with a 1700# Opel Kadett and sell off the chum up here in rust country and it's like getting paid to build a challenge car.  Think Slammo would take  $350 for it?

In reply to grover :

I used full strength superclean on this and the Forester. I was smart enough to wear rubber gloves this time so the skin is staying on my hands which is nice. This carpet was less color fast than the Subaru carpet. What looks like staining is mostly color having been bleached out by something. I looks gross, but it's clean. From what I see, new carpet is in the $120 range. For a driver I'd already have my order in, but again, not my car, I'm just playing with the car that some dude parked in my yard. 

Or, get a black carpet out of a pick-a-part hulk. What junkyard in the US doesn't have -three, 4 or ten SN-95's languishing in the yard?

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

If you guys need parts, our own Aeromoto is doing a lot of SN95 salvage. I can send you his number. 

Black fabric dye, the stuff used for clothes. Diluted a bit in spray bottle, super cheap, covers up any and all stains. Used quite a few times in project cars over years never disappoints! And maybe start a detailing side job, sure lil extra cash flow would keep mrs deuce happy 

Papabishop said:

Black fabric dye, the stuff used for clothes. Diluted a bit in spray bottle, super cheap, covers up any and all stains. Used quite a few times in project cars over years never disappoints! And maybe start a detailing side job, sure lil extra cash flow would keep mrs deuce happy 

Ive heard this before for changing fabric colors on seats and carpets. How well does it actually hold up? And staining on clothes or clumping like the rattle can stuff?

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to grover :

I used full strength superclean on this and the Forester. I was smart enough to wear rubber gloves this time so the skin is staying on my hands which is nice. This carpet was less color fast than the Subaru carpet. What looks like staining is mostly color having been bleached out by something. I looks gross, but it's clean. From what I see, new carpet is in the $120 range. For a driver I'd already have my order in, but again, not my car, I'm just playing with the car that some dude parked in my yard. 

yikes! That did start out fairly rough then.  

I hate to be the guy to say it, but mazduece, you need a job.

And by job, what I mean is crowdfunded silly projects for you to take on and a hired camera man to follow you around all day.

If you paid me to do this I'd hate it. I'd feel like I needed to produce something to offset the money. If I get to stand there and drink coffee and maybe do 10 hours of work in a week and maybe 30 and take pictures and write then I love it. I would MUCH rather spend $100 a week playing with cars than get paid four times that to be productive with them. Yes, I know how insanely lucky I am to be able to make that choice. 

Edit: Having said that, I'd LOVE to have people drop weird stuff off, let me play with it, and pick it up later. Make that happen. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Want to come spend a couple weeks building a rotary powered station wagon with me? 

Two more cents and a guitar pick. I used them for scale next to the bad spot on the passenger floor so you guys can shut it about "rust free". 

Pfft. That barely counts. Clean it up with a wire brush, POR-15 it, and never worry about it again. 

Second the idea of dying the carpet. VHT makes a product specifically made for auto carpet.

In reply to Tom_Spangler :

That's the joke. 

This rust is from spilling drinks. I'll hit it with something but keeping the car dry will stop it. This car is absurdly clean for what it is. 

In reply to The0retical : 

If you want to come build it in my garage/yard, I'm game. I kind of need to hang around here to do the stuff that I need to do that keeps me from having to work a real job. 

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

In my experience as long as you dilute it per instructions, and let properly dry stands up pretty well. After prolong use maybe might need a touch up. But as you know they say once you go black.. it’s black! Buddy of mine did this with carpet and door panels in the car and still came out great.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

And here to think I was getting “complained” at for having one vehicle in the yard. Can’t imagine the compromises/promises, or I’m just married to someone to doesn’t know the “car scratch fever”(if she reads this I’m dead....

Deuce, you're a legend.

In reply to Slammo :

That's more encouragement than I need. Working on a vinyl design right now. I think I can cover the whole car for $60, maybe $30 if we're ok with burgundy being the second color. Probably won't last a long time, but the Challenge is only two days............... 

Too many posts to answer or quote individually so here goes with a general ramble.

Part of me is thinking this might be worth offering some money for in a couple of months when Seth finishes 'not working on it'  It could be the perfect first car for my youngest up here in Michigan.  Actually, first dibs on it if it works out as a nice DD.

Second, I know the rust was a joke, but I can guarantee you will find brand new cars on the lot up here with more rust than that underneath.

If it ends up as challenge fodder I think I may have some SN95 Steeda race springs in my garage that I've tried selling without luck in the past that I'll donate to the cause if you pick them up when stopping in for a beer.

When I pulled the carpets from my Saab I changed the color with RIT dye by putting them in the bath tub with the water and dye, then I weighted down the carpet with bricks to make sure it stayed submerged and it worked like a charm. Yes I carefully tested the dye to make sure I didn't end up with a permanently black bath and yes I did this unsupervised when SWMBO was not home!

Finally, not that it matters but they are base V8GT wheels not V6 wheels so they aer 16" not even smaller 15" although I don't recall the widths.

And finally Seth has already don't way more than the buy in price worth of not work on this thing.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

I grew up in Michigan and remember floor replacement as the first task on my first three cars. Every time I bring home another southern car I'm excited. 

Slammo and I chatted last night and we settled on $500 plus tires and fluids all in. When we hit that point we'll decide what direction to take. I think he paid $14 for the gas tank grommet, and the car doesn't have an air filter right now, so that needs to be fixed. Power steering is noisy, clutch feels weird, and there is the rumor that the intake is leaking coolant externally. Oh, and I haven't tried the radio or AC yet. This isn't going to be easy.

nlevine said:

With a bunch of work, you can actually make something pretty quick out of a V6 'stang. This older thread on ImprovedTouring.com shows the length some folks will go, within a given rule-set, to optimize the performance of one of these things - https://improvedtouring.com/showthread.php?29254-ITS-Ford-Mustang(s)-Build-Stripper-Stang-Part-II

I got stuck in waiting room hell at the kids dentist today and made it about 1/3 of the way through this thread. Now I want to build a race car damn you. 

Between a 30 minute dentist appointment taking two hours (because of other kids, not mine, no cavities, yay!) and me trying to step up my dinner game with shrimp fajitas with green rice and fresh guacamole I have about 10 minutes to look at any car today. Let's see if the AC on the Mustang works?
Fire it up, turn the knobs, check out the compressor.....nothing. In all honesty I would have been blown away if it had somehow turned on. This is the low side port. That is not a Ford part in there. 

I was able to break the fill port free and tomorrow I'll see if I can source a new one locally and pull a vacuum on the system and see how much hissing there is. I predict a lot. 
Mrs. Deuce found the thread. I was going to tell her, I really was, but last night she was sick enough that she somehow missed the carpet being crucified on the swing set and went to bed before the kids. It didn't seem like the right time. Oh, and the gas tank grommet came, so maybe I can make the car a bit less incendiary soon. 

I'd kill to have a neighbor like you. Fixing, detailing, junkyarding. We could rule the world. 

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

If you guys need parts, our own Aeromoto is doing a lot of SN95 salvage. I can send you his number. 

I've seen pics of that shop. It's insane. 

Cousin_Eddie said:

I'd kill to have a neighbor like you. Fixing, detailing, junkyarding. We could rule the world. 

I'm half convinced seth is a nicer version of Elon musk, and could probably rule the world without any of us. 

I like these cars, even with the unappreciated V6.  I thought these were just about the coolest thing on four wheels when I was a kid.  According to my "cool aunt" these Mustangs were better than the new, at the time, 1999 body style.  Her argument: the smoother styling of the older car looked more like the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, her favorite car.  Naturally that left quite an impression on car-obsessed 9 year old me.

It's cool to see a worn out one getting some love.

Projects like this make me wish I lived in a place where old cars lasted longer than 15 years before dissolving into piles of reddish brown dust.

mazdeuce - Seth said:

I'm up to $2.91 including a 1945 wheat penny and a Harris County toll token. That's like finding $291 and a rare coin in your new $30k car.

... I don't think ... that's not ... 

OK.

Loving this not-build-thread. I love fixing broken and forgotten things.