REFINISH WHAT YOU CAN’T REPLACE

 

Since we all own a 69’ Mustang (or 70’), it goes without saying that with this decision comes the cold hard reality that everything we need to restore our cars is simply not available in reproduction parts. NOS when it can be found, is not always a reasonable alternative for a driven car (occasional or not) especially on a budget. We may not be as fortunate as the earlier models but we can always take solace in knowing that the later models have it even tougher than we do. The sportsroof probably has it the best then the coupe and for those few convertible owners out there, well lets just say we will likely never see support for many of the parts in anyone’s lifetime simply due to a lack of demand to justify the tooling expenses.

 

For my first write up I chose something that could benefit all the models, redoing the tail lights. Sounds simple enough, but of the five basic needed parts, 3 sets of gaskets, the lens, the trim rings, the housing and the bezel, the last two are not available in reproduction anywhere throughout all the catalogs I searched. Since my passenger side was completely demolished in the wreck, this left me in a pickle. Fortunately a good friend of mine (Chepsk8 on Stangnet) sold his 69’ Vert a few years ago and in exchange for my meeting him out at Factory Five Racing a year ago to help him load up his new Cobra kit car, he rewarded me with a surprise box of parts he had collected over the years of which contained amongst other gems, 3 complete but badly warn sets of tail lights.

 

I first began by disassembling them all completely, chucking all the corroded gaskets and broken lenses and sorting the parts in groups from best shape to worst and started on the buckets. Here’s what the better of the evils looked like.

 

 

As you can see even when hand picking thru them, the best ones are not great. The inside lips have a lot of corrosion at the bottom and built up adhesives where they never belonged, not the best design for keeping water out that’s for sure. The back side like wise had years of corrosion and a variety of overspray from various mediocre paint jobs in the past where taping off was poorly chosen over removal. With my car being redone at a much higher level now, they just don’t cut it even in seldom seen areas. I could have cut corners and redone just the outsides here but with me it’s all or nothing.

 

I started by dousing everything with simple green and then hitting them with the power washer and finally using a variety of wire wheels and cups with my air die grinder to strip them completely. I’m sure lots of elbow grease would work just as well if you don’t have the tools. As you can see in the above pictures the interior of the units were pretty clean and gave me the correct Ford Light Argent paint to reference for a great color match. Hard to believe the whole thing looked like that originally. I think the effort and results speak for themselves though.

 

 

I stripped them clean even on the inside as my original intention was to paint the dish bright white for better light reflection but since I seldom drive at night and plan to eventually replace the old bulbs with the LED replacements I opted for a full factory finish in the end. Half of this will never be seen but the extra effort was nominal. If they were available as repro I est. the cost at about $50 each based on what other available years cost.

 

Next I went to work on the main retaining bezels, even though they are stainless steel the ones that first appeared decent had much of the top surface missing making them dull no matter what you do so I chose ones that again had minor corrosion and overspray on them but aside from a few undesirable nicks and surface scratches were the best I had to work with. To the left is the original, to the right the refinished one.

 

 

I started by washing them good with an SOS pad and then using scotch brite to get off the stubborn stuff, anything harsher would have damaged the protective finish for sure. Once clean I hit them up with a couple of coats of chrome polish applied with 0000 steel wool and buffed to a luster. They aren’t perfect but with no replacements available, they’ll have to do. I again est. the cost if new at about $90 each based on what other available years cost.

 

I only had three crack free lenses to choose from and one was slightly melted so I worked with what I had. These I could have replaced for about $60 each but this was something I could do in front of the TV a little each night so I figured why not save some bucks. Simple green and power wash to take off the bulk of the grime in and out and removing the overspray with scotch brite. As the bulk of the lens body is completely hidden I then used a final buffing with Blue Magic plastic polish and the 0000 steel wool on the exposed exterior lens parts only.

 

The final part was the trim bezels, these I had 15 to choose from (3 being needed for each light) and all were more then usable so I polished the six best with the chrome polish and 0000 steel wool. These only run about $6 each but what the heck, waste not want not. The black gunk used to originally seal these to the lens is nasty looking stuff; I opted for a good clear silicone instead.

 

Now comes the reassembly part. I bought all the gaskets new, each set of three costs about $22. This is pretty straight forward so I did not take pic’s of each step but you should note that even while all the gaskets look symmetrical and have no indication of top side, they absolutely are not. At first it may appear they are all poor repros but once you find the right position they fit like a glove. It’s easiest if you lay the lens gasket in first, then place the lens on top lining up the holes, then tuck in the lens mounting pad around it, drop in the retaining bezel and replace all 6 screws that lock them together. The final housing to body pad is the toughest, it’s very thick and rubbery and goes in snugly but are lightly powdered for some ease, you have to pop the corners in first diagonally and then carefully work all the internal edge lips under the retaining bezel edges with a plastic putty knife and finally push firmly all the way around the surface until the parting lines are even with the housing edges, once bolted to the tail panels it should all get a nice final compressing and settle in level and tight. Here’s how they look when finished.

 

 

I only wish I had taken a picture of a complete unit prior to my tearing them all apart but I’m sure judging by the parts I’ve shown you and what some of the ones out there (maybe even on your own car) look like after 37 years of weathering and lord knows what by previous owners, I think you’ll agree that they look pretty damn fantastic.

 

The final justification I think aside from the satisfaction of doing something yourself is the end price. Assuming for a second I could have even purchased every part brand new, the total of all the parts for 2 sets would have cost just shy of $500. My end cost was approx. $50, (actually less since I had many materials left over from previous projects) a very small portion of the new total.

I took this whole first week of spring off to clean prep and paint parts for the car and while I spent about 3 days from start to finish on these, the total time was maybe 5 hours as in between I spent time working on detailing many other parts. Hopefully you find this all useful as it was only due to severely throwing out my back last night that I had the time today to write up this long overdue first article for Ben. Much of this is common sense stuff I know but I will say this, take a cue from your old model building days as a kid. Take time and patience, working in stages is the way to go, proper prep and rubber gloves to avoid finger prints as well as 3 very light coats of paint applied in 15 to 20 minute intervals and dried at room temperature eliminates many of the drips and runs associated with trying to do it all in one coat and putting things back together, do not rush it and you’ll get professional results each time.

 

My next project will be far more ambitious, redoing the sun visor brackets. Unlike previous years or even other 69’ models, the ones on the Vert are very specific and made of pot metal as opposed to chrome as others and once again are not repro’d. They are badly pitted and look near impossible but I have an idea in the works that will hopefully prove just as successful in the end, only with a bit more work involved. Here’s a sneak peak of what I’m starting with.

 

 

That’s it for now, good luck if you give this a go yourself.

 

Richard,

aka: Pakrat

3-23-06