Topic: 67 restoration questions

[68 GT]

I am brand new to the forum and hoping someone can help steer me in the correct direction. Restoring my wife's grandfathers 67 coupe, the only car he ever bought brand new in his life. He bought it in our hometown. It's the first car my wife ever drove, she drove it around grandpas back yard as a young girl. The VIN is 7T01C246723, built on 5-11-67 at the Metuchen plant. We had the car blasted and pretty much the entire car is getting new metal welded in, she was in bad shape. We are not building a concourse show car but building a driver. But since we are having so many new parts installed, thought it would be nice to restore the car the way it came off the assembly line, within reason. Is there a reference or anything to assist in either painting pieces chassis black or leaving them natural, for instance? What about different coatings, phosphate & oil, zinc? How do I know what bracket/fastener/piece to do in what finish? I'm sure I will have a lot more questions, but I felt this was a start. Currently the car is still getting metal welded in place, no seam sealer has been applied to the car yet. It is still on the rotisserie. But I know the body man will start asking about painting the undercarriage, for instance, soon. I'm thinking just to be practical on the undercarriage, to just paint it chassis black then undercoat the undercarriage, inside the wheel houses and inside the fenders. Thank you so much for your assistance and advice!

[ruppstang]

First welcome to this site. There is a lot of good people here that will help you. A important tool to use here is the search feature. Often you will not have been the first person to ask many questions. Just go to the year you are interested in and type in key words of your question. There is a wealth of great information in the library.
Marty   

[Bossbill]

SNIP...
 We are not building a concourse show car but building a driver. But since we are having so many new parts installed, thought it would be nice to restore the car the way it came off the assembly line, within reason.

That is a very deep commitment. Your later statement says you aren't ready for that lift and want to do it the convenient or expedient way.

Is ther e a reference or anything to assist in either painting pieces chassis black or leaving them natural, for instance?

Uh, no. There are many references and you have to use all of them.
67 Assembly Manuals for Interior, Body, Electrical, Chassis and Engine. I left out Weld since you are ow past that -- aren't you?
MPC - 60-68 This is the Ford Master Parts Catalog.
MPC 64-75 Same, but broader in scope.
Jim's spreadsheet in the library for fasteners.
And there are others which will come up in later posts.
You  need a number of months to get well read on Ford part numbers and how to interpret all of the above.

What about different coatings, phosphate & oil, zinc? How do I know what bracket/fastener/piece to do in what finish? I'm sure I will have a lot more questions, but I felt this was a start.

The Assembly manuals give you guidance on some of the finishes -- mostly fasteners. So does Jim's spreadsheet. There is no easy button on brackets. Actually, there is no easy button on any of this.

But I know the body man will start asking about painting the undercarriage, for instance, soon. I'm thinking just to be practical on the undercarriage, to just paint it chassis black then undercoat the undercarriage, inside the wheel houses and inside the fenders.

And there it is.
You stated assembly line in the first few sentences but now you are ready to paint one of the more visible and difficult to repaint areas (after re-assembly) with something totally incorrect.

First thing is first. Do you want it to be a mostly correct assembly line car? If so, stop your painter right now and make a decision on which way you really want to go.

Someone posted while I was writing so who knows what they said! Probably welcome, to which I'll add welcome as well!

On edit since I had to fix some syntax. 67 is one of the harder cars to get right since there are hundreds of running changes. Some early in the year, some mid year and some late.
Put you car's vin (less the last 3 digits which you replace with xxx), Ford built date or better yet the actual build date from your Marti report in your signature. You'll be asked about that constantly so just get it over with.
Don't know about Marti's? First thing to search.
After you visit the site's Library.

[68 GT]

Thanks for both replies! I have now added to my signature, the VIN's and actual build dates for the 67 that is being restored and the 68 I restored in the late 80's/early 90's.

I have the deluxe Marti Reports for both cars and Jim Osborne FAM's for the 68, but not for the 67. On a post I read somewhere that the MCA rule book would be helpful on finishing brackets and such. Where can I buy a rule book? Do I have to join MCA to be able to do that? I am not currently a member.

I understand your comment about what way is this restoration going, good point. Need to figure that out.

How about when I purchase new suspension, such as leaf and coil springs, upper and lower control arms and such. I see some control arms already come painted black/natural (or something). Are these items ready to bolt on, no additional finish? Looks like new leaf springs come bare looking metal, are they ready to bolt on too or do they need coated to prevent rust? New gas tanks, anything need to be done to prevent rust?

[J_Speegle]

Would also like to welcome you to your site though you titled your first thread to 67's most of the questions and choices you have mentioned so far are very general and will likely help others in the same situation - choosing a path.  As you ask specific questions you can post them in the appropriate locations (we've got separate areas for most things to keep things neat and easier to find) or we'll move them to the correct place until you get the hang of it

Thanks for both replies! I have now added to my signature, the VIN's and actual build dates for the 67 that is being restored and the 68 I restored in the late 80's/early 90's.

Thank you - thank you - thank you

I have the deluxe Marti Reports for both cars and Jim Osborne FAM's for the 68, but not for the 67. On a post I read somewhere that the MCA rule book would be helpful on finishing brackets and such. Where can I buy a rule book? Do I have to join MCA to be able to do that? I am not currently a member.

Yes you have to join MCA to get access to their rule book but be aware that it is a general guide and does not and can't go into all the detail we can here and have over the past ten years or more. Many of the descriptions in the rules list natural but that can be one of a dozen or more finishes. As Marti wrote get use to trying the search feature or pick a years of interest and start scanning that section reading the threads that you think relate to your current issue/question.

I understand your comment about what way is this restoration going, good point. Need to figure that out.

Yes please start with an honest evaluation of your skills, planned use, dollars you have available, time, space and so on before you start. Allot of things have changed since the 80-90's but many of us here were around during those decades and a few before that so we can help. Once you get a destination figured out plan how you plan to get there and try to stick to it. Changing course in the middle cost time and money and often leads to discouragement or a unfinished project.

How about when I purchase new suspension, such as leaf and coil springs, upper and lower control arms and such. I see some control arms already come painted black/natural (or something). Are these items ready to bolt on, no additional finish? Looks like new leaf springs come bare looking metal, are they ready to bolt on too or do they need coated to prevent rust? New gas tanks, anything need to be done to prevent rust?

Don't expect that anything you buy is ready to be bolted on your car even of the description states "concours approved" or something like that.

In this way you will not be surprised when the part arrives and you find out it's not up to the task and you will be pleased if it is. The search can be helpful in this since its likely one of 50000 members likely had the question/issue before you 

In your example many/most rear leaf springs come painted and you need to strip and disassemble to make them look like originals plus there are an additional half dozen details you need to consider depending on your goals


Members are great here and very helpful - not wanting you to make the same mistakes or have to learn the same lessons they have.

Whn you succeed we succeed

[J_Speegle]

Almost forgot there is also a Member Restorations/Builds section where you can post information and pictures about each or one of your cars. Good place to keep us updated on your progress. Not IMHO always a good place to ask questions and get details from others since they become buried in page after page of the build thread.

Again welcome

[Bossbill]

Take a close look at your bottom, small leaf spring. If original it has numbers like part and spring code.
Most users here keep the small leaf and transfer it to the new spring pack. Or rebuild the original if not sagged.
Many threads here on just the leafs.
You should also view the control arm threads.
The key in searching is clear all models and select on 67 threads.

[68 GT]

I have a complete set of FAM for the 68, not for the 67, yet. Did some studying on them this evening. I never dug into them very deeply, there's a wealth of information in them! In the weld and sealant, there is a nice list of Finish Of Standard Parts. I noticed several fasteners are coded S2, S4, S7, S8 and so on. My question is, how do you replicate some of these finishes, such as Cadmium plate of zinc plate? Don't you sandblast the fasteners and have to replicate the coating? Phosphate and oil, I can sandblast them and I have a place about 25 miles from me that can do phosphate and oil. What is phosphate and lubricant (S2)? Phosphate and dry lubricant (S58)?

I noticed on page 3 of the weld and sealant FAM it talks about sound deadener. Where do you purchase sound deadener material from?

[Bossbill]

You need a 67 Assy Manual. In 68 Ford started a campaign to add a safety red, semi transparent coating to many fasteners.
Although 68s look like 67s the differences are too many to list. Get the right set.

Phosphate and oil is a process with many, many threads here. Surely a simple search will find those.
The same with Cad. There are so many threads on that I'm not sure why you haven't found them.

As for sealant, there are also dozens of threads. There is a different process that mimics each area of the car to which sealant is applied. We are mimicking what the sealant looks like -- not actually using the same products.