ITS Ford Mustang(s) Build - Stripper Stang Part II

[Ron Earp]

I think the dry ice working is going to depend on the type of sound deadening material that is in the car. Essentially you're looking marked change in the material with respect to a lower temperature. This stuff that is put into the Mustang doesn't appear to do that.

Got a lot of work done on Saturday. Jeff G. disabled the steering lock and attacked the wiring harness. The Ford PATS (Passive Aggressive Anti Theft?) system is a pain in the ass and has miles of wiring in the car. All that stuff there on the floor is part of it and the remote access / locking system. While we've identified it we can't remove it yet because we have to be certain that we can re-program the EEC-V to cope with it being missing. Jeff G is considering his Mustang work as classroom experience since he's mildly considering building one.

I spent hours in the car with a torch removing the deadening material. The torch and scraper are the most effective means we've found. And, I've collected every last scrap of it in a box so it can be weighed. So far I'm up to 4 lbs. Yay. I also finished up work putting the AC box back together and getting it back into the car. Ditto the dash board frame.

Jeff Y. popped by too and finished up taking the rear end apart before the "Scotch Educational Break" ended work for the day. Rear end gears, traction device, and rebuild kit are all here. Need to sandblast the housing and paint it for re-assembly.

[ITEGT]

Brings back so many memories....









End result is a bag of black tar and foam seam sealant that weighs 5 lbs.

Best thing to remove the tar? A pneumatic gasket scraper, takes the tar paper off like warm butter and doesnt damage the sheet metal underneath. Hence the name gasket scraper, if itll work on an oil pan then it wont damage sheet metal. Watch out on aluminum cause the blade will go right through aluminum too. Finish off the job with a cup brush on an electric grinder.

http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?...aper&FORM=HURE

This was my first build, first time taking this shit off and I figure out a better way that doesnt involve a torch, dry ice or hand held scrapers. Better lucky than good. Give the pneumatic gasket scraper a shot it works!!

[Ron Earp]

End result is a bag of black tar and foam seam sealant that weighs 5 lbs.

http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?...aper&FORM=HURE

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll call Harbour Fright and see if they have one. I'd pay $25 for one but that is about it since I'm 80% finished. I thought to use my air chisel but I'm afraid I'd rip holes in the car with it.

[Ron Earp]

Mucho work accomplished today with both Jeffs stopping by. Jeff 1 disassembled another engine while Jeff 2 and I worked on the harness and scraping the interior.

We have separated the door harnesses and the anti-theft stuff, shown in the picture below. The wiring amounted to 7.5 lbs. We still have a bit more to go to remove optional things from the car but we've got the bulk of it. The end result will be a factory OEM harness with high quality wires and connectors that has the necessary feeds to run the car, plus lights etc. I plan that this car will remain street legal since I find the option of driving on the road to test things out really valuable.

The sound deadening is now completely gone and came in at 9 lbs even. So it is a worthwhile thing to do, although it is painful to squat there in the car for hours.

[ITEGT]

From looking at your pics some of the sound deadening tar paper was already removed from my car. Lucky me.

What is the harness that runs under where the front seats used to be? I see the plugs that used to be for the power seats but is there any wiring of any importance contained in that bundle?

My ITE car is sitting in around 2800# empty. Im going to try and take 100# more off this winter but Im running out of weight reduction ideas. Also have to add some weight back in with a fire system and an accusump.

Pass side door inner sheetmetal, and the rear package tray should take off some decent weight. May also go to tubular front and rear bumpers.

Very nice work on the wiring harness. Im getting my nerve up to take on this now that the car is running. Figured I was asking for trouble messing with wiring on a car that wasnt already running.

Anthony

[Ron Earp]

What is the harness that runs under where the front seats used to be? I see the plugs that used to be for the power seats but is there any wiring of any importance contained in that bundle?

What year car do you have?

On the SN95 cars that bundle is about 1.5" thick and has at least 60+ wires. The majority of the wires are for the keyless entry system, the stereo (this car has the Mach 460 so many wires), cigar lighters, parking brake switch, cross harness that connects both door harnesses, the passive anti theft system, defroster, lights, backup, brake lights, fuel pump, fuel sender, immobilizer, and that is about it.

All I wanted was the brake lights, tail lights, fuel stuff, defroster, and signals. You might want less.

The harness is done now and I'll take pictures of it. Very slim and svelte with probably eight wires going to the back. Now the harness will cross and route under the dash instead of over the tunnel, another reason to clean it up as you can get rid of the mid-branches and get them out of the floor pan. Weight is coming out of the car. A few pounds at a time, but it is coming out and will add up.

The door skins were surprisingly light. I suspect you'll find the package tray is somewhat similar, maybe five to six pounds. If you have a Fox car there were some plastic bumpers you could use but I don't know where and what year models those were. The SN95 bumpers don't weigh much at all and even if I could toss them I probably wouldn't.

[ITEGT]

What year car do you have?

On the SN95 cars that bundle is about 1.5" thick and has at least 60+ wires. The majority of the wires are for the keyless entry system, the stereo (this car has the Mach 460 so many wires), cigar lighters, parking brake switch, cross harness that connects both door harnesses, the passive anti theft system, defroster, lights, backup, brake lights, fuel pump, fuel sender, immobilizer, and that is about it.

All I wanted was the brake lights, tail lights, fuel stuff, defroster, and signals. You might want less.

The harness is done now and I'll take pictures of it. Very slim and svelte with probably eight wires going to the back. Now the harness will cross and route under the dash instead of over the tunnel, another reason to clean it up as you can get rid of the mid-branches and get them out of the floor pan. Weight is coming out of the car. A few pounds at a time, but it is coming out and will add up.

The door skins were surprisingly light. I suspect you'll find the package tray is somewhat similar, maybe five to six pounds. If you have a Fox car there were some plastic bumpers you could use but I don't know where and what year models those were. The SN95 bumpers don't weigh much at all and even if I could toss them I probably wouldn't.

2000 Mustang GT

Thats what I was afraid of,,, that there are some wires with use hidden throughout the bundle.

How did you isolate what wires were for what? Start at the end say tail lamps and back track?