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

[Ron Earp]

The dry ice myth is busted, at least on a 1998 Ford Mustang sound deadening removal. I used dry ice in various ways - direct on the material, in bags, taped to the bottom and nothing worked. Had 25+ lbs on hand too and allowed it plenty of time to get to as low of a temp as possible. Wouldn't crack and wouldn't chip off.



What works really well is a heat gun and a couple of metal scrapers. About 45 mins and Jeff G and I had the driver's side about 90% done. Tomorrow we'll have two heat guns and also give it a go with the torch. There seems to be happy medium where it isn't too cold, nor too hot, and it comes off in nice large sheets.



I calculated that one square centimeter of this junk weighs 5.5 grains. At 7000 grains to a pound and with a re-calcuation of the square area we come up with 7 lbs of material. A lot of work for 7 lbs, but with a car like this that is severely weight challenged you have to do it. Besides, leaving it was going to piss me off. I envision a nice tidy white interior for this car and having those deadening mats painted over would always remind me that I "didn't do it right".

We've also already separated a couple of wiring harnesses and removed non-required circuits that we can legally remove. Man, there are a metric assload of circuits on this car and I suspect we'll be 10-15 lbs lighter on wiring when we're all through. Be a lot of work though, but again, something that is needed. All these little pounds add up and put us closer to that unobtainable 2480 lbs weight.

[Matt93SE]

It's a bit late to add, but I've found that the dry ice is much less effective in summer. When it's nice and cold outside, the dry ice works wonders. I started when it was about 40 deg outside and pulled the entire floor of my Nissan out in 30 min and about 6 pcs. I got busy with life and came back about May to finish the rest of the car. OMFG I couldn't get anything to come loose!
Finally I wound up packing towels under the bottom of the sheet metal, and then put the dry ice down on top and covered it in more towels. that finally did the trick and got it cold enough the glue finally froze.

[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