Project Mustang. Larry Lyles
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Now that both ends of the car have been disassembled, the next step is to tackle the middle of the car. The parts that need to be removed here are the door components, the seats, the seatbelts, the windshield, the glass pieces, the headliner, the top cover, and the console.
DISASSEMBLE THE DOOR
Back in 1968, making the doors uncomplicated and easy to disassemble wasn’t exactly “job one” with Ford. Although the doors aren’t seriously technical to take apart, each mechanism within the doors must be removed in the correct order, or this task can quickly become frustrating, and the urge to pick up a big hammer to help the situation will become extremely great. But resist the urge to smash something, take your time, and you will find that although these doors aren’t the easiest in the world to take apart, they aren’t the most difficult either.
It’s time to bring out the camera. As I said, tearing down the doors on this car isn’t that technical, but they do contain a lot of parts, and it is important to know where and how these parts are removed from the doors.
REMOVING THE DOOR TRIM
One of Ford’s better ideas in 1968 was to keep the interior door trim pieces as basic as possible. It even went so far as to texture a portion of the inner door frame to simulate the interior trim. My guess is this was done because Mustang drivers sit so low in the seat they have a tendency to push against the door with their foot when they open it, and that would scuff any soft trim near the bottom of the door.
I begin the trim removal process by removing the arm rests and the window crank handles. Both of these pieces are screwed on, with the screw to the crank handle hidden behind a garnish tab on the handle. I use a sharp, small flat-bladed screwdriver to gently lift a corner of the tab and remove it. It is held in place with rubber cement so it comes off fairly easy. If it hadn’t come off easily, I would have tried warming it with a hair dryer to soften the cement. The tabs are easily destroyed during removal, but that isn’t a problem, as the suppliers listed in chapter 1 all carry new ones. Any that I do ruin will be added to the new parts list.
PHOTO 1: The attachment screw for the window crank handles is hidden behind this small chrome cover. The cover is glued in place, so care must be taken when removing it.
PHOTO 2: The metal clips holding the trim panel on the door are carefully removed using the Eastwood panel remover tool.
Next, I gently pry the metal clips attaching the trim panel free of the door and remove the panel using the Eastwood Door Panel Remover Tool #52035. While I have this tool in hand, I can also remove both the inner and outer door glass belt weather strip pieces. This makes removing the door glass and vent glass assembly easier.
PHOTO 3: An exploded view of the mechanisms inside the door. All of the parts are laid out in the position they would be found in the door to make assembly a little easier.
PHOTO 4: The latch assembly is also removed and photographed.
In photo 3, I’ve laid out the working components of the left door to get a better idea of what’s actually in the door. It can sometimes be difficult to remove a part if all you know about the part is that it fell to the bottom of the door when unbolted. All of the parts are placed as they would be located inside the door.
REMOVING THE WINDOWS
With the door glass rolled three-quarters of the way up, I hold the glass in place and remove the window regulator (bottom center, photo 3). The regulator has four bolts, and once unbolted it will slide off the lower glass channel and out of the door.
Removing the regulator frees the glass to slide up and down the front and rear run channels. To remove the rear run channel, look for the bolt hidden behind the rear door glass seal that holds the top of the rear run channel in place. With all the bolts removed, I can slide the glass full up and remove the rear run channel (far left, photo 3).
TIP
The wife, the next door neighbor, or—if you are lucky enough to own one—a teenager can be used to help hold the glass in place while removing the regulator.
With the rear run channel out of the door, I allow the glass to slide to the bottom of the door and remove the vent glass assembly attachment bolts and then the vent glass assembly from the door (far right, photo 3). I will take this unit apart and replace the weather strip later, but for now I store the piece.
Finally, I can lift the door glass, slide it back into the opening created by removing the rear glass seal, and lift it out of the door. With all the glass parts laid out, as shown in photo 3, I can inspect each piece for wear, note any parts requiring replacement (particularly the rollers) on the new parts list, and store everything together in a box marked Left (or Right) Door Glass.
REMOVING THE HANDLES, THE LOCK CYLINDERS, AND THE MIRRORS
The outer door handle, lock cylinder, and mirror can also be unbolted, removed, and stored, but I’ll leave the door latch on the door for now. Being able to latch the door will be important once I’m ready to bang and twist on this door to gain a better fit at a later time.
You might want to consider removing the latch with all its linkages intact and photographing the complete assembly while the tools and the camera are handy. Figuring out where all of the linkages go after they have been stored for a year can be tough. Reinstall the latch after photographing, and continue with the teardown.
REMOVE THE SEATS AND THE SEAT BELTS
The quarter windows go next, but the need to comfortably climb in and out of the car takes precedence. That means removing the seats and seat belts from the car.
The back seat pops right out by pressing down and back on the cushion to free it from the retainer hooks. Removing the front seats requires going under the car and looking for the eight rubber plugs capping the access holes to the front seat mounting bolts.
Is there anything else that might be found under the seats? Out in the fantasy world of automotive restoration, the original build sheet for the car would have been left under the rear seat. Although a company like Marti Auto Works can tell me virtually anything I could ever want to know about the car, having the original build sheet makes a great addition to the written history of this pony. I didn’t get that lucky. All I found under the rear seat was rust.
TIP
If you didn’t note the need to replace the seat plugs when compiling the initial inspection list, do so now. These plugs tend to harden with age, and they rarely survive being removed.
What else might be found after removing the seats? How about the seat belts? I can’t think of anything worse than sorting through a pile of seat belts trying to decide which belt goes to which seat. To prevent that dilemma, I remove the belts and lay them out according to placement and photograph them. I label each belt as to location before storing.
REMOVE THE INNER QUARTER PANEL TRIM AND THE QUARTER GLASS
I start by removing the quarter window crank handle and trim panel. That gives me access to the quarter glass regulator. Lubricate the regulator and guide channels with WD-40 before reinstalling the crank handle to roll the glass up and down to see if it works. Quarter windows are rarely operated, and they tend to collect grit and grime around the rollers. Operating the regulator before lubricating the unit can cause the rollers to seize and break. If they do, don’t fret. New rollers are available from most of the suppliers listed in chapter 1.
Next, I remove the bolts located behind the two round openings near the top of the inner quarter structure.