Hello all,

I am a relatively new member to the forums and I have a 1968 Mustang Convertible that is pretty bare bones. Let me start in the beginning. My father and I started working on this car a while back when I was in high school. It was in terrible shape and we determined that we were going to have to do a complete rebuilt. We stripped everything off, had it blasted, new body panels put on and painted. Thats about when I went off to college while my dad was able to get the 302 engine and tranny rebuilt, the suspension and brakes put back on thats as far as he was able to get it. Shortly thereafter he lost a battle with cancer. That was in 2007 and I have not touched the car since. It has been in my moms garage under cover. I was able to finish school and then I got distracted by work, and a wonderful woman who I later married. Now I have the time and the money to start working on the car again, but I will need some help/ tips/ guidance in going in the right direction with the car. I want to be able to put the right parts on at the right time and know that I am not completely in the dark. The car is going to be a weekend cruiser, I don't need it to ride like a new car, be chromed out or a speed demon. I live in San Diego so I plan to have the top down most of the year.

My first goal is to get the car running. I have an initial budget of 4 grand. I know this is not much but I figure I have the biggest expense out of the way, the engine. My first big decision is the electrical (I think). It appears that the wires are in good shape for the most part, there are a few lose ends here and there which I believe I can determine their purpose and fix it. Should I just bite the bullet though and buy all the new wires for 800 bucks or so?

What should I try to tackle after the electrical? I know that there is a plethora of hoses that I have to connect from the carb to the distributer and various other systems. It is kinda hard to determine by looking at the shop manual what I need in order to get the car running.

There are two Mustang shops in the area, one I have talked to seems kinda money hungry and offers to do stuff for me but not give out a lot of advice. I have not been to the other one yet.

I know that I am ignorant to a lot of things when it comes to this which is why I am here. Any help would be appreciated. I will post pictures later on.

 

Look into your local Mustang or car club. Usually there are plenty of knowledgable folks there willing to lend a hand. There is no lack of car guys in Cali.

 

exactly what he said .. we can talk you thru just about anything you need to know but a hands on person would be many times more helpful ..

 

I am in San Diego and just got my 1969 coupe running. I was considering having some work done by one of the local mustang shops. Can you tell me which ones you have gone to and if you would recommend any of them?

 

OK thanks guys. I do have a specific question though. I am looking at doing new electrical, which company has the best replacement kit for and OEM application?

There are two shops that I know of. The Mustang Shoppe in San Diego and then Mustang Auto in El Cajon. I don't know if I can post links or not on here but if you google them you will have no problem. I have not had work done by either of them but I would call both shops, talk to them about what you want done and see which one is the most reasonable.

 

http://midlife66.com/harnesses/welcome.html

Check out that link above. Randy restores original wiring harnesses for a fraction of the cost of a new aftermarket one. I had him restore mine.

 

Thanks! I will check it out!

 

Randy did a great job by the way! Very professional and knowledgeable. Would really recommend him to restore your wires if you are thinking about new ones.