working from the front of the car to the rear. I start with the shiny parts on the front of the car. With the exception of the valance panel, everything up here mounts behind the bumper. That means the valance panel has to be removed before the bumper can be removed, and the bumper has to be removed before most of the bolts holding the grille assembly can be accessed for removal.
PHOTO 11: The front bumper is bolted directly to the unibody frame rails and can be removed only after the valance panel has been removed.
PHOTO 12: An exploded view of the grille parts removed from the front of the car. Everything is laid out as it would be found on the car to make assembly easier later on.
To remove the valance, I need to remove several bolts that hold it in place: two on each end, four across the width. I also need to unplug two parking lamps.
To remove the bumper, I remove the two mounting bolts on either side of the front frame rails plus an additional bolt behind each fender near the outermost corners of the bumper. I’m removing the bumper as a unit and will disassemble it later.
Before removing the grille, I had a question about the authenticity of the fog lamps that were mounted on the grille. Ford used several different fog lamps, most of which were round, whereas Shelby had a tendency to use rectangular Lucas brand fog lamps. At first, these Lucas brand lamps appear to be too large for this car, but upon closer inspection, I found the appropriate Ford number, C8WZ-15L 203 A, taken from a 1968 Ford parts book to verify that these are indeed the correct fog lamps for this vehicle.
The grille assembly goes next. This includes all of the moldings surrounding the grille as well as the front molding on the hood. This molding is considered part of the grille and should be stored along with those parts.
Although the headlamp housings could be considered part of the grille assembly, I’m going to leave both of them on the car for now because they will be used to align the front sheet metal panels. Since they bolt directly to the front of the fenders, they will affect the way the fenders align with the hood. They not only have a direct bearing on the gaps between the hood and the fenders but also help determine how far forward the hood can be adjusted, as the leading edge of the hood must align with the leading edge of each headlamp housing once everything has been properly adjusted.
TEARING DOWN THE REAR
After disassembling the front of the car, I move to the rear. The rear bumper mounts with four bolts found inside the trunk compartment above the floor pan on the right and left sides. Once removed, the rear bumper is stored with the front bumper.
The taillamps are mounted in a rear body finish panel with the entire unit being mounted to the rear body panel. I unbolt this unit from the inside of the trunk and remove it as one piece.
Behind the taillamps are the original lamp openings for the Mustang-style taillamps, and these openings have been filled with specially made enclosures. I remove these enclosures and store them with other parts that will require refinishing.
Under the bumper is the rear valance panel. I leave the backup lamp assemblies in the panel for now and remove the valence panel as a complete assembly.
The first model year for factory installed side marker lamps was 1968. Ford’s better idea was to opt for reflectors instead of lamps. I remove these along with the name plates and store them with the taillamp assemblies.
PHOTO 13: An exploded view of the rear body panel components.
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
