Temadur For The Floors

The new floor panels only had a thin layer of rust prevention paint and had to be given some better protection before longer drives or rain. My friend recommended that I use Tikkurila Temadur. He had painted the floors on his Mustang with it and it had proven really durable. It was pretty expensive but I bought a small can of it and its hardener.

After mixing the two components in 1:5 ratio, I brushed the paint on. The smell is pretty bad so using some breathing protection is a must. I was rewarded with a really nice and hard looking surface.

For now I just painted the passenger side but I think I'll paint the whole floor after the driver footwell has been replaced. I must also spray some undercoating to the bottom of the car later.

Oil Change And Fan Shroud

It's been really hot in Finland for the past weeks and luckily I've been on holiday. Unfortunately the Mustang didn't seem to like it as much as me. I took a few short trips around town and noticed that the engine temperature was higher than normal. It seemed that the fan and radiator could not keep up with the engine in stop and go traffic in 30 degrees celsius (85 F) temperatures.

I ordered a fan shroud and bracket set to help with the cooling problem. When they arrived I noticed a small problem though. I had assumed that my radiator had three rows but later realised it had only two! This meant the brackets were too long and I had to order a second set. Luckily it was only about 15 dollar mistake.

While waiting for the brackets I decided to replace the oil and filter. I drained the old oil into a bowl and could not see anything wrong with it. There were no visible metal shavings or any other particles in it. It seemed that the engine rebuild and break in succeeded! I'll also check the plugs and valve train later.

After getting the correct brackets for the shroud, it was simple bolting it in. I also decided to replace my fan with the one I got with the crappy engine. Its blades were much larger so hopefully it would draw more air through the radiator.

I took another test drive with the new setup and the engine still runs a bit warmer but the shroud did help somewhat. At least I shouldn't have to worry about boiling the engine anymore.

Intermission

My Mustang returned home, temporarily. I visited my friend and he was going on a trip for a week so I decided to take the car back home. The engine now had about 1000 km on it after the rebuild so it was time to change the oil again and I could stop babying it around. He said that the engine had been working fine while he had the car so hopefully I would not find any nasty surprises.

The worst of the rust problems on the car had been fixed. My friend started by cutting out the passenger front floor. It was full of holes and needed to be replaced. Drilling out the spot welds had been a really annoying task but had to be done.

The frame below the floor had been sand blasted and painted with a light coat of paint. I’ll spray some more later. The new floor panel was not exactly the same as the old but with some hammering had fit in. My friend welded it in from the below and again sprayed a light coat of rust prevention pain on. I’ll spread more later again.

There was also some pretty bad rust holes in the passenger side frame below the floor so the corroded part was cut out and new metal welded in.

Still left are the driver side floor and the right rear wheel arch. I'll work with the car myself for a while and then take it back for the welding to be finished.