Engine Compartment and Front-End

After the engine was pulled, the engine compartment showed itself as one big, dirty mess. I took it to a steamcleaning place that washed away the 44 years of grease and grime. The battery "arpon" was rusted and needed to be replaced, which was done by the (horrible) bodyshop. Although I told them not to paint the engine compartment, they did (sigh). When I got the car home, I stripped their awful engine compartment paint job and refinished the compartment as I originally intended. It took more work because of their failure to follow instructions (a practice I sadly learned they were determined to frequently repeat).I removed every nut, bolt, and bracket. Everything was restored or replaced. The engine compartment was sanded, and sanded, and sanded, and (well, you get the idea). I then sprayed it with several coats of satin black Rustoleum Universal. I love the finish this paint provides, but I've had two (2) cans become unusuable while still half-full because their unique sprayer stopped working. It's relatively expensive paint, so this is a big problem in my humble opinion. Otherwise, the finish looks great. After it rested for a few days, I attached the reproduction service decal in its original location and reinstalled all of the little pieces of hardware I had removed. There is still much more to do before the rebuilt engine goes back in. So far, I'm happy with the results.

The front suspension was a relatively easy task, except for installation of the coil springs. I purchased one type of spring compressor that I used to remove them. It worked, but I didn't feel safe using it. I bought another, more expensive compressor to install them; it is the one offered by most Mustang parts houses.
The bolt is too long, so you have to add about four (4) inches of washers to get the right clearance. That seemed too dangerous to me. I finally rented a spring compressor from American Mustang in Rancho Cordova. They walked me through how I should use it. It took me a couple of hours to reinstall the passenger-side spring, and only 40 minutes to do the driver-side. I feel pretty confident that I could now do any coil spring installation in 20 minutes. All of the little "tricks" you need to know are not covered in any of the reference books I consulted. And the Ford-recommended compressor is no longer available. Let's just say it was an adventure. The purple marks were originally on the springs, and I tried my best to accurately recreate them. I will install the new shocks after the engine is installed. I need the weight of the engine to compress the springs so I can attached the shocks to the lower control arm.