1968 Mustang Engine Bay — Concours-Grade Restoration

The brief

Marcus brought in a numbers-matching 1968 Mustang Fastback he’d bought as a project from the previous owner’s estate. The car had been in dry storage for fifteen years and the engine bay showed it — a layer of dried oil mist over factory paint, original Ford build tags, period-correct decals and the original 289 Windsor still in place.

The brief: get the bay presentable for a concours show in three weeks without disturbing any of the original markings. A repaint was off the table. So was traditional detailing — chemical degreasers were a non-starter near the original decals.

The challenge

There were three things we had to preserve:

1. The factory paint code stamping on the firewall — slightly worn but legible.
2. The original VECI sticker (Vehicle Emission Control Information label) on the radiator support — period decals on classic Mustangs are increasingly hard to source as reproductions.
3. The ‘Powered by Ford’ decal on the air cleaner — original, with light surface oxidation but otherwise clean.

Pressure-washing would have lifted the decals and forced water into the points distributor and original wiring loom. Sandblasting was obviously out. Chemical cleaning would have stained the decals and possibly etched the original paint.

The work

We worked the bay over a single day. Started with comprehensive photography — every decal, every casting number, every weld stamp documented before any pellets flew. Masking went on around the carburettor air intake, the points distributor, the original fuel pump and the period vacuum lines.

The blast pattern stepped progressively across the bay, starting with the chassis rails (low priority, no decals) and moving toward the firewall and air cleaner. Pressure was kept low (around 80 PSI) for the decal areas, with a 25-degree nozzle to spread the impact and prevent any concentrated point pressure.

The original Ford blue Inca / Black Jade paint came up clean. The decals stayed intact — slightly clearer than before, in fact, because surface oxidation had been carrying the dirt rather than the printing itself. The VECI sticker came up like new.

The result

Five hours, 32kg of dry ice, and a bay that photographs as if it had just rolled off the Dearborn line. Marcus took it to the show and took out the period-correct restoration class.

The original markings remained visible and in original condition. No paint disturbed, no rubber dried out, no electrical issues post-cleaning. We provided a full photo log for his car file — useful for resale provenance.