latoracing

Haven't seen you around these parts lately. CAD drawing converted into a DXF are great. Its nice to have engineers around

No. The '68s were the last year of the one piece seat risers for the early cars.

Can't do the side pipes, just not the "look" I am after on this build lol. I am still looking at doing a rocker exit though, more to come on that issue. As time is always an issue, it has taken a little bit to get the rest of the parts cut and tacked together. The routing stayed fairly close to the original model. Much like the passenger side, everything has decent clearance and the tubes were in the 2" variance range. Also much like the passenger side, it doesn't come out in one piece, the shock tower is the main obstacle, but I will live with them. The headers would be MUCH simpler if they were not part of the equation, but easy is boring lol. I am in the process of welding all these segments together, then back onto the car for the 2-1 segment.

Finished up the underside welding a few days ago. Went ahead and reinstalled the seat risers. I was able to put the original parts back in the car as the risers and reinforcements were in great shape. After a little straitening of the attachment flanges, and some paint removal in the rosette weld areas, both sides were made to stay. I have been meaning to get the outer vent area capped back off. Got the original part all cleaned up and prepped to go back on. With a few clamps and some more minor fitting, it was ready to weld back on. I will be concentrating on the driver's side quarter next as there is some unfinished rocker to wheel house repairs, along with the quarter / trunk drop off repair. The to fix list is getting shorter, not too much left.

Glad to see you post up, it has been a while. After living in another country I know that it is great to come home, WELCOME BACK! Mike

Having these two seat pan reinforcements tacked under the car doesn't seem like much, but I am glad they are under there for good. They have spent a few weeks at the sandblasters (waiting on this last lunar eclipse to take place I guess), anyway, they got back, were straightened out, drilled, primed and fitted. The removal process was not so kind to the floor support tab area, it had to be massaged a little to fit back in place. A couple of ratchet straps helped pull the parts into their correct positions and some threaded rod with misc plates held up the rear. I used the plate bolt holes to help align these parts along with a straight edge on the rear of the pans. Going to get the weld holes cleaned and get to cooking the first of next week. Seat risers will follow.

Took the afternoon to chop up some tubing. Half way done with cutting and tacking the driver's side components. So far so good.

For the ones who like overkill (like myself) and will be beating on their cars in corners, At minimum, the B302 reinforcement is a great reinforcement, street car or otherwise, gives a better connection to the frame rail.

Welcome to the site MAC, you have some nice looking toys. Hate that you were deceived, but once your done, it will be exactly what you want, the way you want it. Once it is finished, you'll have tough decisions to make... do I drive the Mustang or the Charger...

After the usual weld, sand, beat with a hammer, repeat as necessary... then a little block sanding with some 80 grit, this quarter panel has been given a new lease on life. There are just a few high / low areas that I want to tune up, then finish off all the little spot welds on the lower pinch weld area. On to the other side.

You shouldn't, even with adjusting the engine left to right. The Unisteer bracket has a little wiggle room. The rack will come into contact with the pan way before the bracket will.

I have a power Unisteer rack set-up for my build, which is still on the rotisserie. I have not installed the supplied pump but have installed the rack mount for mock-up purposes. There is some minor trimming of the LCA attachment points, mainly the little tabs that guide the eccentric, and a little off of the flanges on the lower mount itself. The holes in the supplied mount are not large enough (in my opinion) for easy LCA camber adjustments, they might need to be enlarged depending on your particular car. With the steering box out of the way, headers should not be an issue, hopefully... I modified the position of my engine by lowering it and sliding it towards the rear of the car, the stock Unisteer mounting bracket would not clear my oil pan. I ended up making a totally new mounting cross member to accommodate the new engine position. That being said, if your engine is not in the stock position, there might be some interference with the new cross member and the oil pan

The quarter patch is all trimmed to fit, along with the trunk drop off. There is a little oil canning going on underneath the parking light on the new part. I will have to do a little shrinking on that area to firm it up. All the gaps look neat and should be very weldable. I did trim just a little bit off the original skin to have a fresh edge for welding. I have one little adjustment on the rear area, right where the outer crease goes in. Once tack welded in place it should hammer right where it needs to go. Butt welding all these repairs turns out quite nice, just takes a little more effort and there is no rushing the welding, kinda like watching paint dry, it just takes time lol.

Fitting of the quarter patch and outer wheel house patch. Both pieces needed a little reshaping in order to fit, and look right. I started by rough trimming the parts and got them fairly close to the final trim before the adjustments could start. The quarter patches needed a little help in the rear valance area. These patch stampings are not as detailed as a full replacement part. The area where the valance and the quarter meet needed to be much sharper and much deeper. Making a hammering form to get the crease just right, and to allow the part to be shaped correctly made quick work of the touch up. The part on the right is my modified part, it fits the valance nicely plus it aligns with the crease on the existing quarter. Having that area shaped, the wheel house repair also had to be trimmed and shaped. Most wheel houses in the lower area are way to wide. (just like this one would have been) Ever see a quarter put on with the bottom rear lip sticking out farther than its supposed to? Well, that is normally the issue, especially when the trunk drop off and the quarter pinch weld flange do not touch each other. After some sectioning, and some creative forming, it was drilled and temp fastened in place. I had the wheel house patch all prepped and tacked it in place. One more final check and it was butt welded to the existing wheel house, and seam welded on the pinch weld area. The flange on the replacement part was like 1/4", so I improvised. All that area is all welded up, planished and ground smooth. I have to trim the quarter skin patch next, so more "quilting" on this convertible.

Yes

Took a minute here and there over the past month to attempt some more progress on the header fabrication. Had to get the column all situated and my 3/4" DD shaft all trimmed up. (made it out of some stainless round bar) With the head and valve cover installed, the mock-up on the driver's side went rather quickly. Having a little more confidence on this side I made two of the four starter tubes, which made the process a little easier. Now to find some time to start cutting up U bends (which I had to buy more of...) and get this side done. Looking into the rest of the exhaust system trying to figure out what to do for side exhaust. Spintech is at the top of my list for oval tubing and mufflers. I would like to go THOUGH the frame rail and notch the rocker, right in front of the rear tire. I have issues with making a fairly large hole in the frame rail and boxing it up. I know the web of the rail has a lot of strength and can have a hole in it, like the access for the forward leaf spring mount. Sleeving a through hole "should" restore the strength to the area, as long as it doesn't compromise the total web area. I want to be 100% certain before committing to that. Could go up, but really do not want any exhaust tubing inside the car. Guess I'll have to think outside the box...

That looks good. The seam does stick out into the wheel area. The factory had a bunch of seam sealer in the bottom of the lip. I would put a bunch in there as well to help with the water / road debris that will collect in that "cup".

More patching. There was an area right in the middle of the inner and outer wheel house that was rusted through, right above the trunk drop off. I did get the new drop off part all trimmed and primed. Installing it was interesting. This part was butt welded in place instead of the traditional lap / spot weld repair we've all seen done 100 times. Butt welding is much more tedious, but makes for an "invisible" repair. I had to put a slight taper on the new part to make it all line up. With a few tacks, it was ready for some welding More welding and grinding... poof, all done. I was also working on the quarter skin patch, along with the lower portion of the outer wheel house. They are in the works of being fitted and trimmed. All of those parts will be butt welded as well, so there will be no rushing once the parts are tacked in place. I do not like wavy panels. More to come...

Tackling a few small areas in preparation for quarter panel patchwork. In fitting the lower quarter patches and trunk drop off, I found a previous "repair". Looks to have been rusted through and filled with Bondo. I don't like Bondo filling up holes so I did a minor repair. Not a lot of time to fix it, much better than plastic filler. I made the replacement flange, welded it in place, and ground it really smooth. It didn't look quite right, so I placed some simulated spot weld pressure marks into it. I used to have a tool that replicated spot weld imprints, but could not find it. Guess I should make another one. This repair took about a hour and a half, the primer was still wet when I took the picture. There are a few other areas that will require similar small repairs, will get them knocked out one at a time. I'll show the quarter / trunk drop off repair as I get more completed.

That is exciting. Congrats on the "maiden" voyage. Not much longer and you'll be at the local cruse spot on Friday night. The trunk does look nice, your son has good taste lol.

Yes. There are very few pieces on my build that are not Dynacorn.

The radiator support is fairly easy to R+R, just some interesting places to get at to remove the cross member. Make sure your car is properly leveled and supported before you start this. You can twist the frame if this front cross member is installed crooked. If you haven't yet, get a bunch of measurements for realigning purposes, from several fixed points that you can accurately check against while you are installing your new parts. Once you have all your measurements, check them one last time, then start removing the front end. (the fun part) You can remove the majority of the parts and leave the spot welded areas to clean up. If you look closely at the pic there are cross member remnants left on top of the frame rails, tabs, under the frame rails, and on top of the strut rod brackets. These are much easier to dress up once all the major parts are removed. Clean all surfaces and repair any areas that may need a little attention, especially on the battery side. Once everything is all cleaned up, fit the new assembly in place, making sure your previously recorded measurements (width of frame rail, distance from a fixed point to the cross member etc...) are the same as the one you removed. Once you are happy with the fit (mine went right on without any issues) put a few self tapping screws into the attachment areas to secure the cross member in place. Check measurements once again, then mark all the areas that will need rosette welds, which are not many. Before you remove the radiator support, you can fit the front aprons. They are fairly simple, just take your time and clamp / screw them in place, with the use of your measurements to verify their correct placement. Mark all the areas that need to be punched for rosette weld holes, and watch the alignment holes on the passenger side for your battery tray. I custom made my panels as I did a T/A nose drop and deleted the battery tray, but you get the idea. Once you are happy with the way your front end fits, take it all apart, punch / drill all your attachment holes, and apply primer where needed. Drill your strut rod braces for the attachment welds as well. I replaced mine, but this is how they looked before installation. Reassemble, and triple check all your measurements. tack parts in place, and have fun welding up your new front end. It really isn't that hard, the weld and sealant manual can help with the various weld placements, but when you take it apart, you'll know how to reattach it. Not a video, but hope it helps. Mike

Thanks for all the complements gents, I do appreciate it. Picked me up a new present from me to me. It isn't new, but I have used it quite often over the past 12 years. They didn't have a need for it at work, as I was the only one who actually ever used it and it is not for "production". Got it to the house today, it is a Di Acro model 24 box and pan brake, needs a little TLC as it has been in storage for a while, but I will put it to good use. Yea tools!!!

Less wire with the same voltage doesn't "fill" the puddle as quickly. (Look at it as leaning out a air/fuel ratio)Turning up the wire speed with the same voltage requires the arc to melt more filler wire in the same amount of time, makes the weld colder. If you can literally feel the MIG wire pushing into the weld puddle, way too "rich". Set up a part and try different wire and heat settings. Do some experiments to see the differences of less/more wire and how it affects your weld. Be safe welding overhead, 3rd degree buns are not fun! (Ask me how I know :) )

Due to gravity, the more wire you melt in the weld puddle, the more chance you have of it dripping out of the hole. I'm not suggesting a lot less wire, just enough to make it hotter than you would normally weld. The welding shied gas is another issue, as it is heaver than air. For up side down welds I will turn up the flow rate by 5psi to help. Keeping your nozzle extremely close to the puddle really helps. Get some scrap and try it. With my Miller (running .030" wire) I usually weld thin metal on 2 for amps and 3.5 for wire speed. Up side down, I turn the wire speed down to 3 (if that makes any since)