latoracing

After work schedule part II... stuck the preped inner B pillar repair into place, scraped off some paint for the spot welds, bla bla bla, Done! I think that it should work, even though no one will ever see it, on to quarter pannel fitting.

Not a problem at all. I hope that you get better quickly.

Basicly the same. Most major structures are, but some smaller details are changed. (like my B pillar for example). It should give an idea about how both years are constructed.

A hour here, 30 min. there... slow progress. Patched the worst part of the B pillar, still a little crunchy though. Trimmed the repair patch to fit the hole I made, then welded it into place. A little grinding, sanding... Bondo, we don't need no stinking Bondo! Na, this thing will be skim coated from one end to the other when it is time for paint. Inner repair is ready to install, once all the rust stoppers are cured, it is next on the after work schedule...

Welcome to the fourm! Nice looking Mach. There are alot of talented people who exchange great ideas on this site. Don't be afraid to ask any questions, as someone has "been there, done that" with these cars.

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped. I spent most of the day Saturday on the lake, Bass fishin'. I needed a break... Anyway, I did work on my B pillar a little. I went ahead and preped the areas that I am going to patch, removing the old rusty reinforcement on the back side, and a small area on the front. I made the filler part on the front over sized so I can trim it to fit, since it is a tapered part. The inside is a little bit more complicated. I really don't have a whole lot of time in making this, actually I only have about 2 hours in it to this point. I did make it out of some scrap 16ga Hot rolled steel I had laying around the shop. A little bit thick, since the stock part was 20ga. I thought it would end up being a practice part, but it will work as the final part. I trimmed the lower section to fit, fired up the TIG welder and ran the seams. I wanted to be able to have very little clean up, so I welded them to acchieve 100% penetration. The welds turned out nice, after using a rotary file to blend them in. I know that this will never be seen once the car is back together, but I know that it was done right. Now all that is left, is to trim and weld it into place. Hopefully I'll be able to continue with the quarter next week.

I checked it before I attached it, oh well. The part name is Rear Seat/Trap Door Pannel Part Number: 3661G See if that works.

This is a new part directly forom Dynacorn. It was around $250ish, not exactly cheep, but the part under the lower rear window pannel was what I needed. It was alot easier to replace all of it at. Here is a link if you would like to chek it out http://dynacorndepot.com/MustangSearchResult.aspx

I posted a message on stangnet33's post for minin tubing a car with a fold down. I took some time after work today to throw the non fold down pannels in the car just to see. Well, I am WRONG about possibly installing a rear seat in a car with 1.5" tubs with out modifying anything. The way the pannels look on the stock side (yet to be modified), the bracket at the bottom is only about .625". With out messing with any part of the interior pannel, much less the seat, this is all you are going to move inward with out any modification. I took some pics to illistrate what I am talking about. On the mini tubbed side, the top portion misses the rear bracket by about 1.1875", while the bottom is moved inward about 1.375". This is just sitting there and is just to show how much fun it could be to reinstall a back seat, much less a fold down. Don't get me wrong, I am shure all these parts could shrink a little, and be fit to where no one will ever be the wiser, untill the fat rear tires give it away. I hope I haven't mislead anyone. I have been working on the inner part of my B pillar, which is a nother story in it self. Long of the short, the '69 part I purchaced to fix mine is a little crunchy, but worked well for a template. I made my new part just like the '69 part. The only problem is where the vent grille goes into the '70. I am only making most of the upper portion, and had to remove a bunch off the bottom. The lower hole on my car is .375" away from the next bend, where the '69 is 1.5". Fun... I have re trimmed the part, and still need to hammer it into shape on the lower portion. I'll get to that this weekend, hopefully...

I took the time to put the interior pannels in the car this afternoon when I got home, and I stand corrected. I have a non fold down rear seat and I am shure a fold down will be the same, the little tab at the bottom of the inner wheel well is about .625". This bracket thickness is all you are going to move the inner wheel well in without modifying anything, and that is a bunch of work for 5/8". I was looking at the top bracket and the bracket on the floor, which the 1.5" measurement was taken from. If you are wanting to run a section width of up to 300mm, I would stop at 295mm, for the simple fact of having to modify a bunch of parts to run a fold down. I am not saying that this will be complicated, I havn't worked on a fold down car in a while, but it will be a bunch of work. If you want to mini tub the car, go big. I hope I havn't mis-lead anyone. Here are some photos to clairify what I am talking about. The mini tub side misses the top rear bracket by 1.1875" with out pushing on it, and of cource, the lower part is 1.375" inward as compared to the stock side. Hope this sheads some light on the pannel fitment, and mini tub subject.

I haven't fit a back seat in the car yet, but I am fairly shure a 1.5" mini tub would be the max width a person could go without modifying any part of the rear seat assy. I know you've posted on my build progress (Grabber Green '70), and saw how much 2" cuts out of the rear. I will be glad to give you any info on mine in order to make your decision easier. What size rear tire are you wanting to run? Also, what type of rear suspension are you panning on? This will dictate to how wide you need to go.

Looks like a quality part, never seen anything from them.

You could possibly try to slot your hood hinges. There is a little room to play with on the hood mounting surface, and the apron mounting holes. 1/4" between both of them and it should slide back far enough, as long as your hood is the correct leingth, it might work. What brand of repop hood are you dealing with?

Looking good. Your tail light pannel turned out nice. Hope the weather is starting to cool off a little. It is alot of fun to work in 93 degree weather with 100% humidity. It has been well over 90 for the past month here in NC. Keep cool!

The quarter window lower pcs. are bolted on. The drip rail is fun to remove. You have to be extra careful when removing these pieces if you are going to reuse them. They, like many other stainless steel trim parts, are thin, and can be kinked if you pry to hard. I started with the quarter window lower parts, removed the small clip that covers the two sections, then worked the trim off slowly with plastic "pry" bars, and wedges. Once you get it started, it will come off nice and straight. If you get in a hurry and jerk it, even slightly, it will kink. Take your time, and it will be reusable. Good luck!

I am going to have a cage in the car, it will be functional, but not over the top. They are a pain to work around once they are installed, but make such a differance in a solid platform, performance, and saftey. They are't that expensive when you make them yourself.

I am not going to use the back seat on this car, I still don't think it would be hard to use it though. I am however going to use part of the non fold down / packadge tray rear, and the fiberglass sides. I am going to install brackets for this to bolt back in, I guess you could fit a back seat in it, I might fit it to see how much modifying it will take, and so others can see. I am going to get the drivers side tubbed, then all that will be fitted. If you were to use a back seat, the outter most seat belt holes would have to be moved inboard, I kinda deleted mine, oops. Still, it can be done, and done nicely.

It is starting to look like a Mustang agean. Today was a blast! I got a bunch of my parts off the floor, and welded to the car. That was a bunch of fitting, but it shure did pay off. All the measurements are with in 1/16", and I am pleased whith how it looks now with a bunch of "zits" that need to be topped. I pre-trimmed the trap door panel and was able to get it, the inner and outter wheel house, all welded in. Compare the differance between the stock wheel house, and the mini tubed wheel house. If you didn't know it was 2" wider, it almost looks factory, sorta. Quarter fitting, "B" pillar repair, and lower window divider pannel are all next.

I'd have to look at it close. 16k is something you don't see often, most of them in that price range are apart, or crunchy. Go look at the car, if it is "rust free" consider taking it home with you, if that is what you are looking for.

I would do what is with in my budget for the next step. Are you going to put a stockish suspension under the car? Are you going to put some 13" brakes on it? Are you reusing the stock harness? While the body is out of your shop area, that will free up some space to work on a number of things. Rebuild the motor, suspension, electrical, then interior, or a combination of all of them.

Out with the old, and in with the new. I usually don't have to work on Fridays, but today was an exception. I got home to get back to work on fun things, instead of the regular day to day welding. (I do like what I do, just burned out on this week). I went ahead and measured, marked, and removed the trap door structure, which was not hard. This car must have rattled something awful going down the road. The attachment points on the foward trunk floor, to the trap door, were both broken. Most of the welds on the flanges, to the inner wheel house were also broken. Made it quite simple to remove. While it was out, I ground down the welds on the right side trunk floor, which turned out nice. The replacement fell right into place, clamped, measured (my tape is almost worn out) and temp. fastened it in. The sparks will be flying in the morning! There is a bunch of stuff preped, and ready to install. I'll be shure to snap some more pics. as things progress.

Re-skinning is not that bad. It is alot easier, and cheeper when it goes to the body shop. If you are careful, you can re-skin your door with simple hand tools. Just gotta watch the areas on the outside of the door, they can be dented fairly easily, but it is something that you can do. Once they are done, you don't have to wory about that good ol' rust popping up and messing up your new paint.

How far gone is too far gone? That is up to the person looking at the problem. Can the bottom structure of the door be replace, I'm quite confident it can. I am faced with the same problem on my driver's side door. The door had a nice home to some mice for a while, and their happy home made my door into swiss cheese. I am going to attempt to repair it, at least the cost of the sheet metal will be cheep compaired to several hundred dollars for a re-poped shell, and it will hopefully still fit. If your door is semi-crunchy, I would at least attempt to fix it before ordering new ones.

Looks like you have a good starting point. Do you have any goals for the build? I am shure you will have alot of fun with your project. Keep us informed.