latoracing

Wonder if they will sell just the components to retrofit into a tank? I've got an unused stainless steel tank that could use some guts lol

Working on a '65 convertible a few years ago and went the Dust-less Blasting route. The quarters and cowl were not done, and the floor was new. Being crushed glass, it is yard "friendly" as they used several hundred pounds of media. I wouldn't exactly call it "dustless", more like less-dust. The draw back to this is the wet media is still airborne, and sticks to EVERYTHING! I spun that body on the rotisserie for a couple of hours after it dried to get rid of the built-up media that was everywhere. They do use rust inhibitors, so at least it doesn't flash rust instantly. It does a great job, a little rough in my opinion, as it took a couple of coats of epoxy primer to cover the texture. The clean-up takes quite a while, and I still have media coming out of my rotisserie. It was convenient for them to come to the house, and it was reasonable for the service provided. It would probably be OK for this type of blasting to be done on body panels, as it is cool and doesn't build heat. The finish texture will take some work to get smooth though.

Ya' done tore it up, Bob. That is not good. Looks like it isn't trashed, but will need a little love and attention. That could have been very bad, you caught it at just the right time. And while you're in there...

Been cyphering on these tail lights (in-between chebby parts) and needed some insight on how to attach them and such. Since the lenses are sorta flush to the tail light panel ('70 panels are convex, wish it was flat), I needed to know how they will sit. Obviously, the '69 buckets will not come close to fitting a "flat" panel, and they are in need of extending a tad. The second issue was how to mount them. I haven't messed with a '69 in quite some time and i have no recollection of how they are attached. I asked Bob for insight, which was very helpful (Thanks Bob!) but I'll have to do a little more modifications (oh no, not that...) to get them situated. I started out getting the housings flat by trimming off most of the lip. I could have went all the way to the bottom of the flange, but thought that it might warp more when welded. I also cut the mounting tabs off of each bucket and saved them for repositioning a little later on. A long strip of 20ga CRS, and a little creativity, fitting as it was tack welded in place, and we have one bucket ready for some more welding. Will repeat the process on the other bucket and get them both all cleaned up. I will definitely have to find some closed cell foam rubber (McMaster Carr to the rescue) to cut the gaskets out of, since nothing will fit once they are in place. My can of worms has turned into a 55gal drum of worms. This is getting interesting...

Sorry for your loss.

Pearl White. The car had Foose Monterey wheels on it (17" front / 19" rear) and 2 1/2" Fatman drop spindles. It was scary

Before.... After.... The '65 went home as it was more of a suspension re--do. Very nice car with some questionable parts thrown at it. It got a bunch of SoT front suspension goodies along with some new wheels.

Once again, been really busy with other side work. Between the 65 Vert, to now, working on some '62 Impala parts that someone wants remade (since they don't repop the parts) I'm still around, just neglecting my stuff yet again. I did prime the passenger door shell and skin the other week. It should be really cured by now lol. I have also completed beating the tail light fill in's for my "flushish" tail light mod. The third part out of the MDF hammer form worked quite well. I'm still impressed at how a bunch of saw dust can take repeated poundings like that. It was a little difficult to remove from the form, once all the edges were bent to their proper shape. Now I can get them rough trimmed and a few more details added. I will get to it, but for now, back to the chebby parts.

The only portion of a coupe / fastback floor you would need to trim off would be the little angle that attaches to the inner rocker. The floor pan welds to the underside of the inner rocker on the convertible. Full floors are a wonderful thing, I would much rather install a one piece than patch a floor and do all the finishing work.

Looks like a fun project, that is if you are a gluten for punishment (like myself lol). Fixing the rear to accept the Sportsroof quarters looks like a really fun mod. The deck lid will have to be added to for the "duck tail". I haven't attempted it, but would like to try it one day.

Thanks for all the offers, you all are way too kind. Ridge Runner has fixed me up, and they are on the way.

I am in need of a set of 1969 tail light buckets. They don't have to be perfect as they will be modified. Let me know if you have some and a price. (PM or Email) Thank you, Mike latoracing@yahoo.com

I tried Rust-B-Gone on this one, it works well. Wire brushes are another good method, just depends on the area IMO

I had a little bit of work to do on a '70 convertible and it needed a few patches. The picture of of the replacement part that Tom posed would make a good place to get the butt weld patches he needs to fix his floor. I personally would not put that part in as is, but fix the areas that need it. Here is a pic of the toe board sans the floor pan (and a lot of the inner rocker)after rust removal. The area right in the corner of the top of the torque box had a hole rotted in it. That portion of the torque box lid was also removed and patched. The welds ground down and the toe board was butt welded over this repair. All metal finished, and the repair should last a long time Take your time, and it will be good as new. Good luck with your repair. Mike

That is cool! I'd have to do something like this.... and leave the body all crunchy for a while.

Started forming the inner portion of the bumper end and figured out the pot metal extension was all in the way. So, once again, to modify one thing leads to another and another lol. I had three pieces of my version of a quarter extension roughly shaped waiting their turn to be tweaked and trimmed. With a little tape to get the parts to stay put along with some clamps the end portion and top were stuck in place. I am seriously thinking about welding this to the quarter for a permanent (as permeant as sheet metal can be) part. There are lots of contours and lines to pick up on from the factory sheet metal. I want the contour of the deck lid to flow into the end caps along with the radius in the deck lid. I do not want to just bond the pot metal parts in place and shape with filler, this is a little more tedious. As the majority of the radius' are slight, getting the "look" just right took a bunch of trips across the shop back to the english wheel. I used my flat wheel to basically bead roll a body line in the upper portion and rough trimmed the part to fit. The side portion has a little more shape to it, with a couple of reverses to mimic the pot metal part. More trimming and it was temporarily stuck in place. A little more time with a slightly more aggressive anvil and this should fit even better. I need to borrow a contour gauge from work to verify the parts to the quarter panel and make some templates for the other side. Once all this is verified I'll get it all trimmed up and might put some tacks on it.

I removed 1" from the part I cut off, figured it would be "easier" to line up the outside first. I tried to remove a section from the middle of the bumper end, (black sharpie marks) but that just made a mess. So, I continued to cut pieces off of it, all the flanges and the inner section became scrap. I took some 11ga and got to forming the fill-in areas for the sides. Lots of beating and bending, tack welded and hammered on it some more. After a while i had something resembling a bumper end. Once I kinda liked the shape I went and welded it together and rough trimmed it in place. In fitting it to the quarter and end cap, I made it really close so I don't have to guess where it fits. I plan on opening the gap up a little later on. I've had this end on and off countless times, I might tack weld it in place once I get to fitting the inner portion. A little grinding and it is looking a little better. I'm not totally sold on the way this is looking, the end cap to bumper doesn't flow, but there is a little more to add to the profile. Guess I'll continue in this direction. Where the valance to quarter fits, the bumper has a rather large hump that I don't like either. In fitting all this stuff really tight, and what I'm fixing to do to the quarter extensions, I'm probably going to weld the rear valance to the car. Not my favorite thing to do, but it would blend much better... I have some more forming to do to get the inner portion of the bumper fabricated, starting from flat sheet should be fun! More metal madness to come...

It has been a very cold winter, and I'm a wimp lol. Haven't been out messing with this thing in a while, (actually been playing with the '17 , it's not stock anymore lol) Since its too cold to shoot primer on my door, I figured the back of the car needed some attention. I hate the quarter extension caps on these cars, and mine do not fit at all. So... Put my english wheel to work shaping some parts. I don't have a bead roller (YET...) so a little creativity on the wheel with a flat profile anvil I needed to get a little creative on the car with some additional shaping, but realized the bumper also needed to be in position as well. I've never fit a bumper up close, nor have I ever made mounts for said fitment. A little eyeballing, some 3/16" plate, a sharpie and a couple tack welds... it actually fits pretty close in the middle, but the outer ends are dumbo ears lol A little measuring and a cutoff wheel, gets the ends into a workable state You can see the plate I tacked in place, and the bumper end laying on the frame table. I did some chopping and a little shaping, it is going to need a lot of help. That bumper is at least 12ga, (NOS 1974 vintage) and should be fun to shape. I'm gonna try and get motivated cause I've got a bunch of forming to do...

With the way I designed my headers, the stock pans will be "slightly" in the way. I have templates to fabricate some "custom" versions, but haven't gotten back under the car quite yet. As far as your trimming of the inner rocker goes, this is how mine came out using cardboard.

The rockers on a convertible do not interfere with the seat as they are flush to the raised rear section of the floor. The rear seat in a convertible is narrower due to the top well structure. There is a little more bracing in the lower section of the convertible that interferes with a regular seat bottom fitting along with the wider rear inner quarter panel trim pieces. In installing the 'vert rockers in a coupe / sportsroof, they stop at the front of the rear torque boxes, unless you are really ambitious and install the 'vert rear torque boxes as well. I never tried to install the quarter trim pieces in my car (mini tubed) but it shouldn't be a huge modification to fit the panels, if they need trimming at all. (I have been wrong before lol) The one piece seat riser is debatable as the '69/70 cars did not use this structure upgrade. I installed it with the thoughts of running the lower seat pan reinforcements as well, so it might actually pay some dividends in structure rigidity. (I also have a multi point cage in my car) As I cut and removed a bunch of the seat riser, it might be doing nothing but adding weight to my car and my exhaust routing kept me from using the "stock" reinforcement pieces. I haven't given up on that yet. The inner rocker upgrade brings these cars into a more modern area structural level. Go out an look at the girth of most new car's rocker areas, they are huge! This upgrade is well worth the time and expense IMO MIke

The biggest issue I see with the HTS rod is that it doesn't completely melt until it hits 737 degrees, probably too hot for pot metal applications. The Muggy weld alloy #1 melts at 350 degrees, more of a solder than a brazing rod and much more suitable for white metal applications. I'm sure the HTS has an application that it will excel at, but like everything else, one size does not fit all.

One of the irritating design issues with the Unisteer system is access to the eccentric bolts on the LCA. I don't think you would easily access these bolts through the rather small access holes in the provided rack mount. It would be very difficult to perform any adjustments in this area. As I elected to "recreate" this mount, I incorporated slots for the LCA bolt to pass through the stock locations and through the rack mount. (you can see a bolt in the upper mount) Shims had to be machined to close the gap between the rack mount and the LCA mount. I also added a 2" x 1/4" flange to the inside portion to give the part a little more rigidity. In looking at the RRS rack, it looks to be the same basic layout Unisteer is using, (two bolts in the center of the rack connecting to the tie rods) but utilizing the stock steering component locations. http://www.rrs-online.com.au/gt-rack-and-pinion.html (comparing to http://www.unisteer.com/1965-1970-mustang/late-67-70-power-mustang-rack-and-pinion-for-big-blocks.html) As it is not replacing the crossmember with a plate, steering forces should be transmitted more directly to the frame. One thing that I do not like in looking at the RRS system, urethane mounts with U straps holing it in position. I am not understanding the need to mount the rack with urethane blocks, that could deflect with large sticky tires. I like the way Unisteer has machined aluminum blocks securely clamping the rack to the mount. I have a complete Street or Track suspension package and the Unisteer rack was recommended to me by Shaun. He runs one on his '66 dedicated track car and liked it so much, he now sells them. None of these aftermarket rack systems are fantastic, they all have their short comings and flaws. For the intended use of the vehicle and what you personally like is the choice we all have to make. Do your homework and make the choice on what fits your personal needs.

I shaped a scrap piece of 1/4" plate and opened my vice up to about 3/8". Laid the corner on top of the open vice jaws and used the 1/4" plate as a forming tool. Hammered until it was deep enough and straightened it out by hand. Nothing fancy. The entire corner replacement took about two hours, start to finish.

Thanks for all the compliments. This little corner was MUCH easier to fabricate than reconstructing the entire lower section of my driver's side door.

My setup is a little more on the modified side as I have lowered my engine 1" and slid it back a lot. As these modifications have led to a custom pan, remade Unisteer rack mount, and of course custom headers. Reusing the stock power steering (for me) would have not worked out so well. The only issue I could see with using the Unisteer rack on a stock-ish setup would be the shaft interfering with a header tube. I did equal length 4-2-1 (crazy bends) and was able to route the tubes around the shaft, and other obstacles. Regular Try-Y's ought to fit fairly decent as the new shaft is much smaller than the steering box that would have been in the same location. I cannot comment on how it works, still slowly building stuff. I chose the Unisteer over the TCP for the simple fact that there is an actual cross member that the rack attaches to. The TCP rack is the cross member, and I couldn't see having those stresses transmitted through the rack housing. (Hopefully this will get abused lol) I'm certain the TCP rack would function great on a street driven / auto cross build.