latoracing

I don't think I could ever be without a TIG welder, I'd be lost. Looks like you haven't forgotten how to, very nice job. I have to watch caffeine intake as it can give me the jitters, witch can make for some interesting welds. The fun things you can do with a little bar stock...
 
CONGRATS on 2.5 years of sobriety!

Thanks for the compliments everyone, just having some relaxing fun!
 
Made a little more headway with the exhaust. Flipping the car upside down helped as I didn't have to clamp very much in place. I had a general idea of where I wanted the mufflers to sit, but have been torn between going out the rocker, or going up and through the quarter. The quarter exit will be a little less work, but will require a cover over the pipe on the interior, along with a bunch of sound deadening material. Anyway, I took a bunch of measurements and looked at several ways to connect the X to the mufflers.
  After chopping the back side of the X down to hardly anything, I chopped down the two remaining 45 degree elbows and tacked them in place. I also trimmed the offset pipes and stuck them in the muffler inlet tubes. Sticking all this back in the car, with my make believe PVC drive shaft, it looks like this might work.     There are a few things I need to straighten up, along with constructing some muffler hangers and making a decision on the rocker / quarter exits...

I rolled my new project out of the storage lot, and took it home to start bringing it back to life. I bought the car back in January of this year, and have been gathering parts in order to make it a reality instead of an idea.


This is a true Graber Special, Marti report and all, also know as a "poor mans" Boss 302. This one had a 302 2v, auto, manual drum, and power steering. I told my Wife when I bought it, that I purchaced a rolling roof with a title. She had not seen it since its purchace and was questioning my sanity after rolling it off the trailer. I have started with worse, and at least this project is fairly well "rust free" (ha-ha). It will stay Grabber Green, but the build will be a G-Machine theme. I am waiting on Street and Track to come out with their new rear suspension later this year, to see what they come up with. 

I am going to try out Dynacorn sheet metal on this build, and see if it fits any better than some of the other ti-chen stampings offered by other vendors. The full quarters look good out of the box, hope they don't require a bunch of fitting (cutting in half, beating, re building,ect...). Been there, done that. I did go ahead and get the Goodmark mini tubed inner fenders to use, I could have widened some regular ones, which would have been cheeper in the long run.

I would like to be able to build these cars on a regular basis, so this one is going to be sort of an extream advertisment. I am not going to jump into a business venture quite yet, but ease into it, if it works. Playing with rusty old cars has been part of my life, and I enjoy most every aspect of it. Well see where it goes.
The only part of the build I have not decided on is to build it as a 1970, or 69ish Boss 302? I have always wanted a G coded 69, and could make one, just not so sure yet. Any way, here are a couple of pics as I dig into what is left of this body, and this is the way I bought it, less work for me? My Wife is still wondering...
 
 

Look, I actually worked on this today!
 
I have been looking at getting this exhaust fitted for some time. I had the collector reducers formed for a while, but haven't welded the flanges on yet. I haven't seen this done quite like this with the flanges and a slip fit. I have a gasket laid out that I need to trim to make sure it doesn't leak.

As these will be welded to the collectors, I purged them as the flanges were welded in place.

The beginning of the exhaust section stared with it's own flange, which was welded in place on both sides, then ground smooth.

I had modified the flex connector a while back, they started out round and with the help of my vice, are a nice oval shape. These are the double layer, bellow inside, braid outside. They should help with any vibrations and thermal expansion during use.

With the upstream parts all shaped, I trimmed the two 45 degree elbows to fit and tack welded everything in place.

I am in the process of welding all this together. The flex couplers are fun to weld. It helps to run a small bead on the wire to fully cover to the bands. Basically having to do a double pass. Time consuming, but the results are nice and neat.

I don't think I could ever be without a TIG welder, I'd be lost. Looks like you haven't forgotten how to, very nice job. I have to watch caffeine intake as it can give me the jitters, witch can make for some interesting welds. The fun things you can do with a little bar stock...
 
CONGRATS on 2.5 years of sobriety!

This was quite the day. It probably doesn't look like I've done a thing, but oh boy, I'm pooped. When the entire rear of the car is missing, fitting as many parts as possible is the only way to go about rebuilding it. I had to remove the quarter to find out why my filler pannel would not line up. The pic with the arows is the reason, a little trimming, and all is well. The front of the quarter is all but ready for some drilling and welding, but the tail light pannel, and the actual fit between the quarter and the trunk drop are still in need of some final tweeking. I am going to leave all these components in the screwed together condition untill the drivers side has it's trunk floor, and wheel tubs installed. That way the driver's side quarter can be temp attached and Everything checked for alignment before it is permantly stuck together. The quarter extension and the tail light housing fit fairly well, the attachment holes for the extension are in need of a little enlarging, but for now, it will do. Just a little more fitting, and the tail light pannel will come back off for the removal of the driver's side trunk floor.
Gotta fix my driver's side door before I get to a head of myself.

Great googlie goop ! That looks like it goes to a jet fighter . If i were you i would mill DO NOT TOUCH in the top of it ...because my finger prints would be all over it ,along with a bit of drool 

Still working, did a bunch of small patches, and alot of fitting of the outer wheel house. The small patches take quite a bit of time to make them blend in where they will not be noticed, you can't tell I did anything, other than there are no rusty holes in the metal, and a little primer. The foward trunk floor (foward of the gas tank) is all most welded in, and looks much better. I bought what was left of a B pillar from a fellow forum person and started working the part out that I need to fix mine. To make a long story short, I am going to make one. The interior portion was fragile, and when I removed it from the outer skin, there wasn't much left. Such is life.
I did install the quarter skin for the first time to see if it would even go on the car. I am still amazed at how well this Dynacorn metal fits, and the quarter was no exception. No hammer, just a little push to get the lip to go into the wheel house, and poof! If you are installing any replacement pannels on your ride, I highly recomend these parts. Yes there will be a little trimming, and probably a little fitting on the B pillar area, but compaired to the cheeper stuff, it is worth every penny spent not to cut and beat these pannels on!
Now I get to tear it apart to install the trap door pannel, and all the brackets I removed when I installed the tubs.
I've been talking to Jason Rushforth, of Rushforth Custom Wheels off and on for the past week, and had him photo shop some wheels for me. The color is slightly off, and there is chrome stuff on the picture (There will be NO shiny stuff on this build, anywhere!). I like the wheel, which is the Night Train design, in a couple of finishes. Jason is fun to work with, and his prices are in line with most other custom wheels. Still looking at some other wheel designs, (like Pro Wheel and CCW), but these are on the top of the list. Check him out if you would like. http://www.rushforthwheels.com/

I rolled my new project out of the storage lot, and took it home to start bringing it back to life. I bought the car back in January of this year, and have been gathering parts in order to make it a reality instead of an idea.


This is a true Graber Special, Marti report and all, also know as a "poor mans" Boss 302. This one had a 302 2v, auto, manual drum, and power steering. I told my Wife when I bought it, that I purchaced a rolling roof with a title. She had not seen it since its purchace and was questioning my sanity after rolling it off the trailer. I have started with worse, and at least this project is fairly well "rust free" (ha-ha). It will stay Grabber Green, but the build will be a G-Machine theme. I am waiting on Street and Track to come out with their new rear suspension later this year, to see what they come up with. 

I am going to try out Dynacorn sheet metal on this build, and see if it fits any better than some of the other ti-chen stampings offered by other vendors. The full quarters look good out of the box, hope they don't require a bunch of fitting (cutting in half, beating, re building,ect...). Been there, done that. I did go ahead and get the Goodmark mini tubed inner fenders to use, I could have widened some regular ones, which would have been cheeper in the long run.

I would like to be able to build these cars on a regular basis, so this one is going to be sort of an extream advertisment. I am not going to jump into a business venture quite yet, but ease into it, if it works. Playing with rusty old cars has been part of my life, and I enjoy most every aspect of it. Well see where it goes.
The only part of the build I have not decided on is to build it as a 1970, or 69ish Boss 302? I have always wanted a G coded 69, and could make one, just not so sure yet. Any way, here are a couple of pics as I dig into what is left of this body, and this is the way I bought it, less work for me? My Wife is still wondering...
 
 

I rolled my new project out of the storage lot, and took it home to start bringing it back to life. I bought the car back in January of this year, and have been gathering parts in order to make it a reality instead of an idea.


This is a true Graber Special, Marti report and all, also know as a "poor mans" Boss 302. This one had a 302 2v, auto, manual drum, and power steering. I told my Wife when I bought it, that I purchaced a rolling roof with a title. She had not seen it since its purchace and was questioning my sanity after rolling it off the trailer. I have started with worse, and at least this project is fairly well "rust free" (ha-ha). It will stay Grabber Green, but the build will be a G-Machine theme. I am waiting on Street and Track to come out with their new rear suspension later this year, to see what they come up with. 

I am going to try out Dynacorn sheet metal on this build, and see if it fits any better than some of the other ti-chen stampings offered by other vendors. The full quarters look good out of the box, hope they don't require a bunch of fitting (cutting in half, beating, re building,ect...). Been there, done that. I did go ahead and get the Goodmark mini tubed inner fenders to use, I could have widened some regular ones, which would have been cheeper in the long run.

I would like to be able to build these cars on a regular basis, so this one is going to be sort of an extream advertisment. I am not going to jump into a business venture quite yet, but ease into it, if it works. Playing with rusty old cars has been part of my life, and I enjoy most every aspect of it. Well see where it goes.
The only part of the build I have not decided on is to build it as a 1970, or 69ish Boss 302? I have always wanted a G coded 69, and could make one, just not so sure yet. Any way, here are a couple of pics as I dig into what is left of this body, and this is the way I bought it, less work for me? My Wife is still wondering...
 
 

Well, it fits... (and it is not a radiator) 
  Santa came a few days early. I have been looking at these manifolds since the beginning of my build. I was torn between an 8-stack EFI setup, or this...       Forward facing throttle body, cross ram, single plenum with a removable top. Hogan's recommended an oval throttle body as the plenum is wide and short, which I liked anyway. I had them leave the top plate plain a I want to do some 3D milling on the top, just don't know what to put on there yet...     With the top removed you can see all the innards and the amount of work this thing took to make. The pictures do not do this thing justice.     They also stuck me some ports in the rear, where they won't be noticeable.     Hogan's is great to work with and have been building manifolds for years, their work is impressive. I'm sure this will work as good as it looks.      

Body yes. Doors, about there...

Took a break from the door repair to do something that this car hasn't done in a very long while, ROLL.
 
Rolling on the make shift pallet it came on, and the ride on the frame table from the lift and back doesn't count. I cleaned up my mess as I was using the floor board for a tool holder, retracted the adjuster feet on the table and rolled it all over to the lift. A little positioning, unbolt the rear and up in the air it went.
 

 
I had a few areas I wanted to touch up on the bottom side so a little grinding was in order. It is much easier to stand up and get to some of these places as compared to semi laying down under that table. A few pics of the underside, while it was suspended.
 

 

 

 
I found one more rusty spot in the passenger side wheel well that needed a quick patch, so I fixed it. Digging out my old 8" rear and some ultra crunchy leaf springs, with equally crunchy bushings, I bolted all of the rear suspension in place. With some trend setting rear wheels, it sat on 3 wheels and is mobile once again.
 

 
Rolling it back into it's hole, it looks funny all jacked up, just like back when I was a kid lol. 
 

 
Get the doors all fixed, and it will be off to the body shop.

I like the way you thought through your road block and were able to get to the area that needed welding Mike. And your new signature is spot on.

I have not accomplished much on this poor thing in way over a month. I have been contemplating how to go about running this exhaust and fabricating the transitions from the headers to the X pipe. I have also been hung up on running the under seat riser convertible reinforcements. I cut out a few contour templates of the tunnel area and floor pan, but that's about as far as I got.  The exhaust is going to take up a ton of room in that particular area. I'll do the exhaust first and build the reinforcements after, maybe...
 
I did order some flex couplers, hanger grommets, and some gasket material as I needed all these items to get these parts under the car. They do not make oval flex couplers with a liner, in 4" long versions. So I purchased 3" round and will form them to oval (I've all ready modified one, it's nice) 
 
I have also jumped off the deep end and ordered a present from me to me, should be completed around the first of the year. I'm going to keep everyone in a little suspense, but it connects to this...

This 66 is a coupe ,all Dynacorn sheet metal was used to build it ,I built it with no bondo other than a very slight skim over the quarter joints ,to think that because it is reproduction metal it will require a ton of bondo is wrong  .It all depends on your knowledge of panel fitting and the panels you actually use .I found only one tiny ding in one quarter that i smoothed out with out any bondo at all .the fenders were a different story though ,i did have to regap and they were ford tooling but that wasnt that big of a deal ,it was also done without the use of bondo ,as i said i can't stand bondo .I recently sold this body as it is pictured for $17,000.  listed as  a conversion with it original coupe vin still intact .And this isn't the only that brought big money for a bare body .so originality will only make a difference to a concourse builder .
 
 
 

As I have been working on getting this chassis ready for bracing yesterday, I needed a way to keep the poor thing a little more stable. With the rocker out of it makes it impossible to hold it still without welding something in it's place. So instead of welding / fastening a temporary brace in the car, I chose to just temp install the parts that will be installed. Interesting concept, but at least I'll know that they will fit. The car came with some replacement pieces that could be used, like the inner rocker. This part came from the factory on the long side in order to make all the tabs and connecting flanges manually. Starting with the given point of 22" for the rear wheel well area to the seat belt hole, I made the appropriate tabs out of the extra material and bent them in their proper direction and angle. The Weld and Sealant manual is a good reference for the direction of the tabs, not so much on the size or location. I seem to be doing a lot of inner rocker installs as of lately, practice makes perfect lol
 

 
Fitting it in the rear torque box area and over the floor reinforcement piece required a little persuasion as the rear of the car was moved up, kinda neat how much it moves vertically. Getting the inner rocker to fit correctly took a bunch of clamps and some strategic hammer blows to get it situated. Surprisingly enough, it went in and was level (measuring level at the middle top portion) just like the other side. The old part does have surface rust that will be taken care of before it is welded in place. 
 

 

 
When I built the table, the second crossmember was measured and placed to align with the front of the torque boxes for a good reference point. Using a square to transfer the area of the inner rocker to be trimmed and for tabs was as simple as lining up the front of the tube and transferring the mark on the part.
 

 
The mark I made on the inner rocker was the outside of the forward torque box, so the thickness of the front of the box (I allowed .125") for the bend radius plus the metal thickness. This is another place that the factory makes tabs on the inside of the rocker to have more attachment points, I go a little bit farther and cap the end of the "tube" for more strength. This inner rocker is not tapered up towards the front torque box, which might have to be another modification. I needed to see how the torque box was going to align due to this fact. Prepping the area by grinding down the PO's leftover spot weld remnants (thanks whoever took it apart, you did a great job lol) the outer portion of the torque box popped right in place. Using a couple 18R vise grips to hold it up I installed the inner rocker on it's outboard side. (not in the picture)
 

 
I did test fit the outer rocker before any of this was attempted, it fit fairly well. It is going to need some clamping in order to be dimensionally correct, but will work nicely. Once all these pieces are happy in their new positions (sheet metal screwed together) I can get the doors on this and continue getting the chassis braced and properly supported. So far, so good

Nice nails, RPM

Good to see you posting here, and welcome to the forum. Great bunch of people around here who are willing to share their experience. When you get a moment, post some pics, they help tell the story of what you are facing. I'm fixing to remove the pass. side lower A pillar this week, got the driver's side fairly well buttoned up last night. I'll be shure to post more pics on this repair, if you would like to check it out.
 
If you need any help...

Good to see you posting here, and welcome to the forum. Great bunch of people around here who are willing to share their experience. When you get a moment, post some pics, they help tell the story of what you are facing. I'm fixing to remove the pass. side lower A pillar this week, got the driver's side fairly well buttoned up last night. I'll be shure to post more pics on this repair, if you would like to check it out.
 
If you need any help...

As I have been working on getting this chassis ready for bracing yesterday, I needed a way to keep the poor thing a little more stable. With the rocker out of it makes it impossible to hold it still without welding something in it's place. So instead of welding / fastening a temporary brace in the car, I chose to just temp install the parts that will be installed. Interesting concept, but at least I'll know that they will fit. The car came with some replacement pieces that could be used, like the inner rocker. This part came from the factory on the long side in order to make all the tabs and connecting flanges manually. Starting with the given point of 22" for the rear wheel well area to the seat belt hole, I made the appropriate tabs out of the extra material and bent them in their proper direction and angle. The Weld and Sealant manual is a good reference for the direction of the tabs, not so much on the size or location. I seem to be doing a lot of inner rocker installs as of lately, practice makes perfect lol
 

 
Fitting it in the rear torque box area and over the floor reinforcement piece required a little persuasion as the rear of the car was moved up, kinda neat how much it moves vertically. Getting the inner rocker to fit correctly took a bunch of clamps and some strategic hammer blows to get it situated. Surprisingly enough, it went in and was level (measuring level at the middle top portion) just like the other side. The old part does have surface rust that will be taken care of before it is welded in place. 
 

 

 
When I built the table, the second crossmember was measured and placed to align with the front of the torque boxes for a good reference point. Using a square to transfer the area of the inner rocker to be trimmed and for tabs was as simple as lining up the front of the tube and transferring the mark on the part.
 

 
The mark I made on the inner rocker was the outside of the forward torque box, so the thickness of the front of the box (I allowed .125") for the bend radius plus the metal thickness. This is another place that the factory makes tabs on the inside of the rocker to have more attachment points, I go a little bit farther and cap the end of the "tube" for more strength. This inner rocker is not tapered up towards the front torque box, which might have to be another modification. I needed to see how the torque box was going to align due to this fact. Prepping the area by grinding down the PO's leftover spot weld remnants (thanks whoever took it apart, you did a great job lol) the outer portion of the torque box popped right in place. Using a couple 18R vise grips to hold it up I installed the inner rocker on it's outboard side. (not in the picture)
 

 
I did test fit the outer rocker before any of this was attempted, it fit fairly well. It is going to need some clamping in order to be dimensionally correct, but will work nicely. Once all these pieces are happy in their new positions (sheet metal screwed together) I can get the doors on this and continue getting the chassis braced and properly supported. So far, so good

I would like to extend to all of you and your family members who have served, are serving, or part of a Military family...
 
Thank You all for the sacrifices that have been made in order to keep America FREE, 
 
Happy Veteran's Day!!!
 
Mike
 
USAF 1988-1996

Still working, did a bunch of small patches, and alot of fitting of the outer wheel house. The small patches take quite a bit of time to make them blend in where they will not be noticed, you can't tell I did anything, other than there are no rusty holes in the metal, and a little primer. The foward trunk floor (foward of the gas tank) is all most welded in, and looks much better. I bought what was left of a B pillar from a fellow forum person and started working the part out that I need to fix mine. To make a long story short, I am going to make one. The interior portion was fragile, and when I removed it from the outer skin, there wasn't much left. Such is life.
I did install the quarter skin for the first time to see if it would even go on the car. I am still amazed at how well this Dynacorn metal fits, and the quarter was no exception. No hammer, just a little push to get the lip to go into the wheel house, and poof! If you are installing any replacement pannels on your ride, I highly recomend these parts. Yes there will be a little trimming, and probably a little fitting on the B pillar area, but compaired to the cheeper stuff, it is worth every penny spent not to cut and beat these pannels on!
Now I get to tear it apart to install the trap door pannel, and all the brackets I removed when I installed the tubs.
I've been talking to Jason Rushforth, of Rushforth Custom Wheels off and on for the past week, and had him photo shop some wheels for me. The color is slightly off, and there is chrome stuff on the picture (There will be NO shiny stuff on this build, anywhere!). I like the wheel, which is the Night Train design, in a couple of finishes. Jason is fun to work with, and his prices are in line with most other custom wheels. Still looking at some other wheel designs, (like Pro Wheel and CCW), but these are on the top of the list. Check him out if you would like. http://www.rushforthwheels.com/

I rolled my new project out of the storage lot, and took it home to start bringing it back to life. I bought the car back in January of this year, and have been gathering parts in order to make it a reality instead of an idea.


This is a true Graber Special, Marti report and all, also know as a "poor mans" Boss 302. This one had a 302 2v, auto, manual drum, and power steering. I told my Wife when I bought it, that I purchaced a rolling roof with a title. She had not seen it since its purchace and was questioning my sanity after rolling it off the trailer. I have started with worse, and at least this project is fairly well "rust free" (ha-ha). It will stay Grabber Green, but the build will be a G-Machine theme. I am waiting on Street and Track to come out with their new rear suspension later this year, to see what they come up with. 

I am going to try out Dynacorn sheet metal on this build, and see if it fits any better than some of the other ti-chen stampings offered by other vendors. The full quarters look good out of the box, hope they don't require a bunch of fitting (cutting in half, beating, re building,ect...). Been there, done that. I did go ahead and get the Goodmark mini tubed inner fenders to use, I could have widened some regular ones, which would have been cheeper in the long run.

I would like to be able to build these cars on a regular basis, so this one is going to be sort of an extream advertisment. I am not going to jump into a business venture quite yet, but ease into it, if it works. Playing with rusty old cars has been part of my life, and I enjoy most every aspect of it. Well see where it goes.
The only part of the build I have not decided on is to build it as a 1970, or 69ish Boss 302? I have always wanted a G coded 69, and could make one, just not so sure yet. Any way, here are a couple of pics as I dig into what is left of this body, and this is the way I bought it, less work for me? My Wife is still wondering...
 
 

Ok, I'm going to be different.
 
I really like the way these look on a rather stock appearing Mach. '69 or '70, 15" to 17" (depending on size preference). Old school, yet contemporary.  
 
The really good thing about different wheels, they bolt on and can be changed easily.