latoracing

Budget?
One of the better ones out there:  http://www.streetortrack.com/Street-or-Track-Front-Coilover-System-pr-24491.html

Hey ,i can kick my self out just fine thank you very much haha 
Going to use the old cell for target practice ,drop my calls will you ,not going to give my emails ? BOOM!

Let the grinding "fun" begin...

All the tedious fun of fitting parts together and getting them trimmed is behind me. The inner tube was all fitted on the second tip  but before I could tack them together I needed to put a notch in the side to clear the shackle bolt. A little more trimming along with the fill-in part these were all tack welded together. I also measured out a reducer to go from the 3" tube down to the 2.5" tube, trimmed it for the notch and tacked it.


It was time to get down to the welding portion... finally. I started with the inside as it was the hardest to get to. I did the usual 2x the normal amount of filler rod on all the seam as they will be ground flush pretty much everywhere. The welds look awful but they will sand nicely.

I'm sure I'll have several places to touch up, just part of making things pretty. I pretty much killed my afternoon getting all the seams welded up and ready for the cleaning phase. 

Onto the finishing...

Let the grinding "fun" begin...

Let the grinding "fun" begin...

All the tedious fun of fitting parts together and getting them trimmed is behind me. The inner tube was all fitted on the second tip  but before I could tack them together I needed to put a notch in the side to clear the shackle bolt. A little more trimming along with the fill-in part these were all tack welded together. I also measured out a reducer to go from the 3" tube down to the 2.5" tube, trimmed it for the notch and tacked it.


It was time to get down to the welding portion... finally. I started with the inside as it was the hardest to get to. I did the usual 2x the normal amount of filler rod on all the seam as they will be ground flush pretty much everywhere. The welds look awful but they will sand nicely.

I'm sure I'll have several places to touch up, just part of making things pretty. I pretty much killed my afternoon getting all the seams welded up and ready for the cleaning phase. 

Onto the finishing...

That's slick. Tail panel needs the black or something. Compared to the rest of the car, very plain. Looks like it has wheels on it now, how bout a side shot?  

Both of the backup light holes are history. I went ahead and marked the locations of the soon to be exhaust holes in the valance and fitted it back on the car. I like the look of the valance without the backup lights, might have to do one more....

With the valance on the car, I double checked the hole locations just to be 101% sure of where these things will exit. I also checked the rear shackle swing to see how much room I will need for clearance on the sides of the tips and to see if the rear end housing would clear the over the axle pipe. The tips are going to be heavly notched to clear the bolt and have room to clear the gas tank. The V band clamp is a finger width away from the housing sitting on the ground and there is plenty of clearance to the arch in the pipe (thankfully).
Removing the valance I got out my trusty aviation snips and removed the metal blocking the exits. A little sanding to get the tips too slide through and it went back up on the car. The holes are not quite sanded to fit, but it gave me reassurance because the tips fit between the tank and shackle bolt. The passenger side is also in good shape. 

I don't know how far the tips will be sticking out when they are done, but this gives an idea of where I'm going with them. A side profile gives a better view of the shape I put in the tips.

They are not level, but the radius gives it a little extra touch. I'll mark the openings to get the shape just right and then I'll bend a flange all the way around to give the valance a little more strength and clearance for the tips. 

Both of the backup light holes are history. I went ahead and marked the locations of the soon to be exhaust holes in the valance and fitted it back on the car. I like the look of the valance without the backup lights, might have to do one more....

With the valance on the car, I double checked the hole locations just to be 101% sure of where these things will exit. I also checked the rear shackle swing to see how much room I will need for clearance on the sides of the tips and to see if the rear end housing would clear the over the axle pipe. The tips are going to be heavly notched to clear the bolt and have room to clear the gas tank. The V band clamp is a finger width away from the housing sitting on the ground and there is plenty of clearance to the arch in the pipe (thankfully).
Removing the valance I got out my trusty aviation snips and removed the metal blocking the exits. A little sanding to get the tips too slide through and it went back up on the car. The holes are not quite sanded to fit, but it gave me reassurance because the tips fit between the tank and shackle bolt. The passenger side is also in good shape. 

I don't know how far the tips will be sticking out when they are done, but this gives an idea of where I'm going with them. A side profile gives a better view of the shape I put in the tips.

They are not level, but the radius gives it a little extra touch. I'll mark the openings to get the shape just right and then I'll bend a flange all the way around to give the valance a little more strength and clearance for the tips. 

In getting these holes filled in, I needed to get the patches contoured to the panel. A smallish piece of 20ga was shaped to fit the contours on the english wheel using a 8.5" radius lower anvil.

Laying the shaped material under the areas to be filled in, the patches were scribed and trimmed to fit. I wanted these parts tight so extra attention was given to them. I like the patches to fit in place without anything holding them up, makes them easier to tack weld in place with the TIG

Round and round making small welds around my filler part. I keep the metal cool to the touch and dress the welds before planishing each section. This keeps the parts in line and helps with distortion. Keeping the welds cool during and after is key to easier cleanup.

TIG welds are temperamental when it comes to dirt, it's easy to get pinholes from paint and debris in the steel. I have a few craters that had to be filled back up, but the majority of the welds looked like the above picture. I use .030" MIG wire for my filler rod, just the right amount for this gauge material. Once I had everything all welded up I started with the metal finishing. Between my high crown body hammer and a nice domed dolly, both sides of the patch were planished and filed smooth. I did use a 24 grit disk on my die grinder to knock the tops off all the welds before filing and a couple of trips back to the english wheel for a little more shape. The areas that I deleted the stamped details out of are still a little stretched, but I don't think anyone will notice the profile difference.

One down, one to go...

In getting these holes filled in, I needed to get the patches contoured to the panel. A smallish piece of 20ga was shaped to fit the contours on the english wheel using a 8.5" radius lower anvil.

Laying the shaped material under the areas to be filled in, the patches were scribed and trimmed to fit. I wanted these parts tight so extra attention was given to them. I like the patches to fit in place without anything holding them up, makes them easier to tack weld in place with the TIG

Round and round making small welds around my filler part. I keep the metal cool to the touch and dress the welds before planishing each section. This keeps the parts in line and helps with distortion. Keeping the welds cool during and after is key to easier cleanup.

TIG welds are temperamental when it comes to dirt, it's easy to get pinholes from paint and debris in the steel. I have a few craters that had to be filled back up, but the majority of the welds looked like the above picture. I use .030" MIG wire for my filler rod, just the right amount for this gauge material. Once I had everything all welded up I started with the metal finishing. Between my high crown body hammer and a nice domed dolly, both sides of the patch were planished and filed smooth. I did use a 24 grit disk on my die grinder to knock the tops off all the welds before filing and a couple of trips back to the english wheel for a little more shape. The areas that I deleted the stamped details out of are still a little stretched, but I don't think anyone will notice the profile difference.

One down, one to go...

In getting these holes filled in, I needed to get the patches contoured to the panel. A smallish piece of 20ga was shaped to fit the contours on the english wheel using a 8.5" radius lower anvil.

Laying the shaped material under the areas to be filled in, the patches were scribed and trimmed to fit. I wanted these parts tight so extra attention was given to them. I like the patches to fit in place without anything holding them up, makes them easier to tack weld in place with the TIG

Round and round making small welds around my filler part. I keep the metal cool to the touch and dress the welds before planishing each section. This keeps the parts in line and helps with distortion. Keeping the welds cool during and after is key to easier cleanup.

TIG welds are temperamental when it comes to dirt, it's easy to get pinholes from paint and debris in the steel. I have a few craters that had to be filled back up, but the majority of the welds looked like the above picture. I use .030" MIG wire for my filler rod, just the right amount for this gauge material. Once I had everything all welded up I started with the metal finishing. Between my high crown body hammer and a nice domed dolly, both sides of the patch were planished and filed smooth. I did use a 24 grit disk on my die grinder to knock the tops off all the welds before filing and a couple of trips back to the english wheel for a little more shape. The areas that I deleted the stamped details out of are still a little stretched, but I don't think anyone will notice the profile difference.

One down, one to go...

Now that I've gotten to this rabbit hole, nothing to do but jump in head first. Had a couple of ideas on how the tips should look. From a sharp edge to a flat transition inside to a plain rolled single pipe to Vic's choice of double wall with a 1/8" radius edge. I did a very rough mock-up of what it will entail.

The radius will be formed from 1/4" stainless rod, flush on the outside and inside. To make this a little more interesting, I really didn't want a straight edge miter on the tips but thought it might flow a little better with the same radius as the rear valance. Subtle but different. Starting out with my sharpie I drew center lines on the 3" tube and drew a guesstimate of what the curvature of the valance would be. It doesn't look like much of a radius, but it ends up being quite a bit.

Sand fit mark, sand fit mark... back and forth for a little bit and the tip started to get the shape I was looking for.

They are fitting nicely now without hardly any gaps. Having the outsides fairly well done I wanted to check the locations of the new holes I'm fixing to cut. I drew a centerline on the inside of the valance and lined up the paper template over my scribed marks. The inside of the eclipse is what I marked for removal.

Before I get to chopping new holes I needed to prep the back-up light holes for deletion. The little eyebrows are going away along with all the holes. Lots and lots of planishing to get these stamped in details back flat and contoured. I got them into a semi workable condition, trimmed the holes a little and it's about ready for some patches to be formed. 

I'll get the paint removed from these areas and get the patches welded in place. The welds will shrink and I hope that it takes care of the overly stretched material. Small holes, lots of hammering and metal finishing. 
 

Black it is boys  :)

Since the 1/2" round rod didn't quite fit the bill, the alternative hangers require a little bit of machining. Chucked up some 1018 1" solid bar in the lathe, turned it down to fit the inside diameter of some 1.125" DOM 1/8" wall CRS tube. The bar was drilled with a 3/8" bit and chopped into .3125" washers.

Getting my washers all de-burred and the tubing cut to size, the 3/8" grade 8 bolts were tack welded to the washers...

and then welded into the 1.125" tubing.

I removed 1/2" of thread off of the end of the bolt so it didn't stick out too much past the nylon lock nut that will be used later on. I am cheating a little as these are basically what I built for my car... much easier the second time around.
Letting those parts cool off a little, the mounting plates needed to be shaped and drilled. After getting the outer parts fit to the rear floorboard the inside doubler was bent and trimmed to fit. I used a scrap piece of 20ga between the two to simulate the floorboard and pilot drilled through all the layers.

Once I was happy with this setup, the outer part was placed on the car lining it up on the Center Line I had marked earlier and pilot drilled them in place. 

I went ahead and reamed the outside plate holes to 1/4" along with the floorboard and the inside doubler received a little larger 5/16" hole to help with alignment. 
I needed to get the standoffs fried in place so they were attached with just a little heat.

These are actually painted and on the car, but I didn't take any pictures with them in place. I've got to get some seam sealer around the edges and a little more paint touch up once the hangers are all complete. Now to fab the rest of the hangers...
 

Since the 1/2" round rod didn't quite fit the bill, the alternative hangers require a little bit of machining. Chucked up some 1018 1" solid bar in the lathe, turned it down to fit the inside diameter of some 1.125" DOM 1/8" wall CRS tube. The bar was drilled with a 3/8" bit and chopped into .3125" washers.

Getting my washers all de-burred and the tubing cut to size, the 3/8" grade 8 bolts were tack welded to the washers...

and then welded into the 1.125" tubing.

I removed 1/2" of thread off of the end of the bolt so it didn't stick out too much past the nylon lock nut that will be used later on. I am cheating a little as these are basically what I built for my car... much easier the second time around.
Letting those parts cool off a little, the mounting plates needed to be shaped and drilled. After getting the outer parts fit to the rear floorboard the inside doubler was bent and trimmed to fit. I used a scrap piece of 20ga between the two to simulate the floorboard and pilot drilled through all the layers.

Once I was happy with this setup, the outer part was placed on the car lining it up on the Center Line I had marked earlier and pilot drilled them in place. 

I went ahead and reamed the outside plate holes to 1/4" along with the floorboard and the inside doubler received a little larger 5/16" hole to help with alignment. 
I needed to get the standoffs fried in place so they were attached with just a little heat.

These are actually painted and on the car, but I didn't take any pictures with them in place. I've got to get some seam sealer around the edges and a little more paint touch up once the hangers are all complete. Now to fab the rest of the hangers...
 

I'd be happy to contribute if that would solve the problem.

Had a fun day of fitting and getting a lot accomplished with these pipes. I had to trim the muffler inlets and outlets first thing. Got them cut and the flanges tack welded in place. The mufflers fit really nice so the flanges were welded solid. I'm getting use to new contacts and I am having fun with depth perception, my welds are suffering...

I removed the exhaust and finish welded all the connections and flanges. With a little adjustment after it cooled off it was ready to get cleaned up. I used red scotch-brite to remove the discolored areas and give the pipes a uniform look. I did not remove all the surface imperfections so there are some deeper scratches and manufacturing defects in the tube. Using the strip of material like a belt I quickly got it looking better. 

I picked up a weird little stand from work the other day as they were going to chuck it in the recycle bin (it was a brand new sample from someone) and set it up to help hold the pipes as I finished with the cleaning. It worked fairly well, might have to keep it around for a while.

The cleaning took less than an hour total, but looks presentable. I stuck it back under the car, bolted it to the headers and installed the mufflers which are being supported by the stands. Once everything was in its proper position I installed the belly plate, just to see how everything cleared, which it did nicely. Laying on the floor looking up revealed this...

So far so good. Now to build some hangers and chop up some tail pipes.

Had a fun day of fitting and getting a lot accomplished with these pipes. I had to trim the muffler inlets and outlets first thing. Got them cut and the flanges tack welded in place. The mufflers fit really nice so the flanges were welded solid. I'm getting use to new contacts and I am having fun with depth perception, my welds are suffering...

I removed the exhaust and finish welded all the connections and flanges. With a little adjustment after it cooled off it was ready to get cleaned up. I used red scotch-brite to remove the discolored areas and give the pipes a uniform look. I did not remove all the surface imperfections so there are some deeper scratches and manufacturing defects in the tube. Using the strip of material like a belt I quickly got it looking better. 

I picked up a weird little stand from work the other day as they were going to chuck it in the recycle bin (it was a brand new sample from someone) and set it up to help hold the pipes as I finished with the cleaning. It worked fairly well, might have to keep it around for a while.

The cleaning took less than an hour total, but looks presentable. I stuck it back under the car, bolted it to the headers and installed the mufflers which are being supported by the stands. Once everything was in its proper position I installed the belly plate, just to see how everything cleared, which it did nicely. Laying on the floor looking up revealed this...

So far so good. Now to build some hangers and chop up some tail pipes.

Thank you for checking in on my progress. Glad you are recovering from careless renters and their lack of concern for other people's property.
I'm still learning and attempting to gain new skills along with trying to keep old skills sharpened. I am so privileged to have a desire to share freely what I have learned over my life and have been blessed with some degree of skill. If you can't lift up someone else and encourage them in their efforts, what good are skills and knowledge if you can't pass it along?  I am defiantly not the be all / end all of what I do, and by no means perfect. I do miss sharing what all is going on but is is so discouraging to put so much time into something to have it deleted. 
I'll get Vic all fixed up and a few other projects completed and I will be back on my stuff, which has been gathering dust...
Thanks for the kind words John,
Mike
 

Had a fun day of fitting and getting a lot accomplished with these pipes. I had to trim the muffler inlets and outlets first thing. Got them cut and the flanges tack welded in place. The mufflers fit really nice so the flanges were welded solid. I'm getting use to new contacts and I am having fun with depth perception, my welds are suffering...

I removed the exhaust and finish welded all the connections and flanges. With a little adjustment after it cooled off it was ready to get cleaned up. I used red scotch-brite to remove the discolored areas and give the pipes a uniform look. I did not remove all the surface imperfections so there are some deeper scratches and manufacturing defects in the tube. Using the strip of material like a belt I quickly got it looking better. 

I picked up a weird little stand from work the other day as they were going to chuck it in the recycle bin (it was a brand new sample from someone) and set it up to help hold the pipes as I finished with the cleaning. It worked fairly well, might have to keep it around for a while.

The cleaning took less than an hour total, but looks presentable. I stuck it back under the car, bolted it to the headers and installed the mufflers which are being supported by the stands. Once everything was in its proper position I installed the belly plate, just to see how everything cleared, which it did nicely. Laying on the floor looking up revealed this...

So far so good. Now to build some hangers and chop up some tail pipes.

Had a fun day of fitting and getting a lot accomplished with these pipes. I had to trim the muffler inlets and outlets first thing. Got them cut and the flanges tack welded in place. The mufflers fit really nice so the flanges were welded solid. I'm getting use to new contacts and I am having fun with depth perception, my welds are suffering...

I removed the exhaust and finish welded all the connections and flanges. With a little adjustment after it cooled off it was ready to get cleaned up. I used red scotch-brite to remove the discolored areas and give the pipes a uniform look. I did not remove all the surface imperfections so there are some deeper scratches and manufacturing defects in the tube. Using the strip of material like a belt I quickly got it looking better. 

I picked up a weird little stand from work the other day as they were going to chuck it in the recycle bin (it was a brand new sample from someone) and set it up to help hold the pipes as I finished with the cleaning. It worked fairly well, might have to keep it around for a while.

The cleaning took less than an hour total, but looks presentable. I stuck it back under the car, bolted it to the headers and installed the mufflers which are being supported by the stands. Once everything was in its proper position I installed the belly plate, just to see how everything cleared, which it did nicely. Laying on the floor looking up revealed this...

So far so good. Now to build some hangers and chop up some tail pipes.

Measure, cut, tack, cut apart, repeat... fitting a 2.5" X pipe to a convertible is fun. I'm half tempted to get my rotisserie out and put this thing on it (not really, but it would be easier). Getting all the angles to work together, and keep the O2 sensor bungs in position. I am going for maximum clearance at the transmission yoke and fitment through the "tunnel" along with keeping the front portion tight to the body. The C6 cross member doesn't have much clearance for exhaust on the drivers side so I kept both sides at the same height. The pipe sticks down about 1.75" beyond the floor supports. 

Before I chopped up the X pipe, I laid out where I wanted it to land in the car. The trans is 1" to the drivers side and I wanted the X centered on it, basically for the yoke to clear, but I would go nuts knowing it was out of center. Getting it all butchered up and removing all of the slip joints the fitting began. If you notice in the following picture, the X is going up hill. This was really fun to calculate the angles for. I cut the back sections of tube off a little staggered, as they are fixing to switch sides next time out. 

Most of all the joints fit really tight but the Pypes tubing is just a little larger than the mandrel bends I was using to fit the parts. I'll get them hammered in place to smooth out the connections. I'll be removing this section to get it on the table and fry all the pieces together as it is a little more manageable in this state. 
Looking up from the floor, it looks quite simple...

 
 

Latest 1969 article for one of our builds. He brought it to us with suspension in it. We did all the body work and painting plus put most of it together.
http://www.mustangandfords.com/features/0119-woodward-dream-cruiser-1969-mustang-sportsroof/