RPM

Wow it's been a while. I've finally finished my winter/spring projects and am back on the car. The roof panel needing those cuts and the drivers side quarter panel where it meets the rocker having that gap has been bugging me since I originally fitted the parts. On a hunch I went to NPD and bought another new roof panel. Plopped right on with an excellent fit! 


I have been told that I need to get my doors fitting very very well before welding and even go as far as putting all the window guts in and being able to lower and raise the window into the seal to make sure it has a good fit. So, the passenger side went really easily since the quarter panel fitted against the rocker tightly. I also realized through lots of cursing and wasted time that the door striker can be adjusted DOH! Wow that made a really huge difference in how quickly I could get the doors lined up. Once I figured it out, getting them aligned was a piece of cake. Now I am aware that once I assemble the door guts they will be heavier and I will have to re-adjust, but I am going to take this win because the gaps are great and the lines are straight. 
I also took the opportunity while the quarter panel was off to pull both quarter's together another 1/16th-1/8" inch to get them as close to the factory glass opening width as possible. Pretty much nailed it. 








I am hoping that the door interior assembly goes smoothly and that the door glass goes into the door seal tightly. Once that is done I'll fit the fenders and hood one last time to make sure everything is straight before I take it all apart again to start welding! 

OE clips, or your custom made, clips are the way to go. The clip set I bought from NPD were crap, as they spun in the molding. Double checked the part number to make sure they weren't for the C shaped headlight molding, nope. Ended up using my filthy OE clips I saved. 

If the clip is in correct it locks into the molding  ,the spring is a preload to keep the clip in place while tightening ,i sometimes bend the spring to keep it a bit tighter if the clip feels to loose in the molding ,now when tightening the clip is turning into the channel at top and bottom and shouldnt be able to come out 

Remember ,the nut tightens to the right so if the clip is in wrong the clip will pop out when tightened 

There is a certain direction those clips have to be installed ,if turned  the spring the wrong side up the clip will come out when tightening 

I have a hard time believing they would deform, so I would try mount the "spreader" as far up as possible. More leverage and therefore less actual force at the contact points.

Oh...the pictures of the front spoiler make it look pretty large. That is because the front bumper is not on.  I will post an update once the bumper is on and correctly fitted.

Visited the body shop last week, making good progress.  I got my NPD Ford tooling shaker hood and am happy to report that it only needed minor tweaking to get aligned.  I also have billet hood hinges, apparently they needed some tweaking, I will report back on that after I go back there on Wednesday.
The current work is focused on getting my Maier Racing one piece front spoiler fitted up. That is a very nice piece of work heavy fiberglass, and fits really well.  Just a few things to do and it will fit fine.
I was at Carlisle Ford show this weekend, and searched for a decent 1970 hood trim piece. As you know, the NOS ones are hard to find and expensive.  I did have a good friend offer to let me use his to make sure the hood and headlight trim line up correctly, will be bringing that up there to the body shop on Wednesday.
I also will bring my front bumper, and the associated mounting brackets up there to ensure that they clear the spoiler/valence combination and that the bumper lines up correctly.  
To answer the other questions....  the car will be in the paint booth twice. The first trip will be very soon, and will be the initial prime coat over the body work that has been done.  Then, out of the booth, and back into the shop to be block sanded. After that back into the paint booth do do the base coat, hood stripe, and first clearcoat.  In the end we will end up with 3 layers of clearcoat.
The place that is doing the work is the same shop that painted my '68 coupe.  The main business is called Klassic Rides.  The shop where my car is located is called GunnerZ, which is a sister business to Klassic Rides.  Both are located in Newton, North Carolina.  Klassic Rides painted my '68, it needed a lot of work.  GunnerZ is primarily paint and body for cars that don't need an extensive amount of work.  
My car has been "waiting in line" for 8 months to get started.  The current wait time is approaching a year.
But, my '68 was painted 15 years ago, and the paint job is still flawless.  
PIcs below of my '68 coupe in 1967 Marina Blue Metallic, a '63 Corvette in my final color of "Sebring Silver",  and the ongoing work on the '70 convertible.
My guess is that I will have the car back sometime in July or August.
 

From up over the left wheel:
left tail light:


 
gas gauge routing:

 
note I have spliced in a gas gauge calibration device here.  It’s in the 3d printed box I made for it there. It’s held down by one of the tank bolts. The wood is there to kind of even up the floor for the vinyl

 
this is the running of the tail light harness from the left side headed over to the right side.

Hope these help some!!
 

You got skeelz bro.
 

I'd uncork the headers and drive up and down the street. 
 

You got skeelz bro.
 

A couple of screws to hold it together and it looks like you could slip it right into place 

Absolutely amazing!

Hi Bob, you're correct, it was a previous suggestion. Unfortunately I've had multiple sources of vibration. The rear wheels and tires have been replaced. I have also had the rear wheels balanced three times and was told they were fine. More recently I have been wanting to borrow some wheels to try them out but haven't been able to locate any. Yesterday I used a front wheel but couldn't drive it on the road because the rear wheels won't clear the front guards. Running it on the stands has been avoided more recently because of issues with the neighbors shouting at me. Weird bastards don't like the sweet note of a V8. Yesterday I though I'd ignore them anyway.
While I suspect a tire as well, I'm confident it's the drums holes enabling them to be off center. So new drums coming.

An update on my saga of the vibration. Decided to put a dial indicator on the tail shaft at the front, middle and rear and it is good. 
Ran it again on the stands and definitely speed related, not RPM. Did a runout on the axles, all good. The right hand rear tire seems to be a little out of round. Could be just from sitting. I swapped the RH front and rear and ran on the stands again. NO VIBRATION!!!!!!. 
I was thinking a needed a new tire (BFG 245/55/15) so happy to do that. Turning the wheel by hand it appears the drum is out of round. I had a look at the drum and the bolt holes are larger than the studs so can be installed slightly off center. I replaced the original rear wheel and di my best to keep the drum centered. Did another run on the stands and NO VIBRATION. 
Took it for a drive and its a different car. I will be ordering two new drums and shoes this week. 
I am very happy!!!!

Ya, I know a couple of guys who are going. I don't really care for the big events, crowds and heavy traffic ain't my thing. It's only about a 3 hour drive, and I've got a buddy who would put me up for the weekend, but that ain't enough to sway me. 
 

Man, talk about the elephant in the room, lol. 
 
Good luck 

Absolutely. That's his car you got your butt parked on. 

I have the whole interior for my 69 now.
I have had the molds for the trap door for some time ,made from a perfect 69 trap door ,it uses all the factory attachments .
I have also had the hockey sticks for a while .
The fold down latch covers came out perfect .
I even have the roll bar covers for the shelby bar ,i will be putting one in my 69 .
The piece above the trap door is finished both sides and uses the factory mounting clips 

Manual pitman arm is straight on my 69. 

Tonight I worked on welding all of the inner structure together while Josh continued to strip EDP coating from the quarter panel. I got the inner structure welded to the wheel wells, and the rear seat support welded to the wheel wells and inner structure. Next is a pause on welding parts on so we can clean and prep and primer the whole thing.

Trimmed . Now with a tensile strength of 1,200 lbs per square inch ,1/8 inch thick ,most back seat activities are good to go !

Well, the day has finally come.  The car is about to be transformed with new paint.  It waited in the shop for 9 months in line to get to this point.  I will document the progress.....   I am now going to open my favorite beverage and have a toast the car I have named "Gerry".  Named after the older gentleman who I acquired the car from. He had planned for years to restore it, but never got to it.  He passed away this January, and never got to see the car completed.  I will make sure his Daughter and Family get the pictures when it is done.

Clean? Right. If you only knew Terry.