1970 Mustang Retromod - Boss 351

[bigmal 227]

That's some serious work there

[jjstang 55]

When ever I start getting pissy about all the new body parts I had to replace on my so called "rust free" car, I just look at some of the projects y'all take on.. Just wow. 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Worked on getting some of the remaining bits of the driver quarter off.  The driver side quarter had been replaced, and where it was inconvenient to take the entire quarter panel off, they cut it and overlapped.  Specifically, where the roof meet is the quarter, the new quarter was brazed (uggg) over the roof, when it should have been under the roof.  Also on the window flange… two layers.  Oh well, I can get it off.

[Viperpete 38]

Spot weld cutter and an air chisel is your friend. 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Oh we have both.  It is all clean now.  Havent done much the last couple weeks.  We bought an old electric oven for powder coating.  Going to do the pedals first.  Josh has been media blasting parts (quarter extensions and fender extensions) and spraying primer on them.  I hope to get back onto the unibody tonight.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Tonight I worked on getting the remnants of the roof off the car.  Spot weld cutter front and back, and a death wheel used as a grinder on the sides.  I still have the passenger side to do.  @viperpete I am attaching the photo of my front floor support pin.  Its the one I was talking about in message.  I think maybe that hole isnt meant for the X measurement.  I think I need to remove it and go with a flat plate like you have at the very front of the floor support.

[sixt9stang 36]

Can't wait to see this come together.

[RPM 1,225]

Impressive undertaking CV. You've got a bunch more energy than me. Good to see someone with skills doing this rebuild. 

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

So.... about that rebuild... it isnt happening. 

We are going the way of @Viperpete now and basically building a car under the VIN.  Both the driver side and passenger side have been wrecked.  Passenger side is worse, and I am just not able to figure out how it was tweaked.  We finally decided to cut the skeleton apart and rebuild it on the floor, at which point my son said "Hey, if we are going to cut it apart anyway, why not get a new side for the passenger side."  Fair and valid point, as from the B-pillar rearward, it all needs fixed.  So, our came the check book, and now we are waiting on that hunk of steel to arrive.

So for anyone keeping score, here is a list of the original (though not necessarily to THIS car) body parts that will remain...

• Roof crossmembers
• Firewall
• Rear seat support
• Rear valence
• Fenders
• Fender extensions
• Quarter extensions
• Stone guard
• All the stainless steel trim
• Door shells (will get new skins)
• Outer cowl pods
• Cowl grille panel

Things that might remain original if I can find good ones...

• Hood (need one with shaker cutout, without hood locks)
• Trunk (be nice to find one that was originally on a car with a spoiler)
• Front valence

We did position the front shock towers and radiator support on the front of the frame jig last night just for giggles...

Yes, he's in the doghouse!

[Cantedvalve 128]

I just realized we got all 4 of our cars in that shot!

[RPM 1,225]

Is that a 55 or 56 F100 in the back left?

[Cantedvalve 128]

1953 F100 with the original flathead, 3 on the tree.

[RPM 1,225]

Too cool. Saw the straight top edge to the grille and fingered 55/56. Love it that it still has the flathead. I picked up a stock bore 1956? 312 E code Y block from Ridge Runner, sure would look nice in my 56 F100.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Need a spot on of help on this.  My body sides came in today. I was happy to see the wheel wells were only screwed in place.  The driver side came with a couple pieces the passenger side did not.  I’ve contacted the seller to get the missing pieces.  See the picture.  I know what the bigger one is.  What is the smaller one (green arrow)?

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Thursday after work I worked on cutting up the old skeleton. I kept the firewall and roof crossmembers.  I then moved the frame jig and floor ro the lift where it will stay until the unibody is done.

Today We fitted the driver body side. Kinda dropped right on.  We rough fit the inner wheel well as well.  We then worked on freeing the roof crossmembers from the remnants of the old skeleton.  The boy wanted to clamp them in place for a picture.  Here is where we ended the day.

The outer rocker will need a bit of hammer and dolly work to mate up flat to the inner.  It is a bit too bent, so it results in a gap.  No biggie.

[Cantedvalve 128]

I had a question when mocking up the inner wheel well.  There is this tab at the back of the inner.  Not sure if it goes on the outside or 8nside of the trunk drop off. Seems to fit better if it’s on the outside as I have it (it isn’t tightly clamped in place yet)

[Cantedvalve 128]

The answer to that tab is that it goes on the outside, and then bends back and tack welds to the outer wheel house.

More mock up today. Got the passenger side on, and crossmembers in place.  Put the firewall in as well as the cowl pods and the inner cowl panel.  Came across an issue…

On the roof crossmembers, the passenger side stubs are out of shape.  Both front and back.  Here’s what I mean…

See it?  No?  Let me zoom in…

on the passenger side of the front crossmember.  See where the metal is sticking out beyond the crossmember?  Same problem on the rear crossmember on the passenger side. It’s as if the parts aren’t formed right. Has anyone else seen this before?  I can fix it, not worried about that.  The from will be easy… just break some spot wells loose, reposition, and plug.  The rear won’t be as easy (and I didn’t get a picture).  The driver side is lining up great.

another issue I had is that I had to move the whole passenger side back about 1/4” to get the door openings square.  This causes the outer rocker to stick out past the inner rocker by about 1/4”. The inner rockers are both parallel and square, so I don’t think it is there.  It’s manageable.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Today was productive, but not really photogenic.  I broke the spot welds loose on the driver front crossmember stub and realigned the steel. Still have a problem, so we will be addressing that later.  I also cut the passenger rear crossmember stub off, trimmed it, and rebelled it back on.  Rear crossmember now sets correctly.

I also sand blasted the rear roof crossmember and that small boomerang piece that goes in the corner of the passenger vent window.  In case I don’t get a new one from the vendor.  Sand blasted enough of the driver cowl pod to know its Swiss cheese, so we will need a replacement

No, the boy didn’t help 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Mocked up the wheel wells and quarters today.  Passenger side seemed to fall into place, linearly perfectly.  Driver side wasn’t as easy, and we will need to move the wheel well around a bit,

Concerned that the rear window opening isn’t correct.  We don’t have enough done to know for sure.  Does anyone have measurements for the width of the window?  I tried measuring it on my car, and I got 43” at the top with 43.5” at the bottom.  This is measuring to the outside of the trim.  That should approximate the opening size.  We had 43” at the top on the new car and 42.75” at the bottom.  Given that there is nothing between the inner structure right now, that seems like a number we can work with.

[Mike65 490]

WOW! that is some nice work there. I thought I had a lot of sheet metal work that I had done on my 69 Coupe, you beat me with ease.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Last night we didn’t get a whole lot done.  The boy wasn’t feeling well so we ended a bit early.  We did add more posts at the back of the floor supports and posts at the front for the shock tower assemblies, and mounted those to the jig.  Also bolted in the engine crossmember to help line things up.  No pictures.  Going back tonight, should get some then.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Today was productive.  We finalized the driver side wheel well and quarter panel fitment. Screwed the wheel wells in place.  Clecoed the quarter in place. I tried fitting the corner pieces, and I think I got it right, but I need a double check.  Here is how a I think it goes together. Am I right?

[Cantedvalve 128]

We were fitting the firewall up tonight, and ran into the same issue @Viperpete did with his car.  The firewall doesn’t want to marry up with the inner cowl panel on the passenger side.  Putting a 4x4 under the inner rocker and lowering the lift pushed it up and into position.  

I also worked on the firewall, welding in the passenger toe pan.

 

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Today was fun!  After disposing of scrap metal and boxes, we worked on the driver side quarter panel and wheel wells.  There are alignment holes in the inner and outer,  my d passenger side line up front and back with those holes.  The driver side lines up on the front but not the back, but it isn’t off much. We screwed everything in place, and fitted the quarter.  Had to clearance a spot in the lower quarter in from of the wheel well, but it all worked out.  Out window gaps are also perfect now, and the filler panel fits perfectly,

Also worked on the firewall some more.  Patched a rust hole, and removed the reinforcement plate for the brake booster and steering column.  It was bent up around the holes pretty bad and pitted on the firewall side.  I got a strip of high strength steel from work in 3.5mm (a bit more than 1/8”].  Made a template, and I’ll work on cutting it out tomorrow.

Finally, I welded the bearing sleeves onto the pedal supports for the roller clutch bearings.  I must really like you guys, because you actually get to see my rotgut welds.

 

[RPM 1,225]

Nice progress. And most of us are members of the rotgut weld club.