My 69 Coupe Prject Thread

[burritoboi5 10]

Well.....decided to say *&^% it and just bought some new torque boxes and floor supports. They hopefully will come by thursday so tomorow I will remove the right side torque box and rail and start filling holes. Thanks for the copper pipe trick. I never thought of that but it makes sense. The whole teaching myself to weld is interesting :clap:

[BlackGMC 10]

Well.....decided to say *&^% it and just bought some new torque boxes and floor supports. They hopefully will come by thursday so tomorow I will remove the right side torque box and rail and start filling holes. Thanks for the copper pipe trick. I never thought of that but it makes sense. The whole teaching myself to weld is interesting :clap:

 

No problem, oh but be careful the pipe gets really HOT, man you just keep adding more to parts list.

[burritoboi5 10]

hehe yeah....that's funny coming from "mr. they didn't do it well enough so I'm going to rebuild the entire car from the rear axles forward" :001_tongue: Which btw I was thinking about following in your footsteps.......

[BlackGMC 10]

You might as well honestly it is cheaper, once you buy all the tools.... You will see where improvements can be made once you have been building it for awhile..

[burritoboi5 10]

BlackGMC is a bad influence. Let's just get that out there now. My voyage to follow in his footsteps begins tomorow once I find a good metal supplier in my area. I'll be replacing the entire floor area minus tunnel and fabbing up some subframe connectors, crossmembers and general reinforcement along the same lines but not with as much class as black's. And since I'm hoping Black will read this, what do you use for cutting the heavier gauge metals? I was thinking a chop saw maybe because it's cheap but I really would like to get a plasma cutter.....just don't know if the budget can support it right now....

[BlackGMC 10]

Sorry about the bad influence thing.... :devil: Oh and thanks for the compliments, but remember I am no expert or anything, just an average guy that has does 3 years of research and planning. Anyways about your question I use a compound miter saw normally used with wood but with a metal blade ($5) cause that is what I had and I use a cutt off wheel from harbor freight ($15). If you use a mitor saw it might ruin it like it did mine, basically it will never cut wood again. Whatever type of steel tubing or plate you buy don't go bigger than 1/8 wall, cause it will just add weight. For metal suppliers I use metal supermarkets, they are a little bit higher priced but you can get pieces cut to length. If there is one located around you can submit an online quote and they email you back the price, kinda handy when your in the planning stage.

 

where are you located? Oh an if your tunnel needs patching or replacing you can have my old one for free if you need it.

 

http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/msc-home.aspx

 

If you have any questions or advice just ask, Oh and there is another guy over on StangNet named 351_swap and his project far exceeds mine and he is very knowledgable and pretty cool.

 

To aid in your quest here is a pic from another guys stang you might be interested in following.

 

[BlackGMC 10]

Oh and one more thing, IMO if were you I would get some Subframe connectors and try and get some Convertable Inner rocker panels and a 1 piece convertable seat pan. Those three things would really stiffen up the body and would be realitively easy to install, basically accomplish your goals without much fab work.

 

Oh and a driveshaft safety loop made out of round tubing, and weld the ends of it to the subframe connectors.

[burritoboi5 10]

Thanks for the responses Mr. Black. I looked into the metal supermarket and found that there is one less than an hour away from me. So tomorow I'll take some measurments for what I need and see if I can head down there to pick up what I need. Also am going to try to run to homedepot to get a metal blade for the miter saw. Wouldn't you know it my pops just bought a nice new one about 6monthes ago :gunsmilie: I'm located in Connecticut btw and I appreciate your offering your tunnel but that is the one part of my car that is in good shape hahaha.

 

One last thing though, where did you order your rollbar from? Because that is something I definitely will need to get.

[BlackGMC 10]

I ordered the roll bar from Orielly's Autoparts. It is a competition engineering main hoop #C3039A (~$60). If you order it from them you don't have to pay the freight or shipping charges which where around $110 alone. When you go to home depot for a metal/abrasive blade for the mitor saw get the thinnest one, it makes cutting the steel so much easier. Remember cutting metal with a wood mitor saw might ruin it.

[burritoboi5 10]

Thanks Mr. Black. BTW what is your real name? I'm Steve. I'll be heading out to the metal supermarket in about 15 minutes to go and pickup my order. it was really easy to place, just faxed them a sheet of what I needed and they gave me a time when I could go pick it up.

 

I'm doing the rollcage because the only way I could do the car restoration was to either retrofit airbags, or go the cage and harness route. This being because I was in a pretty bad crash about a year and a half ago. but I think the cage is not only smart but will look and function well.

[BlackGMC 10]

My real name is Corey, good luck with the metal purchase, I hope everything goes well! Good to know your name instead of being associated with "Burrito"

[burritoboi5 10]

Hahah thanks corey. Well other than it being an hour away it went very well. I have all my pieces and they're all cut to size. Just faxed my order and picked it up. Plus if I had bought subframe connectors and new floor pans it would have cost me more than the materials :D So tonight I'll try to brace the car and then remove the pass floor pan.

[BlackGMC 10]

Good deal, remember you gotta post lots of pics!!

[burritoboi5 10]

Corey my man I gotta get some work done before I post pics.....geez :yes:

 

Well here are three to sum up what I got done tonight. I put in the three bars for bracing and cut out the passenger side floor pan, well most of it. The hardest thing was getting the damn car to sit level in a garage that slopes to the left. But it's level now and not going to be moved untill this bit is all wrapped up. Tomorow I will try and get both floor pans removed and drop the rearend so that I can cut out enough of the rear floor pan/torque box area to put in my crossmember. And I'm still very impressed with how cool the metal supermarket was. Everything was cut just how I wanted it :punk:

 

O bought a wire brush/cup for the drill today at homedepot, WOW so much faster than a grinding wheel to clean up paint for welding prep.

 

Ok here are the pics. BTW I have a folder on my desktop with over a 100 photos so far and am keeping a log of costs and time that goes into the car.

 

[BlackGMC 10]

lookin really good, it looks like your car is in better shape than mine when I started. Just make sure you tack things in and check it with the level several times in different places before you finish weld. You might want to weld up the final weld in small increments cause the heat from the weld will actually distort the metal.

 

Keep up the good work, just remember take your time measure measure measure and check with the level. Isn't this type of fabrication exciting and fun!!!!

[burritoboi5 10]

Yeah, a good deal of the rust that was there has been replaced by the previous owner. I did howevr buy too large of a blade for my miter saw.....so I used the wood blade to cut the pipes.......yeah yeah not a good idea but I had eye/ear/hand protection and had been dressed to weld. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good deal of prep work done tomorow. O and my friend's dad also said I can use his shop if I need to. That means a 5 foot metal brake and cutter all professional grade because he owns an air conditioning and heating company :001_smile:

 

Another note is that I hit a deer on the way home tonight......3 mile trip and it's the first time I hit one.....

[burritoboi5 10]

Well got a good bit of work done today. Bought a flapper style disc for the grinder and the proper type of blade for my miter saw. Both of which worked very nicely. I got the majority of both torque boxes out and cleaned up the passenger side one enough to weld in my reinforcement piece. Everything looks wierd though bc of the flash from the camera. I got both floor pans out also and found that the driver side floor pan was never welded to the front frame rail :confused1: So that must have been real safe.

 

Tomorow I'm aiming to get the driver side torque box area fully cleaned up, need to buy some sawzall blades, and then weld in the reinforcement plate. Once that is in welding up the crossmember comes next and then I move forward quite literally to work on the subframe connectors. School starts up on monday again though....so work will slow down I'm afraid :sad:

 

But here are some pics.

 

 

YAY

 

 

welding

 

 

done welding, needs to be cleaned up though

All the shit that has been cut out so far today and yesterday

 

lookin good

 

another view

[BlackGMC 10]

Wow you work really fast, I am very impressed!!!. You should be done in no time. Keep up the good work!!

 

Oh word of advice, when your mocking up your crossmember, depending on the size and position of it. Remember you exhaust has to run under it so you might need to cut reliefs in the crossmember, much easier to do when it is out of the car. I wish I had done it before I welded mine in, but live and learn....

[burritoboi5 10]

Hmmm never thought about exhaust..... I am gonna run dualies too which makes it double complicated but I'm also debating having it dump before the rear tires........decisions decisions. :gunsmilie:

[burritoboi5 10]

Well it's been a while but I was sick and busy selling off an old project. The cam and lifters have still yet to come, and the block is still at the machine shop :bored: BUt I did manage to weld in the driver side reinforcement panel tonight and damn if the welds don't look real professional like. Slowly but surely making progress I guess :gunsmilie:

[burritoboi5 10]

Hey all well I finally got some work done. Between being sick and having other excuses I finally got the rear crossmember fabricated and am very happy with how it came out. I need to shorten the top of the driveshaft loop but that should only take about 30 minutes or so. I fabbed the two large sections out of 1.5 in square stock and the large sides are 2x3 in stock. The top of the loop is just 2 in band. I put in a few beads to hold it in place and keep it level, one two on each side. One about 3 inches long the other 1.5 so it should be plenty to hold it all tight for finish welding. I also found out why you should remove the dust collector from a wood saw before using it for metal. This is the second day in a row I've started a fire while working on the car :devil2:

 

But anyways here are the remains,

 

 

Heres the crossmember out of the car and then in the car.

 

[BlackGMC 10]

Wow very impressive, I really like it!!!

 

I got my saw dust collector on fire too!!

[Protowrxs 111]

This is the second day in a row I've started a fire while working on the car :devil2:

 

I think setting something on fire is a requirement anymore isn't it? I've set my pants on fire, and triggered a Estes rocket motor in the garage welding and grinding myself. Just keep the plastic gas cans FAR away from anything if you store them in your garage.

 

Looking good on the build!

-Stephen

[Cupid 10]

Nicely done!

[burritoboi5 10]

Thanks guys. I called the machine shop and I'll be picking up the block this wednesday. So that prompted me to put in yet another order to summit for some small stuff like a high flow oil pump and some electric fans so I can keep this new powerplant cool. And While I was at it I figured what the hell might as well go with an electric water pump.

 

So now I need to pick out a carb and intake manifold and I'll have enough to put together the entire engine.

 

So far everything is being updated nicely

-forged connecting rods

-forged pistons

-clevite 77 bearing set

-roller cam and lifters

-roller rockers

-Sr Windsor heads

-electric water pump and fans to lessen drag on engine

 

And with the electric fan and pumps I plan on wiring them so they stay on 10 minutes or so after the car is turned off to cool everything down.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on intake manifolds BTW??