'69 Mach 1 - The Journey Begins

[Legion 10]

I've been working on the front door post and side cowl panel on the drivers side. I ended up taking off the skin on the inside of the a-pillar and cleaned out any rust I found, rust proofed it and welded back in fresh skin. These aren't the completed photos, but you'll see where I'm headed.

 

[ATTACH]5117[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5118[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5115[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5116[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

Here's some shots of the tear down of the of the side cowl panel on the drivers side.

 

[ATTACH]5119[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5120[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5121[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5122[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5123[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

Here are some additional shots of the components that were removed.

 

[ATTACH]5124[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5125[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5126[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5127[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5128[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

I cleaned up the pieces and cutout the bad sections and welded in new metal. I had to repair part of the door post section at the top. The toughest part was fabbing up the bottom portion of the a-pillar that connects to the door post. A little stretching, shrinking, some hammer work and a little welding and I was able to reproduce the piece. I also mocked up the cowl side panel blank. I purchased a bead roller and I'm pretty sure I can reproduce all of the beads, cutouts indentions in the panel. I'll also have to make a wooden buck to bend some of the odd shaped lips that the cowl sets into. I saved the original side cowl panel piece in hopes of scavenging all of the brackets so I won't have to fab those.

 

[ATTACH]5129[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5130[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5131[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5132[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5133[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

I've started the reassembly of the door post. I took a lot of measurements prior to tearing it apart to make sure I get the geometry right. I hope to finish the door post this weekend and get it primed. After that I need to finish the stand I've built for the bead roller and get started on the side panel...then on to the passenger side.

 

[ATTACH]5134[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5135[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5137[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5138[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5139[/ATTACH]

[Grabber70Mach 107]

Wow looks like you've been having lots of fun. :blink::001_smile: Looking good and congrats on getting it all done yourself. :thumbup:

[Legion 10]

I finished the stand for the bead roller but decided to make it a little more functional. I've got limited space in my two car garage, so I made the base with a plate on the top so I could attach multiple tools (Shrinker/Stretcher, bead roller, and bench top drill press. Thanks to BlackGMC for the idea of strengthening the bead roller and putting it on a stand. (BTW, no posts from him since December of '07, was diggin' his build thread). I used 2" angle to create a frame, notched the post and welded the angle to the post. I drilled through the bead roller and attached it to the angle with bolts...just in case it needs to come off for repair or replacement like some of these Harbor Freight tools do:whistling: Maybe a coat of paint to dress it up...

 

[ATTACH]5226[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5222[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5227[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5224[/ATTACH]

 

I finished the door post and finished mocking up the side cowl panel. I'm going to practice running some beads on some scrap before laying the bead work in the panel. I'm also going to take the brackets off the original side panel and weld them to the new one.

 

[ATTACH]5225[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

Put some beads on the panel, need to run some additional beads and cut out the centers. Hope to have the brackets welded on tonight as well.

 

[ATTACH]5252[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5253[/ATTACH]

[MAD IN NC 21]

Legion - keep going! WOW! It will get better!

[rd49221 14]

Nice work!

 

Nice Calendar!

[Legion 10]

Nice work!

 

Nice Calendar!

 

Believe it or not, my wife hung that in the garage...she said it made the garage look a little more manly. I wasn't sure if I should be thankful or wondering if she was questioning my manhood :scared: If it's the later, she won't be getting any from me for a while...:shifty:

[Legion 10]

A little progress...

 

Finished the driver side door post and the passenger side door post. Ended up cutting the entire door post out on the passenger side as well, cut out the bad stuff and patched it up and welded it back in.

 

[ATTACH]5670[/ATTACH]

 

I also replaced the top lip of the firewall. When I removed the cowl I noticed the lip was in pretty bad shape...so I cut it off, made a replacement piece, worked the keys balk in my shrinker and then welded he piece in.

 

[ATTACH]5671[/ATTACH][ATTACH]5672[/ATTACH]

 

I also fabbed up the inside cowl panel for the passenger side. It's not complete, but I should have it completed tomorrow and ready to go in. I think I'm going to redo the drivers side, the original beads were a little sloppy when I formed the access holes. I still need to cut the holes out, roll the lips of the holes, but it shouldn't take too long.

 

[ATTACH]5673[/ATTACH]

 

I test fitted the cowl and outside cowl panels. It's just about ready to weld up. I hope to finish the cowl by the end of the coming week and start tearing out the front suspension, replace/repairing the metal up front.

 

[ATTACH]5674[/ATTACH]

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

nice work legion!

 

feel free to stop by if you ever need measurements or any sort of visual reference.

[Legion 10]

I'll take you up on that offer, and thanks! You'll have to PM me your contact info. I actually used a lot of the photos you sent me last time, really appreciate it. I would like to get a look inside underneath the dash, just to get a comparison of the fabbed pieces I made to mount the cowl. Any progress lately on your car?

[Legion 10]

Here's a couple of pics of the inside cowl panels I fabbed. I opted not to cut in the vent holes. I've got a couple of small details to finish up on the driver side. Hope to have the panels, outer cowl covers and the cowl welded in next weekend.

 

[ATTACH]6087[/ATTACH][ATTACH]6088[/ATTACH]

[Legion 10]

Well, a little bit of progress. Work has been crazy the past few months and hasn't allowed me much time to work on the rusty cage.

 

I did get the cowl and inside cowl panels welded in place...finally.

 

[ATTACH]6644[/ATTACH][ATTACH]6645[/ATTACH]

 

I removed the front suspension to cutout the shock towers. I decided to cutout all the fender aprons and the radiator support as well. They really weren't in bad shape, but when I cut the shock towers out, I noticed a little bit of rust in the seam between the fender apron at the spot welds (at the bottom) and the frame rail...and I just couldn't let it go. Luckily the frame rails were solid under the shock towers. I'm going to work on cleaning up the front end the next couple of weekends.

 

[ATTACH]6646[/ATTACH]

 

I started stripping the firewall as well. With the fender aprons off, I should be able to get to the rest of the areas a little easier. Just like the shock towers, someone decided to beat the firewall in above the tranny tunnel. A little time with a hammer and dolly should get it flat again.

 

[ATTACH]6647[/ATTACH][ATTACH]6648[/ATTACH]

 

Originally my plan was to go with a mustang II front end, but I've decided to replace the shock towers. The fender aprons, rad support and shock towers are on the way.

[Legion 10]

Just about done test fitting everything on the front end before welding it all up.

 

[ATTACH]7427[/ATTACH][ATTACH]7428[/ATTACH]

[468stang 11]

Looking good.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

it must feel good to see your car going back together!

 

are you removing the blower motor?

[Legion 10]

Yes it does! Work has been busy...which is a good thing in this economy, so the progress is much slower than expected. I hope to get to the quarter panels this winter. On a side note, a big thanks to foothilltom for the great deal on the shock tower he sold me.

 

Yup, blower motor gone, installing a Vintage Air Gen IV SureFit system.

 

I think I've finally settled on keeping the 390. I'm going to pick up a stroker kit for it and with .030 bore get to 445ci of displacement. With the setup I'm looking at I should get around 500hp.

 

If you don't mind, I might have to swing down this fall and get a couple of reference photos. BTW, your car's looking great, I love the detailed work.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

you're welcome to stop by any time.

 

there is a very reputable engine shop in the area if you need a reference.

[Legion 10]

Sounds good, and I'd be interested in the reference. I'll shoot you a PM and make sure you're around before I stop over. Thanks again.

[Ry-speeed 14]

Your project is looking good!

 

Did you buy each side (rear apron/tower/front apron) alreaddy assembled? Was the front cross member reused?

 

Are your braces tack welded in any specific way? I have alot of concerns about keeping the body straight on my car while changing stuctural pieces.

 

It's funny, the good areas on your car are piss poor on mine. (Frame rails and extensions and torque box area) While my rear frame and trunk area barely need any attention at all.

[Legion 10]

I bought the components separately. I believe the only way you can get them assembled is if it comes with the front frame rail attached, and both mine were in good shape.

 

I bought a new front crossmember, as well as strut rod braces.

 

In regards to the bracing, since I was removing the door posts and the bottom of each a-pillar, I braced it vertically where the front of the dash would be and horizontally right behind the front door posts. I also put some triangular bracing to keep the top of the car from tilting backwards (and forward for that matter). I took a lot of measurements and checked them every week in fear something was going to shift, but everything stayed true.

 

No two cars rust the same, but I'm glad the front rails were intact on mine. I'm most likely going to end up tearing into the torque boxes...they seem solid, but my curiosity may get the best of me.

[Ry-speeed 14]

How did the top of the torque box look when you had the floor out? The rot on my torque boxes started eating into the frame rail, as the previous owner said the boxes were what starting going first.

 

I have the driver side box cut out but I've yet to decide if I'll be replacing the entire driver frame rail or patching it.

 

No thoughts about subframe connectors? It seems your pretty handy with fab-work.