RevHeads 70 Coupe Build

[Fordrevhead 29]

Alright, finally starting a Project Thread! Some of this will be redundant from some garage posts I have made... but here it can be in one thread with progress to come.

 

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Here's my car before I bought it. Here it is being stripped down at a local body shop. PO was going to have a Rousch Racing Powered Resto Mod made.

 

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Here's how I bought it, a year or so later after PO went to jail, shop took the title due to mechanics lien, etc... long story.

 

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Some of the $6k in parts that came with it.

 

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Here I am beginning to layout the rotisserie this Fall

 

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Rotisserie coming together

[Fordrevhead 29]

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Rotisserie complete, rear axle and front steering and suspension removed and car mounted.

 

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Test run with Garden Tractor for outside sand blasting.

 

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Drivers Torque Box worse spot on car.

 

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Close up... going to replace front floor support and rear front floor support as well.

 

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Passenger side may have been replaced once cant tell, going to sandblast, and reweld a few places.

[Fordrevhead 29]

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Passenger Quarter... I spotted some rivets on the lower rear, which I drilled out. Inspecting the rest of the quarter I thought it was original. I took a wild guess after running my hand along the lower section and whollah I was dead on, a poor partial replacement. Looks like they tried to retain the original indent on the original quarter and perhaps didnt want to deal with the outer wheels house and trunk drop off interface. I will buy a partial with the proper indent and a new trunk drop off and do it right.

 

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One hole on the outer wheel house in the lower front of that passenger side as as well. Weird that the drivers torque box is the bad one but the passenger lower quarter is the bad one.

 

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The rest of the frame, trunk and rear torque boxes are nice.

 

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One small hole in the drivers trunk drop off as well.

 

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Drivers Tower cracked and one rusty spot (due to cracking). Beginning a fix here. Going to do some hand made Motorsport Bracing as well.

[Fordrevhead 29]

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and the typical fender apron and battery tray repair begun as well.

 

I cant sandblast outside because it's 11 degrees and we have a foot of blowing snow, but hopefully I can make some progress nonetheless.

 

I have begun a lot of areas because I need a better idea of what replacement metal to buy. Another weekend or two and I should be ready to make a big order.

 

Some of the factory welds on this car are horrible. I spent a day and about 4 cut off wheels cleaning up crap on the interior. The rear seat separator on one side had about 10 mig weld blobs that completely missed the edge (by like 1/2") on both the speaker deck and the inner wheel house flange. So it was dangling there. I literally ground and air chiseled two welds off the floor board and it came off. I cleaned all the old welds off on the bench and I'm going to redo that.

 

Need a tank of 30Mix for the welder this week.

[BAdass70 14]

looks pretty awesome what are the plans for it? im building a 70 grande...

[Fordrevhead 29]

Thanks.

 

Well, resto-modish... figure it out as I go really. I'm not going to go too crazy. For New England it's a pretty clean car. Even though it's not a highly desirable big block mach 1 or anything, I dont want to modify too crazy... like tubular front end, full frame, tubbed rear or anything. I am not afraid to weld the crap out of it, add subframes, reinforce the towers and make a lot sturdier better handling car though.

 

I am definately updating the front end with at least discs, roller perches, Shelby drop, etc.

 

I have a Ford 9".. gears will depend on what Trans I go with.

 

I have a tried and true build K code 289 Solid Lifter Engine, blueprinted, balanced, shot peened rods, all ARP fasteners, Edelbrock heads, Roller Rockers, etc. I pulled that from my drag car for this project. I was actually running a 3 speed toploader in that but it was only 1900 pounds and kind of crazy on the street. This thing runs and will run 5500rpm all day long. Someday I'd like the experience of building a stroker but for now this old school small block will do. Need to clean it up (drag car wasnt built for show), decide on pulley and accessory system, etc. I am probably going to change the intake and carb as well and I may fuss with a hand made mach 1 scoop/ ram air conversion.

 

I have always wanted a 4 speed toploader but I really want this car to be driveable for a 5 or 6 hour trip.... or more. So if I can find a money tree between now and then I may go for a Tremec TKO.

 

I have a lot of paint schemes in mind... it will either be matte black mono, all chrome trim and wheels powder coated as well... or I may come up with a two or three tone scheme... until the body is mocked back up the first time and I strike some tape down I wont know. I can draw... but I'm not Chip Foose. :)

 

Anyway, beginning of a long, fun road. I do a lot of work for others and I swap, buy, part out, trade, a lot of Mustangs so that takes time away from the car but I get a lot of parts for free that way... kind of a self supporting hobby really.

[SlimeGold 69 15]

 

 

Anyway, beginning of a long, fun road. I do a lot of work for others and I swap, buy, part out, trade, a lot of Mustangs so that takes time away from the car but I get a lot of parts for free that way... kind of a self supporting hobby really.

 

 

That's how you do it! Good job so far. Bodywork is the make-it or break-it phase for all projects. Most give up after a few months, but looks like you made a awesome rotiss there that I would kill to have. Saves alot of work and makes for a overall better job I'm sure. Keep posting pics as you make progress.

[Fordrevhead 29]

Thanks Slime! This weekend I got started drilling and cutting.

 

I was side tracked by the light in my sand blasting cabinet dying. Some 13.5" weirdo oddball flourescent 13w junk. I tore the entire thing out and threw it in the trash... it sucked anyway. I got a sealed outside ceiling light with tempered glass and a steel cage over it from Tractor Supply for $30. Mounted it horizontally, added a Romex connector into a steel switch box on the outside, a switch and an extension cord and whollah 100w of incandescent power!

 

Anyway, I tore into the drivers torque box. The box is not bad at all but certainly rusty inside. The lip of the box was rusted through, then through the front floor support and started a 1/4" hole into the front rail.

 

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Here I drilled out spotwelds.

 

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Saving floor crossbrace... Floor support ready to come apart.

 

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Previously fiberglassed hole, approx. 1.5" discovered above floor support.

 

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Floor support removed.

 

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Cleaning and saving front rail.

[Fordrevhead 29]

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SAFETY FIRST! :001_rolleyes:

[Fordrevhead 29]

First shipment of parts arrived today from Laurel Mountain. Got the heavy three piece drivers torque box, the drivers floor support, both trunk drop offs, passenger lower rear quarter patch and both side outer cowl panels.

 

Anyone have good experiences for what to coat the inside of those side cowl and vent panels with?

 

If spring would only come so I can sandblast outside!

 

I might have to start some engine work soon instead!

[Fordrevhead 29]

First shipment of parts arrived today from Laurel Mountain. Got the heavy three piece drivers torque box, the drivers floor support, both trunk drop offs, passenger lower rear quarter patch and both side outer cowl panels.

 

Anyone have good experiences for what to coat the inside of those side cowl and vent panels with?

 

If spring would only come so I can sandblast outside!

 

I might have to start some engine work soon instead!

[Fordrevhead 29]

OK, it's been a while since my last update. I bought some stuff called Undergone from Eastwood and used it to help scrape a lot of the heavy undercoating prior to sand blasting. It helped, I would use it again, but it doesnt perform miracles.

 

Since then I have began sandblasting... doing it in sections then sealing. Here's a picture of the front mid way with the drivers torque box, floor support and outside cowl cover removed.

 

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Then we got 2 feet of snow on my 6 day weekend so I started working on the engine.

 

I fit the FMS windage tray and the Canton oil pickup for the 7 qt T sump pan. The windage tray needed a little massaging to clear the pickup. A couple rounds with the ball peen then half round file, then brakleen, then test fit again. I got it to around 3/32" of clearance without the gasket on the oil pump so that should be fine in the end.

 

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I also had to bend the tray in at the edges and also slot the baffle in the T pan slightly to get the bolts to all line up nicely. So the Pan is all test fit, mocking up the timing cover/water pump and all the pulleys and accessories now. It looks like now, I'm going with some version of a serpentine Mustang GT system. We'll see what parts I can come up with.

[stangme428 33]

great work... keep posting pics.. and the progress going!!!!

[Fordrevhead 29]

I started an album in the gallery with more pics of the qtr and trunk drop off removal as well as the torque box floor support project. Just search for "fordrevhead"

 

Front floors are full of pin holes after blasting to I'm putting short floors both sides and drivers toe board while the torque box is out. More pictures of that to come.

Edited March 27, 2010 by Fordrevhead

[Fordrevhead 29]

I got the universal trunk drop offs from Laurel Mountain (trim for 69-70). So, to make them long enough you cant trim the top (straight cut) you have to cut the bottom. Since I cut out a bad lower quarter patch off the passenger side, I first made a paper template using the drivers side quarter and cut that drop off and fit it. Once I was happy I flipped the template over and did the same for the passenger. I didnt want to be able to see a seam from the repair so I left a 1" drop from the old drop downs. I overlapped the new one on the inside edge. I didnt want a place where moisture could be trapped so after I plug welded it in some holes I drilled, I stitch welded it from both sides. A mild grind and some seam sealer for safety and it will be good to go.

 

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Next I fit the new quarter patch. I went higher than the old one but below the body line. The length was all off (long on top short on bottom) and the shape for the rear bumper inset was not there. I basically reformed it until I was happy and will finish it up on the car. I used panel clips that create .04" gap for nice welds. I used a mig but spotted it and cooled it with the air hose in the opposite hand as I went.

 

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You will notice one plug weld hole that ended up aligned with the drain hole in the trunk drop off which ended up too low to get a good fit, so I will plug it and hole saw a new one (or probably just wont use a drain here).

 

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Here it is roughed out ready for 80 on the DA and a good epoxy sealer.

[Fordrevhead 29]

On to the drivers side. On this side the quarter had never been patched so the inner wheelhouse was a little rough in both bottom corners. I decided to make and fit the wheel house patches first. In the back, I peeled the lip of the old quarter back and clamped the trunk drop off in place for fitment.

 

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I made a piece but just tacked the top edge in until I get to the lower quarter.

 

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Next to the front of the wheelhouse/drivers side. The edge of the lower quarter lip and back of the rocker weren't bad but after blasting had a few pinholes so I cut the rust off, I could repair the inner better anyway. This is the inner patch, poor pic, but all one piece and was more complicated than it looks.

 

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Here I patched the lips of the rocker and the quarter.

 

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...and here it is ready for sanding and sealing. I scraped the seam sealer out of the rocker/ quarter joint and I need to soda blast this area well!

 

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Next up... torque box, floor support, subframes, toe board, short pans.

[Fordrevhead 29]

Drivers floor support and torque box. I used the TCP subframes I had to help align everything and measured everything out for square, diagonals and elevation using a tram gauge. I put everything together, adjusted and marked at least twice then drilled and ground for welding and did it again. Boards cut to length helped hold everything where I wanted it.

 

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I wasnt crazy about the alignment of the two pieces of the torque box so (even though it's a Dynacorn). I changed the bottom bend on the inner piece (bent it more) and ground down the end of the ebrake tube to do so then welded it. When I was doing this the spot welds snapped of like first wack of the hammer so I redid those ran some beads here and there and painted the bottom side and seam sealed it before putting the lower piece on.

 

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Not quite finished torque box but basically ready for the toe board and short floor pan.

 

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[70mstang 11]

Doing some great work and being able to keep it moving! Love it!

[Fordrevhead 29]

Drivers Torque box complete.

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Drivers Toe board patch complete.

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Finishing Drivers short pan

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Happy Garage :) 3 stangs in there.

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[Fordrevhead 29]

First time in 13 years, someone from the HR department at work called and said that we were closed!

 

After a bunch of plowing...

 

I worked on the towers today. Welded a crack, finished a patch, welded the wings, drilled for the Arning (Shelby) drop and made a template for the Boss 302 style tower braces.

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Next I guess I have to plug the UCA grease fitting holes someone made. They wont line up too well with the Arning drop and why not just use 45 degree zerk fittings?... ugh

Edited March 7, 2011 by Fordrevhead

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

nice weld. are you using a tig or a mig?

[Fordrevhead 29]

Thanks, it's an older Millermatic 135 Mig

[Fordrevhead 29]

I little more progress...

 

Cut out the passenger short pan last weeked. Original but had some pin holes after blasting and I wanted to get to the inside of the floor support on that side to see how it was.

 

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The pan looks worse than it was because I used Eastwoods Panel Seperating Knife which makes short order of removing junk panels. http://www.eastwood.com/panel-separating-knife.html

 

The floor support was great, just a little surface rust, no scale or pitting whatsoever. I flap wheeled and then treated the inside of the floor support with Eastwoods Rust Convertor. Here is the first coat:

 

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I did another coat last Sunday and the following Saturday, sealed with black 2k. Today I marked the plug weld areas through the holes with a silver sharpy (which shows up great on black 2k! and ground just those spots back to bare metal.

 

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As always, I butt weld all partial panels and patches, floor or not. Here I am locating a new ebrake cable bracket.

 

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Edited March 13, 2011 by Fordrevhead

[Fordrevhead 29]

I little more progress...

 

Cut out the passenger short pan last weeked. Original but had some pin holes after blasting and I wanted to get to the inside of the floor support on that side to see how it was.

 

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The pan looks worse than it was because I used Eastwoods Panel Seperating Knife which makes short order of removing junk panels. http://www.eastwood.com/panel-separating-knife.html

 

The floor support was great, just a little surface rust, no scale or pitting whatsoever. I flap wheeled and then treated the inside of the floor support with Eastwoods Rust Convertor. Here is the first coat:

 

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I did another coat last Sunday and the following Saturday, sealed with black 2k. Today I marked the plug weld areas through the holes with a silver sharpy (which shows up great on black 2k! and ground just those spots back to bare metal.

 

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As always, I butt weld all partial panels and patches, floor or not. Here I am locating a new ebrake cable bracket.

 

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Edited March 13, 2011 by Fordrevhead

[DRASTiK 22]

Quite the craftsman! Looking at your pics makes me think I need some more welding practice. Mine aren't quite as nice, but they penetrate. I just spend a lot more time grinding than I should need to. heh.