Klutch 17 Report post Posted November 3, 2012 Wow, great work. Every time I think my doors are toast, I see your progress and think, "Hey, maybe I can save them". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 3, 2012 A little scrap sheet metal, and some time, you might be amazed at what you can do! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bossed 10 Report post Posted November 3, 2012 It looks really good to me, keep up the good work Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 9, 2012 This was a fun after woork project. I still have a couple of areas that I want to fix on this before I skin it, this is one area. I wanted this to be similar in apperance when it is all painted, so I am going through the trouble to make a back yard press die. I used some 1/8" material and made the outter shape, then tapered it a little with a poloy fan wheel. Next was a 1/4" rounde st.steel bar that I bent slightly, then sanded to shape, and taked all the parts to some 3/8" flat bar scrap. Over to the press with my negitive and a piece of old 2x4 I pressed the wood over the die to inbed the shape. Then the 20ga steel sheet was placed between and we have an over sized part ready to tweek. A little bit of hammering, trimming, more hammering, trimming... it was ready to install. Tack it all up, and grind it smoothe. The impression is a little bit more rounded compaired to the origional but I don't think anyone will notice. The wood part of the die gives a little too much and doesn't give a sharp crease. The final pic. doesn't do it justice, the glare makes it look flat. Sheet metal work is FUN!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 21, 2012 After another delay in the Mustang progress, I am actually getting back to some sort of "normal" pace. I just had a few more things to do the door reconstruction, and it is ready for some primer and an outter skin! Made the weather strip channel the other night, while helping on another project. The lower hinge portion of the door had some rot in it, so it got a small patch, and the channel was installed. Drilled the holes for the window guides, ground down the welds, a little sanding, and knocked down the big weld lumps on the inside... DONE!!!!!!!!!!! I still think it was worth all the time spent on it, the skin will be installed as soon as I can get the inside primed and sealed, so this won't happen (hopefully) for another 40 years. Had to include a little before and after pic... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1969vert 55 Report post Posted November 21, 2012 Nice metal work Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 22, 2012 Its hanging on the car!!!!!!!!!!!!! Went to my friend's body shop last night and sprayed the inside of the door, and the mating surface of the skin with some DP to seal the metal. Went out today and installed the Dynacorn door skin. There was a little trimming in order for it to all fit. Broke out the hammers and dollys, a bunch of 6R vice grips, and started beating on the seams. It turned out nice except for a 5" place on the bottom of the door where I didn't hold the dolly square to the surface. Got it back up on the car so it will be adjusted for the quarter pannel install. :clap: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dallis 10 Report post Posted November 23, 2012 It's not even funny how great this is coming along, I love it! This inspires me to just fix my old doors instead of buying new ones. :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 23, 2012 It's not even funny how great this is coming along, I love it! This inspires me to just fix my old doors instead of buying new ones. :) Thanx Dallis, try and save them, espically if the places are smaller, and not the entire bottom. If you have access to a welder, go for it, and when you get done with them, you'll look for something more difficult. Good luck with them! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike65 475 Report post Posted November 23, 2012 I replaced the door skin on my r/s door & it came out real nice. Very happy with the fit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 23, 2012 Got the door lined up and started cutting. It doesn't take long to remove this stuff, just have to be careful of some supports, and tabs that I want to reuse. The big parts come off in a hurry, then all the scrapping, spot weld removal, and cleanning. It has been nice to get back on the body, instead of the door. I'll get the prep work done, then it will be time to start the wheel well mods. I'm shure this side will go faster than the first. It usually works that way. :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 9, 2012 I have worked on it, I promise. I just have 0 time here lately to get anything done on it. Between chainging oil in the wife's car, and my friends truck, to working on my Mom's MGB... I did get a little bit done today though. Removed alot of the spot welded remnents that were left after loosing the quarter skin, along with some brackets that will be reused. I have a big area where the inner rear seat belt attaches to, that will need to be pached. That will be fun, more fab work. The mods did begin this afternoon though. Marked the areas where the new inner wheel house will be installed, and started removing parts, like the bump stop and the outter seat belt plate. (2" kinda gets slam in the middle of that hole where the bolt used to go) Then I had to stop, oh well, hopefully I'll get a little more time next week. Here are a couple of pics to show lots of crunchy car parts.:punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 12, 2012 Fitting up the inner wheel house, and making frame rail notches... :hammer: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JTG 10 Report post Posted December 14, 2012 Damn, you barely have anything left on that side of the car. That will look great with all the new metal. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 14, 2012 Damn, you barely have anything left on that side of the car. That will look great with all the new metal. There is a little more rot on the driver's side. The only stock parts of the rear will be the frame rails, and most of the sail pannel / shock mount, the rest will be replaced. I am building a do it yourself Dynacorn replacement shell, one part at a time. lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jobba72324 11 Report post Posted December 15, 2012 Looks like we a have similar rust buckets to rebuild. Nice job on the door and skin. Just did both of mine. Here is link for pictures. http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/05f2fd5200 Will be installing inner wheel wells and quarter panels also, and many other parts lol..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 15, 2012 Looks like we a have similar rust buckets to rebuild. Nice job on the door and skin. Just did both of mine. Here is link for pictures. http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/05f2fd5200 Your pass. door was fairly crunchy, looks much better now. I like how you solved the front end issues, ALL at once! She is a little ruff around the edges, but in fairly good condition, at least all the major parts were there when you started, sorta. Looks like alot of fun though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 19, 2012 Playing with the frame rail and trunk floor this afternoon, had some old (it can't be that old) Iron Maden cranked up in the shop, just having a nice afternoon to myself. Got the filler section for the outer part of the frame rail cut, bent and tacked into place. Removed the remnents of the old trunk floor and drop off. Bunches of scraping and wire wheeling is always a good way to coat everything in the shop with a nice reddish hue, but it had to be done. Once that was fairly clean I fit the new trunk floor to the frame rail and all other attachment points. I marked the underside so I can drill it off the car and remove the section for the mini tub. Prepped and sealed the inner frame rail, so it will be dry for the next time I get to mess with it. I did make the reinforcement plate for the frame rail, and also shot it with some weld throgh primer. So far, it is going alot easier the second time around, imagine that. The gas tank was removed, and replaced several times this afternoon, it actually lined back up, which is nice. More to come... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 19, 2012 Put my "gussett" in the frame rail this afternoon. Welded it into place, along with all the beef up plates at the joints. Cleaned up the area, more rust preventor while it was still warm. Went ahead and swiss cheesed my trunk floor, so it will be ready to install. Stuck it in place with self tapping screws, reinstalled the gas tank, and it is ready to weld... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 24, 2012 Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! I am taking a break, and thought I'd give an update. Made the attachment flange for the front part of my frame rail, cleaned up everything, and fried all of it together. Ground everything nice and smoothe and shot some primer over it. The trunk floor is also all welded up. Removed the gas tank agean, and installed the corner brackets (easy pcs. to fab) and welded them in. I want to go ahead and fix my sail pannel before I get back on the inner wheel house, since it is a little easier to reach right now. I'm taking pics, so I will show some more at home fabrication.:santa: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 27, 2012 It was a nice day to be out playing with some metal. I wanted to at least get this part made up before installing the wheel house, it was a lot easier to get to, plus I found more rust I need to fix. The part I am working on can be bought, as the entire sail pannel, but I don't want to go there now, so I'll patch it. I don't have a sheet metal brake at the house, so some vice grips and some flat bar does what I need it to on this part. To make the radius the same, I am using the right side of the sail pannel as my template, and making it backwards. Using cardboard as the templates, and radius gauges, gets me in the ball park. I bought an Eastwood sand bag and plastic mallett set a couple of years ago, and love to beat on some metal with them. A little hammering, some trimming and fitting, more hammering... untill it starts to look like the part I need. I cheated just a little, and used the new floor pan to also check my progress as I went. This took a little while longer than I thought it would, but once it was all tacked up, trimmed, then final welded and ground, it is going to be just right. I am going to install it when I put my new floor pan in, just to make shure it will fit. There are a few hammer marks in it, which I will smoothe out, but for now, it is back to wheel house fitting, and more rust repair. :hammer: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 30, 2012 I had intended on fitting my wheel houses today, after I fixed my "little" rust problem, ha ha ha, found more... I started looking at my frame rail, and could see my work light through a couple of pin holes in the bottom of the rail. Oh boy, it was crunchy in a 9" area, there was no way I was going to leave that alone, espically with the possible grip this thing might have when done. More of the same, templates, marking the areas to cut out, bla bla bla... I did want to make this repair "invisible" when done. Rounding the filler parts of my repair made shure there was plenty of metal left after all was ground nice and flush. This type of repair had to be strong, so everything got a backing plate installed to make extreamly shure this would not fail. After making all the parts, the frame rail was trimmed, and drilled for the rosette welds (to hold the backing plates) I installed the repairs one side at a time, then installed the bottom last. Welded all of it solid, and ground it all down. I think it turned out nice, cause once I sprayed primer on it, you can't tell anything was done, kinda like when I started this morning. At least it is fixed, on to the tub fitting! :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted December 31, 2012 Last post of 2012, hope everyone has a great 2013! Started fitting parts today, it is starting to look like a Mustang agean, at least in the rear. I had the inner wheel house semi fitted in order to modify the frame rail, so it went in with out too much drama. The trunk drop off is a little short of hitting the correct placement though, no big deal. The outter wheel house took a little bit of finesse in order for it to fit. Once the two halves were screwed together, I had to get the entire inner structure to sort of shrink. When I removed the outter wheel well support, I drilled 1/8" holes in it before removing it, so now all I did was cleco this bracket into place and clamped the parts together, then installed the screws. There was a 1/2" between the two. Once secure, it measured correctly, which is nice that I didn't mess this up. I had to try the quarter pannel fit, which wasn't as great as the right side, but once pried and pushed into place, it will work quite nicely. The major exterior parts on the car are still held on by screws, in order to get all of this stuff on and fitted with the deck lid. I will remove the quarter and the wheel houses, in order to get them welded into place, then more fitting and prepping for a whole bunch of welding. I like the way it is looking, RUST FREE!!! :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted January 2, 2013 Tore it all apart, swiss cheesed all the attachment places, and fixed my last frame rail patch. Put it back together, tacked it up, and welded it all in place. The only thing left to attach is the outter wheel house to the trunk drop off. Won't go there untill the quarter is ready to be attached. Started grinding some of the welds on the inside. This is much better than watching football, plus my project is fixing to look a whole lot better. Up next, more quarter pannel fitting... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted January 8, 2013 This quarter pannel all most went in the yard several times! I can't believe this stupid thing would not go on. I have beat on, pried, trimmed, and all most took a BFH to it several times. I gave it one last try, and adjusted the bend at the rocker pannel, and got it screwed into place. It was a compromise between the wheel well and the door, the wheel well won. I adjusted the door to fit the factory quarter before I removed it. This one, as you can see in the pics, is way off at the top, and is crashing at the bottom. The passenger side is the same way, but not nearly as bad as this one. Thankfully, the pannel sits about 1/4" lower than the factory, and there is a gap at the bottom of the door that I didn't like when I lined it up. It might work out just fine. I used Dynacorn parts, like I have been, and this one, well I'm glad I didn't start on this side of the car. Hopefully the rest of the parts will go on without a bunch of problems. I would still use these parts agean though, it could have been worse! :surrender: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
