latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 18, 2013 That is a '70 MGB that my Dad drove every day to work. When he passed away back in '96, my Mom wanted to fix his car up and have it painted. Well, it was completed in 2000, didn't get started till "98. It was a fun restoration, yet sad. My buddy and I did all the body and paint work, and alot of the parts were rebuilt from several different people. Mom doesn't drive it often, and the brake master cylinder went bad, along with a wheel cyl. It is strange to see it in my shop agean, it is allmost ready to go home, so I can get back to rust repair. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted April 18, 2013 What are you doing with all the stock stuff off your car? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 18, 2013 What are you doing with all the stock stuff off your car? As in stock suspension? I still have the 8" rear end I will be using when it gets painted, I have the steering box (power type), spindles (reusing), and the power drag link. Everything else was junked. Posted it up for free, no takers. Don't have much else with the car, just the dash and a couple of interior pannels, which won't work any more because of the Goodmark inner wheel tubs. In need of something, like chrome moldings, not using them... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted April 18, 2013 Dang wish I would have seen that post. Pm me what panels you aren't going to use and shape. I might be interested in them. Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 23, 2013 Well, going to try the Photobucket method for pics, seem to take up a bunch of space, but everyone is probably tired of clicking on my pics, so here it goes... The MGB went back to my Mom's house late Saturday afernoon, so when I got off work, it was spark throwin' time!!! I had all ready fitted my firewall extension, and prepped it for the install last week. I did want to try something before I put it in the car. When I was installing the convertable style torque box, I noticed that the only thing connecting floor board side to the frame rail, was the fire wall extension itself. I put a piece of flat bar from the torque box to the frame rail ear (notice the spot welds), then I decided to cap the frame rail with a piece of 1" x 2" 14ga tubing, couldn't hurt, and not that much weight. here it is all fried in place I ground down all the high spots, and broke out the epoxy primer, and took a break while the paint dried... Once it all most set up, I went ahead and installed my patch. My pannel flanging tool works great (first part I used them on). I might install my drive train mock up, since I have a loaner trany, and probably need to get it back to my buddy, either that, or cut up the driver's side, we'll see... :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 24, 2013 Well, this work day ended on a bad note, so I took out all my frustrations on the PO attempt to install a torque box. I had a fleeting moment when the floor support was good on the driver's side, WRONG!!! The PO covered up a rusty mess with the torque box, the rest looked reusable, it is comming out. I started with the fresh air vent repair, since it is much easier to get to at this point. Got the outside beat into shape, just needs a hole and some trimming, that will be later on this week... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 26, 2013 Cut a big hole in my patch, and hammered the lip on it this afternoon. Once the vent fit (a couple of adjustments needed to be made) I cut out the crunchy metal on the car, and trimmed all of it nice and neat. This will be butt welded, except for the lower part ( PO loved using an air chisel to remove parts,) so the nice holes where the new torque box will attach to, wont be there. I've gotta remove all the nice surface rust, sealant, and under coating from around my welding area, and fry it into place. A little grinding of the applied welds and you will never know it was ever taken apart, sorta... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gsxrken 21 Report post Posted April 26, 2013 Wow, this car is lucky you came along. A tremendous amount of work to get back to a solid starting point. At least with the convertible bits, it'll be stiffer. Subscribed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted April 26, 2013 You had a better Idea with your doors. I sold mine to buy new shells from Dynacorn only to find out they are on back order tell July so once again I must wait Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 26, 2013 You had a better Idea with your doors. I sold mine to buy new shells from Dynacorn only to find out they are on back order tell July so once again I must wait It was a bunch of work, but I all most went the replacement route as well. Gave me something to do, only took a month to do one. I bet it will be worth the wait, just think, NO rust. LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 26, 2013 Went ahead and finished my vent flange repair. I sanded a little bit too much off of one of the welds on the lower part, and had to go back and redo it, oops. Turned out OK for a part that will be covered up, and not seen, but it is done. On to either floor support repacement or rocker install. Guess I'll see how I feel tommrow afternoon, it's fishin' time in the morning... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted April 27, 2013 I hope so but almost everything I have ordered is on back order. And I can't start the quarters tell I have the doors. I got a ford tooling shaker hood too. Also on back order lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 28, 2013 Had a fun day of fishing, cought a few. I deviated from repairing, and went to modifications. I want to get my Wats link mount all powder coated, so I needed to fit it to the car, and get it all welded up, for now. I had Shaun send the frame uncoated, and the end parts were just tacked on so I wouldn't have to cut as much off the parts. It worked out well. Here is the stock U channel as it came from Street or Track I installed it on the car to mark the areas that needed to be removed. I then went back to the work bench and removed the outter portion of the U channel, and 3/4" ish off the end of the frame. A little bit of sanding, and a quick debur, it was back on the car for retacking, and to make shure I had it where I wanted it, I put two screws in the bottom so it would be easy to line back up. This will be welded to the car, as the bolts that came with the kit will not work, since I modified my frame rail. Removed from the car agean, I made some gussetts, just because I can, and got to frying this thing together. All done, ready to get cleaned up and go to the powder coaters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangme428 33 Report post Posted April 28, 2013 looking great! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 30, 2013 I took my frame to work with me today, after it was all cleaned up, it got ran through our powder coat line. I liked the color of the links, and the bell crank so I had our PC guy spray it with the same sheen of black as those parts. It is not as glossy as the rest of the other suspension parts, but it looks GOOD together. I also had him wipe off the areas that I am going to be welding, he got most of it, but the rest can be sanded off. Up next, TKO mockup. I set up my engine hoist, scrounged up some bolts, and went to the local Advance store for some motor and trans. mounts. It's time to build some more parts. I wanted to put my drive line mock up in the car with some stock mounts to begin with, and check the drive line angle. I know that I'll have to do some cutting, but it will be worth it. I am going to build some adjustable motor mounts, and the trans. cross member, ought to be fun... :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted April 30, 2013 Man how lucky are you! You got a powder coater and all at work! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted April 30, 2013 Man how lucky are you! You got a powder coater and all at work! Very lucky. We also have a laser cutter, bunches of CNC milles and lathes, mandrel tube benders... It is cool to have access to all of it, and to the knowledge of the people who run them. I work in R+D, so at some point in time, I get to work with all of them, people and machines. The bulk of our material used here is alum, and stainless. Getting into some steel products, but not alot. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted May 7, 2013 Yea... I got to play with my toys today!!! It has been a while since I got to do anything to this rust bucket. I actually started this project last week, but haven't posted anything about it. I went ahead and started the TKO fitting, and mods since the brace was exposed, and everything was easy to access. I am starting my mock up with stock motor mounts, and a stock tranny mount that I got from Advance, they are cheep, and will not be used on the final product. I "carefully" attached my chain to the Windsor block I had bought a couple of weeks ago, and attached the mock up bell housing Once all was set in place, I installed the TKO from inside the car, wich was quite cool being able to stand up in the car, and use the floor jack. Once it was in place I measured the drive line angle, once the trans was jacked up to the trans. brace. It was all most 7 degrees, which is bad. The car is level, as checked by shimming the jack stands to get the car level at the rockers, and accross the body at the rockers. (I did this when I started this project way back when) The drive line angle needs to be as close to 3 degrees as possible. It would be much easier to do if I had selected a 8.2" deck motor, but the 9.5 will be much more goodlier. Back out with the trans to remove the offending metal that is keeping me from my goal, and reinstall the trans. to check the new measurement As you can see, I didn't just notch the brace, I pretty much killed it, but not to worry, there is a method to my madness. The metal removal gave me a step in the right direction, it is now 5 deg., not quite there yet, but I can not get any more out of the stock motor mount set up, so they will have to be changed out, more to come on that... I went ahead and fixed my cut up trans tunnel brace with a piece of 3/16" 1018 cold rolled steel. In the previous pic, you can see that I didn't have to remove as much as I did. I am wanting to slide my motor back a little, so I opted to flatten the entire part. It is not as strong as it was before, but it should be ok. I cranked up my welder, and welded it back together. I got extreamly good penitration with my welder cranked up, so good, I will only have just a couple of places to touch up on the underside when I finish grinding it, nice and flush, with no filler. Now to make some new motor mounts, and a custom trans mount. Yes you can buy this stuff, but it is so much more fun when you can build it your self. "Stay tuned"... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grabber70Mach 107 Report post Posted May 7, 2013 (edited) Looking good, have you looked at the drawings of buenings adjustable motor mounts? http://www.1969stang.com/mustang/forum/showthread.php?t=7955 Edited May 7, 2013 by Grabber70Mach Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted May 7, 2013 Looking good, have you looked at the drawings of buenings adjustable motor mounts? http://www.1969stang.com/mustang/forum/showthread.php?t=7955 Buening hooked me up with his drawings. He sent me a PDF file and I took and converted it to a DXF, and sent it to our laser cutting guy at work. I know, it is kinda cheating, but why not? I still have to mill the 3/8" parts, as our laser is a little small, and doesn't do well with 3/8". Thanx for the heads up though... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buening 63 Report post Posted May 8, 2013 Cheater!!! :lol: Looking forward to actually seeing some pics of these besides my own! So many drawing requests, so little pictures of the end result :( Nice welds on those gussets. Tig? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TF69 14 Report post Posted May 8, 2013 Looking Good Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted May 12, 2013 Got to work on the trans mount this afternoon. It has been interesting to say the least. I did work on some machined parts for the "buening" motor mounts (like the name Jeremy?) and the trans mount. I wanted to make my mount with some 1" 11ga rounde tube, but that is not going to happen. Way to complicated, and it would looked cobbed together when done. So, plan two. Make it out of the 3/16" plate I have milled, and 11ga for the rest. I made the template from cardboard, tape, and hot glue. This mount will be adjustable, hopefully 1.25" twards the rear, once completed. I used the upper hole on the driver's side to get the mount a little higher, and make it all most the same parts from side to side, but not quite. This TKO does not leave much room for my rearward adjustment. Even with the stock trans rubber mount turned around backwards, there is only 3/4" from the trans itself to the mount. I've got a solution to the problem, but I'm not letting you all in on it yet, I'll show it when I make shure it will work. Now I get to make my parts from my cardboard, and see if this will function, more to come... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted May 14, 2013 Broke out my "CNC" Porta-Band and made some parts this afternoon. I had to notch and rounde the corners on the main plates, not to hard. Got them all cleaned up, then made the little parts of the mounts. They took all most as long as the big stuff, and they are only 3/16". I devated from the prints, and made some minor mods. I am going to make a 3/8" plate to go on the tube assy. instead of the 3/16" plate the prints called for. I want to be able to tap this plate, instead of using a bolt, and nut. So tommrow I will work on those, and the required shims. Then they should be ready to try out. I got the 1" drop side plates today, it looks like they are going to fit nicely. The 1/2" drop plates might be ready in the A.M., but I doubt it. Can't complain, I could be Porta-Banding those as well. Oh yea, gotta get some parts cut for my trans mount as well, I should get a note pad... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted May 15, 2013 Took a couple of minutes today to get my 3/8" plates drilled, and while I was at it, I modified things agean. Instead of using a nut, I tapped one set of the plates to be welded to the lower assy, that way there is only one wrench needed to adjust the mounts. I got them all fried into place, these things are SMOKING, (as in HOT). Can't play to much, going to Church, gotta get cleaned up. These will get installed soon... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
