1970 Grabber Green Project

[latoracing 256]

I started working on the drivers door in order to get it ready for its new outter skin. I removed all the inner workings of the door while it was on the car. The regulator was frozen in the down position, which made the job a lot harder than an actual working window. The glass guides were also frozen in place, so removal of all bolts were interesting to say the least. It took a little longer, but it finally came apart, and the glass is still usable. I removed the door from the car, the hinges were shot and in need of a rebuild, but also salvageable. Laying the door on some saw horses gave access to the entire edge of the door. I use a 4.5" electric grinder and an 80 grit flap wheel to sand through the outter edge of the door skin. It only takes about 5 minutes to completely remove the skin, with out any damage to the under structure of the door. Just sand a little and watch for the metal to seperate from each other. I left the mess inside to share why this car is so rotten on the inside, rats nests! In the forward lower corner of the door there is a nice little home for alot of yuck and corrosion. These things hold moisture of all types, and distroy alot of 40 year old metal. I am going to send this to the sand blasters and see if it is repairable, hopefully. I do know that the entire bottom of the structure, as well as most of the lower inside of the door will be replaced. Dynacorn sells a replacement shell for a little over $400.00, I'm going to try and save this one for that much money. I like to have the doors on the car when I put quarter pannels on to have a referance point to line up body lines and door gaps. Since I only received the drivers side door skin, and my filler pannel between the back glass and trunk lid, I lined up the passenger door, which fits fairly well. It will also receive a new skin, but not right now. I had some fun with a cut off wheel on my grinder and removed the passenger side quarter skin. I made a brace to link the B pillars to where they are a little more stable. It is ready for the delicate spot weld removal. Removal of the trunk floor, inner wheel house, and outter wheel house are next on the removal list.

[latoracing 256]

CJ Pony Parts had a 30% off in stock sheet metal parts today, I couldn't pass it up. I was wondering if I should put a 1 pc floor in the car, well, I'm going to now. The price drop pretty well covered the $150.00 shipping fee. Fire wall extensions, seat risers, and some door hinge pin repair parts were all also on sale, and on the way. Just a few more parts up front to get, and all the metal will be at the house. I also ordered the trap door (trunk devider) directly from Dynacorn, that will make the rear of the project all new, except for the frame rails. (Which are in great shape!) I will get some more work done soon, and I"ll be shure to show the Goodmark mini tub fitting as well.

[Klutch 17]

Good call on the one piece floor. It should go in easy-peasy and look great when it's done. I installed two long pans. In retrospect, I should have gone with the one piece floor.

 

I'm looking forward to following your build. I too like the Grabber Green Mustangs.

[Mike65 475]

 

I just recently did a door skin on the r/s door of my 69 Coupe using a Dynacorn door skin & I am happy with how it turned out. I also wanted good doors on the car before fitting the quarter skins.

[latoracing 256]

Worked on the mini tub fitting some this week end. Those of you who are of the pure, unmolested Mustang fans, viewer discretion is advised. Its not that bad, but there is alot of modification to the frame rail area. I have a couple of parts that are on the way that will be modified also, so the rusty stock parts can be played with and turned into templates.

Started by removing the old inner wheel house, and set it to the side, with all the brackets still attached. I removed every thing except the lower portion of the wheel house so it would be easier to lay out the cut lines for the new, 2" wider tub. The flash on the camera washed out my line on the picture, but it is there. The cut line was right next to the seat bracket (which I totally removed) and center lined the outer seat belt bolt hole. I drilled the two spot welds that held the threaded plate and removed it. Marking the trunk divider was next, I did remove the "L" shaped mount, what was left of it, before chopping out the area. All cuts were made to leave a little extra material in case my measuring was off. One thing MEASURE at least a dozen times before chopping up the car. It can be fixed, but save time, and be sure before cutting. I had a 55" dim. from the seam on the center of the two wheel houses, and used that to trim to fit. The area where the rear floor pan around the rear torque box could be trimmed to leave enough material to form a .75" lip to attach the new part, but that is one of the parts I'm going to install later. Every thing was carefully trimmed and fitted several times, until I was happy with the rough fit up front. Next was chopping the frame rail! There is not a whole lot of parts on this car in the right rear, so measuring before was a must. I did temp install the trunk cross member with sheet metal screws to help keep things square. These frame rails are one of only a few parts that are not crunchy, so they might actually weld up nice. I had a little bit of the trunk floor left under the divider that needs to be removed, but quite a bit was removed along with 12" of one side of the frame rail. I left 2 of the 3 sides of the rail, to trim to fit later. Taking the side off of the rail was a noticeable difference in strength, it didn't move, but it wouldn't take much to move it. Thats where the measurement taken before comes into play. A few more trials of the tub's fit, and it was time to put some 1/8" holes to cleco it in place, and a few vice grips to help insure that I have trimmed enough material. I had to stop, my buddy was having a cook out. I will continue this week though. Next will be fixing the huge hole I made in my frame rail. I get to fire up my welder on this thing for some re-construction!

[latoracing 256]

I'm happy! I made a patch for my frame rail this afternoon and was able to tack it into place, and trim it up a little. I had my welder turned up just a little much and blew a few holes in the old sheet metal, what else is new. Any way, these pics really show how much was removed in order to make these tubs fit. I am going to put a few braces on the inside of the frame rail, to give it a little bit more support since I removed the flange off of one side. Trunk floor fitting is next...

[rd49221 14]

Good progress. What size wheels/tires are you planning with the mini-tub?

[latoracing 256]

Good progress. What size wheels/tires are you planning with the mini-tub?

265-35-18 on 18x9 front, 335-30-18 on 18x12 rear. Ought to be enough rubber to go hang some corners, don't ya think?

[stangnet33 88]

Things are coming along. Unless I missed it, what are you going to do about the rear interior panels with the tub work being done ?

[latoracing 256]

Things are coming along. Unless I missed it, what are you going to do about the rear interior panels with the tub work being done ?

 

Once the tubs are installed, I am going to re-install the trap door, and all the attachment tabs. This car is a fixed rear seat, which I am going to do away with, but the side pannels will be reused on my build. Don't wory, I'll post lots of pics on this one, alot of people seem to be interested. Slight mods to the parts are part of the fun! This is not a paint and chalk mark type of build (those can be fun also). Still, this is a learning curve for me also.

:punk:

[latoracing 256]

I didn't have a bunch of time in the shop today, went out to try and find a mock up gas tank at the local junk yards, with no luck. I like having everything in place before chopping, welding, or really screwing up a part that could be totaly avoided, like the new trunk floor. I went on line and ordered a Stainless Steel 22 gal. tank kit from my parts source CJ Pony Parts. The only problem with making this right, is waiting! I ended up scraping, and adjusting some of the frame rails, and other parts that are going to stay. I stuck the outter wheel house in place just to see how much cutting and beating it would take to fit it, I was, and still am amazed at how well this part fit. This is maily directed towards the fit between the WH and the rocker pannel. If you have ever replaced an outer wheel house, and used some lower quality Ti-Chen parts, you know what I'm talking about. I didn't smash the lip, or even touch it with a hammer in order to fit it. I hope that I haven't cursed myself by posting my likes about Dynacorn parts. The real test will be when the quarter skin goes on, that will be the tell all.

[latoracing 256]

Got my gas tank from the Fed-Up guy yesterday, I'm glad I waited. Bolting this thing into place makes everything line up so much better, and I know that it will go together once it is all welded up. I marked and trimmed the trunk floor, fit the inner wheel house once agean, still needs more trimming. I was about to melt, when my wife brought some ice cream out to the shop. That did me in for the eve. Here is a pic before trimming...

[latoracing 256]

I had a fun day today. Got a bunch of work done, since I haven't spent much time lately. Finished fitting the inner wheel house, and made shure I was still at my 55" seam measurement, thankfully I was. I made an attachment flange on the foward section of the frame rail, since I chopped off the origonal, I didn't go past where the sail pannel and the floor meet, that will come with the new floor when it gets installed. I fabbed up an inner brace on the frame rail to give it some support, and to lock it into place. Finished welding the frame rail, and ground it smoothe. Welded in the trunk brace, after patching the drivers side frame rail underneath. Swiss cheesed the nicely fitting trunk floor, and checked it for fit one more time. Welded it into place, just needs to be ground down and a little primer, it will be good as used. Here are a couple of pics for today...

 

[latoracing 256]

Santa in July, a present from me to me! This looks like it will be alot of fun to install, and it will be nice and neat

[70mstang 11]

Santa ROCKS!

[latoracing 256]

Still working, did a bunch of small patches, and alot of fitting of the outer wheel house. The small patches take quite a bit of time to make them blend in where they will not be noticed, you can't tell I did anything, other than there are no rusty holes in the metal, and a little primer. The foward trunk floor (foward of the gas tank) is all most welded in, and looks much better. I bought what was left of a B pillar from a fellow forum person and started working the part out that I need to fix mine. To make a long story short, I am going to make one. The interior portion was fragile, and when I removed it from the outer skin, there wasn't much left. Such is life.

I did install the quarter skin for the first time to see if it would even go on the car. I am still amazed at how well this Dynacorn metal fits, and the quarter was no exception. No hammer, just a little push to get the lip to go into the wheel house, and poof! If you are installing any replacement pannels on your ride, I highly recomend these parts. Yes there will be a little trimming, and probably a little fitting on the B pillar area, but compaired to the cheeper stuff, it is worth every penny spent not to cut and beat these pannels on!

Now I get to tear it apart to install the trap door pannel, and all the brackets I removed when I installed the tubs.

I've been talking to Jason Rushforth, of Rushforth Custom Wheels off and on for the past week, and had him photo shop some wheels for me. The color is slightly off, and there is chrome stuff on the picture (There will be NO shiny stuff on this build, anywhere!). I like the wheel, which is the Night Train design, in a couple of finishes. Jason is fun to work with, and his prices are in line with most other custom wheels. Still looking at some other wheel designs, (like Pro Wheel and CCW), but these are on the top of the list. Check him out if you would like. http://www.rushforthwheels.com/

[Klutch 17]

Do I understand that you are going to make a B-pillar? If so, I'm really looking forward to seeing pics of that process.

 

I'm a big fan of good ole Magnum 500 wheels. But those custom wheels do look sharp!

 

Thanks for the update.

[latoracing 256]

Out with the old, and in with the new. I usually don't have to work on Fridays, but today was an exception. I got home to get back to work on fun things, instead of the regular day to day welding. (I do like what I do, just burned out on this week). I went ahead and measured, marked, and removed the trap door structure, which was not hard. This car must have rattled something awful going down the road. The attachment points on the foward trunk floor, to the trap door, were both broken. Most of the welds on the flanges, to the inner wheel house were also broken. Made it quite simple to remove. While it was out, I ground down the welds on the right side trunk floor, which turned out nice. The replacement fell right into place, clamped, measured (my tape is almost worn out) and temp. fastened it in.

The sparks will be flying in the morning! There is a bunch of stuff preped, and ready to install. I'll be shure to snap some more pics. as things progress.

 

[latoracing 256]

It is starting to look like a Mustang agean. Today was a blast! I got a bunch of my parts off the floor, and welded to the car. That was a bunch of fitting, but it shure did pay off. All the measurements are with in 1/16", and I am pleased whith how it looks now with a bunch of "zits" that need to be topped. I pre-trimmed the trap door panel and was able to get it, the inner and outter wheel house, all welded in.

Compare the differance between the stock wheel house, and the mini tubed wheel house. If you didn't know it was 2" wider, it almost looks factory, sorta.

Quarter fitting, "B" pillar repair, and lower window divider pannel are all next.

[Klutch 17]

Out with the old, and in with the new. I usually don't have to work on Fridays, but today was an exception. I got home to get back to work on fun things, instead of the regular day to day welding. (I do like what I do, just burned out on this week). I went ahead and measured, marked, and removed the trap door structure, which was not hard. This car must have rattled something awful going down the road. The attachment points on the foward trunk floor, to the trap door, were both broken. Most of the welds on the flanges, to the inner wheel house were also broken. Made it quite simple to remove. While it was out, I ground down the welds on the right side trunk floor, which turned out nice. The replacement fell right into place, clamped, measured (my tape is almost worn out) and temp. fastened it in.

The sparks will be flying in the morning! There is a bunch of stuff preped, and ready to install. I'll be shure to snap some more pics. as things progress.

 

:punk:

 

Looking good! I replaced part of my trunk/seat divider several weeks ago. The left side of it had been crunched in a long ago accident. The rest of it looked great. So, I just cut off the that left panel with the trunk hinge support and welded that in. It turned out pretty nice.

 

That mini tub does look sharp. I guess you'll be able to tuck some serious rubber under the rear. Like Buckeye, I'm looking forward to seeing how you work in the interior panels around the mini tubs. Have you decided to forgo a back seat?

[latoracing 256]

I am not going to use the back seat on this car, I still don't think it would be hard to use it though. I am however going to use part of the non fold down / packadge tray rear, and the fiberglass sides. I am going to install brackets for this to bolt back in, I guess you could fit a back seat in it, I might fit it to see how much modifying it will take, and so others can see. I am going to get the drivers side tubbed, then all that will be fitted. If you were to use a back seat, the outter most seat belt holes would have to be moved inboard, I kinda deleted mine, oops. Still, it can be done, and done nicely.

[Klutch 17]

Not having a back seat will allow you to install a way-cool roll cage. I thought about installing a Shelby roll bar in my Mach 1; just for looks. But they're awfully expensive for something that's pretty much non-functional.

[latoracing 256]

Not having a back seat will allow you to install a way-cool roll cage. I thought about installing a Shelby roll bar in my Mach 1; just for looks. But they're awfully expensive for something that's pretty much non-functional.

 

I am going to have a cage in the car, it will be functional, but not over the top. They are a pain to work around once they are installed, but make such a differance in a solid platform, performance, and saftey. They are't that expensive when you make them yourself.

[stangnet33 88]

I might fit it to see how much modifying it will take, and so others can see. I am going to get the drivers side tubed, then all that will be fitted.

 

 

This would be great to see, I'm considering doing a mini tube on mine. But I want to keep all the back seat and panels for the factory look. Keep up the good work !

[latoracing 256]

I posted a message on stangnet33's post for minin tubing a car with a fold down. I took some time after work today to throw the non fold down pannels in the car just to see. Well, I am WRONG about possibly installing a rear seat in a car with 1.5" tubs with out modifying anything. The way the pannels look on the stock side (yet to be modified), the bracket at the bottom is only about .625". With out messing with any part of the interior pannel, much less the seat, this is all you are going to move inward with out any modification. I took some pics to illistrate what I am talking about. On the mini tubbed side, the top portion misses the rear bracket by about 1.1875", while the bottom is moved inward about 1.375". This is just sitting there and is just to show how much fun it could be to reinstall a back seat, much less a fold down. Don't get me wrong, I am shure all these parts could shrink a little, and be fit to where no one will ever be the wiser, untill the fat rear tires give it away. I hope I haven't mislead anyone.

I have been working on the inner part of my B pillar, which is a nother story in it self. Long of the short, the '69 part I purchaced to fix mine is a little crunchy, but worked well for a template. I made my new part just like the '69 part. The only problem is where the vent grille goes into the '70. I am only making most of the upper portion, and had to remove a bunch off the bottom. The lower hole on my car is .375" away from the next bend, where the '69 is 1.5". Fun... I have re trimmed the part, and still need to hammer it into shape on the lower portion. I'll get to that this weekend, hopefully...