latoracing 256 Report post Posted September 21, 2013 (edited) It has been a busy day. I was able to remove the old cowl this morning, I had most of it ready to come off. The paint was about the only thing holding this together on the top. The bottom is all but gone. I spent quite a while straitening the fire wall lip and removing the parts that were stuck in various places, along with knocking down the sharp edges left from the spot weld removal process. There are several lips that I am going to have to reconstruct, those won't be bad. I noticed a crack in the structure just above the door hinges when I tore this apart for the first time. I knew then that this area was screwed, and it is. On the driver's side, I was going to hopefully just make the beef up plate for this area. I went ahead and removed it to find that it was too far gone to weld a new part over it, I didn't have a fork, but I would have stuck it in it if I did. I want to put some bracing in the cowl area, to attach to my cage at a later date. I am wanting to run the stock dash, and have a heater as well. Don't know if I can get all of that stuffed under, threw, around, and over all the components in this area. I am weighing the custom dash, no heater route as well. Form over function on this is more function, but it is a street car, and heat on cold days is quite nice. I suppose I'll be ordering some more sheet metal, cause this thing is going to need some more. :punk: Edited September 21, 2013 by latoracing Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike65 475 Report post Posted September 22, 2013 Where do you order you sheet metal from?. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted September 22, 2013 99% has came from CJ Pony parts. So far, I've had no issues. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bossed 10 Report post Posted September 22, 2013 Ever feel like you have opened a can of worms and you get to see all the yuck inside? Yea, this is how they look. Of all the parts that the factory worker missed, they made up for it under the apron bracket. There were only about eight or nine spot welds in a row, "thanks pal". It is quite crunchy, and it does help speed things up a little. Wonder why these things rust... no paint anywhere... duuuhhh... The new cowl panel is in one piece, but not for long. There is no way I am going to attempt to weld the inner kick panel to the cowl floor through the vent holes, WOW! First I want to say I'm impressed with your talent and determination, and I've really enjoyed watching your progress. I was catching up on your project and saw you're into the cowl repair. I removed mine and bought the Dynacorn one piece unit from CJ Pony. When I removed the old one I found out about the inner kick panel and the flange you can't get to from inside. I found a video on YouTube, where they were installing a one piece cowl on a 70 Mustang. They ground off the primer where it lays on top of the inner flange and used a 3M body panel adhesive on those two areas, clamped it into place and after it setup they came back and welded the outer perimeter. I plan to do mine this way and I thought I'd share with you in case you didn't want to separate yours and go with the other option. Bossed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted September 22, 2013 I have other motives for splitting the cowl back apart. I want to brace the A pillars and a bunch of other things, in order to do that I need a little more access to the inside. I also want to do a good job of "rust proofing" this area, and I feel I can accomplish this with it in sections. I have used the structural adhesives to join car parts (helped do a big Suburban roof one time, and glued it, quite cool) along with aircraft parts. Structure adhesives have come a long way, super strong, affordable, and quite easy to use. It has to be clean though. Metal to metal is the best way to glue up something, and watch the cure times. F-16 aircraft skins were glued (as well as riveted) with a type of "Scotch Weld" adhesive. In order to remove them we had to use liquid nitrogen to freeze the glue in order to get it to separate, otherwise it would take chunks of the bulk head with the skin when we tried to separate it. Neat stuff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted September 23, 2013 Got home a little bit later than normal. I've been in the buffing room most of the day polishing some stainless steel rectangle tube for a sample. I HATE polished anything now. Used to love polished alum., it is just as bad to look at, but a whole lot easier to get looking good. Did get it all welded together though, got to clean it up in the AM. Enough about work... Sharpened my spot weld cutter, and got to splitting this new cowl assembly apart. It is so nice when you actually get all the welds and the two parts just lift off of each other, doesn't happen to often. I wondered how much coverage the weld threw primer had on the inside of this, not a lot... The inside of the upper cowl had all most no primer on it what so ever. The lower didn't have much either. I am not impressed with this "primer" as my seat riser has even more rust popping up on it, not good. I can imagine what would happen if this cowl had been installed without some serious coatings. I am glad I went this route. I ordered the A pillar parts today, but they are on back order. Who knows when they will show. Doesn't matter, I have a bunch of cleaning and figuring to do in order for this area to be ready to go back together. Looking at how I want to run my braces, and what to construct them out of. Tons of things to do, one at a time... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mustangstofear 608 Report post Posted September 23, 2013 We use the one piece cowls, but we never split them apart. What we do is use a rust proofing gun from Eastwood, and And spray the entire insides with PPG Epoxy primer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPM 1,190 Report post Posted September 24, 2013 If you charged a dollar an hour for labor, I couldn't afford to buy your car. Your drive is impressive. Bob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted September 24, 2013 Sharpened my spot weld cutter, and got to splitting this new cowl assembly apart. It is so nice when you actually get all the welds and the two parts just lift off of each other, doesn't happen to often. I wondered how much coverage the weld threw primer had on the inside of this, not a lot... Nice job and good choice with splitting the cowl to do it right! It's more work, but in the end, you won't have to worry about it:thumbup1: As far as the back order stuff goes, I had a set of seat brackets on back order from CJ's for 7 months believe it or not! They finally called to tell me Dynacorn was not producing them any longer. I would shop around and see if you can find someone who has them in stock before you need them. Keep up the great work! :thumbup: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted September 28, 2013 The Fed-Up guy came by late this afternoon with some A pillar parts. I was impressed that they came so quickly as it has only been less than a week since I ordered them. For parts that were on back order, they certainly got here quickly. I'm shure there is more rust and pitting on the areas around the A pillars, I'll just have to see how much once it is all apart. We'll see... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 3, 2013 Had a moment to remove some spot welds on the driver's side A pillar this afternoon. Still amazed how these cars are built, and are able to go down the road. FOUR spot welds connecting the lower part of the A pillar to the rocker. I am happy to say that the rest of the cowl area is in fairly decent shape, at least this side. I thought I'd be replacing all of it. Made some templates for some beef-ups, going to roll some 1" x 1.5" x .120" wall tubing, the "easy" way for the beginning of the cowl reinforcement. Also picked up some 1" square .120" wall tubing for other areas. I still need to remove the rest of the old A pillar, right where I patched the inner cowl wall, go figure. There shure isn't much left to change out, just about got my Dynacorn shell, the hard way! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
390mach1 49 Report post Posted October 4, 2013 Looks great. I will be welding in my firewall tonight and start drilling the rest of my floor. I need to get my pics posted. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buening 63 Report post Posted October 4, 2013 Your car must have been built on the Friday after Thanksgiving, considering all of the missing spot welds! :lol: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 4, 2013 Actually it was built 03-26-70, which was a Thursday. I figured it was a Friday just before quiting time. I bet the pass. side will have more welds. The driver's side has been awful as far as build quality. Such is life. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 6, 2013 Worked a little on the firewall and my cowl reinforcement tube. Took my cardboard pattern to work with me Friday to roll the tube. It might not look like it but the radius is not constant, the middle is just about flat where the export brace holes are. I rolled the tube in a radius that matched the tighter ends, and straightened the middle to make it fit. It is always easier to unbend a piece of tubing than to try to put more bend in it. I trimmed some of the firewall flange off, some of it was rusted though any way, so I can trim the rear of the aprons to fit. I also made some threaded inserts to use as attachment points for the export brace since there is no good way to get a nut on a much longer bolt. The inserts were made out of some .750" round 1018 steel bar, which was drilled and tapped 7/16"-14tpi. I will get this fitted some time and mark the areas to drill the tube for the inserts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 7, 2013 I was quite productive today, and was able to make a little head way. I started fitting my cowl tube to the firewall first thing. I notched the rear fender aprons so there would be enough material left for some attachment tabs, and like always, found more rust. It was just a small area, so quick fix. Attempted to fit the tube with the remaining portion of the fire wall flange, wouldn't go, so off it came. Once that was removed, it fit nice and tight, without any drama. I even bent the tabs right the first time, scary. I drilled a few alignment holes in the firewall to keep the tube still, and fitted the lower part of my new cowl. The corners were bent when it was shipped, so they had to be straightened a little. Got it fitting front to back, comparing my pre tear down measurements, and clamped it up. The new sheet metal fit like a glove on my rolled tubing, I was glad cause I didn't want to have to attempt to bend it any more, epically after trimming the ends off of it. I was ready to see if my export brace was going to line up, since I removed the flange that it bolted to, (I checked it before I cut it off) and I had to move the cowl to the pass. side about 1/2", not bad. Once the holes were all lined up, and the export brace bolts on the shock tower were tightened up, I drilled a few 1/8" holes for some clecos to keep all this stuff referenced. I scribed the hole locations on the tube, so it can be drilled and inserts installed at a later time. Once I was sort of done with that area for now, I went back to my driver's side A pillar repair. I removed all the remnants of the old part, cut the remaining rusty sheet metal away, and called it quits for the evening. You can see in the pic where I had patched the inner panel a few weeks back. The new A pillar part fits nice and neat, just needs a bunch of holes in it, primed and installed. But before that takes place, there will be some bracing installed in the middle of all this stuff to tie the new cowl tube to the A pillars. Got a bunch of cleaning to do as well... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike65 475 Report post Posted October 8, 2013 Looking good, keep the pics coming. I have to get mine up on jack stands to do my torque boxes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
82firebird 11 Report post Posted October 18, 2013 You are very skilled with your metal work, nice job. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 22, 2013 It has been a while since I was able to work on my project, been just a little bit busy as of late. Went on my yearly fishing trip to the coast (landed a fat 44" Red Drum and a bunch of other fish) two weeks ago, along with sample season at work, doesn't leave any time to play. I did get a couple of hours in this afternoon, and it was nice to get to work on it again. I took my first cowl reinforcement tube to work with me today, so I could drill the 3/4" holes I previously marked several weeks ago. I cheated, put it in the mill so it would be nice and straight. Got it all fixed up, and de-burred. Removed the primer and other junk around the holes so I could weld the threaded inserts in place. Fired up the TIG welder, since it has been neglected for a while, and cooked my inserts in place. I took a wire wheel to them after it cooled just to make shure I didn't miss anything. All ready to be installed, and checked to see if the export brace will bolt back up. I had a hole in my firewall from the lovely rats that called my cowl home for years, so I made up a new patch panel to fill the hole I made. I have it all welded in place now, but still have to grind it down. I might re-locate my wiring harness, so this area might have a new hole cut in it at some point. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stangme428 33 Report post Posted October 24, 2013 nice .. very nice... great work!! 1 Silver-Fox reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 24, 2013 After just a little bit of grinding... I used the wire wheel on this area, just a little to see what I have to work with on the hood hinge nuts, don't look to awful. I would love to get all the paint and rust off of everything, but I am a ways away from doing any body work, so I have to live with the ugliness for just a little while longer. I mapped out the bracing for the cowl to rocker, bent a piece of filler rod to the degree I want the tubing to be bent at. I brought down my tore up dash, (what a mess) to get it temp installed, along with the heater box. It will be much easier to plan out the front of the cage with the cowl off, I hope. I don't know if I am going to keep the stock dash or not. I do not want to go too far over board, and start down the total custom road, guess I'll just have to see how the pieces fit together. Gotta keep the KISS theory in check. Got to make more parts so I can get this area under way... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 29, 2013 Got off work and wanted to see if the new cowl brace would fit with the export brace. I had to adjust the holes in the export brace as they were .080" farther back on one side. When I drilled the holes in the tube, they are straight C/L, so I knew the export brace holes had to be slotted just a little. Once they were all in line (don't worry, I'll fix the egg shaped holes the next time I have it off) it bolted down like it was made to fit, imagine that. I have been staring at the vent cover panels for a while, just wondering how I could put a bunch of braces in that area, and get it all rust "free" and sealed up. Well... decided to take it to the "just one more area to fix" theory. At least you can see what the patch for the fresh air vent looks like from the back side. Still looking at the SN-65 web site and how they recommend bracing this area, so gona give it a valid attempt. The fresh air vents pose a little problem, as in having to bend the 1" square .125" wall tube to miss the plastic vent when it is installed. It will hopefully be stronger when I am done, and not a waste of time and material. All this just to tie the A pillar to the cowl, and the cowl to the shock towers. At least, it shouldn't hurt... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RPM 1,190 Report post Posted October 30, 2013 Gotta keep the KISS theory in check. Ha! I gotta remind myself about the kiss principal every day! Bob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted October 31, 2013 Said I wasn't going to do this right now... but that looks sooooo much better. I got all the major areas fairly well stripped down to nice shiny metal, just a few corners left to de-rust. Gona install this cowl brace so I can get on with the program. :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
latoracing 256 Report post Posted November 5, 2013 Welded in the cowl support for good. Had a couple of issues where the firewall would just totally disappear when I tried to weld to it. Just one of those things. I stich welded the entire length of the tube, just to help get the firewall nice and rigid. Did just a little grinding on it in a couple of areas, it will be fine, just need to go back over some of the rosette welds and make them purdy to. Cut a strip of 18ga to fix the flange for the cowl to inner panel and welded it in place. A little grinding and it looks like it is supposed to be there. Looks a little funny with the areas built in for my 1" square tube, but it fits up nicely. More bracing to come.... :punk: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
