67 Coupe Project Need some expert opinions

[MikeStang 247]

Hey guys, its been a while since I have been on the boards... Finally moved back home, bought a new house and just finished my new Shop up so it is time to start on my Son's 1st car which will be the little 67 Coupe I picked up over a year ago.

Wasn't sure which Forum to put this into because there are some technical questions but a bit of a story line as well, so Moderators please feel free to move to the appropriate place. Also I know there are forums more dedicated to the 64-68 cars, but This is my home and I know everyone here and I know that there is more than enough of a knowledge base to take care of all my questions regarding this 67 so here goes.

I bought the little 67 Coupe pretty complete with a fresh 289, fresh 4 speed and rebuilt rear end. All in all the car is not in bad shape for the $2500 I paid for it

There are no rusted holes in the quarters, drop offs, around any windows, rocker panels shock towers or aprons, so I'm sure everyone is wondering what could possibly be bad right?

Well... When I bought the car I knew it had been hit lightly in the ass end on the pass side and that the floor pans had some light rust in them, so that was no surprise..Upon getting it stripped down last night it appears as tho I will need to replace the Pass rear frame rail due to an old accident, as well as the pass front rail due to rust in the battery area. The cowl is also rusted out in the normal location around the fresh air ducts..No big deal tho.

Despite having been smacked in the back end and having a frame rail that I could see was tweaked, the car sat level, all doors lined up and closed very well, fender to hood gaps were pretty nice and everything seemed to fit so I don't think its to twisted up.

After the purchase of this 67 I found a 68 for sale that had a TON of new parts so I scooped it up for $2000...car is a shit show rust bucket but has a host of good useable parts plus I got well over 2k in New parts to boot, so its a win win. 

I have complete front and rear frame rails for both sides, complete full length 1 piece floor pan and trunk pan, torque boxes, fenders, doors, core support, tail light panel, etc... So I have all of the sheet metal needed to fix the 67 that will be my Son's first car. In addition to all of this I have a complete Mustang II front suspension kit with brakes and coil overs etc.. That I did not use on the 66 I was building so this will go on to the 67.

Now that everyone knows what I have on hand and what I'm working with, here are the questions.

#1. Since I will be installing the Mustang II front kit and will need to remove the shock towers to do so, should I go ahead and remove the towers and then replace the pass side front rail, or leave the towers in place and remove the rail, using the towers as a locator of sorts? I have never done a set of frame rails before so this is a 1st... I have a very good frame shop that can straighten anything I mess up but I don't want to have to take it to them when the car is done and have them yanking and pulling on it, so would prefer to get it right the 1st time.

#2. In doing the frame rails do I HAVE to have a Jig built or will just pulling measurements suffice.... If a Jig is needed does anyone have a set of plans for one they would be willing to share?

#3. The car really does not need the full length floor pan that I have or the trunk pan however if it would same time and effort and make the rail install easier I will use the full length pan versus just doing patch pans.

 

On a side note, when you look at the front frame rails from the side of the car it almost appears as tho the PO may have ran across something and tweaked them up a bit because they are beat to hell and I was wondering would this even effect anything really since the body panels all lined up so good... Debating on just changing all 4 Rails since I have them, but if I don't need to I really don't want to haha...

So anyhow I am $4500 into my first Father / Son Car build, have just about every part I need already to do whatever I need to do and just need some opinions on what would be the best way to proceed.

This wont be my last mustang build so if I need to build a Jig it will get used again so that wont be a problem.

Anyhow Glad to finally be back to the forums and looking forward to talking to everyone again..

Ridge Runner I will be looking for some fiberglass parts from ya before long...Perhaps we can collaborate on a Custom hood ?? 

 

Cheers,

 Mike

 

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

You can do the rails with out a jig ,but a jig would be nice ,i made a jig that does the whole front clip outside the car and the floor supports are installed on the clip in the jig ,or you can bolt the jig in place and do just one rail . If you are planning on doing more cars i would build the jig . I can get you the measurements for the front jig i made .

I dont have a rear framerail jig because i have never had to do more than the one car i had that needed it done ,i built the rear as a slip in clip with all the parts resting on level benches and sliped it under the body .

Do the full floor ,it is much easier than patching it in ,i will see if i can find pics of the front jig ,it is very simple to make

[Rsanter 152]

First off I would look at the option of having a frame shop pull the rear rail if it is not that bad.

you can then work out any cosmetic kinks or do patching if you so desire..

 

do you really need to replace the whole front rail?

i like to keep as much original metal as I can. If there is rust from battery acid you may only need to replace the front part of that rail.

 

if you replace the whole front rail. I would remove the engine and trans and get the car up on stands.

remove the tower as you were planning to get rid of it anyway but cut away the bottom of the tower only and leave the top 3/4 of it in place, and then trim out the old rail.

with the inner aprons in place you can get the new rail alighted with the pan, front cross member and the inner apron and it will be properly located.

once the rail is welded in I would remove the remainder of the tower for the Mll front kit.

i would also add front torque boxes while you are at it

[MikeStang 247]

Hey Ridge I'll take all the pics and measurements you can get for the Jig because I plan on building more of these cars in the future lol.

The front rail is mainly rusted at the battery area, but as I said the bottoms of the rails under the floor pan sections appear to be tweaked upwards, plus they look like utter hell lol.

My plan would be to replace the rails, install car on a rotisserie then install torque boxes, build some frame rail connectors much as I did the 66, then start working a 6-8 point cage tying in the front rails so as to help out with the M2 suspension and lack of towers

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

If it is just the floor supports no need to pull the complete frame rail ,you may have to pull off the outer panel of the torque box ,a 67 only has one torque box but you can ad the other

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

I will have to get my fixture out and get you some pics with measurements

[unilec 57]

You can make your own jig based on the frame measurements for your specific year, also useful to make sure your frames is not bent. Not 100% sure this is a coupe, but taking a few measurements will tell you.

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Mine is just a front clip jig but is bolts the rails to it so it is solid as you build the clip.when finished the whole clip slides in place . Or you can bolt it in the car and replace what ever needs replacing right in the car

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

This last clip i built ,i slid the whole unit into the body in one piece ,torqueboxes and firewall and floor supports  complete ,and all by my self .just make sure the body is level front to back and side to side . Have the doors on and aligned and use a set of front fenders just to make sure the clip isnt to high in the front or sagging 

[LoneWolf2U 136]

Mike, you answered your own question.  You plan on doing more in the future so a jig would be very useful.

Looking at Ridges jig set up would be a great idea. A solid starting point to build out front frames that can be made up to whatever your project direction is going.

Like your plan of going coil over and roll cage install, great working room and a straight level work space.

[RPM 1,190]

Welcome back Mike! It's good to hear from you. 

[MikeStang 247]

Thanks guys, it's great to be back.

Been wanting to get to building on this 67 as it seems to be a little easier than my 69 was for some reason Lol

[MikeStang 247]

Digging the front clip Jig Ridge.

Looks easy enough to build and not to big to store

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Small enough to tuck away in a corner ,the top brace to the hood hinge area un bolts

[MikeStang 247]

Well get me some measurements and a drawing together so I can slap that dude together.

I have been looking at some stuff guys have built online and it really doesn't look that tough to build really.

Just use the drawing Unilec provided for factory measurements and Voila