Projects Bought another Ford today

Got the firewall stripped and PORd today.I am going to try and get the body on tomorrow.

 

Body is on the frame! Took about 6 hours,but it is on and bolted down.Now the non fun starts---body stuff.Dragging the chassis out. Next is body swinging on the "lift"(great idea Antti!) Getting lined up. [

 

And on and bolted down.

 

Nice!
Looks like the door fits nicely too.Did you have to add body shims under the body pads?

 

I had one shim when I took the body off so I put it back where it was.I will have to pull the doors and rebuild the hinges now.I really didn't want to take them off while the body wasn't on the frame.I now have a bunch of body work to get started on.I made a set of new body mount pads out of sidewall from a truck tire.Seem to work OK.I didn't see why that wouldn't work since they were all the same thickness and were within about .020" of the stock pads.

 

Spent most of the day wire wheeling interior panels getting ready to POR the whole thing.I did take time to remove the trunk lid springs(never did like those ) and set the trunk lid in place and "mount" a front fender with 1 bolt and a jackstand.I keep finding out that I cant get up in the morning and go put in 12 hours in the garage anymore.Odd, don't FEEL 65 but I guess I must be----

 

Started working on the body today(other than the undercarriage).I discovered a 15" strip of what is best described as lace with a brand new rocker panel welded to it.The piece on top is one of the pieces I cut off the rocker panel.The lace piece is sitting on the patch that replaced it.People sure do odd things! 0

 

Took out the X brace I had in the car today. The back floors and trunk in this car are covered in a THICK coat of what appears to be undercoat??? It has obviously been there a long time. I wonder if that came from the factory? It had LOTS of undercoat underneath.I expected that,but in the interior?

 

Yeah,thats the factory tar.It took some time get rid off it and that crap was layed everywhere on the car.

 

You are right about that Antti! I put in about 2 hours today (all my back would stand) on my knees with a heat gun and a putty knife.I reckon I got about half the passenger compartment done.Spent the rest of the day working on the trunk lid.

 

Pretty well finished scraping and wire wheeling the interior today.POR 15 for the interior tomorrow then time to start on front fender mount.

 

Got started on the front fender support today.It is the usual sort of square tubing affair that supports the front fenders top and bottom and bolts to the frame. I should be able to finish it off tomorrow,then I can see if the hood will fit.I have NO idea at this point what I am doing for a grill.I have most of two stock ones but am open to suggestions.

 

Car is looking good. If I might make a few suggestions 1) find a way to isolate the 'rad support' from the frame vibration ( especially since you hard mounted the motor ), or it will be tuff to stop the fenders from cracking where it mounts in that single sheer to the rad support. 2) find a way to isolate the alum rad from the mild steel rad support and frame for both vibration and electrolysis.

 

Good to see that someone has made some progress.Its been cold week in here,so i havent done much with my project.It was -16 in fahrenheits at this morning when i went to work.The next week is supposed to be warmer..hopefully

 

Thank you for your advice Fulltrack. The fender support does not touch or support the radiator.The radiator is rubber mounted,if you look at the bottom of the radiator you will see the rubber sticking up out of the mount cradles.I got the support mostly done today and tried the hood on.Then I found a good stock upper fender support and hood latch setup I didn't realize I had.It appears I can use both with minor modifications to my set up,we will see.

 

Well I started on the lower fender mount today.Its UGLY and got uglier with 5 lbs of paint and bondo off of it.I reckon I can fix it.Id better,its the only one I have.The fragments in the last picture used to be the reinforcement panel that the grille support bar bolted to.I ended up making a similar but larger panel to replace it .At least the welder is working a little better. ince I had a bigger hole once the rust was gone.

 

I actually got that lower fender support fixed today. I had to make a bunch of patch pieces but it is nice and rigid now. I am hoping to get the fenders fitted tomorrow.I managed to get the curve on the bottom of one wrong and the other bottom section is way not lining up with the door.I may cut them both off and try making 2 new lower panels with my neat new plasma cutter I got for Christmas.

 

I am way too tall to section the car Mo,I would never be able to get in and out of it.

 

Worked on the fenders all day.Made some improvement.Slow work,but Im getting there.

 

I have the front fenders fitting about as well as they are going to now I reckon.I had to modify the lower mount some,but It goes on now.I suspect it will need some reinforcement. I am still at a loss for what to run for a grille.

 

Started working on the hood.It had a fair amount of rust on the front under the bondo.Looks like it will require a couple of patches about 3" X 10".Fortunately the center 6 or so inches is OK.

 

Anyone have any ideas about how to neatly fill up the groove down the center of the hood?Small diameter tubing??

 

The easy way is to use High strength Fiberglass resin. It's like Body Man in a Can only better. On mine I used a piece of solid Bar Stock. Champfered both edges for a tight fit, Tig welded all the way around and filed a peak on it with a total Metal Finish. It took days, There is Zero filler in my hood. Never, Never, never again.

The Wizzard

 

Did I say Never again? Also you couldn't pay me to do another one !!
The Wizzard

 

Thank you for your help PNB .Do you mean regular fiber glass resin like you use with cloth or one of the numerous short strand fillers like "tiger hair" "dura-glas" etc?

 

I am VERY impressed. This is coming along just fine
Jim

 

Not the resin you'd use laying up cloth. This is a heavy body filler and has Glass hair mixed in with it. Boat shops us it as a bonding agent between two seperate parts. You'd scoop it out of the can with a Putty knife and mix the hardner into it like body filler. It's double tough and sticks to a roughed up surface like Krazzy. I guess it's just called different names in different parts of the country. You'll be plenty satisfied with the way it works.
The Wizzard

 

Just read your entire post GREAT project. My only question is why not use rubber motor mounts?

 

Thank you PNB.That is what I thought you were talking about. I have plenty of that here and am used to using it. Dirt t the truth is the solid mounts were what I had the material handy to make.I have used them before with no problem.

 

Well,I put the fenders back on again.The whole thing fits a bit better than it did,still nothing to write home about, but the holes line up better .Problem is most of this stuff was used up long before it got to me.That and a notable lack of sheet metal working skill makes it difficult.