And so it begins... Running the Keystone Classics it came with, I love 'em! (there was a several month lapse here) It's been a long ass time, but I finally got settled into the new house, got my garage all built out and am back to the Thunderbird. So here it goes. Rot: Some of the cancer I cut out: After some patchwork. Somebody really dinged it good here: After an hour of straightening: Look what I found buried under a 1/4" of bondo. I'm guessing theu used pop rivets to avoid catching the headliner on fire if they were to have welded it??? Regardless, i know what I'm doing tomorrow.
Rot! Here's all the garbage I cut out. No lie, I was scared at this point. Started making BIG templates. Replacing the inner supports. (I fixed everything inside, just forgot pics) Panels made. Panels in place for fitment (I hate that word) Heres a qiuck trick I do. When I am welding panels in a weird spot I first tack on a bolt. This does two things, first it gives me something to ground to but it also allows me to use the ground to move then hold the entire panel in place for tacking. Then simply grind it off when done. See what I mean It's a rough but a vast improvement over the previous job that was done
Starting to mud. (We'll get back to that later) I had some freebies laying around so I decided to make my own lake pipes. I had bought the short (24") lake pipes a while back for $20, just cause they were cheap. Dana gave me the straight pipes (I used the ends and caps on the truck) I had to buy hangers and the exhaust adapters to sleeve the pipes together (The pipes aren't the same size). So for under $50, I got pipes, that I made fit my car perfectly, I'm pretty happy. I still need to polish them up. I hate cutting up brand new, chromed parts. I had to weld in hanger bolts to the rockers (unibody car) Hangers are on. Pipes all measured and marked. take that! All done (on that side) I love that it runs from wheel well to wheel well. All finished up, welds hidden under hangers as planned. I like that the dumps are at an angle and not 90° like everybody elses. All in all I 'm real happy with the results. I'll get them hooked up after paint. Yup, still got enough room to lower it a little! Oh Yeah, I got skirts! So, yeterday I got back to bodywork, pretty happy with that. Here's what I ended up with.
I'm leaving the BIRD logo, but removing all the lettering. Real mature. This lettering will be used elsewhere on the car, I Dig it, just not there. And today I am getting rid of points forever, I'll let Ya know how that pans out. I already put a high output coil on it and there is a marked difference, should be a good move. Look at this mess. Rust wrapped in fiberglass. And this, after clean up , is what I'm left with So I was sittin' down in the trunk cutting this nasty chunk out... When the wheel busted and attacked my sniffer. I was wearing safety glasses, but look where my brand new face sheild was. I'm an idiot. Really, it shoulda' been much, much worse. Lesson learned. On a side note, I went for a bike ride, and thought this guy was dead,,, Nope just drunk. Well a happy wednesday afternoon to you too good sir. Before After Trunk lid is back on and sturdy and it actually closes right. Still need to patch up some holes but this was the mess that scared me most. Here's the culprit, notice the long straight cuts. Beerbox template. All ready to tack in.
Tacked welded, ugly huh? All ground down. It still needs some fill and some more clean up but for now I have to go to work. Pretty happy with it, it's in primer now (no pic). I'll stop boring everyone with every peice of steel I add. I'll update again when I get to paint and interior. I kicked that neutral safety switches ass,,, after a week and a half. Reverse lights work, car only starts in neutral, and the emergency brake disengages when the car starts. I also got the wipers working. I got all the stereo wiring run, and have begun sealing the leaky windshield gasket. I got in my remote door poppers so I'll be installing those and my new speakers for the kick panels will be here friday. I have to do a fiberglass rebuild on the kick panels and door panel bottoms. and shave the door handles. Then re-foam my seats, install carpeting and smooth it out for paint. It has to go to the shop for a few days at some point for AC repair and to get a broken exhaust manifold stud replaced. Car looks like Hell right now, should be the worst it's gonna look. These are sorry excuses for kick panels. I wanted to install some hidden speakers and clean them up a lil'. Card board templates for speaker holes, The original holes were to big. A zip tie will tighten up that cracked plastic and that nut will replace the broken spacer. I'm gonna just fiberglass these as well as the cardboard templates in. Glassed inside. Bondo'd outside. Speakers in place. I cut these lil' guards outta' an old shoe rack. Covered the panels in Blue Felt and added guards. Good enough for kick panels. I'm doing the door bottoms the same. Funny story: I work at night and was gassing up at 4am one morning. There's a guy parked there in an SUV with his drunk friend passed out in the seat next to him. He gets out, approaches me with the old "I ran outta' gas and just need......" I explain that I don't hand out money and ask, "What was you plan? Why would you leave the house knowing you were going to need gas and had no money?" He can't contemplate that question and just starts in again about how, "he just needs a few bucks......" I say, "What do I get outta this deal?" He goes to the truck and comes back with a hanging shoe rack, still in the box. I offer him 2 bucks for it. He accepts, this was prolly six months ago, well a small peice of that shoes rack is the metal guard on my kick panels. 2 bucks well spent if you ask me.
Ooops! deleted my message mate, i didnt want my silly comment get in the way of your posts. Kool project anyway. quite a few mess ups to fix, in some cases it would have been better if the previous owners would have left'em alone! I have a front valance that is a mess of rust and fiberglass and really cant see why anybody would have done that! Well, look forward to see this!
My buddy has the exact same neutral safety switch problem on his fiance's T-Bird...weird...it's nice to see actual metal going back in place, even if it does need some bondo to smooth it out, how's the subrails and supports underneath look?
It's looking pretty good, gotta hand it to you for your perseverence,and drive. Lotta welding! (Just not sure about the Keystones...it's a different era wheel)
Nice work man! When I was in high school all the cool kids had Keystone Klassics - I could never afford a set. I still kinda dig 'em!
The problem with the NSS is, it is really sensitive. I got it in and expected to put it in nuetral and the switch would work,,, nope. You have to wiggle the shifter to find the switches sweet spot. After figuring this out, My old man said a Ranchero and some ford wagon he recentlty worked on were both the same way.
Yeah, you guys have salty roads. we have salty air. (I lived in Indiana as a kid and used to eat the salt off the road,,, seriously) As for the Keystones, I dig 'em and they are staying Thanks for all the comments fellas.
Couple More,,,, Beat Ass Door panel bottoms. Fiberglassing the insides. That cardboard crap is just falling apart. The glass Soaks in and sturdies it up perfectly. Ruffin' up the front. Glazed. Smoothed. Covered in felt.
Nice dude! I like the "no nonsense" "get after it" approach. I like the Keystones, though not until it had the pipes and skirts.
Dude can you swing by my pad and help me square my interior away? I am decent with fiberglass but not so much with stereo equipment?
Lookin good. Gives me some ideas on attacking the interior on my caddy. Love the drunk dude in the banyan tree. I immediately knew you were in South Fla.
The Jalopy Journal
