cudak888: 1971 M-code "Soylent Green" - 2024: Help me measure the frame!

[cudak888]

Had nothing but trouble getting the gas tank hanger on. It is secure, but two of the welds are not butted up to my satisfaction. I'll re-do it later this week:

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Gas tank hanger has been re-done and rear frame crossmember has been slightly extended as necessary. I will never, ever show you fellows how I did it, or Q will never let me hear the end of it as to how sloppy it looks . I'll say one thing for it though - it has been welded properly, and it will stay there. It's just a slap to my mechanic's pride that the filler piece looks like crapola.

Trunk floor has been test fitted, but not to my satisfaction. Everything lines up quite well, but I cannot press the left side in enough, causing the panel to sit offset by 1/4" at the fuel filler. I've traced it to the left inner fender lip, which is bent out of shape from the removal of the previous panel. If I can work the inner fender forward 1/8" or so, the trunk floor will line up correctly. I have a few sheet metal screws that I'm using to keep the floor from shifting when I don't want it to do so.

The gas tank hanger and staggered shock box line up without the slightest issue.

I'll say one thing - every trunk job I've seen on this forum has involved the replacement of the trunk floor along with the dropoffs. It is quite a different animal to do the same with a factory dropoff in place.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Trunk panel is in. Everything is welded except the dropoff areas and wheelhouses.

Thankfully, this is all closed up once again:

Any lousy-looking plug welds can be blamed entirely on my back giving out and the welding helmet smacking the package tray. I don't know how you fellows do it.

The overlap on the right side may appear off, but the panel is sitting correctly - the folds in the reproduction panel were off.

Can snap some current photos too. I put some grey speckle paint down to see how it looks. I realize it isn't original for '71, but I prefer the high-contrast gray. More likely to spot something loose in the trunk with the light floor.

EDIT: Seats are back in:

Gas tank hanger - BEFORE:

AFTER:

Night-night until the next job...

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Took care of the last trunk welds - trunk floor to the inner fenders. Not many pictures, other than the magically levitating Mach 1:



71_mustang_115 by cudak888, on Flickr



71_mustang_116 by cudak888, on Flickr

Gave the wheelwells a refresh of undercoating while I was at it. Turns out the left quarter is pretty rotted at the bottom - buried under nuclear-strength filler. For another time...



71_mustang_117 by cudak888, on Flickr

-Kurt

 

[droptop73]

Nice progress Kurt. Sorry to hear about finding more rust.

 

[cudak888]

Nice progress Kurt. Sorry to hear about finding more rust.

Rather find it now than later. I have a lower quarter patch on its way from NPD, along with the RH fender section.

Made the best progress of the week today - tacked in the taillight panel. LH fits perfectly, but the RH fender is pulling the panel inwards at the top corner due to the accident damage. I'll address it when the fender gets welded in and leave it loose for now. LH still needs to be finished up as well.

-Kurt

 

[Mister 4x4]

Looks AWESOME!! ::thumb::

 

[cudak888]

Looks AWESOME!! ::thumb::

That's about how I felt when I realized that this is the first time I've ever seen the car without severe damage to the bumper mounting area

Let me tell you, it was MURDER getting the brazed dealer repair off, and cleaning it for mounting wasn't easy either - I'd either be grinding a glob of brass, or getting shot in the goggles with surface rust dust.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

You've got to love the stupidity of shippers (and neighbors). FedEx conveniently delivered the replacement quarter patch for the car a block down the road (to 4470 instead of 4370). To add insult to injury, the neighbors ripped it open (despite the correct address and name on the box) and put on top of their trash can once they realized they couldn't make use of some old Mustang parts. They probably thought they could steal themselves a nice HDTV.

What an son of a *****. If I wasn't an understanding person, I'd file theft charges on them. Nothing stolen, thankfully - end cap and quarter patch all good.

-Kurt

 

[Steven Harris]

Great perserverance Kurt.

It is looking good. I am looking forward to the following updates.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Based on my experience with FedEx, it's entirely possible they delivered it to your (correct) address, and the neighbor might've snagged it as they went by. I've had them (UPS, too) drop stuff on my porch and attempt to hide them by covering with the doormat. Now, can anyone tell me how effective a doormat would be at hiding a 21" CRT in a shipping box? Yeah... that's what I thought, too.

Regardless of delivering to the wrong address, or your parcel being left 'in the open,' the FedEx guy was being lazy. No matter what you do or who you complain to, it won't get resolved... in fact, it might even make things worse in the future, in the way of your next shipment coincidentally getting "damaged during shipment" or something.

By and large: People Suck. Simple as that.

 

[luxstang]

That neighbor must be a real dickhead.

I did open envelopes or packages in the past that I found out only after the fact that they were not for me.

I get my mail, open it without checking the address on it and wonder what am I supposed to do with this. But then I look at the address and the least thing I can do is bring it over to the correct address, apologize and tell them what happened.

Right now, I have a magazine lying on my kitchen counter that I took from the envelope and that was meant for my next door neighbor who is on vacation right now. Next week he will get his magazine back after he returns home.

Geez, the stupidity of some people. I´d confront those guys about the subject. That is more than just laziness, that is almost to be considered as theft.

 

[Jim and Jutta]

Based on my experience with FedEx, it's entirely possible they delivered it to your (correct) address, and the neighbor might've snagged it as they went by...

Based upon the actions of the neighbors opening it then disposing of it in the trash rather than walking it over to your house I suspect they did steal it from your front door. I once received a package from Fed Ex, opened it discovered it was a laptop, checked the address on the box and it was meant for my neighbor, I walked it over and explained I opened it before checking the adddress, no big deal. Either way, your neighbor isn't a person I would trust.

Jim

 

[cudak888]

Based on my experience with FedEx, it's entirely possible they delivered it to your (correct) address, and the neighbor might've snagged it as they went by.

Possibly, but I doubt it. 44xx vs 43xx on the same street, one block down. Too much of a coincidence.

There haven't been any cases of mail theft in the area either, though (avoidable) delivery mistakes are inherent due to the naming convention of the streets, and have happened off and on.

My guess is that they didn't steal it from the door - but figured on being opportunistic once the box arrived. Even the biggest idiot in the world could have figured out the return address which Pat (ib4stangs) wrote on the box.

I'll be back later - just got the quarter panel in

-Kurt

 

[auron73mach1]

It might be just the cop in me but I would have a nice little sit down talk with your neighbors about returning shipments to the correct address.

 

[Bill73Ragtop]

Fed Ex must be having some personnel issues. The other day I found a FedEx package in my breezeway, it was for a neighbor across the street two doors away.

Maybe their GPS delivery software is screwed up.

In your case, your got some real untrustworthy idiots in your neighborhood - take note for the future.

 

[cudak888]

It might be just the cop in me but I would have a nice little sit down talk with your neighbors about returning shipments to the correct address.

The survivalist in me would rather that the cop in you take care of that little matter. I don't need the Mach getting keyed over something that worked out in my favor in the end.

Fed Ex must be having some personnel issues. The other day I found a FedEx package in my breezeway, it was for a neighbor across the street two doors away.

Maybe their GPS delivery software is screwed up.

In your case, your got some real untrustworthy idiots in your neighborhood - take note for the future.

We used to have a fellow who did FedEx subcontract work here who was top notch - always would give the packages top care; he knew it'd either be a bicycle or something automotive.

You get it all with any neighborhood - I'm blessed in that my particular block is very close-knit with an excellent group of neighbors. Couldn't ask for a better place to be.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

All right - detective work over, now to resume putting the car back together.

Didn't do much today other than to pull the sail panels and interior bits out in order to gauge access to the outer skin (conclusion = "Good luck, Charlie!").

Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to fill up these three C-pillar holes that have been bugging me, and tap down a couple of high spots that were created when this area was (apparently) pulled out with a slide hammer:

Old photo - never did photograph the holes close up prior to being filled:

Filled:

Close-up:

Finished. Given that I put relatively little effort into this spot, it came out decent.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can get to the back to hammer/dolly the low spots out. Either I stitch weld on the low spots and pull them out with a slide hammer, or go the polyester filler route. None of this is particularly visible in the next shot, even though it is there:

Next up: Cutting a hole in the quarter so I can get my arm in for hammer/dolly work right over the wheelwell area.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Back on the project with less-than-satisfactory results today. I cut out the bottom of the quarter, which wasn't difficult. The outer wheelhouse (though salvageable) doesn't look too healthy though. We'll see if it can be freshened up.

I had less than satisfactory results filling the three holes on the lower half of the quarter though:

You can see that my lousy hammer-and-dolly work (told you I wasn't cut out for it) didn't particularly smooth out the area above the rearmost quarter panel holes - it looks like a mess, and there is a high spot that could use a shrinking disc. Advice would appreciated as to how to tackle the uneven, low spots. I tried hammer-off-dolly to very little success:

This one (the mark in the foreground - the one farther to the left is mostly irrelevant, as it sits below the cut line for the skin) particularly ticks me off, as I wound up with oil-canning thanks to my stubborn desire to fill a void hole somehow created by the first welds (didn't help that I had the voltage too high, and noticed it afterwards). I'd fix it, but I cannot get a dolly back there. Is a nail gun and slide hammer my only option here?

This photo gives a better idea of the C-pillar unevenness that I spoke of in my last posting. Again, a spot where I cannot get a dolly behind the steel, though I dare say that I'd be better off putting a skim coat of polyester filler on it rather than trying to do anything else, right?

FYI, the unevenness is the area in the center of the photo - not the rough primer-to-paint edge at the corner.

-Kurt

 

[cudak888]

Spent the morning putting the left dropoff in the car...then decided to go nuts and patch/tack the quarter repair together too.

It came out great.

"James, where are we going to hide the diamonds?"

-Kurt