Slowest resto ever - Project AmsterFoose / Current subject: The rear window edge

[Fabrice]

I told you this weekend, you're getting a champ at this! 120 tags of love!

 

[droptop73]

Very nice work!

 

[Steve McMahan]

Pop welds are the devil himself. You are truly a craftsman. You inspire me to become a better welder.

 

[Vinnie]

The RH quarter is finished

Before and after:



So all together the RH- and LH quarter are done as well as the taillight panel and the cowl. Only 3 biggies are left; the RH and LH floor pans which I have in storage already and the battery tray needs work. I'm thinking of moving the battery to the trunk so I could maybe fabricate a replacement panel that mirrors the LH side which will improve the look of the engine bay later... And of course there are lots of little holes from trim that won't come back and other stupid holes from the factory. I want my car to be as airtight as possible so that the moist Dutch air doesn't come in when parked outside...

Meanwhile I think I should also remove more parts off of the car like the exhaust and drive shaft.

 

[Vinnie]

Had to lift the car further and wanted to be able to move the rear around so I finished my home made wheel dollies. They are really strong, no flexing whatsoever:

View attachment IMG_7376.MOV

And then I wanted to try and get the drive shaft out but the exhaust was in the way, so I removed those instead:



The bolts that fix it to the manifold came off without problems.

 

[Vinnie]

Because I didn't want my resto to go tooooo fast, I took a small all-inclusive vacation with the family to the Turkish riviera:



When I got home, I had a great surprise, my front discs arrived! These were ordered through NPD on January 4th!



I now have Wilwood discs in store for all 4 wheels. When it comes to the esthetics of my future ride, this was on the top of my must-have list. CHECK!

 

[Vinnie]

This weekend I had 2 goals.

1) Remove the driveshaft. Not very hard, it weighed a LOT less than I thought!







I did not have bearings falling out of the U-joint or oil running out of my C6. The whole thing was a lot less eventful as expected.

2) I wanted to start ripping out the floor. After drilling out spotwelds for the seat riser, which got real frustrating, I started grinding them out with my power file. This went a lot better and it left the chassis beams in good shape (= no holes from drilling)




Got the first part out. Pretty happy!

 

[Vinnie]

Pfff, no posts for over a month... What's been happening (apart from being quarantained for 9 days due to Covid...)?

I de-rusted the sides of the RH seat riser that touch the floor in phosphoric acid. :



After cleaning it up I primed it so it won't rust for a while. Oh, and I patched that cut out at the top in the middle:



ALso cut out the rest of the floor:



At the bottom of the floor pan there is a hook that guides the E-brake cable. I took it off the old floor and welded it on to the bottom of the new RH floor pan:



While the floor is out, this is a good time to put in subframe connectors. Ordering ones from the USA and shipping them to EU is too expensive so I decided to make them myself. So I found a website with this drawing:



It stated they also fit 71-73 model Mustangs. Since I have to start somewhere I decided to believe this and bought some tubing and put a set together:





After cutting open the front frame rail it was time for test fitting:



At first glance it looked OK but when checking underneath I saw it was not lined up with the torque box very well:



As I do not want to use too much force to put it in place I have decided to cut open the 2 170 degree welds and adjust the connector by putting it in place first. Apparently those 170 degree angles are not right for our cars (or just mine...). But, before I do so I want to know if the other side is off as well and if so, if it's off just as much.

So I have started to take out the LH floor as well now:



To be continued...

 

[Vinnie]

Howdo folks, time for a small update. Not much happened coz I was on vacation. Spent time in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. It was bloody hot...

Back to my car, I'm 3.5 years into my 10 year restoration plan and I'm starting to see the end of welding in big parts. Better even is that yesterday I have removed the last big batch of spot welds!

I took out the LH floor pan to test fit the other subframe connector. Have a looksy:



The LH one though, is even more mis-alligned than the RH one, eventhough it's made to specs. So both connectors are going to need work.

Question: Are our cars put together so sloppy that allignment between front and rear subframes can differ this much?

Cheers,

Vincent.

 

[Vinnie]

Subframe connectors are done!



All the angels needed to be 174 degrees. To make them fit inside the front frame rails, a 3mm thick plate was welded on either side of the connectors front.

Welding them into the front frame rails will be straightforward. The back not so much... See https://7173mustangs.com/threads/home-brew-subframe-connectors-pt-2.41513/ for details and the questions I have...

Cheers!

 

[Vinnie]

Alrighty, time for another update!

One night last week I trimmed the RH floorpan a bit so that I could testfit it on top of the RH subframe connector to see if that was sitting right. That went well and this weekend I welded in the RH connector. I wanted to keep the welding to a minimum because I had to do it laying on the floor. Opinions and tips on my work are welcome as always!

First; fitting and cleaning:



My office this weekend:



In the rear I only welded the flat plates onto the side and I welded in between the subframe and the connector on the other side. The guy who designed these literally said that the small bit in the pic on the right was all that's required to tie the connector in. The welding doesn't look great but it's got good penetration so I don't think the connector will come off.



In the front the welding was easier. I welded the connector along the top, a few (crappy) plug welds on the side and bits around the side and bottom where the connector enters the subframe:



The result is a pretty decent fitting subframe connector:





I have not welded across the tip of the connector as I don't think it will add much to the purpose of the connector. Thoughts on this?



That's it for now!

 

[tpj71mach]

Looking good nice welding. She should good and stiff when you are done.

 

[Vinnie]

Alrighty, last post about subframe connectors (I hope...).

Finally finished the LH side today:



Welding those 2 plates to the side of the rear subframe rails is just friggin hard if your car is on the floor... They look crap but I do believe they have good penetration so it should be OK.

Here are both:

​

I'm glad I took the extra time to get these in and hopefully it will actually improve the handling when my car is done, in about 3 centuries! ;-)

Now I can start welding in the new floor pans!

 

[Vinnie]

Started welding in the LH floor pan yesterday. Screwed it onto the front frame rail and aligned everything just right. I put in the first 37 (out of 70) plug welds on the front frame rail and toe board. Also did a few welds in different locations to keep it in place. It's looking fine sofar, have a look yourself:

 

[tpj71mach]

Started welding in the LH floor pan yesterday. Screwed it onto the front frame rail and aligned everything just right. I put in the first 37 (out of 70) plug welds on the front frame rail and toe board. Also did a few welds in different locations to keep it in place. It's looking fine sofar, have a look yourself:

View attachment 69971

Looks great! All that welding will take a toll on your sanity but worth it in the end.

 

[Vinnie]

Looks great! All that welding will take a toll on your sanity but worth it in the end.

Not so much on my sanity as it does on my body! I don't have a lift and it was 0 degrees Celcius yesterday. No heating in my garage and spent the day on the concrete floor. I'm 49 but I feel like 100 today!

 

[jpaz]

Great work! I was going to build my own subframe connectors from those same plans. I had read somewhere that the 170* angle needs to be 174* also. Thanks for posting all the pics and info about that process. Good luck with the rest of your rebuilding process. Can’t believe it’s already been 31/2 years already. Anyway, great work and your welds keep getting better and better!

 

[Vinnie]

Great work! I was going to build my own subframe connectors from those same plans. I had read somewhere that the 170* angle needs to be 174* also. Thanks for posting all the pics and info about that process. Good luck with the rest of your rebuilding process. Can’t believe it’s already been 31/2 years already. Anyway, great work and your welds keep getting better and better!

In hindsight, when building your own connectors from these plans, I think it's easiest to make the cuts, keep em on the small side, bend and test-fit and then weld. I think our cars were put together so sloppy that every car may need slightly different angles to be honest. I think making them to fit your car like this shouldn't be too hard and if you find a small diff. between the two and want them to be the same, you can use the average of the measured angles, if that makes sense.

 

[PoFoMoCo]

Just read thru the whole thread, to date, very very nice work! I can't wait to the the progress over the next 5 1/2 years as you "near" the completion of your restoration.

Are they ever really finished? Probably not, but it does make for an interesting journey.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Just read thru the whole thread, to date, very very nice work! I can't wait to the the progress over the next 5 1/2 years as you "near" the completion of your restoration.

Are they ever really finished? Probably not, but it does make for an interesting journey.