What did you do to your car today?

[marks73]

Used the 70+ deg day to finish cutting in the base coat where to painter can't get to after the interior is in. Then started on winter work like cutting out the rot on my fender. Gotta love the fact that when you make a hole welding you can fill it and grind it down as oppesed to what happens when you make a bad cut on wood. By no means finished here.

 

[mach71351c]

Today I dug into the rust on my original drivers door and determent the rust was worse than I thought. So off to my parts storage ( AKA ) my brothers house to look at the drivers door on my 72 Mach1. Well it appears to be rust free. Well I got on a roll and grabbed my fender collection to since there up next. I didn't forget the bumper ether. Well it looks like my 72 Mach1 is now a parts car.:-/ This should keep me busy for a while.

 

[sdstang]

Primer on engine bay and aprons. Used 1/2 gallon of SPI primer. Seems like a lot but that was 2 coats in the bay and three on the outer aprons. Not my best work but twas the fist time I used a spray gun. Will detail an do chassis black next.

Thanks Jeff and Mike for all you input!

 

[jeff8877]

Looks great Jim...big step in the process.

Jeff

Primer on engine bay and aprons. Used 1/2 gallon of SPI primer. Seems like a lot but that was 2 coats in the bay and three on the outer aprons. Not my best work but twas the fist time I used a spray gun. Will detail an do chassis black next.

Thanks Jeff and Mike for all you input!

 

[mach71351c]

Primer on engine bay and aprons. Used 1/2 gallon of SPI primer. Seems like a lot but that was 2 coats in the bay and three on the outer aprons. Not my best work but twas the fist time I used a spray gun. Will detail an do chassis black next.

Thanks Jeff and Mike for all you input!

Sweet Jim! Your on a roll.

Today I striped drivers door down to a shell and started sanding the inside of door. Then I pressure washed the door,bumper and fenders before heading off to the big feast. I'm so FULL.

 

[luxstang]

Took the drive shaft to a balancing shop. The AOD conversion actually requires shortening of the driveshaft by 20 mm. :-(

Geez, I hate to cut up original parts. It even has the factory markings still on it.

But, as is usual here in Europe, there is no way to find a 69/70 one to swap in.

Oh, by the way, the AOD is in place, my buddy Frank made a custom bracket/lever on the tranny so the stock FMX shift rod could be used and, believe it or not, the notches on both the stick shifter and the trans line up perfectly.

Today the throttle valve cable and carb adapters went on.

 

[sm3570]

Lots of work lately. Early last week I got the windshield installed, and since then I've got the 1/4 windows installed with the roll-up kit from OMS. Got all the interior trim and the exterior door trim painted and installed, interior 1/4 panels installed (though not painted), front bumper back on, brakes bled, etc. etc. Took her out today and bought her a drink (4 1/2 gallons of premium). And bought a stereo system that I'll be working on, in addition to the rest of the exterior trim and miscellaneous odds & ends.

It was a good several days!

 

[mach71351c]

After spinning my wheels for 2 day it looks like I'm going to fix the rust hole in the bottom of my original door. There was just to meany small things wrong with the black door once I started really looking it over .:-/ Oh well, move on.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Well, this weekend I employed a stud welder I bought yesterday at Harbor Freight and pulled all the heat puckers out of the quarter panels. Seemed to work pretty well, but I also discovered that the mistake I made when welding on the passenger side quarter skin is not recoverable. I didn't even think to line up the jamb properly with the convex of the door, so there's a noticeable gap when looking from the rear forward - I had just leaned on it while welding it up and didn't even think about how far 'out' it needed to go - rookie mistake... one not made on the driver side... then I tried to 'fix' my mistake, but made it worse, actually.

So, in cutting the welds and using the stud puller to hopefully bring it out to where it needs to be, I realized I'd chewed up too much of the area to have anything meaningful to re-weld... so - off it comes, repair the jamb plate and weld on a new one. It was the first one I put on, and the heat puckers were worse on that side anyway... so I've been kidding myself all along that I'd be able to simply fix it with a hammer & dolly.

Hard lesson learned, but at least I know I'll do it right with another try (since I can't seem to locate any affordable full quarters).

Driver side is almost ready for primer and some filler for the seam (less than a quarter inch should do nicely).

 

[mach71351c]

Well, this weekend I employed a stud welder I bought yesterday at Harbor Freight and pulled all the heat puckers out of the quarter panels. Seemed to work pretty well, but I also discovered that the mistake I made when welding on the passenger side quarter skin is not recoverable. I didn't even think to line up the jamb properly with the convex of the door, so there's a noticeable gap when looking from the rear forward - I had just leaned on it while welding it up and didn't even think about how far 'out' it needed to go - rookie mistake... one not made on the driver side... then I tried to 'fix' my mistake, but made it worse, actually.

So, in cutting the welds and using the stud puller to hopefully bring it out to where it needs to be, I realized I'd chewed up too much of the area to have anything meaningful to re-weld... so - off it comes, repair the jamb plate and weld on a new one. It was the first one I put on, and the heat puckers were worse on that side anyway... so I've been kidding myself all along that I'd be able to simply fix it with a hammer & dolly.

Hard lesson learned, but at least I know I'll do it right with another try (since I can't seem to locate any affordable full quarters).

Driver side is almost ready for primer and some filler for the seam (less than a quarter inch should do nicely).

That sucks Eric.With all the work you have done so far to replace the quarter is not a big deal. Look at it this way there will be less mud to sand.

Today I finished sanding the inside of the drivers door, what a pain in the "A" that is. Then it was full steam ahead on the rust on the bottom of the door. I started sanding the rust hole and it grew, You know the deal. Once I got all the rust sanded it was time to dig out another drivers door I have and cut out a patch panel. Next to sand blast the patch panel and the bottom of the door.

 

[Mister 4x4]

That sucks Eric.With all the work you have done so far to replace the quarter is not a big deal. Look at it this way there will be less mud to sand.

Yup. Now I just gotta be careful removing the 'mistake panel' so I still have something left to stick the new one to.

The heat puckers sucked [literally], but at least I was able to get them satisfactorily taken care of... the door gap area was a major rookie mistake though. And... well... gotta fix it.

 

[Jim and Jutta]

Today I picked up the heads from the machine shop. They replaced the Ford two piece valves with Manley stainless 1 piece valves, new springs to match my cam, hardened seals, grinding, resurfacing etc.

 

[Totalled]

 

[Mikes73]

Those heads look nice, I bet they perform great.

 

[luxstang]

Well Mike, looks like you´re really digging into it.

I am still waiting for the shop to shorten the driveshaft. They said two days, when I got there two hours later it was already to be three days (Tuesday). I called on Tuesday, they tell me it´s gonna be for Thursday, so I call today and they can´t even promise me it´ll be for this week! They say they are being overrun with emergencies that need fixing asap.

I don´t mind but somehow I think that "first come, first serve" should also apply. I can understand that if companies that keep your shop alive have an emergency you wanna help them out but somewhere along the way you need to get the other jobs done too.

I´m a little pissed right now. That´s been a week they have the driveshaft and it looks like it´s gonna be a few days more.

That´s the downside of your country only having one single shop that does that kinda work.

 

[sm3570]

Well Mike, looks like you´re really digging into it.

I am still waiting for the shop to shorten the driveshaft. They said two days, when I got there two hours later it was already to be three days (Tuesday). I called on Tuesday, they tell me it´s gonna be for Thursday, so I call today and they can´t even promise me it´ll be for this week! They say they are being overrun with emergencies that need fixing asap.

I don´t mind but somehow I think that "first come, first serve" should also apply. I can understand that if companies that keep your shop alive have an emergency you wanna help them out but somewhere along the way you need to get the other jobs done too.

I´m a little pissed right now. That´s been a week they have the driveshaft and it looks like it´s gonna be a few days more.

That´s the downside of your country only having one single shop that does that kinda work.

Captive audience. You could open a competing shop

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

When I did my swap I bought a package that included a new drive shaft that would be cut to fit when I sent the measurements and back en route to me with in 2 days. It was closer to 3 weeks, And there is a drive shaft place a mile from my office I feel your pain.

I took the 1.2 inch valve cover spacers, ground off the lip as it didn't fit anywhere as well as I would like and was sharp enough to cut my hand while working around it. I've sorted my hardware and cleaned it up and installed the oil pan for the last time after setting the oil pick up .425 inches off the bottom of the pan.

Tonight I'll finish up the engine and start planning the install for a free weekend.

 

[marks73]

When I did my swap I bought a package that included a new drive shaft that would be cut to fit when I sent the measurements and back en route to me with in 2 days. It was closer to 3 weeks, And there is a drive shaft place a mile from my office I feel your pain.

I took the 1.2 inch valve cover spacers, ground off the lip as it didn't fit anywhere as well as I would like and was sharp enough to cut my hand while working around it. I've sorted my hardware and cleaned it up and installed the oil pan for the last time after setting the oil pick up .425 inches off the bottom of the pan.

Tonight I'll finish up the engine and start planning the install for a free weekend.

Not .426 or .427? getting things a little tight aren't we?

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

it it a precise measurement-it just is what it is.

 

[mach71351c]

Today I cut the rust out of the drivers door and fitted the patch. Then I sand blasted the bottom of the door and the patch. I glued the patch in to the door to start then I will finish it up by welding up the seem. I'm happy how tight the patch fits a long the bottom lip.There was no way I was going to get a good weld in this area,the panel adhesive was the way to go. Well the glue was setting up I started to sand the inside of the passenger fender.