Boogers all booger welded up! LOL
Boogers all booger welded up! LOL
1985 GT, Sunroof, 5 Lug, Rear Discs, 01 Graphite Bullets, 88 forged piston shortblock, 2.02/1.60 Alum heads, Weiand Stealth, Holley C950 TBI, BBK Long tubes
Great progress! I'm amazed how fast you progress in such little time!
It’s amazing how hot I have to run my welder to get good welds for 14 guage steel. By the time I was done though, they were looking pretty nice. Well, as nice as my shaky hands would let them look.
Oh well, tonight I’m bringing home my ear muffs and grind the crap out of them.
Trey
"I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"
"I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."
Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
Current Mustangs:
1969 Mach 1
1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently
Current Capris:
1981 Capri Roller
1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts
You're at the stage of the project where a few hours work shows massive progress visually. Later on you hit the parts where you work on it all day and can hardly tell you did anything. Just keep plugging away.
I got the sway bar mount welded and dressed the welds on the frame rail tonight.
I'll post this weekend on the next step for the engine bay.
nice work!
Ok, I'm not sure how you guys are going to take this. Let me just put a before and an after picture and let y'all yell at me.
Interesting. Rules out a MM strut brace. I wonder how it will affect the stiffness in the cowl area.
I thought about doing the same thing on my 82GT. I ultimately decided to trim up the overhand/extra on the firewall to clean the pinch weld up. Besides that allows me to use my Maximum Motorsports STB without modifications.
I was also concerned with strength and structural issues since there are at least 3 pieces that all come together at that pinch weld, the firewall, the outer cowl, and the lower cowl. I like the look, just wonder long term if there will be any issues. Probably not on a regular street car, but if its driven in anger or on track there might be some cracking and flexing that could cause problems long term.
I guess you are the Guinea Pig at this point and will have to report back over time so we can all find out how it goes.
Trey
"I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"
"I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."
Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
Current Mustangs:
1969 Mach 1
1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently
Current Capris:
1981 Capri Roller
1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts
Lol, you won’t be the first person to call me a pig Trey.
All three panels were visible as I welded it. I know of at least a couple other mustangs that had this done to them. So far so good for them.
Yeah, with t-tops, not too much racing.
I’m going to weld in a reinforcement panel inside the cab at the upper firewall area to give the stb a firm foundation to be mounted to.
I have the T-tops too, so I won't be actually racing the GT, but I know I handling and pushing the car when possible, so . . . .
I had considered doing more reinforcement and something similar for the STB if I cut off the pinch weld, but I was trying to get the car put back together and on the road to enjoy. Obviously that is an EPIC FAIL at this point and with the drivetrain change from 302 to 5.4 DOHC I definitely prolonged the project. Hopefully soon I can pull enough spare $$ together to buy my Holley Sniper Intake and the Holley ECU system to make everything work and get back on track. Hopefully your time line doesn't get drawn out as long as mine seem to.
Trey
"I Don't build it hoping for your approval! I built it because it meets mine!"
"I've spent most of my money on Mustangs, racing, and women... the rest I just wasted."
Mustangs Past: Too many to remember!
Current Mustangs:
1969 Mach 1
1979 Pace Car now 5.0/5 speed
1982 GT Stalled RestoModification
1984 SVO Still Waiting Restoration
1986 GT Under going Wide Body Conversion Currently
Current Capris:
1981 Capri Roller
1981 Capri Black Magic Roller Basket Case
1982 Capri RS 5.0/4spd T-top Full Restoration Stalled in TX
1984 Capri RS T-top Roller
1983-84 Gloy Racing Trans Am/IMSA Body Parts
This project is amazing, intriguing, and as another classic Mustang reemerges from oblivion, it is heart warming for a Fox fan like myself, and certainly for others as well. I've learned a great deal just from this one thread. My shop is more of a barn than a paint booth and it shows, but I may still aspire to emulate professional quality work.
Trey's recommendation of hot stapling got us started fixing Susie's car, and with combined knowledge available here we might just get it finished.
Thanks guys. Looking forward to seeing this when it's done!
Best regards,
Mike
I would think a strip of 16 or 14 gauge steel about 2 or 3 inches wide would stiffen up the area and be plenty for a stb to bolt fast to.
That’s kind of what I’m thinking. I made a template for a reinforcement that I’ll weld to the cabin side of the firewall. It’ll be a three piece ordeal. The main piece for the firewall and then a couple 3/4” strips to weld at a 90* angle against the bottom of the lower cowl panel. This is the same 14 guage I used for the strut tower repair. I’ll cut the pieces out with my plasma cutter today at work.
BTW, I welded up all of the holes I wanted to in the rest of the eb as well. I’ll dress them all tonight.
Last edited by Davedacarpainter; 07-02-2018 at 05:09 AM.
I cut out the bracket this morning.
I’ll fit it up tonight and probably go ahead and weld it in.
Tonight I wasn’t going to do anything by the time I got home........so I dressed all of the welds instead.
These couple of pictures won’t look all that different from previous ones, but I’m so tired from grinding, I figured it deserved a couple. Lol.
I’ve been thinking about the ancillary color I will use in the engine bay. Not the panels themselves, they’ll be Booger green. I mean the engine, wiper motor, etc. that’ll be going in the engine bay. I don’t want to use the outer accent grey, I wanted a third color for this part of the project. Here’s a picture of the color I was thinking. The green chip is the body color. I will probably give it a satin finish. What do y’all think?
I like the contrast .
clowns to the left of me , Jokers to the right
So, I did stuff today.
I brought home one of our measuring rods from the frame machine at work and started fitting up the radiator support. Those rods beat the heck out of using a tape measure, it made squaring it up a breeze!
Then I welded it in
That's all I was going to do today, but then I saw my reciprocating saw sitting in the corner looking lonely like. So I cut off the lower radiator support. I don't know if you remember, but I'm putting in a Team Z tubular lower. The second picture is just clamped in, I haven't trimmed up the support for it yet. I'll probably wait to weld it in after I'm almost done smoothing the eb. It's real easy to get in the eb with nothing there.
Tomorrow night I'll start trimming the Scott Rod panels and work on getting them welded in
I worked on the SR panels tonight. I used a marker and my grinder to trim the panels to fit.
The passenger side was easier, but the driver's side wasn't anything difficult either. Here they are viewed from the t-top and front all fit up.
I stripped the areas that will be welded and sprayed weld through primer in those spots. I POR15'd the tops of the frame rails since it's next to impossible to achieve coverage there once the SR panels are in.
I'm taking the SR panels to work with me tomorrow and sand them down. Then I'll etch primer them and give them a coat of the grey sealer I've been using under the green.
Tomorrow night I should get them welded in and then I can finally get after smoothing the engine bay! Yay!
Connect With Us