More Quarter panel and trunk pics

As I mentioned before, the previous work done by a body shop somewhere did a crappy job in hanging the rear quarters as can be seen here where the trunk lid and rear quarter tips don't match up.

Of course I am going to repaint the car. I have painted a few cars before and I also have better equipment.  I have no choice at this point.  I thought about just touching up the paint job and matching the paint color but after many attempts I found they never used the original color to paint the car.  They got it close, and I got close to matching that color, but it is still not the original color.  So I am just going to finish it up on the correct side as close to stock as possible.  Fixing the area of the trunk has been a huge task and still more to come.

Enjoy!  More to come soon!

Not much can be done to fix it other than cut the welds and align the panel.  I only cut the rear welds so I could match it up.  When you need to replace panels, dry fit everything around that area first before welding then tack weld and look again and again...

Additional pics uploaded 033010.  Here is the butchery of hacking away at a poorly hung rear quarter panel.  I had to cut away at the welds from the previous work.  I cut a V into the lip area and inside the trunk I cut away at part of the panel it attaches to.  

A lot of ugly work being done. Cutting and metal bumping.

Still hacking and drilling and bumping!

Close to being finished!

This is how I goo on the sealer.

Cheap soft bristle toothbrush (4 @ $2) gives me a better grip than the acid brush.  

Seam sealer Fast n' Firm ($20).  Save all you can from this tube.  I seal it back up when finished which is why I don't use it in a caulking gun.  If you can get it close to a lamp or heater, it spreads much better when warm.

A little dab will do ya!

Give it that nice brush stroke texture.

And the passenger side is sealed!

Fixed it after many hours of working the metal.

I just loose fit the end caps for a sight check.  There is a rubber seal that need to go under the caps during assembly.

Looks much better!  Tweak the trunk lid a bit and it will be fine.

Drivers side

Now I need to fix that warble in the middle of the rear panel next to the gas cap.

More to come!  I am using my good camera now and not the iPhone to take pics.

Drivers Side Quarter Glass

This is the part where I put the car back together.  You know how easy it is to take a car apart.  Hope you bagged and labeled each part.  I know almost every nut and bolt but somethings all look the same.

Putting the car back together is more fun when it all starts to go according to the plan.  Here I am cleaning up and putting the driver side rear quarter glass back in.  Wrap it up to keep it from getting over-spray from painting the car.

I welded this area of the quarter panel but first I removed the glass.  Glass and hot weld slag doesn't mix I know from experience.  CarLite original glass is hard to find in good shape and replacement new glass is not cheap.  $250 each.  Ouch!

When I needed to put the top down for the quarter panel window project, I didn't have a battery for the car.  I used a jumper-box before but it died on me and wouldn't hold a charge.  So I grabbed a gel cell from the battery backup UPS I use for power outages.  It's 12 volts.  Hooked it up and it works fine.

Got the top down and working on the drivers side quarter window.  

Wow!  The car looks pretty cool from this angle.  You can also see the garage door insulation I added during the winter.  It really helps to keep the garage warm or cool depending on the climate.  Working next to the garage door, you sure can feel the temperature outside so this was a bonus for my Man-Cave!  :-)

I pulled the window out and removed the glass.  Cleaned it up with a razor and glass cleaner.  Polished the plating with fine steel wool and buffing wax.  Put the glass back into the frame and cleaned it up again.  Soft grips on the bench vise and you can also see the Scott Drake Window crank still in the plastic behind the window.  LOL.  That's been there a while.

Laid out the parts, and cleaned up each one.

Diagram, not much help but I didn't need that round rubber thing.  Where did it come from? It was in the take apart.  Who knows.

Glass and frame are back inside the quarter panel.  It is a lot tougher than it looks.  After many tries, I figured out you have to put the glass into the window area first and insert the glide-guide into the window or else the end-stops will not allow it to fit into the channel section.  If you have ever worked in this window channel, it is a pain unless you know the order to install each part and I cannot find the information anywhere.  Hope this helps anyone else out there that is trying this.

Post more pics soon!  I'm working everyday on this pony!

Nice rear... ahh quarter panel part II

This is pics of the work I did on the front half of the driver-side rear quarter panel.

This is the area where the driver side door meets the rear quarter panel.  The rear quarter panel was replaced but they did a really poor job of fitting and welding as can been seen in this pic.  Angle grinders are good for somethings.  Dremel tools are better for the small stuff!  :-)

This is the template I setup for the replacement section.

After cutting out the bad part I made a template of the section and this is the new metal in place ready for welding.

After the weld and clean up.

A little spot putty, wet sanding and...

I primed it in gray and then used seam sealer with a toothbrush.  I thought I had a pic.  Will look for it.  Sand, paint, sand, paint, shoot with a little Tahoe Turquoise, and there you can see my labor of detail.  This is what it suppose to look like.  :-)

Looks good.  I'm sure I'll re-do part of it before I paint the whole car.  LOL

Nice rear... ahh quarter panel!

In a previous pic I had to adjust the end of the rear quarter panels because they were hung too high in the back.  They used body filler(bondo) to try to make it look right but when you closed the trunk, it was obvious something was wrong.  Since I'm going to paint the car anyway, I might as well do everything I can to fix those problems.

I removed all the old bondo drilled out the welds, realigned the panel, welded, and cleaned up the welds and smooth out the imperfections.

End cap in place for proper fit. The edge toward the trunk looks ugly but after hours of research, that is how it was.  Once finished with the primer, I'll lay down some seam sealer in that area like I found in my research.

It looks 100% better than when I saw it the first time.  They had bondo'ed the end cap to the quarter panel.

Primer.  I'll let that dry.  Add another coat, then sand with 600 grit and spray with a little turquoise to see how it looks.

The heat is on!

It is 22 degrees outside and dropping but it's 70 degrees in the garage!

I bought these outdoor heaters from Costco a while back(the bright red glowing  things on the wall).  But nothing warms up the room like the propane heater.  I also got a couple of kerosene heaters but right now the propane was the cheapest for the amount of heat. Even though the garage is insulated, it is very drafty.  I even have a hole in the ceiling with a box fan to help flow the fumes out of the garage when I paint or weld.  But I still have to open the door from time to time or go out for fresh air.  But for working in the garage this is good heat.  During the summer I got stand up fans and AC!  That metal duct work in the back is for the AC.  (AC not shown).  Back to work.  I just primed a part and need to do some more sanding.

I really need a bigger garage!  :-)

2009 Blizzard

Another pic of the garage heaters in 2009.

I use the propane heater when it is really cold out. The wall heaters usually work fine until we get a long cold spell like we had this season. 

  This one has a ceramic back and is very quite. So quite I have to do a double check just to make sure I turned it off at night.  When I change the tanks I check all the fittings with 409 or Windex to make sure there is no leaks.  Tonight things didn't smell right and I did a soap test (409) and one of the hoses was leaking.  Shut it all down and fixed the leak with a new clamp.  Checked again and all is good!  The heat is on!    

Spotty we need more power! I'm giving her all she's got Captain!

I wanted to re-create the spot welding of the assembly line welding and weld marks to keep it as close to the factory setup as possible.  But spot welders are very expensive.  Then one day I found this spot welder on the internet and bought through Amazon.  It was made in China.  Very cheap and heavy compared to the name brand models.  Most were about $700.  This one was $150.

When I first got it I wanted to try it out.  So I got some scrap metal and tried it.  Nothing but a buzzing noise.  took the tongs out and cleaned them.  I figured out where the tongs clamp down via Allen screws were not fitting right and some of the screws were not even tight. I ended up shaving the brass blocks the tongs fit into because they kept moving and the screws were cheap so I found some new screws at Homer Depot and replaced most of them.  Tried it again and it was working!

The bad thing is the tongs are only 7 inches deep and it is heavy.  Holding it with two hands and trying to get it in the right spot to weld is a challenge.  I can start to weld the edges and some panels.  I will have to figure out how to get longer tongs to reach inside the large panels.

But here is a sample.  The rear quarters were hung too high in the back and I had to cut the welds and realign them to fit the end caps at the right height.

I'll post some new pics soon.

Here you go.  010409 10pm and yes it is cold in the garage at 27 degrees outside.  But I got some heaters.  I'll fill you in later on the heat.

Front Apron by the shock tower.

Here is a test on scrap metal.  This is thick metal, it came from the old front torque box.  10 gauge.  It is giving me the type of spot welding I was looking for.

Here is some new pics from Jan 15.

Going to make some longer tongs!

I looked around for the longer tongs but the cost was more than the welder so I found this place that sells all kinds of metal.  http://www.speedymetals.com/

I ordered these 24 inch solid copper rods and had to bend them and shape the end for the contact point.

I first tried using a propane torch to heat it up but that took forever so I placed the rod in the heater for a good 10 minutes.  Brought it to the bench vise and it was a lot easier to bend.

Cool it down with some water.

Ready for some test welds!

Smokin'!

Looks almost like a factory weld.  Need to practice more.

Power to the Booster!

When I got the Mustang it had drum brakes all around.  Stopping was not easy.  During my restoration I added in disc brakes for the front.  The kit was a refinished parts from a Ford Granada.  They fit fine and the only draw back was that I had to get larger wheels to clear the brake caliper.  Then I found a Power Booster for the brakes.  That should definitely improve the stopping power!  Well here are some pics.

The clearance from the firewall to the shock tower didn't allow room for a cast iron type of fluid reservoir.  Well I could make it fit but the support running from the shock tower to the firewall would cover the top and not allow you to open the top to add fluid so they shipped it with this plastic one.

My decision to add this non-stock setup with disc brakes and booster is about the only thing that bothers me about trying to keep it factory.  But I really wanted improved stopping power.