Trunk Lid and Hoodie

Well I know it's been a long time since I made a post so I'll do my best to get you up to speed.  Dr. Do Over has been very busy repairing other peoples mistakes plus some of my own.  The quarter panels, were a big challenge.  The trunk was more work than expected so I move on to other parts of the car which need attention.

The trunk lid was in great shape.  Just needed some cleaning up and some primer.

Then I cleaned up some poor weld joints in the rear quarters.

I had to do the same to both sides.  Someone before me enjoyed slathering on the bondo!

So I took the trunk lid to the basement and brought out hoodie.  Never knew why they painted the underside black.

What's this?  A crack?  humm...  

Why would someone weld rods onto the tips of a hood?  Because it was in a fender bender long time ago and some body shop decided to hurry up and slather bondo all over my hood.  Well I could replace the hood, $400 or fix the original hood for next to nothing! Here is my hoodie story work.

 Removing the paint!

I tried the spray on paint remover. Worked good but multiple layers needed some help.

There is the layer of bondo to hide the real problem.

Not only did they use a gallon of bondo on the hood, they used large body files to screw up the rest of the hood.  Dents, dings, blaa.  I thought about the $400 for a new hood again. 

My reaction to the hood condition.

So I made a template of the passenger side of the hood.

This doesn't look right.  Two rods welded onto the tip of the drivers side?  This made no logic as I moved on.  Maybe to hold all the bondo.

Mark up the skeleton side of the hood to cut.  Yep, I'm going to peel back the hood skin and remove the skeleton so I can metal ding the hood back to some kind of normal shape.

Peeling back the skin.  

Removed the section.

Still not sure why they had to weld rods onto the hood.  The lip was still in place. Sure maybe on a door edge to make it fit, but the front of the hood?

It's called metal bumping not metal banging!  LOL.  Sponge was used for heat and shrink with water.  

Ugly hood tip after I removed the rods from the front.

Why? They didn't have a ruler to know it's same size as the other side?

Broke out old Spotty O'Welder to attach the backing plate where the rubber hood stops matches up. 

Trying to fit the section back in.  It came out easy.  

Clamp it down to hold it in place as I bend the lip back over.

Skeleton wants to fit, sort of...

Fitting the part back in looks easier than it does.  I'm thinking I should have just bought a new hood.

Need to prep the metal for primer.

More to come....

Body work,and more a fixin's

It's been months since I wrote anything on my blog but it doesn't mean I haven't been working on the Stang.  Actually I got a new job and I have been very busy during the day.   But at night I work on the Stang a couple of hours every night.  One of my biggest problem has always been my welder.  It was a nice wire-feed flux core which worked great on thick metal.  But the thin stuff is no match for it and I really needed a Mig welder.  Eastwood had recently came out with a group of welders just for folks like me.  So I got the MIG 135.  Side note.  Argon gas canisters are about $200 for just the cylinder and then you get to trade in the old one for a new one.  I opted for the smaller tank but I should have gotten the larger one because I go through a tank about once a week.  This welder is one huge improvement and I can work on the thin stuff without burning holes.

 

Again with the quarter panels.  The inside panel and out side panel was not matched up properly and there was a lot of body filler in this area.  I had to pull the dent out with a dent puller, weld it up, clean it up and smooth it out.

I got to use my new welder!  Yeah!

Much better.

Inside the trunk.  This shelf was a real mess.  I replaced the trunk support and didn't replace the shelf.   It didn't look right so I cut it out and replaced it.

Patch panel.  There is the old flux core welder on the floor.  

Welding patch in place.  I'm still cleaning up this part.  Pics to come on next blog.

More to working on the Passenger side.  You can see the small Argon tank I got.  The guys at the tractor supply place where I get my exchange said I can upgrade to the larger tank.

A while back I took the trunk lid off and decided to detail the hardware.

In the media blaster tank.  

Here it is cleaned up and packed away.

Sorry for the delay in sending an update.  More to come.

Dropping the Top Part III

I still had one more step on this top frame blog.  I really needed to get the convertible top frame out of the car since I reassembled it on the car so when I paint the whole car, I don't have any errors.

My friend Justin came over to work on his car and give me a hand with mine.  He took these pics.

Thanks to Justin for helping get the frame out of the car, prep for final paint, and helping me store it in my basement.  Thanks Bro!  Sorry we couldn't fix that O2 sensor.

Dropping the Top! part II

This is the stage where I am cleaning up the convertible top frame for paint.

Bow #1.  Cleaning it up with a wire wheel on a drill.  First I have to remove the tack strip.  It is riveted in place.  Cut the rivets with the Dremel tool.

Bow #2.  Not bad. You can see the felt.

Inside the media blaster.  I took the inlet ballast off to allow for the extra size of the part to blast.

Parts from Bow #2 side mount.  I'll blast these also.

Bow #3 was a pain.  These screws would not budge.  I will have to cut them out, drill, and tap.

The inside damage from rust.  The thick felt I mentioned before rested in this area.  Thus, moisture took it's toll.  I'm sure it is not as bad as some.  But this part was never re-manufactured.  So you have to either make a new one or use what you got.

Drill out the screws.  Start with the smallest drill bit first the move up in size.  Run the drill slow.  Fast speed will just kill the drill bit at this point.  It cuts much better at slow speeds and with oil as a cutting agent.  I use WD40. Not the best for cutting, but it's all I had at the time.  When the bit stops cutting, you ruined it.  You have to go easy on the small bits.

After drilling, I cut in from the side with a Dremel cutoff wheel and then a wedge punch to get under the edge.  Pop it!

Tap all the screw holes.  Then blast it and paint it.

Blasted.  Paint next.

Bow #4

Cleaned it up with a wire wheel.

Putting the frame back together.

Bows 2, 3, and 4 installed.

Bow 1 installed.

Rivet a new tack strip onto bow #1.

Done. Need to tweak a few bolts and I will remove the frame and store it and get the body work finished for paint.

Dropping the Top! Part I

Dropping the Top!  Literally!

I will remove the cloth top, the frame, the power top hydraulics, paint the frame.  Reassemble and then remove the whole frame as one.  Store it away in the basement and continue to prep the car for painting.  I had already removed the back part of the top (back glass/clear vinyl) when I worked in the  top well.  In my last blog I talked about how I should have removed the top before working in the top well.  These are the stages I took to remove the top and frame.

First I removed the weather stripping and then started to work on bow # 1.  There is 4 bows total.  The front, two in the middle and one on the back.  Bows 1 and 4 have tack strips.  Bow 1 is made up of alloy and the rest are steel.  

Bows 2 and 3 look just alike except they fit differently and they are marked on the inside JIC.  They also had a felt padding inside the ends of the top of the bows.  I guess to keep lines from showing up in the curve of the sides in the top.  This area showed a lot of rust issues because the felt was so thick, it held moisture for a long time.  You will see this in part II.

These next few pics are the break down in stages.  It helped a lot to still have the power top working.

Bow #4 tack trim being removed.

The locking truss and handle.  The driver side handle was broken and I replaced it years ago with this aftermarket handle.  Notice the shinny bolt and no ford part number.  And the spring is missing.  I will make this part look much better when finished.  It is a lot easier to work in the area without the top on. 

Just about finished with removing the cloth.  It has a lot of staples to remove.  Pulling and prying and it will come off.  Like I mentioned before, keep the old top for a template for the new top.

Next is breaking down the frame.  Media blasting it, paint and reassemble.

Lassie! Where's Timmy? Stuck in the Top Well again?

While I am repairing panels and detailing parts, I began working in the convertible top well area.  I cleaned up and removed the old seam sealer and prep the area for primer.

I cleaned it up with a wire wheel brush on a drill.  One small section had some surface rust.  Painted that area with POR15.

Primer

Let it dry.

Apply a little seam sealer on the edge of the panels.  I found some black cloth tape in this area on the edge of the panels when I was cleaning it up with a wire-wheel.  I'll research this tape more.  I know it was used to hold down wiring and I found it used to block off a large oval hole by the top frame and rear quarter window.

A little on the teeth :-)

Let it set up.

A little paint.  

Take the rag top off next. I should have done it before this clean up. I'll post that next.