Progress Thread Front Frame Rail Fixture ...and More

horse sence

15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Wile Coyote's stunt double
A friend brought out a 67 fast back in need of repair, someones attempt at an Eleanor :confused:
Very rough and in need of a lot of sheet metal replacement ,including the entire front clip . I built a front frame rail assembly fixture some time ago , for 65 -70 rails . The rails i will be using are the Dynacorn full assembly rails .
They bolt to the fixture through the steering box mounting holes and the idler arm bolt holes and just clamp at the front . They also bolt at the hood hinge bolt holes to keep every thing square and solid .I will assemble the full front clip including the fire wall ,radiator support and the floor supports and slip it as a complete unit .
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Drivers side looks good ,the passenger side has the lower control arm eccentric plates welded on crooked .I will have to drill out the spot welds and weld them back . Yeah, i always fit the doors first and use the fenders to make sure it all lines up correctly .
 
Started on the front cross member this morning .Drilled it for plug welds and welded it in .
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The radiator support was next ,i Spot welded it where i could and plug welded it every where else
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The radius rod brackets where next ,i drilled them for plug welds and clamped them in place and welded them in .
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Still waiting on the torque boxes .soon as they come in i will weld them on and ad the fire wall too.
I bolted in the under frame brace and set the export brace in place and everything hits dead on . I even set the complete cowl in place and it is a perfect fit ,this Dynacorn stuff is great ! I have to do the door and front window posts also ,i already have those left over from a conversion i did .Soon as they are in place i can slide in the front clip .
 
My torque boxes finally made it in .I had to remove the front clip from the fixture to weld them in . I left the hinge bar in place and bolted the frame under brace in place to help keep things tight and square .It is very solid now .
I have a few plug welds and some grinding to do before i can install them .
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Welds all ground and i was able to start on the torque boxes .I drilled holes for plug welds on the torque boxes and clamped them in place .They weld to the back of the frame rail down the out side of the frame rail and at the bottom of the frame rail
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I ground the welds where the firewall was going to set and primered the top and inside of the torque boxes .
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I set the fire wall in place and marked the inner fender aprons and the areas it will be welded .I took the fire wall back off and drilled holes for plug welding .
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All plug welded and ground

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The front clip is finished , the next step will be the complete front door and front window post in the body .I have new posts left over from my 66 fast back conversion ,they are 67-68 door posts .
The finished front clip complete with torque boxes and firewall.
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Well ,it's time to get back to this project .
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Someone has started the new floor ,i don't know why ,they were no where ready for it and now i have to drill the welds and pull it back out .
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Both front door posts from the rocker to the roof have to be replaced ,from rot to shoddy repair work .I have to do some X bracing to keep things square and level before i can cut out the old front door posts .I will do one post at a time to held keep things in line .
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I have new door posts for both sides ,left over from a coupe to fast back conversion That didn't need them .

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I set it up on jack stands ,one on the front of each rocker ..because there is no where else on the front to support it ,one on each rear torque box and one at each end of the rear frame rails so 6 all together .
I then leveled it across the front down the rockers and across the rear frame rails inside the trunk .
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I guess i was cut off ,stupid internet :fuss:
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Here is my front clip ready to go ...soon as i do the door posts .The cowl and side panels are only clamped in place to see it it all lines up like it is supposed to ,and it do :D The cowl and side panels will be welded to the body before the front clip is fit and welded in place .
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I got it X braced ,it is very solid now .
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Got out my new Ryobi cordless sawsall and cut the driver post out . It was a bit rusty under the old door post so i will sand blast the area and epoxy prime it before the new post goes back in .
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I had to weld in the door hinge plates in my new door post .I drilled holes to plug weld and clamped it together and welded it up.
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After a lot of measuring i clamped the Cowl side panel and the door post in place .I had a brace i made years ago for a 65-66 ,after i opened up the holes i was able to use it to support the door post .I scribed the door post on the cowl panel and now i have to remove it all and drill for plug welds and put it back and weld it all in .
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The rocker sand blasted and primered Where the door post will set .
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I sanded and primed the inside of the door post and the side of the cowl side panel the post will cover up .
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I set the door post on the cowl side panel and lined up marks i had scribed earlier and clamped them together and welded them .Then i ground the welds .
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I set the post and side panel in place and bolted it back to my door brace ,clamped it in place ,checked my measurements and welded it in place Then ground the welds .Tomorrow i will do the window post .
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I have a front section of roof here ,the roof on the car has the window channel rotted out .I need about 2-3 inches of the front of the roof section for a patch and i need the front roof support as the one in the car is very rusty .
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I have to drill the spot welds to remove the under brace and i need to trim out the old pieces of the sawed off door posts .
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I need to save the sun visor brackets so i drilled the spot weld and removed them .Now i can get to the spot welds to remove the door post pieces .
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The inner piece of the door post removed ,now i can get to the spot welds for the roof support brace .
This is where this piece is from on the inner window frame .
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Well ,it will not let me post the pic so i will have to post it in the one .
 
This is where the inner piece is from on the inner window frame post.
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now i could get to the outer part of the window post

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With all the spot welds drilled i can remove the front roof brace . I still have one piece of window post to remove and i can trim my patch panel .
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