Progress Thread 1967 Fastback Project

Should I jack up the rear frame rails?

I have had it on the jig the entire time before the old quarters were taken off.

The pass rear quarter where it meets the trunk/window filler is a about 1/8 inch high too. The driver side is good. I have the frame level from side to side.

That is about all I can think of right now.

OK, will do tomorrow morning and report back.

As you probably read in my build thread on the front end - I know 1/4-1/2 inch can make a big difference on sheet metal alignment.

Thanks!

OK, so I:

1. jacked the rear of the frame rails up some and it did not seem to do much

So I started looking around and decided to make darn sure that nothing could be interfering with the fit up front, so I:

2. Then ended up trimming a little more off the front edge of the quarter at the window edge gutter up at the front of the quarter panel/roof overlap

3. and cut another spot weld up higher there

4. then trimmed just a little off the front top of the quarter where it meets the drip rail and the top

5. lastly I cut the spot welds loose on the drip rail at the back and gently bent it forward out of the way.

Now it fits a lot better and more even fit. It still doesn't want to just fall into place, and it takes some massaging, however I think it will work there.

Right now I am working on getting that trunk to quarter corner to fit up better. I have made some relief cuts and now working on getting the fit better. I also adjusted the deck lid a little more up slightly which helped too.

Will post some more photos later today as hopefully it will look better.

Thanks for the advice! It really helps to have some help when I am too blind to see things straight!

NOW I am trying to get the quarters to fit around the deck lid.

I made the cut that a friend of mine does to fix the longer quarter at the filler panel to get the gap closer. I just spot welded it for now. It usually welds and cleans up nicely.

My biggest problem is the curvature of the rear quarters is 1/4 or more above the deck lid corners and the deck lid comes very close to bottoming out.

I worked on it for hours and hours today and even started making relief cuts to try and reshape that corner.

Right now I want to throw these out and order Dynacorn. Nate at Thoroughbred GT told me he had revised the corners and the length issues to make things fit better, but I think the guys at the warehouse gave me an older pair that don't have the revisions.

I am discouraged now and wasted several days on these "edited for content (BLEEPED OUT)" panels.

The last photo looks bad, but it is like when you are doing surgery and all the guts are out, it looks bad, but I haven't warped the exterior panel.... yet.

Jim,

I am pretty certain these are not the revised panels Nate at Thoroughbred GT told me about. I picked up the panels in Lewisville, TX just north of me at the Golden Star Automotive warehouse. I think the guys there gave me the older panels by mistake. They were very friendly so I am going to call them and Nate tomorrow and see what the (bleep) happened.

If I don't get very far, I will drive over to Dallas Mustang and get a pair of Dynacorn in silver weld thru primer.

What a waste of time and money!

Are there any other issues you normally have with Dynacorn rear quarter panels?

Hey. It has been a while since my last update. I moved back to Kansas last May and bought a business. I have been really busy, but now I have a shop to work out of. I am moving the car/parts in and going to get back to work on the 67 Fastback this spring.
My doors were rotted along the bottom and dented some. I was just looking at them and debating on buying new door shells. Does anyone know how the new ones look? Is the grain pattern in the ball park, do they require a lot of work. I know that there are only one set of tool/dies so it is probably more a matter of how good the quality control was in Taiwan that week.

any advice would be appreciated.

Ryan

I don't know if I posted this, but here is a photo of the final fix on the rear quarter adjustment. The car is at my dad's at a friend's shop and we ended up pushing the rear hinge area up just a bit and then did some final metal messaging to get the panel to line up with the trunk lid.

Here is the photo of moving the trunk hinge corner up just a bit - did not take much.
Both rear quarters are now set and welded in. Now to finish the body work on the roof panel to quarter and some roof panel areas.

After that it should be close to paint - except for the doors.

OK. Here is the latest update:

Business in Kansas is going good, really busy and don't get a lot of time to work on the car. Car is still my friend's restoration shop and they have been finishing the body work.

Had to get new door shells - found some rust free shells in southern California, but the skins were dented. Had the shop reskin the driver door and coated the inside of both of the door shells. Passenger side they cut the front lower corner to access it and clean/coat it too. They said the door skin fit really well.

Last week we tested the final fit of the windshield and back glass with trim and everything fits well. Bumper and original lower back panel are good too.

Will get the glass out and the shop should have just some final prep work and the car should be in paint in the next couple of weeks!

Seam seal brushed on interior and primered. Hopefully get it painted in the next couple of weeks. I am not used to having someone else do this work and neither is the pocket book!

Base coat done Monday and Clear coats done yesterday.

Vintage Burgandy

Thanks, it is the original color and I liked it too.

Clear coats are done. Doors, decklid, hood, front and rear valances next. Then some color sanding and polishing.

Next month I am going to put the front and rear suspension back on. I am gathering parts and bolts/fasteners to get it all together.

The rear axle is ready to go and so is the engine. I ordered a Modern Driveline TKO 600 with the trimmed top to fit without cutting the floor pan supports.
I will let you know how that fits!

OK so finished up day 3 of the assembly process. Goal was to get the engine, transmission, rear axle, suspension, steering and wheels on.

Everything went smooth and fast until the rear transmission bracket. I am installing a TKO600 low profile version from Modern Driveline. I am overall pleased with the product fit. The only issue was the transmission cross member bracket they made did not fit well at all. I ended up cutting and re-welding the bracket to fit. The bracket did not go back far enough by one inch.

The transmission fit in the middle of the shifter hole and I did not have to trim anything from the transmission tunnel. I have 1/2 inch clearance from the top of the transmission to the tunnel brace.

First day went fast. Unpacked all the boxes of parts I have accumulated. I used all new AMK bolts/fasteners specific/correct for early 67 mustang. I also used suspension components from grab a trak - Mustangs plus - medium firmness. Engine has aluminum top end - I painted the heads for a more stock look.

Engine has a comp cam, stock rods/crank, edelbrock aluminum heads and intake. I used 1968 CJ exhaust manifolds mostly for stock look and ease in fitting the engine into a tight engine bay - which worked out well.

Rear axle is a 3.5 posi track with new 31 spline axles and all new brake internals.

Front is a new stock power disc brake setup.

Steering gear box rebuilt by Dan at Chokostang. I am going with an in the column electronic assist steering so I put a non-power steering set up in and used the old steering column for now - the interior has not been painted yet.

Wheels/tires are off an old project, I am eventually going with styled steels in a 15X7 configuration.

Now the car goes back to the restoration shop, they are almost ready to paint the hood, fenders, doors, decklid and other small parts. I will have them get those parts back on the car before I bring it home to work on getting her running and all the other stuff - interior, wiring, etc.

Day 1 (Monday) -Picked up car from the shop and transported to a friend's shop that has a lift. Installed front spindles, brakes, upper-lower control arms, coil springs, rear leaf springs, rear axle, strut rods and front sway bar.

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Installed steering gear box, fuel and brake lines, emergency brake cable, Engine, clutch and TKO 600 transmission - except the rear tranny bracket.

Day 3 (Wednesday - Today!) - cut the transmission bracket, refit it multiple times and then welded it up and reinstalled. Rechecked all bolts on everything to make sure they were tight. Installed numerous other small items and fasteners.

Here are a few of the highlight photos.

Day 1 after picking up the car - look familiar - same location I used when I took the car to be dipped for rust/paint as a bare shell. I am back to square one.






End of Day 1

Day 2








Just realized I forgot to take a photo of the shifter coming up through the transmission tunnel. Guess I was too tired to think about it tonight.