1968 Coupe - Fast back conversion

OH WHAT A LONG DAY! you will not believe how far i got today, lets start from the begining.
the trunk devider was first ,just set right in place. welded the drivers rear bumper mount down. the tail panel was next, again no problems. had to assemble the roof support only took about 30 minuets
with my spot welder,you have to get one of these talk about a time saver. set the drivers side in place and measured several times before welding in place get it right the first time you will not believe how solid it is when welded it will not move more than an 1/8 inch once welded .attached the wheel tub bracket that the roof support attaches to. the roof support brace was next welding to the wheel tub outer lip and then to the roof support ,i measured Johnnys car but i didn't need to it automaticly lines right up in the correct spot .do not weld the support to the trunk devider you may need to adjust the window opening and that spot will move if needed. went inside and welded the inner plate on the rear door post. then welded the rain gutter in ,cant go wrong it lines right up. the drivers side was finnished went to the pass. side and did it all over again. when the pass side was finnished i moved on to the rear roof support .i checked it with the roof skin to make sure it was in the right spot ,again you cant go wrong it has a troff it sets in . the rear window bottom was next it sets on the trunk devider again you can't mess up its a tight fit. but still do not weld to the roof support. now we come to the drivers quarter and thats when the night mare comes in. the points at the door jamb fit at the scoop ,but form the top of the scoop to the top at the door is a 1/4 inch short and very noticable i may have to split the edge at the top of the door and lift it . then we get to the rear window bottom .it is tight at the top edge with a 1/8 gap at the bottom edge i will have to split it and spread it and weld it back no i welded the trunk devider and the quarter together after measuring several times. then we get to the trunklid opening the shape of the trunk opening at the quarter was way off it was to low about 1/2 inch below the trunk lid but fit at the rear window. after sever minutes with a porta power i was able to raise it . i have to finnish welding the quarter tomarrow then its on to the pass side and then the roof and i will ,believe it or not probably be finnished tomarrow

just a few more pics.

every thing is done except the pass side wheel lip needs to be welded and the two quarter window openings in the rear door posts have to be filled. i just couldnt handle any more today,walking dead!
i sat the front fenders on just to see what it looks like. the pass side quarter was low at the trunk lid opening just like the drivers was but i knew how to fix that this time .pushed it up with the portapower and every thing lined right up. it took more time to grind the welds than any thing ,i have less than 48 hours in the whole thing from start to where it is now and probably about 4 hours left and its done. the pass. side has just about perfect gaps every where the drivers side lined up very well except from the top of the scoop to the top of the door is about 1/8 inch short. dont know why because the pass side hits right on. here is a few more pics of the now ,fast back

this 68 conversion just landed me two more jobs,a very beat 68 fast back to completely reskin.and 65 fast back that is wrecked in the front. looks like it may be a good year .i will post both as i repair them. supposed to be getting the 68 fast back next week.

IT'S A FAST BACK JACK !! took me about an hour and a half to finnish this morning ,another one done and ready for the next one .

65-Fstbk said:

How many of these have you done? Looks like you have it down to a science at this point, nice work. I look at how fast you get things done and then look at mine thats been in my garage for 6 years now and still isn't on the road . Do you have any pics of one that you have finished and sold? I'd love to see.

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i did a 66 coupe to fastback and a 66 coupe to convertible i have the whole build in my albums here on stangnet.i may have one or two of the convert ,i lost the rest when my computer bit the big one.the 68 was much easier to do because all of the pieces are available,i had to make the interior structure for the fast back 66.

its easy when you can build on someone elses dime. but like you, mine has been sitting for a couple years .now i have the money but not the time.

i wound up having to split it and pry it over and weld it back. the pics make it look like a wide gap but it was only about 1/16 inch. i will have to remember it on the next one ,i re skined a 67 not to long ago that area fit the same way so it is the lower rear window panel that is crooked.

the owner picked it up today and was very pleased with the turn out. i am told there will be more
this took a total of 4 days to complete from teardown to fast back .i didnt include the measurements because it was to much trouble to type it all in but i have them on a note pad

woodsnake said:

Are all of these conversion parts being bought through Dynacorn? I reall, really want a 65 FB, but anymore they seem to be made of unobtanium.
Lots of coupes running around for 5K or less, all over the country.

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yes ,all the outer sheetmetal for the 65-66 and the inner structure for 67-68 fast back is from dynacorn and i have the templates for the rest of the inner structure for the 66 that isn't made .the 66 requires a bit more work than the 67-68 but if you can weld and measure you can do it. i have all the measurements . i am seeing 65 -66 coupes from 1500 -2500 here in cali. and the new pieces are right at $3000 so it is well worth it.of course you will still needs windows and window trim and interior trim but it is stuff you will probably have to replace any way. any one wanting to attempt it i will be glad to assist just find a coupe with the best under structure you can dont worry about what the outside looks like.

its the roof skin,the rear window roof brace,lower rear window panel, rear seat devider,both quarters ,tail panel ,rear trunk brace that you may not need. left and right door opening inner structure you will want the un welded version, trunk lid hinges and trunk lid. you want the un welded version because the door structure is 67-68 and you have to trim it, its very simple it just cuts off. you will have quite a few pieces left over from the 67-68 part but someone will need them sooner or later. dont waist your time on anything but dynacorn the others do not fit the same, believe me.
the front window posts stay and the rear door jamb stays and every thing just re attaches from there

this is one of the convertibles i did ,i forgot there were three of them ,this one belongs to a friend now
the other two i sold several years ago.at the time i built them the parts were not available so i removed the parts from real wrecked converts and stuffed it into coupes they looked like real converts when finnished .every thing is available now . i have only done the one 66 fast back but i would like to do another

all the sheet metal came to around $3000