Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

Davedacarpainter · Oct 12, 2016

madmike1157 said:
Firstly,..Thanks for all the well wishes,...I know that the trade off in after surgery/therapy pain will be better than what I'm currently dealing with in the long run. So it is what it is I guess.

As a testimonial to the 'I'm not one to sit around" type, I did in fact wrap my knees, and hobble down the stairs, and out into the garage. Walking on the knee isn't the bad part,....going up stairs is the bit ch. So,......I just didn't come back up the stairs unless I absolutely had to.
The wife hears me hobbling down the stairs "Post wrap" and she says "Really? you're still gonna go into the garage despite the fact that your knee is killing you?" I swear, you love that car way more than you love me"..

Decisions,.....decisions......

I tell her that there is no contest, and the the car is a distant second to my love for her,...and with that said,...turn and hobble down the last of the stairs into the garage.

I hear "Yeah, right".....as the door closes behind me. I would've turned around and went back up to discuss it further, but my knees hurt too much to climb the stairs,..so........what could I do?

I decided to focus on what will be impossible in two weeks.

none of the holes were drilled this morning, so that is where I started. Once they were all drilled, I placed the panel in place so that I could locate the two center holes for the door bar. The "L's" on the yellow tape on top are the reference mark for the carpenters square that I used to do that.

Once I had the holes referenced, I made a threaded backer that floats on the door so that the door bar could be adjusted after it was bolted on. I bolted the door bar on, and made another reference mark so that I could locate the front mount.

This little dude is missing from the driver's door. I have a piece of 1" wide stuff that wedges against the door sheet metal and is on the back side of the where the factory door handle used to go.
You can also see that this door is butchered. Originally, I intended to stick that window motor mechanism inside, so this door was cut up to allow for that. That has changed however, so consider it door lightening instead.

With that thing welded, drilled, and threaded,.I was able to bolt the door bar on again so that I could fabricate the piece of 1/8" plate the will become the cap that butts against the dash bars. (It doesn't butt actually,..there is an 1/8" gap)

And that looks like this when it's installed.

So all that's left to do to check my work is to shut the door....so that's what I did.

And that took the better part of the day to get to this point. There is still a day left on the door bar fabrication alone to build and bend the mesh and the trim pieces that go on that bar. Then It's gotta get smoothed,primed, and painted. (probably another day).

Then the speaker box will take a day,...the center mesh a day,...and door panel upholstery is another day. When you back away from it, you add that up,..and say "meh.....it's just a week,...what's the big deal?"

I got 5 days left to do this before the knee surgery,....maybe I can get that all done,...I'm gonna try at least.

But in the end,...I'm happy with the progress today,...It's been a long time since I had a welder in my hand,....I thought I was done with that,..but I was wrong. I'm still not done with it.

So on this special edition I'll cap it with two pics,...The cynical Mike, and the content tired Mike.

That Damn Monster,..photo bombed the pic...

Sure, NOW you're comfortable in front of the camera......

The monster is looking very cool Mike. I really dig the bar fabrication.

I hope your surgery goes well in all truth there my friend. You're a good guy that needs good knees.

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 12, 2016

Boosted92LX said:
Hopefully in two more days you'll have windshield trim.. sooner if we're lucky.

Yeah,..I'm thinking that blacking out, and installing all of the trim might be best saved for when I'm in crip mode.

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 12, 2016

Davedacarpainter said:
Sure, NOW you're comfortable in front of the camera......

The monster is looking very cool Mike. I really dig the bar fabrication.

I hope your surgery goes well in all truth there my friend. You're a good guy that needs good knees.

If I'm the one controlling the outcome,..then i got no problem with it,..It's the "not paying attention" poses that I don't want captured.

Boosted92LX · Oct 12, 2016

madmike1157 said:
Yeah,..I'm thinking that blacking out, and installing all of the trim might be best saved for when I'm in crip mode.

You're probably right. All of the bending kneeling and squatting stuff is going to suck later.

Davedacarpainter · Oct 12, 2016

madmike1157 said:
If I'm the one controlling the outcome,..then i got no problem with it,..It's the "not paying attention" poses that I don't want captured.

You see Mike, you were incidental to most of those pictures. I really wasn't meaning to include you in the pictures until you got upset with me.

RaggedGT · Oct 12, 2016

Davedacarpainter said:
You see Mike, you were incidental to most of those pictures. I really wasn't meaning to include you in the pictures until you got upset with me.

Imagine how happy he would have been if there had been a Live Stream?

90sickfox · Oct 12, 2016

The Gila Monster is coming together great !

One day I hope to have just half the skill of you and a couple other guys on here. I'll be watching every step of the way.

Nice to see you're coming out of your box. We knew you weren't as bad as folks say you are. [emoji106]

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 12, 2016

Davedacarpainter said:
You see Mike, you were incidental to most of those pictures. I really wasn't meaning to include you in the pictures until you got upset with me.

I never got upset with you,..I simply requested that I not be included in your progress pics...

Davedacarpainter · Oct 12, 2016

madmike1157 said:
I never got upset with you,..I simply requested that I not be included in your progress pics...

Well....the monster looks bi*chin' Mike.

When's the foot fix, btw?

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 12, 2016

Davedacarpainter said:
Well....the monster looks bi*chin' Mike.

When's the foot fix, btw?

It's gonna have to wait I'm afraid,....maybe after the first of the year,..well before Monster time in the spring.

bird_dog0347 · Oct 13, 2016

So I've started a new job this week which has been keeping me VERY busy!!! As such it seems when I read all this I thought time had flown to the point where we were on a classic 60's mustang website given the broken down nature of this crowd... then I realized that I'm IN that crowd and these cars are 25-35 years old.

Good luck with the surgery @madmike1157, and as stated already get up and moving ASAP. Exceed expectations and push yourself or you'll never be able to do what you did before. I've had multiple family members go through the same thing and given the status of my knees I'm sure I'm due in a decade or so.

Oh... and the Monster looks effing awesome!

dr. Dan W. · Oct 15, 2016

madmike1157 said:
Yeah,..I'm thinking that blacking out, and installing all of the trim might be best saved for when I'm in crip mode.

Mike, be careful to follow Doctor's orders with those post-surgery pain medications. No blacking out if you can avoid it!
Hope it's an effective work day. That interior is really taking shape!

95BlueStallion · Oct 16, 2016

Im confused. Was surgery happening between Thursday and today? It's awfully quiet in here.

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 17, 2016

Yesterday was a Wife day. Even though I was in the garage for a couple of hours, the mandate was that "I was going to Costco today".

But,...in the morning, she had some running around to do first. That left me to do the mad dash.

First,.....opened my envelope from Texas,.....(Thanks Allen) and popped the three clips onto the studs in 15 seconds.

I don't know what the difference between the old ones and those new ones are (besides being new) but the old ones only take a small bump and they're on. So now I'm able to fully trim out the front and rear glass.

I made the speaker box with the rest of the time before I got to go to Costco and spend 200.00 on food and junk.

But,............ look at this now. (and I just went downstairs to confirm this).

Which side would this go on if you were looking at the remove-able cover?
You damn right.........I glued the "back" on the wrong side. I have effectively made another driver side box.

So instead of having this behind me,...I still gotta make another "side" and cut the old one off somehow.

Today starts the surgery process. At 8 I go to my Dr. for the pre-surgery screening to determine what I'll need to do before my Nov 2 operation.

a91what · Oct 17, 2016

Hope the screening goes well Mike. Just think of it this way you have a replacement box for the driver door practice makes perfect right

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 17, 2016

a91what said:
Hope the screening goes well Mike. Just think of it this way you have a replacement box for the driver door practice makes perfect right

naaah, its only a minor bump. ill just cut it out on the inside, and flip it, then glue it in on the correct side and transfer the side cover to the correct facing.

CarMichael Angelo · Oct 17, 2016

So,....A sobering Dr's visit.

He was expecting me to have ONE knee done. When I asked if it was prudent to have both done at the same time, he said that I was a good candidate for the procedure but that it would extend my recovery time. He's talking about 4-6 weeks to just be able to get through the day..............
He said that I'd never be able to kneel or crawl again.
He said that they cut the main muscle in the front of your leg rectus femoris (one of the "quads") and as a result of that, the muscle basically shuts down, and has to be re-trained......
He said it could be 6 months or longer before I might even hope to be "normal".

This is turning out to be more than I bargained for.

I'm still gonna have both done.

I decided to move my day off from Wed to today in lieu of the Dr ofc. visit. That puts me one more monday for some pre-surgery tests, and then they're cutting me on the 31st. ( They moved it up 3 days because of the double surgery)

So,....Once back home I was like a Fiendor.

I fixed the backwards speaker box.

The piece that was on the back (that used to be the front) is now inside, and at the bottom. (You can see the 1/4" thick line at the top that used to be a solid piece). The piece fits really tight, and is glued in place. It ain't going nowhere.

I took the top and covered that btch, and mounted the speaker.

I ran out of everything.

On the driver's door I used some vinyl roof foam to give the door panel some depth. I didn't have enough to do the passenger side. I had to cut and seam the remnants together. And while that in of itself isn't that big a deal,.....

I didn't have enough leather either.

I had to cut and seam it as well.

Now,...before I show you this, remember this is the Monster. The leather is already full of cuts, scrapes, and gouges. So when it comes to having to do a glue seam to "weld" two pieces together,...I don't think it's the end of the world. Had this been any other theme, and I'd be screwed. This "solution" wouldn't fly. But the Monster's like a honey badger........and Honey badgers just dont care.

So consider it before you flame me.

Most of that is gonna be behind the door bar, and the speaker box,..so I guess we'll just have to run with it.

I made the center grille surround and mesh.

I ran out of this stuff too. This is 1/8" hole x 1/8" space stainless. All of the rest that's currently mounted is 3/32 x 3/32".
I have enough to build the front piece that mates the door bar to the dash, and I think that I'll be able to get away with this piece because it's separated from the rest.

So,...Sunday I'll have the whole day to finish up the door panel. Now that I've gotten this far,...I'm thinkin I'll be able to.

95BlueStallion · Oct 17, 2016

At first I was like ehhh. But yeah, the speaker box will hide most, and one big scar is kinda cool. Carry on!

RaggedGT · Oct 17, 2016

^^^ Agreed- Monsters have Scars..

Davedacarpainter · Oct 19, 2016

31st huh? Jeez Mike, sorry you got to go through so much crap. Six months! Jeez!

I hope it goes well for you my friend.

The monster is getting close, think you'll get to drive it before the surgery?

Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

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