68 Coupe- Going Topless

[horse sence]

Yes your hinges are worn ,i have one that does the same .You may be able to adjust that hinge down just enough to take up the slack and make it set flat with the cowl ,i am assuming your car is a 65-66? There is a stop under the cowl seal ,looks like a small piece of angle iron.It is adjustable up and down so you can set the hood to stop where you want it.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

I had the same problem, it wasn't the hood hinges, it was that the springs were too strong, I had the fiberglass ones from Cobranda. I bought the lift kit from Stangaholics to make the stock hinges work like the Ring Brother ones and the issue went away.

 

[horse sence]

It's raining It hasn't rained in some time here in Cali and we need it.
Going to slow things down a bit but i went ahead and drilled the dash and made sure the top switch fit ,it does.

I don't have the weather strip channel for the front window frame to door window vent so i made them from the coupe channels. i used the channels from my 68 convert as a pattern,they are simple to make and are same as the original ,the holes even line up.

Now i just need to clean out all the old glue and take them to the buffer and make them shine again

I bolted the pass. side fender on and it fits up to the hood better than the driver side .I hope a new set of Dynacorn fenders will fit as good these old beaters.

 

[robert912005]

Yes my car is a 65 and thank you for your help. It might be the spring and it might be the hinges, i think i will change them both. Thanks again.

 

[candphall]

I will be anxious to see how the Dynacorn fenders fit. From what I've heard some of there panels require a complete rebuild to come close.

 

[horse sence]

Most of the Dynacorn panels are very good ,but some times they do need work
the 65 -67-68 fast back quarters are the best i have used .The quarters i just used on this convert conversion were good every where except the end cap area and that was terrible ,i still have work to do in that area. However they are still better than other quarters i have used . 67-68 front fenders seem to be very good . 69 quarters are outstanding but if you change one side do the other side also because the lines are sharper on the Dynacorn quarters than the originals ,the end caps fit perfectly. 65 -66 doors are the best but the inside grain finish is not correct .69 door skins are great .

 

[candphall]

That's good to know. I see some door skins in my future.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

No Updates?

 

[horse sence]

No i am waiting for good weather ,we have rain coming on and of and my next step is to sand blast . I may have to wait a couple of weeks .Soon as it looks like i will get a straight week without rain i will start again.

 

[horse sence]

I have been wanting to sand blast but the weather is not cooperating ,hot during the day and cold at night and it will have to sit a couple of days bare metal so i have been trying to find other things to do on it .
I decided to drill the trunk lid for the emblems . I have the 67 GT 500 emblem but i don't like the way it looks on a convert. trunk lid . I decided to go with the 68 SHELBY letters .I have a template i made some time ago ,if you ever tried to put these letters on you know how hard it is to get them straight.

All i have to do is find the center of the trunk lid and match my pattern to it and set the bottom of the template to the bottom of the lid. I just masking tape it in place .Then i use a 1/8 inch drill bit made for pop rivets,it only cuts on the end of the bit so it will not waller out my template.

Remove the template and i have a cleanly drilled and straight set of holes .Now i just need the letters.

 

[horse sence]

I went ahead and bought the nose section today .I should have it late tomorrow.
It was one that was returned ,i got it for a fraction of the going price .People just do not know how to fit them and for some reason they will not follow directions.If you do not fit them right, they just will not fit .I will post the correct way to fit them ,when done correctly it is actually simple .

 

[68GT500KR]

I need to get a copy of that trunk template from you.

 

[horse sence]

I got the nose section . Why someone would return it , i just can't understand glad they did though .
Well i know why. like i said ,there is a right way and a wrong way to fit it. The only thing i had to do was clean off the greasy hand prints all over it

I have another junker 67 here i will fit it to sometime in the next couple of days ,step by step . It is a nice piece ,with the headlight buckets made in . It takes about 30 minutes to install the headlight adjusters and the headlights .I think i have a set of lights here somewhere , it uses 69 outer light cans and bulbs .

The mounting studs are already in place and i held another fender up to it and it fit very well.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

Nice

 

[horse sence]

Been very busy the last few weeks, way to much work and way to little pay. I have two Expeditions to replace motors in ,NOT FUN! I hated to do it ,but to get some quick cash i sold my 55 Fairlane .
I ordered the Dynacorn doors today,looks like we will get to see how nice the 67-68's are .They should be here the first of next week.

 

[horse sence]

My doors made it in today,they are both dented. I haven't seen them yet but they want me to take them any way with a discount .I DID NOT ORDER DENTED DOORS! Oh sure it would help out the shipping company ,and i can do the body work but i do not want dented doors . These shipping companies have to learn to be more careful ,so i say no!

 

[horse sence]

I went by and looked at the doors this morning ,the driver door was not repairable .The pass side only had a slight roll at the bottom front edge so i went ahead and took it ,at a discount of course .

A little hammer and dolly work and i had it looking good ,no bondo needed

I sprayed the spot with epoxy primer just to keep it from rusting

This is a Dynacorn door and it is very straight ,except for the shipping damage that is now repaired .
How it will fit up to the quarter and to the front fender ,i will have to wait and bolt it on the car to see.

I see two problems ,the grain finish on the inner part of the door is way to light ,it is almost smooth .It could be just heavy primer but i don't think so .I am going to blast it off gently .The way it is now if it were painted the grain would completely disappear .

The inside of the door has spots of bare metal showing so i will spray it with epoxy primer ,it will rust very quickly if it isn't primed .
Now i have to wait for the driver door ,and hope they do not damage it in transport .

 

[horse sence]

I just tried to fit that door on my convert . First of all ,i found out it is not a Dynacorn door it is a Scott Drake door. the door has a 1/2 inch twist in it and it will not twist out ,my brother and i tried together and no way
.

the door is about 1/8 inch short so if i fit it up to the door jamb it is to short to reach the fender and leaves a good 1/4 inch gap. The door sticks out past the fender at the top and over hangs the rocker about 1/4 inch and the hinges are adjusted all the way in ,they actually hit the door so it will not go in any farther.

Now we get to the inside .The part of the inner door shell where the weather strip would go has a 1 1/4 inch gap between the door and the front pillar so with the weather strip on the door there would be about a 1/2 inch gap between the door rubber and the front pillar,water and wind would blow right through .

In all i would give these doors a big F . CHEAPER IS NOT BETTER !!

 

[candphall]

I am so glad that all of my pieces and parts are salvageable. I don't have the skills required to repair new parts.

 

[horse sence]

This door is not salvageable . It is down right terrible .They were supposed to be a great fit ,this thing isn't even close . Dynacorn is out of stock with no date for availability so it looks like i have to wait ,AGAIN!
It seems like i spend more time waiting on parts than i do building a car.