68 Coupe- Going Topless

[horse sence]

Picked up my hood and trunk lid today. very nice and heavy pieces. the hood fits up to the cowl really good .
i still have to get the nose section but i need a new set of front fenders first. I needed the trunk lid to align the quarters . Been raining the last couple of days so i didn't get any thing else done ,hopefully i will get the rear seat area by the week end.

 

[horse sence]

I trimmed out he back seat area ,so many spot welds .It took most of the day to drill them all out. It blasted out very clean.I shot two coats of primer inside and out . I want to primer inside the car ,just where the seat divider goes so there will be primer under every thing.
The lower braces need to be patched along the bottom but every thing else is in good shape. I still have to trim out the rain gutter part that the quarters set on ,and blast it and prime it then i will be ready for quarters.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

You are a machine - moving along quickly

 

[horse sence]

Once i get the back seat part in it will go real fast .

 

[horse sence]

And the back seat divider is in. Went in real easy . i sat the quarter in place and it lined right up . I have to trim out the rain gutter and sand blast and it will be ready to weld in .I think i will wait until its on the rotisserie before i grind the welds , won't be long now.

 

[horse sence]

Just who was it that got the idea to powder coat replacement panels?
The quarters are powder coated ,i can't sand it or sand blast it off .I worked at it most of the morning and i removed more skin from my fingers than coating on the quarters .I finally got the edges cleaned off so i could use my spot welder. The rain gutter and back window strip went in with out any problems .The driver quarter is about half way welded .It fit fairly good except where it met up the the back window panel,i had the quarter on and off at least 5 times just working this area,it is a perfect tight fit now. i lined the quarter and back window strip up with the trunk lid to make sure it stayed square ,it is going to fit very well .

 

[horse sence]

The body is finished .I had a bit of trouble with the pass. side ,the quarter wasn't the best but it worked out .The door gaps are pretty good ,i left them a little wide from the top down ,about 1/16 wider at the top .Every convert i have had sagged and the doors would touch the jamb at the tops so i preloaded the frame rails to make up for it. When the car is assembled it should close up just right.
The trunk lid fits great and lines up with the end caps . I let the end caps over hang the quarters at the sides just slightly so i can sand them in for a perfect fit.
Tomorrow i will fit the side scoops.It is ready to go on the rotisserie but it is supposed to rain so maybe next week.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

Looking great. the gap on you tail panel to the qtr extensions looks so much better than mine - my tail panel looks 1/4" shot on each side. I'm not sure why mine is short.

 

[horse sence]

The side scoops only took a few minutes , i need to fine tune them a little bit by sanding where they rest against the body but they look great right now.
I put the back seat in just to make sure every thing fit and it does .
i used the top from my 68 convert ,just had to see what it is going to look like , i am almost ready to take it out for a test spin. Now i have to break it all down and bolt it on the rotisserie.

 

[horse sence]

Looking great. the gap on you tail panel to the qtr extensions looks so much better than mine - my tail panel looks 1/4" shot on each side. I'm not sure why mine is short.

The 68 panel has about a 3/16 -1/4 inch gap compared to the 67 panel.
Dynacorn spot welded in the ends in these quarters and got them wrong . I had to drill out the spots and push in the sides and re weld them so i was able to get a real tight fit.

 

[horse sence]

Bottoms up ! It's on the rotisserie . I finished all the spot welds under side .
I have to extend the floor supports because i had to cut the ends ,they were to to short and angled on the ends . The rear seat brace still has to be patched and and the hood hinge area ,the hood blew off, and the bottom of the battery apron and grind all the welds and i will be ready to sand blast and epoxy primer.

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

The 68 panel has about a 3/16 -1/4 inch gap compared to the 67 panel.
Dynacorn spot welded in the ends in these quarters and got them wrong . I had to drill out the spots and push in the sides and re weld them so i was able to get a real tight fit.

Cool, that explains a lot.


I got the new center plate designed and built to support a larger exhaust and clearance. if you are interested the shop could prob make a 2nd one. cost me $150 including redoing the Y subframe bar. Not sure it would cost that much down that the design is done.

 

[horse sence]

I will have to see what happens when i get to that point ,thanks

 

[Falcon79]

Hey horse sence, where do you get your fiberglass pieces from?

 

[horse sence]

I get it from Stang-Aholics ,i have had very good results with them

 

[68GT500KR_Vert]

Same here - the Stang-Aholic stuff is the best I've seen.

 

[horse sence]

I finished all the little patches ,there wasn't very many . The seat back side braces were the biggest .I extended the floor supports ,Ground all the welds .I used my spot welder every where i could so the welds look like factory .
The under side of the cowl is in great shape ,just needs a light blasting . I am actually ready to blast everything and epoxy primer but we have bad weather on the way, and i am a little short on funds so it may be a while.

 

[horse sence]

I did some adjusting on the trunk lid and got a really nice fit. I put the trunk spring rods in ,on only the first notch,and it could take your nose off if you are not watching when you open it.

I was missing the back seat springs so i cut down a set of coupe springs . I should have posted how to do it but i didn't think about it at the time When upholstered you can't tell the difference ,and it's fairly easy.

I oiled my hood hinges and bolted them on then bolted on the hood .the hood to cowl gap is going to be very nice and the hood follows the cowl great. I bolted on an old fender that i keep just for fitting fiberglass,it is straight around the edges just a little beat in the middle.The hood follows the fender very good as well. This hood sounds like steel when it is closed ,can't wait to get the nose section but i still need the new doors and fenders first.

 

[Realmongo]

This is turning out so cool!

 

[robert912005]

I have a question. The rear of my hood doesnt sit flush with the cowl. If i push on the rear of the hood it does go down and sit flush with the cowl. Are my hood hinges bad?