69 coupe resto/build-up

Having spent many years working on and off on my 67 resto, I'll jump in here with a few thoughts:

1) Welder--unless you're going to put this on a rotisserie, you're not going to want a TIG. Crawling around under a car to weld is hard enough, without trying to hold the wand with one hand, the wire with the other, and peddling with the third...(or your foot). You're going to want to be able to one-hand it with a MIG gun.

2) FWIW, I have a $300, 90a flux-core only bottleless box that's done all the welding I've needed from it. I got it from my motor pool mechanics as a retirement gift, and I've done everything from thin gauge body metal to the spring perches on my axles (8.8 swap). Since it's what I learned on, I don't know how much better it would be with a bottle, and the portability can't be beat.

3) Take a look at the Dynacorn one-piece complete floors. If you've got much cancer at all (and from what I saw, yours isn't that bad compared to what I had to deal with), it's a nice swap.

4) I'm sure you know by now that all your front-end parts are available, including the frame rails. Just be careful, if you're going to replace them, that you don't strip everything off forward of the firewall. You're going to need some parts in there to get the new rails aligned in all three dimensions.

5) Take your time planning. Keeps you from having to do things twice (like I did with my brakes, and will be doing with front suspension and steering).

Let me know if I can help, or answer any questions! Oh, yeah, and have fun. When you're so PO'ed you're ready to throw something, call it a night.

i'm considering a mig, how much was the one he got and do you (or he) have any impressions of it yet?

bayellowstang said:

Well it's been quite a while since I posted anything on this but we have done a lot of work. Last night we completed the tear-down on it. Nothing left at all except the rusty shell of a car. Everything has been pretty easy up until we hit the leaf springs. The 40+ year old bushings were trashed. The steel sleeve inside the rubber was rusted so bad we have been soaking them with PB blaster and WD-40 for 3 months and had to resort to cutting them out with a torch. Burning rubber smells much better at the track.

Carlisle All Ford Nationals are next weekend and we are looking to pick up lots of parts. We need at minimum the passenger-side floor pan, all 4 frame rails and passenger-side shock-tower.

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Been there, and feel your pain. Take your time on the frame rails, measure, mock up, ensure you're square in all three dimensions (I dropped some plumb lines to make a square on the garage floor). Then be overly cautious with your welding, so you don't heat up the parts too much and move things. Not a bad idea to use some 1/2" square tubing to brace the rails in place while you're doing your welds. Tack, then go somewhere else while it cools. You won't believe how much your steel will move if you get in a hurry, and you won't figure out it happened until your completely done with the joint.