Blue's New Project. 1990 Gt..... 1989 Gt????

I was going to get the Scott Rod panels but then I decided not to. Yesterday I got two sheets of mild steel sheet metal (20 ga), each 48"X48" for $60. One sheet is for practicing welding as I've never welded such thin material before so I'm sure i'll burn through a couple pieces before I get a hang of it. I'll have plenty of material left over for other projects and other parts of the engine bay too.

My 88 Notch looks just like yours. It's an original 5.0 5spd that came with MAF from Cali. Good luck
 
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I was going to get the Scott Rod panels but then I decided not to. Yesterday I got two sheets of mild steel sheet metal (20 ga), each 48"X48" for $60. One sheet is for practicing welding as I've never welded such thin material before so I'm sure i'll burn through a couple pieces before I get a hang of it. I'll have plenty of material left over for other projects and other parts of the engine bay too.

My 88 Notch looks just like yours. It's an original 5.0 5spd that came with MAF from Cali. Good luck
Better ask Collin @hoopty5.0 about using DIY sheetmetal to try and make those panels first before you spend a buttload of time on them.
I've welded plenty of thin material, and I can honestly say that it's a pain in the ass.
#1. If your mig isn't equipped w/ gas you're gonna melt the p iss out of 20ga steel.
If I was gonna use 20 ga., I'd cut and bend it to fit, leaving enough to overlap onto the substrate. Then drill a hole every 4" in it around it's perimeter, and rosette weld them b itches on and be done w/ welding. Fill the seams from the back side w/ a seam sealer, smear the front side w/ some filler and BA-BOOM-BAH!
FoxMustangLvr ROD panels.

That aren't warped to hell and back.

#2. Keep the steel for patching smaller holes, and buy the S.R.P.'s, weld them in exactly the same way.
 
You may as well have removed the entire blanket off of the LS engine, If you were just gonna reveal an exhaust port and a bell housing.

They're gonna have to change the name of this section to:
1979-95 (Fox, SN-95, 2.3L LSX morphadite) talk
 
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Better ask Collin @hoopty5.0 about using DIY sheetmetal to try and make those panels first before you spend a buttload of time on them.
I've welded plenty of thin material, and I can honestly say that it's a pain in the ass.
#1. If your mig isn't equipped w/ gas you're gonna melt the p iss out of 20ga steel.
If I was gonna use 20 ga., I'd cut and bend it to fit, leaving enough to overlap onto the substrate. Then drill a hole every 4" in it around it's perimeter, and rosette weld them b itches on and be done w/ welding. Fill the seams from the back side w/ a seam sealer, smear the front side w/ some filler and BA-BOOM-BAH!
FoxMustangLvr ROD panels.

That aren't warped to hell and back.

#2. Keep the steel for patching smaller holes, and buy the S.R.P.'s, weld them in exactly the same way.

I have a Lincoln 110 MIG w/ gas. I should be fine. A buddy of mine at work is the Foreman of our Fab Shop and lets me go in and practice and he helps me improve my technique. Thanks for the tip though, if i'm burning through too much i'll rosette weld them in as you mentioned as a back up plan. Either way the engine panels on my coupe need to be redone big time so either way it's going to be a huge improvement.
 
I have a Lincoln 110 MIG w/ gas. I should be fine. A buddy of mine at work is the Foreman of our Fab Shop and lets me go in and practice and he helps me improve my technique. Thanks for the tip though, if i'm burning through too much i'll rosette weld them in as you mentioned as a back up plan. Either way the engine panels on my coupe need to be redone big time so either way it's going to be a huge improvement.

DONT. F*ING. DO. IT.


Please trust me on this, it's not worth it.
 
I was thinking about using 18 ga but there isn't that much difference between that and 20 I guess. Is a rosette weld like a plug weld basically? The SRP's would just be easier as all the fabricating is done. I have air and hand snips but still would need to cut the metal and fart around with it.

I have MIG gas and I have welded thin metal and know how much of a PITA it is. Blowing through the metal when you are almost done sucks.

Colin- Did you butt weld in your panels?

I just want to clean up the bay since it is empty. While I would like to get this thing running I am not in that big of a rush as I would like to get the little things done while I have the chance.
 
@old_blue

Yes plug and rosette are pretty much the same.

@hoopty5.0 Care to elaborate about the warning? I got to page 20 on your build where you welded in your panels on your 4eye. What trouble did you get in to? It looked successful to me but maybe I need to continue reading on. Scott Rod Panels may be pre-fab'd but still requires welding thin metal to get them installed and looking seamless. I know the way i'm about to do it is more labor and time intensive that just buying panels but I'm not afraid of those things so enlighten me on other reasons to avoid this headache and buy the panels.
 
You wont ever get them flat/level/square as the pre fab pieces. Not to mention grinding the inside corners is a PITA. If/when I do it again, it will be with pre-made panels or Ill just fill the holes and call it a day. I've done it on 2 cars now, and it's just a pain all around.
 
Thank you for the heads up, however like you with your build thread, if I went the easy way it'd be no fun. Besides I have an extensive background with body work and painting with no shortage of tools, just not any experience welding sheet metal (which i'm learning).
 
The Scott Rod panels are 22 GA if I remember correctly. I probably should have gone with 18 GA but I'll have to see how the 20 GA behaves for me. I'm going to weld some tabs on the back side of my panels so I have something solid to mount my coil, wire harness and other things to.
 
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i gotta 89 GT motor and tranny to put in a 90 GT Body, i have both cars, the 90 has no motor or tranny, its an automatic body though. Gonna be my project for a while!

Sounds like the circus I have going on in my garage too!

Started building an 87 T-top and decided it wasn't worth the investment because it was too f*cked up so I bought a 5spd 88 Coupe 5.0 w/ no motor or trans. Swapping parts from one to the other as well.
IMAG2507.jpg

Sorry for the :ot:
 
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I did the same thing, and had my sheet metal guy build the frame rail caps out of 16ga metal, bent at 90 degrees. 18 ga fillers for the big holes. Like Scott said the heavy ga. stuff is just like a Honey Badger.

It just don't care about no stinkin' heat induced warpage.

I didn't replace my panels at all, (they weren't that bad) I just filled and capped. Unless yours are all bent to hell, I'd recommend that you do the same.