project 91GT

Started working on getting engine bay knocked down. going to be some serious sanding. First step is to get all the duraglass knocked down, then do a skim coat of some filler, then back to sanding. here are a couple pics

90silverstang said:

Custom,

Question,--- Did you weld the holes in the engine bay or did you duraglass over the entire engine bay or did you weld and duraglas the bay.

Thanks

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Good question All the big holes had patches made and welded in, all the small holes were filled by holding a piece of brass, or was it copper?, behing the holes and welding them shut. The reason for the kitty hair/duraglass, whatever you want to call it, was to smooth everything up. Mainly the seams and whatnot. Most of it will be getting sanded off, then a skim coat of lightweight filler will go on, then we will knock that down and see where we are at then. Probably didn't need to use the kitty hair, but i don't like using bondo to fill in seams and to build the surface up. The firewall is going to take the most work, since we eliminated the pinch weld. But this is all well worth the effort, the end result is going to be outstanding.

MAC'n89Blckstng said:

I'm sure hr welded up the holes. That engine bay's scary, I'm done with engine bays for a while lol.

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Scary?? is that a good thing or bad thing? I think your getting at how much work its going to be to get it all sanded. They don't call it body work for nothing Would be nice if it was body fun, lol. Its just nice to be getting to this point. Feels like we are getting somewhere. When you just keep doing metal work after metal work, it gets a little discouraging. Since we have got some primer and seam sealer on, i feel like there is actually some progress. I'm sure you felt the same way when you were doing yours. but like i said, the end result is well worth all the long hard work

90silverstang said:

First I want to let you know that I am new to welding. I just purchased a Hobart 140A mig welder. Put some .025 wire in it with Stargon gas. I got a scrap fender from a local body shop that I will practice on.
So with that said, when you use a piece of brass to put in back of the hole, how do you keep the brass piece in place?. Does the brass piece stay welded on the back of the inner fender after the work is done?
How big are the brass pieces do you cut for the holes?
Can't wait to try this welder out and practice.

Your comments will be much appreciated.

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You got the right idea, practice on scrap fender That welder will get you by to do a engine bay and other sheet metal work, but don't plan on welding anything thick, you can't get enough penetration with a 140. But from the sounds of it, you are just doing sheet metal. Its actually not brass, but copper, sorry i was really tired and couldn't remember what it was. But anyways, You are NOT actually welding the copper, just use this for filling small holes, holes that you don't need to cut a patch for, like screw holes and such. The weld will not stick to the copper, but gives you a backing to fill the hole in. The way we did it was, one of us would hold the copper on the back and the other would weld. Most of the time, you won't be able to do both, but here is something i found that would work if you didn't have anyone to help

Eastwood Co. - Magnetic Plug Welding Tool Horizontal

That would be a good investment
Then make patch panels for all the bigger holes and weld them in. Practice makes perfect. At one time I couldn't weld, but i was probably like 4 or something Hope that helps ya out


By the way, I bought some new guns!!! Happy day for me

90silverstang said:

Thanks for the reply. That tool is just what I need, I will probably welding the bay solo.

Very nice paint guns. Looks like your gearing up to shoot the engine bay.

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Thanks, yea, got the stang cage and motor bay to paint. I also have a few other things to paint this spring, dads 67 camaro, at least one of my camaros, the girlfriends jeep. Oh, and dads s10, thats going to be satin black, with a 383 tunnel ram, dual carbs, 5 inch cowl hood. going to be a nasty lookin little truck I really like to paint.

hey guys, haven't forgot about this thread. Just wanted to give a update, haven't got much work done lately. I had another little, well not so little, side job i had to get done. The owner has been working alot and has been out of town. Hopefully in the next week or two we can get back to the mustang.

Precipus said:

OH no I joined the forums just so I could see this thread. I read all the way to the end and it's not done!
This has been the most interesting engine bay thread i have run across yet. The only question I have is do you think all of this fiber work and filler will be prone to cracking over time from the vibrations and heat?
I am about to start this sort of bay work on my Black Magic Capri and I am researching such things.

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No, its definately not done yet. I myself had a bunch of other projects that have taken my time this summer. The owner has also been very busy with his work, and working on his bike. The car has been put on hold for a little while. Hopefully this fall we will get back on it. As to your question about the fiberglass cracking and whatnot, it may look like there is alot of it on there, about 80 percent of it was sanded off. there are just a few area's where its a little thicker just to blend out some seams. Our next step is to skim coat it with bondo, and then sand 80percent of that off. So to answer your question, no i'm not worried about it cracking or anything. You can see some other member engine bays are done in a similar way with bondo, and some of them have a turbo or two. I haven't seen them have any problems yet with the heat. I will warn you if your about to tackle your engine bay like we did. ITS A LOT OF WORK. ALOT. but well worth it