Progress Thread The "grátis" 1966 Coupe - final sheet metal repairs
#683
Are original fenders know to split up front in this manner? Or is this likely the result of an accident? I’m thinking I should be able to weld this up fairly easily.

 
#684
02 281 GT said:
Are original fenders know to split up front in this manner? Or is this likely the result of an accident? I’m thinking I should be able to weld this up fairly easily.

Click to expand...
I have seen them split there before ,usually when that top bar is broken on the head light assembly ,i think the grill and headlight assembly bouncing splits them
 
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#685
Working on odds and ends before I get it on the rotisserie. Today I started messing around with the fenders.

I have two sets of fenders: the originals from the car, and another set of originals that I acquired in Dallas along with a matching hood. They have issues, but I got them cheap. The original fenders have issues as well. The passenger side is mostly in good shape; I will probably use it for the final product. The original driver's side fender is pretty beat up from an accident. It would take far too much filler to use.

The other set of fenders is a similar story, except the passenger side has some damage while the driver's side is in much better shape. It still has issues that need to be addressed, though. It has an old repair on the front that wasn't done very well. I will likely take a section of the original driver's fender from my car to replace the original repair.

You can just see some of the damage to the passenger fender I acquired in this picture. It's bent where it meets the door.


I knew this old bondo was hiding bad body work.



The original repair was made by cutting out a portion of the headlight bucket. There was far too much bondo used along with bad metal work. A very mediocre repair. I'll be using the headlight bucket from the original fender. I'll swap it onto the replacement fender after I've repaired the metal. I'm probably going to cut the front corner section out of the original fender and butt weld it into the replacement fender. Seems kind of dicey, but I seriously doubt it will turn out any worse than what I already have. I'm determined to avoid using reproduction fenders.



I'm going to do a junkyard run in the morning. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish this tomorrow. I'm looking forward to tackling this.
 
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#686
Went to the local Pick-n-Pull just to check it out since I hadn't been there yet. I ended up getting an engine.

Pulled this out of a '94 Mustang GT. Someone had already removed all the front accessories, the upper intake, and the transmission. I finished the job with the exhaust and water pump. It turned over easily, so I removed the heads and found crosshatch in all the cylinders. This was quite a job by myself. Glad to get a good engine, though. This will get freshened up at some point. Until then, I took it apart, cleaned it a bit, and sprayed all the cylinders down with WD40.


 
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#687
Started working on the fenders today. It's taking longer than I expected, so I only finished the headlight bucket patch today. I'll finish the fender next time I work on it.

I'd be lying if I said this didn't scare the crap out of me.



Patched headlight bucket.



Holes line up. This was tedious.
 
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#688
I also spent some time extracting a couple broken bolts from the junkyard engine. This is what victory looks like.




Also made a post on bookface about the junkyard engine and an old friend/co-worker in Oklahoma said I can have this engine out of a '66 coupe. I just have to come get it. I'll have my parents bring it next time they visit.
 
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#689
I could never get those screw extractors to actually work...I almost always just end up drilling them out and re-tapping them, sometimes even having to heli-coil them....happily I have no more 50 year old bolts and iron blocks/heads to worry about(though I learned the hard way, once aluminum has been welded, any holes you drill in it need heli-coils since it no longer holds a thread worth anything on its own...at least for smaller bolt holes)
 
#691
So I was planning to do another junkyard run tomorrow after work. However, I aggravated a muscle in my lower back on Friday. It got a lot worse on Saturday to the point that I went to the emergency room because I could barely move. Typical muscle strain. Prescribed some muscle relaxers and prescription-strength naproxen. I'll have to be careful for the next week at least.

Next order of business will be to finish the patch on the driver fender. The headlight bucket repair is complete. I'll re-weld it into the fender without the patch to help guide the welding in of the patch. It's going into the same fender from which it came, so I'll be able to use the cut out spot welds as a guide to ensure I get it into the proper position. Should be a good repair when I'm done.

Other than that, I'm going to shorten my work bench by about a foot. I built it really tall when we still lived in Texas since I didn't have as much space in that garage. I built it tall enough to fit my tool box underneath it with the casters removed. Fast forward to now, the Arkansas garage is much larger. I was able to reinstall the tool box casters and position it beside the bench rather than under it. Now I'll be able to shorten the bench to a more manageable height. I'm also going to add a shelf underneath the top so I can have some extra storage.

Edit: Pictures for reference.

The work bench in Wichita Falls.


In Arkansas. The shelf will be built sturdy enough so I can use it to store those jack stands.
 
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#693
horse sence said:
I picked up a very old heavy duty set of school lockers ,i believe from the 50s ,it has 9 doors and will hold all my electric and air tools . Nice thing is they are not to tall and not to deep
Click to expand...
They really made stuff like that extremely tough back then. I saw an old filing cabinet for sale at a Habitat for Humanity resale place in Wichita Falls I wish I had snagged. It had stenciling on it that said it was property of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. or something. It too was very well built.

I got the work bench shortened and installed the shelf.

Shortened. I only ended up cutting about six inches off each leg. That ended up making the tabletop height perfect.


Shelf added. It also has the added benefit of making the entire bench much more rigid. Especially since I overbuilt it as I always do. I'm really happy with this. Now I have my 3/8 impact socket set and tap and die set in an easy to reach place.
 
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#697
I found a wheel that I really like. If only they weren't $700+ a piece!

WELD S77 - RT-S Street Wheels | WELD Racing

The WELD S77 Wheel features classic tuning fork styling with a black contrast finish. The 3-piece construction allows the wheel to fit most street cars.
www.weldwheels.com

Can't really find any pictures of them on a Mustang comparable to the size I would be running, but here are some pics of them on a '69 GTO that's close to what they would look like if I ran them. It's a perfect blend of a modern wheel with the muscle car lines.

 
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#700
I decided to see if I could hammer out the dents and bends in my original hood latch and support since a new one costs over $100. The catch hooks were both bent quite a bit. Does this look right?





With the rebuilt kit on the way, I took apart my door hinges yesterday as well. I need to invest in a blast cabinet to clean up all these small parts.
 
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