The Tragic Tale of ElSuperPinto

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:leghump: you, ElSuperPinto. You're my bitch.


View: https://youtu.be/rEGTx4jDoak


So what was the major hang-up?
 
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This is the hole on the right rear quarter panel I mentioned earlier. It kind of showed up out of nowhere.

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Nice margins around it when I wire brush it. Cool, I suck at welding, and my welder isn't the best, nor is it the best for this, but I think I can handle a little 1"x2" patch.

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Well, that complicates things, but I still got this, right?

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What the? Oh :leghump:. Well, let's see how much further it goes.

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Jesus Tapdancing Christ! What the :leghump: do I do about this???

@Davedacarpainter @2Blue2 @LILCBRA @rusty428cj @429MII @CarMichael Angelo any advice ya'll have would be appreciated. I'm going to stop there for the night after hitting it with a light coat of Rustoleum to keep the bare metal from flash rusting overnight.

I'd guess that everyone would have their own way of tackling this, but I would probably plan on at least a partial part of the upper quarter panel being replaced. Cutting into that would at least give you a line of sight and access to the underside of that location to know what you have to deal with. It would also give you more room to cut that inner section out, fab up a new patch and test fit it before closing the quarter panel back up.
 
So what was the major hang-up?

That damned stud/bolt through the shaft coming out of the column was just stuck after 45 years. It finally took the old man beating on the stud with a hammer and 3/8 drive extension from above while I kept tension on it with a pry-bar from below to get it to pop.

Got it out, measured the shaft, made my cut... and the joint I bought doesn't fit the damned thing... back to the drawing board.

I'd guess that everyone would have their own way of tackling this, but I would probably plan on at least a partial part of the upper quarter panel being replaced. Cutting into that would at least give you a line of sight and access to the underside of that location to know what you have to deal with. It would also give you more room to cut that inner section out, fab up a new patch and test fit it before closing the quarter panel back up.
I cut away all the rotten metal, cleaned up all of the rust on that support, painted it, re-stripped the area around it, cut out the first of the two patch panels, fired up the welder...

And had wire feed issues galore. On top of that, even on low voltage with the wire feed speed turned all the way down, the weld was just too damned hot for the 45 year old galvanized super-thin steel these cars are built from. It'd blow right through at the first touch, couldn't even tack the patches in. It could spatter a bead on the 22-ga. material I bought to make the patches from all day, as you can see in the picture. I even successfully, if sloppily, but-welded one of my patches to the sheet, but the II's original metal just isn't thick enough to handle the heat from a flux-core welder, and I don't have a MIG, so I'm going to have to farm the patch job out.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUcVUpGOejM
 
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Seems to me that you'd want to turn the wire speed up, not down. Sounds like you're melting the parent material without adding any to it. Is everything cut for butt joints or do you have a flange tool? You can pick one up from Harbor Freight for pretty cheap and it can get you away from most of the butt joints you have to work with.

 
Seems to me that you'd want to turn the wire speed up, not down. Sounds like you're melting the parent material without adding any to it. Is everything cut for butt joints or do you have a flange tool? You can pick one up from Harbor Freight for pretty cheap and it can get you away from most of the butt joints you have to work with.

I made the cuts with butt joints in mind.

As far as the wire speed, even with it turned down, I wasn't running out of wire. As I said, the feed was inconsistent, which was probably a product of my welder being a 10 year old $89 Harbor Freight special that gets used once upon a blue moon.

I followed the advice and techniques of others using the same or similar welders on the ol' YouTube, but I definitely couldn't duplicate their results.
 
Butt welds are trickier than 2 pieces that overlap. If you have enough material to fab another piece that is larger than the hole, and you can get your hands on one of those flange tools, I think you'd be in business. And I think it would be a lot less of a headache. But if you have someone who can do what you want that isn't going to charge you a bunch, sometimes it's best left to someone else. That totally solves the headache, provided they don't offer another in exchange.
 
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So, I get home and find out the hard way that I done **** up my measurin'.

It's less than an inch, so I pull down on the shaft coming down from the column because I know from taking a few of these cars apart that the shaft in the column is 2 pieces and slides easily. I make up for what I'm short, get it all bolted together... And the upper joint is hitting a screw that protrudes from the inner fender.


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y5uAjWWQRg
 
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Passenger side header is back on.

II-do list to get ElSuperPinto back to a drivable state:

1. Tighten spark plugs on passenger side of the engine and connect plug wires.
2. Install passenger side motor mount-to-block bolts.
3. Tighten collector bolts on both sides.
4. Go buy a new battery.
5. Adjust toe on passenger side out a bit more.
6. Install fuel tank and put a couple of gallons of gas in it.
7. Put the tach back on the column.
8. Plug in MSD crap.
9. Air up the tires.
10. Tighten driver's side motor mount bolt.
11. Drain, flush, and fill radiator once.
12. Change the oil and filter.
13. Start it?


View: https://youtu.be/SGyOaCXr8Lw

If all of that goes according to plan, I'll drive it down to the shop to do a real alignment on it, flush the cooling system with the BG machine, and put her up on the lift for better pictures of the rear suspension and exhaust.
 
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I like the sound track, you need to release an album. (be sure to include LILCBRA's Hey little cobra)

You really gonna drive ESP this week? All thats really necessary is to tighten the spark plug right!?!

Oh man! Its really gonna Happen! this is the week! any moment now!
I heard the roar of the car, I can picture the scene, put my ear to the wall and like a distant scream,
I heard one car , just blew me away, with stars in my eyes, the very next day,
bought a beat up mustang, it needed work and more,
didn't know how to fix it, but I knew for sure.....

this sound track thing is catching on.:D:rolleyes::p:D:)
 
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I like the sound track, you need to release an album.

this sound track thing is catching on
I was kind of inspired by @Keionte 's videos in his build thread which have music in them (by the way, this guy is doing some neat :poo:, if you haven't taken a look at it, I HIGHLY recommend a read and watching the videos: https://stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/in-the-beginning-god-said-let-there-be-luciel.915364/ ). I don't have the time/equipment to make decent videos, but I can totally add music!

No work done on the II tonight.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'm spending this evening making a full plan-of-attack for ElSuperPinto, not just the list of things to do, but how to do them, what exact order, etc.

The car could realistically be running 24 hours from now.

Among other things, I've been looking at different people's mounting schemes for EFI fuel pumps under their cars, and I think I like this best:
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Something like that would allow me to keep the pump close to the tank, shield it from road debris, and should isolate noise. I've already bought a sheet of metal to fab it from, just have to figure out how to bend it cleanly without a metal brake.
 
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