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Thread: 39 Ford Project

  1. #201
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    Interesting block you are using for mock-up, its not drilled for front motor mounts or ps bracket on drivers side.

  2. #202
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TrifiveRichard View Post
    Looking good, Brian. Nice work, you’ve been busy!
    Thanks Richard, I try to work on it at least 4 or 5 hours everyday. That way I am making steady progress without overdoing it.

    Quote Originally Posted by BamaNomad View Post
    Outstanding fab work (as usual for you), Brian!

    PS. I think I recall you saying you planned to sell this car when finished... I suspect you may change your mind after all the work you've put in, and the great quality to your work! I'm wishing it were mine!
    Thanks Gary, You are correct that the plan was to sell the car when I get it drivable but we'll see. I am sure not going to give it away!!

    Quote Originally Posted by bigblock View Post
    looking good...
    Thanks BB

    Quote Originally Posted by busterwivell View Post
    That kind of work just amazes me. I should just throw out my tool boxes. Outstanding work, Brian!
    Thanks, I'm still learning so it's never to late to start.

    Quote Originally Posted by markm View Post
    Interesting block you are using for mock-up, its not drilled for front motor mounts or ps bracket on drivers side.
    Good eye Mark, Weird thing is the passenger side is drilled and tapped but the drivers side is not. Not sure what year but it is a 350. Got it cheap many years ago intending to have it rebuilt but it turned out to not be worth the trouble as it had a lot of rust inside so I just kept it to use for mock up. Guess I could make a table or something out of it too if I wanted.

  3. #203
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Progress Update

    So with the engine and transmission mounts wrapped up I finally got back to installing the floor board and tunnel kit from Bitchin Products. I went back and read their instructions for installation and was more confused about where to start than before I read them. They want you to start by installing the tunnel first which does not go all the way to the firewall, then the floor boards, then the toe kicks and finally the fire wall to tunnel piece. It made more sense to me to start from the firewall and work my way back so I just ignored the instructions and did it my own way.



    I started with the passenger side toe kick piece. Here I have it fitted up ready to screw in place after some trimming and re-shaping.



    Here I have the drivers side toe kick and floor pan fitted up and screwed in place. On the floor pan I also have all the body mounts located, drilled and bolted in place with spacers to simulate the rubber body cushions that will eventually go between the floor pan and frame. The floor pans came with a flange on the rearward end but I ended up hammering that out of them as I plan to do a but weld to the rear floor pan pieces. Hard to see in the picture but I also added a flange at the front to go around the area where I repaired the lower cowl area and where it meets the toe kick panel. The body mount bolt at the bottom of the door pillar I just made a hole in the floor pan to clear it as I didn't want to have to remove that bolt every time I took the pan in and out for fitting.



    Here I have the passenger side floor pan fitted up and checking the fit on the tunnel. The tunnel piece came with about a 1 1/4" flange on it that the floor boards are supposed to sit on top of. When I test fit the tunnel with the flanges I didn't like how it was fitting so I took those bends out and hammered them flat as best I could.



    In this shot and the next you can see where the flange was before I flattened it out. I have it propped up where I want it to end up which is about 3/4" higher than it was.



    View from the other side. As you can see I have the new tunnel sitting right on top of the original tunnel at the back and where the flange was it would not have lined up very well in this area. After quite a bit of measuring side to side I determined It needed to be a 1/2" flange to make it all line up properly. The good thing in doing this is there will be much better clearance for the transmission this way.



    Making the new flanges was pretty easy. I just scribed a line 1/2" from the edge on the inside of the tunnel and clamped it down to my welding table with the scribed line right on the edge. I had ground a slight radius on the edge of the table so it wouldn't be such a sharp bend as well. This one is clamped in place ready to hammer over the edge of the table.



    Hammered over to form the flange. I just used a rubber dead blow hammer for this which worked well. The first one I did I bent it to far (forgot it didn't need to be a 90 degree bend) so I had to hammer it back some. The rest I was more careful not to bend it to far.



    All the new flanges bent and ready to fit up to the floorboards.



    Initial test fit shows there is anywhere from a bit of a gap to a bit of an overlap so I will be trimming it to fit for a butt weld to the floorboards.



    All fitted up and tack welded together. At this point I will be able to remove the screws and bolts holding the floorboards in place and remove it in one big piece to finish out the weld seams and add a few filler pieces in the middle and the end of the tunnel. Lots of work left to do but at least the big gapping rust holes in the floor will be gone soon!!
    Brian

  4. #204
    Registered Member Belair-o's Avatar
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    Hi Brian,
    Nice job! I agree with comments that have been posted in your thread: after all this work, and your intimate knowledge of everything in the construction of the car, it would be hard to sell with so much blood, sweat, and tears invested.
    Nice job! Doug

  5. #205
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belair-o View Post
    Hi Brian,
    Nice job! I agree with comments that have been posted in your thread: after all this work, and your intimate knowledge of everything in the construction of the car, it would be hard to sell with so much blood, sweat, and tears invested.
    Nice job! Doug
    Thanks Doug

  6. #206
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Progress Update

    Work continues with the floorboards and firewall. With the floorboards tacked together I took them out and finished up welding them together then put them back in to fit up the last part of the tunnel and the small patches between the tunnel and toe kick pieces.



    Last piece of the tunnel fit up and screwed in place. As I expected I had to flatten out the flanges on this piece like I had done on the tunnel.



    With that piece back out I fitted up pieces to fill in the gaps in the corner. Just tacked to the tunnel and floorboards for now until everything gets welded in for keeps, then it will weld to the toe kick piece as well. Passenger side in this shot, drivers side piece is about the same.



    With the rest of the small pieces fitted up and all the welding done this part is ready for permanent installation.



    View of what will be the bottom side of the car. I will need to re-prime this before welding it in for good as the frame center section makes parts of it hard to get at. May have to do a spray bomb job on this side as the epoxy primer I am using (Tamco) needs temps in the 60 to 65 range minimum to cure properly. It's been a cool spring here so that may not happen for a while yet here in central Wisconsin.



    So finally I am ready to weld in the firewall for good. With the engine and trans back out I had a few other things to take care of though. First was to get rid of all the old sealer in the windshield / door post area, and it will be much easier to do this before the firewall goes back in. I decided to just remove it all since it is half dried up and pulling away from the body so it's more of a dirt and moisture collector at this point.



    Looks much better with all that mess out of there. Metal all looks good yet other than surface rust on this side (drivers side) Areas like this I have been using up the leftover epoxy primer when I spray parts by using a small brush to get it in all the nooks and crannies to seal everything up well. I will never drive this car in the winter, and rarely in the rain so I figure it is better to just leave ways for water that may get inside to be able to drain out vs filling areas with big gobs of sealer like the factory did.



    Shot of the passenger side with all the old sealer cleaned out. That little white dot in the picture is a small rust pinhole most likely caused by moisture getting behind the big clump of sealer so that will need to be repaired.



    Sucks that the pinhole was behind the door hinge so the door and hinge had to come back off to get at it. Good that I did though as I found a couple more small rust pinholes in the same area as well. Thankfully all small enough to just weld them shut vs having to make any patch panels.



    All the holes welded up and ready for some primer. Again probably just some spray can stuff for now until the weather warms up.



    And finally I got some primer on the edges of the cowl and firewall so it can get welded back in. I made some small round pieces of masking tape with a leather punch to keep the primer off the plug weld areas. I though about getting some weld thru primer for this but when I looked at it online is was pretty costly and some of the reviews sounded like it was hard to get good welds with it too.
    I did get the firewall back in place today and got it about 75% welded back in but didn't get and pictures of that yet.
    Slow progress but getting there slow but sure.
    Brian

  7. #207
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    Nice...wish you were working on my 56.

  8. #208
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigblock View Post
    Nice...wish you were working on my 56.
    Thanks,
    Another project is the last thing I need right now. Trying to find the time to do some wiring upgrades on my 55 and promised my son I would help him with an exhaust system project on one of his cars.
    Brian

  9. #209
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    I dont think these cars are ever truly done, my 56 has been on the road for almost 20 years after a almost 30 year nap and I am still screwing with it.

  10. #210
    Registered Member Custer55's Avatar
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    Progress update

    Not much to show this time. I got the firewall all welded back in and the toe kick panels welded in place along with filling in a couple of small gaps between the firewall and toe kicks so every thing is sealed up nice. Then I got a coat of primer and a couple coats of spray can semi gloss black on the underside of the front floor pan.
    While giving that paint a few days to dry (slowly with the cool temps we have had this spring) I wanted to figure out a brake pedal master cylinder set up before the floor boards get welded in for good. This will be much easier to work on without the floor boards in place. I looked at some brake pedal / master cylinder assemblies online and found a couple that would work but before spending the money on one of those I pulled out the original brake and clutch assembly to see if I could make that work since it will bolt up to the original x-member section that I left in place when that was modified.
    After some major heating with the welding torch to drive out the pin holding the clutch pedal on I was able to get it all apart and the bushings inside are all in very good shape so I should be able to make it work by making brackets to hold a more modern booster and master cylinder. More on that later.



    Here the firewall is about 3/4 of the way done welding back in place with the screws holding it in on the passenger side yet. On the drivers side lower section I have the edge of the cowl hemmed back over the firewall so it all looks like the original seam again.



    In this shot the passenger side is all welded up and hemmed over as well. It looks good to have it back in place now and no more rust. That's all the pictures I have to this point. I have been working on a project on my 55 Chevy (yes I still have a tri-five) for the last week and a half since it dawned on me that I better get it done soon or it will have to be put off another year as driving season is almost here even with our lousy weather this spring.
    Post on that project coming soon.

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