Post some pics after you remove the interior and we'll see what you have, or "don't have" so to speak.
Will do. I guess I could start a thread with what pics I already took. The dash wont be hard (jinx) to get out so I can remove those vents.
@ Chuck W.
Did you get that turbo 4 put back together? I bought some motor mounts from you about 3 years ago ( I live on the west side) and I saw it but it was still on a stand.
And welcome to the site.... I see you made it over alright
Thanks, Yeah it didn't hurt to bad. I'm going to wait till I get the engine and tranny out before I start cutting metal on my project. I was planning on removing the dash but as I type this I am wondering if I should leave it in for support. I will have to at least temporary move it to get the under seat vents removed.
Very cool! Never seen a convertible, that must of been the conversion by Car Craft? I am starting to wounder the same thing as baxo, do you ever go to bed? lol
What are your plans for it, just a driver?
after looking at the pics again i can see where rust is bubbling threw the paint so this will be an other repair job aye?
Man... its been awhile, no great progress on the bird yet, I didn't realize the thread has been going on with out me, I have stopped getting notices. Anyway, I am actually going to get the correct size wire today and came back to make sure I was going to get the right size. I am having a hard time finding a good place to get sheet metal for a fair price but I should get some soon.
With school and house work I never have time to work on the bird.... its how its been for a while.
I just looked and I think the wire is for gas setup. Couldn't tell because the label was torn but it said something about gascore or something to the lines of that. I'll see if I can get some wire tomorrow and talk to my dad and see if he has a tank, I think he was out that's why I didn't grab the bottle with the welder.
Ah 023... I was thinking 025, would 025 work if I cant find 23? The welder is a Lincoln arc welder "weld pack 100" is all it says. It did have gas set up for it but I don't have a bottle now. I am pretty sure it is set up to run without gas, for gas isn't the - + reversed?
I'll mess with the speed and temp some more I guess. In laymen terms A is cold and D is hot right? the thing that sucks is there is no in between only A,B,C,D
So I finally got a chance to practice welding again after a few years, and taking a brake from wrenching on my car. I took a fender and tried to make some beads on it, I set the welder to what the chart said for .032 wire then adjusted the speed up or down a little. I know .25 wire is preferred but this is what was in the welder so I was decided to go with it for now. I made one hole and then filled it back in with weld, but I was not able to really make any beads. Guess its been longer then I thought. I was wondering what I was or was not doing correctly any advise?
The browner area is the hole I filled in. It was about the size of a dime. I had a hard time getting clear pictures as well.
Yes. Its sitting in there now, the garage is "technically" a two car garage, but its more like a one car garage with room to work around in. I have that 5.0 sitting on a stand to go in the bird (still need to finish putting that together). The motor will be coming out at some time. I think I will just do a little of both...work on the floor and get the motor ready to be pulled.
As of right now I don't think the actual firewall needs to be replaced, its the side walls that connect to the firewall that has the rust. If I cut out small sections (the size of the rust) and replace it I should be ok with keeping things still strong and lining up? like around the strut towers... there is small areas of rust and I don't want those places to get misaligned and not able to drive down the road straight.
I know it! The only thing I am worried about with a parts car is where to put it. Having a full car on the side of the house is one thing but I still live in a subdivision and I don't know how they would feel with a gutted and chopped up car there. The strut tower area is the only real place I am not sure about. I have wondered how it would be to replace the whole engine bay area from front bumper to firewall. The radiator support was bent a little and I straighten it out with a torch the best I could a few years ago after a deer did a somersault over my roof.
What would be better, get the motor out first then do any metal work? or do the floors and/or rockers then pull the motor and other metal work?
I decided to go ahead and remove the dash...sort of. I have it all loose but I will leave it in because of the wiring harness, I just don't want to deal with that head ache.
So I got my dad's welder and sand blaster, I need an adapter for the hose on his air compressor because he has it set up at home differently. So I was getting antsy and wanted to weld, well I couldn't get a good ground I think for the wire to even feed so then I decided to remove the fender I was going to weld on so I could make sure I had good contact and all. I was going to replace the fender anyway.
Good thing I decided to do all that because yes... you guessed it I found more rust. I think now I should wait till I get the engine out and I might just end up striping every thing down like ic has done. I might end up with a "Project Evolution" after all. You cant see it in the first pic but on the wall to the right is the grill from our old cougar. I saved it and now its on my wall.... just thought you guys would feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that lol
You know when I pulled that fender off I did feel pretty bummed and was getting really discouraged...
here are the pics. sorry that they are so big and blurry this is near the firewall on the driver side engine bay the other side of that same area directly above the tire inside
That's looking real good. That one pic of the engine bay, looks like the steering shaft (its in that area) seems a little rusty...now with all that work your not going to let a little rusty thing inside your engine bay are ya? :)
Wow looks like it might actually be back on the road soon then huh? Well maybe not... what do you have planed for the engine? I worked a little more on mine, Nothing worth taking pictures of though I will be getting a sandblaster this weekend from my dad .... stay tuned
Is this car intended for just a cruiser? Do you have plans to ever take it to the track?
for the rear quarters yes. In front of the rear tires, from molding down. This will show you what area I need, that's the new rocker I have but it only covers so much area.
The inner rockers I may be able to fab like you did. I will be getting a sandblaster this week so I can start finding were the good metal starts again. I am thinking just straight sheet metal can fix the floor boards. I need to figure out exactly where the body mounts are. I know there are two near the rear wheels and are fairly exposed at the moment so I might have to box those areas back in with sheet metal. I think all the other mounts are OK (rusted out wise) The driver side A pillar and the rear where the IRS bolts up are the two areas I am nervous about. I wont be able to get the car in the air completely till next week ether so I haven't really been able to look real well near the back of the car.
In all honesty, if I can get away with not using a donor car I would be happy...except for the outer sheet metal of course. By the way, I gave up getting the dash out. I'm just going to cut the vents and tape the cut with foil tape when I put it back together.... its just vents for the rear passengers anyway lol
