[Sal]

Last August I posted that I had entered my 7o vert into a body shop that had aggressively started working on it and started to drill out floor pans "welds" and take off body panels. They were aggressive for about 2 days and then zip for the next 6 months. My car was moved around the shop 3 seperate times with me following it, pulling the engine, trans, gas tank ect.. Had it sand blasted about a month ago and there it sat, waiting.

I found a HOT ROD builder that is retired and works out of his garage building 1930's and 40s hot rods. He now has my car since Tues 3/11. Borrowing his trailer, I pulled the car to his garage, not high tech but he has already replaced inside frame rails, passenger floor pans and installed the passenger seat riser. Drivers side is almost cut and drilled and we will work through the weeked.

This will not be a concours restoration or a ECI clone. We are patching frame rails and pans where ever we can. I will post pics as things have moved quickly and have not taken pics with my camera. I have left 2 disposable camers with him as he will document the build.

Sal

 

[Local Hero]

Good for you! Sorry to hear the other shop dragged their feet so long. You're not alone in having that happen. Tons of guys here have been incarcerated in "paint jail" for far too long. Glad to hear you found a guy who will give the car the attention it needs and deserves.

 

[msycougar]

Sal, sorry to hear you were having those problems with the car at that shop. Sounds like you found some reliable help and experience on the convertible project. Hope to see you soon. Good luck!

Scott

 

[Smith Brother]

Nice thing about a very small often a ONE PERSON shop is that you are less likely to get shoved into a corner. Some big shops tend to hold you hostage if something else comes in.

I have a friend that owns a repair shop, not body shop, well, he NEVER turns down a customer. Even when he knows he can't get to it for weeks. He will push or drive it in the shop, start, then push out, and it SITS. It has amazed me that people still come to his shop, but they do.

I wish you well,

Dale in Indy

 

[Sal]

Progress in leaps

And bounds

This guy started my car on Tues 3/1/11, was out of town from Monday till Wed 3/9/11 and has most of the floor pans and inner rocker arms welded in. Keep in mind that we did not remove the entire rocker arm out of the torque boxes because the torque boxes were not rusted so we just fit them into the ends. Will get more pics of the car tomorrow.

I made a mistake on the inital date in my first post, the guy received my car on 3/1/11 not 3/11/11 Sal

 

[1970fastcat]

Glad to see you found the right guy for the job. Also glad that you took your car back and took it to someone else. To many people have that issue. They b!tch and complain about it, but leave it at the same shop anyway. Nice to see quick progress. Try posting the pictures a little bigger if you can, kind of hard to see the small ones.

 

[Sal]

Still learning with the pictures, thought they would enlarge when you click, but that function did not work on this group.

 

[Bad69cat]

They are doing great work so far! Hope it continues to go that way! A shop that does resto's is getting hard to find in the make a buck fast insurance crowd these days....which is why your car gets pushed out continually. Even letting you take pics!! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Sal]

This is a guy working out of his garage.
more pics and progress!

The best thing is that I can work at his side and he explains what he's doing and why.
I was able to strip paint from hood, fenders and trunk all this week!
Lucky ME
My hood has alot of work to be done because it is in such bad shape.

Sal

 

[Sal]

Still learning pics

 

[Sal]

This week we were able to work from 9am till 5:30 pm on Wed and Thurs. a few pics of our progress.

This was on the first day.

 

[Sal]

This was Friday. The epoxie will cure over the weekend and then he will fill where he met the old quarter into the new.

 

[Sal]

That is not me in the picture, Barry is a nice guy, has tons of hot rod builders experience. Alot of old Fords around with Chevy 350/350 setups in them. He tolerates my help through most of the morning but by the afternoon he gives me a straight edge screw driver to hold with the point up in my right hand and a star edge screw driver to hold in my left hand with the point down, standing at least four feet from the car and eight feet from him at all times. He says it helps him think. Still trying to figure out how, what do you think? Sal

 

[Al Bundy]

ROFL I would just keep holding those tools and stay out of his way. No point in slowing down such good progress.

 

[1970fastcat]

That old guy works fast, and good too. That little thinking trick sounds like something my old timer machinist would do. Hillarious, I love it.

 

[1969XR7Vert]

AHHHH!!! the old Tabco repro quarters!! Tough job to make them fit well. Beware the place below the bumper indent where the valence attaches. I cut pieces out of the original quarter on one side and spot welded them into the Tabco metal (after cutting out their lousy, totally ill-fitting contour there), on the other side I made a piece and spot welded it in. Be sure to have him mock up the valence to see what will be needed to make a good fit at the area I am speaking of. Otherwise, the ECI approves!

Regards,

Bob

 

[Sal]

Bob, thanks for the heads up, I will retrieve the oil quarter from the scrap pile for closer scrutiny. He already has to patch a piece into the rocker where the front wheel well was about an inch longer that the rocker. The Tabco quarters are made out of a 16 gauge metal but are not an exact fit. Sal

 

[1969XR7Vert]

...He already has to patch a piece into the rocker where the front wheel well was about an inch longer that the rocker. The Tabco quarters are made out of a 16 gauge metal but are not an exact fit. Sal

I believe this is because the Tabco's more closely match the 69 wheel wells than the '70 (which I understand has larger wheel well openings). On my car where things landed was fine, but I sectioned both sides (each one differently based on what was good/not good) in order to leave as much of the original metal as possible.

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Sal,

Thinking a little more on this (as ECI's tend to do), I have a couple other comments/advice for you on this job. 1. I believe you like fat tires (as I do). Have your guy take a look at the original quarter wheel well lip widths and compare with the Tabco's. The Tabco's have a lot more "margin" and need a fair amount of trimming to match the originals. The contour at the rear bottom or the wheel wells is rather unusual (on the originals) as well. I made a cardboard template and used it to transfer the edge shape from the originals to the Tabco's. Even the lip at the taillight panel has a lot of margin. I carefully duplicated the edge shape including the alignment hole so I could put a dowel in there to help align things before welding. 2. Another thing to be on the lookout for is the "soft" corners on the Tabco's, especially at the quarter extensions. I needed to square these up quite a bit to get a nice fit between the quarters and the quarter extensions. Actually, my body guy did this with filler as I recall. I had thought of welding up the corners and then grinding down to square them, but did not end up doing this. 2a. Did you buy these Tabco's and if yes, when? I am wondering if these are my first look at the new production run and finally an answer to these questions I have been wondering; are the new runs pieces better in any way than the old. If my observations hold, they are the same.

Regards,

Bob

 

[Sal]

Bob, I am actually going for a "original" look for my vert with the original wheels and hub caps. I will have a bit more chrome on it than original because I sent away everything that I could possibly chrome to be replated. The suspension, wheels, tires, shocks will all mimick the originals. I even plan to keep the front drum brakes. The 351 C 2v has been bored 30 over with new pistons, rings, valves etc but the cam is original specs. I did install a 4V intake and will go with an original carb that my buddy rebuilt.

I/WE did notice the exaggerated lip on the wheel well, door gam and back extension and excess were cut everywhere except wheel wells. He intends to trim the lips on both sides and taper from the top. In other words, the top will be thick and the sides will taper to original thickness. We/He also used the guide holes to line up new quarters.

The quarter extensions while not being "ready to go" were oK for ECI and ******* enginuity! The major body filler came from Yellow freight and their handling of the box. The box was torn, and beaten and the tape was open. The drivers side was the worst having a nice size Whiskey dent along the round of the fender. I/ we did not notice how the quarter extensions will line up but I noticed that one of the holes will need to be redrilled.

I bought mine from John's Classic Cougars, along with outer wheel wells, The outer wheel wells were probably more of a challenge than Quarters because they had to be cut three times and a piece welded in place before the quarter went on. They as you know, are for a 69/70 Mustang. The tops of the wheel wells are indented and used for support. In retrospect, We should have just patched the bad areas and moved on. John sent them ASAP and I received shipment in about 2 weeks. I will try to get better pictures of them for you. I would recommend Tabco, and to read up on your posts as you have done all of this before.

It's been an interesting journey so far, I am learning with a good teacher and you guys on this forum. Thanks for your input.
Sal