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Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project
- Thread starter Ponyman66
- Start date
Gigantopithecus
Well-Known Member
Re: Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project (Another Attempt!)
Nice! I gotta do the driver's floor in mine this week....hopefully.
Nice! I gotta do the driver's floor in mine this week....hopefully.
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Re: Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project (Another Attempt!)
Got more done during the past days off work. The weather was beautiful and cooperated. Most of the work isn't too visible as it was minor fiddly bits catching up. I FEEL like I was doing big stuff every day, all day! The seat belt mounts are all in, to include one on the driver's side seat pan...more on that at a later date! I also got the dash all stripped down. I ran out of daylight so I got it primed when I got home from work today. I also got the welds all cleaned up on the floor pan install and the entire interior floor is now primed also. It sure looks much better in gray primer than in RUST! I have a few more little bits of welding to do to the trunk and interior areas. Then it's a final coat of primer! I'm waiting on a right side seat pan and hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow. I was gonna repair the original right side, but ended up saying screw it. The left one was far too gone and I've had one waiting in the replacement sheet metal pile. Fortunately that pile has now gone down to several small pieces. I had a few more small welding chores to do, but ran out of gas...again! Since my wire is also running low I have to pick up more of both this week if I hope to get anything accomplished. What sucks is it's an hour (minimum), round trip to refill the gas bottle! I'm hoping to get all those smaller things finished during the first day off. I'm not sure whether I'm going to start on the remaining body repairs this week or start cleaning the engine compartment. Each needs to be done, but if I get the engine compartment cleaned and primed I can start fitting on the rack & pinion set up. That will lead to getting the new front suspension in too! I guess we'll just see how it goes!
Now before anyone busts me for no pics, I tried! After all the primer was shot I came in and got the camera. I got two pics shot when the battery went dead. I then tried to locate the charger with no luck (I STILL need to find it!). With no battery power left I couldn't take more pics AND I couldn't download the ones I took! Grrrrrrrr....... I'll get them posted in the next day or so. Stay tuned!
Got more done during the past days off work. The weather was beautiful and cooperated. Most of the work isn't too visible as it was minor fiddly bits catching up. I FEEL like I was doing big stuff every day, all day! The seat belt mounts are all in, to include one on the driver's side seat pan...more on that at a later date! I also got the dash all stripped down. I ran out of daylight so I got it primed when I got home from work today. I also got the welds all cleaned up on the floor pan install and the entire interior floor is now primed also. It sure looks much better in gray primer than in RUST! I have a few more little bits of welding to do to the trunk and interior areas. Then it's a final coat of primer! I'm waiting on a right side seat pan and hopefully it'll arrive tomorrow. I was gonna repair the original right side, but ended up saying screw it. The left one was far too gone and I've had one waiting in the replacement sheet metal pile. Fortunately that pile has now gone down to several small pieces. I had a few more small welding chores to do, but ran out of gas...again! Since my wire is also running low I have to pick up more of both this week if I hope to get anything accomplished. What sucks is it's an hour (minimum), round trip to refill the gas bottle! I'm hoping to get all those smaller things finished during the first day off. I'm not sure whether I'm going to start on the remaining body repairs this week or start cleaning the engine compartment. Each needs to be done, but if I get the engine compartment cleaned and primed I can start fitting on the rack & pinion set up. That will lead to getting the new front suspension in too! I guess we'll just see how it goes!
Now before anyone busts me for no pics, I tried! After all the primer was shot I came in and got the camera. I got two pics shot when the battery went dead. I then tried to locate the charger with no luck (I STILL need to find it!). With no battery power left I couldn't take more pics AND I couldn't download the ones I took! Grrrrrrrr....... I'll get them posted in the next day or so. Stay tuned!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Re: Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project (Another Attempt!)
Well it's been awhile but the good news is I found my battery charger for the camera...finally! The great news is the weather is back to cooperating and I got further on the car. Here's the latest:
Started stripping the engine compartment. Hopefully I can get it in primer next weekend!
I got a few more little tasks cleared up on the floorpan. The big thing is I finally got the last seat pan welded in. The floor is now officially finished! I just need to seam seal everything and shoot the interior with a good coat of epoxy primer. I also got the dash stripped down and in primer.
One of those little tasks mentioned above, I got the muffler hangars in the rear of the floor.
I have clean up projects I can do in the garage at night if I get bored and want to get more done to the car. Since I recently got my blasting cabinet fully functional I decided to play with it and get some stuff done for the car. Here's the dash grill after I bead blasted it and primed.
I also got the rear brake line bracket welded to the bottom of the floor. The pics didn't turn out though. One hurdle I also got done was finally removing the front windshield and trim. I HATE pulling the trim! Locating the retainers isn't too difficult. Getting them to release is a total bitch though!! I succeeded in getting the trim off with no damage AND the windshield out without breaking it!
After cleaning out the window opening I only found several small "surprises". It was great they weren't too bad, especially considering it's a vinyl top car. Next weekend I'm taking the plunge. I've decided to start drilling out the 10 gazillion spot welds to get the cowl top off. I DON'T look forward to it, but I'll be happen to finally get started on the repairs there. That's it for now, stay tuned!
Well it's been awhile but the good news is I found my battery charger for the camera...finally! The great news is the weather is back to cooperating and I got further on the car. Here's the latest:
Started stripping the engine compartment. Hopefully I can get it in primer next weekend!
I got a few more little tasks cleared up on the floorpan. The big thing is I finally got the last seat pan welded in. The floor is now officially finished! I just need to seam seal everything and shoot the interior with a good coat of epoxy primer. I also got the dash stripped down and in primer.
One of those little tasks mentioned above, I got the muffler hangars in the rear of the floor.
I have clean up projects I can do in the garage at night if I get bored and want to get more done to the car. Since I recently got my blasting cabinet fully functional I decided to play with it and get some stuff done for the car. Here's the dash grill after I bead blasted it and primed.
I also got the rear brake line bracket welded to the bottom of the floor. The pics didn't turn out though. One hurdle I also got done was finally removing the front windshield and trim. I HATE pulling the trim! Locating the retainers isn't too difficult. Getting them to release is a total bitch though!! I succeeded in getting the trim off with no damage AND the windshield out without breaking it!
After cleaning out the window opening I only found several small "surprises". It was great they weren't too bad, especially considering it's a vinyl top car. Next weekend I'm taking the plunge. I've decided to start drilling out the 10 gazillion spot welds to get the cowl top off. I DON'T look forward to it, but I'll be happen to finally get started on the repairs there. That's it for now, stay tuned!
5f09CNot4Sale
New Member
Re: Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project (Another Attempt!)
Hope you not wanting me to send you a cowl section from our rust free Arkansas cars. If so :censored. I do however have a one rate box going out Wed so just let me know. Ha-ha!
Looking good though, Nice progerss!
Hope you not wanting me to send you a cowl section from our rust free Arkansas cars. If so :censored. I do however have a one rate box going out Wed so just let me know. Ha-ha!
Looking good though, Nice progerss!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Re: Restofied - My '66 Coupe Project (Another Attempt!)
Thanks guys! I've taken the next several days off in combination with my normal days off. I'm hoping to see even more significant progress. The little things that need to be done are time consuming and (for the most part), are mostly only visible to you. A lot of those things are caught up now so hope I can concentrate on the big stuff again!
Thanks guys! I've taken the next several days off in combination with my normal days off. I'm hoping to see even more significant progress. The little things that need to be done are time consuming and (for the most part), are mostly only visible to you. A lot of those things are caught up now so hope I can concentrate on the big stuff again!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Due to work commitments yesterday (on my day off no less!), and rain on my first vacation day I didn't get as much done as I wanted. Wednesday afternoon I was able to get the top of the cowl off. I was tickled to death in the fact the current spot weld cutter I'm using held up excellent. It's a Blair cutter with double sided replaceable bits. What tickled me was I only used one bit (both sides though), to do the entire cowl. I previously had an Eastwood cutter when I did the cowl on my fastback. I went through six bits (single sided), to get the top off of it!
Once opened up it was better than I feared, but not near as good as I had hoped for! I knew the dams (rings), around the vent openings were rotted loose on both sides. They had been in there just rattling around. I previously had reached through the openings from inside the car and pulled both out! Knowing this I had already bought the left and right cowl patches.
My disappointment though was in the amount of rust across the entire forward edge of the cowl. It wasn't the length of rusted area (towards the rear of the car), but the width...the entire thing from side to side. As such it allowed water to drain onto the top edge of the firewall too, causing it to rust through. Not a wide patch, just the entire way across. The center area of the lower cowl also had deep pitting and small holes. Replacing the firewall was not an option. I knew I'd fab the entire top and down an inch into the face of it. The quandary came with the lower cowl. Replace it with an entire assembly or fab the center section of it!
The upper cowl is in good shape. The cheapest I could find a lower cowl for a 65/66 is $180 + shipping. Add to that, what to do with the patches I had already bought? I talked over my options with a friend Wednesday afternoon, and then talked to the wife when she got home from work (she controls the purse strings on this project!). I told her I had pretty much talked myself into fabrication work since I have the metal on hand already. I also have the ability, time and labor to do it. Money for a new lower cowl I really DON'T have! I still have more primers, paint and sealers budgeted out already.
Since work stuff yesterday kept me from the car, I was in the house when the wife got home. She told me she had done her travel claim at work for a recent business trip. She also said she was getting money back which I could have to buy a new lower cowl! THAT'S why I've kept her around all these years!! Call me crazy, but I politely declined and said the money could go elsewhere (my daughter is graduating college in 3 weeks, it'll go to helping out with her grad presents instead!).
This is the last MAJOR area of sheet metal repair to do on the car. I still have some smaller projects to take care of, but they all PALE in comparison to this and the recently finished floors! With that said, today I took the plunge! Here's the pics:
This is what the cowl looked like when I opened it up.
Here's the cowl section removed, the new patches pretty much fitted into place and the main portion of the center area fab'd up.
Once I had the main part done I started on the top lip of the firewall. Since I'll need to install it before the lower cowl goes back in, I figured might as well get ALL of the major fab stuff done today! Here's the rusted out area that necessitated the repair. You can see some of it at the radius from the vertical part of the firewall to the horizontal area. It's pretty much like that all the way across, just varying levels of damage.
Here's the new lip formed. I still have to make a template and form the front edge that received the lower cowl.
All together the work took me about six hours today. That was primarily due to the lack of proper equipment. If I had a shear, metal break, bead roller and shrinker/stretcher it would have only taken an hour or two! The firewall lip is 55" across with a 1" vertical section to weld in and a 2" lip area to work with. I had to cut it out of a 4' x 5' panel with cutoff disk in the grinder. The 90deg bend was then hand formed between two steel "L" in my bench vise...5" at a time, back and forth in three steps. Since I ended up with a straight 55" long "L", now I had to get the arch in it. This was done by multiple relief cuts across it. Once I get it fully done I'll weld the cuts back up and grind flush before installing it. I also had to hand form the center section much the same way. Since it was a MUCH shorter piece it didn't take as long to bend. The tapered "Z" section at the front edge was a little of a pain, but it now matches the original contours and you can see in the pic that it lines up nicely with the patch panel. I formed the arch in the whole thing by using one of the support poles in my garage to bend the arch in. Necessity is the mother of invention! I don't have a bead roller to put those back in. Since the ribs are in good shape on the original center section I'll just cut and section those in. Due to the various windshield wiper mounting points and recesses in the rear of the cowl there's no way I could make those. The section is also in excellent shape. I'm just going to section it back on. Hopefully, with an early start, I'll have it done by tomorrow evening.
Yeah it WOULD have been MUCH easier to buy a new lower cowl. My labor is free though and I already had the material. It was a tough call, but I would have had to put other things on hold which NEED money to get. I was hesitant at first, but as usual, once I started I just chugged away at it. I'll post more pics once finished and before the top goes back on. Wish me luck!!
p.s. Almost forgot! The last body piece I need for the car to 100% was a front valance. I had the money set aside and was ready to spring for it this past weekend, but decided to wait...just in case! Lo and behold an NOS valance popped up on Ebay at the beginning of the week. It had no bids, no reserve and a VERY low starting price. SCORE! $55...sole bidder!!! Can't wait to start fitting body panels soon!!
Once opened up it was better than I feared, but not near as good as I had hoped for! I knew the dams (rings), around the vent openings were rotted loose on both sides. They had been in there just rattling around. I previously had reached through the openings from inside the car and pulled both out! Knowing this I had already bought the left and right cowl patches.
My disappointment though was in the amount of rust across the entire forward edge of the cowl. It wasn't the length of rusted area (towards the rear of the car), but the width...the entire thing from side to side. As such it allowed water to drain onto the top edge of the firewall too, causing it to rust through. Not a wide patch, just the entire way across. The center area of the lower cowl also had deep pitting and small holes. Replacing the firewall was not an option. I knew I'd fab the entire top and down an inch into the face of it. The quandary came with the lower cowl. Replace it with an entire assembly or fab the center section of it!
The upper cowl is in good shape. The cheapest I could find a lower cowl for a 65/66 is $180 + shipping. Add to that, what to do with the patches I had already bought? I talked over my options with a friend Wednesday afternoon, and then talked to the wife when she got home from work (she controls the purse strings on this project!). I told her I had pretty much talked myself into fabrication work since I have the metal on hand already. I also have the ability, time and labor to do it. Money for a new lower cowl I really DON'T have! I still have more primers, paint and sealers budgeted out already.
Since work stuff yesterday kept me from the car, I was in the house when the wife got home. She told me she had done her travel claim at work for a recent business trip. She also said she was getting money back which I could have to buy a new lower cowl! THAT'S why I've kept her around all these years!! Call me crazy, but I politely declined and said the money could go elsewhere (my daughter is graduating college in 3 weeks, it'll go to helping out with her grad presents instead!).
This is the last MAJOR area of sheet metal repair to do on the car. I still have some smaller projects to take care of, but they all PALE in comparison to this and the recently finished floors! With that said, today I took the plunge! Here's the pics:
This is what the cowl looked like when I opened it up.
Here's the cowl section removed, the new patches pretty much fitted into place and the main portion of the center area fab'd up.
Once I had the main part done I started on the top lip of the firewall. Since I'll need to install it before the lower cowl goes back in, I figured might as well get ALL of the major fab stuff done today! Here's the rusted out area that necessitated the repair. You can see some of it at the radius from the vertical part of the firewall to the horizontal area. It's pretty much like that all the way across, just varying levels of damage.
Here's the new lip formed. I still have to make a template and form the front edge that received the lower cowl.
All together the work took me about six hours today. That was primarily due to the lack of proper equipment. If I had a shear, metal break, bead roller and shrinker/stretcher it would have only taken an hour or two! The firewall lip is 55" across with a 1" vertical section to weld in and a 2" lip area to work with. I had to cut it out of a 4' x 5' panel with cutoff disk in the grinder. The 90deg bend was then hand formed between two steel "L" in my bench vise...5" at a time, back and forth in three steps. Since I ended up with a straight 55" long "L", now I had to get the arch in it. This was done by multiple relief cuts across it. Once I get it fully done I'll weld the cuts back up and grind flush before installing it. I also had to hand form the center section much the same way. Since it was a MUCH shorter piece it didn't take as long to bend. The tapered "Z" section at the front edge was a little of a pain, but it now matches the original contours and you can see in the pic that it lines up nicely with the patch panel. I formed the arch in the whole thing by using one of the support poles in my garage to bend the arch in. Necessity is the mother of invention! I don't have a bead roller to put those back in. Since the ribs are in good shape on the original center section I'll just cut and section those in. Due to the various windshield wiper mounting points and recesses in the rear of the cowl there's no way I could make those. The section is also in excellent shape. I'm just going to section it back on. Hopefully, with an early start, I'll have it done by tomorrow evening.
Yeah it WOULD have been MUCH easier to buy a new lower cowl. My labor is free though and I already had the material. It was a tough call, but I would have had to put other things on hold which NEED money to get. I was hesitant at first, but as usual, once I started I just chugged away at it. I'll post more pics once finished and before the top goes back on. Wish me luck!!
p.s. Almost forgot! The last body piece I need for the car to 100% was a front valance. I had the money set aside and was ready to spring for it this past weekend, but decided to wait...just in case! Lo and behold an NOS valance popped up on Ebay at the beginning of the week. It had no bids, no reserve and a VERY low starting price. SCORE! $55...sole bidder!!! Can't wait to start fitting body panels soon!!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Well Kat, it's lookin' more and more like I may be following your act on just springing for a cowl assembly! Yesterday was nothing more than an exercise in futility! After 4 hours of work I ended up having to cut apart stuff I'd spent welding together. One little misalignment caused everything else to go south also. Of course the beauty was, you wouldn't discover this until AFTER it had gotten that far! :rant
I shoulda just started on fixing the firewall edge. At least SOMETHING would have gotten accomplished! On my next days off I' going at it again. If it's still frustrating me I'll just have to pop for a cowl. The wife said since I wouldn't take the all the money, she'd still pay at least half. I also figured Ebay has sucked so much money out of me all these years, it can now give some back! I decided to cull my collection from a previous hobby and recoup some of the bucks there. Most of the stuff has grown in value so that's a plus! I may still be able to decline the wife's offer AND not dip into my budget!
I shoulda just started on fixing the firewall edge. At least SOMETHING would have gotten accomplished! On my next days off I' going at it again. If it's still frustrating me I'll just have to pop for a cowl. The wife said since I wouldn't take the all the money, she'd still pay at least half. I also figured Ebay has sucked so much money out of me all these years, it can now give some back! I decided to cull my collection from a previous hobby and recoup some of the bucks there. Most of the stuff has grown in value so that's a plus! I may still be able to decline the wife's offer AND not dip into my budget!
If you end up splurging for a whole new cowl, CJ Pony has free shipping. That's where I got mine from. Saves a little bit of $ at least.
Fast68back
Guest
Nice work. Sorry about the setback.
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
Well looks like finances can handle the cowl assembly. As such that's on hold for now while I get one ordered. The past few days have been tied up with work stuff (yet again, on my days off!), and stuff around the house I neglected while working on the car. Now we're due for nasty weather. I did manage to make forward progress though. I got the block all cleaned and ready to reassemble. Tomorrow I hope to have it all back together. Good thing I have indoor projects that still allow progress. I'll get some pics up when the motor is back together!
While I believe I posted it elsewhere, I'll say it again here. Thanks Kat for the heads up on CJ's! Keep up the great progress on yours!!
While I believe I posted it elsewhere, I'll say it again here. Thanks Kat for the heads up on CJ's! Keep up the great progress on yours!!
I know your feelin kinda bad about the setback, but damn John, your makin some mad progress on that car. I would say it will be in my driveway at
MBBV!
MBBV!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
FINALLY! After a month of delay I received my new cowl today. :yah I followed Kat's recommendations and ended up getting it from CJ's (thanks Kat!). From the time ordered until sitting on my door step was almost 48 hours to the very minute! I'm just waiting now until Sunday for my first day off to fit and weld it in. Pics forthcoming of the progress.....at last!! I'm hoping to complete the last of the sheetmetal repairs this coming weekend.. then on to final bodywork /paint prep!
Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
While I didn't get the new cowl welded in as hoped, I did get all the prep work and fitting done. On Sunday and Monday the heat was absolutely oppressive! On Sunday I took the cowl out of the box and set it down. After only 15-20 minutes sitting it was too hot to pick up without gloves...OUCH! I tried working for a bit, but couldn't bear it. I waited until later in the day when it cooled down some. Same thing on Monday! What I did accomplish was finally being able to fully form the upper firewall lip. While I had already done the basics with it, I had to await the arrival of the cowl to finish it. It has the correct profile of the original with all of the original contours. It took several hours to make a pattern off of my fastback's firewall and then do all the forming. I finished it on Sunday and was happy with it. On Monday I fitted it to the the firewall and got all the old rusty stuff cut off. The new section was then tweaked and fitted to weld. There's several other patches that needed to be made to the side area, so I made those too. Once I got everything fitted I clamped it in place with panel clamps so I could ensure the lower cowl would fit properly. It's pretty much sitting on nicely now. I had intended to weld everything in today. I had to run some errands first and by the time I got home a thunderstorm rolled in and drenched everything. So much for welding today! At least I got the hardest parts done! Here's the pics:
What the upper firewall lip looked like....what was left of it that is!
The new lip fully formed. It took awhile to form all the lips and edge contours. Thank goodness for the fastback in order to get a template off of! As you can see in the previous photo, there wasn't much left to go on!
Another angle of the new lip
The new lower cowl laid into place. There's a rusted section at the far right side of the new cowl (part of the side panel). I made a new section for it also. I just have to cut out the rusty section and weld in the patch before installing the lower cowl.
It's getting there! I'll be so thankful to finally finish the metal work. Barring anymore rains, I hope to have it welded in next weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
What the upper firewall lip looked like....what was left of it that is!
The new lip fully formed. It took awhile to form all the lips and edge contours. Thank goodness for the fastback in order to get a template off of! As you can see in the previous photo, there wasn't much left to go on!
Another angle of the new lip
The new lower cowl laid into place. There's a rusted section at the far right side of the new cowl (part of the side panel). I made a new section for it also. I just have to cut out the rusty section and weld in the patch before installing the lower cowl.
It's getting there! I'll be so thankful to finally finish the metal work. Barring anymore rains, I hope to have it welded in next weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!