Scratch build body - Panel fitting progress

[65-408]

Slowly making progress on fitting panels on the scratch built body…

To recap, here is the salvaged:

The completed shell:

The doors, fenders, hood, valance, trunk, etc are rough fit… the doors needed to be cut on the bottom edges some, the fenders needed lots of rework to fix the door gap, door to rear quarter was perfect, trunk lid needed some fitting as well… next will be glass and glass trim test fit and door glass/trim test fit…

 

[Dne']

Absolutely incredible!!

 

[cmayna]

Wow! what a project you have taken on. You should be very proud of what you've done so far.

 

[Starfury]

Wow, that's a LOT of work. Looks great!

 

[janschutz]

You got great skills, looks like everything fits perfect. Imagine what these would of cost from the factory if they made them fit that good.


Congrats and keep it up.

 

[70_Fastback]

I think it looks amazing. Great job thus far. :good

 

[Fst Blk]

Holy cow :10 That's amazing progress.
Bill

 

[monkeystash]

Very impressive! Nice work!

 

[Anonymous]

Looks OK I guess. Not quite up to :nick quality though.







I keed, I keed......awesome build :10

 

[lethal289]

:eek Thats amazing! :good

 

[65-408]

trust me, it is far from perfect... this is just getting everything in the ballpark. while it is nice to have all new metal, it also drives nothing being easy and just working... I don't know for sure if anything fits, so I am planning on pretty much building the entire car to check/fix fit on everything prior to doing final bodywork... think about things like the glass and trim, it is hard enough to make that fit when you are just removing it and replacing, never mind after relacing the roof skin, cowl, quarters, and rear filler piece and loosing all the trim clip holes...

screw it, maybe I should just plan on fixing everything with greatstuff after its painted, that should work right?

 

[guruatbol]

WOW, what an amazing transformation! You have mad skills!

I can only hope to be 1/4 as good and I am starting with a nice original car.

WOW!

Mel

 

[fordrule]

incredible build. I like how you went with the shelby front fiberglass. how was the fit on all the fiberglass and where did you get the parts?

 

[66benchcoupe]

Truly amazing. You're a badass! Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Whats the estimate on total hours involved?

Robert

 

[oateater]

I'm speechless. Very nice work!!!!!

 

[garner67]

WoW! That's an impressive project. Since you're doing all the metal work, I guess it would be cheaper to rebuild the car panel by panel versus purchasing a dynacorn body (unfortunately, there is no dynacorn body for 65/66 fastbacks, so that's not an option).

How long did it take you to go from your first pic to where you are now?

What are your long term plans?.... Stock restoration; modified build; paint color; etc?

Keep up the great work!!!

 

[65-408]

I had a post on the shell build a while back. That was done last fall with a past co-worker of mine that now runs muscle car metal in seabrook NH. he has been building 1st gen camaros from scratch for many years and is a dynacorn distributor. Got the parts through him (all dynacorn). Some were better than others, but generally all were great for the price. This was his first ford endeavor. We built it together and I learned a ton (he is way up the curve on build your own unibody techniques). we adapted his camaro jig... The shell was built in about 2 months, probably 200ish man hours (including alot of head scratchin and figurin time...).

It has taken me the rest of the year to get the body panels fit ... while working on random mechanical things at the same time, steering, suspension, rear...

Sinse you asked, the plan is:

Exterior:

Plane Jane white and chrome, 17X8 Vintage 45's: 225/45 F, 255/40R

Interior:
Stock Black
Shelby wheel and dash gauge pod

Motor:
351W

Clutch:
Mcleod Clutch and HTB

Rear:
9�
New Traction-Lock
3.50 Gears
Heidt’s 4-Link w/Coil-overs

Front Suspension:
Arning Drop
Roller spring perches
Roller UCA
Roller LCA
Adjustable strut rods
Camber kit
1 1/8" front sway bar
620# front springs 1" drop

Steering:
Std 19:1 Box, manual
Quick Steer Pitman and Idler arms

Brakes:
Wilwood Aluminum Master Cylinder
Wilwood 12� Disc F+R

Exhaust:
Undecided, leaning towards:
full 3�, w/H
spintech sportsmans
side exit

 

[monkeystash]

You should start a build thread here:

http://www.stangfix.com/testforum/index.php/board,48.0.html

You and I are building very similar cars. Hope to compare notes more often.

 

[tarafied1]

awesome build. I have been helping a buddy do the same thing. He bought a 65 FB "roof" and we have built the car from the ground up. I tried to buy it from him as he has lost his motivation and it is just sitting now. Anyway, very cool and I understand the having boys part too!!!

 

[stangg]

Looks good 65-408, Do you go to Skips at all? That's always a good take for a car show. If so hopefully will get to see it there sometime.