I used the data from the shop manual to set up a datum line. This is where I found out the dimension for the height of the back of the rear frame rails was incorrect. It took awhile for me to believe that. There is a thread here somewhere started on the subject, along with several others.

 

Am I missing something, or is there no longer an "edit" function?

I wanted to add an explanation to the above post explaining what the two strings are, one is for the shop manual datum, and one for the George Liskey diagram datum.

 

I'm glad you cleared that up...I was wondering what all the strings were showing :grin2:.

As far as the Edit feature, you only have a short time after the post to edit and if someone replies right after you post it is no longer available after that point.

That is some very nice work on the car btw

 

A body shop owner up the street is restoring his 65 FB. He told me the Dynacorn quarter panel for his car fit perfectly. Surprisingly it appears to be a heavier gauge than the the hardtop quarters. I figured they'd be the same.

 

Right side was pretty rotted under the 1/4.









I thought I could go in from the inside and clean up the rotted out frame under the roof, but it was just too bad, so the roof came off.

 

 

Here's about as far down as it got, keep in mind the rear frame rails, crossmember, and trunk floors are already replaced.

 

added the wheel house

 

I'm filling this build thread in years later, so I have some pictures out of order. When I moved to the PS side i noticed a little bubble over where the right door striker would be, dug into it a little bit...

Ouch!

Cut off the outer skin to get at it.


Had to patch the inner skin



And the outer:

 

It was time to start fitting the NOS 1/4s and the rest of the back end. The 1/4s I found on this forum back in 2000. I drove to Muscatine IA (935 miles each way) to pick up from a member, who I think his name is Mel.






Stripped of their original red oxide, which maybe I should have left it because lead makes paint stick real good, lol



A coat of SPI epoxy

 

Cleaned up the car in anticipation of the new parts.

 

Put everything together with screws to make sure it was in the right spot.

 

I hear a common refrain that these cars didn't fit together too good when they were new, as an excuse as to why repro parts don't fit.

I had never found that to be true as it seemed NOS parts always dropped right on.

But, it finally did happen, two Ford parts that didn't line up. The NOS 1/4s didn't fit the original 1/4 extensions.



Since I follow 22GTs advice and don't throw out anything,



I verified what was going on with the old 1/4s before I started cutting the welds on the new 1/4s. Sure enough the extensions did fit the original 1/4s perfectly.

Original 1/4, well part of it



and the extension

 

After much test fitting, measuring, and help from someone who used to post here, Skitzo's measurements, I got the back end lined up with just sheet metal screws.

The window opening was tough, I had to line up the old roof, remeasure the front window opening, then line up the new roof to leave the same opening, then line up the rear window to deck lid transition pan to leave the right opening for the rear window.

The repro deck lid to window panel has a different shape in the window channel. the back is not at 90 degrees, but is sloped leaving less room for the seal. I wanted to make sure weather strip would fit.



I actually installed the window, pulled the string and all. Gaps looked ok, but i still wasn't sure it was right

My old window molding was dented up. before it went obsolete, I bought som NOS replacements. I dug the old ones out for a test fit. I don't actually have the clips in the opening so the molding wouldn't stay down in spots, but it looks like it would with the clips. Anyone know if i could get the old ones straightened?

This was done with a repro weatherstrip from Dan? Carpenter. Is that the best available repro? I can see why Kelly had trouble getting the molding on. Looks like it stands proud of the panels a little. I can't wait for the fun of trying to do this with actual goop on the gasket...What a mess that must make.

Looking in the trunk, here is the Dynacorn under window support, cut apart and patched to have the same number of pieces as the original.

I added the date code in the same spot as the original

 

Sprayed some 3M sound deadener on the inner rear 1/4s.

 

Epoxy primed the interior.

 

Epoxy primed the bottom, took it for a spin around the driveway... lol

 

Man, this is awsome!

Makes me want to go out in the backyard right now and start prepping my car to do the same thing you have done. Great work, and a great inspiration to the rest of us with projects that need to get off the ground.

We bought this car in June 1998, and it was supposed to be a high school graduation gift for my daughter in 2000. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the car is still in this condition today.

 

Keep up the great work , I have been 7 years doing mine , I guess it is a life time project

 

Very, very Nice!!

 

Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully I'm getting close.

 

Looks great so far!

 

This build thread was started years after I started on the car, so here is the story of the doors, from my door thread....

I had 5 used doors and 4 repro doors to choose from.

If I had a magic wand, and could combine parts of the used doors, I would have been in good shape. They all had issues where the interior 'grain" is, so I didn't know how I could weld them up and recreate the grain.

Of the repro doors, one pair had the exact look of the factory grain, but less pronounced. I'm not sure how I'd could scuff them, let alone prime and paint them without washing out the grain.

The importer of the other repro doors says his grain was chosen to eliminate that problem, and that if I had primed them, they'd look fine. But as they come the grain looks totally different. I sent them back.

Here are some pictures:

Factory grain, dipped door:

Repro pair 1, same grain, but more subtle:

Repro pair 2, different grain, supposedly looks the same primed:

Picture from importer, showing one of the above doors primed:

 

My used doors....

I could write about a 1000 words on each door. Most were either rusted on the bottom frame and or lower front frame corner, pretty complex places to fab patches. The door with the best frame I had was actually rusted through on the inside face about an inch below the door panel? Not sure how that happened.

All the drivers doors I had are broken where the latch mounts. Not sure how to weld that up without ruining the grain there.

Of the repro doors with the correct grain, fit is ok and workable, except, I didn't know how to fix this?

I also had this used door I "like", but the UPS man bent it in places that me, as a crappy bodyman, didn't know how to fix. especially near the door handle raised part? I'm good a fixing rust, but subtle hammer and dolly work is different.

This door was also completely broken where the bear claw latch screws in:

But the bottom frame sure is nice!

My original drivers door had latch issues,

and handle issues:

Ended up using the UPS damaged door and the rusted inner face door, here they are done,

I was going to use the repos with the good grain, but based on other posts on the board I thought I'd need to install the guts to make sure I could get the windows and vent windows to line up. BUT, my car shell has none of the side door molding in place and that stuff is somewhat problematic to take on and off repeatedly, so I'd have nothing to make sure the windows sealed against. Sure I could guess , but, it led me to trying with two of the best doors I had lying around.

After sand blasting, and poking with an awl, those doors weren't too good, but I soldiered on.

Drivers door










Passanger door, decided I could cut the back corner of another drivers door and make it the front corner of the passenger door









I think they will be rust free long after I depart, but maybe not.

I blasted them inside and out,. Poured epoxy into the door and rolled them around until it was oozing out the seams. Let them sit standing up so the epoxy dried thick in the bottom and on the inside of the front edge.

The I painted them. I used white epoxy so I can see in there when it becomes time to assemble them.









And, as much as I hate stink bugs, I feel bad for this one.

 

I didn't want to have to "scuff" the doors and obscure any grain, so I primered the interior of them with reduced epoxy, then shot them final interior color while still in the "recoat" window.

 

The doors look great...is it just me or is it REALLY hard to retain the texturing?