week 23-24 March 2014.... '69 body finally attached to 2005 chassis

Finally permanently attaching the 1969 body to the 2005 chassis... coated all the inside parts with POR 15.  Took the skateboard out for one last drive... and using panel bond & 100 clamps the two halves were permanently joined. .. Also relocated the gas filler from the side of the rear qtr. to the top of the fender with the roll top Shelby style cap.

2005 mustang (skateboard) last time out before body is attached

2005 mustang (skateboard) last time out before body is attached

69 body- hanging from ceiling- por 15 on all the inner skin

'69 body ready to drop onto 2005

rear trunk and qtrs on 2005 re-worked with pinch seams mating up to 68

body mounted- panel bond & clamps on mating surfaces

body mounted- panel bond & clamps on mating surfaces

fuel filler relocated

fuel filler relocated

shelby type - lemans- roll latch fuel filler

week 21-22 February 2014 rear sub - sheetmetal work

Mating surfaces from b-pillars back...  so excited I'm almost ready to finally attach the body!

I welded '69 outer wheel wells to the '05 inner structure... had to lean it out a bit to meet the new flared wheel well... but it worked out great... lots easier than making inner wheel wells from scratch & a ton better. 

Also more bits of sheet metal here & there... rear deck lid & against the "fastback"  

 *items left- Windshield wipers- & fuel filler tube. 

wheel housing

sheetmetal attached to rear deck to make mating surfaces for fast back

Final mock up - rear qtrs "clipped" into the wheel housings- extensions fitted etc.

Week 19-20 February Sheetmetal work

Tedius work... trunk reworked... In addition to my sheetmetal tools I picked up a bead roller from harbor freight...  patched up the trunk... I had cut off about 3 inches of trunk... "so the spare no longer fits in the lower spare tire compartment" but oh well... the '69 didn't have a spare compartment anyhow. I think the patch turned out pretty good... also had to relocate the "fuel vapor assembly" towards the front about 3"

flash back... entire back of '05 cut away about 3" deep into trunk area

patched back together rear area... complete with bead rolled panel for back of trunk & mating surface against the rear valance

Week 17-18 January 2014 Sheet Metal Work

Time to start fitting all the mating surfaces... and lucky for me I had this extra sheetmetal equipment at my shop... I happen to also own an HVAC company.  I have larger equipment at the shop but this 3' shear & finger break work for most everything.

3' shear

3' finger break

qtr panel pinch seam

view from below- sheet metal fabbed to mate with pinch seam

Week 15-16 January 2014 Driver qtr.

You'd think having done the passenger side already, But I outsmarted myself... this time I mocked up the panel as before... but this time instead of working on it in place on the car... I set it up on the workbench and worked on it at a more convenient height...  it all looked great...but when I installed it I realized that on the first panel I welded the flare in with the panel "flexed"... when I attempted to install the panel I realized I with the flare complete I couldn't flex the panel as I had on the passenger side...

Well there went a week... arghh... so I scrapped it & started from scratch... no pics of the screw up... but here is the drivers side all complete. 

Mock up of how the rocker will come together... using the '05 plastic skirt... I expect I'll have to make a custom one out of fiberglass to fit correctly.

week 14 December 2013 Windshield Wipers

This week a bit of tinkering to make sure body location is good... defroster & windshield wipers...

I used the '05 wiper motor & made linkeage to connect to the '69 mechanism at the stock locations...

I was able to make the driver side work... but the passenger side mechanism made contact with the '05 frame. I'll spend some more time on it before I'll have to solve this before I mount the body to the frame.
  - anyhow here is a video of testing the wiper mechanism.

Week 11-13 December 2013 Passenger qtr install

With the qtr wheel well flared & the original body cut-  With the old qtr cut out... & the body hanging from the ceiling the qtr. wanted to open up... so I propped it up in the middle & pulled the qtr back together with straps... *when I cut the qtr out... I had the new qtr in place & cut them together... so I new the gap should be just the thickness of the cutoff wheel... & with the but clamps in place the panel all lined up like it should. It's time to install the new qtr... sliding the wheel well back about 2"   Lots of welding & Lots more grinding...

panel clamped in place

with the body on the frame the fat wheels... it just drips testosterone.
I really like the extra muscle, I'm more excited than ever about the project.