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.

Week 10 November 2013 qtr panel cut

Short week... this week- I cut the 69 qtr out to get ready for the new qtr to be installed.

with the body hanging from the ceiling- I cut the qtr out.

with the section of qtr cut loose... & the body hanging from the ceiling...  the body opened up so I propped up the center & when I install the qtr I'll have to pull the body back together.

week 9 November 2013 finish 1st wheel flare

Wheel flare mostly complete... I Invited my Nephew Colton Vest to come up & give me some advise on welding- he helped me set up my new welder & better understand how it works.  "My total welding training before this project was a 2 week evening class at the ATC"  So Thanks to Colton for helping getting me on track with this project.

My Nephew Colton Vest helping get the welder set up.

week 7-8 November Wheel Well Flare!

The new wheels & tires are big... 18x10 American Racing Special Edition Wheels & Falken Azenis 295/40r18..  Making one tough looking muscle car... to accommodate the fat tires... I flared out the wheel wells about 3"... first I cut the lip free & sectioned about 1 1/2 then I welded the lip back to the bottom & bent it out. In the first picture you will see a 3" spacer welded in place.
Then I just kept working my way around till I got the whole thing welded into place...

*note I did this with the new qtr panel screwed in place - with the new black panel "flexed" just a bit so the whole fender sticks out about 4" farther than stock...

qtr screwd in place with about 1 or so of flex & tape line marking the lip

using grinder- cut the entire lip loose

I sectioned about 1 1/2"  out of the lip & re welded it at the bottom- & welded a 3" x 2" piece spacing it out so it cleared the new fat tire. 

more pieces welded in

mostly welded in you ca really see the flare here...