My 72 Comet Build.....

Today I removed the rest of the bracket pieces off the bottom of the front sub frame rails..... Then I removed drilled the spot welds at the bottom of the shock tower and broke the bottom loose, also drilled the spot weld in the center support of the tower and removed it.....

I have been trying to decide what I wanted to do with the towers as far as how to cut them back, I looked them over for another half hours or so and decided to remove most of them for now(I keep the radius and approximately a 1/4" of the straight panel where the towers are attached to the inner aprons).....

Last thing I did today was grind all the areas when I removed brackets smooth to get rid of the spot weld remains, I also cleaned up and deburred the edges where the towers were removed..... and I cleaned up mess from cutting and grinding.....

Here is before and after remove the rest of the brackets from under the right front frame rail(the third one is the pieces removed).....






Here is where I removed the center piece for the towers, I still can't believe how rust free this thing is where there is bare metal for all these years.....




Here it is with the towers removed.....




and these show it with all the areas ground down and cleaned up.....

 

I can't wait until I'm cutting shock towers. Looking good, Frank. I look forward to seeing how you redesign the towers.

 

Thanks, and me too!!!!!

 

I wasn't doing anything this afternoon so I went back to the shop..... I brought the k-member down and bolt it in on the belly bar bolt holes(it's what they use to align the crossmember in the chassis)..... Then took some measurments to make sure it was square in the chassis..... It was pretty damn good, with in less then an 1/8" no matter where I referenced it from.....

Here's a couple pic's of it mocked up in place.....

 

Today I did quite a bit of measuring and debating on both how things are fitting and the reconstruction process..... Then I cut the bottom portion of the driver side tower off and mocked it up to give an idea of what I will be doing..... It will have a more stock appearing tower, atleast what I consider better looking then just cutting it off and welding in some flat plate..... The tower normally is approximately 1.75" inside the frame, after I get done it will be 1/2" to the over the frame, which will give 2.25" more room per side.....

After all that I went ahead and marked up the frame so I could drill it for the k-member retaining bolts..... I cut some new reinforcing through frame sleeves that fit more to my liking then what they gave me..... I drilled the top of the frame 1/2" and the bottom of the frame 3/4" so the sleeve can be inserted from the bottom and welded in place..... I chamfered the bottom of the sleeves and the 3/4" holes in the bottom of the frame so I could get good weld penetration..... Then ground the excess weld off flush with the under side of the frame.....

Last thing I cleaned up the mess under and around the car and gave it up for today.....

Here it is with the control arms mocked up.....




Here is what I cut off the bottom of the tower, and then with the tower mocked up in place(you can see how much the tower sticks through into the out wheel well area in the 4th pic which will be trimmed upon final fitting).....







Here is the process of installing the reinforcement sleeves in the frame, first installed and clamped in place, second welded and last ground flush.....

 

Well done! The tower looks factory in this photo.

 

Thanks..... Exactly, I think it looks better that way instead of just cut out.....

 

I have been working on modifying and cleaning up the fox body spindles for the suspension swap..... I had to cut the factory caliper mounting ears and drill/tap the mounting holes for the Willwood front brake swap..... I also got them bead blasted, I'll get some paint on them tomorrow.....

Here what got done this week.....

 

I got the spindles painted today.....

 

With what? They look great!

 

Thanks.....

VHT GM Satin Black part #SP139..... We use it all the time at work with great results..... I has proven to be durable, has a great looking finish and dries very fast.....

VHT Universal Aluminum part#SP127 is also a fantastic product..... It's the closest thing to the original look of an aluminum intake manifold..... It has proven to be very durable and is very resistant to fuel.....

 

So those were rattle canned? What if any primer was used?

 

Yes they were..... No primer was used, these are engine enamels that work with no primer..... When I painted my motor I used a couple light coats of VHT sp148 light gray engine primer for a base so it covered better.....

 

Thanks bud!

 

With your stock front cross member now removed, I would suggest putting something back that will take it's place so nothing twists especially with cutting the towers back - I simply added a 1 1/2 inch tube right through both frame rails