My 71 Maverick Grabber Build.....

Frank,
You do some darn nice welding.
You also have some very good fabricating skills.

 

I didn't have much trouble with the cowl area, it's the torque boxes that had the rust problems in between panels that tore the cutter up.....

Thanks.....

 

My spot weld drill replacement cutters came Sat..... Mon morning I got the pass side torque box cut open and the rusty panels removed..... Just some trimming and cleaning up, then I can start fabbing the replacement pieces for it.....




On Fri I had some running around to do, while I was out I stopped at ART and ordered a roll bar, swing out side bar kit and some other tube I was in need off..... They called Mon in the am so I swug by there and picked everthing up.....

 

I made more progress on the pass side torque box this morning..... I cleaned all the jagged edges and burr's off the area..... Then I fitted a piece of 1" x 2" tube and made the 1/8" plate filler that I fitted to the lower torque box panel just as I did on the driver side..... Next I welded those pieces in.....

The tube and filler welded together on the bench.....





Then welded them in the car.....

 

Made the top panel for the pass side torque box..... Painted the inside center and inside of the torque box with POR15..... Oh yeah, I also made an oval hole in the front panel of the torque box againt the frame rail so I can put the fuel lines through.....

 

genius thinking! you're on top the game!

 

After building a few cars you start to think of these things in advace, instead of going I shoulda after the fact.....

 

I got the pass side torque box all welded up.....





Then I took a look at the rear floor pans so I could figure out how much need to be replaced..... Since I am using Mustang replacement floor pans and the are not exact, I figured out where to cut the rear section off the pans..... I will still need to do some trimming on them once the old floor is cut out.....

Here is how the complete Pass side floor pan came.....




Here it is after I cut the rear section off.....




I also trimmed the rear flange off it at the radious.....




Here are both sides just sitting on top of the old floor, they actually don't fit too bad.....

 

you should write a book on this for all other maverick owners. your fabricating skills are awesome, this is absolutely stunning work

 

What he said

 

Thanks.....

I think this might qualify as a book by the time I'm done, a damn big one at that.....

and thanks you too.....

 

I marked out the rear floors and rough cut out almost all the rust..... I will have to do a little more trimming as I fit the frame connectors and replacement floor pieces.....

 

Started fitting the driver side frame connector this morning..... I purchased a set of Chassis Engineering frame connectors which are designed to go under the floor pan, but I am modifying them to go partially throught the floor pan to gain more ground clearance and strengthen the chassis by tying them into the floor..... Plus I had to move the intended location at the rear of the connector slightly forward and up otherwise they would block the top hole on the Cal-Tracs.....

So to start I put them in place under the car and figured out exactly where I needed to place them..... Then I made an initial cut on the front of the connector to get it a little closer to the floor, and put it back in place..... Now I could mark where to notch the floor and where to make some more cuts in the front and rear of the connector to get fitting tighter.....

The fitting after the first cut, and marking the floor.....






After notching the floor, then fitting and notching the ends of the connector a couple more times..... These pic's show how the ends of the connector look before and after notching(top in each pic is after notching and the bottom is how they came.....





Here is how they fit in the car after the above mods.....






Now I just need to take enough off them so they are about a 1/4" higher.....

 

Overall I don't see where this will gain any more strength rather than just welding them to the front and rear subframes, unless your main objective was to keep them up high so people dont see them.

 

I think he is welding it across the floor because he has raised it a bit. So should give you quite a bit more strength.

Hey in your opinion, is it worth it to purchase the chassis engineering stuff or is it easier to just make one?