1972 Maverick Grabber Resto/Mod for my Dad

looks like a nice start to the resto. I remember when you first posted about this. Good luck.

 

I would definitely do the EFI conversion, my dad is also not a car guy so I understand how that is.

Fuel injection will be a million times better for him.

It is a somewhat rare car but the EFI and Color can always be changed back to stock, So I see no harm building it how you want it

 

Very Nice!! Have you posted pictures of it before? I like that color combo.

 

Only when you commented about it in September of 2008 Dave.

 

My wife and I both lost our jobs at the same time so the project was put on the back burner till we could get our lives back on track. I also traveled a ton for the last year I was with Frontier Airlines and figured I was on the road 80% of the time.

We both have jobs that are better than what we had before and are happy working at them.

I figured I would start over since all the links to the original pictures are gone.

 

That's what I figured, I knew I'd seen one just like it before, good thing your brain is working.

 

My brother and I gathered the parts that would need to go to media blasting and set up an appointment. We loaded up the car and the parts and delivered Monday morning. They had the car done late Tuesday and it was moved to the shop for epoxy primer to protect the car from getting surface rust while we are working on the body. We picked the car up this evening and took it home.

Now the work really starts. I am going to order two rear quarter panels and the right side rocker. I am also going to look for another left front fender and a passenger door. I believe the door can be fix pretty easy but figure that try to have as little filler as possible.

Media blasting cost us $850.00 and the Epoxy Primer was $550.00. I now need to get to rear quarters and a right side rocker. I will also ordered a carbon fiber hood from Maverick Man so I can get the fenders lined up when I start the body work shortly. I really wanted to find a straight rust free grabber hood but that seems to be the impossible task.

When a car is media blasted all the bondo goes away to reveil what you truely have. There is some places that will need work. Starting at the front. The engine bay aprons where the fender mount to, have a couple areas that will need to be cut out and replaced. (I should be able to make those at work but was told they are the same as a 65 mustang???) The front floors have some pitting and have a few holes. I plan on changing them out with 65-70 mustang floor pans that I will modify to fit. The Toe boards also have rust and I will probably have to modify the early mustang toe boards to get that fixed. The left side looks good all the way back except for the typical rust holes on the lower rear quarter. There is some damage at the rear wheel well in skin but I should be able to straighten it. The right rear was hit and repaired previously. I will be changing the right side rocker and rear quarter. If I can find a right rear inner wheel well tub I will change that out also. For the most part the car is really straight and clean. For a car 37 years old I really could not ask for more.

As for parts off the car the right side door is not original and has been pulled and repaired. I am undecided if I am going to look for another door or try to fix this one. The left front fender has some small rust hole in the lower portion. My brother is going to look at one today. Hopefully it is straight and rust free. The funny part is I thought that was a clean fender when I got it but it defiantely had some filler in it.

I would say that getting parts that are not as described and damaged parts do to shipping my biggest disapointment. I will have a fire sale on parts that didn't fit the expectations of what I want to put into this car.

 

Nice!

 

We finally got it back in the garage at my house and started getting to work on finding out what needs to be repaired.

I started on the body work this week. I figured I would just start at the front and work my way back. I decided to tackle the rust through areas on the top portion of the aprons. I cut out the damage and took measurements of the thickness of sheetmetal I would need to fabricate ane replace the pieces.

First I cut the spot welds out and cut out the damage:







The bottom portion damage was cut out seperate from the top sheetmetal to only remove the amount needed.

I then fabricated the lower sheetmetal repair pieces:





After Priming the edges that were going to be covered up with over lapping sheetmetal, I tack welded the pieces in place:





After I completely welded the lower pieces in place, I ground down the welds and block sanded them flat. I then fabricated the top sheetmetal repair pieces, primered then with weldable primer, welded them in, ground them down, and block sanded them flat.

 

A friend of mine that did body work for a living came over to show me how to work the hail damage that is on the car. He showed me some tricks using a micro torch and it seems to be working well. We are getting the dents out and will have to use very little filler if any. The way he works the torch and the metal fill leaves close to or no damage remaining.











We did not get the entire roof done so Don will be back to help finish it up.

I will start on cutting out the battery apron damage tomorrow. We will see if my airline sheetmetal skills will be good enough to form a new battery area piece to weld in.

 

Well I took on a job today that I was looking forward to and not looking forward to. Replacing the area around the battery apron. Nothing like forming a piece to fit in a curved convex place. It took me about 14 hours today to somewhat complete the job. I still need to grind and sand the welds on one section on the bottom. I was getting pretty frusterated so my brother came over to lend a hand this evening and things seem to go better.

First I cut out the rusted/damaged area









I then took a portion of the fender apron from a early mustang and cut out the battery tray area. It did not fit well at all. I would have been almost better off starting with a blank sheet of metal. After some reshaping, cutting and welding, reforming the the forward flange, etc... I had a piece that sorta fit.





If you try doing it this way make sure you get the battery mounting holes where they are suppose to be. It took a couple of measurements and it was fine.

 

Next I tack welded in the piece and formed it as I went along.







I started grinding and sanding the welds till they were flat







This is when things went a little bad. To get the corner to come out right I sanded quit a bit. It got a little thin so I had to cut out a portion of the original corner and replace it. I was not happy about having to do that but I wanted to do it right.

My brother came over to see how things were going and lent a hand

 

Here are some pictures of what we ended up with tonight. We drilled the drail hole for the battery tray and finished sand the patch piece I welded in. It is not a finished as I wanted it to be, but I was very cautious not to sand to much. So there will be a small amount of Metal All that I will have to put in. For this being my first body work, besided 3/16" plate for Jeeps, I am trying to learn what is good enough. I keep having this grand idea that I can make everything perfect and have no filler.









Next will be the floor pans and toe boards.

 

Your sheet metal repairs are inspiring! I also need to fix the top parts of my aprons. Great job!