My 71 Maverick Grabber Build.....

That is definitely a work of art Frank, and it's still not finished! You're an inspiration to me to keep plugging away my nowhere-near-as-fantastic restoration.

 

Thanks.....

 

I took the lower control arms off this morning and pushed the ball joints out of them..... The I made a little makeshift alignment jig with some tabs I picked up this week along with some old tubing that was laying around.....

I started with the driver side arm, here you can see the uncut control arm on the jig I made.....




Here it is with the ball joint cup moved and the control arm trimmed to fit around it.....




Here it is after clean up and welded in place.....





Here's the pass side after fitting and welding.....






Here I aligned and stacked the control arms on top of each other, you can see they don't put much effort into fitting the tubing..... Just look at the difference in the angles of the tubes from the inner bushings to the ball joint cup..... It really doesn't effect they way they work but you would think they would make them a little more consistant.....






Tomorrow I will cap the tubing that is cut open at an angle, I think I am also going make a reinforcement just to be safe(probably overkill but better safe then sorry)..... I will also get them painted so they are ready to put back on next week.....

 

Got the tubes capped and the reinforcement plates made and welded in on the control arms, then I painted them and let them dry for a while..... Next I removed the tie rods ends because the need to be shortened also..... I modified and painted them..... Next I put the control arms back on, the camber was looking much better..... I bolted the tie rods back on and made a rough to adjustment, put the wheels back on - set it on the ground..... Everything looks great now, I have good toe adjustment and the camber can now be adjust from approx negative 3 deg to postiive 1 deg.....

Here's the control arms after capping tubs and welding in a reinforcement plate, then after painting.....







I forgot to take pic's of the progress while modifying the tie rods, but here's one from last week the way they were and then one from this week the way they are.....





Here's a couple of the car on the ground again.....

 

Fantastic work!!

 

looking great!!! I dig those wheels!!! Shortening c/a's are so much fun:16suspect had to do a similar fix on my Uncles 27 model A m2 frontend

 

Thanks.....

Thanks.....

 

Today I masked up the trunk area, put a black base coat in it to evenn it up and then a couple light coats of trunk paint..... Let that dry for about 2 hours and clear coated it..... While letting that dry I got the gas tank out and finished fitting the sump, used a couple different size hole saws to get fuel to the sump area and then welded the sump in place.....

Here's what the trunk looked like after the black base and trunk spatter paint applied.....





Here's the tank with the sump welded in place.....





and here's the trunk after clear and unmasking.....

 

Loooking goooood!!!

 

Nice work!

I used to hate trunk spatter paint... until I learned how to use it. I did not prep it, did not clear over it, so when my trunk got a little wet, the water based paint peeled and lifted right up.

 

Thanks.....

Thanks.....

Most people just spray it on????? I use a base of the main color and then a I only use a can of spatter paint, then clear it..... It looks good and is very durable.....

 

Looks sharp!!! Nice job as allways Frank.
Oh and thanks alot Frank! Reminds me I have to finish out my trunk...Does it ever end...LOL...

 

Thanks..... Even when you think your done your not.....

 

I've always wondered... WHY trunk splatter paint? It doesnt match anything else in the car.

 

I think we're just conditioned, from over many years, when opening a trunk and expecting it to look that way. Same thing as "why those weird looking plaid trunk mats?"