UPDATE!! More pictures on page 2! Well, I got some time to myself last weekend and put about 10 more hours into the maverick. The result? The front end is stripped down to the frame now, and I have the pass side subframe welded in. Next step is the driver side frame connector, the I can start thinking about rebuilding the torque boxes and welding in the floor pans. Nothing like making a little progress to get you motivated!! http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2200206/15 If anyone is going to be driving through Indy and wants some stock parts, I have an 8", gas tank, and entire front suspension w/ 5 lug. I just want them OUT of my garage.
Just to let everyone know, I got a little more work done. I'll even put direct links to the pics on here this time. I know the welds are crappy, but I'm learning and it's nothing a grinder can't fix. I put the subframe connectors in with flux core wire, and since I got my CO2 bottle, I've been using that with solid wire for the outriggers. It's quite a bit different switching from flux core to MIG. I had to change how quickly I weld, and I also need to mess with the heat and feed settings some more.
Those floors looked pretty bad to start with...Got a lot of work ahead of you. Still, it is nice to make a little progress
nice progress indeed! the floors look terrible, but shouldnt be that bad to fix. i feel better about mine after seeing your's
I have my mustang floor pans sitting under the car right now. Step one make a sturdy frame. Since the front torque boxes are destroyed it was important to tie the subframes together and to the rocker panels to give more stability. I have my 10 point cage too, just need to find time and a helper to get it in there. I also got seat saver rear bars, so I'm going to take the 10 point rear braces and use them to make a pseudo 12 point and further support the front frame rails that are just kind of hanging out in space right now. Turns out all that sheet metal up front adds quite a bit of stiffness. Step two, replace the rusty sheet metal. Step three, weld in suspension. In the mean time, I'll be fabricating an interior.
Good job there. I'll bet yours turns out great going by what you have done so far. How do you like that Lincoln MIG? I am going to have to learn to weld soon (total newbie). One of my New Year's resolutions.
Thanks for the encouragement! I really like this welder. It's done everything I ask of it very well. It's better at welding than I am at this point.
Got a little more progress done on there car. I've started tacking in the roll cage. (Bigger pics on my cardomain site, link in the sig...) Here is where the roll bar is welded to the rear outriggers. I need to do a little more repair work on the rear torque box to make me happy with the driver's side. Pass side... I got this A-pillar bar notched and tacked in last night as well.
It's a Jegster cage. I got it shipped to my door for about $300, because it has to be shipped freight instead of UPS ground. Not the worst thing ever. I think it fits pretty well too for a pre fab cage. They made all the bars long to give you some flexibility in where you put it. Only the door bars and rear bar are pre-notched, so you can fiddle with the angles by custom grinding your own notches. Having your own steel and tubing bender would be a lot nicer for a custom cage, but since that out of the realm of possibility for most people, this fits the bill nicely.
More pictures! I got the main part of the cage welded up and feel good enough about the structure of the car to start really cutting on the floor and firewall.
Nice work... A couple points of advice. I would go over those floor pans with some Ospho or Picklex20 or some other phospheric acid-based rust converter. The reason I say that is because the pans will probably be in bare metal for a while and the surface rust will only get worse. Plus, it makes welding more difficult than it needs to be since your welds will have a tendency to pop. The most important thing for good welds is clean metal. Also, I'm assuming that the pan is just test fit in there. But make sure you trim off as much as possible around the edge so you don't have a crazy 6" overlap. Keep as much of the original tranny tunnel metal as possible, as it usually doesn't rot out. Try to stick to a 1" overlap all the way around. Ideally you'd want to butt weld it, but it's a bit more difficult for a novice welder. And hit the overlap areas with a weld-through primer. Jason
