Mav1970's Insane 69.5 Street Project

Very Nice!! Almost makes me want to get back to welding on mine....

 

Thanks Dave

 

Looking good.

Looking forward to the next progress report.

 

Very nice! glad you got rid of the side marker and the ugly seam! hopefully you dont end up with the same issue i did..the one side quarter i put on was a re-pop piece and had a different contour where it meets the rear valence..after i did all the body work i noticed it and had to split the weld, hammer/dolly it out and add a small piece to make it the same...but hopefully yours isn't like that.

 

I already noticed that problem. I'm using a much larger piece of a good used take off quarter on the driver's side so that way I can eliminate a lot of bad body work that I found under a ton of bondo. That piece will be used intact to the bottom so the drivers side will be stock and the passenger side will be aftermarket. The only thing I have going for myself is I'm using a rear valence from a 69 Shelby Mustang and I have to reform the ends slightly anyway and that is where I can make them both blend in

 

More work done over the weekend

Right from the beginning, I was fully aware that my drivers side quarter panel was going to need the rear lower section replaced - the rest of the quarter seemed fine - as I did with the rest of the car, I removed the old paint from the quarter and found the beginnings of a large area of bondo - Dale Doll says "remove every bit of it so we can see what is under it" - the rear corner looks like it took a hit but the side of the quarter still looks to me like it was shot with a shotgun - all I know for sure was the body work to repair it was 3rd or 4th quality at best - since I had a good used take off quarter, this was my chance to get rid of most of everything wrong

These first 2 photos show what was under the bondo

 

Your quarter is nicer than mine was...my bottom few inches were missing..they used tin foil to shape it and litterally mixed a gallon of bondo poured it on the inside, and used another half gallon to shape the outside..was done on both sides, actually found a lid in the mix on the pass side.. but anyways, look forward to see'ing what you get done this weekend!

 

Wow! You beat my "bad body work" description by a mile. What worried me was, when I ran my hand over the surface, I could still feel the warp in the steel that was never removed. Dale originally told me to "leave it be" and he would see if he could get it out using some heat but I was concerned about doing the work to replace the bottom piece and then Dale telling me that he couldn't get it out - then what? Now he won't have to deal with it so I'm glad I replaced the damage

 

Based on the bodywork your doing on the rear quarters am I safe to assume you are not going to stretch the wheel openings?

 

You are correct - no stretching of the wheel openings for bigger diameter tires - I do gain for wider tires due to the leaf springs now being gone so I can get back pretty close to the frame rails without hitting any spring hangers or shackles

 

I have made more progress on the left quarter back in very late September - the old beat up and rotted original section was completely removed and the good used left side quarter was cut to fit - the left side marker light was plated in to match the right side- this quarter was original Maverick but the right side used a bottom section of a new stamped quarter panel - the very rear of the 2 quarters are slightly different causing the rear Shelby valence to match up to each side differently - this will cause some problems but, as everything else has been, somehow it will have to be worked out when the time comes - there was another slight problem with tack welding this replacement quarter in place but I will address that in the next post

 

I began welding the left rear quarter panel into place with a tack here and there, far apart, and each left to cool before continuing - when the tacking of the quarter progressed up from the fender lip and also from the rear and, began to meet up at that highest small flat spot, a ripple occurred - I think it was due to all of the stretch damage that existed in the original quarter, with the bad repair, and nothing to do with heat from the tacks - I was just too careful with that process - what I did was to completely eliminate that area and continue my cuts upward until that matched and then cut out another piece of the good used takeoff quarter to match - now all of the ripple is gone and I just need a half decent day to finish it up

 

Looking really good, Bob!

 

nice work! How'd you get your cuts so smooth, and straight lol...

 

Dirt cheap 4 inch cutting wheels from Harbor Freight mounted to a dirt cheap $12.00 4 inch grinder from Harbor Freight

Well, to start with at least -I always cut outside of the lines and then take a 4 inch sanding disc to get right up to the line - I got tired of cutting metal 3 times and still coming up short