While stripping the body for new paint ( I didn't strip to metal the first time 20 years ago) we found a couple previous repairs. Among them was a dent that was filled with bondo instead of pulling it out. The dent was in a spot where you can't get to the inside of the sheet metal and whoever did the work must not have had access to a stud gun. So for those who never saw one or saw one used here's how it works.

This is a stud gun which is sort of a 110V spot welder that attaches a stud to the body. The stud is loaded into the gun, pressed to the body, pull the trigger, and the tip of the stud glows red welding itself to the body.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psc81da338.jpg

There's a couple sizes of the studs but even the small ones will burn through most modern cars because the metal is much thinner than the old cars so the guns aren't used much by collision shops any more.The studs shown are the larger size which work great on old cars.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf8099d18.jpg

My buddy Jeff shows how the tool that pulls the studs works. He's been a body man all his life so he's got the technique down from working on cars like mine since they were new. Jeff's helping me do the car as part of a trade deal. So he's doing the exterior bodywork & paint which is really going to speed up my project since I can do the subframe, underside, and other things while he's making the car straight. We do jobs together and it works out well.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbf3b229a.jpg

It's so nice to see the 14 car getting pampered and showered with gifts. And I love of your tips. :thumbsup:

Thanks Steve!

Since I've recruited Jeff to pick up and continue from where I was on the exterior bodywork I've been stripping the underside and doing other things. I never trimmed the rear wheel lips or rolled them before and since now's the best time to do it I cut them and Jeff rolled them so they're tucked out of the way. They'll be epoxied and seam sealed to keep anything out of the rolled section. Jeff's got the outside of the doors in primer and is working on making the roof & quarters straight by skim coating & blocking some areas.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse623e5d5.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse7589bbd.jpg

Looking good John! :thumbsup:

Thanks Ty!

It's more humid here in South FL than most parts of the country even this time of year. So as soon as a panel is ready for primer it gets shot to prevent rust.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psc4686b66.jpg

I wanted to trim and roll the wheel well lips not only to create more side clearance for wide tires but also to allow more suspensiion travel and to allow the possibility of dropping the car a little. I know I was right at the limits before hitting with the 315 tires I had before. I'll be doing the Adams mod during this project which will drop the car a small amount and I may drop it a little lower than that before I'm done. So trimming and rolling the lips now before paint is just the right time to do it.

As seen in my previous post I trimmed about half of the wheel lip off in the center directly above the rear wheels and tapered off to nothing several inches above the body line. This way no one will notice when looking at the car from the sides because the wheel well lip looks stock. You can only tell if down really low looking up. Filled the gutter created by rolling the lip with panel bond to add strength and prevent debris from getting in there and holding water IF the car ever gets wet. Then I primed the wheel wells so I can move on to getting the rest of the underside stripped to bare metal without having the sheet metal get rusty from humidity.

Here's pics of the rolled lip, shiny clean 43 year old wheelwell, and 1st coat primer.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps94bef662.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psfba38290.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps909c5955.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf4e3c46e.jpg

Meanwhile Jeffs been getting the quarters in primer and now he's skimming a few places on the roof. A couple small patches were used on the passenger side quarter to fix soft spots that could have eventually become a problem years down the road and the drivers side only needed a very small repair (size of a nickel) in the corner right behind the wheel. For original 1970 quarters on a car that was originally a DD up North it doesn't get much better!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps75f169c7.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps815a6460.jpg

Jeff's done with getting the unibody & door exterior surfaces stripped, straightened, skimmed, etc. and is on to the prime & block stage. I'm still stripping the underneath and areas like the tail panel to shiny metal then priming. Yes, the firewall will be modified.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps4fdd8d13.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps11db0484.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps44e6eded.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2b2bbc6f.jpg

Love what you're doing with it. This is one of my favorite cars on here.
:cheers:

Looks great, your project is coming along nicely!

Where are you at in South Florida? I lived in Miami for a year and that was about all I needed. I Loved the weather but I don't speak spanish so it was tough for me to get used to being there.

Thanks guys. I'm in Delray Beach Casey.

The body & door exterior is in primer ready for final blocking. I moved on to stripping the trunk channel area and found an old rust repair the PO had done with fiberglass at the base of the rear window (never leaked) which will require removing the window to repair with metal. I'm having a glass guy who showed up at a couple jobs I've been on come by & pop it out then return for install when I'm ready. Not too expensive and I don't want to risk the piece.

Since Jeff had the body in primer and I was waiting on glass removal we pushed the car out of the way to work on other things. I moved to the gas tank. The inside of the tank is perfectly clean with not a speck of rust but like many northern cars this one had been backed into frozen snow mounds denting the tank. So the stud gun got called back into action and worked great to get the dents out. Then a skim coat of filler to smooth out the surface followed with prime & block and it'll look perfect when painted. Since I'm going to fabricate a diffuser that will allow the tank to be seen if someone peaks under there I wanted it nice.

You can see one of the dents in this old pic, others are more subtle and flat black hides them.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...d/MVC-015F.jpg



Cleaned enough to use the stud gun and pull the dents.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps106a9234.jpg

Studs ground off, high spots hammered and cleaned for filler.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbada5bcc.jpg

Starting skim coat.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps01e4ddc8.jpg

While I was messing with the tank Jeff started on the front fender we knew would need some work. I'd gotten the fenders from a bud back when I painted the car the first time 20+ years ago and one was an early fender without the core support brace provision that had some rust issues. I'd done some repairs but without a welder at the time I was limited. Fast forward to now and we decided to take the fender apart from the inner support to make repairs.

After getting started and thinking about the best thing to do I remembered a bud had a couple late 2nd gen bird fenders he didn't need and couldn't sell stored in his warehouse so I went to look for them (ya I have a key). I thought we could cut up the Formula fenders to get the metal sections needed to fix my fender. When I got there there were no regular fenders BUT there was a really nice rust free early 2nd gen left TA fender by itself and I just happened to need a left! I talked to my bud (OK,begged) and he gave me the fender. There's a little dent in it by the side marker light but we can fix that right up in a lot less time than doing metal work on my old fender.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps62a92e60.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1047b9a1.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7fde2b1b.jpg

After getting the tank in primer we got to work on the front fenders. I sandblasted the insides of them and Jeff stripped the outsides with sanders and did some hammer & dolly work before skim coating a couple spots. After a little post blasting prep work on the insides they were ready to get the insides in primer. It was sooo nice to work with rust free fenders!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psa90ce6fe.jpg

With no rust repair work needed on either fender bodywork on the outside of the fenders is now roughed in and they're in primer. We'll wait to do finish bodywork till the car is partially reassembled so we can check door/fender gaps etc. and do final blocking.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse3b0f51a.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2e7e0796.jpg

I decided to smooth the subframe so all seams and joints are now fully welded and I'm in the process of grinding all the welds.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7f09df6c.jpg

I have 2 front valance panels. This one is going to remain stock and be a backup in case the modified one doesn't work out the way I want. It had some rust hidden under old bodywork so I welded in some patch panels and then sandblasted it along with some other parts. Next they all got some prep work & primer.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps58c5216a.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1c3f14bd.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps19012278.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps07b155cd.jpg

Door bottoms of most cars built when this one was usually don't hold up well as many of you know. I can't tell you how many cars I've seen with fully rusted out bottoms and they're a pain to replace the metal in because of the curves & folds. Luckily, although mine had some rust they were repairable without having to replace metal. The passenger side door is usually worse than the drivers and mine's no exception so I'm using that to show how to do a door that's got some rust but is still structurally sound without welding all new metal in.

In this case there's no visible rust in the interior of the door, if there was, new metal would have been installed. When I painted the car 20+ years ago the outside rust was there and I cleaned it with wire brushes/wheels, etc. and put rust converter on it before paint. Granted the car has rarely gotten wet since the first time but the rust had not popped through the paint or progressed. This time it's getting a better repair because I have a blaster.

Sandblast edge of door & get the rusty parts really good. Blow out all send & debris and then coat all the rusty areas with panel bond, let sit 24 hours. Because this isn't a place where the panel bond would get hot from exhaust or rapidly change temperature by heat from the sun it makes a great filler to seal the pits and stop new rust from forming after blasting. Inside will be sealed later.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps9310f123.jpg

Sand down panel bond till it's just filling the rust pits and open up the drain slots, and gasket holes. Then skim coat with regular filler, sand, and prep for primer.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2d964c22.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb8af8f19.jpg

Awesome work as always John!! :thumbsup:

Keep going man, Loooooong time no talk!!

I've been cleaning the underside to clean shiny metal a section at a time and shooting it with epoxy primer. With a little luck I'll finish cleaning the middle floor section and have it in primer over the weekend.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psdba2adb7.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf41d62c8.jpg

looking good john!!

x2 you're going serious with it this time. Keep up the great work!

Nice progress John. Keep up the great work !

Ditto all of the above. A lot of work's gone in that. Nice progress! :thumbsup:

Thanks guys!

Ron, I'd like to discuss my brake system with you. Will send a PM.


Meanwhile, I'm making progress, need to remove interior to finish the last sections. Found a little rust on the passengers rear seat pan I'll take care of and need access to the bolt heads for the sway bar supports that attach to the floor pan.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psa5e82711.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps03cb2c47.jpg

You are doing excellent work John. Keep the pics coming.

A couple years ago I had trouble logging on to the forum and didn't bring this thread up to date once I got the issue figured out. Then as time went by I got farther and farther ahead of where I'd stopped posting updates so I'm going to do some catch up and bring the thread up to date over the next few days starting with this. Some of you may have seen updates on the Trans Am forum or others but since this forum is where I learned of the contest I won that started this project I want to follow through here till the car's back on track.

Finished up the floor pan and moved on to the cowl and firewall area. Had a small rust spot on the drivers side of the cowl so I made a patch piece for it. Since it's not visible once the fender is on it just has to be functional. Once the sides were in primer I moved on to stripping the firewall and cowl after removing all the wiring, windshield wiper system, steering column and pretty much everything under the dash. Will be smoothing the firewall a bit.

I'm eliminating the heat/AC under dash parts to save some weight. I'd removed the under hood part of the AC system and switched to heater functions only when I lived in New England but being in FL now there's no need for heat either so out it all goes!

I'm sooo tempted to leave the bottom in white, ya know, because race car!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb0b83b2d.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse2d5e3ed.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psfeaa6d33.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf59da55b.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps22cd5194.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb7768996.jpg

2nd gen F bodies are known for poor cowl drainage. They suffer more if the car sits out in the weather for extended periods without moving like mine did. Puddles form on the top of the cowl by the ends and GM made a nice place for a little pond to form inside the cowl right above the brake pedal. About 10 years ago I fixed the inside pond part and on the top I had cleaned what I could get to (with the fenders still on the car)and used rust converter followed by some bondo to fill pits and semi gloss black paint. Since the car doesn't get wet it's been fine but this time I can do a better repair since the fenders are off.

Although both ends on top of the cowl had pitting and some rust through the drivers side was worse due to the cowl tag holding water under it so I'm showing the repair on that side but I did make a similar panel for the pass side. Since they rust from the top down due to the puddling we're seeing the worst of it. Replacing the entire top of the cowl can be done however in this case I didn't feel it was justified. The center of the top of the cowl is in great condition and this is more of a track car that is street driven so strength and fire protection are my goals on the cowl/firewall area. I could cut and weld new metal in the ends but I felt this would be stronger and easier.

The top of the cowl had already been wire wheeled and the center section primed to prevent rust. The raised area around the fender mount was thin so I cut it out around the fender mount then wire wheeled the area to clean metal.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psa1d392ec.jpg

Made a pattern out of paper, transferred to sheet metal and started bending, hammer/dolly, etc. into shape. Made the raised area for the fender mount with a big impact socket and a die handle with a BFH. It's humid here in So FL so everything rusts as you can tell by the sheet metal. Not to worry though it gets cleaned up well on both sides before final install.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse413a3bc.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf9aa66d7.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps85af685d.jpg

Once the panel is shaped the edges are finished and it gets cleaned. Then it gets marked where the soft areas are in the original panel and screwed into place staying out of the soft areas. Then the screws are removed.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7493d0da.jpg

Next a thin layer of panel bond is spread on the area where the panel will go. Bonding the panel onto the existing panel is much stronger than replacing the original metal with a single layer regardless of whether it was bonded or welded in place. The panel bond over such a wide area is stronger than mig or spot welding without the warping problems. For those who avoid panel bond because they don't want to buy the expensive double barrel caulk gun you can push the 2 parts out evenly (without a mixing tip on) with a piece of pipe if you remove the back of the label so you can evenly move the plungers so you have equal parts. Then mix like bondo and spread where you need it with a plastic bondo spreader.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psd99e032e.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps671d6b96.jpg

Once the panel is in place install the fender mount bolt with wide washer on it and screw the panel on, then do a finger smear around the edges with the panel bond that squishes out which will seal it so no water can get under. Make sure the drain hole is open and that the panel bond will keep water from getting between the panels there also. Because the fender mount is high there's no need to have that bolt hole sheet metal sealed (and you do not want a washer bonded there!)unless you're gonna throw the car outside for 10-20 years.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps9f687867.jpg

Once the panel bond has set remove screws and fill the little screw holes with panel bond. A piece of tape underneath will keep it from dropping through till it sets. After the panel bond is fully cured (24 hours) sand the panel bond and apply a little plastic filler then sand. With the repaired area done prep the whole area surrounding the repair and prime. Before priming I used a large drift and a BFH to make some spot weld looking dimples along the cowl lip so it'd resemble the original part in the center.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psa3c0dc89.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb960c757.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf04ab582.jpg

With no heat/AC anymore I want to close up the firewall openings to slow a fire should one ever occur in the engine compartment. So I made up a couple panels for the large openings, spot welded them in place, sealed edges with panel bond, and smoothed the larger area. Also made a small panel to cover some extra holes I'd made previously for wiring, gauge senders etc. .

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf36e899a.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps290453d9.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps376ccb68.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps3b6a6af5.jpg

Prepped the underside and firewall areas with 320 grit paper and red Scotch Brite pads then shot it with PPG Delstar single stage acrylic enamel.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psecb0173d.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse8280b2b.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7d1703ce.jpg

While I was waiting for the paint to fully cure so I could mask it off to keep the daily dust from other projects off it I did the Adams Mod by modifying the front rear spring mounting pockets and installed spherical spring eye bushings.

A while back I had the opportunity to chat with Harry Quackenboss. While the name may not be familiar to many, he was one of the young engineers who worked with Herb Adams building the SCCA 64 Tempest Grey Ghost car and continued as Adams SCCA chassis engineer through the Firebird days then as chassis engineer on the Adams NASCAR team when they fielded a Pontiac Grand Am at Daytona. Harry then became Chief engineer at Delorean when John left GM and started the Delorean Motor Company. Anyway, I've digressed. I told Harry about my car sent pics and explained my plans for it. Including, (as some of you may have guessed) the Adams Mod (raising the front mounting hole for the of F body leaf springs) which he was involved in coming up with back in the day during the SCCA Trans Am series. I wanted to know if this was still considered a good idea and would it work well with a spherical front leaf spring which I'd considered. His answer was yes both work and they will work well together for my use of the car. So I thought what better recommendation could I possibly get? So that was my project this past week.

The Adams mod required windowing the spring pocket and the spherical bushing requires a little bigger window because the spring eye can pivot. I decided to reinforce the spring pocket by doubling/tripling up the sheet metal on the sides and across the rear by making some pieces I panel bonded to the pocket. I'll epoxy prime the pockets and paint red before installing in the car.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps142c62c7.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps9858ac54.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2099115e.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps82a9ab2d.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psfed4996f.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps240413a6.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psdb57b81c.jpg

I took the drivers door off a couple weeks ago and it's been raining so frequently here during our south FL rainy season that I haven't had time to set up my makeshift outdoor sandblast booth which usually allows me to reclaim about 1/2 the blast media. I really wanted to get the drivers door edges done and in primer so I just blasted it with some previously reclaimed media and accepted the loss to keep things moving along. Outside of door was sanded to bare metal previously like the rest of the body exterior. I don't use the blaster on large sheetmetal that might warp. Then I did some rust pit repair on the bottom of the door, stripped the door jambs, got both in primer & rehung the door just to get it out of my way.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb404a60e.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps326a9d4a.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb97b5219.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psfe639fe3.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2bd6c412.jpg

A while back I straightened & smoothed the fuel tank and once in epoxy primer I tucked it away. Normally I'm not a body color fuel tank kind of guy but I have a plan of using the fuel tank as the roof of the diffuser and if my plan works out hopefully it'll look pretty cool, if not I'll paint it black or tank tone. So I gave it a coat of high build primer, sanded smooth and shot it.

Since I've gotten carried away with the underside I figured I might as well make the rear spring pockets I modified look pretty too!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscec9bdb6.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbd8978b5.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps69333bc9.jpg

I've been working on stripping a lot of the small body parts that have to be painted. Some get media blasted and some sanded bare. When I get sick of stripping I recondition a part I can install or have ready for install when the time is right.

With the cowl painted I removed the windshield and reconditioned the inner cowl, wiper motor, and wiper transmission. Since I didn't relocate the wiper motor to make a fully smoothed firewall I decided to jazz it up a bit with custom paint and made a flat cap for the washer pump since I don't need windshield squirters and I really don't like the look of the white plastic (usually yellowed) piece with the hose nipples.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps506f8190.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps129afeb9.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8e8908f3.jpg

One of the things I'd wanted to do while doing the safety upgrade project several years ago was to block off the trunk area from the back seat in case of fire. These cars were designed with several large holes in the seat support and package tray and a back seat made with burlap. So I made some panels for the large openings and spot welded them in, the smaller openings are also being covered with metal. The idea here is to slow a fire down as much as possible without getting carried away fabricating a new rear firewall. I will retain rear shelf speakers but will make them removable to be replaced with steel plates for track days, races, etc.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscb3e1395.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb9c14080.jpg

I'd removed the stock padding/sound deadener on the firewall behind the dash when I was closing off the AC opening and blower opening and I wanted something to provide a heat barrier that isn't easily flamable. I decided to cover the firewall with Thermo Tec Cool It aluminized heat barrier and ordered it from Ron Sutton Race Technology. It's a thin adhesive backed lightweight material designed for radiant heat applications. http://www.thermotec.com/products/13...t-barrier.html When it arrived I tested pieces of it for flamability and heat resistance when stuck to sheet metal and it seemed to work well so I installed it on the firewall, toe panels, and front of the transmission tunnel.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7652c2e2.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psc2b42cfa.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps40e3a177.jpg

I media blasted the park brake mechanism and gas pedal then installed Modo Innovations pedal pads.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb78751bc.jpg

My donor car arrived today. If all goes well I'll be using the subframe out of it for my car.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps4758ecd7.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psd09626b3.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps4773be7d.jpg

A while back I cleaned the subframe I took out of my car. Then I started checking alignment of the mounting points and found that the lower control mounting points on one side didn't line up as well as I would have liked. Soooo, I brought the subframe to a buddys body shop and mounted it up on a frame rack to tweak it a little with help and guidance from an experienced bodyman who straightens frames damaged in collisions in a production shop. We chained down the frame and started bending things a little at a time getting the LCA mounting holes lined up better until..... Oooooops! We kinked a rail. So after searching around and not finding a good used subframe for sale locally (new aftermarket out of my budget) I made a deal with a buddy of mine.

My bud wants to build a 78 TA for his wife and has a 81 Formula with a good unibody and a 78 TA with rusty back half from being in the Northeast early in it's life. I made a deal with him to take his cars and swap the front of his 78 to the rear of the 81 and he'll finish the tail panel swap later himself so it will look like a 78 TA. I get the leftover front subframe in exchange for the work swapping things enough for it to roll away (on a trailer) in one piece. This will save him a lot of work trying to do rust repair on the 78 unibody.

I began by having the 81 Formula dropped off to strip to the unibody. Stripped it, checked the subframe I'll be keeping then started cleaning the frame while waiting for the 78 to arrive. The 81 was a rear disc car so I'll be selling off the rear end and disc/disc specific components as a package.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1dc09474.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps494b3482.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psc4deae9e.jpg

Once the 78 arrived I started taking it apart enough to roll the unibody away from the subframe. Once it's separated I'll join the two halves. I plan on leaving the front of the 78 as complete as possible with the engine, trans etc. all in place. I've disconnected the driveshaft, shift cable, backdrive, speedometer cable and am working on the steering column now. I only have a couple hours a day after regular work so it'll take a few days to complete the swap.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2f52a7bf.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8d81b1cb.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps6cba00f2.jpg

Although the LCA mounts were off a bit on my original subframe they certainly weren't out enough to be worth going through all the effort moving cars and labor swapping to get another frame! The LCA alignment was only off roughly 3/8". If I'd known we'd damage the frame I would have left it alone and used it as it was ( car drove fine and no binding of control arm) OR I would have stopped trying to make it perfect when we were within 1/8-1/4". Hindsight is 20/20 ahahaha.... live and learn!

I finished up the body swap over the weekend and the owner picked up the car with his trailer while the white shell met up with it at the owners shop via a rollback flatbed. Then (maybe eventually) the owner will swap the interior etc. from the white shell to the new car. Also he wanted the fenders left off for bodywork.

Whenever possible I have someone watch when I do weird stuff just in case something goes wrong or I need a hand. I had my bud Jeff hang out a few minutes while I moved the body into position and bolted the subframe to the new body. People ask how I do these kinds of swaps by myself so I had him shoot a quick video of moving the body onto the frame. Body was within 1/4 " alignment with the subframe at the end of the video and all bolted up in about 15 minutes.

Very short video. No it's not speeded up or edited video, thats real time. Just over a minute up the driveway and ready to bolt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-XA...ature=youtu.be

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps1e5440ba.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps65d53324.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps41fccde4.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps71b61964.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psb3dadb12.jpg

Nice work John #14 is coming out great.

glad to know work hadn't slowed on the car, John. You're doing great work. Keep it up!

I've been working on figuring out the differences between the early and late 2nd gen frames so hopefully I'll be able to modify the 80 frame so it's suitable for the 70. It's better to use a 70-74 frame for cars built during those years or a 75 - 81 frame for cars built 75 and later. I looked for an early frame for quite a while locally without finding one so I'm trying the later style with mods. Meanwhile I've been prepping the top and bottom of the rear shelf area for paint. The inner filler panel between the rear window and deck lid on 2nd gens usually get rusty and need replacement. This one had surface rust but was only rusted through in one small area so I cleaned the whole area, used some panel bond to fill pits, put in some new metal where it was rusted through, and skim coated the whole area with filler. Will seal it up with epoxy primer.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbca3cfef.jpg

My adjustable G-braces made by PRO-TOURING F-BODY under the Gen-II Racing Products label arrived. I got them from a member on a forum that purchased them and decided against the install. The spherical front spring eye bushings I showed in previous posts were from the same company and I also purchased them from a member on a forum. I'm planning on using PTFB solid body mounts. I was running Poly body mount bushings previously with bolt in frame connectors because thats what was available many years ago when I first built the car but now I'll use the PTFB solid mounts.

These G-braces triangulate the firewall with the subframe attaching at the upper control arm. I'll be making additional braces to work with these to stiffen them up more.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps23917251.jpg[/QUOTE]

I shot some epoxy primer and then some high build primer on the inner filler panel and then did some prep work on the underside of the filler panel as well as the rear seat firewall I'd welded the panels in. Then I shot them with some red epoxy primer that kinda resembles the original primer which will show in the trunk in some areas after splatter paint gets applied giving the trunk a somewhat stock appearance. I know it seems silly "restoring" the trunk area appearance of such a modified car but it's what I want. I even have a reproduction trunk mat I use unless the cars getting raced or tracked.

I made a panel to cover the rectangular opening in the package tray I haven't installed yet and am still considering options to cover the speaker holes during track/race events to complete the firewall between trunk and passenger compartment.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps8f73693a.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psed71a34b.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps451ccdaf.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscf535801.jpg

Rushforth wheels and Yokohama tires were both prizes I won in the contest that got me started with this project. I've gotten a lot of questions on why I'm switching to the different size wheels and tires for the new combo, so I'll try to explain it as well as I can in this post.

My old wheel/tire combo was 17 X 9.5 with 275 40 tires in front and 17 X 11 with 315 35 rears. The tires were Yokohama AO32's which are DOT R tires and while street legal they are meant for track day road course use. They were offered in soft compound for lightweight cars (imports) and a harder compound for heavier cars (like my 3500 lb. bird). I was very happy with the 17's however I found out that the possibilities for improving my braking system (stock with braided flex lines and Porterfield race pads/shoes) was very limited due to the rim design and diameter. Sure, I could switch to a 4 piston caliper in front and an entry level 4 piston rear disc setup but I'd probably end up spending a bunch of money with a marginal bang for the buck improvement in braking over the optimized stock setup.

The prizes for the contest included a set of Baer brakes. I called Baer and spoke with Todd (RIP) for quite a while about tracks, brakes, and other things while he questioned me about my use of the car. At the end of our conversation he recommended and offered to send me their 14" 6 piston front brakes with spindles and matching 14" rears along with a rear bias valve. This was waay beyond what I'd even hoped I would receive as a "give away" prize in a contest.

The Baers certainly wouldn't fit in my old 17" wheels and with wheels and tires also on the list of prizes I started considering what to get. A discussion with Jay at Rushforth confirmed that I'd need to go up to at least 18" wheels to fit the Baers and he informed me that the wheels could be any one of their models with whatever options I wanted up to 10" wide for the prize. The offer of any wheel custom made to order was great and like the Baers was above and beyond what I thought would be awarded as a "give away" wheel in a contest. He also said if I wanted them wider than 10" I could just pay the difference to get the hoops widened which was a great offer but not in my budget so at that point I was looking at a 10" max width wheel with a minimum diameter of 18"

Having researched and followed discussions (debates) on the performance of wheels over 15" for years I decided 18's would be good if I could get tires to go with them and I'd prefer not to go up to 19-20". Seems like 17-18 is the sweet spot for most of us with PT type cars and unless you have ungodly power the increased MOI of larger diameter wheel/tire combos might actually reduce lap times. Yokohama had stopped producing the AO 32's I ran previously and released the AO 48 which is a newer version of the DOT R tire with a slightly different tread pattern. AO 48's are not available in a 275 or 315 width in 18" but are available in a 285 and 295 width which are ideal widths for a 10" wide rim. I'd experienced a slight rub under certain conditions on track with 315's out back anyway and had been considering trying some type of panhard bar or watts link but really had no desire to do that unless it became necessary. So with a 10" rim limit and a narrower tire I wouldn't have that problem anymore with the right backspacing.

A 10" front wheel with a 285 is too wide for most 2nd gens with stock turning radius and typical inner wheels/suspension/steering. Since I don't really need the turning radius tight enough for parking lots at the mall I decided I'd rather have wider front tires and limit the turning radius. The old 275 17's rubbed my swaybar at full lock so I knew the 285's would require some type of modification for safety.

I also needed to keep in mind the overall diameter because I didn't want to raise the whole car off the ground or have the tire hit the inner fender during bump. This meant I needed to pick a tire under 26" tall and the 285/295 30 18's from Yokohama are just under 25" which is pretty short for a PT car but fits my desire to keep the car low and have suspension travel, everything is a compromise. Performance comes before looks for me so although a bigger diameter tire would fill the wheel well better I think I'll like the tires I've chosen.

The final decision was 285 30 18 up front and 295 30 18 rear tires on polished 18 X 10 Rushforth Night Train rims with no rivets and when I got them the search for an installer started. When going to a tire installer I had to explain that the front and rear rims look very similar but have different backspacing. The tires are directional so each wheel/tire combination can only be used on one corner of the car once assembled so when they're done I'll have RF, LF, RR, LR. The tires are marked for match mounting to reduce the amount of stick on wheel weights they need to use so they need to line up the tire in the proper place on the rim before mounting while making sure they have the rotating direction and tire size correct for that wheel. I got the deer in the headlights look at most shops, and that was before I would even ask about road force balancing.

I finally found a shop that said they could install the tires on the wheels properly. The fit was very very tight and they (and I) realized they were out of their league after they only got the tire half way on the rim with it rotated so the match mounting mark was way off, so I stopped them and took the wheel without even allowing them to try and remove the tire for fear they'd damage the wheel, tire, or both. I then proceeded from tire place to tire place (15-20) asking if they had the proper equipment and could correctly mount the tires with no success. I stopped by the local Porsche race shop hoping they might be able to do them but instead they recommended AMF tire in Boca Raton saying AMF mounted the slicks on big fat race wheels for the Porsche's all the time. So off to AMF I went and even with the rim and tire bead all lubed up the machine wasn't wasn't powerful enough to get the tires on without the additional weight of a large heavy man on a long tire lever to help the machine. Ya, they were really tight. Once the tires were on the rims they balanced up fine.

After they were mounted and balanced I washed them of all the glop from mounting and polished them up for the beauty shots. I'd be nice if the car was ready for them but they're getting bagged and set aside till I start mocking things up and need them. Now if I could just remember where I put the center caps!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps087c0b5c.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psd399a021.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps511efb02.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psf9c9a93c.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps51b55fb2.jpg

Window channel repairs. I'm waiting on weld in trim clip studs to repair the rear one so here's the front repair I needed to make. I have a new (well 20 years ago ahahaha) headliner it the car which is perfect and I don't want to damage or try to replace it with the roll cage in the way. So welding is something I wanted to avoid above the headliner plus welding creates the possibility of warping the roof skin in that area.

To get started the leftover urethane was scraped off with a scraper that holds razor blades using a plastic razor blade. If you've never seen them they are the same size as a single edge razor but without the very sharp edge, great for scraping stuff you don't want scratched (like paint) and don't dig in and snap like metal blades which is why I use them for scraping urethane window sealer. After scraping wax and grease remover with a bunch of rags will remove the remaining urethane then small wire wheels are used to remove the paint as well as any rust.

I found a small rusted area around one of the trim studs and several of the studs were missing. Now I know why the trim kept lifting over 100 MPH and had to be paped down! I'll clean off places to spot weld the new studs when they arrive.

To fix the rust the area was cleaned well with a wire wheel. Then a carbide bit (like you'd use porting heads) was used to "thin" the sheet metal where the rust was taking it back to clean metal. Then that area was carefully dimpled in a little and a piece of sheet metal bonded in with 3M 8115. Once dry the panel bond was sanded flush and a little plastic filler skim coated on, sanded, and then the window channel epoxy primed.

The findings after cleaning the channel were rust around a stud and a few missing? I had used one of the screw in repair studs when I painted the car 20+ years ago where the small hole is left of the rust area but that one along with a couple others were MIA after removing the trim and window.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps154539bc.jpg

The rusted area after wire wheel cleaning marked to make a patch panel.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps2b28294c.jpg

Patch piece and the area ground down for the patch.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps01ea9ecd.jpg

Patch installed with panel bond.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psa431cf6c.jpg

Extra panel bond removed.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps4ea10d66.jpg

Plastic filler smoothed and the channel epoxy primed.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps66f8ca7e.jpg

While doing the channel I also fixed some pitting in the lower corner of both sides that's common on 2nd gen F bodies. No new metal needed so pits were cleaned, panel bonded, smoothed, primed. Rear window channel needs more metal repair than the front did, will post when I get the studs I need to do it.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps6963fae1.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...psd425b85e.jpg