Fender Apron & Firewall Hole Filling, a Few New Tools, the Intricacies of Life and a Little Adventure Mixed In

“Though I may wander, do not think me lost”………..One of my favorite, and rather self-descriptive sayings.  As the extended time between blog entries will indicate, in recent weeks I have indeed wandered.  In fact, my recent wanderings have been in MANY different directions and all in the most positive ways.

Vacation:  Start with Dessert, Cuz’ Life is Too Short

As fate and our Lord would have it, I come from a very small branch of a rather divided, even fragmented family tree.  Truth is, where this frail twig of a lineage is concerned, I am the end of the line.  The caboose on the train.  The last of the Mohicans.  The tail of the dragon.  Land’s end.  The short story is: my family name dies with me and only recently has the weight of it come to shove its way into my thoughts and has given me pause to consider those things that matter most, and perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t matter at all.

To begin, in the few weeks following my last update, I was ramping up for a once-in-a-lifetime experience I enjoyed beyond words.  Sparing the raw details of the how’s and why’s of time and the cruelty that so often accompanies it, my uncle and I, for the first time, had the extraordinary experience of sharing our common love of beautiful cars during the Street Rodder Magazine Road Tour from San Antonio, TX to Pigeon Forge, TN and the Shades of the Past Rod Run tucked into the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Over the course of 8 days, we covered 2531 miles in his glorious 1932 Ford 5-window coupe hot rod.  It was hot, wet, humid, bumpy, smooth, fast, slow, up, and down and altogether a PERFECT trip that I will never forget.  In so many ways, I discovered we were more the same than I ever knew.  After 45 years, this was the first time he and I spent this much “quality time” together and to enjoy it from the same side of the windshield was absolutely priceless.  It is truly a treasured day when you realize you are blessed.  I very much am, and THAT realization is one of those things that really matters.

New Tools:  New to ME anyway!

Sometimes, you have to make moves when the opportunity is right, and just before leaving on vacation, opportunity knocked LOUDLY and I managed to answer the “door” for a change!  A very good friend and his bride have been frantically making their last preparations to make their move to Florida permanent.  In doing so, he needed to down size his blast cabinet and offload a band saw and a utility “cart” he had under foot.  As fate would have it, I was looking to up size my blast cabinet and the band saw was another tool I had on my “to get” list.  And then there was this “cart” he described, with large heavy duty wheels, tie-down rings and a large flat surface that would support a few tons.  Hmmmmmm, I thought to myself……that might be just the ticket.

Anyway, just a few days before I left on vacation, we struck a deal and I delivered my smaller blast cabinet, which was much more manageable for his new work space.  Then he dropped off my “new” blast cabinet, band saw and the cart.  As twists of fate often are, the cart was like a gift from the auto restoration gods!  Here I was, staring at a large 6’ x 8’ diamond plate clad, steel framed, iron-wheeled, industrial strength platform that would make a perfect body dolly to set the car on once it was off the rotisserie!  With a few simple stand-offs mounted to the cart frame, the body would sit quite nicely and securely on this cart and allow the bulk of my future work to be accomplished on a nice stable platform.  And coupled to that, I had a blast cabinet that would serve me for years to come and a band saw that I would eventually need as well.  I felt like I hit the jackpot!  And if there was any shade of a “down” side, it was only that I required a few weeks after I returned from vacation to rearrange the shop and get the new cabinet plumbed for use.  Not bad at all!

This blast cabinet was a great upgrade to the shop and just in time.  It's about a foot wider, a foot taller and about 6 inched deeper than my old cabinet and should work great for the foreseeable future!

Although it doesn't look like it now, this industrial strength cart will become an awesome body cart work platform for the work to come this winter.

 

Back to Work:  Filling the holes in the fender aprons and firewall

With the shop back in workable shape, I was finally able to re-engage the project where I left it.  Having earlier identified all of the holes in the fender aprons and firewall that I wanted to fill, I was ready to sit down and begin the tedious process of sanding away the surrounding primer from each hole, fitting each individual steel “plug” as tightly as possible, and TIG welding each one in place with little or no filler material required.  To ensure the fitting process was accurate and subtle, I used a tapered reamer to very gently enlarge each hole as required while keeping it round.  Often, this means only a turn or two of the reamer to get the desired fit.  Then, I fit each plug flush with the “beauty” surface and tacked it into place.  With a little hammer and dolly work to ensure everything was nice and flat, I welded each plug into place using only small amounts of filler metal as required. 

Pretty quickly, I was kicking myself for being a tightwad as the #17 air-cooled torch head I have is very large for this kind of work even with the stubby Pyrex gas lens kit and short quill installed.  On my Christmas list will be a new #9 flex head torch head and gas lens kit for sure!  Otherwise, after a few dedicated days of work, the aprons and lower half of the firewall were fully filled and waiting for a fresh coat of primer for protection.

After returning from my brief sojourn across the lower US, the time had come to prep and prime the bare metal spots to protect them and allow plenty of time for the primer to cure before moving to the next phase of work.  Since Fall is just around the corner here in Michigan, I have been prioritizing my further work on the upper half of the firewall to a later time as I need to get the car off of the rotisserie and on the body cart before the cold, nasty weather socks me in for the season.  This means I have to scuff and seam seal the outer aprons and then get the car on the body cart so I can sand blast the front frame extensions where the rotisserie brackets bolt to so they can be primed as well.  Once I reach this point, I can get the outer aprons and lower rails coated in Raptor spray bed liner material to match the undercarriage of the car and move the attention to completing the firewall work and on to genuine body work.  More to come!

A taper reamer is used to carefully enlarge each hole to fit the steel plug tightly.  This makes for a much cleaner and easier time welding the plugs in to fill the many holes in the fender aprons and firewall.

 

Here you can see how tightly and flush the plug fits before welding.

Each plug is tacked in at four or more locations.

 

This shot shows how ridiculously huge my TIG torch is for this kind of work, but it works just the same.  Here, I am using a length of .030 MIG wire for a tad bit of filler material on this weld.

 

In most cases, filler material is used very sparingly, if at all if the fit is just right.

 

The battery of tools I use for this work is rather straight forward.  The copper plate at the bottom is used to back up the weld to help prevent blowing through the metal.

Left front apron with all the holes filled and smoothed.

 

Left shock tower and rear apron filled.

Right shock tower and rear apron filled.

Right front apron filled and smoothed.

 

In this shot, I am finishing up the lower firewall hole filling.  Awkward, semi-squatting welding position is tough on the back!

Lower firewall holes filled under the heater box area.

A small touch-up in the trans tunnel.

All of the weld areas have been sanded and feathered in this shot in preparation for spot-priming with PPG DPLF primer.

Not obvious in this picture is the fact that I welded up the original upper control arm mounting holes and left only the "Arning" drop holes.  When this area is smoothed and sanded, you will never know these weren't the original holes.

Left outer apron scuffed and prepped for primer.

Right inner apron shows the extensive amount of work done to get these pesky holes filled.  Lots of bare metal that will need to be primed!

Lower firewall filling is less intense, but the effect is quite noticeable.

After spot priming, the right outer apron looks good.

The left outer apron also looks very clean after spot priming.

From the inside, the spot priming on the right apron really starts to show how much smoother the apron will look when finished.

Again, on the left apron, the priming shows how clean the filled apron will look.

Even with only a few holes filled, the firewall also shows a nice clean trend.  The remaining yellow circled holes still require filling.

An Export walks into a Monte Carlo Bar…….and Gets Gassed!

On any given day, this tag-line could be true, but for the past few weeks, it pretty much sums up the variety of work that has been completed on the Night Mission Boss 302 project as we soldier on toward getting the car off the rotisserie and on a body cart in preparation for the Fall and Winter workload.  A lot of small and not-so-small tasks absorbed the past few weeks and the results were, once again, a reward in every capacity.

The Street or Track Billet Export Brace with a Night Mission Twist

The journey begins with the installation of the exceptionally nice billet export brace kit from Street or Track.  As I have come to expect from Shaun @ Street or Track, this kit was top-shelf stuff with only minor fitting required on the firewall bulkhead brace (which Shaun and I discussed beforehand).  Outside of that, the pieces fit perfectly.

Once the installation of the export brace kit was verified, I set about designing and building new shock tower mounting plates that would serve a dual purpose and solve an issue I had with the style of the plates included in the kit.  It is worth noting that the mounting plates included in the kit are perfectly adequate for “normal” installations, but I have concerns over the conventional method of divorcing the mounting functions of the export brace and the Monte Carlo bar and determined that I would need to fabricate my own mounting plates to satisfy all of the demands I had imposed on the design.

The first design goal I wanted to address was to integrate the export brace and Monte Carlo bar outboard mounting features into a single, solid mounting point at the top of each shock tower.  This is where the forces of the suspension converge at the top and, in my mind, it only made sense to combine the mounting locations at this critical point. 

Secondly, the top of the shock tower is a MUCH stronger structure than the commonly implemented fender apron mounts of just about 99.9% of the commercial Monte Carlo bars out there.  A fender apron mounting scheme also forces the Monte Carlo bar to be much lower in the engine bay, making distributor clearance a constantly annoying dilemma that is, more often than not, addressed by putting a huge bend in the bar which does absolutely terrible things to the stiffness of the bar itself.

And finally, since the car would have no need to allow for provisions for upper shock mounts to protrude above the shock tower, I wanted the upper shock tower mounting plates to have no holes in them for this purpose.

So, after carefully measuring and photographing a few complete 69-70 Mustangs for reference and several nights sketching designs and making paper patterns for mock-up, I established a simple and very strong integrated mounting plate that would satisfy every design element I required and look good in the process.

Once I made a wooden test piece to check fit, I ordered fresh 6061-T6 aluminum stock and dedicated a few hours of band saw, milling machine and belt sander time to fab up the new mounts.  Once they were complete, they fit absolutely perfectly and I could then take careful measurements that would allow me to have a custom swaged aluminum Monte Carlo brace made that would match the export brace links perfectly and provide the lateral stiffness I expected from the assembly.  The end result solves all of the design and functional concerns I had in a simple, and somewhat elegant solution.

Lokar Billet “Direct-Fit” Gas Pedal

Lokar products are another line that I have been very impressed and satisfied with and I was keen to use their new “Midnight” series billet pedals in the car to add just a bit more style to this otherwise rather unsightly area of classic Mustangs and to improve the ultimate performance and operational smoothness of the gas pedal and throttle cable setup.

Lokar’s direct-fit gas pedal is a very nice piece of engineering that is fully adjustable and fits in the stock pedal location.  This makes installation a breeze with the only modification being the need to drill a 5/16” hole for the new throttle cable location.  In fact, the installation is so simple there is nothing really interesting to include in this write-up, so I will let the pictures and captions do the rest.  Of course, there will be more follow-up on the entire Lokar pedal upgrade in a future entry as we get a bit closer to tackling that work.

Front and Rear Suspension Parts are Finally Powder Coated

The final spate of work that needed doing was to get all of the raw steel parts of the front and rear suspension as well as the modified Unisteer rack and pinion steering mounting bracket in powder coat.  The batch of parts was fairly large so Ted and I dedicated several hours over the course of a few evenings to getting everything cleaned and prepared for powder; followed by another few evenings spent applying the powder and curing everything to our satisfaction. 

I am very fortunate to have full professional powder coating capability in my home shop as part of my “other” interests in the custom motorcycle, bicycle and automotive realms, which makes the entire powder coating process much more affordable and approachable than it would be otherwise.

Using my favorite urethane matte black powder, I was able to get all of the pieces looking absolutely beautiful.  Once finished, Ted and I assembled the hardware back onto the components and even had the opportunity to install the rear upper coilover mounting bracket in place.  The look of the smooth matte black finish against the Raptor bed liner material we sprayed on the bottom of the car a few weeks back looks absolutely unbelievable and gives a nice hint on how the bottom of the car will look in finished form.

Next on the agenda, Ted and I will complete mapping the inner fender aprons and firewall to allow us to begin the long and tedious process of filling the many unnecessary holes in these surfaces.  While I don’t want the under hood panels to appear “fake” or overdone, I do want the surfaces to be smooth and uninterrupted while maintaining a simple factory “look”.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we can pull it off.

The Street or Track billet export brace kit is a wonderful piece that fits the car perfectly.  Here is the substantial firewall bulkhead mount that really ties the upper and lower cowl together and provides a solid foundation for the forward braces that support the shock towers.  Top notch stuff!

A unique feature of the Street or track export brace kit are these two mounting bolts that tie the cowl securely to the flange mounting plane.  This adds tremendous stiffness to this mounting location and does not rely solely on the cowl flange for support.

This is the upper mounting plate as supplied in the Street or Track export brace kit.  For 99% of the applications, this plate is a perfect solution, but as with many aspects of the night Mission boss 302, it needed a few tweaks to satisfy all of the design requirements.

A few different paper patterns were made based on the intended design and trial fit to the assembly to evaluate the end result.  This pattern ended up satisfying all of the design goals in one rather simple solution.

The front view of the pattern shows how the Monte Carlo bar mounting location would be positioned on the plate and how it cleanly integrates into the core structure of the mount.  Also not that the shock mount clearance hole in the middle of the original plate has been eliminated.

Another look at the mount pattern shows how this configuration will allow the Monte Carlo bar to be mounted either above or below the mount for distributor clearance.

A few hours of fab work applied to a fresh piece of 3/8" 6061-T6 aluminum resulted in a pair of upper mounting plates that serve dual;-duty as the export brace and Monte Carlo bar mounts and look nice in the process.

First trial fit of the Street or track export brace kit with the new mounts shows they fit perfectly.  So far, so good!

Trial fit of the custom Monte Carlo bar shows perfect fit at this location as well.

A top view of the passenger side shock tower mount shows how cleanly the forward braces of the export brace and the Monte Carlo brace converge at the mounting plate.

Here is a look at the driver side assembly all buttoned up.

The passenger side view of the assembly is equally satisfying.



And there it is in finished form.  The Street or Track export brace has been integrated with a custom fabricated Monte Carlo bar via the specially designed shock tower mounts.  (Night) mission accomplished!

Lokar offers this impressive and wonderfully well made direct-fit gas pedal kit for the 69-70 Mustang.  While this will most likely disappear under the dash area when the car is complete, the look is miles ahead of the stock pedal and the action is buttery smooth.  Plush, it looks pretty kick-ass too!

From the engine bay, these two button head screws are all you see that give away the Lokar custom pedal.

 

A shot of the Lokar pedal from the passenger side.

We finally were able to catch up on a lot of the powder coating work on the many raw metal parts we had in the front suspension, rear suspension and rack and pinion steering system.  Here are the power steering mounting bracket for the Unisteer R&P conversion and the modified upper rear coilover mount with freshly applied powder just before going into the oven to cure.

Still hot from the powder coating oven, the brackets look great!

 

Up close, you can get a really good idea how beautiful the matte black urethane powder flows out over the part.

This is the rear upper coilover mount installed in place after powder coating.  While the flash makes the Raptor bed liner material look glossier than it really is, the smooth and elegant look is clear to see with the bar mounted in place.

Another look at the mounting saddle for the upper rear coilover mount.

A better look at the whole rear bar installed in place.  The matte black powder coated finish is the perfect compliment to the Raptor bed liner finish under the car.

After all of the hardware was reinstalled on the front and rear suspension components, the batch of parts looks ready for business.  Love it!

Finishing the Exterior Floor: Raptor Spray Bed Liner from U-POL

We’ve been on a bit of a hiatus over the past few weeks as a remodel of a bedroom took precedence over just about everything.  I think my return to the shop was actually as much a relief to my family as myself as I get rather irritable with thinks like painting walls, installing flooring, assembling furniture, hanging pictures and other nefarious crap like that.  But once I got back to my beloved project, I was just about as excited as a puppy and darn near rolled over and peed all over myself!  Yep……it was good to get back in the shop……

As milestones go, the work that Ted and I were set to accomplish was significant.  Finishing the bottom of the car would represent the first “finish work” we would do since the project began and it’s been a LONG time coming.  We would finally get a chance to see what all of the tedious detail work we had toiled over for the past several months would look like when the final finish was applied and we could stand back and see first-hand if what we had imagined in our minds’ eye would be reflected in reality.  It was “go” time and we were ready…..

Almost from the beginning of the project, I decided that I wanted the bottom of the car to have a very smooth and integrated look, while still maintaining exceptional durability, ease of maintenance and subtle “stealth” that would not give away its many secrets so easily.  The looks I wanted was achievable by using spray bed liner material and is the “secret” that countless pro-built rods have used over the past few years.  As trick as the finish looks, it is one of the easiest finishes to apply that you will ever experience.  Now, we are not talking about the roll-on coatings or the spray-can variety.  Indeed, there are many less-than-desirable DIY bed liner coatings out there.  However, the products that actually work are the catalyzed urethane products that are applied with a Schutz gun.

After many weeks of research, I settled on a product called Raptor Liner from U-POL.  I was fortunate enough to talk to local industry experts that use massive amounts of the stuff and confirm their results by researching the same product on the internet forums.  I was very impressed with the virtually 100% satisfaction rating of the product in both professional and hobbyist hands.  Again, it was a matter of following the directions to the letter and the results would come.

 

The process began by spending lots of time carefully masking all of the previously scuff-sanded surfaces, the areas that needed protection from over spray, and establishing the clean edges we needed everywhere else.  This is not the time to get in a hurry or be careless with your work as it will be reflected directly in the finished product.  So, Ted and I spent several evenings making sure all of our masking was complete and all holes were plugged.  Then…….we waited.

The weather had been pretty hit-and-miss the past few weeks with fairly frequent rain and that wasn’t going to work on a product that would need to be sprayed outside.  Alternatively, the summer temperatures have started to creep up into the higher 80’s and the humidity has been up there as well and neither of these conditions was ideal for spraying the Raptor Liner material according to the directions.  After about a week of careful weather-watching, we saw our window and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  So, we rolled the car outside and let the fun begin!

Like any coating application, the first step was to lightly swab the surfaces with wax and grease remover and then blow off any dust with compressed air.  Then, one more careful inspection of the masking and plugs to make sure we hadn’t lost anything and we were ready to apply the Raptor Liner.

The instructions were about as simple as it could be in that the catalyst was added to each bottle then shaken for 2 minutes and then applied with the special Schutz-type spray gun supplied in the kit.  However, before turning the gun loose on the car, I decided to test the spray pattern and texture on a piece of old sheet metal to make absolutely sure I would get the results I was looking for.  The final setting on the air pressure was a “triggered” 45psi at the gun and that is where the regulator was locked down for the entire process.

I began spraying the floor at the back of the car and moved forward, keeping the spray distance at about 15-18 inches from the surface.  I concentrated on the most difficult and intricate areas of the floor first to make absolutely sure I would get all of the nooks and crannies covered well and then moved to the open, flatter areas.  Each bottle took about 7-10 minutes to spray and we found that things were really moving at a very quick clip.  In about 30 minutes, the first coat was on and we allowed the entire coating to flash off for the required 60 minutes before returning for the second coat.  This also gave us plenty of time to look over the entire job and identify any areas that would need extra attention to ensure the coating was even and complete from front to back and to clean up the gun with acetone so we would be ready to roll for the second coat.  It is also worth noting that this was yet another time where the rotisserie proved an invaluable tool in ensuring that this type of work could be done at a professional level as it allowed the body to be carefully positioned to ensure complete coverage of every area.

After the flash time had elapsed, we applied a second coat in the same fashion as the first and made sure to cover all of the light or missed areas left over from the first coat.  Again, about 30 minutes was all that was required and the job was done.  Almost immediately after cleaning the gun for the final time, we started removing the masking and plugs to ensure the edges were crisp and the holes clean.  Once this coating dries, it is monstrously tough and would pretty well permanently seal any leftover plugs or masking in its place forever.  By removing the masking while the coating is still somewhat tacky, the edges are left very sharp and clean.  After another hour of flash time, the finish retained a bit more gloss than I expected, but I knew that would dull a bit over the next several days to just the right satin finish I was looking for, so no worries.

With all of the masking removed and plenty of daylight to observe the finished product, we were extremely pleased with how the Raptor Liner material looked and the finish was everything that I had hoped for.  The bottom of the car looks amazingly smooth and uniform; almost as if the entire floor was one smooth stamping.  The 4-link mounts look as if they were there from the factory and all of the sealed seams are absolutely beautiful.  The rear wheel wells are stunningly clean and uniform and will look fantastic when the car is finally finished.  In short, I couldn’t be happier with the outcome and U-POL Raptor Liner is absolutely everything it is touted to be.  Brilliant!

After heavy research, I settled on U-Pol's Raptor Liner 2K urethane spray bed liner kit.  I found a great deal on two kits from TP Tools (one of my favorite restoration tool suppliers) and each kit included the proper Schutz-type application gun.

Several evenings were spent masking everything as carefully and cleanly as possible.  While over spray is rather minimal, anything sloppy here will ruin the job, so we took our time and made doubly sure everything was right.

 

Here is a look at the lower edges of the trunk drop off/quarter panel and the tail light panel fully masked.

The rocker flanges were also m asked along their length.  You can also see we had previously scuffed the PPG DP90LF primer to ensure a good foundation for the Raptor.

Fuel tank aperture is masked to the inside of the opening to allow the Raptor to create a "soft-edge" along the inside flanges which looks nice and is easy to feather.

The rocker flanges and wheel opening lips are carefully masked where the two come together.  This is a rather intricate area that rewards taking your time.

In the center of the photo you can just see the silicone plugs on the e-brake flange and shifter hole flange bolt holes.  Also, this clearly shows the scuffed surface on the DP90LF primer.

The upper coilover mounting bracket sockets are masked, including the oval hole where the fasteners must pass through and seat when tightened.

The firewall transition seam is where the bed liner material would be terminated and again, careful masking was the key to a fine finish.

A quick swabbing with wax and grease remover and the floor was ready to coat!

 

Here is the assembled U-POL spray gun that is designed specifically to fit the Raptor bottles.  I added the red filter ad quick connect fitting to the inlet for good measure.  Air pressure was set at 45psi "triggered" at the gun and this proved to be perfect for the application of the material.

Some may recognize this piece of scrap as the original roof skin off the car.  As it turns out, it made an excellent spray test panel to dial in the gun settings before moving the work to the "real" surfaces.  Glad I hadn't thrown it away just yet!

 

We started at the back and worked out way forward, concentrating on the intricate and hard-to-reach areas before moving to the flatter sections.  After only one coat, you can already see how uniform everything is starting to look and how evenly the Raptor Liner is adhering to the surfaces.

Spray distance was kept at about 15-18" from the surface and the material was applied in even, sweeping motions.  I can't say enough how much of an advantage having the car on a rotisserie was during this phase of work.

Straight out of the gun and still wet, the first coat is done!  Each coat is allowed to flash off for a full 60 minutes before application of the second coat.

During the flash period, we took a close look at every nook and cranny to spot any areas that needed attention during the second coat application.  One area I went light on can be seen here at the front of the transmission floor brace, just to the left of center in this image.  This was easily and quickly addressed when the second coat was applied.

After the second coat, the entire axle tunnel area looked fantastically smooth and tidy.

 

Wheel tubs looked especially good and should be exceptionally durable and easy to maintain.

Even the area where the spare tire bulge was pounded out and smoothed up looked factory fresh with a coating of the Raptor Liner.

Another shot of the completed axle tunnel shows how nicely the final finish looks.  To the untrained eye, even the 4-link suspension modifications take on an integrated, factory-built look.

Another shot of the wheel tubs and 4-link details.

After the masking was removed while the second coat was still tacky, the panhard mount and upper coilover saddle brackets looked very clean.

Rear frame rails and trunk drops are absolutely pristine.

The final finish looks incredible and the entire job took only about 3 hours from the time the car was rolled out of the shop to the time it was rolled back in.  Amazing!