The Big M is home.

Got the driver side rocker panel in today. Was going to work with bottom of the pillar as is but the other one turned out so good I think I'm going to cut it out and replace it.
Something is still wrong with my Photobucket account. I can log on now but when I upload pictures they take forever and I wind up with all kinds of errors. Go figure! I can come up with problems they've never seen before on a site that is only used by about a billion people!

It's Working!

May not be much to some of you guys but I was kind of proud of the way this turned out. My stepdad came by yesterday and he liked it. I tried to talk him into the body work but he informed me that he is 70 years old and retired. He would be glad to come drink my beer and offer advice. That would acctually be pretty nice.

so anyway;

Before:



After:

Looks good! Glad to see you got the pics working again. Isn't it strange how we can cut a car in two and put it back together but can't get a computer to do what we want it to.

What kind of welder are you using

oldman wrote:What kind of welder are you using

It's just a little flux-core welder I got at TSC. That's why the welds look kind of messy. That flux-core splatters everywhere but works well enough.

I have an Lincoln 8kw AC-DC rig that I use for most of my welding but I don't have the TIG set-up for it. I was looking for a better wire welder when I went to TSC and they had this one marked down to $70.00. I asked the guy working there what was wrong with it and he told me he had bought one just like it that had been brought back. Guy brought it back raising a stink about how he would never buy any more junk from them. That it was a POS......Yada, Yada, Yada. So the manager sold it to him for half price. He took it and unloaded the .035 wire that the original customer had put in it and loaded a new spool of the .030 wire that matched the tip on it and had been using it every since.
Took a chance on it and it works just fine.

Hey Stew,
I got a cart at Harbor Freight that is built to hold a gas bottle for $45.00. I wouldn't put it out in a shop full of guys that don't care about tools they don't buy but I think it will last me a loooong time.

It looks like you are going to need the front body support that attach to the inner rocker panel and go under the floor,I had to replace both fronts on my 55 and a couple others and are readily available.

I thought all the body supports were there but I guess I need to check it out better. All I really have to go by is comparing one side to the other. Believe me all suggestions and help are appreciated.

It looks like someone put a mount of some kind in there but there is a support that goes from the inner rocker to close to the hump,it probably got removed when the floor was replaced and if the drivers side floor was replaced it might be gone too.

I'll get some better pictures of the bottom of the car between the rails and try to catch you on line to take a look at them.
Thanks Jeff

P.S. I have a GOOD A4OD we just pulled if your interested.

Jeff,
You were so on it. Thanks. I might not have ever noticed because the rubber bushings someone had put in there looked like something the factory would use. The drivers side bracket was still in place. I'm sure it is original because of the wiring clips still on it. I went digging in the stuff I got with the car and there was the missing body bracket. Pulled out the bushings someone had stuck in there (turned out they were Urethane ), loosened up the other bolts and worked it in. Lined it up and got it welded in place. It made the floor so much better. This got me to looking even closer than before. This thing will never be correct but it will be a lot closer than it was. Some body before the guy I got it from must have been a real hatchet man. I think it was before him because he at least bought the right parts and started installing them. Part of the driver side floor is definantly coming out now and there are other pieces that are going to be cut out and replaced as well. Kinda sucks! Seems like going backward but I know I will be glad I did it later.

After I started on the 55 it got a little depressing as the more I got into it the more rust I found,it took alot longer then I thought it would but was worth the effort. The 13 winters it was driven through plus the 30 years it just sat around was not easy on it as the rust just kept on munching away,if my dad did not buy it new I might have sold it and bought one that was a little nicer so I would not have spent 6 years grinding and welding.

junkyardjeff wrote: spent 6 years grinding and welding.

Now those are some encouraging words!

This is what I found on the driver side. I'm pretty sure it's original or an old repair.


And the piece I scrounged up out of the boxes the PO gave me.

Well I think I have the floor in decent enough shape to live with so I think I'll be getting back on the brakes and front sheet metal. Painted the underside back to about the pinion. Want to get the MC figured out and get the engine and trans in place to start wiring the engine bay. Sorry no pics. Tip grabbed the camera and ran off with it. Got to look for it tomorrow when it's light. Hope the little witch didn't bury it.

Arieldouglas wrote:Tip grabbed the camera and ran off with it. Got to look for it tomorrow when it's light. Hope the little witch didn't bury it.

Found the camera. She didn't go far with it. The only reason she grabbed it was because she wanted to play and I was ignoring her. Went to Pull-A-Part with Matt so no pics still. One of my exhaust manifolds is cracked. I was dreading welding it up 'cause Momma always complains about car parts in the oven or freezer. I always check out the classic (old) section when I go. There was a 70 T-Bird there that had 427 CID on the breather. Got all excited till I got under it and there weren't any cross bolts in the mains. It did have a good driver side manifold though. So I grabbed it. Still may go back for the engine if I can scrape up some "extra" cash. It is a 4bbl engine and I do like that long stroke.

Are you going with electric wipers?,I might be interested in the vacumn wiper motor if its good. Mine does not see much rain so the electric conversion is not worth the money for me.

I think I would like to convert. I don't know the condition of the vacuum motor but I would think rebuild kits are out there. Just haven't checked yet. I have four different electric motors people have donated but I doubt any will work.

I haven't been doing much lately worth taking any pictures. Just grinding and welding on the floor and wire brushing the frame and bottom of the floor.
Got the seals, filter and pan gasket replaced on the trans. Got it bolted back up to the engine and making new cooling lines. Trying to think about working on it in the future as I do. Kinda' a pain in the but making sure they are out of the way and not too close to the exhaust. Just really want to get it back in the car and feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Dropped the engine back in today.
Film at 11:00 or whenever I go back out. My toes got cold so I came in to warm up.

^^^^^ALL RIGHT!!!!! ^^^^^

Me 3!!

Cheering is a little premature but it does feel good to quit scraping and brushing and grinding and scraping and cleaning and brushing.....................at least for a little while. Got plenty of plumbing and wiring to do. Want to do as much of that as possible before I put all that sheet metal back in the way. Won't be much though. Got to have somrthing to fasten it all to. Didn't realize how dusty things were till i looked at these. Maight have to put the wheels back on and roll it outside for a bath. Nah, not yet. Maybe when it warms back up.




One of these days I will get this thing beside a Ford and see what the difference is. That FE is not going to set all the way down on the frame horns.

It's looking good, a ? the motor mounts on the motor they are not the same as a 390 are they? RIGHT !

They are the 390 mounts but I had to build 2" spacers to keep it off the steering box.