The door mirrors are assembled awaiting warmer temps for drilling the passenger side door. I got some supplies in from Caswell Plating for the gauge panel-aluminum anodizing remover and post-polish sealer. I'll paint the wood grained area sating black, strip and polish the gauge rings then re-assemble. I'm laying out the gas fill door pieces and custom emblem and have decided to inset the GT letters in a black field instead of red. I need to drill the die cast panel and aluminum trim piece then paint the aluminum trim piece before mounting the letters.
I'd like to thank Cousin Eddie for the inspiration here. Hopefully I can achieve somewhat similar results.
Here is the laminated gauge panel overlay
The black aluminum piece is riveted on to the woodgrain covered steel piece. The aluminum gauge rings are placed in the depressions in the woodgrain panel and four tabs folded over to crimp them in place.
I've drilled out the rivets and pulled the trim rings out.
To my disappointment, one of my freshly refinished chrome trim pieces had two blisters under the plating. To my satisfaction, the shop acknowledged the issue and will strip and re-chrome plate the part. I dropped that off for re-work today. I got some stainless steel half round for the door panels delivered today. Off to the TIG weld shop for stud welding tomorrow.
A question about the passengers side mirror. Is there supposed to be a threaded metal reinforcing bracket or plate underneath the door skin for the mirror screws to attach to? Or do you just screw it to the door skin?
Scott
No plate or bracket for the mirror. The installation kit uses nut-serts in the door skin.
In the last few weeks I've been in parts collection mode again as it's been a bit too cold to play in the garage. I received the seat brackets for my well loved Recaro Sport seats and had the door panels and rear seat reupholstered to match. New armrests and some stainless steel custom trim and I can wrap them up. I hope to get everything installed this weekend.
I also had a pad poured in the garage so I can use my MaxJax. The post location was too close to the expansion joints on my garage floor for my comfort. 10 day cure timer then install the anchors.
Door mirror inserts and results
Convertible season in full swing here now and I've been asked to transport a WWII vet in our local Memorial Day Parade. Temp is expected to be mid 90's so I'm swapping out the underperforming single 16" electric fan for a new shroud and dual 11" fans with PWM fan controller. Fans are a Derale 16833 combo and the an controller is from AutoCool Guy. Fabricating, wiring, painting, and R&R have to be done today as tomorrow is my sons birthday party and Sunday is a drywall hanging party in my family room.
Away we go. Pics to follow.
Well, the local Memorial Day parade was a bust. Veteran chose another car for a ride and that left me driving the car with no local dignitary. The car wasn't done to my liking so I bailed and it wasn't a huge deal. Moved on to other non-car tasks and time killers (kids end-of-year school and extra curricular activities, home projects, out of town family, etc) so just got things wrapped up weekend before last. The parts I described above have cured the temp creep at low speeds! I'll get pics up soon but I'm driving the cat now!
I do have a bit of a concern with Derale's policies. I screwed up and ordered the incorrect fan kit (16833). The width was good but it was too tall. With the radiator in the car I couldn't test fit it and went ahead with modifying it and painting it. I then found out it was too tall. I cut and modded it to get it in place then called Derale to order a new shroud of the correct size. I explained my mistake and asked to order just the new shroud. After speaking with their tech service group, I was told that they would not sell me just the shroud based on a policy they established many years before. I could buy an entire shroud fan assembly but they would not sell just the shroud. I can have a new shroud made this winter at my buddies fab shop now that I have the correct size. I found it odd that they wouldn't sell just the box but it was their choice. It is my choice not to do business with them again.
I got my temperature control issue licked with the changes I implemented this spring. It was airflow related and now appears to be a non-isss\ue. Yay me!
Tomorrow I'm getting cranking on a bunch of issues to get things as good as possible for the upcoming Woodward Dream Cruise. Ive been putting some miles on her taking care of some things but tomorrow I'm digging in. Structural, cosmetic, detailing, etc. Lots of stuff!
Like the wiring I've been doing on this car, interior trim is new to me too. I have found I really enjoy both now. I may not be good at either but I do have fun while doing them.
I got the Recaro's installed today. I needed to make some trips for grade 8 hardware and some minor mods to one of the Wedge brackets. Carbide burr made quick work of that. Tomorrow is Monte Carlo bar and steering wheel re-alignment plus adjustment of the turn signal canceling cam.
I also tested my cooling system changes I described above. Ambient temp was about 92F and I'd had the car on the road for a bit. Pulled into the driveway and saw 203F on the FiTech display. I let her idle in the sun and walked away for about 5 minutes. Came back and temp was still at 203F. Success! I installed a switch to turn both fans on at full speed when I installed the PWM fan controller. Flipped the switch and left the car idling. When I returned a few minutes later, the temp was down to 184 so I know I have my airflow problem licked!
Background on rear gas filler door rebuild/customization. The OEM piece had a crest that was sunn blasted, applique that was partially melted (fuel exposure), chrome that was pitted and broken and a red lens that was cracked and cloudy. I bought a used assembly at a swap meet then tore it down. I had the three chrome pieces stripped and replated, cleaned and painted the structural piece, bought a new lens and aluminum applique which required modification and painting, and then bought some Mustang GT die cast letters with a design I really liked.
Back side of applique/badge mount
Bench modded for workholding
Holder now doing its job
Letters laid out then drilled
I got to use some of my grandfathers tools (die files and divider) on this job which brought me some smiles. He was a tool and die maker for the die cast industry and made and repaired dies for pieces just like the ones I was working on. To complete the multigenerational connection, I'm also helping my father get his 1963 Corvette split window ready for this weekends Woodward Dream Cruise by helping him with suspension installation and a new carb today so he can be ready for Saturday. He helped me for years (and continues to do so these days) and I'm glad to return the favor as he moves a lot slower these days.
Love you both and thanks for helping me become the man that I am today.
Door panels installed last night. I'm happy with the results and it completes my vision for the interior of clean updates tying the seats-front & rear- to the door panels. I loaded up the doors with sound deadening sheets and tightened all the fasteners so no more cheap sounding door slams. No more potential tetanus shots for the family due to the old exposed door structure.
In reply to wawazat :
nice work, man. car looks great!
Had fun last night at the Berkley Classic Parade and then for a few miles on Woodward until the car started stumbling and then died. Wouldn't re-start at all. Towed it home and when I was about to lock it up heard the fuel pump still running. Odd as the key had been removed for over an hour. The FiTech handheld was still not showing any data so I was confident that was where my issue was located. I disconnected te battery and call it a night. During my trouble shooting this morning with the car running I reinstalled the big oval aircleaner and started to tighten the wingnut. I thought I had some clearance between the air cleaner base and the distributor wires. The shock I got told me I didn't! I was connecting the ignition system spark energy directly to the throttle body which I believe created enough EMI/RFI noise that the ECU finally said "Barkeep, I'm done!"and shut down. My backup little air filter went back on and we spent about 4 hours in the car today with no further problems.
Summer's coming to an end here in MI but I'm still out and about in the old girl. Took her to the MI meet a few weeks ago at Griffin Claw. Drove her today to see a customer. Low 60's but sunny made for an awesome top down drive to Plymouth. Tomorrow morning I'm meeting my Dad and we're headed to Cars and Coffee at M1 Concourse in Pontiac.
I knocked out a quick oil change before dinner tonight. It's raining now so I'll get up and give her a quick bath early then hit the road.
Super cool! Cougars are so much cooler than mustangs!
