-
đź’ˇ Fun fact. Whenever you start a thread, TCG Mechanic 5000 (our AI bot) will reply to you to start helping. It doesn't know everything and it will struggle with more complex questions but it can get the thread going and provide valuable information. You can choose to disable it prior to submitting a thread.
The SN65 project car
- Thread starter SN65
- Start date
Hi Lightning95,lightning95 said:
I kind of like the 03 flairs. In fact, I think that they will give the car a wicked apperance once the stance is set. The PhotoShop rendering may be a bit off (attachment point, angle of flair, height, amount of wheel showing, etc...) but it gives me a good feel for the finished product.
As far as wheels go, I am leaning toward the following in a 17x9.5 size. They will give me the classic look I am looking for in an updated style and size.
SN65
Attachments
Hi All,
I was talking to my brother the otehr day and he made an interesting comment. He said...
"You really don't know what you have gotten yourself into do you"?
I said "What do you mean"?
Wayne said "Nobody he knows would ever attempt such a project. First we have cut up a perfectly fine 03 Cobra, which if we screw it up will be a $30,000 mistake. Then we are fitting it to a 40 year old body that has all kinds of problems in and of itself".
I said that it is just a matter of establishing a goal, picture the end results in your minds eye, doing some preliminary engineering to make sure that your basic assumptions are correct, leave yourself a little breathing room to allow for problems along the way, bite the bullet and jump in with both feet.
Wayne said "You have no fear, do you"!
I said that I have plenty of fear, but that in this type of a project you just have to stick with your vision and focus on problem solving.
His response was "The reason you were able to start this in the first place is that you know just enough to envision the possibilities. If you understood all the possible problems and mistakes that could totally f*@$ this project beyond repair, you would be scared SH!^LE$$".
I said... "Thats why I have you looking over my shoulder. And besides, if I screw up, I can always blame you. That's what brothers are for".
SN65
I was talking to my brother the otehr day and he made an interesting comment. He said...
"You really don't know what you have gotten yourself into do you"?
I said "What do you mean"?
Wayne said "Nobody he knows would ever attempt such a project. First we have cut up a perfectly fine 03 Cobra, which if we screw it up will be a $30,000 mistake. Then we are fitting it to a 40 year old body that has all kinds of problems in and of itself".
I said that it is just a matter of establishing a goal, picture the end results in your minds eye, doing some preliminary engineering to make sure that your basic assumptions are correct, leave yourself a little breathing room to allow for problems along the way, bite the bullet and jump in with both feet.
Wayne said "You have no fear, do you"!
I said that I have plenty of fear, but that in this type of a project you just have to stick with your vision and focus on problem solving.
His response was "The reason you were able to start this in the first place is that you know just enough to envision the possibilities. If you understood all the possible problems and mistakes that could totally f*@$ this project beyond repair, you would be scared SH!^LE$$".
I said... "Thats why I have you looking over my shoulder. And besides, if I screw up, I can always blame you. That's what brothers are for".
SN65
Hi All,
Here is a rendering done by Bob Marley of Stangnet. He has really hit the nail on the head with this one.
Also is a photo of my daily driver and the mag article from the Jan M&F.
I will be posting some updated photos later today.
Type at you all later.
SN65
Here is a rendering done by Bob Marley of Stangnet. He has really hit the nail on the head with this one.
Also is a photo of my daily driver and the mag article from the Jan M&F.
I will be posting some updated photos later today.
Type at you all later.
SN65
Attachments
Hi All,
This weekend I removed the passenger side quarter panel. It was in really bad shape from a previous accident.
Anyway... You can see all the hidden corrosion that is trapped inside these cars (blasting will not get to these areas. I will be cleaning all the rust damaged areas and priming with two part self etching primer.
While the quarters are off I worked up a reinforcing piece that will tie the 65 rockers and upper pillar together with the 03 main chassis cross brace.
Well, back to work.
SN65
This weekend I removed the passenger side quarter panel. It was in really bad shape from a previous accident.
Anyway... You can see all the hidden corrosion that is trapped inside these cars (blasting will not get to these areas. I will be cleaning all the rust damaged areas and priming with two part self etching primer.
While the quarters are off I worked up a reinforcing piece that will tie the 65 rockers and upper pillar together with the 03 main chassis cross brace.
Well, back to work.
SN65
Attachments
Hi Brent,Fanged03 said:
I am hopeing somewhere in the 3,200 lb range. I won't really know until it is done. Also, we are not skimping on the creature comforts or the sound adsorbing materials, and those things tend to add up.
I will let you know what it weighs in at when it is complete.
SN65
It is all in the vision of the artist. I tried to explain that to my wife when I brought home a "63 Galaxie, but she could never understand. To her it was all scrap metal. SN 65, after seeing the photoshop pics the flairs do look good on there. Don't fear the saw! By the way its not a true custom till its been cut. The '03-'65 blend is sweet and better than Joe Joe's 65 from down the street with a 289 2barrel and drum brakes. This car is going to be baddass :cool1: . What hood and front fascia are you using? Shelby, Eleanor, or factory? Any color ideas yet?
Hi Light,lightning95 said:
First off, I hope you all had a good thanksgiving. With that said....
I am using the stock hood and stock front valance. I am hopeing that the hood will clear everything in the engine bay (I won't know until I set it in place). My greatest concern is that the caster/camber plates clear. I know that I am going to have to modify the front valance to resolve some cooling issues, but I am not going to resort to the Shelby racing valance. I am going to retain the bumper and again, pick up on some of the 03 styling cues.
For todays photos I have the following...
The car is currently set, on the frame rack, at ride height. If you remove the support from any one of the corners, the car does not show any sign of sag or deflection. I have attached two photos illustrating this point.
If chassis stiffness greatly improves driveability, this should be one fine ride.
I have also finished the interior torque box reinforcements (see third photo).
First I welded in four 10 gage strips to fill the recesses where the torque box is spot welded to the floor pans. I located the plug weld holes over the existing spot weld locations so that I would get a good bond to the actual torque box. I then welded two 10 gage plates (approx 12" square) over the top of these. These plates help reinforce the entire area and also gave me a good base for welding the cross brace.
I designed a brace that would tie the torque boxes to each other, the tunnel and the main structural cross brace. After I remove the IRS, I will finish by welding some additional reinforcements to the bottom. There is a possibility that we will be upping the HP a bit, and we really do not want any weakness in this area of the car.
I will post some more shots later.
SN65
Attachments
Hi All,
Well, the actual bodywork starts in ernest.
Here we have trial fit the rear quarter and the fender flair. Things are just kind of sitting there right now. I have to remove the panels, prep the area, punch all the plug weld holes, drill and screw the entire structure together just as it will be when welded in place. Remove the opposit side quarter and repeat the procedure. Then I can follow the same procedure for the rear panels. Once I have all of that EXACTLY where I want it, we can start welding things in place.
Sound like fun???
Wish you were here (to lend a hand)
SN65
Well, the actual bodywork starts in ernest.
Here we have trial fit the rear quarter and the fender flair. Things are just kind of sitting there right now. I have to remove the panels, prep the area, punch all the plug weld holes, drill and screw the entire structure together just as it will be when welded in place. Remove the opposit side quarter and repeat the procedure. Then I can follow the same procedure for the rear panels. Once I have all of that EXACTLY where I want it, we can start welding things in place.
Sound like fun???
Wish you were here (to lend a hand)
SN65
Attachments
Car looks great man. I am near Joliet Illinois, where in Chicago is the shop you are working on the car? I'd love to stop by and see it. I'm sure I'm not any help, I wish I was. But I'd love to take a look at the car and see it a few times along the way. Again, looks great man. Good luck with it, Shane
Hi All,
Sorry I havn't posted any updates lately, but things have been a bit rushed ovet the past week or so.
Work has been placing demands on my time. :-( On top of that, my brother was in an accedent last week. Some idiot (driving when he was talking on his cell phone) pulled out in front of him (Wayne was doing about 50MPH at the time). Wayne went to the emergency room and the fool walked away. Wayne is OK, but he is going to be a bit sore for the next few weeks.
Anyway.... I digress.
Even at that we have a little work to report.
We have all the panels fit and ready to weld on the rear of the car. Also, we have found that we will not be able to just graft the 03 flairs to the quarter and have it look the way we want. We are going to have to copy the 03 design and modify it to mate properly to the 65 body.
I will be posting more in the upcoming days.
Catch you all later.
SN65
Sorry I havn't posted any updates lately, but things have been a bit rushed ovet the past week or so.
Work has been placing demands on my time. :-( On top of that, my brother was in an accedent last week. Some idiot (driving when he was talking on his cell phone) pulled out in front of him (Wayne was doing about 50MPH at the time). Wayne went to the emergency room and the fool walked away. Wayne is OK, but he is going to be a bit sore for the next few weeks.
Anyway.... I digress.
Even at that we have a little work to report.
We have all the panels fit and ready to weld on the rear of the car. Also, we have found that we will not be able to just graft the 03 flairs to the quarter and have it look the way we want. We are going to have to copy the 03 design and modify it to mate properly to the 65 body.
I will be posting more in the upcoming days.
Catch you all later.
SN65
Attachments
Hi All,
Well here we are as of this morning.
We have all the bracing and panels fit up for the front end. I lost a lot of time with the original bracing in that it would not clear the front wheel (when the wheel was turned all the way inboard and the suspension was compressed 100%). I will be putting the measuring system on the car and start welding up the entire fronnt structure today. I should have all that done by tomarrow.
We configured the rear wheel housings. They are the original 03 outer housings. We trimmed and formed them to mate up to the 65 quarters. It would have been much easyer to tub the rear, but that would not have maintained the "factory" look we are going for.
You will also note that I have possitioned the 65 windshield wiper mounting points on the cowl. I still have to decide on the location of the motor and linkage. I guess I will figure that out once I remove the 65 dash and possition the 03 dash and can check for clearance.
SN65
Well here we are as of this morning.
We have all the bracing and panels fit up for the front end. I lost a lot of time with the original bracing in that it would not clear the front wheel (when the wheel was turned all the way inboard and the suspension was compressed 100%). I will be putting the measuring system on the car and start welding up the entire fronnt structure today. I should have all that done by tomarrow.
We configured the rear wheel housings. They are the original 03 outer housings. We trimmed and formed them to mate up to the 65 quarters. It would have been much easyer to tub the rear, but that would not have maintained the "factory" look we are going for.
You will also note that I have possitioned the 65 windshield wiper mounting points on the cowl. I still have to decide on the location of the motor and linkage. I guess I will figure that out once I remove the 65 dash and possition the 03 dash and can check for clearance.
SN65
Attachments
Progress, progress, progress....
The push is on. Enough with the fitting and figuring and calculating and planning and fiddle *^&@$*& around. Damn the torpedoes, weld, weld, weld.
We installed the measuring system to check the dims one last time before we started welding. It was a good thing too. I had tacked the drivers side shock tower in the wrong location. :-( I was actually 8mm off (shifted to far back). I am not quite sure what this would have done to the alignment, but it could not have helped much. So... after grinding off a dozen tacks and repositioning the shock tower, I am please to report that we are now within 1 or 2mm everywhere.
Woo Hoo :headbang:
I have finished welding in the tower braces and the body to firewall cowl side pieces. I have some touch up to finish (I located some spot weld holes on the trim pieces that ended up in mid air. Opps... but it is nothing that a little welding can't fix).
After I finish the touch up welding and grinding (lots and lots of grinding). I will reinstall the measuring system. Check all the dims one more time and finish welding up the frame rails.
Let the good times roll.
Sn65
The push is on. Enough with the fitting and figuring and calculating and planning and fiddle *^&@$*& around. Damn the torpedoes, weld, weld, weld.
We installed the measuring system to check the dims one last time before we started welding. It was a good thing too. I had tacked the drivers side shock tower in the wrong location. :-( I was actually 8mm off (shifted to far back). I am not quite sure what this would have done to the alignment, but it could not have helped much. So... after grinding off a dozen tacks and repositioning the shock tower, I am please to report that we are now within 1 or 2mm everywhere.
Woo Hoo :headbang:
I have finished welding in the tower braces and the body to firewall cowl side pieces. I have some touch up to finish (I located some spot weld holes on the trim pieces that ended up in mid air. Opps... but it is nothing that a little welding can't fix).
After I finish the touch up welding and grinding (lots and lots of grinding). I will reinstall the measuring system. Check all the dims one more time and finish welding up the frame rails.
Let the good times roll.
Sn65
Attachments
Hi All,
Well. After countless hours of welding and grinding, I have the cowl / firewall area finished. I still have to fit the cowl cover in place, but I will not be able to do that until I decide how to install the windshield wiper motor and linkage.
All told, I am very happy so far.
Time to check the measurements again and finish the frame rails.
SN65
Well. After countless hours of welding and grinding, I have the cowl / firewall area finished. I still have to fit the cowl cover in place, but I will not be able to do that until I decide how to install the windshield wiper motor and linkage.
All told, I am very happy so far.
Time to check the measurements again and finish the frame rails.
SN65
Attachments
Hi All,
Well after a bit of struggling I have the frame rails finished. We had to do a bit of pulling on the rack to get things just right. Also, the upper lip of the rails had to be heated up and beat into place.
Now I will be taking a break for x-mass. Happy holidays to all.
Catch you after the new year.
:alcoholic
SN65
Well after a bit of struggling I have the frame rails finished. We had to do a bit of pulling on the rack to get things just right. Also, the upper lip of the rails had to be heated up and beat into place.
Now I will be taking a break for x-mass. Happy holidays to all.
Catch you after the new year.
:alcoholic
SN65
Attachments
Thread Info
-
Created -
459Replies
-
21KViews
-
Participants list
