Body Work Progress

I've been pretty busy over the last week. I dropped my car out to a bodyshop, the guy is a one man band that specialises in steel panel work and heavy crash repair. I can't believe how fast this guy works. He told me he would have my car for a week and it was finished after 4 days. I was very impressed with his work and he got the lines prefect on my car. Prob the best money I've spent on the car so far and its given me the momentum I needed.

Truck/crane comes in very handy. A few small tack welds keeps the dolly in place.

Lowered and moved seat pans back. Welded in nuts to the underside of the pan and patched over original holes in floor pan.
Welded on rear valance
Passenger side toe pan repair
Passenger side torque box installed
Installed new trunk corners and quater panel bracket
rear quarter partially replaced.
Front inner fenders installed
Radiator support installed
Various small patches
Repaired OE fender and patched aerial hole.
"beefed up" welding on frame rails and frame rail connectors.

While at the shop I made the decision not to run with the FG fenders. They will be a nightmare to get right. Luckily I have the OE ones and they are in pretty good condition, only one small patch was needed on the passenger side one. I rubbed them down to check for bondo and hidden rust. And i came across both!!!! Thankfully the bondo was not hiding anything too nasty and despite the pitting there's no pin holes in the steel. All in all they are more workable than the FG ones. I will cut the flare and rocker covers off them and bond them onto the OE steel wings.

He lined up the fenders/hood and drilled the mounting holes on the one piece inner fender then welded the bolts to the underside of the inner wing..It will save me a lot of time when fenders are coming off/going on.

Front end Fully Mocked up

Rear Quater Patch installed

Holes cut for side exhaust

Man Cave

Passenger side toe pan patch

Lowered and moved the seat pan back by 2" to improve drive position

Cleaned the fenders down and gave them some rattle can primer until i get them media blasted.

So i got the car back at the end of last week and got working on it straight away.

I got the front suspension, brakes and steering mounted and I'm glad i have decided to do this. I will be a whole lot more confident when it comes to final assembly with all that nice paint around me......
I mocked up the rear FG and fit is good except the height difference between trunk and quarter extensions. If i was doing it again i would go with a steel trunk and a FG spoiler like the one Mustangs to fear supply. the front lower nose cone is ok but the upper nose cone will need some work.

Front Suspension/Steering/Brakes installed...you gotta love those Wilwoods!

Hole for fuel filler installed.

Made up a lifting plate for the motor

The tires and wheels will be back from the wheel shop today. I put the rear end back together so i can mock up the rear end. (still need to rebuild the diff but will work on that when car is in Paint Jail.) On closer inspection the studs on the half shafts are total muck so i am trying to source a set of studs on this side of the pond or i am in for a 7-10 day delay.
I have to take my rear leaf spring to a machine shop to get the rubber bushing pressed out so i can installed the metal ones supplied with the cal trac bars.

The plan for this week is......
Get the rear suspension in and sit it down on it's wheels, drop the motor in and see how everything sits.

Tear it all down and off for media blasting next week. I found a guy that specialises in classic cars and he will apply the PPG etch primer and a coat of high build primer straight after the blasting. Then back to my shop and final bodywork begins...