This is the fourth in a series of tech articles on a Mustang convertible. If you've grown up in New York State, then it will come as no surprise that road salt can take its toll. This is a 33 year old New York car and the chassis and sheet metal condition will verify it. There are numerous structural failures and cosmetic deformities. We'll repair them one by one and bring it back to its once youthful beauty and structurally sound state.
We're making real progress now. The left side trunk floor is installed as well as the rear trunk brace. The trunk brace on a convertible is made up of four pieces. The standard coupe or fastback brace is modified for strength by adding three additional braces that when welded together create a sheet metal box that's much stronger than the original piece alone.
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| The outer wheel house has been installed. As with the inner, the entire piece was not used. The positioning of the outer wheel house is critical to the positioning of the quarter panel. Test the fit to the quarter panel before you weld it to the car. The lip of the quarter is not a perfect radius so if the wheel house is rotated out of alignment, the quarter panel will not fit or mate to the wheel house properly. |  |
| Once the outer wheel house has been positioned properly and welded into place, the quarter panel can be fit. I've found that the after market sheet metal is pretty good but still requires a fair amount of tweaking to get it right. Make up a set of templates for the front and rear quarter silhouettes so you can be sure the doors and quarter extensions will line up correctly. |  |
| The quarter panel has been fitted and installed. Cleko pliers and pins are invaluable for this part of the job. You'll test fit and remove the panel several times and the pins provide a simple way to insure that you get the panel back in the same place each time. | |
| This is what's left of the right rear torque box and rear spring mount. As I mention in a previous article, we'll be able to save the rear springs in this car since all four of the torque boxes will be replaced. Some sand blasting and some new bushings and the springs will be good as new. |  |
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| Above is the gutted right rear corner of the car. The right rail is removed and with a little clean up we'll be ready to fit the new piece. | The new rail has been fitted here and we're ready to start welding it in. The floor section above the rail needed to be replaced since it was completely rusted through. |
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| Here's a couple of interesting shots. I literally removed the parts I cut off the car from the garage with a shovel. I've mention to a few of my friends that this car was almost too far gone even for me. But now that the decision has been made to save it, we're going flat out to get it back into form. | |
That's it for this time and there's much more to come. See you in the next newsletter.
Joe Quaranto