Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Topic: Repairing my Bucket of rust. (Read 2558 times) previous topic - next topic

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #15 – May 06, 2009, 05:04:25 PM

They probably wouldn't sell the body huh? And I know they wont let you bring a torch with ya haha. if I can get the rear quarters and floor I would be set. I would like to spend no more then 200? I am guessing really. I found a 94 in Iowa for $150 with a blown up 4.6 but 8 hours is a long haul with a car trailer. I don't even know if its still for sale, it was listed back in February

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #16 – May 06, 2009, 05:11:44 PM

Well guess what? I live in iowa

and know where you can get a tbird MN12 with a 4.6 with a junk tranny.

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #17 – May 06, 2009, 05:30:20 PM

So what are ya proposing? :D all I want is the body. I don't know enough about the 4.6 Since I have the 5.0 and know a little more about it being more old school. what kind of shape is the body in?

I would sleep better at night If I found a new body that was rear ended or had front damage ( so I could justify cutting it up :D )

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #18 – May 06, 2009, 06:31:12 PM

It was owned by a buddy of mine in college and it was in rough shape paint wise. Its not very pretty but I think it would fit the bill for what you are looking for. I'll have to see if he'd want to part with it. He actually just sold a Supercoupe that was in the same situation recently. I'll give him a call and see if I can find anything out.

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #19 – May 06, 2009, 10:20:49 PM

Yeah as long as there is no rust... see what he says

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #20 – May 06, 2009, 10:57:59 PM

I really don't know if they would let me take a sawzall to the side of it. I suppose I could call to find out. you just need the lower panels right?

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #21 – May 06, 2009, 11:39:06 PM

for the rear quarters yes. In front of the rear tires, from molding down. This will show you what area I need, that's the new rocker I have but it only covers so much area.

The inner rockers I may be able to fab like you did. I will be getting a sandblaster this week so I can start finding were the good metal starts again. I am thinking just straight sheet metal can fix the floor boards. I need to figure out exactly where the body mounts are. I know there are two near the rear wheels and are fairly exposed at the moment so I might have to box those areas back in with sheet metal. I think all the other mounts are OK (rusted out wise) The driver side A pillar and the rear where the IRS bolts up are the two areas I am nervous about. I wont be able to get the car in the air completely till next week ether so I haven't really been able to look real well near the back of the car.

In all honesty, if I can get away with not using a donor car I would be happy...except for the outer sheet metal of course. By the way, I gave up getting the dash out. I'm just going to cut the vents and tape the cut with foil tape when I put it back together.... its just vents for the rear passengers anyway lol

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #22 – May 12, 2009, 10:56:38 PM

I decided to go ahead and remove the dash...sort of. I have it all loose but I will leave it in because of the wiring harness, I just don't want to deal with that head ache.

So I got my dad's welder and sand blaster, I need an adapter for the hose on his air compressor because he has it set up at home differently. So I was getting antsy and wanted to weld, well I couldn't get a good ground I think for the wire to even feed so then I decided to remove the fender I was going to weld on so I could make sure I had good contact and all. I was going to replace the fender anyway.

Good thing I decided to do all that because yes... you guessed it I found more rust. I think now I should wait till I get the engine out and I might just end up striping every thing down like ic has done. I might end up with a "Project Evolution" after all. You cant see it in the first pic but on the wall to the right is the grill from our old cougar. I saved it and now its on my wall.... just thought you guys would feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that lol

You know when I pulled that fender off I did feel pretty bummed and was getting really discouraged...

here are the pics. sorry that they are so big and blurry

this is near the firewall on the driver side engine bay

the other side of that same area

directly above the tire inside

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #23 – May 13, 2009, 07:57:12 AM

I know how you feel. I thought my car was going to be a little welding and body work a year and a half ago. You'll also find yourself upgrading things as you go. It's a good time for all that extra bracing ,welding and supports as well.

You may want to find yourself a parts car that you can cut sections off of. it may be easier then trying to make some of the stuff you need.

Welcome to the rebuild support group. As long as you think of it as a total rebuild project instead of a quick fix, you'll be alright.

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #24 – May 13, 2009, 11:26:57 AM

I know it! The only thing I am worried about with a parts car is where to put it. Having a full car on the side of the house is one thing but I still live in a subdivision and I don't know how they would feel with a gutted and chopped up car there. The strut tower area is the only real place I am not sure about. I have wondered how it would be to replace the whole engine bay area from front bumper to firewall. The radiator support was bent a little and I straighten it out with a torch the best I could a few years ago after a deer did a somersault over my roof.

What would be better, get the motor out first then do any metal work? or do the floors and/or rockers then pull the motor and other metal work?

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #25 – May 13, 2009, 04:34:10 PM

I left my motor in while I did the floor, rockers and quarters and everything else that didn't require removing the motor and gas tank, only so I can still move it and turn it around. Pulling the motor, would be your call depending on how far up the firewall you need to replace metal.
Do you have a garage to do your work in?

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #26 – May 13, 2009, 10:30:04 PM

Yes. Its sitting in there now, the garage is "technically" a two car garage, but its more like a one car garage with room to work around in. I have that 5.0 sitting on a stand to go in the bird (still need to finish putting that together). The motor will be coming out at some time. I think I will just do a little of both...work on the floor and get the motor ready to be pulled.

As of right now I don't think the actual firewall needs to be replaced, its the side walls that connect to the firewall that has the rust. If I cut out small sections (the size of the rust) and replace it I should be ok with keeping things still strong and lining up? like around the strut towers... there is small areas of rust and I don't want those places to get misaligned and not able to drive down the road straight.

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #27 – May 13, 2009, 11:16:36 PM

Is it the top rail part that's rotted?

Repairing my Bucket of rust.

Reply #28 – May 14, 2009, 02:57:51 AM

I guess thats what it would be called. But its not rotted on top, just on the sides and underneath. Maybe this pic would explain it better