Front Disc Brake Conversion - Part 2

The title of this post should be 'Hubs, Studs and Rotors'. As I always like to say, 'the devil is in the details'. What appears easy on the surface, rarely is - and this seems to apply to front disc conversions as well. 

So let's set the stage. We are converting a 68 Mustang with manual drum brakes to power disc brakes. We will be utilizing an adapter kit from Steve's Mustang and donor parts from a '94-04 Mustang Cobra. Sven already has written a superb in-depth article on how to do this correctly so I'm not going to replicate it here:

                               http://1970boss302.blogspot.com/search?q=disc+brake

The instructions that come with Steve's kit are clear and straightforward, but I want to expand on a few areas. Let's start with separating the brake drum from the hub. A really important detail to note here is that the brake drums are secured to the hubs by 'swedging' the wheel studs. Basically, after installing the drum over the shoulder of the wheel stud at the factory, a pneumatic tool expands the OD of the wheel stud, effectively locking the brake drum to the hub. You can see the marks left on the wheel stud by the swedging process below. 

So why is this important to know? Based on a number of posts I read in various forums, if you try and press these swedged studs out of the hub, in order to separate the drum from the hub, the expanded OD of the shoulder will over-expand the knurled hole in the hub as it passes through the hub flange. If you reinstall an OEM stud back into this enlarged hole, there's the potential it will spin in the hole when it comes time to torque the lugs nuts as there won't be enough material left for the new knurls to get a good 'bite'. I can't confirm this, but given the number of posts on Jeep and Model T forums on this issue, I chose to err on the safe side and remove the drum from the hub per Steve's instructions. And that is to simply place a plate across the top of the outer bearing retainer and press the hub from the drum, rather than the studs from the hub. 

But let's say you do want to replace the original studs with new OEM ones. You still need to get past the swedged stud problem. Well a company called Goodson makes the exact tool you are looking for, and here it is. It's a bit pricey, but after reading some of the backyard solutions to the problem that involved all manner of hacking, beating, grinding and overall general mayhem, this seems like the gentleman's solution to the problem.

OK then, let's get back to SusieQ. In my specific case, I actually wanted to save the original studs, so I had no need for the $92.99 tool above. And the reason I wanted to save the original studs was due to my wheel choice. As you recall, I'm going to run 2005 Mustang GT 17" rims. In order to do that, I need to run ( yep, you know it's coming) 1" wheel spacers. I feel as much shame about it as you do.  But I love the rims and they are exactly the look I want for the car. Yes, I know, I should just run a rim with the correct offset and do the job right. In my defense, all projects are ultimately a series of compromises - this is mine. 

And this is where 'the devil is in the details' raises its ugly head. Since Cobra rotors are used with a shoulderless wheel stud, they will not fit over an original OEM shouldered, brake drum stud. Worse, they really won't fit over a swedged, shouldered, brake drum stud. The stud holes in my OEM Cobra rotors were roughly .570" ID. An unswedged stud shoulder measures .605" OD, a swedged one almost .617". So it is a no-go by quite a bit. When I first discovered this problem, I thought I would be clever and just order a new set of OEM shouldered studs that hadn't been swedged - only to discover that even the un-swedged ones have too large an OD. As a heads-up here, Steve does sell a wheel stud just for this issue    (#610-368). They are non-shouldered, longer for the thicker flanges of modern rims and even have a larger OD knurled section for pressing into hub flanges that have had previously installed studs. Only thing is, I can't use them. The longer length causes them to protrude out past the outer surface of the wheel spacer. This would prevent the rim from sitting flush against the mating surface of the spacer. Fudge...

OEM brake drum wheel stud - C3AZ-1107-A (1 11/16"L)

Steve's Mustang - shoulderless wheel stud (2 3/16"L)

I pondered this problem for a few days. Thought about turning down the OD of the new brake drum studs I had already purchased and installing them. That would work. A pain, but at least a solution. Would need to buy the $95 de-swedging tool from Goodson though. I could live with that. But then while driving home from work one night the simple answer came to me. I currently have a .617" OD swedged stud - all I need to do is open the rotor holes up to .625" and problem solved. Next morning I threw the rotor up in the mill, indexed it in, and passed a brand new 5/8" ream through all 5 holes. As a nice by-product, the shoulder clearance is nearly spot on and the rotors go on with a comforting clunk. A heads-up here is that you need to remove the small burrs left from the swedging process. All it takes it a small fine hand file and a little patience. Downside? Yes, I now have a non-standard rotor. This could potentially cause me a head ache down the road, and anyone else who ends up with the car after I'm finished with it. Upside? I can still install the turned-down OEM studs down the road, but for now, it's forward and onward.

13" Cobra rotor in the mill w/ 5/8" ream

One last issue to note - and it's an important one. As Steve spells out in the instructions, the OD of the early Mustang hub is larger than the ID of the rear face of the Cobra rotor. It's not by much, but enough that the rotor won't sit flush on the hub face. So you need to remove some material from the OD of the hub so the rotor sits flush. Apparently they used different vendors for these hubs so there's no single, standard OD. In my case, I seemed to have an extra large one and needed to take .075" off the diameter to get a nice flush fit. I added a 45 deg chamfer for extra insurance. 

rotor chucked in lathe - plugged to keep shavings out

close-up of turned diameter and 45 deg, 1/16"wide chamfer

 




In Part 3 we'll finish up with some polishing and powder coating. Stay tuned!

Front Disc Brake Conversion - Part 1

Like Sven, I was busy in 2017 with things other than our Mustangs. And like Sven, I can't say much about what I was working on either. Let's just say it involved (2) Ford Raptors and a whole lot of fun. I'm always amazed they actually pay me to do what I do!

But back to SusieQ. As I mentioned in the previous post, while in Australia, I decided that upgrading to power disc brakes was a must. Unfortunately not as many options out there as there used to be. Settled on Mustang Steve's 1994-2004, 13" Cobra Front Disc Conversion. It's a straight forward design, the majority of it being simple, laser-cut steel plates. Three issues I think if addressed though would make for a better design:

 Issue 1: The 2 rectangular plates in the photo below could be combined into 1. I'm guessing the reason was to reduce cost by laser cutting the pieces from standard stock thicknesses, rather than CNC machining a more complicated part. The large plate is .375" thick, the smaller one .100". In order to get this same stack height from a CNC part, they would need to start with a lasercut part from .500" plate, mill it down to .475", then step it to .375" in the outer mounting areas. This lasercut method works, but I dislike the extraneous parts. I was VERY tempted to correct this - and I'm not saying I still won't.    

Issue 1: (2) Lasercut parts could be (1) machined one

 Issue 2: This one is getting nit picky, but I would like to see them expand the adapter plate perimeter a bit and match the contours of the spindle. This would be so much cleaner looking. I know, it's hid behind the rotor once it's mounted. But whether it's hidden or not, I still know it looks like this. Quite possible there's a potential interference issue with another part if you grow the perimeter so I'm not going to throw too many rocks.

Issue 2: Adapter plate doesn't follow spindle contour

  



Issue 3: Again, I think they are cutting costs by using a lasercut part here when a machined part would have been more appropriate. You can see the large gap between the bottom of the spindle and the ID of the adapter plate hole. Remember there are no backing plates on this set-up, so any high speed sprays of water are going to pass right through that hole - and right against the backside of the inner wheel bearing seal. They couldn't make the hole in the adapter plate any smaller or the back side of the hub wouldn't clear. I would suggest that a machined part here, with a stepped counter bore to eliminate that gap (but still allow for hub clearance, might be a better alternative. You would need to add a small drilled vertical hole in the stepped counterbore to allow water that could enter from the front side of the assembly to drain. But water coming from the front side is going to be mostly deflected by the rotor. What water that does end up inside that opening will just be "slow speed ricochets".  In their defense, I saw this same issue with both Vintage Venom and Street or Track's kits as well. So there may be a reason for this gap that I'm simply unaware of. 

Issue 3: Gap between spindle & adapter plate

Once I got everything unboxed and sorted, I took the Dewalt with the abrasive pad to the edges and got rid of all the laser cut kerfs. Cleaned everything up, sprayed on a nice heavy coat of PMB 6525 (otherwise known as BMW silver) and popped into the powder coat oven at 400 deg for 20 min. Hard to see in the photo, but a very subtle hint of metallic in this silver. I like it. Sophisticated without being snobby :)

Stay tuned for our exciting Part 2 follow-on!!!

Yes Virginia, there is a Mustang in the shed!

Well, after 3 years of hibernation, I finally cracked the shed today and spent some quality time with SusieQ. It was a glorious Spring day and since I've finally fixed most of the broken stuff around the house after 3 years of zero maintenance, it was time to do some wrenching again.

And though I've not worked on the car during my absence, that hasn't stopped me from thinking about it. One of the things I've decided to change is upgrading to front disc brakes. The car came with drums all way round and I had thought it 'quaint' to leave it that way. But after thinking my wife is probably going to drive this car more than me, I just couldn't send her out with 4-wheel drums. So that's the first thing on my list.

After much research in Australia, the Cobra upgrade seems the most bang for the buck. But unfortunately Vintage Venom is no longer producing their kit (my preference) and neither is Street or Track - so my choice seems limited to Steve's Mustang. I liked the Venom kit as it was a single-piece billet aluminum part while Steve's kit is two-piece steel. Probably could recreate Venom's bracket for myself. Let's face it, it's 6 bolt holes and an odd-ball shaped perimeter. But...all these kits have been road tested, and again, if my wife is driving this car, do I really want to experiment with her life? As an engineer, I fully realize that the devil is in
the details and what seems elementary on the surface, most times is anything but.

Vintage Venom Front Brake Cobra Adapter Bracket

Steve's Mustang Front Brake Cobra Adapter Bracket

So while I percolate this bracket dilemma, I'll start cruising Ebay looking for Cobra/Mach1 calipers. I see they come in both 38 and 40mm piston diameters but unless she plans on racing this thing at Watkins Glen, I don't think she is going to notice +/- 2mm of piston diameter. I plan on powder coating them to match the car so I'm just going to track down some used ones and pull them apart for powder coat then rebuild. So not much progress but at least some - one bite at a time right?

Checking In

Hi guys,

Thought you might be interested in what I've been doing with myself with no Mustang to work on for the past year. This sort of fills the gaps while I'm gone. Scratch built by 3 guys in about 6 months. Just getting ready for first field trials in a few weeks. So far so good. Haven't run down over the hill and caught on fire yet - always a good things with robots as they tend to do that a lot. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5whrF4SDes

I've been popping in once in awhile to check all your progress. Seems like we have all been a bit distracted these days. That's the nice thing about not having a deadline. You can work when the time allows it. Take care!

ray

Some Sad News

Well gentlemen, I've been putting this off but since time is rapidly running out, I need to come clean. If you remember, last year I spent some time working in Australia on a robot project. Just before this past Christmas, I was contacted by the university we worked with to see if I was interested in continuing on with the project down there with them. Talked it over with wife, daughter, parents, siblings, friends, etc as at our age, one's life is not to do with as one pleases. There are duties and responsibilities to others that must be considered before you can consider your own. But the general consensus was 'Are you crazy - GO!!!!. It's actually a good time - Daughter Julie is out of grad school and working at her first 'real' job. Both sets of parents are in good health and gave us their blessing for taking off. Off we go then - for at least 2 years.

So we've been scrambling to reorganize my own business here since January - and to try and wrap up SusieQ so she was in some movable form. In a Herculean effort last week, we got the front/rear valances installed, the taillights in, the rear bumper on, the front fenders on and the stone guard bolted up. Bought a one-stall garage from a local Amish building company and planted it in the backyard. Last Saturday, we loaded up the car and transported her about 5 miles from the shop to my house.

Right now then, she is sitting about 50 ft from me, snug in her new home and wrapped up for a 2 year hibernation. A shame as it looked like we would have probably gotten her on the road this summer. But she'll be here when we get back and I'll probably get a few weeks worth of work on her when we come back for vacation. Here then is your last look at SusieQ for an extended duration. Of course, I expect you all to continue your own work, and look forward to your postings as I live vicariously through your work while I'm gone. Take of yourselves then and keep those wrenches warm!

SusieQ heading towards hibernation - March 29, 2014

Tail Light Recovery

Finally got back around to those tail lights buckets that I managed to mangle last month in a fit of impatience. I'm blaming it on cabin-fever and the need to see sunshine again :/ Anyway, during the cooling off period, I went ahead and purchased a set of the satin-finished tail light bezels from Scott Drake.I would have rather de-chromed the originals and powder coated a matte-silver - but de-chroming stuff is such an environmental disaster if you do it at home - and expensive if you send it out. The Drake option seemed the best choice as I was looking for a little less chrome to start with. 

Once the bezels arrived, I used them as the color template for picking a powder that would match them. The intent being to strip the chrome trim that attaches to the rear 1/4 caps and deck lid and powder coat in a color to match the bezels. I've read that these pieces are stainless but I'm pretty sure they are just anodized aluminum. Being such, I decided to try the oven-cleaner trick to remove the anodizing prior to powder coating. Surprisingly, it worked fairly efficiently. I placed them in a shallow tray and just kept them 'wet' with the cleaner for approximately an evening of shop time. You could literally see the anodizing sloughing off the pieces. Once I got the anodizing off, I took them to the weld table and VERY carefully tapped  a few nicks/bumps out of them using a small hammer and various small round pieces of scrap metal. A quick trip to the blast cabinet and they were ready for powder coating. I ended up sending to Prismatic Powders for 5 different color samples, and the one that seemed the closest was Silver Satin. So I ordered a pound of that and a pound of Casper Clear (Sven recommended) to topcoat with.

While waiting for the powder to arrive, I sucked it up and went after the buckets. First step was chemically stripping as much of the damaged powder coat off as I could. Took three applications to finally get to a point where I could finish them in the blast cabinet. Even then, it was a long hour for each one. That powder coat is TOUGH stuff!!! I took my time this go-around - did the proper surface prep - set the oven for 400 deg and let 'er rip. Happily there were no surprises when I popped the oven door this time. Beautiful, mirrored surface like I was looking for the first time. Lesson learned...

Tail Light Bucket - Satin Silver Powder Coat

Tail Light Assembly

Front Fenders and a Quiz

Got a rare window of above 40 deg temps on Saturday in this 'Winter That Will Never Quit'. Took advantage of the 'warm' sunshine and dragged the front fenders outside for final prep of the inner surfaces. Another glamourless job that no one will ever appreciate save for the few of us crazy enough to do it. Used my standard protocol for jobs like this:

1. Scrape old undercoating off with putty knife

2. Remove residue with solvent

3. Scour with SOS pads. (I like using them for this as you get the combination of soap and steel wool. Leaves a nice clean, smooth surface.)

4. Treat with TSP, rinse with water, let air dry in warm sunshine

5. Coat with Rustoleum's trusty, rusty metal primer

6. Top coat with Rustoleum's Truck Bed Liner

Got the second fender top coated just as the sun ducked behind the hilltops and the temps dropped 10 deg. Nice to get that job done outside as the bed liner contains Xylene which is some really nasty stuff for working with indoors. 

Once I get the inner splash shields in place, I should be ready to mount the fenders. At that point she should start looking like a car again rather than a 20 year long high school science project.

 So for the quiz. Anyone wants to guess why there isn't an antenna hole in the top of the passenger fender? You'll be surprised by the answer. And no, I didn't weld it shut.

Mystery Fender

Yeah...those things no one likes...

Well I finished installing 'the things no one likes' this afternoon. This will FINALLY allow those pesky quarter windows that have been out of the car for 15 years to make their appearance. I had to open up the trim holes from .201" to .25" before installing. Put a dab of silicone behind each washer to make sure I had a good seal with the body. I'm still happy with them despite the reception. A cool industrial look. 

Before I got too carried away, I decided to buff/polish the areas where they installed so that I didn't have to work around them when buffing the entire car. Which obviously should be done before any hardware is attached but due to some upcoming events, I'm in accelerated-mode to get as much of the car reassembled before the end of March.

Sven recommended going with a 3 step process called Perfect-It from 3M. I bought 3 bottles of the stuff from the inner-web and did a trial run on the rear valance. Stage 1 is rubbing compound, Stage 2 coarse polish and Stage 3 fine polish. Pretty much idiot proof. Squeeze the stuff onto the matching foam pad and have at it with your D/A. I was very happy with the results. I had a slight tinge of red to the rubbing compound pad which confirmed I was skimming a bit of color off the top - then diminishing color residue in Stages 2 and 3. If the rest of the car comes out as well as the valance, I'll be a happy camper. For a daily driver shot in single stage Dupont Centuri acrylic enamel, I can't ask for too much more.

Once I got the valance buffed/polished, I flipped it over and shot some truck bed liner on it just to protect the inner surface. Got the back-up lights out of  storage and dropped them in just for looks. Ended up media blasting the back surfaces and clear coating before installing. I'll get the gaskets installed then mount permanently next time I'm in the shop. Once that's done, the rear valance should be ready to mount. Will be nice to see some sheet metal going on the car rather than coming off of it for a change!!!

There's a quarter window track hiding inside that quarter panel !

Rear valance moving towards completion

Bad Day at Black Rock Canyon

Why, oh why, oh why did I hurry today ?!!!!!! Powder coating...it's easy...but it is still a form of painting and as such requires proper prep and execution. I choose to do neither today and have paid the piper for it. Arghhhh....

Decided to head to the shop after getting some early morning skiing in. Have been working the rear of the car lately, trying to get the valence, taillights and trim installed. Today I wanted to get the rear taillight buckets media blasted and prepped for installation. I hadn't decided if I was going to powder coat, re-zinc plate or just leave them natural.

I first wanted to see what was under all that dirt and grime - then make the decision afterwards. So swapped out the blast garnet for walnut shells as I didn't want to abrasive-blast the zinc-plated surface if there was a chance I could save it. The first bucket came out great. I couldn't believe how nice it was. I thought, if the other one looks this good, I'll just hit them with some satin-gloss clear powder coat and be assembling them in front the TV  tonight while watching the Olympics. 

But as all things in car restoration, nothing goes as planned. The second was dreadful. Under all that dirt, were a bunch of oxidation patches, deep scratches and discolorations. Always the story with zinc-plated parts. Here you have 2 buckets that have lived their entire lives, just 3 feet away from one another. One is pristine, the other a disaster. What to do? Decided, since the second was unsalvageable surface-wise, there was no reason to not powder coat it argent silver. Not my favorite option but for a part typically hidden from view, I just decided for the sake of efficiency and getting the car done before my wife is 80,  to press forward with that. So back to the blast cabinet - swap in the garnet and go after all the oxidation patches. An hour later, the zinc-plating now obliterated, it didn't look too bad. Cleaned it with solvent, pre-heated it to eliminate any outgassing from the oxidation areas and coated it with argent silver powder. And this is where the train came off the tracks. I typically like to preheat a part to at least 400 deg or a bit higher to get rid of any potential outgassing but the part looked so clean, I only preheated to 150. After a 20 min cure, I pulled it from the oven and was already patting myself on the back for a flawless surface....and then I turned it over. Noooooooo!!!!!!! Blisters all over the backside of the part. Then, like Dennis and his deck lid, God and I had a short, but intense discussion regarding my powder coating technique. Oh fudddggggeeeeee.....

argent silver

blister city

Disgusted but undeterred, I swapped out the silver powder in the gun for satin clear, figuring I might as well  finish the other bucket while the oven was hot. In then end, it was the direction I wanted to go anyway. Long story short, another disappointment. The gloss was uneven and there was a slight yellowish hue to the clear. So 4 hrs in the shop - score 0-2. I cleaned myself up and went home with my tail between my legs. I now have 2 fubar'ed parts coated in impregnable powder coat - totally unusable for the moment.

satin-clear with just a hint of warm yellow :(

I have 2 more spares in the basement, so I might try and media blast them and see where they stand - then pay attention to my prep and execution and get my head out of my butt and focus on what I'm doing. Double fudge....

 

Zen and the Art of Sandblasting

Sandblasting is one of those car restoration tasks that typically falls under the 'necessary evil' column. Right there with rust repair, undercoating scraping and fixing things under the dash while upside down and backwards. But occasionally...when one has had a stressful week of work - complete with angry customers, unmotivated employees, a leaky roof and a sky that hasn't seen the sun in 10 days - sand blasting can actually be a welcomed relief. Today was such a day. 

Woke up early, got my bike ride in and headed directly for the shop. Gathered up a handful of parts that have been waiting in the 'to-be-sand-blasted' pile, set the compressor at 60 psi and fired up the blast cabinet. Went with a my favorite blend - 80 grit garnet from GMA Abrasive. Not too harsh with a subtle hint of holly and evergreen. 

I always like sliding into the blast cabinet. Reminds me of those science fiction movies from the 60's. You got your respirator on and those cool looking rubber gloves that are built into the cabinet face. Easy to imagine you are operating on some poor monkey that has been infected with Element-X - or manipulating nuclear pellets needed to defeat Godzilla. Unfortunately today it was nothing more exciting than a couple of front grill brackets and a quarter window regulator track....so Godzilla is safe for at least another weekend.

Other than taking a nice uninterrupted 1 1/2 hrs to complete, nothing much to report. Hit the foot pedal, point and squirt, repeat as needed. As mindless as it can be, it's a great way to unwind - especially if the radio station is playing a nice grouping of Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and The Who. Once I had everything blasted, I went over them all with some solvent to remove any traces of oils/waxes in preparation for powder coating. Went with satin black for the grill parts and argent silver for the regulator tracks. There is probably a better color for the tracks but I've used it before on other tracks. It is a close match, looks good and I typically have it is stock - so that's what goes on.

I've been a bit unhappy though with Eastwood's black powders as I can't seem to get any repeatable stock of what they call 'satin black'. Sometimes it comes out flat, sometimes glossier than I like. This used to not be a problem but I've noticed the last 2 or 3 batches have been inconsistent. This go-around then I tried ordering what they call 'semi-gloss' black. Which is normally the same as satin. But since they are discriminating between them, I thought I'd give it a go. Happily this time, it came out exactly the color/gloss level I was looking for. For now then, I'm going with semi-gloss rather than satin for underhood / chassis parts. 

So hopefully with the track powder coated, I'm ready to assemble the driver's side quarter window. I've read over Alex's instructions a couple times and printed out the factory assembly diagram so I think I'm good to go. Will be nice to have that assembly back together as it has been apart for at least 10 years!!!

Quarter Trim Solution

Well, I've probably built more suspense into this than it deserves. But in my defense, it has been a niggling problem that has bothered me for quite awhile. In review, I've been looking for a alternate solution to the factory external quarter trim. Those goofy-looking, backward-facing chrome "C's" that reside just behind the doors. Unfortunately there aren't many options available. You can delete them and weld the holes shut - but then you have this featureless 1/4 panel that looks...well...featureless. You can add the brake scoops. The choice being the CS/GT's that are non-functional - which seems a bit silly. Or the Shelby scoops, which require drilling a large hole in the panel for ducting the air hose back to the rear brakes. For a RT66 cruiser? That seems a bit silly as well. Which leads back to the factory set-up - which for me, has too many styling cues from the 60's that really date what is otherwise, one of the most beautiful designed bodies out there. There's a very good reason why our 60's Mustangs are still seen in movies and commercials. Good design never ages.

So what is one to do? Well turns out, as most discoveries do, that it took an accident to lead me to the solution. Not a painful accident, just an incidental accident in the sense that I didn't mean to do that on purpose. I was sitting there pondering the factory trim for the nth time. As you guys know, the chrome part of the trim has 3 pins that go through a body-painted base molding then into the 1/4 panel where they are retained from the inside by sheet metal nuts. I was thinking, 'why don't I toss the chrome piece of the trim and just use the base molding? It's body color and adds a subtle feature to the 1/4 panel w/o too much clutter. I wanted to see the molding-only look, without the chrome trim, but of course it wouldn't hang there as the method of attachment requires the chrome part. So I reached over and found a button-head screw lying on the floor and stuck it in the top hole of the 3-hole pattern and stepped back for a look.  I went back to the car, pulled the screw out, tossed the molding, and put the screw back. Close but not quite there. Headed to my fastener bins and dug out 3 flanged stainless button-head screws and stuck them in the 3 holes. And bingo, there was the answer - maybe not 'the' answer, or even 'an' answer - but it was 'my' answer. For a few weeks, I just left them sitting there in the holes. Occasionally, I would stop and take a look and see if they continued to float my boat. I was happy but not 100% happy. Then one night while shopping at Ring Bros for their door strikers - I spotted a line of machined washers they make that come with a corresponding unique button-head screw - in stainless of course. Bought a couple for a test run and liked the results.

Even better, it ended up solving another design problem I've had - those equally ugly rear quarter reflectors. I tossed those as well and put the machined washer/button-heads in their place. In the end, I'm going with the motto, simpler is better. For my tastes, it is a cleaner look and feels a bit more industrial, a bit more racy. I like it. Feel free to throw rocks. I'm still open to alternate suggestions. Maybe this will stimulate an even better answer. Gosh knows, we've all sat on the floor staring at those quarter panels long enough :)

Apologies for the photos. It looks much better in person. The flash ruins the look.  I've also stuck some of the button-heads in the 1/4 end caps but I think I'll end up going with the standard trim back there. That part of the car is one of my favorite views of  the 67/68 bodies. The long, thin trim across the deck lid and the 2 hockey sticks on the end caps.

Ring Bros - 304 stainless steel button-head and machined washer

Quarter trim holes filled with button-heads

Rear reflector holes filled

 

 

 

End caps with button-heads...hmmmm...maybe not...

Christmas Bling

Well, like Dennis, I've been occupied elsewhere lately. But got a little Christmas cash from the in-laws and thought what better place to spend it than on SusieQ. As you know, I've been wanting to button up the rear quarter area but needed to figure out what I'm doing with the quarter panel trim. I think I've finally got that figured out and bought some parts for a test run. I've tried them, and although not 100% happy, I'm happier with the results than anything else that is out there - that being, simply weld the holes shut, install the OEM trim, add the Shelby brake scoops or make something from scratch. Ideally, I'd like to make something from scratch. I have it in my head what I would like to see there but realistically with a business to run, there just isn't time in the pipeline for it. And like Alex, I have a porch falling off the back of the house as well :/

In preparation for sealing up that area, I wanted to rehab the door strikers first. I didn't want to seal that area up if for some reason I needed to get to the back side of those strikers screws to get them out. Been there, done that. Those door striker screws are notorious for not coming out. I have a REALLY cool impact tool in the tool collection - specifically bought for having fought that battle before.

But I got the strikers out intact and was trying to decide what to do with them. Blast and powder coat, blast and zinc plate, blast and chrome - or drop $65 and buy a pair of billet stainless ones from Rings Bros? Since my solution for the quarter trim was coming from Ring Bros, I just decided to splurge a little with my Christmas money and spring for the billet pieces as well. They arrived this week and like everything from Ring Bros, are perfect. I should just hang them on the wall than install in the car. Beautiful craftsmanship. Here's the pieces in the flesh. Hopefully I'll have the 1/4 panel solution installed soon and I'll post to gauge your reactions.

Of course, now I'll probably have to lay out for the billet scuff plates as well!!!

Splash Shield Upgrade

Trying to get these splash shields knocked out so I can get the front fenders mounted. As I mentioned, I thought I could do better than staples for attaching the rubber gaskets to the metal shields. Grabbed my trusty  McMaster-Carr catalog and found some plastic snap rivets that looked like they would work. 

Using Alex's staple placement as a guide to where to place the rivets, I marked the metal shields and drilled a set of 1/8" holes along their perimeters. I then placed masking tape along the edges of the rubber gaskets and using the newly drilled holes as a guide, transferred the hole pattern to the masking tape with a pen. From there, it was a simple process to use a gasket punch to punch the final holes into the rubber gaskets. I did this by clamping a short piece of 2x4 in my bench vice and using it as the base while punching the holes. This gave a nice crisp hole through the rubber gasket material. 

Before final assembly, I sandblasted off the original paint from the metal shields as it looked thin and of poor quality. Finished them off in the powder coat booth with a nice even coat of satin black. Once they cooled, it was quick work in attaching the rubber gaskets using the McMaster-Carr rivets. I like the look and think the rubber will stand up better with the rivets rather than the small bearing surface of the staples. Time will tell!

Drilled holes in shield and corresponding holes in gasket

Assembled front shield

Assembled rear shields

Sitting Down to a Dish of Elephant...

As restorers, we all know the saying, 'How do you eat an elephant?'. Well this morning I woke up to it pouring down rain. Typically Saturday morning is my weekly long training ride. I'm a pretty serious bike-racer and with all the hours I put in at work, Saturday is about my only day for getting a long ride in. With my ride cancelled and grass cutting out (yes the lawn tractor still lives - charred...but alive) I thought it an opportunity to get a little wrench time in at the shop today. 

So off to the shop for some Mustang lov'in and a helping of elephant. I've been stumbling around the front fenders for 3 years so I decided to focus some attention there and get those things finally mounted. Of course, they can't go on until the splash shields are on. Ahhhh the splash shields - those rusted hulks of metal we all know and love - and replace with those fine 'reproductions' from China. The ones that never come with the rubber seals attached so that one has to guess where the staples go. 

As you all recall, I wasn't afforded the honor of dismantling my car. It came to me instead in 25 cardboard boxes and 17 coffee cans. But the collection of boxes and cans has been steadily diminishing as I've work my way towards completion so it didn't take long to locate the splash shields. Ran into the office, jumped on the InterWeb, found Alex's site, chose the proper day - October 26, 2010 and voila - there is was in all it's glorious detail...

How to Make a Splash (Shield)

I was thinking of calling this post 'Homage de Alex' as without his detailed instructions and photos I would have been up the creek as I didn't have the original shields for comparison or the knowledge of how they came apart.  One of the great things about this community is not only do we have the support of one another - we also have a repository for our collective efforts that are available to others.  

After a quick read, I decided the engineer in me just wasn't going the staple route and that I could attach the rubber seals with push plugs instead. But I first wanted to mock the shields up to make sure they actually aligned. How long could that possibly take - 15-20 minutes? Well 2 hrs later and about 1 mile of walking around the shop beating, drilling, cutting, bending...followed by more beating and cutting, I finally had the rear driver's installed. 'Reproduction' part is a term I use loosely. 'Kind'a in the ballpark is a little closer. Most accurate is probably 'Outside the Ballpark in Extended Parking'. I'm not going to jump on a soap box here as you all know the quality/fit of some of this junk that passes for parts. At one point I was thinking I could make some very cool shields out of stainless and cut them on the waterjet but who would ever see them and did I really need to go that route? In conclusion, 1 shield fitted, 3 to go.

 

Garage Find!

As prototypers by trade, there is nothing we throw away as you never know one day to the next what small piece of steel, aluminum, delrin, nylon, wood, etc you are going to need. Same for fasteners. We have every standard/metric button head, cap head, 12 point, flat head that Man has ever invented. But...occasionally it gets to be a bit much as there is only so much available floorspace and the robots gets grumpy when they are feeling squeezed. Which means our annual Clean Up Day has finally arrived!

In the midst of the clean-up today, under a pile of cardboard boxes and dust, I spy this large hulk resting under a cover in the back corner of the shop. We pushed it out onto the main shop floor - peeled the cover off it and lo and behold - a 1968 Mustang convertible!!! Candy Apple Red - 80% restored but still needing about a 1000 15 minutes job to complete. I had the boys give her a quick sponge bath and here she is. Maybe I'll get inspired and try to get a few of those 15 minute job off the to-do list.

Catching the Lawn Tractor on Fire

So my favorite thing to hear after a long bike ride:

"Dear, the lawn tractor won't start..."

My response:

"Did you turn off the gas petcock the last time you used it?"

The response:

"No"

My response:

These is no response because that line of reasoning is going no where anyway.

I know the problem - because the petcock wasn't turned off, I have a cylinder full of gasoline 

instead of air. So the piston is hydraulically locked in place due to 2 pints of gasoline sitting 

above it. I pull the spark plug and proceed to turn the engine over - thus ejecting the gasoline 

out the spark plug hole. If Hans Solo had been nearby - this is where he would have said 

'I have a bad feeling about this'. Just as I turn the key in the ignition, I wonder - "is there any 

way that the spark plug wire could short against the engine block and create a spark here? No

way - the odds of that happening are approximately....well...1 in 1. Instantly I have 2 pints of 

gasoline, air-ignited, burning all over that greasy engine covered in 10 years worth of dry grass 

and leaves. I am shirtless, in shorts, wearing flip flops and a baseball cap. Quickly my 

engineering mind goes into action...

Plan A - beat out fire with baseball cap. Right - moving on to B...

Plan B - run to outside hose only to find hose not connected to outside faucet because it is still 

winterized and wrapped inside large black plastic garbage bag secured with The Tie Wrap from Hell. 

Plan C - run into house yelling things like 'FIRE' - 'NEED WATER' - 'HELP'

Plan D - run water out of kitchen facet into spaghetti caldron while watching tractor burn through 

kitchen window - bail on Plan D as it is apparent that the need for water is grossly more pressing 

than the speed of water coming from the faucet.

Plan E - run to bike - grab water bottle - return and shoot pressurized Gatorade/Coke mixture 

directly into spark plug hole. Follow immediately with 2 quarts purified water from Britta filter 

pitcher retrieved from refrigerator.

Total length of incident - 23.7 seconds. Incident report and wife debriefing to follow.... 

rj  

Shop work

Guys, apologies for not many postings regarding the Mustang. She has been sitting patiently in the back of the shop waiting for some love to come her way. But that doesn't mean I haven't been in the shop - or working on cars. Unfortunately I can't share much of what I'm typically working on due to IP issues with our customers. But this video we shot on Tuesday is discreet enough that I don't think anyone would mind - but interesting enough that you might enjoy. We've been working late nights and weekends on this as it is on a tight deadline. It's fairly self explanatory given what we do for a living.

rj

An Australian Ranchero

Hi guys! Just back from a trip to Australia. Came across some Ford cars I thought you would be interested in. They are built under the Falcon nameplate down There and come in a number of different configurations. This one style in particular caught my eye. It's a modern day Ranchero! If Ford made these here, it would be my daily driver. Due to building robots for a living, I need a pick-up to transfer parts and robots around. And truth be known, I despise my Ranger on many levels. It's a gutless wonder, that uses too much gas, pings like crazy going up hill, and well...drives like a truck. For many years, I've considered buying a rust-free 71 Ranchero from Texas and rebuilding one for the business.  Nice thought - but I know I would never be able to bring myself to drive it during the Winter. So I'm stuck with the Ranger until I can figure out how to import one of these Falcons into the country :) I can only imagine the hoops the government would enjoy watching me jump through to make that happen. These two were sitting back to back in downtown Brisbane. One was labeled a Boss 260 and the other was a Boss 290. As you can see below, they put out some serious horsepower numbers. Enjoy!

Boss 260 4-valve DOHC 5.4 L V8, 349 hp @ 5250 rpm, 369 lb·ft @ 4000 rpm

Boss 290 4-valve DOHC 5.4 L V8, 389 hp @ 5500 rpm, 384 lb·ft @ 4500 rpm

FORD FALCON BOSS 260

FORD FALCON BOSS 290