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Project Silverfish

7K views 46 replies 15 participants last post by  roboticservo 
#1 ·
I've been dragging my feet a little with this one. I had a lot going on with some big changes around the shop and having a few projects pop in and out for small repairs, but enough with the excuses and lets get started on this car. Owner is ok with a slower pace on this build so I'll do a better job at slowing down and showing the details.

Overview: The owner wants to drop a big engine and aftermarket transmission in this 65 fastback. Wants great handling and performance but stock(ish) appearance.

Build items to be completed:

Install convertible rockers
Build and install custom sub frame connectors
R/R entire floor
R/R trunk pan
R/R taillight panel
R/R rear window lower panel
R/R both rear frame rails
R/R drivers side rocker
R/R both rear torque boxes
R/R both rear quarter panels
R/R firewall
R/R Drivers B-pillar
R/R Cowl
R/R both inner and outer wheel tubs (both sides)
R/R both front frame rails
Install 2x front torque boxes
Install Triangulated 4-link (ridetech)
Install Roadster Shop IFS
Customize battery tray panel (smooth out to match drivers side)
Run fuel lines (efi) through frame rails and exit out of front passenger frame rail. (requires modification to inside of front frame rail)
Custom fiberglass valance
Custom under body fiberglass air scoops for rear brake cooling
Mini-tubs
 

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#8 ·
Long delay between posts as I've been having some issues in my shop...

Loaded the car up and onto the jig frame, connected the two front leaf spring mounting points to the jig and welded the passenger rail to the jig frame. The only remaining measurement point I can go off of is the one remaining passenger side frame rail. The rail was pilled into position by a cone-along and tacked to the correct location on the jig frame.
I will be repairing the drivers side B-pillar and frame rail before I work on the passengers side again. Both frame rails need to be welded to the jig frame before I can cut out the old (and horribly damaged) rear torque boxes and then fit the new ones over the soon-to-be-added convertible inner frame rails.
 

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#11 ·
HAHA! Yea there is room. But far less than I had a short while ago. I have to turn my welding table sideways and push it up against the back wall to fit the car inside. I move it inside when I'm doing tig welding but have it outside for grinding/cutting and mig welding (with curtains).
In the shop (garage) I have: monarch 10ee, lagun ftv1 knee mill, 5x5 cnc plasma/plate marker, 80 cal 2 stage compressor, 20 ton press, cnc laser, 2 welders, and my 3x6 welding/fixture table... So its a little stuffed.

There will be less left of the car than there was of good-ol LT. Murphy to be sure.
 
#13 ·
Tore up the back half of the car... Nothing technical about what or how I did it, although, a hand-held plasma is a great thing.

Only advice to add at this stage is to keep as much of the car 'boxed' as possible. From the pictures you can see I left about 1/4 of the upper wheel tub connecting to the roof structure and frame rail. If I didn't have the car locked onto the jig frame I would not have cut out the area between the two rear torque boxes (left to right) as it would allow the car to sag and move around quite a bit, possibly damaging the roof.

I have ALOT of work to do on the driver side so I'm leaving that until after I have the passenger side front-middle-and-rear frame rails installed. Luckily the passenger side rocker is in good condition and doesn't need replacement.

Because I will be removing the rear torque boxes I need to have a way of positively locating the car on the jig frame. In the last picture you see 3 red boxes showing where I will be welding small legs to the outside of the rocker to locate the back half of the rocker during/after I install the convertible rail and modified rear torque box.

As always, please ask any question you may have!
 

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#18 ·
All of these cars are salvageable at this point in time. The question is: "How much is it worth to YOU?"

I work off a package price. With my now limited space and working schedule I can be slower some days, and faster on others. I feel better if I don't need to worry about charging up hours on days that I'm sucking wind.
 
#19 ·
I would only recommend getting a Dynacorn body if you are building a track car or if you are only building a toy and you know it will always be worth less than an "original" mustang body...

That extra 2-4k project cost that you would of spent fixing up a OEM rusty shell VS buying a Dynacorn body will be more than recouped in a few years if you are only building a mildly modified car.

From a fabricators standpoint, I love working on Dynacorn bodies... No mud-wasp nests, toxic undercoating and mouse nests to deal with when you are mini-tubing a new body.
 
#20 ·
Hey I'm not knocking the concept, I respect the effort you are putting forth. I was just attempting to possibly save you some time/effort and possibly money.

This hobby has tons of the "concours" and "survivor" types, I just don't happen to be one. I am also from the often relatively "rust free" region of the country so my perspective is skewed in that direction and influenced by my lack of talent to tackle that level of body/frame restoration.

I hope 30 more years from now your efforts are appreciated, and that where I live we will still be able to drive something with a gasoline engine :|
 
#21 ·
I didn't think you were knocking the concept at all...

And you are right, if your only goal is to have a rust free mustang fastback, than a Dynacorn body should seriously be considered. But it will not be worth the same amount as a "real" mustang, even if 75% of it is replacement panels.

These are not my cars BTW :wave:
They are customer cars. I do everything I can to save them cash on their project. For many people these are their dream cars and I do everything I can to help get them to their projects end, that includes exploring every option like a Dynacorn shell or using up a donor coupe on a fastback. But in this case, my customer will still be thousands of $$$$ ahead with me doing the repairs over just doing a VIN swap onto a Dynacorn shell or going for a kit car VIN.
 
#22 ·
congrats on having the talent/skills to be able to do all that work and the owner wanting to keep as much of the car as possible.

JMO. It's not my car but if i was doing it and it was in that kind of shape I would either find a donor body or just buy the dynacorn and transfer the good original parts to it instead. All the replacement panels that are out there are not NOS so you are bascially building a reproduction body anyways, but that's me. Lifes too short, i'd rather have it done and be able to drive it.

Please don't take this as a negative comment, it's not meant to be, I think it's great that you're salvaging a classic and there are folks like you out there able to do it. good luck and keep us posted. I'm sure if will look awesome when your done.
 
#24 ·
The work is not too bad as far as replacing the old parts with new panels. The worst is the cutting everything rotten out; lots of grinding and black dirt rings in the bathtub until you are finished.

I personally don't care about the percentage of a mustang's replacement panels. Don't even see the issue in doing a swap into a Dynacorn body, one car is taken off the road and another is put on the road; seems like an even swap.
But some people are not as open minded and want to start with an original. You end up in the same place at the end, the important this is making sure that you are honest about the costs and make sure you are not cutting your nose in spite of your face.
 
#26 ·
Going to try and knock out the rest of the car in the next month or two.

Not a lot between last post and this one, mostly digging out rust and bending/pulling the car back into spec. Unfortunately the passenger side rocker is too badly warped to salvage so I'll be ordering up a replacement. Drivers side rocker, rear torque box, rear rail and convertible inner rocker have been welded up. The cover to the torque bow will be trimmed to fit and welded on as well. I prefer to weld the inner convertible rocker to both the inside and outside of the rear torque box. I'll be working on the rear of the car while I wait for the new parts to arrive in a week or two.
 

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#29 ·
Been here, done this- currently doing a top swap and wondering why you would ever want to put a puzzle together like this rather than just using a complete doner coupe body? Or actually starting out with a 'car' rather than just a roof section? Was the guy's first 'date' in that car or?? Sure I'm glad another one is being saved, but dang- the guy must have bottomless pockets and a real sentimental attachment to that roof, right?!?
 
#30 ·
haha! Not really... With the speed that we've taken with this project, the cost has been spread out over a much longer duration than most of my projects, so the sting in the wallet was spread out and much more manageable.

The owner wants to do a road course/street legal car that's pushing 500+ hp.
Many modifications need to happen to make this a reliable car that won't shake itself to death. It's much easier to make these major strengthening modifications when the car is gutted like it is now. We are also going to be installing rear and front seats out of an 2005-ish mustang, so major modifications to the front frame and a complete fabrication job for a frame on the rear seat install will be needed.

At the end of the day we are building a completely custom track-able car, the budget on cars like this are much higher than a simple rust repair + road worthy build. With my labor/material costs and the customers willingness to have a slower timeline (usually 4-8 months) I turn around cars at an extremely competitive price point.

I can guarantee you that at the end of the day this customer will be thousands ahead of the game rather than going this route at a big shop (and starting out with a car body will less damage).
 
#31 ·
Big push today, finish date is set for last week of July.

The rear package shelf/ area under the rear window was so full of holes that it was just easier (and better) to replace it. After removing everything I cleaned up the attaching metal and made sure the fitment is good-to-go.

Removed enough of the passenger side pillar to cut out the passenger rocker/frame rail. New one dropped right in. All of the pillars are getting swapped out so I will be swapping those out next to get the car back to square.
 

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