Right or wrong, this is how I had the trunk prior to body install. I recommend leaving the door hinge supports off or at least one off before body install. With both installed clearing even one can be tough.
P4060001.JPG
Visit our community sponsor
Right or wrong, this is how I had the trunk prior to body install. I recommend leaving the door hinge supports off or at least one off before body install. With both installed clearing even one can be tough.
P4060001.JPG
Thanks to my great friend, Bob K, we got the body installed today. Finally some room to work. It sure is fun installing bolts for the last time........
P4060002.JPGP4060003.JPGP4060004.JPGP4070005.JPG
Last edited by Boz1911; 04-07-2014 at 07:42 PM.
Once the doors are adjusted prior to removing the body ( after body work ) I always drill a 1/8" hole for a cleko. That way, when the doors go on for the last time, there's little or no adjustment to fuss with on final assembly after aligning with a cleko. I do the same for the hood, trunk and grill. I just fill the holes with drive rivets on the ones that show afterwards.
Nice work Boz !!!!
Thanks Tim. That would have been a great idea had I thought of it. Hoping to really fine tune fitment during the final assembly, then apply the striping. I cleaned up the wiring on the upper part of my dash before body install but the rest is going to take a while. I figure final assembly will still take a few months?? Time to get in gear and start the title process.
Is it just me or does your last attachments come up invalid?
invalid to me also
I think I fixed it and added a today pic, I don't know why it did that?? Hood and side panels are just sitting in place, just had time today to loosely install the right door.
Final mounted all the trunk aluminum, be forewarned a very minute shift in the body mount will make some rivet holes not align properly especially the sides after the bulb seal is installed. Took damn near a day to get everything aligned again. I had planned on using the insulating material shown in the cockpit but changed my mind so I put it to good use in the trunk. The piece of carpet provided for the three link cover leaves a seam showing so I took some carpet shavings and used Elmers glue (dries clear) to clean up the seams. Overall I like it and no more tinny/echo sounds in the trunk. One tool that has come in handy is a gasket hole punch. Mine is a Mac with a bunch of hole sizes. I use it to punch nice clean holes in the insulation and carpet.
Last but not least I bought an orange shifter ball to match the orange pinstripe I'll be adding to the car. Gotta say I got this from Sickspeed on ebay and it's a very nice piece especially for under 25 bones shipped to my door.
P4100001.JPGP4110004.JPGP4110006.JPGP4100003.JPG
Last edited by Boz1911; 04-12-2014 at 07:20 PM.
Its looking great man. Doesn't seem like it took you too long on the body work. How much time do you think you had in it (the body work)??
It's coming along Boz. It looks awesome.
Thanks Tom and Evan. I'm working on interior panels now to cover some holes like the door hinge mount area, the excess holes by the seat belt mounts and anywhere I can see light through the car.
Sounds good. I would like to see what you come up with for those areas.
Nothing fancy just some plates like so. Had to make a little spacer for the trunk rod after carpet was installed.
I'm glad to be on this forum where people understand it takes hours to put wire loom on your battery cables and add some additional supports.............
P4130007.JPGP4130008.JPGP4130009.JPG
Final assembly is a slow go but I try to accomplish something every day. I have to admit I hate wiring and the harness I made for the gauges really isn't working out so every work/play session I do some more clean up under the dash. I've been hesitant to eliminate any wires up to this point but obviously there are several that won't be utilized in my application. I did find though that grinding the bolt heads off the trunk and hood latch bolts make aligning them much easier. I had painted the insides of the engine bay side panels silver but when I installed them they looked terrible so I just went with flat black and I really like the contrast better. Turned my former body cart into a parts bin for the 64 Fairlane. This cart has been a handy accessory and it was free from Kroger to boot.
P4160001.JPGP4160002.JPGP4160004.JPG
Last edited by Boz1911; 04-16-2014 at 07:08 PM.
All I can say is Wow Boz. It looks incredible. Nice job. I wish you were able to get it out to HB so I could see it in person. Well done.
Looking good Boz, great work!!
Thanks she's getting there.
A little thing to not do. I had the trunk release cable snug, with the intention of removing all the slack and tightening up after final adjustments. I was adjusting the latch and yes you guessed it, the cable came loose. So now I have a finished trunk locked and no way to open it.
I tried to loosen the trunk hinges and access the latch to no avail. My last hope was to drill a hole in the bottom behind the latch bracket and flip the latch with a screw driver. Thank goodness that worked and it didn't make any mess since that piece of carpet behind the bracket is an individual piece. I used a chrome plug to seal the hole and now I'll always have an emergency access point should anything happen to the cable.
Just a thought Boz,
I have a small diameter cable that runs down from the trunk latch with a loop on it can that be accessed under the car. it can be easily hidden. Pictures on my build page.
I also made the sheet metal cover plate for the 3 link removable to access the trunk for such an event and adjusting trunk hinge arms. I have a solenoid trunk release, so I took extra precautions.
Looks GREAT Boz !!!!
Thanks Tim, the 3-link cover is good idea. This access hole is neat and tidy though should something like that happen again.
Got the interior matted finally, takes a lot more material than you realize. Got the carpet installed, now it's back to cleaning up the wiring..........
P4200006.JPGP4200007.JPGP4200009.JPGP4200010.JPGP4200011.JPG
Looks good Boz...how do you like that Thermo tec stuff?
Got a little done today. Insulated the doors and door panels and made some striker bolt covers. Also felt the trunk was a bit bland and I didn't really have any good use for the really nice FF emblems so I added an old school tool box with the FF emblem. I do plan on attaching it to the floor and put a few tools in it.
P4230002.JPGP4230001.JPGP4230003.JPGP4230004.JPG
Nice striker covers, might have to steal that one Boz. Speaking of the trunk...my trunk lid doesn't even match the radius of the body. I'm probably going to have to fabricate something like Erik Hansen used on his, nothing like adding more to my plate. Looks like you are coming to the end, it looks incredible.
Thanks Evan, there is still a lot to do, and I've been putting off the final wiring. Guess I need to make some kind of check list. My trunk lid fit is okay but not perfect, if I can't get it a little better some supports may also be in order also.
Evan,
I might have something for the trunk lid. If you'd like. give me a call.
Will do Tim. Thanks
Took me only a few minutes to realize I did not like the push pin plan on the door panels. The flanges on my doors are too thin for the pins to go in or be removed without damage. Since most of the car is assembled with polished stainless button head bolts, I just continued the theme. I will say the doors now sound and feel like real doors.
P4250007.JPGP4250008.JPGP4250009.JPG
Just been doing all the little things on my to do list. Got most of the wiring cleaned up, made my third gauge harness, replaced the tiny indicator lights with some regular size ones. Got the roll bar final mounted and reinstalled the windshield to see the "roadster" version. Really looks like two different cars with or without the top. Still need to install the footbox and forward trans tunnel carpet. I still had a gap above the front of the tunnel I could see light through so I made some plates to fit that area, also made some covers for the trunk hinges where they go into the car. I didn't care for just slit the carpet method. I lined them with leather so the hinges rotate through the leather and are sorta gapless now.
P5070014.JPGP5070015.JPGP5070017.JPG
I am at the pinnacle of frustration. Working today on the 33 I picked up some fuel for the Fairlane. Since I had a couple extra gallons I put the extra in the 33. A little while later I noticed a drip on the floor and sure enough it was fuel. Pulled the seats, roll bar and waterfall and of course this POS tank leaks at the sending unit. I finally got the mess cleaned up (what's accessible) but now I have to find a freaking seal that won't leak.
For anyone buying a 33 do NOT use the FF tank, it is a giant piece of crap and has caused me nothing but headaches. I'm committed to this thing now but what a failure in design. I can't believe FF allows something this dangerous and noxious to even be considered as a critical part of a vehicle.
Last edited by Boz1911; 05-15-2014 at 07:45 AM.
I feel your frustration Boz. I went through the same thing. I decided to give the FFR tank a shot regretted the decision. I switched to the Boyd but still am having issues with the sending unit reading accurately. Hang in there bud.
Sorry to hear about your leak. I was lucky and went with the boyd tank right away. I really do not understand why FFR does not fix this problem. 818 guys are suffering the same. I guess it is just one of those things. I do think I read in some thread about using a round seal to fix the leak.
Thanks Tom and Evan, headed out this morning to find something better. Thank goodness for an electric fuel pump to drain the overage. I had a line at the firewall that I could disconnect and drain into a fuel can. I've removed the seal, although I don't like tapping on metal with a bunch of raw gas sitting under the sender. I have some brass punches I use for gun work so I used one of those to avoid spark. My whole car and shop smell like fuel now, momma's not any happier than I am.
I completely agree. Hard Top, Roadster and even Soft Top all seem to change the car's personality.
Very pretty car! I probably would have two toned my car in a similar fashion, but my wife said I already had too many gray cars! (Passat W8, Touareg, '61 Jag Mk II) So, she convinced me to try some new colors.
Best regards, Tom