chrisk

Hi, I'm new here and I'm hoping to get some online help during the restoration of my 65 Convertible which has massive rust but the price was right. :-)

I've been careful to keep the car stationary while removing major sections of the floor and uni-body frame sections. Right now I have most of the driver's side rot removed including: the floors, front tork box, the front floor support, convertible inner rocker, convert underside structure, and seat platform. I have the car on jackstands with them under the rear tork boxes and the rearmost section of the front frame. The transmission tunnel and passenger side floor and structure is still intact although badly rusted and so is the rear axle. The engine is out so I don't have to worry about that weight.

My question is: Has anybody done a DIY jig to position under there car while doing such massive reconstruction to keep the body aligned? I have this link for the measurements: http://www.nzmustang.com/TechData/64...sis%20spec.jpg

67 evil eleanor

Make sure the floor that you are working on is exactly level. Otherwise, it looks like you are on the right track. In a vert, your doors will be the square so to speak. I would use the hang originals and check their alignment before all the welding is done. As far as a jig, you can make one out of 2" X 3" steel and support it in several locations if you need (remember to take the bow out before you weld in the support or you will build in the curve that you are trying to remove). The verts are known to be weak in the middle andoften have kinda bowed down causing the doors to hit at the top and not close or open good, especially if theirs any rust damage.You may want to add somechassis reinforcements duringyour build tobeef up the middle. Otherwise looks like your chassis info had all the lateral specs you will need.

109jb

For my1970 fastback,I made a frame out of steel angle that bolted on where the door hinges normally would. That frame was bolted to the floor of my shop.

chrisk

Thanks for the responses.

109jb, I like the idea of bolting the car to the floor of the garage which isn't exactly level so right now the jack stands have to be shimmed. But keeping the hole car level is a real pain since the only solid, horizontal pieces of the car keep tweaked as I rip out the rusted metal. Have I mentioned that spot welds are a pain in the butt? The spot weld cutters from Harbor Freight only last for a couple welds until the teeth snap. Has anybody found the perfect spot well drill bit?

67 evil elanor, I already took off the drivers side door because I kept bumping my head on it whenever I got out from under the car. Maybe I'll weld together a frame which will be like a door that keeps the hinge and the door striker at a constant distance. What kind of chasis reinforcements would you recommend?

DanK69RustangVert

I would look at daze's site DazeCars.com for the info on sub-frame connectors.

Defiantlykeep the doors on or build a framework to keep the distance stable on a vert!

I have a '69 vert. I am working on. Here is info on how I built the frame jig.

I had some pipe laying around for the legs, used F-150 truck coil spring plates for the feet (Had 2 - picked 2 more up at a junk yard for $5.00), welded nuts under the 4 outside holes in the plates then welded them to the bottom of the pipe legs. I will use4 bolts on each leg as leveling points. This way even if your floor is not level, your car stays stable and level. Be sure to leave space between the crossmembers for the conv. floor reinforcement pan to "hang" between them.

We had some 10" channel iron at the shop (But you could use something else) for the main rails. If you use something lighter, you may need to use some angle supports for the legs at a 45, but using heavier material meansfewer "head banging" supports.

Pics below show where I am with it right now, and the drawings show the design. All I need now is 40' (8 - 5' pieces) of 2"X3"box steel tubing for the cross-members.

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