hightower2011

Wow, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I need to get a plasma cutter! Haha!
Looks like it works great and that mustang looks awesome! You should frame that picture or something and hang it in your shop/garage as a reminder of the awesome work you've done!

So I saw you cut the top out, and then removed the remaining edges AND the bottom... Did you do that at the same time? What made you decide to do so?

Keep up the great work!!!

bent metal

Oh the plasma is cool. Just a side note. If you ever get a chance to cut a car in half, cut it apart and seperate the two halves by about three or four feet. Then have some one come over and check it out. Don't say anything, just watch them. They won't be able to resist walking through in between the two pieces! I've done this a couple times and it doesn't matter who sees it, young or old, male or female, they have to walk through. haha

As for the cowl. I set the hood in and where it needed to be. Just to make sure nothing moved. I cut both panels out because rust had gotten in between all three layers. The body, inner cowl, and outer cowl panels. If you look at the picture of the firewall you can see how the the rust is making everything lift and bow. The only way to clean the rust out is to take it all apart. I want it to look like it's never been touched when some one opens the hood and looks at that shelf where the firewall and cowl meet. Nice and straight, I hope.

bent metal

This hole in the firewall looks like some one made a small hole and then slammed a screw driver thru to make it bigger. It's all mushroomed out the back, similar to a bullet hole. I've done one or two of these before. I've done them every wrong way you could think of. This is also a little more delicate because your working on a flat panel. It's not very forgiving. Anyhow, with the help and advise from others, and trial and error. I settled on doing small hole repairs like this,...
To start with...
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First make the hole round and the edges flat/uniform. Then make a filler plug that is the same thickness (that's important), and a tight fit(that's even more important). If you have a good enough fit you can hammer it with a flat dolly and an almost flat hammer which will expand the plug, making it fit in the hole without any clamps at all. Just tight.
This is outside/engine side.
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This is inside/under dash side.
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If everything fits now, then after you weld the only variable you have is the welding. So any disortion will be in the weld (heat affected zone) only. Some light tapping on the weld will bring everything back to pre-weld condition. ...That's the plan anyway.
The outside view....
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The inside view....
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bent metal

Also worth mentioning, I'm TIG welding whenever I can. You are not going to get this kind of weld with MIG. It just ain't gunna' happen. Not in this situation. This weld will be with little distortion, no pin holes, and very little to grind off. Not because of me, but because of the TIG process. Just better, for butt welds, and whenever possible. If you have never tried TIG, you gotta' try it. It's really is good.
This is the outside after a light tapping around the weld and a quick grind. If this were on a roof or something, and not a demo kind of thing I might go back and touch-up the weld a little bit. But I wanted to show those who haven't seen TIG what you get with a weld like this as apposed to MIG. Pretty nice on the first shot. ...I think.
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This is the inside. It looks about the same on both sides. Hard to do with MIG. But it's not hard with TIG. Don't think it's me either, it's not, it's the welder that's good here, not the weldor. You can do it too, you just need a TIG.
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hightower2011

I need to switch to TIG..... haha
Glad you said all that, I've been running MIG for a while now, and its not as precise as I'd like. Even on my lowest settings I've been burning through places...

And that repair looks like.... like it never happened! No one could ever suspect it!

bent metal

I see a lot of people using only MIG. Don't get me wrong, on this Mustang I probably used MIG 80% of the welding. But when I could, and on the butt welds I used TIG. I like the MIG when I need to dump a bunch of metal in to fill up an area. Plug welds, a fillet, or if the surfaces are just not very clean. But if I can get to it easily, it's a clean area, then I try and TIG. So much less grinding and just better all around.
I want to make people who maybe don't know or think it's hard to do, what they could be doing. I've never had any formal schooling for this nor have I worked for a shop. Metal work is just my hobby.

hightower2011

Well let me just say I'm glad you mentioned it, cause I think there's a few places where switching to TIG will benefit me greatly. Plus I plan to do my own exhaust, so I need to learn how to TIG anyways.

And for just a hobby, you're damn good at it!

mr_velocity

I so want a tig welder, just can't justify the $4K cost. Most of my welding would be aluminum and stainless steel so I need a decent machine if I'm getting one. At least I was able to "justify" a new mig for the mustang project

THUMPIN455

Nice work as always, once I get some funds for it a TIG and a plasma are on the short list. I end up working so much more to get the welds smooth and flat than I would be if I had those two items.

bent metal

It's been a while since I bought my TIG. But I know I didn't pay 4 g's. I think it was closer to 2. My weld supply store has an open house/party every year and I waited for that because you get special pricing, coupled with I bought the model that was going out when the new one was coming in. I got a good one with options to upgrade, which I never have been able to afford. But I could upgrade if I ever get some money.

Anyhow, back to the car. So I filled the hole while I had access to both sides. Smoothed up and patched the mounting flange where the new cowl pieces will go. Now for the new pieces. I was surprising pleased with the fit! YES! They look pretty good, not perfect but really good.
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Then the top piece on that.
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The shelf above the firewall looks nice and straight now, just like it dreamed it would. Awesome!
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Now let's get the fenders back on check everything.
What could go wrong?
Driver's side looks good.
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OH NO! The passenger side, .....not good. Don't know how much it shows up in the pictures but that's about a quarter inch gap.
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