69 CJ build and other cars

[67fastysm]

wow ! maxi ! super work you really are leaving nothing to chance great work with graphics
I am really looking forward to the day when its all finished the effort you are putting its going to be a real ripper
cheers Shane

[MaxPower]

Cheers, Shane! I'm looking forward to it too. By the end of this year would be fantastic but that's a big ask.

The last few years I've done some projects and the one thing that really shit me was having to redo the same task twice or sometimes more. Yes, sometimes it was due to a learning curve and making mistakes. But a lot of the time it was due to the client, my wife, changing her mind along the way. With this project, I only want to do it once and have it last the rest of my life. And all going well, hopefully that is the way it goes.

[MaxPower]

Put the cross member back in place and this is the new clearance.



I thought the T56 was sitting a bit off but the engine is sitting where it should. After a quick google I found Quicktime set the T56 5 degree anti-clockwise. Thankfully with the trans mount in backwards, it falls in line with this angle. I had to mount it backwards anyway as it is offset and cleared the trans better this way.
I placed a tape measure across the chassis rails to show the angle of the T56.



Next issue the pad for the trans mount just touched the trans cross member so I notched out a clearance and cut a piece of C-channel up to use.
Yesterday I set up my new media blaster cabinet for the first time and used it to clean up the metal. I got it for my birthday last year, in Feb, and finally got around to using it. I was worried if my compressor had enough to do the job but it did it just fine.



And welded back in



I had a brain fart at one point and forgot to turn the gas on and it made a hell of a mess of the tungsten and put shit all over the metal so I put it back in the media blaster cabinet to clean it up





After a bit of time cleaning up the welds I got it to this point. Some more time could be spend but I think this is getting close.











Plenty of clearance now

[69candy]

Looking good. with the towers and clearance. I know how tight it is on mine!!
Without going to an aftermarket independant front end so you can move them, Have you looked at maybe an Mitzubishi L300 front end? Cheap and recon it would fit in there nice with a couple of mods. Hot rod guys use them all the time, and lots of bits and pieces for them. Could run the rack as well to give you even more clearance there to? Just a thought, as if I ever finf another 69 body, that's the way I will be going. eliminate the towers all together.
Carry on!!

[MaxPower]

Cheers!

I didn't want to go to a different front end for two main reasons. It was an engineer hurdle I didn't want to deal with, easier for rego if it is stock. Plus the cost. I'm into this far more than I ever wanted to be and still not sure how much deeper I need to go just to get it back together. Plus I'd prefer to keep it LHD.
It would be so much more convenient to swap it all out though. I would love to do a Crown Vic clip with a modular engine conversion on an F-truck.

[boofhead]

What TIG are you using?

[MaxPower]

I have one of these

http://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au-boc-in ... tig-welder

[boofhead]

Thanks - Cheers.

[hybrid]

I love TIG on steel... such a pleasure to work with.

[Pinto-Pete]

For me it's napalm in the morning,....

[MaxPower]

I got some time to myself over the weekend and spent that putting up some plywood sheets and some second hand fluro lights into my Mustang area. I finished the last of the lights this morning. I only had 2 single fluro light tubes in here before. Now I have 18. The difference that they and the insulation that I put into the roof have made is amazing. It's gone from a hot box that you couldn't see in to a cooler area that is very bright. I have some repairs to do to the outside roof sheeting before I can fit the last section of ply up but at least now I have an area where I can work at night.

It wasn't easy by myself but it is great to get it done. After working on it for the day, it was still 37.4 degrees Celsius at 5pm. The time on the unit is an hour slow. It was a hot one, and this is in the cooler part of my shed which was cooler than being outside. After that I still had the night to myself so I buggered off to the beach for a fish. Was a pretty nice way to sit and an enjoy a cold beer. Even if I didn't catch anything.

[MaxPower]

Spoke to the engineer about gear box swap and all good with what I have in mind. So keep on going.

As for the speedo though, I will need to come up with something. Am thinking of using a Falcon ABS ring gear and ABS pickup off one of the front wheels. The engineer was happy with that. But I have a bit of homework to do on it.

Marked out and made two cuts in the firewall to lift the tunnel. I was now able to install the trans mount at the height it needed to be. I lifted the top section of the tunnel so it had plenty of clearance. This is how it sits. I still need to make a spacer between the trans mount and trans once I get some materials but it is lifted and sitting in its final location.

[MaxPower]

I've now cut the top of the tunnel off.





and slid the new floor into place



This is where the tunnel top needs to sit to align with the T56



I will have to make a piece to fill the space at the front



Now I know the floor will pull down more but I have a considerable gap on either side at the rear





You can see this tapers off much closer to the front



Now, this is where I am scratching my head. Do I extend the floor with a fill piece and butt weld it against the rocker. Or do I get a fold done, butt weld it against the floor and then weld the fold to the rocker? I've done a bit of a google search but hadn't found an answer as yet.

[nassi]

Hace you considered GPS options for your speedo?

[scott66stang]

I think you have a floor pan for a convertible as they have the extra inner sill rail the pan sits under. The coupe and fastback ones are bent up 90 deg to weld to the inner sill panel.

Or that one is made to butt up to 20 mm or so of the old floor pan left on.

Love the work your doing BTW