Читать книгу Project Mustang - Larry Lyles - Страница 10

In the world of automotive restoration, plans are drawn up, but it’s kept in mind that changes may have to be made. The plan at this point is to begin removal of the engine and drivetrain, but as I’ve already pointed out, panel-to-panel alignment wasn’t a top priority at Ford back in 1968. It didn’t help matters when a less-than-expert body technician mauled the left door on this Mustang and left it bent and twisted in an effort to replace the outer skin. So the problem now is the same problem I had previously: getting all the body lines on this car to match up and getting all the panel-to-panel alignment gaps to be uniform in size. So rather than remove the engine and drivetrain, I need to continue to work on the sheet metal. I decide to make repairs to the doors and the deck lid.

REPAIR THE DOORS

I started the alignment process in the last chapter with the front end sheet metal pieces. I continue now with the left door. Previously, I showed how the door frame on the left door was twisted so much that the lower rear corner of the door stuck out past the quarter panel almost ½ inch. You’re probably thinking, “Oh my gosh, how do I fix that?” Believe it or not, it’s not that difficult.

But before I start, I want to explain why this door ended up twisted in the first place. At some point, the left door was hit hard enough to require a new outer panel. Possibly, whoever replaced the panel simply cut off the old one and installed the new one without checking the fit of the door. Of course, once the door was painted and installed back on the car, improving the fit was out of the question without ruining the paint job. The result is what you see now, a lousy repair and a poor fit.

ALIGNING THE LEFT DOOR

So how do I improve the fit? Fortunately, I don’t care about the paint at this point. My concern is panel-to-panel alignment. So leaving hammer tracks and pry bar marks on the paint is not a problem.

I already know the front of the door is in alignment with the fender and cowl because I had spent a lot of time aligning that area of the car previously. So that leaves the rear of the door as the problem child. Door frames are extremely tough at the bottom and weak at the top. Why are they strong down below and so weak up top? The door has a steel box–type of construction with a welded-on lid (door skin) that makes the bottom of the door rigid. The top is weak because most of the strength of the box has been taken away to allow the window to move in and out of the door. This weakness allows the door to bend and twist near the top and still remain rigid at the bottom.

The door on this car has been twisted inboard at the top. The telltale clue is that the striker plate has been moved outboard inch in an attempt to align the top of the door with the quarter panel. That accounts for the ½ inch that sticks out past the quarter panel at the bottom of the door. People will notice an out-of-alignment condition at the top of the door long before they notice the same problem at the bottom of the door, which explains why an attempt was made to align the top of the door.

To correct the alignment problem on the bottom of the door, I need to shift the striker position inboard until the bottom of the door once again aligns with the bottom of the quarter panel. Photo 2 shows just how far inboard the top of the door now sits in relation to the quarter panel (at least ½ inch) after the bottom of the door has been realigned with the quarter panel.

PHOTO 1: A clue that the door frame is twisted is here. This striker plate has been adjusted outboard of an inch to get the top of the door to align with the quarter panel.

PHOTO 2: With the striker plate readjusted to align the bottom of the door, the top of the door now sits inboard of the quarter panel almost ½ inch.

PHOTO 3: A long pry bar is used to take the twist out of the door frame.

Remember that I said the bottom of the door is the strength and the top of the door is the weakness? Realigning this door to fit the quarter panel is now a simple matter of prying out the top of the door using a long pry bar to remove the twist in the door, as shown in photo 3.

While working on door alignment, keep in mind that shifting the door inboard at the lower hinge causes the top rear of the door to shift outboard. Shifting the door inboard at the upper hinge causes the bottom rear of the door to shift outboard. The opposite is true if the door is shifted outboard at either hinge.

Once the door is tweaked and twisted back into alignment, the rear edge of the door is subjected to the scrutiny of the metal straight edge. Any deviations along this edge line can be easily dealt with simply by using a body hammer and dolly.

The alignment of the right door on this Mustang is acceptable, so at this point both doors can be removed from the car. These doors are heavy, so I use a floor jack for support as I remove the bolts securing the hinges to the doors. While I’m at it, I remove the latch assemblies, the weather strips, and any clips that might remain on the doors and store those pieces with the parts previously removed from the doors. The right door goes into storage for now, but the troublesome left door is placed on a foldout workbench for even more repairs.

REPAIRING THE LEFT DOOR

To repair the left door, I need to improve the poor welding job that is holding the outer panel on the door. I start by removing the paint around the inside perimeter of the door using a 3-inch Norton Speed-Lok disc #09186 with attachment arbor #55105. This is basically a round Scotch-Brite pad that can be chucked into a drill, and it will make short work of removing the paint around the welds.

After the paint has been removed, the bubble-gum welds are apparent and need to be ground down. Fortunately, not many of these welds were used to attach the outer panel, and smoothing them with a Norton Medallion Cut-Off Blade #89034 won’t be that difficult. The blade is a 3-inch diameter by -inch thick grinding disc for use on a die grinder. The -inch thickness allows for more control over the disc, which results in a smoother appearance of the spot welds after grinding. I need to add more welds to better secure this door skin to the frame, but that can wait until I’m ready to weld in the new floor pans, which will be installed later.

For this project, I was able to repair the panel, but what if you need to replace a door skin? Before removing the old door skin, make any necessary repairs to the old skin to make sure the door is in alignment with the body. This ensures that no undue stress remains on the door frame and reduces the chances of the frame being twisted, something the previous body technician failed to do. Once the replacement skin is installed on the door frame, mount the door back on the car, and make any necessary additional adjustments. As long as the new door skin has not been welded to the frame, the door can be twisted, tweaked, and aligned without a problem. Once satisfied with the fit of the new skin, clamp and tack weld the panel in place before removing the door to complete the welding process.

Before I leave this part of the car, the door hinges need to be removed from the body. Prior to removing the hinges, I need to remove the torsion springs. I use a long, flat-blade screwdriver to pry the spring out of its locking position, then tap the top of the spring downward to release it from the hinge, as shown in photo 7. I repeat this procedure on the other side of the car, then remove all four hinges. Note: The hinge backing plates located inside the door posts will be loose and may even fall out once the hinges are removed. If the upper hinge backing plates don’t fall out, it’s OK. Once the dash is out of the car, I will have access to those plates at that time.

Photo 8 shows an exploded view of the lower hinge and spring. I normally don’t disassemble the hinges at this point; I wait until I’ve had a chance to order new bushing and pins, then take the hinges apart. At that point, I will sandblast, rebuild, and refinish all four hinges.

REPAIR THE DECK LID

As with every other aspect of this restoration, the first step in repairing this deck lid is to bring it back into alignment with the body of the car. I start at the rear of the deck lid and can see that the spoiler molded into the lid is touching the left quarter panel extension. I can also see that the gap between the quarter panel extension and the deck lid is extremely wide at the peak of the spoiler. The areas indicated by the marks on the quarter panel and the quarter panel extension in photo 9 point to even more problem areas where these two panels do not align.

PHOTO 4: A metal straight edge is used to confirm the alignment between the door and quarter panel.

PHOTO 5: The paint is removed from around the sloppy welds holding the door skin on the frame, and then each weld is circled to ensure that no weld is missed when I grind them smooth.

PHOTO 6: After grinding and smoothing, the finished welds should look like this, almost undetectable.

PHOTO 7: Before the door hinges are removed, the torsion springs on the lower hinge need to come off. Use a flat-blade screwdriver to pry the spring from its locking notch, and tap it out of the hinge with a hammer.

PHOTO 8: The torsion spring after removal from the hinge.

PHOTO 9: A closer look at the fit between the deck lid, quarter panel, and quarter panel extension shows that the actual fit leaves a lot to be desired.

Once the alignment problems are corrected, I’ll use structural adhesive to repair a crack in the deck lid, improve the fit between the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions, then finish by smoothing the deck lid by coating it with plastic body filler.

ALIGNING THE DECK LID

Looking at the right front edge of the deck lid, I can see an area where it rubs against the back glass filler panel every time the lid is opened. My first adjustment is to shift the position of the deck lid rearward on the right side to open this gap and stop the deck lid from rubbing the filler panel. This adjustment also results in the gap between the deck lid and the right quarter panel near the quarter panel extension opening and the gap between the deck lid and the left quarter panel extension closing.

Considering that the deck lid is already touching the left quarter panel, having it shifted even more to the left sounds like a bad thing. But considering that the gap between the top of the deck lid spoiler and the quarter panel extension spoiler is extremely wide on the left side, the shift will eventually help. Sound confusing? To help you picture this, find a square box with a removable lid. Invert the lid and place it on top of the box. Nudge it back just a little on one side and the other. When you see how much a small shift can affect every point of fit on the box, you will better understand how such a tiny shift in the position of the deck lid can change things.

What can be done to improve the gap between the deck lid and the left quarter panel in the area shown in photo 10? The left quarter panel where it touches the deck lid is actually lower than the deck lid. I can’t be sure if this is a problem from the factory or if it’s associated with some long-ago impact near the left rear, but this area of the quarter panel needs to be lifted straight up. Doing so forces the deck lid opening on the quarter panel to roll outward, thereby widening the gap between the deck lid and the quarter panel extension spoiler.

To lift the quarter panel, I place a hydraulic ram between the floor pan and the inner edge of the left quarter panel deck lid opening, and jack the quarter panel up slightly. Much care is needed here. Applying too much pressure can cause the quarter panel to buckle. Too little pressure and the quarter panel won’t move. But just enough will cause the inside edge of the quarter panel to move up slightly and roll outboard, widening the gap between the quarter panel and the deck lid, exactly what is needed.

The deck lid and the quarter panels have been aligned. Yet despite all of my efforts, the fit between both quarter panel extensions and the deck lid failed to improve significantly. Because all three panels are made of fiberglass, I determined an acceptable fit between the three panels could be achieved only through rebuilding all three parts.

REPAIRING THE DECK LID AND REBUILDING THE DECK LID AND THE QUARTER PANEL EXTENSIONS

Along with rebuilding the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions, I need to repair a crack in the deck lid that I found when I first inspected the car. At some point, a significant impact on the right side of the deck lid cracked the gel coat and left a ring of broken paint behind. This is not something that can be ground and filled using plastic body filler. If I tried that, at some point in the future the filler would crack because the problem would have only been skimmed over and not repaired correctly.

The correct repair is to first grind away the old paint and gel coat to expose the fiberglass layers beneath, then reinforce the fiberglass using Norton Structural Bonding Adhesive #4618. I will repair the cracked deck lid at the same time I am rebuilding the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions.

To rebuild the deck lid and the quarter panel extensions and to fix the cracked deck lid, I first grind away the layers of old paint and gel coat at both corners of the deck lid and on the tops of both quarter panel extensions. Why remove the gel coat? This exposes the fiberglass layers and gives me a strong foundation from which to make the repair.

The next step is to build up the deck lid and quarter panel extensions using Norton Structural Bonding Adhesive #4618 as a filler to get the three pieces to align. This is a two-part adhesive product designed for use over clean and sanded bare metal or fiberglass. It has a 40-minute working time, which is enough time to mix and apply as much adhesive as will be needed to make this repair. This adhesive will also be applied over the crack.

I need to add roughly a -inch-thick layer of bonding adhesive to both sides of the deck lid where the panel curves upward to form the spoiler. I also need to add filler to make both quarter panel extensions thicker, and therefore taller, to properly align them with the deck lid.

Before mixing and adding the adhesive, the area needs to be prepared. Look closely at photo 13, and you can see the masking tape laid along the seam line separating the quarter panel from the quarter panel extension. The masking tape acts as a dam for the area where the quarter panel extension meets the deck lid. This little detail allows me to fill the low area of the quarter panel extension and bring it up level with the quarter panel without getting adhesive into the deck lid opening or into the seam and bonding the quarter panel extension to the quarter panel. Once the bonding adhesive begins to cure, I remove the tape by using a pocketknife to slice open the seam between the quarter panel and the quarter panel extension and lifting the tape. I’m left with a clean line of separation between the two panels as well as a thick buildup of adhesive where the quarter panel extension meets the deck lid.

PHOTO 10: A hydraulic ram is used to push the inside edge of the left quarter panel up. This causes the quarter panel to move up and roll outward, exactly what is needed.

PHOTO 11: The fiberglass deck lid has a very large, circular crack in need of repair.

PHOTO 12: Both sides of the deck lid and quarter extensions are ground clean of the paint and old gel coat. I’ll rebuild both sides using Norton Structural Bonding Adhesive #4618.

PHOTO 13: Looking from the left side of the car, you can see the masking tape dam along the seam where the extension meets the quarter panel and in the opening where the extension meets the deck lid. This well created by the masking tape is filled with adhesive.

PHOTO 14: The crack in the gel coat has been repaired and the extension filled and brought level with the deck lid.

PHOTO 15: To finish the repairs to the deck lid, a thin coat of plastic body filler is applied.

A desirable characteristic of panel bonding adhesive is that it can be easily sanded smooth using 40-grit sandpaper on a 5-inch sanding block. I put on a dust mask and spend a few minutes sanding the adhesive smooth.

With both panels built up and sanded smooth, the fit between all three panels has improved dramatically.

FINISHING THE DECK LID REPAIRS

All that remains to finish the deck lid is to remove the remainder of old paint and to cover it with plastic body filler. This deck lid has no less than five coats of paint on it. Sandblasting and chemical stripping is out because the panel is made of fiberglass. Using a grinder is out because grinding tends to eat into the fiberglass. The solution is to convert the grinder to a sander by installing a Norton backup pad #43165 to the grinder and using a Norton 8-inch 40-grit sanding disc #23606 to quickly cut through the layers of old paint.

The last step is to cover the entire deck lid with plastic body filler. Why am I doing this? Even after using a grinder, the surface is still rough and pitted, so the best solution is to apply a thin coat of plastic body filler to the entire panel. Once the filler is block sanded smooth using 40-grit and then 80-grit sandpaper on an 8-inch block to progressively smooth the surface, the panel will be ready for primer.

REMOVE THE SHEET METAL

Now that I have finished repairing and aligning the sheet metal, I can remove the hood, fenders, deck lid, and quarter panel extensions. All are bolt-on parts, and I remove them one at a time, bagging and labeling the bolts as to which part they came from as I go.