62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[RAIV70Judge]

Truck is almost all loaded and ready to head northeast. Let the thrashing begin!

[pintoboy77]

Hope to see some good progress pics after the weekend. Good luck guys.

[Beagle]

I'm not sure how red paint started, but ... NOOOOOoooooooohhhhhhhhhhwwaaaaaa (whiny daughter immitation)

It's a blue hair color originally? Keep that. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya.

[milner351]

I don't know where red paint idea came from either Beags - aint gonna be any red here - the original
"MING GREEN" it will be - it's a very small change from acapulco blue and we may tweak it a little to make it more blue.

We had a few interruptions including sanding priming and painting a new front fascia for my wife's car since she ripped the old one off in a parking lot on Thursday, then there was the fridge that quit and we had to swap out with another "good used" one - that turns out to also be junk - nice.

Over all - we still got tons done. The old lincoln sp200 doesn't like the .023" wire for some reason - it was being finicky, need to troubleshoot, may be time for a newer machine.

inner fender aprons? - FIXED
core support? - REPLACED
rusty floors? - CUT OUT
old paint? - about 65% has been ground off swept up and went out with the garbage...

[Russell]

that core suport looks nice! Did you buy the whole floor pans? are you going to put them in or just patch the wholes?

[pintoboy77]

Milner you and Matt got alot of work done good job it won't be long at that pace.

[RAIV70Judge]

Stay tuned for more, "Thrashfest 2012"......

[milner351]

Russell - in the interests of time and cheapness I got 65 mustang "long" floors - they were about $30 each at NPD which is walking distance from my shop = no shipping.

The mustang floors are slightly different - but they include several inches of "toe board" angling up toward the firewall, and go much further back toward the rear seat area than we need, so we will have more than enough to fill in where we cut out.

We didn't cut out the entire area in an effort to keep things from moving around - it's a unibody therefore the floor is part of the structure - and it's not in any kind of frame jig - so - less cut out at any one time is best. In retrospect it might not have been a bad Idea to cut out and repair one side at a time.

The 1x2 into the front sub frame idea is going to work out very well if I can get the welder to cooperate - we were welding in those when the welder started giving us fits and we gave up Saturday night - I have the manual to read up on - but I think we are just pushing the edges of what the machine was meant to do - it's a heavy old machine and we're asking alot of the wire feeder with the .023", but with this old metal in the floors - the .030" would blast right through I'm afraid.

I'm seriously lusting after one of these:

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/product.php?model=M00245

[STINEY]

That's the Miller welder I have........ well, okay, except without the "auto-set" feature.

But mine came with a handy-dandy chart inside that makes getting the preliminary speed & heat settings set a breeze. It has yet to lead me wrong.

Can't wait to see the other progress pictures! Feels good to get stuff done, don't it?

(I've almost gotten the rental bedroom floor put back together, then I am free again. And the days are longer and warmer too!)

[mlcraven]

Zounds!! That's some excellent progress...keep up the pace and you'll be on the road in no time. Sweet welder...by the time I'm done I'll have just more than half that amount into metal work using a hired man. The case is pretty compelling to buy one of the dang machines, go to class and develop a passable skill with the thing. Maybe with the next car

[milner351]

I took a beginner welding course at the local community college - one of the best things I've done - we went through oxy acetylene torch cutting / welding, arc welding, mig welding, and tig welding on steel / aluminum / stainless. I would love to go back and take the next course - they also offer courses in body work / paint, etc.

Mig welding is really really simple - especially with the newer machines - the "auto set" feature does really take out the guess work of setting up the machine - which is sometimes the trickiest part to getting a good weld going quickly. I used a couple at the miller booth at SEMA - surely they were tweaked just right for the known material at the show - but it welded super easy first try.

It looks like a grand is the going price on the 211 miller - I'm watching a scratch and dent one on ebay now.

[milner351]

I forgot to mention the mustang core support was not without it's complications. When test fitting the hood we found the new core support does contact the factory hood structure out near the fenders.

It's certainly not a show stopper - a bit of cutting and welding to the hood reinforcement stamping will get it to close just fine - a few well placed shots with a hammer would probably do it. I don't want to mess up the fresh core support.

The other option is a 'glass hood.... but they don't come cheap. I will look around at the columbus swap meet April 7 to see if crites, vfn or any of those suppliers are there and have one on the truck - I hate paying the $$$ shipping on stuff like that - especially since a $300+ hood aint in the budget to begin with.

[pintoboy77]

You might want to call or E-mail them to make sure they do.

[RAIV70Judge]

If we have to modify the bottom of a glass hood, might as well stick with the steel hood. Then there will be more beer money!

[mlcraven]

$145 just for Crite's to ship a fiberglass Cyclone hood from Ohio to Norfolk,,,and that's to a business address and not my house (which would be $50 more). For pick-up at the Ford Carlisle event in early Jun they want $90 (tax and packaging fee) plus there's my gas cost to get there and back (figure $70). Shipping adds up for sure.