2slo95fiveOhs 1994 GT rebuild...UPDATE 5-2! Forged shortblock, fuel upgrades!

[2slo95fiveoh]

Nice work bringing the body back to the land of the living. Do you apply the Por15 directly over the rust or do you have to scuff it down then apply the product? Another question regarding the bonding of the quarter panel. Is it as strong and long lasting as welding?

It is best to knock off any flaking rust, big clumps etc. It applies to rusted metal, but not rusted out metal.. Their website for more info:
http://www.por15.com/whatispor15.asp

The panel bonding adhesive is as strong as a weld, and should last longer than welds. Welding tends to draw in moisture, which can then develop rust in the same place it was being replaced.. It is Mercedes and Volkswagons standard for aftermarket body shop repairs, and a lot of body shops are beginning to use it more frequently..
heres a good video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXrGJ_D4CWg

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Did some more work on the car this evening. I Finally got my buddies grinder from him, so I went to work grinding down the gouppy ass welds..

After these photos were taken, I ended up touching up parts of the welds (with welding), then ground down those small areas....

Prepped the middle and pass side of the rear bumper area:

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Then, I applied the POR-15 to those areas. (Hopefully the last time I will have to apply the stuff)

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

As soon as it is all dry, then I will bolt the replacement metal bumper, and test fit the quarter panel some more.. I am at the point now where I think I cannot disassemble anymore, so it should be back together from this point. After those two things, then I'll have the windshield pulled, order my hood, and it's off to paint..

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Well today was a big day of progress...
Starting off I got the matching pair of koni single adjustable rear shocks (thanks to Javi) to go with the single adjustable struts I bought a year ago.

I didn't get any pics with the POR-15 dried, due to the camera battery charging, but I did bolt the replacement rear bumper on:

I noticed a small "crease" in the replacement quarter panel, so I did the best I could with a buddies hammer and dolly set. (picture shown is "before", I forgot an "after")

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Then it was on to the final test fitting of the quarter panel.. I intentionally cut the replacement one so that I would have a good reference point such as the B-piller (also called sail panel) mounting... hole.

Door pillar alignment looks good:

Tailight alignment looks good also:

Clamped everything down to check measurements and fitments.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Double checked it with the trunk on, it looked pretty good too.

Then it was the big moment, time to stick these two large pieces of metal together. My homeade applicator gun worked until about halfway, when a combination of the cartridge and the threaded rod broke, so I pulled an audible and used a paintbrush for the rest...

panel adhesive applied, clamped down:

The very top portion wasn't sitting as close to the car as I'd liked, so the rear bumper foam got to double as a leverage support.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Some more major progress today.
First off when I bought my Holley Systemax intake (used) it didn't have any hardware or gaskets with it. So instead of paying $30 for gaskets alone and trying to piece together hardware, I just bought a 3/8" spacer kit for it, which includes gaskets hardware and of course the spacer:

I also figured that since this cars body has 150k on it, that while I have the dash out now, i should change the 17 year old heater core sitting in there. I still have to take the heater control box out of the car, but that will be a job for another night:

Moving on to progress. I let the adhesive cure a good 48 hours because it is around 30 degrees at night here, so I figured just to be on the safe side. A couple pictures as it sat after I pulled all the clamps off:

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. Then I test fitted the tailight and B-pillar:

The gaps look pretty good, but there were some points on the quarter panel where either the adhesive must not have mixed right, or cuts where 3m recommends those portions be welded (such as the panel between the quarter glass and rear window, and the trunk)..

This lower portion of the quarter was not attaching well. I think mostly to blame is the fact that I didn't have any metal there, so my recreation might not have lined up as good as, oh say a car with metal there... So I went about welding it in the spot weld locations:

Some of the door seal area was also not as solid as I had wished:

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Then onto the sail panel area:

Ground the welds down:

And a quick shot of primer for the exposed welds:

I already body some body sealer, so next chance I get I will apply that to all of the seams in the quarter panel, as well as the trunk hinge.. Also I need to get the heater control box out of the car and swap the heater core out. Definately getting closer to paint!

 

[Mustang Mark]

looks like you have put a lot of time and effort into that car. the progress is great and i cant wait to see it done. sonic blue for the win.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Yeah I would say so. Although tearing it apart doesn't look like a whole lot. Hell the rear bumper and quarter panel are the first things I have installed in this build. haha

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

A little more progress tonight.. I removed the 4 bolts holding the heater box in, and removed the heater box..

Another 4 bolts later and the heater core was visable.

I'm starting to think the heater core was replaced.. It looks to be in really good shape, and although sitting under the dash wouldn't get too much dirt, this looks very very clean.. hmm... I'm contemplating leaving it in.. maybe I will take a look at the inside and see how it looks.. or flush it out and see what the contents look like.. I'm not sure.

Next I started on my intake.. Here's where it started:

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Started removing the fins/lettering.

About halfway done with the fins:

The rest of them. (rough)

Then I sanded some more to start the uniform look:

And that's where I left today. My back was starting to bother me so I called it a night. I will probably work on more sanding the intake here within the next couple of days, also I need to get a different caulking gun to apply the seam sealer for the quarter panel..

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Did a little more work today. Now that the quarter panel is on, I needed to seal up the seams like it is from the factory. The panel bonding adhesive I used also works as a sealant, but I figured adding some seam sealer couldn't hurt..

The lower quarter panel: (picture is right below the side scoop)
Before:

After:

Fender lip sealed up:

Quarter window seal area:

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Rear fender/quarter area sealed. A good view of the new sheetmetal I had to add:

Lower quarter:

And I did a little more work on the intake manifold. I have about 70% of the casting flash gone, I am not in a huge hurry to get the intake done. I'll work on it and some of the other engine components more when the car is at paint.

In other exciting news I pulled the trigger and ordered my Cervinis Cowl hood. I'm really excited. Getting the windshield pulled is the last thing left before it goes to paint.. Whoot whoot!

 

[Slykin]

Real nice work man... you mind doing a favor for me though? I need picture of the inside of the actual sail panel. I think the front lower screw on my sail panel is stripped or disconnected. A picture would help me out if you have one. No biggie though.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

The actual B-pillar/sail panel that is right above the 1/4 window, or a piece on the actual body of the car that doesn't come off?

 

[Slykin]

I need to see exactly how the sail panel(removable part behind the quarter window) attaches. In the 3rd to bottom picture on this page, the main hole(right side) is what I think is stripped on my car. It flaps a bit going down the road.

 

[2slo95fiveoh]

Alright give me a second...