Time to switch gears...

Hey everyone! Hope all is well,we have been battling with some illness in the family. Kaleb has double ear infection and upper respiratory infection, the poor little guy has had a rough go. Joy and I have managed to stay well for the most part thank god! Oh, baby girl is doing awesome and we have been told she has big feet..ha ha. I want to send prayers out to Gary and wish his father a speedy recovery from his heart attack..Love ya BUN!

On to the stang....I have moved on to the rear part of the car for now, I still have some stuff to do up front but I need the wheels and tires on it for that and they are still on order. I removed the rear end housing the other day and ended up getting it tore down today. After counting the ring gear teeth and the pinion teeth I determined that it is a 389 gear ration. That ration is most likely stock and the gears seem to be in good shape. The rear end date stamping is also correct for the car so that is a big plus too. Ford used a 4 digit date stamp in the 60s, the first number is a 6, the second is a letter M which is the month, and the third and fourth are 15 which is the day.

That means the rear end was manufactured on the 15th day of the month M in 1966. The reason I do not know what month M is because ford only used certain letters in the alphabet to code things. I am sure I will figure that one out later though, it took me a long time just to decode it that far! You can see in some of the pictures of the rear frame that I am doing some body work on it. The filler that I used on the frame is called Metal2Metal and contains a lot of metal...hints the name. I still have to do some sanding but its almost wrapped up back there. Here are some pictures to look at. CYA,Andy

Gaps...

I know, I know, so I am a blogslacker...get over it! lol. I want everyone to know that Joy is doing good with baby girl Huffaker, we have had a few unplanned pitstops at the doctors office but all is well! She should be arriving around March 31st with Gods grace.

I have gotten the front fenders,doors,and hood on and the gaps look NICE and tight and everything fit fairly well with a little influencing. The Dynacorn sheetmetal that we bought for it is pretty good stuff, with just a few imperfections. I will post pictures soon of the car all dressed up with her fenders and everything on!

The Doc says he will be here february 20th at 6pm so I am really looking forward to that! Mike is going to get Eleanor out and we will be going to the car show friday night with it. For those who dont know, Mike my buddy has a 68 fastback that has over 150k in it and is pushing 600hp...it is BBBBAAAADD to the bone! Should make for a great night! Saturday its out to the shop to work on the 67! Boy do I have a list of things to do....it will be a great time.

I also have been working on the rear of the car, I removed the rear end housing and leafsprings. After I removed them I did a little metal fab on the rear frame rails were the traction bars had been previously rubbing and ripped through the frame rails, nothing the welder and hammer cant fix though. I plan to media blast the rearend housing and prime and paint it. I will also be putting a detroit locker in the center section for better traction under power. It looks to have somewhere around the 4.00 gear ratio in it which is pretty steep but makes for a fun ride. I will be back soon with pictures, I promise! L8r Andy

Welding, welding, and more welding

Yesterday consisted of lots of heat and sparks! I completed welding in the floor,seat risers,frame extensions,torque box,and trans tunnel top and bottom. There was some bracketry that was on the old pieces and not the new that I took of and put on as well, like the e-brake mount and the dash support. Next week I have to replace the panel above the rear shock mounts because someone air chiseled the metal around it. That will take at least a day to do. After that is all done I will prep the floor for primer and then seam seal and prime it. After the primer is dry we will dynamat it and move on to another panel.

Progress....Finally

So it all came together today, lots of prep work and tedious repairs paid off with being able to weld the parts in. I put in the cowl sides,cowl,frame extensions,transmission crossmember,and the floor, I still have about 2 hours on the floor and it will be done,DONE I SAY! Here are a few pics I took today, and yes that is the windshield Dave, yes sir it fits like a glove ole pal. And also I put a picture of my hands to show that I do get dirty sometimes ha ha ha.





I measured everything out and it came within a 1/16th of a inch so I would say that is fine. We had to place the trans support in the proper position so the transmission will fit right, to do that we measured off the old parts for reference. I couldnt be happier with the way everything laid in and welded for me, just proves that patience and lots of prep work makes the finished product much nicer.Hey look at that hard working guy in the husker shirt...what a stud!