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84 Notch Build

vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
So, after a hiatus of three months I'm healed up enough to do a bit of work I dumped my MIG flux welder to get an Eastwood 135 MIG welder with shielding gas and the stud welder attachment, as well as the spot welder attachment. We'll see how that goes. I did have a chance to use the new welder to repair the radiator support frame. It had been pretty crunched up, both by someone using it to tow with and the bottom was crushed. My friend came over to help and we cut the bottom off the old radiator frame, measured the new (93) radiator frame and cut it a bit oversize. As everyone probably knows, the 87 to 93 radiator frames use a different support for the collapsible bumper supports. The general frame is the same, so cutting the bottom off a later model frame and welding it onto the existing frame is the best option (at least for me).



I measured from the inside of the top of the new frame to the bottom of the new frame to get that dimension, as the old frame was too deformed to trust anything from it. After squaring things up and cutting off the excess, the lower portion was tack-welded onto the upper portion.







I really thought this was going to be much more difficult, but it actually was pretty easy. Measure twice, cut once type of thing. The upper portion on the driver's side was so deformed I will have to tap it back in to line up with the new lower part. The ratchet strap is being used to keep the sides of the frames in the proper relationship, as everything is used to support everything else, if you get what I mean. Cut one part loose and things start flopping around. I will weld plates over the butt welds to strengthen the assembly before I take the strap off.

I hope this helps anyone wondering what to do about their beat up radiator support frame. The replacement sold by various parts places don't have the primary side and would be a bunch of extra work to fit.

Jim
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
You're welcome, Bill. There was a thread on another site where there was a picture of it being done. The 87-93 radiator support frames are a lot cheaper and easier to find than the pre87's. The bottom half below the crash supports are all the same. The Eastwood MIG welder is fairly simple to use. I'll need more practice before I try to tackle anything visible

Jim
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
I made the decision to purchase a 1984 1/2 GT bumper cover for my 84 notch. My son, the Mustang nut, really wanted me to go with an 85-86 bumper cover, but I really think the car should stay true to it's year. That leaves me with an 86 GT bumper cover that I have several hours making right. It is in primer, has had a approximately 1" crack under the license plate dead center repaired. I used 3M Structural Adhesive to repair that and a stiff piece of plastic to provide reinforcement. Any nicks or scratched were repaired using 3M Bumper Repair. By using these products there should be no issues concerning difference in expansion between the bumper cover and the repairs, so no cracking. I'll post pictures of the back side later. The ones I took look like I had the DTs.20170122_132953.jpg

If anyone has an interest, please PM me. I'm located in North Richland Hills, Texas. Asking $350 on this, which is less than what I originally paid for it, but I'm about to be covered up in car parts. I also have an extra set of front fender extensions, a very nice 95 rear bumper cover and other Fox parts. The bumper cover and other parts are all OEM.
 
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Bill

Bill

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Donator
vettn71 said:
IceStorm70

I can't wait to get back on it again. Healing up takes a long time

Jim
Click to expand...
all of the Mustang resto shops have them. You can also find them on ebay, but I recommend buying new since they are under $100
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
This are actually 85-86 style. I know they advertise as if they fit the earlier cars, but the 83-84 has two thin grooves, not one. There are some on eBay, as rough as they are

Jim
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
Yes, 79-82, 83-84, 84-86 and (I think) 87-93) are the different styles. It's like a service-replacement part for the earlier cars. It works and fits but is somewhat different in style. It's cheaper to make a one-size-fits-all part than all the different variations. I wouldn't care, but mixing styles looks like a$$

Jim
 
Bill

Bill

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Donator
agreed. Since I always do the 85/86, I guess I hadn't noticed.
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
I could the help of the smarter and more experienced here. I'm starting to get where I do some things again, so today I cut the shifter box/dash mounts out of the trans tunnel I bought and the e-brake/seat belt mounts as another unit. My idea is to cut out the appropriate sections from the 84s trans tunnel and weld these in. I'm hoping it will maintain the spacing and alignment between the two sections. Does that sound doable or should I go in a different direction? I cut the shifter box/dash mounts just behind the bend in the tunnel where it levels out on the front side and just before the brace on the back side.

I'll post some photos of the two sections when I can upload the pictures, This iPad doesn't like

Jim



 
Last edited:
Bill

Bill

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Donator
Jim, I think what your doing will be fine. I drilled out the spot welds the last time I did it, but that was just as much of a pain. The seat support is the same on both chassis, and is not a bad reference for spacing.
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
Bill

I hadn't thought about the seat mounting points. I'll have to do some measuring. Right now I've been experimenting with my Eastwood 135 MIG and the stud attachment. When they say about 2seconds on the trigger, that's 2 short seconds. Gotta couple holes to spot in

Jim
 
vettn71

vettn71

Active Member
I've been able to do a little on the car lately, although not much. My shoulder still hurts like a be-ach, so I'm down to mostly using my left hand to do things. I'm getting a MRI, so should get it figured out.

In the meantime, I have to say that I wish my welding skills were a little (lot) better. I used Eastwood's stud welder attachment on my 135 welder. I'd be hard-pressed to use it again. The studs welded on fine, but on three of them the roof skin split into a small hole. With a dazzling display of welding prowess, I finally sealed them up after increasing their size from an 1/32" to about a 1/2". Not to mention it was very difficult to gauge how far up to bring the metal, so I've had lots of sheet metal work to do.

My next task was to stitch weld the bearing plate for the steering column and hydroboost into place. I had drilled out the spot welds from the inside of the car, then used a spot weld cutter to remove the spot welds from the donor car (a 98). For whatever reason, my welder spat and coughed the entire time I used it. Luckily I was welding from the inside of the car, but I has sanded down both pieces of metal thoroughly. I thought maybe it was a bad ground connection, so I cleaned it up again, but that didn't really seem to help. I assume the firewall is 20 g steel, but I turned both the heat and the wire speed and got some of it to penetrate. It still spat like the metal was dirty. I wish I knew more about this. Anyways, here's a photo of the plate installed. I'm fairly certain it's located properly, as I used the two studs for the gas pedal to locate it, then set a spare hydroboost shell into place. I did have to do some enlarging of the holes for the hydroboost unit, but it's level and seems to be where it is on my 96
 

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