Project Lemon Drop: anything but stock!

[72CSTC5]

Here are pics of the Mustang I am working on Rok. These aftermarket Eleanor pieces are crap. He also had someone else install a new quarter on the driver side and that dude f'd it up so bad. I had to grind out all of the filler and start over. That guy fit the quarter wrong and when he welded it bowed out over the wheel well. He beat the crap out of it with a hammer so I had to fix that too.

[Rokcrln]

That will be a nice car when you are finished with it. Who mad the kit? Their is a place in Hayward that made the original kits and they are some nice parts! Mayers racing is the company I think or it was his dads co. I would love to build a G-Force 69 or 70 fast back on day in the future. 4.6L supercharged, 6spd, IRS and all the bells and whistles.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[72CSTC5]

One of the guys that broke away from Unique Performance is designing the suspension for the car. Will be one of the first with the new kit. The fiberglass kit was from a company that bought the mold from Mayers racing who did the kit from the movie. It is still junk. I cut the rockers and am running the exhaust through the torque box and am going to custom build exhaust outlets. He also wants me to cut the rocker moldings so he can take the fender off and on so I have to cut the kit and cap and glass it back in. Lots of work. I need to charge him more I think~

[Bad71chev406sbc]

GOSH! I can't wait til I can get going on the complete rebuild of my stepside!

[68GMC454]

looking good..and why are you crying..38 degrees,,thats a heat wave,,lol,,i started ar 16 this morning,,and it has finally got up to 29...good work though...

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by 68GMC454

looking good..and why are you crying..38 degrees,,thats a heat wave,,lol,,i started ar 16 this morning,,and it has finally got up to 29...

Utah! Hello what do you expect! I'm in Cali I should be getting a SunTan this time of year

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[70c/10barebone]

83* today in Tampa maybe you should move next door to my house. I know my truck could sure use those skills.

[65-72 chevytoys]

I just read this whole thread and all I can saw is wow. Kevin you do excellent work. I can't wait to see it finished. I have a yellow truck and have to agree on the paint the corvette yellow is too dark or orange. I like the lighter yellow and that is close to the color I plan on doing my truck.

[Rokcrln]

Well I am done for the night! Time to head down to Cold Stone

I sure think these trucks look better with smooth cowl's It might look like alot of filler but it is only 3/32 at the thickest. I use different color harders to keep track of how much is going on and off per cote.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

Well I am done for the night! Time to head down to Cold Stone

I sure think these trucks look better with smooth cowl's It might look like alot of filler but it is only 3/32 at the thickest. I use different color harders to keep track of how much is going on and off per cote.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

You shaved everything else, I can't believe you didn't shave the factory speaker grill, .

[jugernot]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

You shaved everything else, I can't believe you didn't shave the factory speaker grill, .

We left the center speaker grill for the center speaker, like the surround sound system at home. Who doesn't enjoy the opening sound effect at the movies from THX. I crank my system until the windows shake.

Its looking really good. I think I can see a little light at the end of this nightmare.

[BP68]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

Well I am done for the night! Time to head down to Cold Stone

I sure think these trucks look better with smooth cowl's It might look like alot of filler but it is only 3/32 at the thickest. I use different color harders to keep track of how much is going on and off per cote.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

Could you please post more pics of how you went about shaving the cowl.

Did you just cut out the vents and weld in a filler?

Also, how did you mount it along the windshield since the screw holes are gone?

Niiiiiiiice build, keep up the good work.

[YRU351]

SWEET BUILDUP!!!

i am gonna shave my drip rails, fire wall, do trailer fender tubs and some of the same stuff as you on my 70... after i convert it to a shortbed and put a different bed on it...

[67Fleet]

Cowl looks great Kevin. Mine's at the bodyshop right now, but I'm going to incorporate the ridgeline of the hood into the cowl before he finishes it. Like that red Blazer that was posted on here about a month ago. I loved the look of that.

Hey, if you don't mind, can you do a quick write-up on what it takes to weld up a fender cup? My cup should be here in a couple days and I'm sure it isn't as easy as you made it look.

[Rokcrln]

I had about an hour today to play so I built some extentions for my Tip & Flip dolly to double as a paint rack. This will make it so much easier to paint all sides of the doors and fenders and it holds them in the mounted position. I can't tell you how many times I have seen guy paint doors and fenders laying down flat then when they hang them on the car they just don't look right. You need to lay down the paint on the panels as they will be on the finished car. Here are just a few pic for ideas. These arms just slide out and wil stay up in the rafters untill the next job. Well worth the time spent!
As soon as my "Prep All" come in I can wipe them all down real well and shoot on the first cote of block primmer and start sanding

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Ok Cowl questions~
What I did was bolt the cowl back on the cab (do not install any windshield screws) and weld a filler piece over the vents first then after it was welded all the way I flipped it over and removed the vents. I did it this way because the cowls are so flimsy (SP) it would have just warped every which way had I just cut out the vents and welded a piece in. As for the missing screw holes their is not much you can do about them so what I fould worked out well was to add another screw inbetween each one on the front edge and I also reworked the windshield edge abit so you have to kind of strech the cowl out to put it on. This helps keep the center from flopping but it is still not as good as the stock set up. I am guessing at about 80mph you might see it flutter just a bit but it should not affect any thing.

Fender cup ?'s~

Yes it is not real easy but it is not that hard ether. I the biggest problem I found was that it was short along the body line from fender opening to were it meets up against the grill. Now it might only be the tri plus repo cup but I was not real happy with it. If this truck was going to get a front roll pan this would not have worked. But since it is getting a bumper in front you will never know. It is not a big differance but I would say it was about 3/16 short and that was after reworking it as much as I could. With a front bumper this entire area is tucked under the top edge of the bumper so the important area to line up is the wheel opening edge so it flows right with the rest of the opening. I will get a pic to show you what I am talking about.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

First two show the cowl and how it should look under when done and also the extra mounting holes in front.

The fender cup pics are not as bad as it looks, it is just hard to shot pics with your left hand when you are right handed It is only off alittle more than have of what it looks like. In a perfect world it should be flat against the tube steel. But like I said with a bumper on you can never see this area and with a roll pan it would still work but you would have more work to do to get this gap filled in. The red line shows the cut line I used. I find it alot better to weld along an edge when ever you can to help keep things from warping as much.

Hope this answers your questions.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[67Fleet]

Cool, thanks for taking the pics. That helps me with the fender cup a lot. I'll also be running a front bumper so as long as I get it lined up for the wheel opening I can live with it being off up front.

[Rokcrln]

Well it has been about a month now since any work was done on this project. The temps have just been to cold to do any body work but it is starting to look up for next week I also just started building my convertable paint booth so I will be able to heat things up a bit and keep any dust down to a very small amount if any at all. My shop is not insulated and the rafters have alot of nooks and cranys for dust and dirt to hide so what I am doing is taking a 16x24' section and plywooding off the rafters. I am then building one solid wall that the filters will be mounted in and in the other corner will be the fan to suck out all the paint fumes. I got the ply up today and one cote of primmer on and I will get the finish bright while paint on it in the morning and start building the wall. The other three walls will be 10mil visquene (SP?) attached at the ceiling and floor. I am installing a few more lights and I will also be filling any cracks in the floor before using a two part epoxy paint I have. This should really make it alot easier to keep things clean and give me a booth for alot of projects that are starting to line up after this one is complete. I have 6 of my own to paint one of these days and three customer builds lined up so it should come in handy.
Keep in mind this entire shop is only set up temporary for now because I will be adding a second story (25"x45') in a year or so then it will get set up right. I will have all of the major fabrication being done up stairs and just the needed tools down stairs for building the vehicals.

Anyways I just wanted to update things as they will be starting back up this week and the owner will be comming over next Sunday to help with all the block sanding...

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[gferris5]

Kevin-
Great work as usual, I always check your threads as soon as I log in. I'd also like to compliment the way you handle the write-ups, your technical writing is excellent.

Okay, boring question: Home-made paint booths can be kind of scary. What sort of spark arresting precautions are you taking? Car Craft built a spray-booth out of somebodys garage and it had about 5 different things that could throw off a spark if there was any kind of accident. Yikes. Also, do you have a supplied air system? What about when you are welding and sanding bondo, or messing with lead(!)? My body shop teacher had a saying, "there's a reason you don't meet many old bodymen."

Cheers,

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by gferris5

Kevin-
Great work as usual, I always check your threads as soon as I log in. I'd also like to compliment the way you handle the write-ups, your technical writing is excellent.

Okay, boring question: Home-made paint booths can be kind of scary. What sort of spark arresting precautions are you taking? Car Craft built a spray-booth out of somebodys garage and it had about 5 different things that could throw off a spark if there was any kind of accident. Yikes. Also, do you have a supplied air system? What about when you are welding and sanding bondo, or messing with lead(!)? My body shop teacher had a saying, "there's a reason you don't meet many old bodymen."

Cheers,

I need to check into the lights abit more but everything else is covered. Yes I have a full freash air set up for painting and for welding and bondo work I always wear a filtered half face mask. And I like doing the tech writing but my spelling sure does suck! Oh well you can't be good at everything

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

More light at the end of the tunnel. Parts are now ready for our block party on Sunday. Block sanding that is

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[jugernot]

Wooh Hooo, my first block party. It should be fun learning something new, I just hope I don't screw it up. I have my filtered mask ready to go. The pics look great, I will add them to the DVD slide show I'm making.

[Rokcrln]

Bed body work is done Just need to prime a few areas again and block. Now the fenders are left to prime and block, minor work to the steps and the gate needs to be blasted, sealed and prepped for paint. Notice their are no bolts holding this bed together
Next is a small amount of work on the inside of the cab and we should be all ready for paint!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Sonny]

Kevin,

Thanks for the recharge to get going on my project. I bought a set of your flip dolly plans last year and I am finally going to get it done. I just purchased a Lincoln 140c mig welder. My big question is what bodyworking tools do you recommend I get? I can't wait to get started.

Sonny