Project Silver Fox AWD Updated 7/1

[motorcitydak]

Well I got some more work done to the car today. I put the 3 link mounts on the axle housing. I also located the mounting locations for the front, I used this program to design the rear setup http://www.racetec.cc/shope/tim.39.htm

I took a bunch of pics here to show every step. Everything I did today is made from 1/8 thick 1018 (cold roll steel)

Main brackets roughed out. I built them the same length because these will have coil over mounts on the back eventually



Housing ready and waiting...Yeah I know I have rubber gloves on the spindles, they worked just fine, no further comments are necessary


First side going on, this is the left side


Being wrapped with a piece of 1/8 steel, a few welds as I went along and some help from a torch and BFH had this bent how I wanted


...Like this




Finished up by adding another layer of 1/8


Did the right side, this mount is further away from the housing so I could not wrap the steel up around the front like I did on the left side. Instead this side got a bent piece on the inside


Then capped it off with a piece around the outside


Then added the 2nd layer


Added this piece to the left side after finishing up the right side and seeing how well that turned out


Then the upper link mount


like the others, wrapped and layered


All finished up and painted with rustoleum black hammered, will get a 2nd coat for good measure. I did not spray the spindles, they are covered in tape to keep the paint off and rust away until it can all be assembled


These are the front lower mounts, just the stock leaf spring mounts redrilled where I want the mounts to be. The top bracket with the studs will be mounted as you see it, upside down technically to put the mounting location where I wanted it


Sorry if you were bored with all the pics, just figured Id give a step by step thing here. Im still trying to get the drivers side floor board into place, hopefully friday it will sit nicely at home

[elacruze]

Pics never suck!!

[FlatbackFanatic]

We're never bored.... Looking good.

[Hemidog]

Looks like good work!

[Darkman]

Sorry if you were bored with all the pics, just figured Id give a step by step thing here. Im still trying to get the drivers side floor board into place, hopefully friday it will sit nicely at home

[gtx6970]

http://www.autometaldirect.com/UserData/Images/Large/100996.jpg

[motorcitydak]

http://www.autometaldirect.com/UserData/Images/Large/100996.jpg

DAMMIT!!!!! I figured that thing would be available just after I replace mine with a used piece....O well, mine is in really nice shape. That is just one piece closer to being able to make a completely brand new Charger!

[motorcitydak]

Ok, you guys all said more pics. Well I attacked the car again today for about 5 hours. Here is the result, enjoy!

I finished up one cut on the drivers side and the AMD pan fell (sort of) rite into place. The only reason I had trouble fitting it is because I have the frame connector already in and because I did not remove the rear pan. The pass side where I do not have the connector and did remove the rear pan, it all fell rite into place nicely



Then I went over to the passenger side and started off with this mess




Took more than a fair amount of work to get to this point



This front part was all paper thin, making it almost impossible to find any of those dam spot welds



The cancer on its way out



Almost all gone. Take a look at all the dirt the crossmember collected!!!!



Rear prepped for the new piece





The front finally all gone and ready for the new piece





All the pieces removed



The Fox minus and of the bad floor pans









...and with em all in place. Just set in place tho, nothing is welded in yet










I should add that I have not put in the pass side frame connector yet because it is easier to get the floor pan in without it there. Also, the drivers side rear floor plan is still in the car, but I am probably going to buy a new one. It is not bad as you can see, but it can only get worse from here. This will be my only chance to fix it so I want to do it all right. Hopefully next tuesday I will start welding in the new floors.

[b5blue]

That's a good amount of work in just 5 hours!   

[motorcitydak]

Well another few hours of work done to the car today. I welded in the passenger side frame connector, reworked the shave job I did on passenger side drip rail and worked on the floor more

I started off with a trip to the hardware store for some self tapping screws to temporarily put the floors in place to make sure everything fits right





I may be becoming a perfectionist here, but it seems like every time I weld up a tiny hole on the drip rail and smooth it all out, I find another one that is just not acceptable....



Finally with the floor pans in place and the frame connectors I could figure out exactly where they would get welded to. To make it easier, I had them screwed in and sprayed some paint at em. Now I will drill out some holes for the plug welds on the cross members and will clean off the area where the connector will be welded to the floor pan.





The result on the bottom of the floor pans

Passenger side




Drivers



I sprayed all the bare metal that will be unwelded with black rustoleum hammered. All the surfaces that will be welded to got the Eastwood copper weld thru primer

[bakerhillpins]

Makin progress! 


Was there a specific reason you didn't go with a full floor replacement piece? It would seem that there would be less cutting/fitting/welding involved.

[motorcitydak]

Sure, I actually have a few reasons that I did not go with the full floor pan replacement.

1 The 2 individual pieces for it were cheaper than the 1 piece
2 The individual pieces are easier to put in and move around. Generally they are just easier to handle by yourself.
3 My trans tunnel is in great shape, no rust anywhere on it that was not removed by cutting out for the side pans
4 I will be cutting out the stock tunnel anyways to make room for the 545rfe trans I will be using. I could not justify buying a brand new full pan then hacking it up to let the trans fit.

All those together made it make sense to me to buy the individual pans instead of the 1 piece. I am glad that there are these options when building my car. That is what I chose to run and why. I am sure that there are many other resto's going on that would benefit more by having the full pan but mine is not one of them

[motorcitydak]

k guys, here is another update on the work I did to the Fox today.

I started off again on the drip rails. I used a flat screwdriver and a hammer to push the weak metal back to weld over the holes. After so many times of welding and smoothing, I realized that all I was doing was grind off my weld and still had the hole that I was trying to get rid of. Sorry for the bad pic, but you can see the little holes I am trying to get rid of. The other shows what I had to weld up after pounding in some of the weak spots. I forgot to snap a pic of what I have now, but it is a lot better than what I started with. Still not perfect, but getting closer to being acceptable.





After that, I started working on the floors again.

Using the paint I squirted on it last week, I stripped the areas of the floor pan that will get welded to the sub frame connectors. I then painted them with eastwood's copper weld thru primer. I also drilled out holes for the plug welds that will attach it to the various areas of the car



Finally laid in place for the last time. I used the sheet metal screws again to locate it and keep everything in place while I welded in the plug welds



All the welds done. I ground off the tops of em just so I would not notice them as much and hopefully will not be felt thru the carpet. Also so they can all be easily found if the floor needs to be removed for some reason in the future. I also drilled out the holes I had for the screws. I drilled em just thru the pan, not the metal under that. Then welded those up solid too



Fit the rear pan into place next



Welded it up and again, I ground the weld down a little bit



Drivers side ready to go in



and its in! I still have to weld up the rear of it to the other pan and grind down the welds a little. I ran out of time tonight.



A few pics showing the entire floor

[Wicked72]

Progress Progress Progress!! ....wish I had some of that...

[200MPH]

coming along nicely 

[BrianShaughnessy]

Sure, I actually have a few reasons that I did not go with the full floor pan replacement.

1 The 2 individual pieces for it were cheaper than the 1 piece
2 The individual pieces are easier to put in and move around. Generally they are just easier to handle by yourself.
3 My trans tunnel is in great shape, no rust anywhere on it that was not removed by cutting out for the side pans
4 I will be cutting out the stock tunnel anyways to make room for the 545rfe trans I will be using. I could not justify buying a brand new full pan then hacking it up to let the trans fit.

All those together made it make sense to me to buy the individual pans instead of the 1 piece. I am glad that there are these options when building my car. That is what I chose to run and why. I am sure that there are many other resto's going on that would benefit more by having the full pan but mine is not one of them

I'm going with the full front pan on Sinnamon due to the hole that a driveshaft ka-boom put in the tunnel 30+ years ago before I owned it.   

[motorcitydak]

I'm going with the full front pan on Sinnamon due to the hole that a driveshaft ka-boom put in the tunnel 30+ years ago before I owned it.  

Yeah I think in your case that is for sure a good idea. Are you also replacing the rear foot wells? If not you will have to remove them in order to get the front pan into place because it goes in under the rear pans. The only way I got away with it was with the 2 piece floor, I bent up the lip and slid it in. I just do not think that is possible with a full pan and both rear foot well pans in place, although maybe it is possible without the frame connectors I have in there.

Thanks for following along with my build guys, I like to keep you all  . It may be a little while before anything else happen to the car tho. I have some work to do to the truck next week and am buying a house so that will be taking up some of my free time as well. I am ordering some parts to make the suspension links because the car needs to be mobile eventually so it can come with me to the new place where it will actually be in a garage on a cement floor! I am also going to rework the mounts for the rotisserie to mount the car up higher, the CG is lower than I originally thought so it is really hard to spin rite now.

[motorcitydak]

I got a little bit of time today to sneak out and do some work on the Charger. Since the floors are in, the next things to do are to get the rear axle in place and get the new full quarter panels in place. Today I started working on removing the drivers side quarter. I started at the door jam and quickly realized that the spot welds used on these areas are a lot smaller than the ones used on other areas like the floors. I also have not been able to find a good step by step walk thru of replacing one of these quarter panels so this will be just that. I will take pics of every step along the way as I come to it. So, here we go again with a lot of pics. I did not get very far today but only had about 30 minutes on it or so. I am hoping for around 2 more hours tomorrow. That should get the enitre bottom and maybe rear of the quarter detached.

Starting with the last nearly untouched photo of the drivers quarter


I am using a 3/8 Blair spot weld cutter which is just a small hole saw with a spring loaded pointed tip. I find it much easier to drill a 1/8 hole to keep the cutter from walking all over the area. I tired using a punch to make a divot for the point to sit in, but that method is incredibly aggravating because it still walks all over


I have a little amount of damage here that will have to be fixed before the new one goes on


The rocker panel seam


This seam is for sure not too bad. I have seen a lot worse


The roof seam, I may not get to this for a while. I will be working counter clockwise to get the panels off


Because the spot welds are so small, I found it easier to peel back the metal as I went down


I drilled out the 3 spot welds here on the rocker, but that did not seem to matter. The steel behind it was thinner and it just split as I was trying to pry apart the spot weld areas


I got the door jam completely released


The metal behind the quarter will for sure have to get some attention.


1/8 pilot holes all drilled for this seam


I got the spot weld cutter into all of the above spot welds and started to pry off the sheet metal. It is not completely done, but I had to stop. I should get a little bit more done tomorrow.

Also, you guys can see all the good and bad spots of my quarter panels. Let me know if any of you guys need parts of them

[ugly2u]

I'm impressed!

Your photos and explanations are excellent. Thank you for taking the time to post the details...    

Where did you get these mad skillz?

[motorcitydak]

Im glad you like it, I enjoy showing it off online in the pics and details almost as much as doing the work itself.

No one really believes me, but everything I know about doing this sort of thing has come from watching it on TV and reading about it in magazines. After that, it is all trial and error. There are so many shows and products out there for the do-it-yourselfer and yet so many people believe that you have to take the car to a shop with a huge check book to get it done. I figure that if someone else can do it, I can figure out how to do it myself.

[Patronus]

I watch this thread. Working, it pops in my head that some people have to do it under a tarp, crazy! (good job yo!)

[ZSmithersCharges]

I figure that if someone else can do it, I can figure out how to do it myself.

Exactly! Theres even a motivational song for that statement hehe "Anything you can do I can do better I can do anything better than you!"  Now not everyone shoots to do better than someone else but thats not what's important what's important is the line you just said.  If someone else can do it with the proper practice SO CAN YOU!

Good luck on your build you know I'll be watching 

[motorcitydak]

I was able to sneak back to the car for about an hour today while it was nice. I actually started to sweat which is a welcome thing here in Mi. I kept working on the removal of the drivers side quarter panel. The spot welds along the wheel lip are even harder to find than the ones on the door jam. I put pilot holes in the ones I could find and guessed in a few other spots. I did miss a few, but ended up just tearing the metal away as I got to them because it was so thin.

I picked it back up here, just in front of the rear tire



These are the ones I could find







Get em cut out and started to peel back the lip. I also wanted to see just how hard it was to remove that rubberized coating that saved my car for the last 40 years, its not too bad with just a screw driver and a hammer but I prefer a torch and paint scraper







Now as I got to the back of the wheel well, the metal got very thin. As you can see, a section has already rusted away so I was expecting the worse for what was still there. Once I got here, the metal was bending so bad that I could not really use the spot weld cutter then break the rest of the weld so I had to just cut the quarter off around the flange. I also got an expected waterfall of dirt and rust out of here when I opened up that gap.



I had to do the same thing along the bottom edge all the way to the end. This way I think I will be able to remove that last bit with out destroying the material it is still attached to, I will show you all what I have in mind later.



Cut it all the way thru



I decided to use the same method on the rear portion just because of all the areas that the quarter panel goes to. I will be able to get at the spot welds and sheet metal easier with the panel out of the way.



This area is what I am talking about





Well that is where it is rite now. Like I said, I did not have much time to work on it today. One thing I want to point out here. I know that this is a unibody car and as such, the body panels actually are load bearing members of the car. When I got the cut up into the spoiler area, the car did drop a little. Around 1/16 or so, it closed the gap of the cut I just made. I will be leaving the car on the rotisserie for now but will be jacking up the car in different areas until it goes back. Basically, I will leave it tilted like I have it now so I can get to the bottom easier and place the car on the stands and jack up the back drivers side at the area of the front leaf spring mount until the car straightens back out. It will then stay in that exact spot while I fit the new CBD full quarter panel in place. I will continue to take pics of everything along the way for everyone to see. Thanks for following along with my build.....

[motorcitydak]

Ok, I have to apologize to you guys. I did a ton of work last tuesday and never had a chance to post up the pics until now so here is what I got accomplished. I put jack stands under the car and lifted up the drivers side to realign it. The car did sag a little once I cut the back part of the quarter. Now it is completely supported on the stands

I finished up the cut on the rear of the quarter to get it all the way off. This will leave the rest of the flange on there which then gets removed a little easier







I cut the sail panel as close to the window as possible. Please, if anyone needs this piece let me know





I then drilled out the spot welds on the roof seam and the ones on the small bracket by the rear of the window, after that I was left with this

























I then started to remove all the flanges that were left over







Its worth noting here that these spot welds were very small and hard to find. I had to drill the pilot hole in the bottom of the rail so I could find them. It would have been a huge PITA if the quarter was still on the car





All these areas will be sanded clean and POR-15'ed before the new panel goes on



I started working on making the door jamb straight. It was bent pretty bad from whatever killed the sides of the quarter panels



Ok, thats it for now. You all are up to speed on it again for now

[b5blue]

Hey I could sure use the section off that 1/4 around the rear side window, mine looks like Swiss Cheese around that lip that the beltline molding and outside window seal attach to. Let me know!