02-07-10 Modifying chassis aluminum

Over this weekend I was able to scrape, gouge and chisel the last silicone goop and carpet adhesive off the last cockpit panel. I'm quite comfortable believing that's a task I'll never do again...if I ever build another one of these, like the newly-announced Mark IV model, it'll be from scratch!

So here you see the rest of the panels after they were all scrubbed clean, I'm going to have them powdercoated in the same finish I did the engine bay ones, a black mottled finish. But before I could take them over for coating, I realized I need to modify the trunk floor panels and a couple of others.

The transmission tunnel cover will need a new hole cut 8" forward of the existing location, and the existing hole will need to be closed up with a piece of aluminum. I'll be modifying the T-5Z transmission I have to use the tailhousing from an S-10 pickup. Same basic transmission, but the shifter location on the S-10 is a 'mid-shift' vs. the 'rear-shift' on the regular Mustang T-5. The Mustang shifter location necessitates a shifter handle that is canted far forward instead of straight up and down like a normal manual shifter.

Another panel mod is the trunk storage box kit from Dark Water Customs, yet another cottage industry making nifty add-ons for Cobra replica builders. The Mustang gas tank I'll be using has one large raised section on the passenger side where the filler neck goes in. To the left of this raise section is an unused empty space, and these trunk boxes make use of it. Any extra room in the trunk is very handy for long trips. In this shot I've put the trunk box bottoms on the existing floor panel to trace the area I needed to cut out:

And after cutting, it's just a matter of holding the boxes in place with 'cleco' temporary rivets while I drill the rest of the rivet holes:

The forward trunk floor panel also needed a big section cut out to provide access the under-floor battery box made by FFMetal (who did the firewall and footbox kit I'm also using).

And finally to a little bit of actual assembly work. After putting a bead of silicone on the frame where the panels would attach, I took the first two alread-powdercoated aluminum 'f-panels', cleco'd them in place, then put rivets in.

A few trigger pulls in the air riveter, and voila. I do like the contrast of the silver, black, and blue. Although, this panel won't be seen (at least from this side) by anyone unless they're changing my right front tire, once the car is done.

And an overall shot, just for the hell of it.

I have a few suspension bushings and other parts on the way so I can hopefully start putting the suspension, differential, and steering gear in next weekend.