Feb. '05 - Bodywork

2/26/05

So after having fun with it for a full summer and fall, it was time to really finish the project.

Here's the beast after removing windshield, rollbar, lights, and other trim to prepare for lifting the body off. Before removing it, I wanted to mark the location for the Shell Valley hinge to make sure they would clear my stock Mustang radiator. As it turns out, they wouldn't. I had to move the radiator behind the frame crossmember. Take a close look at those fabulous body seams, 'cause they're about to be gone.

I pulled the hood pins out to install the Shell Valley hood hinges. They're the least expensive hood hinge option for FFR's out there. FFR's hood hinge bolts to the frame, whereas this one will get 'glassed onto the body itself, meaning I can install the hinge brackets on the body and hood while they're off the frame.

After undoing all the bolts and drilling out a few rivets, the body is now back on my body buck, ready for work. I shortened the legs of the buck to bring it to a good height to work on.

Since I only have a one car garage, in true redneck style, the chassis will be in my back yard for a while. (I'm not quite as redneck as the neighbors in the house behind us, as you can see in the background. The chassis got stuck twice trying to drive over the snow in our back yard...had to jack up the rear tires and put board under to make it to the clear area. Our backyard is on the north end of our property, out of the sun, so all the snow isn't melted there yet. As soon as it does, the chassis will go on a concrete bad right behind our garage, but there's still too much snow to get it there now.

Car cover and big-ass tarp in place, and the Cobra is ready to camp for a few weeks until the rest of the snow melts off.

3/06/05

I was kinda nervous taking a grinder to the body....but you can't make an omelette....

I ground the seams flat, then went a little deeper to make sure I got all the gelcoat out of the seams before applying the 3M High Strength Repair Filler. Great stuff. Hose things down really well, and let dry in the sun. Blow off any remaining dust, and ready for the next step.

While I had the grinder going, I evened out the edges of the cockpit and scuffed the sides. I plan to use some more filler to roll the edges of the cockpit for a more finished look. More on that later.

Some tools of the trade here....the 3M filler has shredded fiberglass throughout, and uses a vinylester resin compatible with the FFR bodies. Great for boat repair and FFR seam filling. Had the ol' propane forced-air heater pointed at the work area to bump the temp up a few degrees. 3M says at least 60 degrees to use their filler, but we're not that warm out yet here, and I can't wait no mo'. Also, get one of those 'CleanSheets' mixing boards w/ a tablet of non-absorbent paper to mix your fillers on...don't use cardboard.

I then proceeded to tape off around the seams to limit the mess I was about to make trying to apply the filler....

Mikey stood guard, as usual. I ground a bit too much around the gas cap area....that's gonna be a beeatch to reshape just right.

After using a plastic scraper to goop the filler into the seams, I smoothed them out as well as I could, then lifted the tape off before the stuff had a chance to set up. I plan to let the seams cure for a week or so before attempting any more work on them...this stuff can settle, and if it isn't completely cured before the next layers go on, the seams can start to show under the paint. So sayeth the pros who paint these thing for a living, and I'm taking their advice.

While the seams cured, I started working on the hood hinge. After bending their body bracket a bit to match the body contour, I tried to get it lined up properly. It'll be extremely difficult to move once it's 'glassed in. I made a few marks before taking the body off the chassis for reference...clearance to the radiator was very tight on the driver's side, so I added a couple of extra washers in between the bracket and the hinge.

The trick is to position the bracket so that the hinge arms just barely clear at their closest point, like so: This pic shows the hinge at about the halfway open position.

Once you're comfortable with the bracket position, mix up a batch of HSRF and do a neater job than I did glassing the hinge bracket in place. Should be set up enough to remove the clamp after 30 minutes or so.

Before 'glassing the hinge plates to the hood itself, I wanted to make sure I had a decent gap all the way around. My hood was about 1/8" or so too long, so out came the old grinder to give it a trim and re-sand to get a nice rounded contour on the edges.

Once I was comfortable with the hood position, I put it in position to mark where the hood stud plates would go, then gooped them into place as well. I also took the opportunity to fill in the hood pin holes, since I won't be needin' them no mo'. Also this week, I started work on fabbing up a prop rod setup with some steel plate and aluminum rod stock from Lowe's, but I'll have to get shots of that for next week. The hood hinge plates will get welded next week, too, so stay tuned.

3/14/05

I was planning to do more panel fitting this weekend, but gotta get my hinges welded before I can do much there. S'awright, plenty to do elsewhere. Now the 3M repair filler has cured a week, I hope I'm safe from having it settle any later on. I wasn't very neat about applying it, so I took a jitter-bug type sander to knock off any high spots and make sure it's all below the repair surface...it's just a base for the easily-sandable body filler. After knocking the rough edges off the 3M, I scuffed the rest of the body with some coarse paper. No more shiny, at least for a while.

And a closeup of the leveled 3M repair filler. Trust me, it's not as flat as it may look in this photo. Can't quite see from the angle of this shot, but I messed up the curve around the edge of the gas cap area with I knocked the seam down with the grinder. Nothing a little filler can't fix.

I mixed up the first batch of the Rage Gold body filler, and applied a thin layer to the cockpit edge. I'll be building it up to a nice smooth roll instead of the abrupt dropoff on the stock body. Looks slick on the finished ones I've seen.

The Rage filler sets up fast...I found out very quickly that I would have to apply it in several batches, and I'd have to move fast. Wasn't very neat about it...just had to make sure I filled the seam up higher than the surrounding surface, and not leave any bubbles. This stuff is easy to sand to get the contours as perfect as I can.

Did I mention I wasn't very neat about it? Just wait'll I have a chance to sand.it. At this point I was running out of daylight and the weather was cooling off. Weather forecast doesn't look too good for the next week, so it'll have to sit until next weekend.

3/21/05

Sanding sanding sanding. Knocked the first layer of Rage down, and got about halfway there on restoring the contours. Then started with a second layer to fill in a couple of spots where I didn't apply enough the first time. Still a place or two over each wheel well where the curve doesn't feel just right yet, but I'm getting closer. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a lunatic by now...spreading some goop all over the body, then sanding it off, then running my fingertips across the curve. I don't think they get that I'm checking my work.

And a closeup of the right front. With no shine to the gelcoat on the body anymore, it's next to impossible to see in the photos how close or far off the contours are. You can see some the blue 3M filler...which means I probably applied a bit too much. I'll have to check with the pro painters on FFCobra.com if that'll be a problem. Can't see any in this pic, but tiny pinholes appear in some of the filler after blowing the dust off the car periodically. A more liquid filler will be needed for those.

Every now and then Rena takes a break from her pharmacy studies and comes out to check on me and snap a few shots. Don't sand on this stuff without some dust protection at least. It's nasty, and it gets everywhere, as you can see (those sweats are usually black). Here I am trying to sand a smooth roll onto the cockpit edges, alternating beween a flexible sanding block and a section of heater hose.

Shoulda took a closer shot. Trust me, the roll is getting there.

And a shot from the back...

4/03/05

I've probably got about 60 hours or so into the bodywork at this point. Getting closer to spraying the first layer of filler primer. Two or three more applications of Rage Gold where needed, tons of sanding, then I used Spotlite filler to fill in pinholes that opened up in the gelcoat and in a couple of places where I burned through to the 'glass underneath. To my untrained eye, I'm getting the contours pretty close

Also started grinding down the hood, trunk and doors to get those fitted. You'll see in a shot below I ain't quite there yet. If there's one place my work will show some obvious flaws, that'll be it. I'm not going to obsess about getting them exactly perfect

And the back end. The trunk and doors are kinda balanced on some pieces of weatherstrip. They'll actually sit a bit lower.

Here you can see where I took a bit too much off the hood on the driver's side. That gap will be an obvious one to observers, so I'll build up a little filler on the edge. I got the hinges welded this weekend as well, but hafta get shots of that later. Also, I filled in the hood-pin holes. Won't be needing those anymore.

I extended the hood about an inch and a half under the scoop with the 3M HSRF to make it look a tad bit less kit car-ish. Need to even out a bit...the extension is shorter on the passenger side.