Page 2 The project begins Page 3 Front end and doors Page 4 Body framing Page 5 Wheel tubs and more framing Page 6 Door openings and more on the body Page 7 The frame Page 8 Steering, shocks and engine mounts Page 9 CAD, lasercut parts and intake. Page 10 Transmission and engine mounts. Page 11 Roof and floor. Page 12 Body and engine details. Page 13 Fuel tank. Page 14 Pedals and steering. Page 15 Odds and ends, the frame. Page 16 The body and more details. Page 17 Dash, exhaust and engine. Page 18 Bodywork and to do list stuff. Page 19 Toward the first drive. Karkmotuning

The wheels are back from the sand blaster's where they got sprayed with epoxy. Some sanding and painting coming up soon. There's been a lot of deliberating over the color choice, ideas ranging from "gold chrome" powder coating, through to gold metallic and black gloss. For now, the favorite is black wheels with gold metallic holes.

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Black and gold it is. Sanding, painting, masking, more painting and finally a gloss clear finish, it took a surprising amount of time to get done.

The tires are back on the rims again. Another of those things that make it all look a tiny bit closer to done.

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The fuel tank was taken out of storage, and mounted with its fuel line and all. The vent hose is seen snaking its way up towards the roof and back down behind the tank, out through the floor. The return line is just blocked off, as we're running a non return fuel system. Edit: Later the tank had to be removed again, to make a new metal fuel line, because the previous plastic one ran too close to one of the exhausts to look really safe. The new one is also further away from any heat source.

The rotor style fuel pump is loud, and to get it a bit quieter, the pump was mounted to a bracket that stands on two soft rubber mounts. This proved to be very efficient, the noise from the fuel pump is hardly noticeable now.

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Two fuel lines come up along the firewall, held with P-clamps. A home made brass double P-clamp will look right at home were it mounts.

Brakelines done, but the brake proportioning valve leaked at this copper seal, even after changing it twice. A second valve leaked at the same seal. The reason for the leaking copper gasket was most likely that the sealing surface on the valve houseing wasn't sufficently machined Finally an upgrade to a Wilwood proportioning valve did the trick, no more leaks. (April 2025)

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Before filling the tank with fuel, the rest of the exhaust work was done, to avoid welding right under a brand new tank full of gas. The project was started by welding a jig between the exhaust tips, to get them positioned nicely symmetrical and in line. Then piping was added until the project was done. The tubes are of different length, which theoretically will make for a fuller exhaust note.

Seats out of a 1965 Mustang are mounted to Renault adjusters.

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After changing to a new metal fuel line, the exhaust could be mounted along with rear springs. These are coil over springs, available in many different lengths and stiffnesses, mounted with ride height adjusters.

New front springs mounted. The brakes are bled now, which leaves the bushings in the front suspension to be tightened. Fuel in the tank. And probably some more. The first test drive is so close.

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Finally, after over five years, time for a little test drive.

After measuring the window openings, making patterns and ordering the window glass, work on the fedes could begin. Some measuring and cutting later, the fenders seemed like a huge amount of work, and the idea to make something simpler emerged. A bit of a deja vu, since this exact same thing happened with the Essex almost twenty years ago. (May 2025)

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A panel to cover the frame was dreamed up in Photoshop. it makes the proportions of the body look much better. It still looks way too high, so after getting a comment about it and thinking things over, pros and cons, this line of thought was abandoned.

This is the driver's side rear fender seen from both sides right after it being dug out of storage. You can tell where it's been mounted against the body, everything is rusted away.

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Two 9" wide pieces of sheet metal were cut out, and rolled loosely to the shape of the fenders with a slip roller.

Some measuring later the new piece was welded to the rear fender, effectively widening it and getting the rust work done at once.

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Using just sheet metal screws, the fender was fastened to the body. It seems to fit pretty nicely.

The rear of the fender was widened to fit with the tire centered. This meant that a filler piece was needed between the fenderwell and the fender itself. An idea for a filler tried in photoshop in this pic.

Filler piece made in real.

The fender looked oddly wide, so some pie cuts were made and it was tack welded to a tigher shape.

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That done, the curve of the fender edge was no longer smooth, so shapes for new ones were drawn, then cut out of sheet metal. A bead was rolled along the edge, and finally a 1/4" steel rod was welded to it to emulate the look of the original rolled fender edge.

A piece of flat bar was tacked to both ends of the fender to keep its shape, also a rod was attached to a piede of H-beam to help keep things in place before the old fender lip was cut away.

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The new fender lip tacked in. Most of the new sheet metal, originally there to keep things in shape while working on it, was cut away.

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