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 and to do list stuff.

Karkmotuning

 

 

It's summer, and as usual during summers, progress in the shop is slow.
Something interesting arrived, and no way could we keep
away from the shop anymore.


A used stock Mustang II front suspesion was purchased and hauled home. Here it is, just rolled into the shop on its pallet.
(June 2020)

The front end had been mounted to some kind of frame previously, so some cutting and cleaning up will have to be done.



Everything not welded in was removed from the cross member.

A couple weeks later the frame rail pieces were cut away from the cross member, and it was cleaned up and sprayed with some flat black paint.
Much nicer to work with this now.



 

After a long break working on other projects
it was finally time to get back to the Buick.


The doors are as much a wooden structure with an outer sheet metal skin, as the rest of the body. When trying to remove the wood, it's evident that the wooden structure had been built before skinning the door with sheet metal. Some screws were screwed in from the outside with no way to get at them in any other but to saw them off, and some of the wooden parts had to be cut into pieces to get them out.
( January 2021)

With all the wood gone, the door is only a flimsy piece of sheet metal, barely able to keep its shape.



All this wood came out of one door. There will be a bit of work to make a new substitute structure out of sheet metal.

Some kind of mishap has apparently gone down on the right hand side. The quarter panel has gotten back it's original shape, save for some remnants of a dent. As can be seen the door doesn't really fit against the B-pillar

A couple of relief cuts had to be done to get the rear of the door back to its original shape. A new piece of thicker sheet metal, 13 or 14 gauge, some 80 thousands thick (2 mm) was cut out and welded to the inside of the door. It fits much better now.



The first piece of the inner structure trial fitted in the door. It's 19 Gauge (1 mm) sheetmetal and the holes were cut with the plasma cutter. The plasma cuts thin sheet metal easily and the result is surprisingly clean and leaves little grinding work.

This was a problem. The driver's side rear window opening was sqewed, it's obvious in the left pic. The whole body was measured thoroughly to find the reason for this, and then it was time for some massaging, cutting and welding. The result is just about perfect, and it looks simple, but the whole thing took over a week of planning, measuring and just plain work.
Now it's braced and steady, and hopefully won't move again.



Now that the door is painted with primer, it's obvious how empty and simple this thing is.

The top of the door is framed with sheetmetal, as is the rear vertical part.
Lots of welds, lots of grinding.
(February 2021)



Making the midsection of the door took a good deal of measuring and planning. Before this could be welded in, channels for the opening windows had to be made.

The hard part is thinking up a workable design, that will be reasonably easy to fabricate, fairly light weight, and sturdy enough. Also, we don't want to do it over, because of a design fail.

The door all done now, the window crank and door lock mechanisms work. It's very rigid and fits in its opening too.
The small rubbersnubbers on stems in the bottom part of the door are there to limit the downward travel of the window.


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