Colossus - the 1970 Concours frame replacement project

"Wagon and Four Door Section, Insanity Base here. The Body has landed."

Had a day off of work, dental appointments and general errand runnig. When all was done and I was home, still had a few hours of light, so we went for it.

Needed to get the body off of the dolly so got it up a little to roll the cart out.


Put it back onto the sawhorses.



Crane in front


Cart out


And front sawhorse


In order to avoid the issue I had taking it apart with the frame being too high to clear the body, I slammed the rear of the frame onto the ground


While I was prepping for the next steps, my Little Helper rearranged the body bushings


So I had her help me put them all back where they belonged

 

More help from my helper



When I was in college we used to joke about how when the instructor was doing a particularly difficult math example, "a miracle would ocurr" and he would get the correct answer. Well, same thing happened here. My son and his friend pitched in, and in under an hour, the body was sitting completely on the frame, aligned and secured by 2 bolts. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, as we were all engaged in getting it to line up and come together. But it is on there and ready for next steps.



It was due to rain last night, so my helper and I bagged the front end up and called it good. Everything is wet from the first wash down the car and side yard have had in over half a year.



May not get too much big stuff done for a few weeks as year end at work AND the Holidays are approaching, but will update when things happen.

Best regards and thanks for watching,
Tom

 

Your little helper pics are priceless!
Those pics are keepers!

Oh, and congrats on getting the body back on the frame!

 

And suddenly, it looks like a car again! Doing great! I'm sure your little helper will always remember these times, too.

 

do you have an extra gas tnak you want to sell for a 1970 chevy concourse?

 

spenegiz,

PM sent.

Tom

 

geez Tom...its really comin along

 

yeah, but no, but kinda...

Slammed head on into the end of the year at work (in Engineering we can't take time off when the plant is down as we are there playing catch up while everything is quiet) as well as the holidays at home, and got to go to Omaha, Nebraska, last weekend to see my buddy from highschool get his diploma in mechanical engineering from UN Lincoln. We were so happy for him we couldn't tell it was cold...

Almost...

What?!? WHAT??? I'm from Southern California!!! Below 60*F is too much for me! A high of 40*F is too d @ m n cold, and it went down from there...

Yeah, I know, got nuthin' to complain about.

Hoping to get something done on this turkey over the holidays, but enjoying time with my family right now, that's most important.

Merry Christmas if I don't post before then,
Tom

 

Just read through the entire thread. Great work! I can't imagine tackling a project like this. I'm sooo glad I found a rust free example. At the moment, my hurdles consist of rebuilding my front suspension, and fixing a slight hesitation. I hope to start a "Projects" thread soon, but it will be no where near as extensive as yours. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

n2ford,

This wagon is really very rust free:



the cowl, rockers and rear under body are also completely rust free. Doors have some damage, but they unbolt! Just in the loadwell due to a back window being down for years while parked, and the rear quarter where most all of these rust...

Went to see what kind of Ford you have (got 2 '71 Mustangs here) and noticed your Magnum. Love those, glad we were able to secure one before they went away. Guess I can post a pic, it is a wagon after all...

Mommy's Red Monster:


Thank you for the replies, looking forward to getting away from year-end/year-begin and get stated on this dog again.

Best regards,
Tom

 

Ooooo.... Nice SRT. Love my Magnum...

 

OK, weather has warmed up and the days have been getting longer, I got back to work on the mess in the side yard.

Wanted to replace the firewall insulation pad, and had one I bought 15 years ago for my 70 Elco. Drove the car instead of installing the pad, which is a good trade I think as I never would have gotten around to installing it and the car would still be sitting! Anyway, figured I’d use it here…

Um, maybe not

Compared to a real pad it suxx… and from what I have researched the best ($150 pads?) are better, but still not exact.


You can see some of the damage to the original pad. So I decided to try to strengthen it some and reuse it. Attached some light weight cloth sizing (I think that’s what it’s called) and some denim scraps to the back side with spray glue to reinforce it…




then painted it with black spray paint, gloss first


and then a fog of flat to dull it down


Had a tool made to press in the plugs, supports the inside of the pin and pushes on the inside of the tip at the same time as the shoulder, so doesn’t blow out the end or bend over the pin.




The washers were used to tune the final step length. Plugs went in like a treat.

 

Cleaned up the parts behind the dash…



Disassembled the HVAC system for a new heater core and general spruce up. Even cleaned the vac hoses. Sorry, forgot to take pics of the ugly thing I pulled out of the car, looked typical, so enjoy the cleaner thing going back in. All ready to install.



Back in its home, along with the gas pedal…



Also reinstalled the wiper motor and linkages to the outside of the firewall.

Every part that gets installed is one that I am not tripping over. Feels pretty good.

Best,
Tom

 

Looking good!

 

Impressive!