About to start body restoration on 86

[DAVEZ84SVO]

Looking good so far!! Just please make sure that when the paint the new parts that they cover the tail-pipes!! I have seen soooo many cars that just come out of the body shop & have paint all over the exhaust.. But I think that those guys might know how do get everything done right the first time..

I just happen to see a F-150 this morning with overspray on the pipes.. Yuck!!

Dave

[gbeaird]

That's a peeve of mine, too. Luckily, with fresh paint, the pipes clean up nicely. It is the overspray on the gas tank that is more difficult. But thanks for the reminder, I'll remind them just in case covering those items is not SOP.

Gene Beaird
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

Yep, or be there to assist with the taping. But you are right, you can never completely close off all the little openings that paint can sneak into.

I just got back from the shop. Went there to deliver the rear lights, headlight header panel and rear bumper cover. They have started cutting the bad parts out of the car. Here are the pics. Enjoy!

Gene Beaird
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

Dropped off the spats (thanks, Paul) and had a look. They made the second cut on the driver's side, up where the piece of masking tape is on the sail panel. They also took off the piece between the wheel and the door, all the way down to the rocker panel. They found some rust down there and wanted to get it out. I'll have pictures posted tonight, hopefullly. I have to head out there this weekend and pull the driver's side interior out so they can start welding things together.

The 'glass hatch has been ordered. I'm hoping to use a stock back window in it, just for looks sake. We'll see how that project goes when it arrives. They are starting laying the hatch today, and it should be ready to ship next Wed, or Thurs. So when it gets here, it will have that new hatch smell. ;-)

I'll also be using a glass hood, but will probably wait until next month to order it.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

Update:

Here are the latest pictures. Hopefully, they are done cutting stuff off the car, and we can start the assembly. I go out there tomorrow to pull the drivers' side interior panels out so they won't cook anything while welding.

The first picture is square-on showing all they cut. The second picture shows how they did it at the door jamb. Looking good so far. They bought a new bit to cut the spot welds. The paid the big bux to get a professional version so the cuts were clean and of equal size. On the 4th weld, the bit snapped in half. I guess the car really was "Built Ford Tough!" :-)

Gene Beaird
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

Well, it has been a couple of days since any updates. We have had a string of _no rain_ and we have been catching up on chores around the house while we can before the rains return. Things like drying out the trunk of the convertible and mowing the swamp have been high on the list of things to get done before the next torrent.

They have trimmed and mounted the left side body panel. There is still some more fine tuning that has to be done, but it looks great so far. I did make it out Saturday to pull the interior panels and insulation out so the welding can proceed. I was amazed at how many fasteners had to be pulled just to get the back seats out. Wow!

Enjoy the pictures below, but I do have one question. I may also make this a separate query. Since so little of the passenger's side panel may be used for this repair, we were thinking of using a standard Mustang repair panel. Does anyone know of good panels to get/use? Thanks.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[svobud]

That's some serious body part replacement gonna on right there. An a fine example why I'm not in the body repair business. That looks like WORK! Good job Gene - keep the pictures coming.

[gbeaird]

I'm not doing the labor, other than cleanup, parts removal, and other scut work I can do to save $$ on the project. So far, I'm quite pleased. It probably won't end up being a 100 pointer, but it won't be embarassing to show, either. I'm hoping to get a lot of the little broken bits fixed too, which will make the car a lot easier to live with.

With all the glass I'm adding, I'll probably have to install FMS springs just to get it back to factory ride height. Needless to say, it won't be in F Stock any more. I'm hoping I can find some light-weight 16" wheels and occasionally show up and run CP. That's the goal, anyway.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[svobud]

Cool - then we should expect to see you at the Reunion 07. Gator will be waiting for you.

I found some aftermarket wheels that were originally meant for a Probe - made by American Racing. Not sure if they still make them - but they're very light compared to stock and came in a stock size. Not sure if you were gonna go bigger on the wheels now that you're moving up to CP ...

[gbeaird]

Probably something like 16X10 CCWs to mount some slicks on. That probably won't happen until I get some engine mods done. But since we already run in CP, AND there are a couple of competitors who mention what an overdog they think a SVO could be built into, given the rules, I figure it would be fun to drive it at least a couple of times in CP. This one, however, will be grossly over-weight, with its full interior, and comfort options, like glass windows that roll up. ;-)

Heh, we drove it in FS, with it looking like cr@p. Now, we get it all prettied up and go run in a Prepared class. That's forward-thinking.

We'll make it to the reunion soon, but probably not this year. It is looking like a SCCA Solo Nationals trip and SEMA trip are in the cards for this year. That'll do all two of my vacation weeks.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

I finally got a chance to stop by the shop and have a look. Weather has been hit-and-miss around here. When it isn't raining, we're running around trying to beat back the jungle with the lawn mower. For some reason it really doesn't like to mow water. I'm thinking it needs a turbo, so when the engine gets loaded up, the boost just goes up, providing more power.

Anyway, looks like they have been moving along at the shop, although at a bit slower pace, too. They are still working on fitting the driver's side quarter panel. Looks like they are (and probably have by now) ready to start tacking it in. They have ground the seam at the sail panel (Hey Ken, note all those rust-protecting layers of paint on that panel!), tapped the corners down so they fit better, and formed the back by the tail lights pretty good, too. They even have a couple of screws in place back there to hold things together while they weld. No one was around that was working on the project, so I just took pictures, charged the battery up (it was dead due to the hatch being up) and disconnected it, and came back home to wash the inner panels.

The slower pace is fine with me, as long as all goes together as well as it seems to be.

Additionally, they are also doing a friend's 67 fastback. He is building a Bullitt clone. For all you purists out there, the car needed some serious work when he got it, and needed an engine. It is getting a replacement hood, deck lid and fenders. Other than the metal work on the front fenders, it will look pretty stock. The roof is needing a LOT of work (the car has either been on its roof, or someone dropped something on it). They are also going to have to modify the front fenders a bit to take the wheels and tires they are putting on the car. They were finishing up the roof when I was there yesterday. I may post the occasional picture of it, too.

Enjoy the pics.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[gbeaird]

Glass hatch arrived today. VERY nice piece. We'll probably see how it fits this weekend. It really looks stout enough to support real glass with little problems.

Gene Beaird,
86 2R SVO, G Stock,
Pearland, Texas

[chalkys_explorer]

Gene, do you have any pics of the 1/4 panels before they were cut for fitment?? what are the part numbers??

Chris

[gbeaird]

The quarter panels I have I got several years ago(!) from Ken Potter. They were off a car that got pasted in the front end pretty badly, IIRC. So, no, I don't have any part numbers.

BTW, the repair panel from Northern Mustang arrived Monday. I haven't been to the shop to compare it with the car and the good rear quarter I have, but plan on doing that today. The guy that is working on the car was there over the weekend fixing a broken torque arm mount on the wife's LT4 Z28, so he may have had time to work on the SVO. We'll see this afternoon.

Gene Beaird

[NavySVO]

Gene, looks like good progress. It is always nice to see how a project is forming into a finished (soon!) product.
Please keep the pics coming, you know they are like crack to us!!