Birddog0347 rescues a Fox

[bird_dog0347]

Door Jamb

[bird_dog0347]

Well Kevin had another busy week with the Frankenstang and the shell is now rust free, and free of crappy "repair" jobs. Since we had a complete and almost perfect front clip from the donor car (the cowl wasn't perfect) and there was a ton that would have to be replaced due to rust or damage on mine, Kevin just swapped the whole front clips. He did have to swap the cowl with a good one he had on hand though as well as the core support, but other than that it's all from the donor. He also replaced the whole driver's lower rocker panel as it also had rust issues. You can't even tell they were replaced though as it's all done to look like the factory with the factory looking spot welds.


Next up will be getting the doors (the red one in the pics is just one he had laying around), fenders, hood (which I will likely have to sell and buy a cowl to get the engine to clear it), and bumpers test fit and make sure the gaps will be good... then it will get the engine bay smoothed from the shock towers forward and finalize the T-Top frame install.


At this point, the only original untouched parts of my car will be the back half of the roof, the passenger door and front fender, and the fuel filler door.












The Rocker

[bird_dog0347]

Man, this is a rescue job if ever there was one!

That's the fucking truth!

[TX_92_Notch]

Man, this is a rescue job if ever there was one!

[bird_dog0347]

Kevin also noticed a lot of cracks in my dash and was able to repair them (plastic weld) and refinish the whole dash so we have something pretty to look at.

He also finished stripping the entire 92 down to it's shell, and he purchased the Engine/Trans setup from me as well as the 97 Cobra roller is sold, so the Supercharged 4.6 T56 setup basically cost me $3k. I also scored a full fuel system capable of supporting up to 1k HP today from Whiteboy for another $1k... Tank, pump, AN lines, rails, reg, return system now I just gotta get a few things shipped to TN.

Anyway, more work coming for the 92 as it still has a damaged cowl, and rust on the A pillars and driver's side rocker... The car is gonna get cut in half and the donor front end will be welded on as it's MUCH less work than replacing each part and you'll never be able to tell where it was grafted in when he's done. I asked Kevin how he would fix it if it were his car, and this is what he came up with so that's what he's going to do.

[bird_dog0347]

Some more awesome work this week... the donor car gave us it's all and the rest is going to the scrap guy (last pic). In the end, we likely should have replaced the floor pan, VIN tag, and roof skin (plus T-top conversion) and just used that shell as it might have been less work... but oh well.

[Rick Modena]

Yes sir, he's doing a remarkable job. I've done more than my share of resto's. Usually only one or two a year as long as the customer wasn't in a hurry because insurance work comes first. One of my favorites was a green/white '57 Belair hard top that we painted all BLACK, everything, the interior, the trunk all the jambs, complete color change. Thing that blew my mind was the car was straight and original, lol.
Though money and it's not my car prevails, had to take out all the factory glass and replace the mouldings was a chore, but it got done and I charged him $25k and this was 1995 money...

[4bangen]

looking good.

[bird_dog0347]

Well, Kevin has been a busy boy this week! He managed to get the T Top frame test fit, and to no one's surprise his cuts were exactly correct and it fits perfectly. He also managed to get the passenger rear fender replaced with the one from the donor car and shot it with epoxy. Next up will be the driver's A pillar and rocker to repair the rust in those areas.

[bird_dog0347]

if you part out the SN, can I have dibs on that front clip?

It's not getting parted out, already have a deal on it when we get the engine/trans out of it.

[4bangen]

if you part out the SN, can I have dibs on that front clip?

[Rick Modena]

Damn, that guy has connections. That's an awesome score on that back glass.

If I ever buy something that needs the kind of work you are getting done, I would take it to his shop. His attention to detail and quality of work is very, very hard to find these days.
My friend that has his own shop in Tyler doesn't do that kind of resto work anymore, he's all about that insurance, but he's good. I can go up there and use his shop to do any work I need on my own personal vehicles, but I retired back in '13 for a reason.

[bird_dog0347]

Exactly, in Kevin's video of it after finding it he said the old "technique" was called "cave and pave"... and yeah, it was a shortcut likely due to insurance, but that doesn't make me like it any more. Honestly I always wondered why the rear tire looked more tucked into the fender well on the passenger side even though I had the IRS in there and it should have been even... now we know why.

Speaking of rear glass and hoping you don't break it, my old glass had many deep scratches around the edges from sandpaper where they "repaired" the driver's rear quarter. Kevin managed to score a nice clean non-defrost piece yesterday for $200 and trading my old scratched glass.

[Rick Modena]

I went back and was looking through the original pictures and it looks like the passenger side quarter panel was fixed pretty well. Even though it had waaaay to much filler but, whomever fixed it did a good job. It was probably fixed like that right after it was bought new. It is the only part that doesn't look damaged, but it is being done correct now, of course.

I'm only bringing this up because back in the day during the 80's & 90's insurance companies didn't pay to replace quarter panels or any welded on parts for that matter. They gave you enough hours to metal work it and fill with filler rather than to replace it. A good body man would ask for half of replacing the qtr pnl in labor hours to fix it. If they didn't agree than it was replaced and even then if it was supposed to be replaced, if a collision repair place a had a good bondo body guy, they would pay him enough to fix it to almost perfection.

It happened like the latter most times rather than not, reason is, it's easier to do that then to replace or section a qtr pnl. You're guy is right to an extent, that car has the rear and side glass out and all torn apart. A car like that back in the day, has to wait for the insurance company to come out and if you are not in a rental, they take their time getting to that shop to estimated it, tiktok-tiktok. The entire the time the customer wants his car back, taking the trunk off, tearing the interior apart and removing both glass', the rear by a glass guy and lets hope he doesn't break it and that takes a lot of time and then cut out the qtr and re-weld the new one and lets not forget if the dealership has to have one in stock, has to order it or get one from a recycler (tiktok-tiktok), a job like that especially when they don't want to pay and everyone is rushing the car to get done makes taking shortcuts that much more affordable and lucrative.

Also looking back at the car it was in decent shape, but as you and the guy thats working on it now know, lots of piss poor work, but it is getting done right now, especially having the Donar car for irreplaceable straight factory parts.

[bird_dog0347]

We also decided that the passenger side rear fender will get replaced with the one from the donor as well... we aren't trying to fix this bullshit. Once that is done it's time to fix the driver's side rocker and door mount points.