andyfanshawe

Progress is okay at the moment, certainly going to be a few hours spent in there this winter!!
Thinking forward, once every panel is cut, welded, smoothed prepped and primered, they are all going to come off and go into storage (may have to leave front fenders on though).
Car will be put into the centre of the garage with the wheels on a railway sleeper each. The the front and rear springs removed and the wagon lowered down onto its bump stops.

Then bump stops removed and wagon lowered further until the front ball joints go to their limit of side to side movement.
The distance from the bottom of the rocker flange to the floor will then be measured. This is the distance the body will be channeled over the chassis so I can get it on the floor at full drop on the future airsprings.
The car will then be raised back up to its original factory suspension position and soild rods fabricated and put in place of the springs.
Then the fun begins - car stripped to a shell and floor/firewall cutout and everything lowered. And welded up.
One thing I know for certain is that the hood will have to be a cowl induction one to clear the engine, that will have made a break upwards!!
This is going to be one fun winter!!!!!!
Andy.

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lowcamaro

Bert

Sounds like you'll be pretty busy. At least you'll have the garage? Hope to continue seeing pictures of the progress.

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Bert

andyfanshawe

Not getting much time on this recently, but decided to try a different approach to welding up the door handle gap with MIG. Rather than risk the inevitable distortion I'm going to spot weld this time.
Here's the card template and the exact steel panel spot welded in place.

Zero distortion this time.
Andy.

Bert

Looks like that was a good idea.

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Bert

andyfanshawe

I'm going to blame my Lincoln Mark 8 for the lack of progress :rolleyes: I love that car, but have to crack on with this wagon.
I left it welding up the door handle and lock and decided to spot weld it instead to prevent any distortion whatsoever. But I couldn't get to the right hand side of the lock to spotweld, so i was a bit naughty and cut an access hole in the side :hairraise:

Don't worry I'll weld it up after so no one will know!! Apart from the millions on here that is.
Heres the reason for the hole


I promise to do a lot more updates, honest! Oh, just remembered,....out of the blue (well ebay), I spotted a rare beast, a 1985 country squire that is being broken up for spares! Here in the UK!
So I am taking delivery of the engine and box, all the glass, all the weatherstrips on tops of the doors, all door seals and numerous other bits that would be impossible to find otherwise on this side of the pond!
So, question....are the engine block and the heads and ancillaries the same on the 1985 as in my 1990? And the trans?
I know mine is multipoint fuel injection but this one is not..

1985 engine


Mine (taken when I bought it)

Andy.

andyfanshawe

Hi again all!
How busy can life get?!! A Lincoln Mark 8 to restore as well as a country squire, oh and a full time job, a family, 2 parents in their nineties and...........
Anyway, time to get on with the crown vic I think. But I need more space (don't we all).
This has arrived in the shape of a 30 year old wooden 8' by 6' shed! Yes I could build an extension to the garage, but this shed is free :woot:
It was my Wife's dads shed for 20 years, then he unfortunately died (God rest his soul, poor guy), his Wife then moved into a smaller house and the shed got dismantled and moved to a relatives garden where it stayed for about 3 years laid flat on the garden!
Then it got moved to an allotment where it stayed for about 3 years.
The allotment owner gave it up due to ill health and I took charge of the shed.
Here is the poor thing in the allotment awaiting dismantling and transportation

Here's myself and my lovely Wife enjoying a moment while demolition takes place

and my young 9 year old son looking on

Here it is in our garden awaiting resto...

the shed has now been completely restored by myself and my Wife over the last 2 weeks and hopefully will be assembled this weekend. I'll tell you what, its simpler restoring a shed than a car! For a shed thats as old as this there wasn't much rot really. The roofing felt had been partially replaced by black poly sheeting but the water has taken its toll of the 2 roof panels and the bottom corners of the walls and floor. But its has all been replaced with good stuff and thoroughly waterproofed. Here's to another 30 years!
Here's the door restored and painted in my garage!

The reason for the shed is so I can take a door in one a time and work on it in peace and have a bit more space.
This door for example that is now hanging from the roof of my garage will be the first in!
All welding has been done on the door now so it just needs a bit of panel beating and prepping and priming.



Here's hoping for a good weekend so I can get this shed up and weatherproofed :uk:
Andy.

Bert

That shed will certainly come in handy for the smaller jobs. Perfect!

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Bert

andyfanshawe

Finally got my shed/workshop up and finished!
Here's as it was a couple of weeks ago..


and here it is now!


Thought this was a nice touch! Although my lovely Wife didn't really agree!

Now I can actually get on with the car!
Andy.

Bert

Looks MUCH better. You do great work.

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Bert

andyfanshawe

Put the drivers door on the hood (on top of foam before anyone moans and groans!)

Bent the bottom lip back to reveal....guess what?.....nothing! almost zero rust.


Then rustproofer sprayed in from inside and outside

and then heated up to make it run into all the crevices

Here it is hung up slightly to get the rustproofer down where it should be

This is never going to rust out!!
Andy.