Door Gaps

For those people who have had issues getting the door gaps right when they try and fit new doors, this may be of interest.

As I have the time to get the panel gaps right on this car, I've had to do a bit of tedious work to ensure the door gaps look good.

I just thought this method up on the fly......

• First, fit the doors as best you can.
• In my case I could get a good constant gap along the lower sill edge.
• This gave me uneven gaps at the front & rear edges.
• Draw a line along the door skin parallel with the edges (see photos).
• At the areas where the gap needs work, draw measurements of how much extra metal is needed.
• Sand the edge back to metal and carefully build up a bead of weld (see photos).
• Be careful not to do too much in one spot at one time (see photos).
• Finally, grind back the weld to meet your measurements.

Hopefully you can see from the before and after photos - it doesn't look too bad at all.
It will need just a skim of filler or even a heavy undercoat filler would do. Here are the photos in the sequence above....

End of "mini post" about door gaps!

Final Panel Fit

Here are some extra photos that may be of interest to some folk. Just some work-in-progress shots while I've been dummy-fitting various panels & suspension bits......

The photo above has the front qtr just "hanging" there while I check for front wheel room when steering "lock to lock". The rear suspension is just sitting at the standard suspension height - the car will be lower when complete.

This is a 16" rim that has an 8" width. The backspacing is....? I will put that on this blog once I measure it.....

The photo above shows I need to probably get another inch of backspace, obtain a lower control arm that has adjustable length, or flare the guard (which I wont do).

Now that the chassis modifications and frame have been "ok'd" by my vehicle engineer, it's time to perform final measurements on the overall frame itself and then test-fit the bolt-on panels in preparation for paint.

While I was very careful when measuring the frame during construction, you always get a bit of warping when spinning the body on the rotisserie and welding with the vehicle sitting at unusual angles.

So I have dropped the car back on its wheels and the following photos show what the panel-fit looks like without any final frame/chassis straightening.

I have the doors hung pretty close to where they will be in final assembly, but the guards are just bolted on loosely. I'm looking for straight, thin, consistent panel gaps of course! I've had to trim back some internal flanges on the front-guards already as they just don't fit properly "out of the box". You can also see the clear lenses and LED tail-lights installed so I can be sure all the add-ons will bolt up nicely and be aligned.

The areas that worry me are......

    - the rear bumper (the rear right side just doesn't curl up at the outer edge as it should).

    - the top-rear-inner edge of the guards (where they meet the windscreen pillar).

    - the bonnet (front left edge) as I need more wiggle room for the front guards.

    - the outer-rear trunk edges (where they meet the quarter extensions).

...while these areas "worry" me, it's all fixable - but will just need a lot of work to get it right!

Still - it's starting to look pretty good when "dummy fitted" together. Those rear wheels were made for a wider Australian falcon body but the offset looks good. This has given me a nice indication of what the rear axle length should be and so I'll be chopping back my 9" diff to be 1 inch shorter on each side.
I will update this post with final pictures of the panels in place. Hopefully my '67 Shelby bonnet (fibreglass skin on metal frame) will be around by then....

Floor & Subframe

Finally - the floor/chassis/firewall combo is complete!
The photo below shows how things look from underneath. While it's easy to spot the sub-frame connectors, keen eyes will spot the box chassis running in the sills and keener eyes will see the front-seat mounting rails as they attach to the sills on the outer edges of the floor (and are cut into the floor-pan at the outer edges).

This photo of inside the cabin shows the custom seat mounting rails (50mm x 50mm box-tube) in position across the floor, including the hump over the trans-tunnel. With these seat rails welded to the sub-frame connectors and the outer sill chassis, I have a very rigid structure setup for the car. The good thing is that it all sits low in the vehicle ensuring any extra weight is as low to the ground as possible.

While the underneath of the car is simply painted in an epoxy to protect it from surface rust (until I work out exactly how I will paint the entire car), the inside of the cabin has been hit with POR-15 to seal it from moisture. I'm only luke-warm with the gloss-black finish it has, but water certainly "beads" on it immediately and drains right away.

The photo below shows the firewall in a semi-finished state. I'm yet to panel-beat & grind it completely smooth, but you get an idea of the shape that was required to sit the engine back as far as possible. The recess for the Trickflow head on the right of picture is about an inch deep.

Note that I've made a custom frame-rail that used to be in place where the rear engine mount bolted on. I've put this piece back in the same location in case a small-block is ever re-installed in the car, but it is extended upwards by about 2 inches to cater for the trans-tunnel being raised by this amount to fit the big-block/tremec driveline combination.

Just for some added detail, note how Ive applied liberal amounts of Rust Bullet to the draining areas of the lower cowl (where the draining hole are cut into the new bracing i've added). Once I finish the lower cowl surface off with POR-15, I'd be very suprised if this area ever rusted thru to leak into the cabin again!

From this point on, the rest of this post is the same - showing the lead-up to completing things above. I am ready now for my first vehicle inspection from an engineer that works with the state traffic authorities. That person will deem this chassis safe (or show me where to fix things) so I can move on to final panel & bodywork items (to fix) in preparation for paint and assembly.

All that will be in a new set of posts......

BTW - if anyone has a suggestion for the color for this car then sent me a message!

Previous post info.............

The floors & sub-frame connectors have proven to be such a beast, probably because of all the custom work I've done in fitting the big-block and squeezing the full chassis within the sills.
Then again, I also went for a custom sub-frame that's cut into the floor to give me "near stock" ground clearance under the car. I nearly didn't put in the sub-frames, but with the chassis not being a suitable spot to run my battery leads, fuel lines, Cat6 Ethernet & wiring harness - they have become the best way to both strengthen the car further as well as hide & protect the above items.

The following photos show the basic approach I've taken.......
First I manufactured the sub-frames that tie the front & rear frames together.

Getting the angles right on these was "fiddly" as I wanted to ensure it was as easy as possible to push the conduit & fuel lines through.
Next I lay the floor pans in position to mark out and then cut out the slots to allow the new sub-frames to push up into both floors as the floor pans themselves were lowered into position.
Once happy after a few last moment passes with the grinder ("flapper" disks are fantastic tool I've discovered!) to get a perfect custom fit, I clamped and then welded the floors to the front frame-extensions (via plug welds), the connectors and the rear floor (under the rear seat). Oh - and of course you can see the copper "weld thru" primer on the parts that will get covered up as well as the custom "humps" I had to include in the floor pans to clear the custom rear transmission mount. It all takes time...........

You can see the way they are nicely "cut in" to the floor. At their lowest point on the car, they protrude 1" into the cabin and 1" below the floor.

You can see the way it all finished up nicely in the photo below - even before I've finally welded the floors all along their inner edges (to the trans-tunnel) and outer edges (to the inner sill panels).

In the following shots the trans-tunnel is finally welded to the floor and I've created the recesses needed for the rear gearbox mount - but allowing it to mount forward or rearward a few inches to optimise the final engine location.

Now you can see my firewall templates being installed. I had originally created a single steel sheet (after making a cardboard template) but had to split it into two sections just so I could handle it properly and get the best final fit. You can see where I've marked it to make various recesses for the heads, for the "bend-lines" to start the transition to the trans-tunnel, etc.

And here is the firewall in place, but waiting for the recesses to be cut & welded in to cater for the offset of the heads on one side of the engine-block (American drivers side) as well as the pedal-box & steering wheel mounting plate on the other side.

As you can see below, I've plug-welded the new firewall on its edges, but seam-welded it to the new floor panels and up along the full length of its top edge (where it welds to the firewall/shock-tower brace).

The photo below shows the car spun on its side so you can see the seam weld along the firewalls top edge.

It was great to finally receive my under dash brake booster from RRS. This unit includes the clutch pedal assembly too - so all hydraulics except the remote reservoirs are concealed. While this really cleans up the engine bay, I've had to do this anyway so the big-block will fit. The quality of the unit is first-class and it bolted right in with very little problem.
The photo below shows things close to complete. I've grafted the firewall section from the original firewall in place to allow the RRS under dash pedal-box to bolt in. You will also notice the notched cross-brace and recess in progress. And lastly, it was great to bolt the steering wheel & column back in - as that makes it start to look like a real car again. You can see I did a trial fit that included the steering rack to ensure no binding in the universal joints would occur.
In terms of strength, the shell will be quite rigid I'm sure. No doubt I'll "pay" for that however with a harsher ride, but that's a small price in my opinion. Something I will need to keep an eye on now though is the front pillars (where they join the cowl and roof) - as this would be my logical weak spot(s) and thus a place to flex and cause paint cracking. More on what I'm doing to mitigate that potential problem in another post though.....

Firewall & Engine fit.

After dummy fitting the engine for the first time, i've had to modify the sump to clear the rack & pinion and existing front cross-member.

You can see below how I scalloped it and radiused the edges. I've also allowed enough room to shift the block forward or back a few inches from my initial "default" location.

There is still a good half inch or more room between the spinning crank & rods and the bottom of the sump at the new scalloped section.
Now you can see the block being "enticed" into position......

All ancillaries that need to be catered for (for firewall and extractor construction) are bolted on so I don't get surprises when doing the final installation.
Now you can see the Tremec bolted up and i've raised the tran's tunnel 2 inches to give me just enough "wiggle-room" to make future driveline installations easy enough as well as include the cross-member that welds in between the frame extensions at this point. Thankfully, the standard rear engine mount from an Australian '72 to '79 Falcon bolts right onto the Tremec with no mod's and fits perfectly between the frame extensions. I have however had to modify Mustang floor pans to clear the rear cross-member "humps" (that allow for the twin exhausts to pass thru).

Below you can see the block now sits nicely in the engine bay and the transmission is perfectly centered.

And below you can see (if you enlarge the photo) the room I have available to construct my custom headers....

I had a single sheet of steel for the firewall, but had to split it in the middle to make it easiest to handle and "custom fit". You can see from the photo below that it's initially a nice snug fit around the driveline. But this is an illusion - I will be cutting and bending the firewall to make more clearance room. Otherwise the fit would be so tight that I couldn't install the engine/transmission in a single unit, and, i'd struggle to swap to an auto in the future.

Notice the marker pen scribble on the sheet-metal.... this is where I am "indenting" the firewall to provide adequate clearance around the motor.

And below you can see the tight fit with the final positioning. But the important thing is that it does fit!

And finally below you can see my "helpers" having a bit of fun!

When I get back from my travels it's out with all the driveline & suspension, then the shell goes back up on the spinner so I can cleanly weld in the firwall & floor to finish the shell.

Firewall - interim update

Just so I can keep from being accused of neglecting this blog, here are some shots of what's been happening recently.......

As can be seen, I've dropped the shell off the rotisserie as I need to dummy fit the engine and can't do that while it's up on the spinner.

But in order to test fit the driveline (to complete the firewall), I had to finally receive my......

• Tremec TKO 600
• Quicktime bell housing
• Flywheel (lightened)
• Clutch (11 inch, plus hydraulic throw-out bearing)
• Reduction starter
• Rocker covers
• plus various miscellaneous parts

As can be seen above, these allow me to "button up" the block enough to keep it sealed from dirt & humidity yet have the outside dimensions in place to form the firewall and trans-tunnel.

Pictures of first attempted "engine fit" are shown below. There is just under an inch of clearance from the top of the shock towers to the rocker covers.

I can drop the engine down anther inch or two and still have the bell housing sit high enough from the ground - after I cut out some of the dry-sump where it contacts the rack & pinion setup. As I'm having a front and rear sump scavenge system, scalloping the centre section slightly is no problem.

The tall rocker covers fit over the stud girdle. It's a tight fit in terms of engine bay width - but it fits non-the-less. The shot above shows how far back I can set the block for better weight distribution.

However, I am seriously considering fabricating some "sliding" engine mounts to push it back a further 2 inches (once I drop it an extra inch after the sump mod's). The motor would then slip back in under the lower cowl panel nicely. Sliding mounts would then let me slide the engine forward quickly when I need to lift the rocker covers.

Anyway, lot's to do now in terms of "Metalwork 101" to get the firewall sheetmetal right.

Regards, Spiderman.

Installing the RRS steering rack

I thought this would be worth a small post while I wait for the under-dash pedal box.....
Here is the RRS rack I just received & unpacked. It comes complete with the universal-joints, telescopic steering shaft, bearings and all the goodies to modify the steering column as well.

And here it is an hour or so later after it bolted right in with no dramas at all.

As per the instructions, all I needed to do was drill 4 holes (2 each side) in the lip of the chassis rail and in it all went.

One thing I have noticed is that the rack bolts in right where the chassis lip is recessed (cut back) to give clearance for the inner rear edge of the tyre at full steering lock. We will see if there is any interference later I guess when I put on my chosen rim/tyre combo. At least the steering bump-stops are adjustable on the rack so I can ensure I can stop the tyre hitting if there is a problem. But of course I'd rather get as much steering lock as possible so hopefully this wont be an issue.

The rack & struts are just dummied in place so I can get the shell rolling to do the firewall. I need it rolling so I can put the motor in - and I can't do that on the rotisserie!

Shock-Tower Bracing

As mentioned (in the last temporary post), I've been doing a lot of work bracing up the front of the cowls in preparation for trial-fitting the RRS front suspension pieces.

This is all being done in order to have everything complete so I can finally build my custom firewall. It is turning out that the firewall will be the last thing done to complete the shell - when I initially thought I could have completed it much sooner.

However - I've made some useful progress recently as evidenced by the following photos....


What you'll see above (once you look past the very nice RRS strut) is the reasonable degree of "triangulation" happening that stops the top of the shock-tower deflecting inwards (wanting to at least) when the suspension loads up. This custom system does away with the normal Mustang "Export Brace" that would otherwise take room away from big-block induction system in the engine bay.

The RRS gear is sensational quality and bolted right in. I have no hesitation in recommending their products in terms of "fit" as well as great service. I'm confident the performance will match the early impressions - and in case you are wondering, I'm not being sponsored by anyone! Just my actual observations so far!


I done away with the export brace not just to make more room, but also as the export brace is just a pressed piece of thin steel plate that can flex under compression. My system (when under suspension load) comes under tension along the external brace and compression only along the short inner (25mm X 50mm box-tube) brace.


My theory (just my opinion) is that my short inner brace will not flex under compression and my external brace will not stretch. Hence the need to have that solid box-tube section welded in place right across the firewall (see my previous post). I have gone down this path to ensure I have a solid foundation to handle the big-block torque output in combination with the advanced suspension setup.


Lastly, my vehicle engineer suggested I do not weld all this bracing to the shock-tower in place but bolt it in where possible. This allows for some flex to make sure welds aren't prone to cracking over time. And it can all be removed if required.

Here are some shots of how I got to this point.....

This (above) may look simple, but it wasn't. The outcome is that I've braced the firewall support box-tube that you can "end on" at upper left. The painful part is that I had to perform significant rust repair at the window pillar and along the lower edge of the outer cowl to make things solid, as well as build in a drain for the lower cowl. You can see the drain slot (a drain "tube" actually) cut into the upper brace.

The shot above shows the mounting points for the custom bracing being done as well as the "load spreader" plate bolted on top of the shock-tower. Note to young players - install the rear engine bay aprons after doing such work - you'll have much more room. D'oh! Thankfully I had only done one side by this stage.

Above is a shot of the custom bracing that is completely removable. Things to note are that the mounting bolt holes that run through the bottom of each piece of bracing (when looking at the photo above) are sleeved with 1/2"o.d. tube - so that 3/8" high tensile bolts slide nice and snugly through them. Also, the load spreader plates are made from 6mm steel plate & have their tabs bent to face as directly as possible along their lines of "load". Lastly, the three holes drilled into the load spreaders plates match the template created by the RRS strut mounting plates.

The above photo shows the bracing partially complete and gives you an idea of the degree of "triangulation" I was able to get. Quite a bit as you can see. Not much will get in the way of the big-block now!

I have a few more things to do with the front suspension like run the brake lines and tidy up unused holes in the engine bay, while I wait for the RRS under-dash pedal assembly to arrive. It is only then that I can "dummy up" the motor & transmission as well as the pedal box & steering column to fabricate the firewall correctly.
Just so you know, I've decided not to install a firewall from a modern Falcon as I'd need to chop it to pieces anyway (plus it has a resin sound deadening layer sandwiched within it that would catch fire when welding to make welding a real pain). So I'm making the firewall from 1.5mm zinc coated steel sheet and will shift the big-block back as far as possible in the engine bay. This should make the custom firewall quite a contorted piece - but all the recesses & bends that it will need to have will also make it very strong (as it will attain a kind of "3D" shape). So it wont be just a simple shallow "cone" pressed in a flat steel sheet as is done for a normal firewall.

Of course all that will be detailed in upcoming posts.....