[Essex_29]

Happy New Year!

Keeping on trying to finish the frame. Now it's time for the strut rods that have
to be modified to fit. Starting with a couple old Mustang lower control arms that
I bought at a swap meet,  I decided to use the inboard bushing to make what
effectively is an extended A-arm.

I first cut away most of what I don't need.



Then made some brackets. They're two slightly different sizes, because the frame
slopes downward towards the back.



The length of the whole assembly is dictated by the idler arm on this side, and
of course, the pitman arm on the driver's side. Brackets tacked in place in this
pic, still working on the strut rod end.



Here the strut rod end is tacked to the rod itself. The aim is to keep the bushings
aligned to make for a smooth moving assembly.



This pic shows how I made the thing compression resistant by welding in a crush
preventing part in the middle, made from ¹/₈" plate.



Finally the whole thing was clad in the same ¹/₈" plate, welded
and ground to a smooth finish



New year, new possiblilities... And now I just have to do the other side.

[TFoch]

Nice work as usual! Thanks for posting all the details.

[sammons]

Nice fab work Essex.

[Essex_29]

Thank you TFoch and sammons!

Slow progress the last month or so, since I have been coughing and had had a cold that wouldn't let
go. Turns out it's some sinus infection, and I got antibiotics for it yesterday, so I hope to be back on
track in a week maybe.

Since my last post I have made and welded on brackets for the running board mounts to
bolt to, the other strut rod and its mounting brackets and some other small details on
the frame.
Today I boxed in the upper cross member, the one that goes over the prop shaft. I made
 it an open design, but decided to box it for some additional rigidity.



I also cut five parts from ³/ ₁₆" plate for a reinforcement plate that will bolt to the inside
of the frame, over the steering box. This will reinforce the frame a bit, since I had to mount
the steering box inside the  frame, to be able to keep the front end geometry decent.



Slow work cutting plate with the angle grinder, but I'm too lazy to get the plasma going for
just  a few parts. I probably could have saved time using the plasma already...

[sammons]

Essex, i feel for you on the sinus infection. Last june i mowed some ragweed/pigweed and i thought that set it off. First ears kept plugging, then headache/pressure behind my eyes, then my forehead hurt. Didn't go away so got a steroid shot, that usually kicks it. Nope, went back and got anti-biotics. Told doc i was good with Penicillan, picked up percription. She got me some kind of Z pack 6 day crap. Tore my stomach up for two weeks😡  Still get the snots and ear plugging couple hours every other day.

Looks like you got her boxed up good. What ever it takes, looking good.

[Essex_29]

Ugh, sammons, that doesn't sound good.
In my case the penicillin doesn't seem to work, I have had seven days of it now, and to
no effect at all so far.

Anyway, got in a couple good shifts in the shop, so the to do list for the frame is all ticked
off. I got the reinforcement plate done today, and it now bolts to the frame with eight
 M12 bolts, they're almost ¹/₂"



The frame is mostly sanded. and hangs from the ceiling and the engine hoist. It was sand
blasted when I started working on it, so I'm mostly sanding the epoxy primer so that the
new epoxy and paint will stick. I might do the epoxy tomorrow, but I don't look forward to
it. I dislike standing outside in the winter washing the spray gun with ice cold thinner,
procrastination might be a more funner solution.

[Essex_29]

I decided to dismiss ideas of procrastination today, and went ahead and got it done.



Luckily it's not crazy cold here now (33 degrees), so heathing is not realy an issue. in a few days ahead,
thursday, I think,
5 degrees is forecasted, and I like  at least about 60 in the shop when I paint, so I'd better do this inside a few days.
A few winters ago, I did bodywork and paint on a ?68 BelAir wagon. It was many weeks of work and the
electric bill wasn't fun that winter.
For filler to work good, you really can't save on heat.

[Essex_29]

More painting today, better do it as long as the garage is heated nicely, and the weather is not too cold.
Luckily I went to buy more black paint earlier today, to later have paint ready for the bottom and inside of
the body, as it turned out I needed a lot more paint than expected.



So much overspray when you paint something like this.
I got the parts for the front suspension painted too.

[sammons]

Looking good Essex!  Yes, filler and paint don't play well at 60 and below. Amazing how much paint all those small parts and frames take with all the overspray. When i was painting sprint cars, those chassis took a lot of paint trying to get to all sides of all those tubes. Drag car cages were bad enough, but tube chassis were terrible.

[Essex_29]

Thank you sammons. Yes, I  hear you, spray painting anything built from tubes is a chore, and
a huge waste of paint.

I happened to get the frame hung almost exactly on its center of gravity, so I could roll it back to its
place with the engine hoist without any help. It sits on jack stands now, with rags between the
stands and the painted frame, like any old show car frame. Silly as this is going to be a driver. The paint
on the  frame will be scratched to death in a week when I get to drive this thing.



I started with the fun stuff, mounting new bushings and balljoints. This is slow work, the old fasteners
being used have to be cleaned, details and parts have to be painted and of course, some parts are
missing and have to be ordered.



All stages of a build are fun in some way. Right now it feels awesome to be doing something that visibly
shows progress.

[sammons]

Frame looks great Essex. Your moving right along.

[Essex_29]

Thank you sammons, doing my best to keep the momentum going.

A few bits done, new balljoints and bushings in the control arms. I also trial fitted the adapters for the
GM G-body/ Camaro/ S10 brake calipers to mate to the MustangII spindles, so that the 11" Granada
brake rotors will fit.



I have to say, the aftermarket for American cars is amazing. You're not likely be able to find anything similar for average European cars, old or new.

Steering box out of a Mercedes-Benz W124 cleaned, painted and mounted in its place.



Same with the idler arm, which also got a new repair kit with bushings and that big bolt.



The strut rod bushing to the right of the idler arm in this pic is still the old one. I have ordered new
bushings from Rockauto a couple days ago.

[Essex_29]

I cleaned up and painted the rear axle a few days ago, and decided to try and
remove the bearings today. I ended up making a tool from ³/₈" plate for removing
them . Using a borrowed heavy duty slide hammer it was easy to get the bearings out.



I'll go buy some kerosene and brake cleaner tomorrow for cleaning the rear axle
internally, and then the engine and transmission for painting.

First time trying to fit the adapters for the GM calipers and Granada rotors. It's fun when
parts from three different cars just fit perfectly.
The Ford brake rotor is slightly thinner than the GM rotor would have been, so for piece
of mind I'm going to make a shim to go between the caliper piston and the brake pad.

[TFoch]

Chassis is looking great!

[sammons]

Looking really good. Your moving right along.