Last of the V8 Interceptors.. my XB Falcon Coupe

Daved_XB

I’m very glad that this is the last time I’ll fit this big rear mumford link mount… it’s bloody heavy & a tight press fit, but it’s in & home now



The painted brackets don’t stick out too bad in the boot



The front Torque arm brace is in now too



Again the inside plates look fine… plus these will be covered with the carpet & the seats ultimately… so I’ll also be welding these guys up as a captive bolts now that the bracket is in.. the simple reason being that if I ever need to loosen or tighten one of these in the future I don’t want to have to rip the seats & carpet out to do it… glad I’ve thought of that before it was too late…



So I think that’s pretty much the underside of the floor finished until I have the car back & I have to run fuel & brake lines etc…

Daved_XB

I’ve sprayed all the inside floor of the car with the same Raptor liner as it has a sound deadening quality too… I’ve decided to even spray the parcel shelf since it gets covered up anyway, I’ve also sprayed all the inside of the boot & the inside of the rear QTRs..















With that done I’ve packed up the paint booth for safe keeping until I need it again, which will probably be for the floors of the Dodge when I get around to that

Daved_XB

Now it’s time to make up the travel dolly that the XB will live on until I get her back from the painters, I bought some lengths of 3mm thick 50mm square tube for the job… it’s probably overkill for what’s needed but I’d rather go thicker than risk it





I spend so much time welding 0.8mm old rusty car panel metal that it was such a joy to be able to turn the welder up & just pull the trigger & not worry about blowing a hole in the metal… some days it’s the simple things



My painter has a portable scissor lift that he uses to lift the cars he’s painting so he can have them at the heights he wants.. so he’s given me the dimensions he would like it made too, he wants the whole thing 250mm off the deck so I’m making raised platforms for the castors to mount to





I was going to be lazy & just weld the castors to the platforms but I decided to do it right & welded some flat plates on that I can bolt the castors to





I then rolled the frame under the car so I can work out the uprights, I’m going to use the front lower control arm bolt holes for the front of the dolly & the rear leaf suspension eye holes for the rear mounts

Daved_XB

Now onto a huge milestone for both the car & me…. I unbolted the rotisserie off the car!!!! I’ve double checked the dates… the car went onto this rotisserie on the 27th of December 2016…



Then the rear comes off



I’ll clean this up & put it to one side until it’s time to put the Dodge on it so I can do the floors fully..



I know that I’ve done nothing to the actual car here but she just looks more like a car now I think…

Daved_XB

I keep/kept changing my mind on how much if any of the engine bay I wanted to paint in the Raptor liner stuff… this included the underside of the front chassis rails & engine crossmember etc… now when I was painting the car on the rotisserie (i.e. at the perfect time to do said painting) I’d decided that I wanted all of that metal painted by my painter in high gloss shiny paint to match the car… well I changed my mind the very first day AFTER pulling the car off the rotisserie (yes I’m that much of a ****ing Muppet)

Right so more masking up to be done so… I was again torn between where to paint & where not to paint, so I was thinking that I’d paint 100% of the underside along with the front crossmember & also the two sections that mount the front suspension & act as the radiator supports





I did this masking up Monday evening but then decided not to paint that night but to sleep on it…. So I changed my mind again… Now I would not be painting the tops of the rad support sections after all…



I wanted to paint any forward facing parts of the underside that would get stone strikes etc… so this is what I’ve painted up





I’ve also painted the engine bay side of the front crossmember as this is in the path of stones thrown up too & also you don’t really see it from above once the engine is in but you tend to always scratch the paint in this area when installing & removing the engine & exhaust headers



Next gap is fitting panels & sorting alignments & gaps… I promise… maybe

Daved_XB

I had kind of half forgotten that the doors still needed some attention, the rear bottom outside corner of the driver’s side door had been hiding a rust hole under the bog/paint so that needs fixing







With that done I need to sort the much more awkward to get to internal rust issue… there is a long felt strip that bolts into the top of the door that guides the glass up & down without scratching it, it also traps water it seems & rusts out the door. Both doors are suffering this issue…

Let’s start with the passenger side door.. I ground back the surface rust to see if I could just do a weld up repair of the original metal





Nope… it’s gone too far & needs to be cut out



Patch made up.. you won’t see the fact that its curved once the felt strip, door trim & glass are all back installed but I’ve curved the patch a little to ease my OCD





The drivers side was a little worse…

Daved_XB

There is no way to get right into this spot to cut out the frame without cutting a hole in the door skin or cutting out the inners of the door… so I’ve just rust treated this section with a rust converter before covering it in etch primer





Right that’s the doors ready to go back on… Bolted on the upper cowl panel & the original bonnet hinges



Now one of the special shaped captive nuts for the driver’s side hinge fell out years ago, but I had it… & I still have it… it’s in a safe place, it’s in an uber safe place…. It’s in a kind of captive nut protection programme run by the FBI…. I have no ****ing idea where I’ve put the bloody thing now… I’ve been ripping the shed apart, I’ll keep looking for another day or so but if I can’t find it then I’ll just weld in a normal nut to act as a captive nut.. it’s missing from the large hole at the top here



I need to fit the rear lower valance panel…



As I’ve said before it doesn’t line up right now if I use the mounting brackets







I can make it line up nicely if I don’t use the brackets so the back of the car is the right shape at least… this is a NOS panel so I know it’s the right XB shape



When I clamp it in the right spot you can see that the two brackets are off by half a bolt hole

Daved_XB

The brackets are thin metal so I’m in two minds as to how to fix this, I can cut them off & re-weld them on or I can probably just heat them & persuade them with the assistance of the Muscle Car Special tool (hammer) to relocate the correct distance across



I might fit the bumper back on first to see if moving the mounting brackets across is the only action I need to take… the bumper mounting brackets have 4 holes, but as some early XA coupes only used 3 the replacement sheet metal panel only have 3 holes when you get it… so I’ll need to add another hole there too

Daved_XB

Right now it’s time for the frustrating fettling that is setting panel gaps… this will probably take all weekend, but such is life as they say… so back on with the doors





Now the bonnet is quiet latterly thrown on here, so it’s nowhere near right in any direction that’s adjustable



Then the guards go back on









So here she sits for now…. Looking more like a complete car than she has in years..









I’ll start adjusting the panels as close as I can & then I’ll throw the bumpers on & the front & rear lower valance panels & see how close to good I can get here to look

Daved_XB

The job for the weekend was to mount up all the panels & the bumpers to see where I stand with regards to panel fitments… so I started with the rear bumper. The tap set would be getting a workout this weekend as I wanted to clean out all the threaded holes of the captive nuts on the car & most of the bolts need to be cleaned up of surface rust in the threads too









I’ve whacked the bumper on (a fun job on your own I can assure you… it weights a ton)



You can see it’s too far off to the drivers side & needs to be centred





This isn’t a big deal, the original bolt hole slots in the chassis rails are elongated.. but the holes in the replacement rear panel that I welded in are just round, so all I’ll need to do here is slot the round holes to match the original.. I didn’t do it before now as I had no idea how far I’d need to slot them & I only want to go as far as I need

Daved_XB

I have the rear valance panel as centred as is possible to get now.. I’ll need to cut a slice out of the drivers side to bring the top edge in as it fits perfect on the bottom..



Putt he bumper back on to see how it lines up with the valance panel





Test fit both bootlids to see which on I go with, the grey one is the original off the car & I think that’s the one I’ll use





Attached the bootlid onto the hinges again & fitted the rear spoiler so I can be sure that it still fits when properly installed







I bolted up the front guards fully this time & installed the NOS front lower valance panel that I have… this all lines up perfectly

Daved_XB

I have the bonnet mostly right, just need a second set of hands to help as it’s a heavy thing to move about on your own & you can only loosen off the mounting bolts a tiny amount when adjusting it… but I know I can get it right, just have two little dents & some pin hole rust to sort on the front corners







Got the front bumper back on… again not really a one man job but it’s on now & all lines up perfectly

Daved_XB

I couldn’t find my original bonnet catch stay for a while, so had bolted on a spare I had laying about off an XC model Coupe



This has an extra section to support the different shaped XC grille so I couldn’t fit the XB grille in



Went digging thru some old boxes & found the correct part



Now the grille slots in nicely

Daved_XB

Then I wheeled the old girl out into the sun for no reason at all other than I want to sit in the evening sun looking at her…..















Right so what’s left… I have a door hinge pin kit to install as both doors sag when you open them as they weigh a ton & the old pins have worn over the last 45 years



I have a little work to do to finish off the rear valance panel, there are some tiny holes in the roof drip rails that I’ve been putting fixing as that metal will be uber thin & a total pain to weld…the driver’s door gaps are shocking, the door had soooo much bog on it to correct that when I took the car apart, but I’ll look to weld new metal to the leading edge & extend the door correctly, there are also a few dents here & there that I’ll fix with my dent puller & then I think I’ve run out of stuff to do…

I’ll call my painter today (it’s Monday already here in OZ) & get him to come around & give his opinion on what needs doing… I think her days here in my shed are numbered now…

K.Flyer

I could look at these pictures all day...

Clear skies and warm sunshine !!

Oh.. and the car look amazing as well

Daved_XB

I’m trying to decide if I should fit the reverse hood scoop that the XC Cobra’s & the racing Coupes had back in the late 70’s…..

Gremlinertia

Adds to the aggressive stance of the car, love an ould scoop or three

quietsailor

Definitely add the reverse scoop - it's a muscle car and it makes it look more muscular. I don't want to go quoting all the pics you've uploaded recently as I'll fill the thread needlessly but thank you for posting all these - it gives us something to look at in this miserable weather

Daved_XB

Now just to be clear, I won’t be cutting up my perfect GT bonnet to fit this scoop.. I have a second bonnet with a “shaker” hole already cut into it, I just need to make up a section to replace the rust I cut off of it…. I just need to cut the square hole in my spare bonnet into a larger round one to allow a high rise air cleaner to poke thru into the scoop…



So in the end I’ll have two painted bonnets, one with the scoop & one without.. just need to decide which one to run from day one as swapping them over will be a pain

Lurching

Would you not be better off saving that bonnet so that you can cut it up to fit the supercharger and intake through it?!

Daved_XB

Lurching wrote: »

Would you not be better off saving that bonnet so that you can cut it up to fit the supercharger and intake through it?!

Hmmmm... no, that's very illegal here now & any cars you see with a set up like that at car shows normally are trailered to the show & back.

If I had a blower sticking out of the bonnet it would be a huge risk of being stopped & fined for having a non-roadworthy car every time & having the car put off the road until I fixed it.. get done for the same offence multiple times & they'll start to impound the car... get the wrong cop who wants to book you under the Australian "Hoon" laws & the ultimate penalty is they can crush your car...

Plus I do have a 3rd bonnet at a mates place I could use... Note to self.. I must go collect that, think I still have 3 doors there too & the car original engine block

Lurching

Daved_XB wrote: »

Hmmmm... no, that's very illegal here now & any cars you see with a set up like that at car shows normally are trailered to the show & back.

Absolute spoilsports.
I bought my 2002Tii in Melbourne. In the 2 years I owned it in Aus, I never managed to get it past inspection.
Brought it to Ireland and had it on the road in a few days. Slightly different standards!

Daved_XB

I just remembered that I needed to drill the mounting holes on the firewall for the strut tower brace set up that I have





Measured up & drilled the holes, nice simple job





I have to decide what to do with this bracket & the ones that mount to the top of the strut towers… I can either have them painted the same colour as the car to blend them in or have them chromed to match the actual strut braces that are chrome… decisions decisions decisions

I needed to pull the dent out of the bottom of the rear Qtr panel before fixing the valance panel overhang… I had thought that this was a NOS panel but on closer inspection it’s not it’s a repop panel so I don’t mind doing some metal work on it.. but first that dent



Used my weld on dent puller to attach the pull tab



With the dent pulled out I worked out that I needed to shorten the valance panel by 2mm so I cut the end off & rewelded it back on… you can see the join line of the weld still here





With that final piece of welding done I’m finished….. nope… really I am this time….

Daved_XB

I’ve pushed her out of the Skunk Works shed & took her on the longest journey she’s had in years… up to the front garage







Now she sits in the front garage… The tow truck is booked for tomorrow morning now to take her to her new home for the next few months as she gets prepped & painted

biketard

Exciting stuff! Not that it wasn't exciting before, of course.

That grill is so cool.

Daved_XB

Is it wrong that I miss her already? She’s only been gone 90 minutes…….











I’ll go & see the painter & her this afternoon after work to see how she settled into her new temp home….. first time she’s been off my property since April 2015….

quietsailor

Congratulations, that's a huge milestone - that has to be hte halfway point of the build, you're putting things back onto the car from here o!

Daved_XB

I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting in this thread now until the car is back… she’s at her new home in the painters place now & whilst I’m happy to share many pics of my shed & it’s contents I’m not keen on sharing someone else’s…. I have permission to share these as there is no one else’s car being work on here this week…





We’re starting at the boot end & we’ll be working our way forward… so the hinge spring bars are back in now & the new rubber will be fit so that we’re setting the gaps & the fitment correctly



As I said the updates will become less frequent now & really only be for the big milestones… sections in finished primer ect & of course the actual bits when we get shiny paint on.. right I’m off to work on my GTO again now

quietsailor

Daved_XB wrote: »

I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting in this thread now until the car is back… she’s at her new home in the painters place now & whilst I’m happy to share many pics of my shed & it’s contents I’m not keen on sharing someone else’s…. I have permission to share these as there is no one else’s car being work on here this week…

That's more than fair enough, I'd be annoyed too if even a friend shared pictures of my tools across the internet. But please do post any updates you can, I love seeing the work getting finished and I don't even own the car!

Daved_XB

I know I said I wouldn’t really look to flood this thread with lots of pics from the painters place, but I was there this afternoon & he’s been “playing” with the boot fitment… his word not mine. It’s looking a million times better that I had it.. the gaps are still not perfect he says but they are pretty bloody good… we have the rubber on now to make sure the gaps & boot lid heights are what they will be









He’s sliced off a few mm of boot lid metal as it wasn’t lined up perfectly with the Qtr panel



He’s used a Porta-Power ram to push the rear light panel out about 2mm so that it’s perfectly straight now



Same tool has been used to raise up this section of the rear Qtr panel so that it’s perfectly aligned to the boot lid



He’s also been playing with the Qtr to door gap too, I was around to bring him the door rubber to help set this gap too…





Now ignore the front guard sitting too low… the coke bottle body line is looking really good across the door to the Qtr panel now



Now I get that it’s hard from pics on a forum to see the small differences as the work is done, so do people want me to keep updating this thread with this detail or do you just want major updates like “here’s the painted car”?