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Last of the V8 Interceptors.. my XB Falcon Coupe

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Well that’s clearly enough putting the car back together for one day, so now that there is strength in the back end again, let’s cut some more off… so out comes the whole parcel shelf section & the lower rear window section.. in a way I’m lucky I’m taking as long as I am to fix this car as there are now rust repair sections available that didn’t exist when I started… sadly a complete parcel shelf isn’t one

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    Sadly the complex ends of this panel are well gone.. I’ll have some fun making one of these I can tell

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    A section of the rear window gutter on the drives side was rusted away so that had to be cut away & replaced too

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Now it was time to properly play with the new toy… so over she went

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    Now whilst she was up on her side it was very clear just how horrid the underside is… years of paint, tar, mud, oil & grease & all of it needs to come off

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    I stared with a scraper to remove the heavy thick stuff

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Then moved to softer scotch bright pads on the grinder to bring the underside to a shiny finish

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    There are a lot of dents & bent brackets under here.. whilst I’m not looking for a perfect finish, I will be doing my best to pull as much of this straight as I can.. to that end the underside of the front cross member is well battered & that has to be taken apart to fix

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    So I’ve unpicked it to try & hammer it straight on the bench

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    I spent about 10 minutes messing with it & it’s looking better already.. but clearly needs more work

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    Right well that’s it then… this thread is once again up to date.. I’ll try not to leave it so long between updates next time.. she’s coming together, slowly but these things take time when we insist on doing them yourself instead of getting it done professionally


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Regional West Moderators Posts: 59,553 Mod ✭✭✭✭Gremlinertia


    Savage, well worth the wait for an update!.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    +1 I love this build and this thread. :)

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,614 ✭✭✭TheBody


    Wibbs wrote: »
    +1 I love this build and this thread. :)

    Me too. It's just so impressive to see such a high level of care and detail.


  • Registered Users Posts: 528 ✭✭✭biketard


    Thanks for the updates!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Right so I had some more work travel that saw me back in Ireland for two weekends, so whilst I was away I happy to hear that my panel beater was happy to come & work on the car without me there so that we can ensure that progress continues to be made? whilst this is a good thing, he still refuses to stop work every 5 minutes & take detailed pics? no idea why..

    So here is some more progress, but these are really pics of the finished steps & not the actual work as it happened stuff?

    The boot channel was well stuffed on replacement rear tail light section, so that had to be cut off & replaced

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    The new section still needs to be finished neat, but structurally it?s in now, once all of the structural welding is finished then we?ll need to spend a few days finishing he welds neatly & ensuring that there are no pin holes or dodgy looking sections left

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    We have also tacked in the lower rear window support to ensure that the back of the car is still the same shape it?s meant to be, I?m happy to report that the replacement panel fits perfectly & we test fit the rear window again & it also fits square & snug so it seems that by dumb luck the back end of this car is shaping up well XB Coupe shaped I guess

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    Also tested the lower exhaust panel & this panel is a NOS item so it should be pretty close to how they left the factory? assuming that any two 1970?s Ford parts are the same.. it fits just right, so pretty happy with that

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    All of the structural welding for the passenger side rear Qtr is finished & it?s super strong now.. all we need to do now is a bit of actual panel beating as there is some dents from a previous side swipe, I guess given how wide these arches are it?s hardly a shock that someone screwed up in the past & smacked something

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    Now you know that I have a really cool weld on dent puller? well turns out that we?ve made the Qtr panel so strong now that whilst trying to pull this dent out

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    We snapped the head off the dent puller? so now we have a new beefier version, just need to adapt the end to use the correct head that grips the weld on pins

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Now I know that all progress should be considered good progress.. but I wasn’t ecstatic to discover that in my absence the dash had been removed… why…. Well because NO time was taken to record how things connected or disconnected to aid with the re-installation that will have to be done down the track & also NO labeling of any of the parts, wires or blots was done… so this will be fun to put back in. Plus I would have liked to detail the removal process here too.. but it’s not to be

    Dash Parts, I haven’t even checked yet to see if any of the tabs are broken
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    The carefully organized & labeled wiring loom

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    One of the worst areas for rust in these cars is the plenum area vents under the dash, but looking at mine these look pretty good.. I’ll get an inspection camera in there are some point to see how they look from the inside, if I don’t need to unpick the plenum chamber & pull that off then I won’t

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    The Brake pedal assembly & booster set up are out now too

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    Not sure what I’m going to do with the brakes as far as an upgrade to the booster goes, there isn’t a lot of room between the firewall & the shock tower… I don’t think that I can fit the same hydraboost system that I bought for the Challenger here, I’ll have to do some research & thinking… I know that there is a remote mount under dash option by RRS… might look into that

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Pulled the transmission shifter hump out too

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    You can see where this has been welded up to take this aftermarket shifter.. I’ll have to test fit mine now to see what needs to be changed

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    Pretty sure that’s not factory… wonder if it will fit the new shifter or if it’s got a date with the grinder?

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    Someone’s hacked up that trans tunnel opening a fair bit, might take the time to tidy that up if I can

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    The majority of the structural welding is done now, I’m thinking that I might look to get a mobile blaster in to media blast the whole shell now to get rid of every last bit of paint & surface rust then I’ll rust treat the shell & paint the whole car in primer as winter is here now & I don’t want the car sitting in bare metal any more


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Hi All, ok so I’ve been in a world of travel & other crap again, so whilst there has been some progress on this it is as usual not nearly as much as I would have liked….

    I’ve been finishing up the bottom of the passenger side inner wheel tub, I went for the easy option of making two separate patches & welding them in that the more complex option of making one multi-folded patch

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    Then it was time to flip the old girl over on her back again & finish off the driver’s side rear Qtr & inner wheel tub… I’m very happy with how this side has come up & even more so with the fact that I did it right & it’s metal, there is no bog of filler or chicken wire or fiberglass in this thing… it will a slight skim to get the finish perfect for paint but it’s one Qtr finished…

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    With the car upside down I also got to work on the upper sections where the door seals, there was some small rust in this area so lots of time send grinding that off or cutting it out & replacing where needed… another area done

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    I’ve also started work on the front drivers side torque box by cutting the old damaged & rusted one off.. I’ve been given the name of a company that make this as a repair section so I’m very happy to hear that I won’t have to cobble something together for this & I simply buy a professional repair section

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    There is still a lot of work to go into the passenger side Qtr till it’s right but I did manage to find a big piece of unicorn poop a few weeks ago at a price that was actually reasonable…. I present to you my NOS (yes that’s New Old Stock) never been on a car before rust & dent free passenger side Rear Qtr panel….

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    you lucky man!!! a NOS on a car of that vintage has to be up there with the winning lotto numbers


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Right well all of efforts have really been focused on the Challenger now & the XB has been slid to the side of the shed as I’m a little bit over it right now, but I did decided that it would be a good idea to start looking at the hanging panels… so I put the doors up on some panel stands & had a bit if a look…

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    The passenger side door has some rust in the bottom section, it’s a fairly common spot for them to go so I was expecting to see this

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    The drivers side was just starting to go in the same spot & then also has a section of rust in the bottom rear corner… again nothing too hard to fix in the grand scheme of things.

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    Now the following pictures I can take zero credit for… I’ve been traveling for work for the last two weeks & I’ve simply not been home to get anything done in shed.. so Mrs XB took it upon herself to go out into the shed every night after work for 4 nights & do this……

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    Yes… you read that right I was off travelling for work enjoying fancy meals & drinking it up at the bar on the companies tab & my wife was out in the shed up to her armpits in paint stripper getting the two XB doors spotless for me to work on because she knows it’s frustrating me to be away & falling behind on the car work…

    Next up will be stripping back the two bonnets…


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Fair play to Mrs XB!

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    I hope you buy your wife the best Christmas present ever in the history of mankind, she deserves it!


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,250 ✭✭✭✭Standard Toaster


    I hope you buy your wife the best Christmas present ever in the history of mankind, she deserves it!

    More sandpaper!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I decided to do a bit more paint stripping on the XB this week…. I started with the spare bonnet I have, I plan to have two bonnets for this car.. my stock unmolested one that came off the car & a second one with a reverse hood scoop on it like they raced with in the 70’s. As this bonnet already has a dodgy hole cut in it I’m hoping it can be saved to use as my scooped bonnet option.

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    The worst bit that can be seen with the paint still on is in the lower corner here, not too bad in the grand scheme of things

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    So I started the slow messy process of taking the bonnet back to bare metal to see what horrors lay hidden underneath, as I always say you can’t polish a turd but you can bog & paint one

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    So the passenger side half wasn’t too bad, but there was a lot of bog towards the front, I suspect that this panel had a mild knock at the front & little to no effort was made to beat the panel straight

    With the panel back to shiny metal it’s in pretty good shape

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    I was right about the front mind you, you can see where a truly halfarsed attempt was made to beat the panel & in the end it seems that a 5mm coat of bog was seen as the better fix, but again this probably was done in the 80’s when these cars where only worth a few hundred dollars & no one would have spent the cash or the time to fix it properly back then

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    Now the bonnet sits in what looks like a state of shock awaiting repairs, well actually I need to flip it over & strip back the underside next…

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Next up was the roof… I have heard horror stories of people warping the roof when stripping the paint off depending on the method they used, it’s such a large panel with little to no rigidity that it’s very easy to overheat the panel in the process & cause it to warp.. so blasting was out, I also didn’t want to attack it with the grinder like I had the bonnet… so it was going to be the hard way, lots of elbow grease & chemical paint stripper.. but again working in very small areas & allowing breaks in between to prevent any heat buildup… it took multiple passes to get it done… apply & let it blister up

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    Then use a scraper to remove the paint

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    The hi-fill & primer wasn’t coming off after the first application so that often needed a second & in some cases third go

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    It took a while but the panel underneath is looking beautiful

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    I ran out of the original tin of stripper I had & I ended up having to change brands… the new one was evil… it actually made the paint run off the panel like blood after 5 mins… no wonder the bonnet above looked so shocked..

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    This new stuff that I have renamed Agent Orange is definitely the way to go, in the same time it took to get the progress show in the first 4 pics here I did this

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    There is still a tiny bit of hi-fill left on the lower section but that’s because it was getting late & I need to call it quits, it’ll only take 5 mins to finish this when I get out to the shed next

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    I decided that for a change of pace I’d test fit the fancy new multi-link coilover rear end I have for the XB… so I unpacked all the boxes & laid all the bits out on the floor, whilst the HW is top quality everyone has warned me that the installation instructions are poor… well that’s an understatement, the instructions are for the Mustang install that uses totally different brackets in different locations… so this will have to be figured out on the fly as I go.

     

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    Right so somehow all of that bolts up into here

     

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    Oh well with the diff as well obviously

     

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    Now whilst the front section should be super simple working out the multi-link rear end with no real instructions has the potential to be fun… now see that loan bracket in the middle here

     

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    Yeah this one..

     

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    Well turns out that’s the adjustable bottom bracket for the coilover & it attaches to the diff bracket like so  

     

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    Well turns out they only shipped me one & not two… so that ended play early tonight, I’ll have to get onto them tomorrow to get a replacement… the top coilover mounting bracket bolts into the hole for the factory shocks

     

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    However the middle set of bolt holes don’t line up with the factory holes in the floor pan, you can see they are behind the edge of the bracket here… due to the crap build quality of these old cars I fully expect that the bracket was perfect on the test car they used in product development…  so I either need to massage the floor to get the bracket lined up or I might just weld the bracket in fully for additional strength

     

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    The Mumford link bracket (it’s similar to a Watt’s link) seems to fit up fine, I’m now in two minds on how to install this stuff, it’s all setup for bolt in & out so you can return a car to stock…. But with 700HP (or more importantly the huge torque figure) at the pointy end I’m starting to think that I might weld all this kit in to be sure nothing moves or breaks loose   

     

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    Excuse the poor quality pics, it was late & the lights on that side of the shed are less than ideal.. I’ll get some better shots in the daylight when I continue the test fit install this week.

     


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,198 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Daved_XB wrote: »
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    If the car doesn’t work out, you can use that to begin a Giant Cyberman project!


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,027 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Welding definitely sounds like a good plan with all that extra grunt going through things.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Registered Users Posts: 10,250 ✭✭✭✭Standard Toaster


    Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to take pictures and post them here for us who are following the thread to enjoy. Along with your witty comments, it's a real joy watching the progress.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭quietsailor


    Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to take pictures and post them here for us who are following the thread to enjoy. Along with your witty comments, it's a real joy watching the progress.

    I have to second this, its a pleasure seeing this thread coming to the top again. Its one of the few threads I have bookmarked in the whole site


  • Registered Users Posts: 528 ✭✭✭biketard


    I have to second this, its a pleasure seeing this thread coming to the top again. Its one of the few threads I have bookmarked in the whole site

    Thirded! :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Tonight’s task was to fit all the parts of the multi link rear end that needed to go on the diff… so step one was to scrub years of dirt & grease off it so I wouldn’t get filthy playing with it

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    As I’d said above the instructions where pretty useless, so I wasn’t sure if I needed to remove the tramp rob brackets off my diff… the tramp rods won’t be needed with the Mumford Link rear end anyway… turns out yes was the answer, with that bracket still on the diff the U-Bolts are kicked way off to the side

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    Now, I’d always figured that these brackets are welded to the diff tubes.. turns out it was only years of dirt & crap holding them on once the U-Bolts that hold the leaf springs are removed

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    The old U-Bolts where way too long as they had to clamp the springs too, so I had to go shopping for some new shorter ones, with them in hand I installed the brackets that would take the Mumford Link arm & the bottom of the coil over

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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Next up was to install what they call the Torque Tube… it’s job is to connect the face of the Diff to a bracket that is at the end of the gearbox.. the idea is that the diff cannot twist at all under the torque load..

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    So first up I needed to add the extended bolts onto the diff face

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    I’d also have to remove the pinion snub cover

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    Now with this Torque Tube bolted on it just looks plan mad… looks like something that should be mounted to the roof of a Humvee

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    Yes, that’s Mr’s XB in the background there… stripping the paint off the Challenger’s boot lid… bless her little heart


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    Next up it was time to drill holes in the boot section that I’ve spent months getting right… so the section of the Mumford Link that mounts to the rear was first up… now the section that runs front to rear with the body work is nice & simple to bolt up, drill the 3 holes & bolt up the bracket

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    But the section that runs left right at the back with 4 holes was a slightly different story

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    The final hole in tight in the corner is going to be fun to get a bolt into…

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    Yep as I feared.. no way that bracket will fit… guess I’ll have to modify that to make it fit

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    I wasn’t bothered doing that tonight as it had gotten late, so I took an angle grinder my bonnets rusted section instead

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    I have another bonnet at a mate house, so I guess I’ll go grab that this weekend & workout if I can use sections of it to patch this one… stay tuned


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Daved_XB


    biketard wrote: »
    Thirded! :)

    Thanks guys for the kind words... truth is I really enjoy documenting the build process here... but it is nice to know that other are enjoying it too


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