Ragtopfury's 68 B'cuda Ragtop

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ragtopfury

ragtopfury

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So as things go the way they go, I have a new project. My 69 Coronet that was disassembled 17 years ago and I only managed to get the metal work done over the years has sold itself. I couldn't pass up the $ the guy offered me. :cheers:

My wife, who tolerates my hobby well, told me she didn't care if I bought another car as long as she got a few hundred to buy some new clothes since losing the weight she lost. :D

So....... The next day I found this 68 on FABO only 20 minutes from home..... (btw - Bob is pretty cool to deal with :thumblef: ) My son, my buddy and I dragged it home on June 2nd. Later this summer I'm dragging the carcass of a notchback home for some sheet metal needed for the ragtop. When the wife sees that come home, she may re-think her "i don't care" statement...:-\"

Although no work will begin on it until after the summer, I might as well start a resto thread on it now just because I can. Is a 318/904 bucket (black) seat console car. Leaning towards a nearly stock 383 since I have 2 of them under the workbench. Undecided if I should go with the original LL1 torquise looking color, or a slightly darker than plum crazy purple. Interior will be black I plan to run the magnum 500's that were on my Road Runner years ago since I have already picked up everything needed from a 73 Swinger to put bbp power discs up front.

It will be slow going, but enjoy none the less............
 

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Very cool

Looks like someone really took an effort paint it RR1 Maroon.
 
So the guy who bought my Coronet wanted a 383.... He bought me new 1/4's for my 68 Ragtop in exchange for a 383 that's been under the bench for 20+ years from my mother's 66 Newport. He really liked one of my original air cleaner assemblies hanging on the wall, so he's buying my entire front suspension rebuild parts in trade. My wife said I lied when I told her I wasn't starting on the car this summer. I told herI'm not starting on it - I'm planning to start on it and the guy is helping me out........LOL
 
So here's the carcass I got with the ragtop. Has a better hood than mine, nearly perfect left inner fender needed for mine, all the nochtback glass that will be going up for sale - as will the front frame rails, right inner fender, firewall, rear rails if they are good and the roof skin.

I still have an e body hood left over from Old Man Ray so we can build a hood like we did for Jake's car..... The plan is coming together, parts are accumilating.... just need the time.......

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So the plan was to start on this car about a year after bringing it home. been collecting a few things for it since then. Finally got it up off the ground this weekend. Gonna slowly pick at the 8.75 swap 1st, just to free up some floor space....... once the rear is done and the 7.2t is gone, it'll be time to empty all the pieces out of the car and start some bodywork . I say that to say this: This thread is not dead, just very slow going.................
 
Between Christmas, New Year''s and life in general, I managed to get my 3.55''s set up in the sure grip center. Just a little progress, but nothing to really show yet.

Jake is going to take my C body axles to our local machine shop that did the machine work on his 408 to see if they can be shortened to A body length so I'll have BBP and be able to run C body 11 inch rear drums. He's also taking the A body housing for me to get it tanked. If the axles can't be shortened, I'll be supporting Dr Diff's bottom line for more than just bearings and seals....lol. maybe this coming weekend, I'll find a couple of hours to get the 7.25 out from under the car.
 
It's bonus time at work and tax time. Decided to go with Dr Diff axles. Will be ordering them within the next few weeks. Getting them set right so I can run the 11 drums from a 69 Fury I parted out 15 years ago while building my Fury ragtop.
Today I turned 50. To celebate, took the day off, got my yearly with the Doc, and i put the center chunk in the housing and got it bolted in the car.

Little by little......
 
Between Jake getting married today and fine tuning 2 pinewood derby cars, I managed to rebuild the rear wheel cylinders and installed the backing plates and Dr Diff axles today.......

More little by little......
 
Wow how time flies. Time to resurrect this thread.... Between moving and other life events putting things on pause, it is time. I chose to put it out behind the shed under a couple of tarps, so Jake could keep his 65 indoors. In the meantime, I spent the last 2 years picking at the Shelby Dakota. Now that the Shelby is back on the road, it's time to get the 68 back in the garage. Upon removing the tarps, i did not see live or dead rodents, nor signs of mega nests. First order of business was to drag it out of its hole and put it in the driveway, so I can de-mice it the best I can over the next 3 days. Put a handful of poison in various places inside, set 2 traps and set off a bug bomb under the tarp. Ill check the traps a few times between now and Wednesday Planning on pushing it into the garage Wednesday afternoon.
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Nothing to really show, but I did get the 73 disc brake stuff knocked part. Mostly. Discovered my large ball joint socket that fit the Fury is too big and the small one that fits the 65 Bcuda is too small. I did get the new upper bushings installed. Apparently I need a medium to fit the 73 disc upper arms.
The plan is to get the front suspension done enough to get Tom's sbp rollers back to him that have been on loan for over 3 years now, and put my lbp rollers on it if I need to move it out for some reason. Not worrying about new rotors yet, but I will do the lower arm bushings and "chassis black" everything before putting them on.
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Started knocking the 10 inch drum suspension off this afternoon. Somebody had the vision many years ago and used anti-sieze on the upper control arm adjusters. Win! Came apart WAY easy...
Literally pulled them out without any prying.

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Finally got back out there and made a little progress. The LCA pins were spinning in the bushing when trying to remove the nut. For my lunch break today, I went out and simply pried on the LCA between it and the K frame, since the pin was spinning in the bushing. Slid right off to pin and the benefit is the torsion bar is now out as well, as I could not get it to budge prior. One day next week, I'll get the other side all apart.
 
Other side came apart like it was supposed to. Got it all cleaned up, painted and new upper and lower bushings installed. One of the original torsion bar boots was torn, so waiting on new ones to arrive early next week. Then I'll start putting it back together. I'll finally be to the point of installing the t bars I won on the PST superbowl contest a couple years ago.
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Might seem a little backwards to some, but I am not building a show car. It will be driven weekly, as long as the weather is mostly dry. That being said and being limited on space, I need to be able to push it in and out of the garage from time to time. So, over the last 2 lunch hours, while working from home, the 73 disc spindles and new PST front end kit and torsion bars are now installed. Still a few years from being done, so the rusty rotors are on just to have something to mount a wheel to. Frees up a little shelf space and makes the car pushable. I can stash the little loaner 13s and get a pair of big bolt 14 inch rollers out of the shed. I think I'll put the front sway bar on this Thursday.

Debating if floor patches or rt qtr will be next..... I do know the inner fenders will be nearly last on the list of metal work, because I have nowhere to stash the motor and trans out of the way just yet.
 
Decided passenger floors are next. Just spent my lunch break removing the previous owner's floor patches. He simply popped a piece of galvanized sheet metal over the existing floors.

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So we have a roached out Duster deck lid, that came with the brown turd that is donating its roof to Josh's 73 Sport. It is becoming floor patches for my car. Don't hate on me, gotta use what I have available. LOL. At least I cut out beyond the rotted floor section and am welding in the new and not using pop rivets...

In other news, it felt good to get the new right qtr down off the shelf, and clean the 4 years of dust off of it, to start sizing up that soon to come task.

Pics to follow.......
 
So here is my proposed cut ine on the new skin. I figured I'd leave the original tail light opening alone, and not being convertible specific, because who makes those....

Had Josh out there with me, so he could hear and see my thought process. Mark the new where I wanna use it, and then cut it. Remove the old about 6 inches shy of where I really want it, get the bottom edge prepped, inner wheel well opening, then hold the new back in place to mark the old for the final cut. I told him he may feel like he's doing a lot of watching at times, but it will help him abundantly when we start on his Sport in the Spring.

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You got good practice on the wheel wells of your ex truck, so this should turn out well. Have you ever watched any of Fitzee's Fabrication videos on You Tube? He has a cool method of cutting thru both the new and old panels at a 45 degree angle. When he's done, the new panel lays down perfectly on the old one and makes the line easier to weld. I'm gonna try it on my next metal butcher job!
 
A little progress for lunch today. Got the inner wheelhouse trimmed free of the old qtr. Cut the new qtr and clamped it in place to make my pre-cut line on the old. Hoping for another hour lunch tomorrow to get the final cut on the old qtr and flange the edge.

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