'64 Plymouth Fury

[carnalsupply]

Hey David,

Wow, does some of that sound WAY too familiar!
I moved to my present location roughly 2 months before the collapse of the economy, which means I've been paying about 10 - 15% higher rent than I could/should have given the current financial situation, so it's been a struggle.
I just had another client default today (without as much as a word of warning) so there's another $3K down the drain.
I'm with you, this is my last project. If when the Fury is EVER finished I'm gonna drive it 'til it's near useless, then drive it out to the dessert and let the sand bury us both.
Lost my father to cancer in October, so that really hits close to home: I wish you nothing but the best as well as a speedy and complete recovery!

Take care my friend!

[dusterbd13]

glad to see this one didnt vanish.

and we just have to remember to deal with life on lifes terms. we dont have to like them, but theres ways of still finding time to take care of our own mental health.

cant wait to see the progress, and im glad to hear business is going reasonably well for you.

Michael

[carnalsupply]

So it's been FAR too long since I've been able to get in and get my hands dirty on the Fury but this weekend was wonderful! I got to come in and spend both Saturday and Sunday working on the car and made some great progress on the floors, and while you'd think floors are a "nothing" job I'm hear to tell you they're anything but easy, especially when you don't have a slew of metal working tools.

I did purchase a 48" break (shown previously in the blog) but other than that it's all pretty much a "seat of the pants" gig so I needed a way to put nice, gentle curves in the sheet metal and came up with this:


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/05/IMG_1809-1.jpg

I got various diameters of exhaust tubing (1.75" is shown in the picture), cut them to 48" lengths, drilled a hole at each end (along the seam to keep the holes in line with one another), and bolted the tube to my bench, then slid the sheet metal between the tube and the bench and molded the sheet to the desired shape around the various diameter tubes. Yeah, it took some doing but the results worked out really well (IMHO).

I did use some re-pop floor pans for the foot-wells but they had to be modified to work, then I fabbed up the mid-floor areas from scratch. The single most difficult part of the job was rolling the outer edges and getting them to match the rocker panels because the radius decreases as you move towards the rear of the car.

Here are some shots of the foot-well and mid-floor pans, now all I have left is the small area running back and up under the rear seat:


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/05/FootwellFloors-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/05/Floors-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/05/MidFloors-1.jpg

Below is a small detail that took some time to work out and fab up. The floor runs flat along the chassis rails until it reaches the original rear sub-frame, where in the original floor there was a VERY small diameter radius up followed by a 90 degree bend towards the rear, thus allowing the floor to follow the sub-frame contours. I chose to eliminate the small diameter radius and use a 90 degree bend followed by another 90 degree bend, thus producing a floor that goes from horizontal to vertical then back to horizontal all within the space of 1". Then I had to meld in the rolled edge to blend in, making for a pretty decent amount of work.
I hope that all makes sense?


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/05/MidFloorDetail-1.jpg

From the pictures it should be pretty obvious how much we've lowered the body from stock, what with the trans protruding so high into the passenger compartment. This presents a bit of a challenge in terms of the trans tunnel because I think a simple rounded tunnel would look boring and easy, and sticking a console on top of it would probably be far too high, so what I'm thinking of is a tunnel with 5 sides, vertical on the sides with a horizontal top plane and 45's joining the horizontal and verticals. It's just a thought.

Also just got word my seats should be done pretty soon. I have a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V and I LOVE the seats, so I picked up another set for the Fury. The problem is the seats have side airbags and I'm just not in a position to have custom seat covers made that eliminate the airbag holes so I had an upholsterer make up "blank out" panels similar to what you'd see in a radio or heater delete situation, save for the fact my "blank out" panels will be upholstered to match the existing seat covers.

That's it for now, and as always, thanks for the continued support!

[406 Q-ship]

Cool the Fury is back! Good luck on the move.

[carnalsupply]

Thanks Q-Ship, I'll need it!
I can't wait to do the layout on the new warehouse because I figure I'll have about twice the space I have here and MUCH better lighting, so it's an exciting prospect.

[carnalsupply]

Well it isn't glamorous and it sure isn't easy but the floors of the Fury are now done! Granted, the tunnel isn't done but that will have to wait until after we get the rest of the drive-line mocked up (more on that later), but I can't imagine the tunnel will be anything nearly as difficult as the floors.

To help ensure the floors would be strong and solid I formed them out of 18 gauge steel and I am extremely happy with the results. I have every confidence when the tunnel is in place and everything is joined together the floor will be absolutely rock solid.

Below are some shots of the various panels:


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/MidRearFloorPans2-1.jpg


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/MidRearFloorPans-1.jpg

The rear most pans, while deceptively simple in appearance, had their own little fabrication issues, most devious of which is the point where they meet up with the mid floor section. The original floor was a beautifully contoured, multi-level arrangement that presents all kinds of problems when you try and build a floor from scratch yet stay true to the various floor heights AND accommodate a chassis that wasn't there from the factory.

Here are the rear most pans:


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/RearFloorPans-1.jpg

The final panel to be replaced was at the end of the original tunnel where the pinion snubber used to bolt on. It appears the suspension compressed EXTREMELY hard at some point and literally folded the floor pan up, leaving a couple of creases I just didn't want to leave in place, so I cut out the entire section and fabbed in a new one. The panel will be modified to incorporate the tunnel opening once the tunnel is in finalized, until then I'm just going to leave it as is.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/06/TunnelReplacementPan-1.jpg

The next step will be mocking up all the suspension, front and rear. I got a call from Jimmy and he said the powder-coating looks awesome so I'm pretty excited to get all the pieces back and see how everything mounts up. At that point I'm not sure what I'll do since I'm getting ready to move my company (where my shop is located) to Vegas: time may not be on my side for getting much else done, but with any luck I'll be able to weld in the firewall, the "through the frame exhaust", then the floors before packing up for the move.

[Bryce]

Its nice to see this project progressing!

[Motown 454]

I like the job you did on the fire wall sort of a double barrel... It looks great, and nice work on the floor.

[C.F.]

Robert!

Great to see you back making progress on the Fury.

You know, I still have that little gift you gave me in 1975...the pencil lead in my hand. Did I ever thank you for that?

Hope your doing well my friend. The Fury is awesome. After following a few projects on here, I am getting an itch to jump in.

Every once in a while, I hear some rumbling coming from the garage. When I walk out there I hear nothing...but I think it is the damned L-72 clearing its throat and making its presence known (though hidden below a moving blanket). Do you realize I pulled it out of the E.C. in 1985?...and it sits with the same oil in it!

Give me a hollar when you return from your travels.

All the Best!

C.F.

[carnalsupply]

Hey guys,

I'm sitting here in Ontario, Canada, getting ready to head up to Montreal, and instead of working I hop on Pro-Touring to look at cars! My mother always said I was incorrigible!
Thanks much for the continued support, I really appreciate it.

Got a couple of quick pix sent to me of the powder-coated 9" rear and truck arms, along with their mods, and they're looking great. As soon as I get home Jimmy and I are going to mock up the entire suspension and I'll get some shots posted.

As for you CF, I know a 64 Pontiac Le Mans that could use a stout L-72 stuffed in the nose so let me know if you're interested, or better yet, look around on here for a post from Jimmy; he started the project and lost interest so he'd probably let it go pretty easily.
Pencil lead? I don't know nothing about no stinkin' pencil lead, but I will tell you I was thinking about you during my wonderful flight to Detroit last week: figured I better give you a call and make sure you're all good. Hope things with the family are going well :-) I'll give you a call when I get home.

Thanks again,

BW

[carnalsupply]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to let you know I haven't given up on the Fury, life just gets in the way. My wife and I decided to move both our company and our home to Las Vegas so while all that's taking place the Fury has pretty much sat untouched save for some work I did on the cowl, but don't give up on me, I'll be back at it once the new shop is set up (should be done by the end of October).

Take care and as always, thanks for the support and encouragement!

[Motown 454]

Good luck with the move, we'll check back for updates.

[Bryce]

Bob,

I will hit you up when I go to SEMA this year. I would like to see the car. Good luck with the move!

[ramlinman]

we'll be hangin' in there

[devwil68]

wow. just a little rust never hurt nobody!

[Bad Brad]

Wow nice build. I should probably not complain about having to fix my cowl now! lol

[therobski]

Wow I actually found another guy-car combo that was screwed by the previous owner of the car!! Me too, call it my stupidity. After a 18 month search for a 64-65 BASE F-85 I found my car on Evil-Bay. Shame on me I have other club members in Ohio that would have gone over and looked the car over, but no I had to have this one. "Floors, trunk are great no rust" Yeah right:box: Paid another $550.00 to have it shipped to Dallas. Transport truck pulled out front I opened the drivers door and the street below! I called the guy-----you can imagine the rest of the story. My buddy is a high powered attorney and said it would twice as much to TRY and get your original investment back. So I learned how to weld!!! Check my ride in this section under " building a 64 Olds F-85 Rustbucket" Is has come along way in three years and a fortune$$$. My wife says it will be my RV when I retire and then my casket.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/08/DSCN2143-1.jpg

[carnalsupply]

You guys are great, LOL! A "little" rust? Every time I look at my car I see more air where at one time in the past there was once metal. It's daunting but what else have I got to do?

What our stories tell us Robski is that neither you nor I should ever be left unattended anywhere near a computer! And to think, people only worry about kids doing stupid or harmful crap on the web.

The shop, car, tools, EVERYTHING, is packed and palletized, so now all I'm waiting on is a fire inspection at the new place, which is never as easy as it sounds, but once that's complete I'll load everything into a 53' trailer, ship it down, and get my butt back to work, well at least after I run electrical to the area where I'm building the shop. What's life without a hurdle or two?

Talk to everybody soon,

Bob

[ramlinman]

nice and positive bob good for you

[David Sloan]

Good luck on the move Bob
If there is anything i can do to help just let me know, LOL! I could use a trip to Vegas LOL!
But if there is anything i can do from here just let me know.

[linkstar69]

What a great build thread, makes me want to hunt down a fury right now!

[ramlinman]

did you get settled in yet? we're missin' the progress

[carnalsupply]

Hey guys,

Wow, what a crazy trip it's been! After 5 53' trailer loads we finally got everything moved to Vegas, including all my car and shop material, but real life (read: work) has taken over and completely consumed all my time and effort. It turns out when you close the doors to your business for a couple weeks and move, regardless of how much you warn people ahead of time it's going to happen, customer's appear to forget you exist. That being said my company took a drastic and dangerous financial hit after the move, something I never expected or supsected would happen, but it did and now I'm scrambling every minute to earn back what we lost.

What's all that got to do with my Fury? Well, if you look at the picture of my new shop area below there are two things that stand out, one obvious and one a bit more subtle. The obvious one is nothing is really unpacked let alone set up. The second, and more subtle thing is the more critical; there's NO electrical in this end of my building! Now I knew this going in so it's not like it's any kind of a surprise, but running the power for a 100amp sub-panel to my shop area will cost in the thousands, and right now I need every penny I have to move my company forward. If I knew anything about electricity I'd do the job myself, but what I do know about electrical work would get me killed.

The Fury is far from dead but until I get the electrical situation cleared up it's going to need to lay dormant for a while. Yeah, I'm bummed as hell!

Hope y'all have a GREAT holiday season!


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[ramlinman]

wow... it looks like an orphan in the corner.. hey don't feel any guilt i went through something similar last winter, i finally started turning it around in april. still not where i want or need to be but i'll keep trying to push through that barrier. and you'll do the same

[carnalsupply]

So here I am, mid-May and not a single thing to report other than the fact the car and shop look EXACTLY like they did in mid-December '11. I've gotten numerous quotes to run electrical to my chosen shop location and every quote is running between $6K - $8K and I just cannot see my way clear to spending that kind of money to improve a building I don't own, so now I'm waiting to see if my wife and I finally close on the house we've been trying to purchase. Why? The house has a 3 car garage and my wife said she's just fine with me turning it into a shop!

I hope the next post I make has something new and exciting to report because this is getting pretty old :-(

[ryeguy2006a]

Your build looks amazing! Just read through the whole thing. Good luck with the house.

[RIDES BY DESIGN]

still pulling for you. you'll make it happen

[acegto]

Good luck on getting the shop...i mean house. Nice build.

[ramlinman]

hey bob hope all is well...... happy holidays

[carnalsupply]

OMFG, I cannot believe it's been a year since I last updated the thread but FINALLY my shop is together, we closrd on a house, and today I actually worked on the Fury for the first time since moving to Vegas. I can't believe how good it felt to get in there cutting and fitting.

I'll get some shots of the shop and what I'm up to, and hopefully life won't get in the way of my progress.

[alocker]

Congrats on the new shop. Did you see the new Overhaulin with a 64 Fury? I never really looked at these cars until now and they are a cool platform. Get wrenchin!

[ramlinman]

OMFG, I cannot believe it's been a year since I last updated the thread but FINALLY my shop is together, we closrd on a house, and today I actually worked on the Fury for the first time since moving to Vegas. I can't believe how good it felt to get in there cutting and fitting.

I'll get some shots of the shop and what I'm up to, and hopefully life won't get in the way of my progress.

that's great!!! ready for this

[carnalsupply]

Hey Locker and Ramlin,

No, I hadn't seen it but found a repeat on tonight so I'll be watching it soon, and no worries, I'm already been back to it.
I dropped the engine and trans back in it yesterday, dialed in the placement for the "through-chassis" exhaust, and ordered up the brackets and bushings for the trans mount.

For the follow-on step I'm debating on whether to install and dial in the rear suspension or go back to work on the cowl and firewall. I'm thinking the rear suspension should be next so I can then finish the floor and tunnel. Decisions, decisions!!!

Thanks for the continuing support, it's greatly appreciated!

[ramlinman]

that is probably the best plan. button up the rear and move forward

[carnalsupply]

Well I've finally gotten back to work on the Fury in earnest and instantly realized I've got lots to do, including a trans cross-member, exhaust, and full rear suspension layout, not to mention the firewall and floors, and it appears the logical step would be to get the trans mount and the rear suspension finished off, then move to the exhaust, then on to the firewall, then to the floors, so here's where I'm at:


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I've had the engine, trans, and headers in before but needed to mock them up once again so I could build the trans cross-member, especially since the exhaust will pass directly through the cross-member like it does on a C3 Vette. You'll notice I have the factory 833 trans in place. Well, life does tend to get in the way and I don't feel like dropping $2500 on a Tremec at the moment so in with the 4-speed, though hopefully I'll be able to change over or add a Gear-Vendors as some point.


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The 3" stainless exhaust is being routed directly through the frame rails because there's just no way to run exhaust tubing around the truck arms. I picked up some flexible stainless unions that will be welded between the header flange and the frame pass-through; I figure it'll dampen the vibration and noise quite a bit.


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These tiny stainless Borla's fit in a cavity between the Art Morrison chassis and the original surface of the factory rocker panel. Originally I'd planned on cutting the rocker panels to fit turnouts but have since decided to take the easier route and simply put turndowns on the ends of the mufflers. This will also help quell the noise a bit, though admittedly that isn't really a factor.


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Here's a straight on view of the Watts link Jimmy fabbed up for me; I wish I had 1/10th the fabricating skill he does! I have to have another adjustable rod made up; we were waiting until we knew the placement and could measure the length. One thing to note: I don't believe the 9" housing will be strong enough to hold the pressure exerted by the Watts pivot, so all the nice powder-coating will go to waste because I'm going to add some gusseting.


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Here's the same view from a bit different angle; it gives a really good view of just how long the truck-arms are and why I couldn't run the exhaust out the rear.

Here's a couple side views of the suspension, including the single adjustable Vari-Shock coil-overs. You can also see a bit of the floater hubs and the lowering blocks, though I don't know if I'm going to use two sets (as shown) or just one.


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For now that's about it but there's quite a laundry list of "to do's", including some little stuff like pick up welding supplies, hardware, etc, but I'll be taking care of that during the week then get back on the project next week.

Thanks for watching!

[carnalsupply]

One thing I fogot to mention; if you look around the inside perimeter of the chassis plate you'll see I've mounted LED's for added light. What an AMAZING difference they make while working on the car! There are two 16' lines, one on the left, one one the right, and are controlled be a dimmer and 12V power supply.
Got it all on EBay for under $40!.
If you want specifics on what I used let me know.

[dusterbd13]

i think id like that, as well as supplier, pictures, etc. im thinking of putting something like that on my shop floor for undercar lighting.

[Zanie]

With your lower watts link bar going from the center of the rear end to the lower trailing arm, its not doing anything. When you connect the adjustable link to the frame, you are going to end up with a short panhard bar.
The lower bar needs to mount to the frame.

[carnalsupply]

To: dusterbd13/Michael:

Here's the list of what I used for the lighting as well as the links:
For 1 of the LED light strips, 12V power supply, and dimmer: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181115870898?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
For the 2nd LED light strip: http://www.ebay.com/itm/181089020410?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Knowing the LED's would probably get banged around a bit, I wanted to mount them to the inner surface of the chassis plate using something flexible, so I used vinyl drywall corner bead, which I stuck to the chassis plate using outdoor grade 3M double sided tape: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dietrich-Industries-1-1-4-in-x-8-ft-Arch-Corner-Bead-360089771/100319026#.UZlJ5LXHJ8E
The LED strips are self adhesive so I just stuck them to the perpendicular surface of the corner bead and whalllahhhh, I now have the most insane lighting I could ever ask for under the car!

To: Zanie/Dan
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Have you ever had one of those moments where you're doing something and KNOW it's not right but you don't know why? I hadn't looked at my (or anyone's for that matter) Watts linkage for well over a year and a half and thank goodness you stopped me before I did something REALLY stupid!!!! Had I been smart I would have gone back and looked at my handy GIF (see below) before starting work yesterday.
I don't have any pix at the moment but I made up chassis mounts for both ends that tie into the original sub-frame so there's AMPLE lateral stiffness. The only difference between my layout and the GIF is my longer/lower mount is on the passenger side as opposed to the driver side. I figure with having to use so much material as compared with the top mount it would be better to put the extra weight on the right side.
Thanks again Dan; it really does pay to put your projects on PT!!!!


76326

[ramlinman]

Can't wait to see more

[carnalsupply]

Hey fellas,

Based on Zanie's observation and input I pulled my head out of my butt and got the Watts link straightened out. Thanks again for the heads up!
The mounts are not completely welded in but they're certainly not going anywhere.
Next is going to be work on the exhaust then back to the rear shock mounts: the factory location I'm currently using might not have enough clearance but I won't know until I get some other parts and start moving things up and down.
I'm having all kinds of difficulty with the welding :banghead: even after changing over to a Lincoln 200 MIG (plenty of power!!!)
For instance:
1) I'm seeing great penetration in the base metal but I'm getting far too much weld material on the weld itself. I've tried slowing down the wire speed but then I don't seem to get the consistent penetration
2) I grind everything I'm going to weld so there's no contaminants, yet I'm getting a great deal of popping and sputtering; I've got the gas pressure at a touch over 30 and am considering going a bit higher but don't want to be pissing gas pointlessly
I'm curious if the replaceable tip is too far inside the cup, leaving too much distance between the tip and the material being welded? I've watched some instructional vids and know how critical this distance is.


76570

[69*Goat]

Wow!!! Outstanding thread! A guy I work with has a 64' Polara 500 Conv. with a 426 Street Wedge. He would never think of doing a Pro-Touring Mod on his... Oh well, his loss. :)

[Jetfixr320]

Her is chart to look over. http://www.netwelding.com/MIG_Flow%20Rate-Chart.htm

Steve

[carnalsupply]

Can you F'N believe it? All this time having welding issues and it turns out to be something so simple and stupid (on my part)! I'm looking over every part of the MIG making sure the polarity is correct, the feed rate is accurate, the gas flow, etc., when I notice the ground strap (where it meets the clamp) is horribly corroded. All this time I've been building my Fury I've been using a MIG that in reality can't make a complete (or at least "good") circuit. What a complete dunce I am!

I cut the ground cable back a couple inches, crimped on a new connector, and pulled out an extra ground clamp made from heavier material and utilizing a much stronger spring.
I'd also noticed the new diffuser I'd purchased had the tip shrouded much farther than I was accustomed or comfortable with, so once I got the ground strap back in place I took the new diffuser and cut it back about 5/8" so the tip of the wire was recessed only about 1/16".

OMFG, what a difference!!! Not that I've suddenly become some master welder or anything but I've restored my confidence in my ability to lay a decent and penetrating weld. I only had a few minutes to try out the "new" setup so I was only able to run about 24 - 30 inches of bead with .030 wire, so today I'm going to switch to .035 on the same material to see how it works.

There's going to be a lot of weld dressing going on with the project but at least I know from this point forward it will be a much cleaner, neater, and BETTER job! Pix to follow soon.

[carnalsupply]

I have GOT to start playing that Power-Ball because all this work and real-life stuff keeps getting in the way of my working on the Fury! Over the past few weeks I've had precious little time to devote to the car but I was able to notch the rear frame rails and then spent my entire Father's Day weekend working on the Fury and finished off one of the most crucial elements; the transmission cross-member. Now that the cross-member is finished we can finalize the exhaust routing, then drop in a floor, build the trans tunnel (that'll come much later) and build the firewall. Oh yeah, my ability to weld seems to have miraculously returned now that I re-did the ground strap! Not that I'm some kind of artisan or anything but my welds are MUCH better than before! Here are some pix and updates:

While the 9" rear axle tubes didn't actual contact the frame rails, they were way too close for my comfort so I notched the rails 1". I simply cut vertically on the front and rear of the rail then joined the cuts with a horizontal cut, removed 1" from the top of the piece I just removed, then welded it back into the frame rail. I filled the gaps with 1/8" plate to ensure the strength, and while the rail lacks the perfectly rounded appearance of the original I can live with the results:


77625


After finishing off the frame rail notches I got to work on the cross-member, which is very similar in concept to the cross-member of my '70 Vette; the exhaust tubing passes directly through the cross-member as opposed to bending or contouring the cross-member around the exhaust. Here is how I did it:


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I know these shots are somewhat blurry (sorry) but I'm hoping they're good enough to show the quality of welds I've been able to produce immediately after fixing the ground cable on the welder. I'm really looking forward to more fabricating knowing my skill level and proficiency will improve with each bead:


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I don't have a TIG welder nor the talent to use one, so before anything else happens I need to take my stainless exhaust pieces and have some flanges TIGged in place, then we'll finalize the exhaust and move on to the other areas I mentioned above. It'll probably be a couple weeks minimum before I can do much more work; family and work call me again!

Thanks for the continued encouragement and support!

[linkstar69]

Nice work

[carnalsupply]

Moving to a new area means building new relationships and finding quality craftsman, and luckily I've found a guy who knows how to wield a TIG torch; his name is Adam and he's co-owner of a prop-repair shop in Henderson. Over the past week Adam welded on the stainless flanges and flex-joints of the 3" exhaust which if all goes well I'll be getting mocked into place this weekend.


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More to follow soon!

[David Sloan]

Looking good Bob

[acegto]

Looking good Bob. Always look forward to your updates.

[carnalsupply]

Passing the exhaust through the frame-rail seemed like a good solution to a problem I caused myself (running Truck-arm rear suspension) but damn it's been a ton of work to make functional, including the exhaust.

Since the exhaust passes through the frame rails at 45 degree angles and the tubing itself has bends and flanges attached, sliding the tubing through the rails became a frustrating repetition of making the holes larger and larger until I could snake the tubing through, and in the end all that cutting left me with oblong holes in the frame that were MUCH larger than the 3" exhaust passing through. Knowing the exhaust tubing (stainless) would be an integral part of the frame (for strength) meant I couldn't have huge gaps around the tubing so I spent literally hour after hour fabricating little crescent shaped patches out of extra frame rail material. Each crescent was unique so making a single pattern was useless, hence each one of the 4 was rough cut out with the Plasma cutter then meticulously ground and filed to fit. Below are some shots of the crescents and the overall exhaust layout:

These two shots are the crescent patches (outside of frame rails) tacked in place. I am going to use a different method to patch the holes on the inside of the frame rails and want to wait until I have those patches done before final welding everything.


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Here are a couple shots of the overall exhaust layout and the trans cross-member I fabbed up a couple weeks ago:


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I can't even remember when I bought the stainless Borla mufflers but having seen bunch of Sprint cars running Spintech mufflers I thought they'd be worth a look. Why? The Borla's are 4 1/2" thick, which was as thin a muffler as I could find with 3" inlet/outlets, and even at only 4 1/2" the thickness will force the muffler to hang slightly below the bottom of the frame rail and protrude slightly into the floor pan. The Spintech 6000 series turn out to be only 4" thick so you know I had to go ahead and order those, right? Yep, so anyone looking for a brand new set of polished stainless Borla mufflers let me know :-)

Here's what Spintech's look like:


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Don't know how much time I'll have to work on the Fury in the next couple weeks; I've got a bunch of traveling for work so time is pretty tight.

[carnalsupply]

My free time to work on the Fury has been a bit limited lately but I have been making some solid progress. Without having a mill or lather at your disposal sure slows things down, but with some patience and sweat I finally finished the frame reinforcements that surround the exhaust tubing. Where the reinforcements meet the frame I've used standard MIG welding but for welding the reinforcements to the stainless exhaust I'll need to pick up some "Tri-Gas" and stainless wire; I figure to do that this week if time permits.

Here are a few shots of the progress I've made over the past couple weekends, and one thing I'm really happy about is the fact the new Spintech mufflers are slim enough they do not hang below the level of the frame. Granted, the turn-downs do but I can live with that so long as the mufflers don't.

Talk to you soon.


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[linkstar69]

Cool frame work.

[carnalsupply]

Progress has been slow but steady over the past few weeks and either I'm punch-drunk or there really is some light at the end of the tunnel! If you've read through the entire post you saw the floors had already been mocked up but dealing with the driveshaft/trans tunnel was a completely separate process, so that's what I've been focusing on lately.

To get the tunnel started I put the rear suspension back in the car, and using a measured drawing located the centerline of the pinion (I don't have a carrier yet) and shot a line from the centerpoint up to the trans yoke. Knowing where the shaft would run was the easy part but I had to remember the parking brake will be fitted to the pinion as well so I needed to ensure there was enough room, both horizontally and vertically, for the caliper and rotor to fit. Once I had the measurements dialed in I cut the far rear of the floorpan in an arc and welded a flange around the perimeter.


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After I had the flange welded in place I began trimming the rear floor pans to fit, including a vertical flange to weld the tunnel to:


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I also included a driveshaft loop, which is mounted to the cross-member for the truck-arms, and while I realize it's a bit forward of optimal I am left with few options due to the space taken up by the truck-arms. No matter what I've done on this project it seems like the truck-arms are somehow, some way conspiring to make my life more difficult! One good thing about the loop placement is the fact it's literally right next to where my seats will be, so if a front u-joint gives I'll be well protected.


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I have the tunnel completed and ready to go in, but like a dunce I forgot to take a picture. I'll snap one soon and show you the finished look. I'm waiting on new arms for my spot-welder, and as soon as they arrive I'm going to start putting the floors in permanently...I can't wait!

[carnalsupply]

I swear it feels like everything in the world is conspiring to keep me from working on the Fury! $5K worth of electrical to build my shop, two broken arms last Christmas, surgery 3 weeks ago to repair damage when I broke my wrist, when does it end? Enough pissing and moaning, I've FINALLY begun putting the floor pans permanently in the car! I can't wait to get this done but for now I'm just about halfway so here are some pix:

I chose to put a rosette weld about every 2 inches or so, which combined with the heavier gauge steel I used makes for one sturdy floor! Glad I'm using fiberglass for all the body panels because with the AM chassis and all the steel I'm using I'll need to cut some weight!

One thing I have consistently seen; "Weld-through Primer" makes for one messy, splatter-filled weld! It's been so long since we did the wheel tubs I'd forgotten how terrible that primer is to weld through, but did I ever get a shocking reminder! Granted, it's better than not priming the surfaces at all but it does make for some icky welds and lots of clogging the tip of the gun.

Oh well, lunch is done so now it's on to the driver side.


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[uxojerry]

This is a stunning build and your skills and patience are amazing. Are you actually going to procharge the engine? You may be hard pressed to find a stick transmission to handle that kind of power, lol. Good luck with your build!!

[carnalsupply]

Hey Jerry,

Thanks much; building the Fury keeps me out of the bar!

The engine will be a normally aspirated 500 cu in RB with Edelbrock Victor Max Wedge heads, and a cross-ram with twin throttle bodies. I'm unsure what brand ECU I'll use but I'm leaning towards FAST.

As for the transmission I'm going to start with the Mopar A833 and if all goes well put a Gear Vendors OD behind it later. I had a Tremec TKO-600 in my Vette and hated it so for me that's just not an option.

Thanks again for the support!

[Ron S]

Not to be critical, but you probably don't want the exhaust dumping out right in front of the rear tires. With all the condensation that throws out of there, and hopefully not, but sometimes oil, that's probably not the best place to dump that pipe.

[carnalsupply]

Hey Ron,

Not to worry, your comment is far more helpful than critical, but unless I go back to my original plan of notching the rockers tkere is literally nowhere else for the exhaust to dump; with a 5 1/2" ride height the exhaust will hang too low if I simply turn it outwards under the rockers.

I have SO many other more critical/necessary areas to concentrate on this will be a decision I'll make far later down the road.

Thanks for the input, it really is appreciated.

[carnalsupply]

Holy sh*#, it's been 6 years since I began this blog, which says I'm either REALLY slow or REALLY persistent; I hope it's persistent! I mention this because I reached a milestone today, the floor of the Fury is actually in! I can't believe it but yep, it's in and secure. Next I'll get the back half of the tunnel in then get moving on the firewall and cowl, but for now I'm going to savor the moment. Here are some shots:


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After I got the last of the floor welded in I decided to spend a couple hours getting the tunnel mocked and "Cleco'd" into place. If I don't see another Cleco for a while it'll be WAY too soon! Drill, Cleco, hammer, Drill, Cleco, hammer (you get the idea):


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[ramlinman]

happy to see you are back at it

[carnalsupply]

Not a lot of time to work today but I got the rear half of the tunnel welded into place.

I don't know if I EVER remember having so much weld splatter as what I experienced putting in the floors and tunnel. No matter how much I ground and wire-brushed the surfaces it's as if the weld would pop/splatter/explode and leave a divot in the puddle, all of which was surrounded by a black soot. More power, less power, more wire speed, less wire speed, nothing seemed to change the phenomenon. I have to figure this out so any ideas would be most welcome.

Here's the tunnel:


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[Kenova]

Did you check your gas?:poke::naughty:

Ken

[carnalsupply]

Yep, the bottle still has about 1500psi and the regulator is set between 30 - 40psi. :-(

[dodgedartgt]

Hi Bob,

I'm a newbie on here. The '64 Fury is truly one of my favorite Mopars, and I've had a lot of them, though mostly A-bodies. The word stunning has been used more than once in this thread, and I'll have to agree. I really like how you've packaged the exhaust, yet have one question and one suggestion:
a) Since your exhaust system is so much lower than the trans, and you are using V-clamps, have you considered running an H-pipe just immediately behind the trans cross member?
b) Ron S commented about the downturns directly in front of the rear tires: Could you use a 45' bend, turn it out toward the side a bit, and then cut it off parallel to the floor?

Mike in FL

[carnalsupply]

Hi Mike,

Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words; the Fury has been a HUGE labor of love and the fact it's so different from most other Pro-Touring style cars makes it even more special to me.

To answer your questions/comments:
a) I am actually considering it but in the hierarchy of things to be done it's just not a priority, especially in-light of the fact it can be done after the car is entirely completed. There's also the fact that with 500 inches of injected RB in place will I really miss the bit of extra power afforded by the cross-over?
b) Actually, I could simply rotate the current "turn-downs" towards the outside of the car and eliminate a great deal of Ron's concerns, which is what I'll probably end up doing. Truth be told I've been working on alcohol injected sprint cars for the past 20+ years and the exhaust generally exits directly towards the rear tires, so if you take into account the amount of water developed from burning alcohol, then take into account that vapor is exiting towards the rear tires, and it doesn't cause any issues, then how large a concern are we really talking about? It's a point well made and well taken, but I have to decide whether it will truly affect how the car runs and drives (barring a catastrophic engine failure that pukes crap out the exhaust, because that's a different scenario entirely).

Thanks again,

Bob

[carnalsupply]

Today marked a milestone of sorts; the floor and tunnel are now complete all the way up to the firewall! Who'd have thought a trans tunnel would be so much work, but with all the various angles, elevation changes, etc, this thing was WAY more difficult than I ever would have imagined. I guess I could have used thinner steel than the 16 gauge I've been using throughout the build, but I like the strength and solidity it adds.

Here are a couple shots of the tunnel in place, and you can see how difficult it was to meld the factory tunnel/hump into the finished tunnel:


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Sorry about the blurry shot; I wasn't paying much attention when I shot this.
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One thing I did find out via some experimentation before installing the front half of the tunnel today; I slowed down the feed speed on the welder well below the recommended setting and found my weld penetration to be better as well as less popping and f'ing up. Still not perfect but certainly better, so maybe I'll switch to .030 instead of the .035 I've been using. Just a thought.

[Kenova]

........ maybe I'll switch to .030 instead of the .035 I've been using. Just a thought.
I have always used .025 in mine. Buy a small spool of it and try it out.

Ken

[carnalsupply]

Yea, I've already got the .030 and .023 on hand; don't know why in the world I didn't think of trying it sooner. I'm looking forward to some good results on the cowl and firewall.

[carnalsupply]

Just a quick update:
Got to the shop this morning and began working on the cowl, and since it was heavily damaged by rot I knew I had a bunch of work ahead of me, but little did I know just how badly the original metal was damaged. Literally every time I touched the cowl with the welder it would blow holes in it; even on the lowest possible setting and using .030 wire. Like I said, the cowl was terribly damaged so I'm not really all that surprised, just disappointed because a) finding a replacement will definitely not be inexpensive and b) this is just another setback I could go without. Oh well.

[Jetfixr320]

I always use the .023 on body panels, cowl panels included and try turning the wire speed down.

[carnalsupply]

I've now tried .023 at settings and wire speeds from high to low, with every combination in between; no real luck.
I've gone back to .030 while trying every combination I can think of; no real luck.
I've raised and lowered the gas flow rate; no real luck.
The welding results come out to a far lower standard than I have been able to produce in the past, so now I'm left to wonder if:
a) I've got some kind of degenerative disease that's eroded my skills and left me unable to figure out simple problems
b) the bottle of gas I've been using (almost empty) may have an incorrect mixture
c) go back to "a"

Is there anyone with welding skills located in Las Vegas that'd be willing to come to my shop and try to diagnose WTF is wrong? I could really use the help!

[carnalsupply]

The original cowl turned out to be just too far gone; I couldn't see continually fighting with it to make it work, so I got hold of DVAS and purchased a complete cowl/firewall. Granted, when the part arrived it turned out to be from a '65 as opposed to a '64 but save for some small/minor differences the replacement is identical to the original, and since this is anything but a concourse restoration I'm completely devoid of any concern.

Here's the replacement piece. If you're a real Mopar fiend you'll notice the shape of the hole for the steering column and some differences around the heater/airbox area, but the overall shape of the window frame, door frame, cowl, etc. are all the exactly the same.


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Before I cut the original sheet metal away I made some alignment jigs that mount to the chassis plate; they're removable but are self-aligning so I can take them off and put them on with ease and they're always in the same exact location. In the second picture you'll see a vertical 1" x 1" bar, the upper edge lining up with the factory seam where the door jam meets the A-pillar; what a perfect point this turned out to be in terms of lining up the replacement!


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I also added some vertical, horizontal, and diagonal bracing to the cowl area inside the car, using mounting locations provided by the factory, that way I could make the replacement cowl line up accurately to the same position as the original:


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[carnalsupply]

The last few weeks have left precious little time to work on the Fury, but when I've had a chance to get out in the shop I've been lining up the replacement cowl and locking it in place. Not an easy job but the jigs I made really worked out well, so over the last couple of days I've begun the welding process. While not finished by any means, the cowl is now permanently joined to the rest of the car and the roof is supported by the A-pillars as opposed to the bracing. It's time for a new bottle of gas for the welder and hope springs eternal the new bottle will improve my welding efforts.

Here are some shots of the replacement cowl in place:


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[Jetfixr320]

I had a regulator go bad on me. That caused some bad welds till I figured it out.

[carnalsupply]

I had a regulator go bad on me. That caused some bad welds till I figured it out.

Hey Jet,

Can you give me an idea of what the symptoms were you experienced? I ask because the regulator is the only common thread between my current Lincoln 200 and previous smaller Lincoln (which I had issues with).

Thanks much

[Motown 454]

It looks good nice work.

[carnalsupply]

Thanks Motown, much appreciated.

[wfo guy]

Lots of work. It's amazing the amount of work we do to save something. Doing good, man.

[Bob Glenn]

Check the hose inside the welder ! from the solenoid to the gas port in the gun ! I had one at work that welded like yours and the guys that had been using it said it had always been like that ! Was replacing the wire and had the gas on ( I know wasting gas ) and could hear gas inside the welder ,checked and found a hole in the nylon line repaired it and it welded great !! The guys that had been using it started asking how I could weld with and it look so much better I told them SKILLS !! Great build keep it up !

[j-c-c]

Is your polarity set correctly?

[carnalsupply]

WFO - damn don't I know it, and often wonder WTF I'm thinking!
Bob - I will check the hose as suggested, though I know there is gas reaching the nozzle due to the fact I can actually hear it when I'm welding (can't confirm how much except by what the regulator says)
j-c-c - I checked the polarity when I first began having trouble, but like the gas hose, I'll check again to ensure it's correct

Thanks much fellas

[j-c-c]

I apologize for not going back and seeing if you mentioned whether you are using a mix gas (80 argon/20 C02), I "think" in years past I have had gas stratify inside the tank after long idle periods and tank was getting low, giving some slightly odd welding results, although i noticed this more with tig with mix gases, since mig should still weld with both of the normal gases. BTW, mix is the way to go if you are now using straight gas.

[Jetfixr320]

Mine was getting No gas. Welds looked like the gas was off. And couldn't hear the gas.

Good tip on trying to listen for leaks.

[carnalsupply]

Hey guys,

As opposed to posting all my welding woes twice (here and in another area on the forum) I'm hoping you'll follow this link to the thread I started in the "help" area of the forum. I've posted some pix and video that pretty clearly illustrate the trouble I'm having, so I invite you to give me all the feedback and comments you can; I can definitely use the help! Here's the link to the help thread and thanks much: https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/103784-Need-help-in-Las-Vegas?p=1038657&posted=1#post1038657

[carnalsupply]

I want to begin this reply with my most sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to reply; regardless of whether the advice worked or not the fact you took the time to answer my call for help is appreciated more than you know.

The problem, which turns out has been in place for years, was my 25' 8-dauge extension cord. Yep, it turns out there was a 6 amp drop from the outlet end to the welder end when the welder was set on it 's second lowest setting, so imagine what kind of loss there would be on a higher setting. As soon as I removed the extension, which I have ALWAYS used, the wonderful sound of sizzling was heard and consistent, penetrating beads resulted.

I shot a video, which I'll post tomorrow, but the improvement compared to my earlier videos is unmistakeable.

Enough welding issues, now it's time to get back to building!

Thanks again everybody.

[mmosley]

In return we expect a dramatic increase in your productivity and quality of welding. Do not let us down!

[Bob Glenn]

Good ! Keep it going !!

[carnalsupply]

Just to put a final period on my short story, "The Woes of Welding", I thought I'd post a video that shows the results AFTER taking out the extension cord. If you watch the previous video first then this one the change(s) are pretty obvious:



http://youtu.be/jLExTGPJveQ

[mmosley]

Bacon!

[carnalsupply]

It seems like ages since I last got to work on the Fury, and that's probably because it has been, but I finally got some time and finished up the cowl replacement. Now that the cowl is in place I'll move on to the firewall and the front floor extensions. Nothing too tough with the firewall, I've already got it completed (from before I replaced the cowl) but it is somewhat tricky getting the existing firewall cut away due to the airbox tucked just below the cowl vent. On my original cowl I simply cut the airbox away but this time I'm going to try and save it. We'll see.


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[wfo guy]

I see you have your Christmas lights in the car. :)

[ramlinman]

i love this build. hope to see some updates soon

[carnalsupply]

Hey Ramlin,

It's been a real slugfest this past couple of months, and until things calmed down at work I had to lay low for a while, but the short version is this: I had to dismantle my last shop and find a new location, and only a couple of weeks ago was I able to get it completed (with LOTS of amazing electrical help from my buddy Ed from ForBBodiesOnly).

I've spent a bit of time working on the firewall and I'll make sure to take some shots and update the blog this weekend.

Thanks for keeping an eye on me, it's great motivation!

[ramlinman]

Hey Ramlin,

It's been a real slugfest this past couple of months, and until things calmed down at work I had to lay low for a while, but the short version is this: I had to dismantle my last shop and find a new location, and only a couple of weeks ago was I able to get it completed (with LOTS of amazing electrical help from my buddy Ed from ForBBodiesOnly).

I've spent a bit of time working on the firewall and I'll make sure to take some shots and update the blog this weekend.

Thanks for keeping an eye on me, it's great motivation!

looking forward to it..

[carnalsupply]

So I finally got back to work on the Fury (at the new shop) and figured I'd get the firewall completed so I could finally get the car off the chassis plate if I wanted to do so, but in getting back to it I decided not to go with the setup I put together a couple years ago and started fresh.

I found a great article online that gave me some terrific ideas that really helped, especially the square tube bracing that outlines the overall size of the setback as well as giving me some support while I fabricate.

Below are some shots of the work:


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Right now I'm working on sealing the heater airbox so I'll get some shots of that a little later.

[ramlinman]

So I finally got back to work on the Fury (at the new shop) and figured I'd get the firewall completed so I could finally get the car off the chassis plate if I wanted to do so, but in getting back to it I decided not to go with the setup I put together a couple years ago and started fresh.

I found a great article online that gave me some terrific ideas that really helped, especially the square tube bracing that outlines the overall size of the setback as well as giving me some support while I fabricate.

Below are some shots of the work:


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Right now I'm working on sealing the heater airbox so I'll get some shots of that a little later.


looks great bob. what article are you refering too? always in for a good read

[dodgedartgt]

Yes,

Please share the article.

Mike in FL

[carnalsupply]

Hey fellas, guess I should have thought of that, so better late than never here's the link:
http://www.customclassictrucks.com/techarticles/1311_1956_chevy_pickup_firewall_fabrication/

It's a good read with lots of high quality pix and loads of useful info.

[ramlinman]

thanks

[carnalsupply]

So the last couple of days at the shop have been REALLY productive; the firewall is nearing completion and I hope to have it solidly mounted by this weekend.

Here are some shots of the 3 pieces that make up the setback, both mocked up in the car and a final picture taken after I'd tackerd all the pieces together and pulled them out for final welding.

One area I'm really pleased with are the upper corners where I used a 3" radius as opposed to simply using a 90 degree/square corner. To make smooth, consistent radius bends in the sheet metal I fabbed up a table top bender utilizing a 36" long piece of exhaust tubing and a couple of bolts and nuts to hold it firmly against the table. I slide the metal between the table top and the tubing, tighten down the nuts just enough to apply even pressure downwards against the sheet, then apply upward pressure on the sheet, forming a bend around the tubing. To vary the radius I can change the tubing diamter or move the sheet in and out of the "throat" while applying pressure. If anyone wantts a picture let me know.


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[carnalsupply]

Work continues on the firewall, moving ahead really nicely.

Today I needed to put the final touches on the firewall set-back prior to the install, including radiusing the bottom to fit around the bell housing and flanging that radius once it was cut. Easy enough but it did necessitate installing the engine/trans combo.

Here are some shots of the firewall set-back now that it's done:


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I know it's tough to see but I used a 1" wide by 36" long piece of 16 gauge to create the 90 degree flange in my sheet metal break then used my spot welder to weld the flange to the firewall. Once the set-back is welded in place I'll be in a great position to finish off the floors and trans tunnel.

[carnalsupply]

Today I reached a milestone; the firewall set-back is permanantly in place so now I can move on to pedal, seat, and steering column placement, as well as finishing the floor and tunnel, all of which had to be held off until I finished the set-back.

I have to admit, I have really had doubts over the years, wondering if I would ever actually get to this point, but now that I have I feel totally energized about pushing forward and can't wait to get to the shop every day.

Here are some shots of the completed firewall, though final welding will wait for the car to be mounted on the rotisserie so I can get easy access and not have to weld upside down, etc.


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[carnalsupply]

With the set-back and firewall secured I've been focusing on the toe boards and tunnel, so below are some shots of the progress.

The last picture shows the rough template I'm going to use and have the leading portion of the tunnel rolled for me. As much as I'd like to go buy a slip roller it's just not in the cards so I'm going to try and find a fab shop in our complex.


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[carnalsupply]

After my last post I got to thinking about what I'd said, and what I need to get done, and figured I could make the tunnel myself as opposed to having someone make it for me. For inspiration I watched a number of "how to" videos on YouTube and came away convinced I could do it.

I took the template (see previous post) and laid out what I needed on some 16 gauge and cut it out (roughly) with my plasma cutter. The front edge of the tunnel is a pretty constant radius with a 22" diameter but the rear edge has a somewhat convex upper surface with different radius bends on the left and right sides, so after marking the centerline on the rough cut tunnel stock I used the centerline to mark off where both the left and right bends should begin.

Now that I had the flat stock marked I used my tried and true bender (exhaust tubing bolted to my work table) and got the leading edge bent to match the flange on the firewall. Once the leading edge radius was correct I used a combination of my "bender", a panel beating bag, and a number of plastic and dead blow hammers to form the rear edge.

Sorry if I'm going on too long about this but I have to admit I am probably more proud of this one part than I am of anything else I've done so far.


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With the tunnel done and in place it was time to put the drivetrain in place to make sure everything fit as planned.


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The picture above illustrates the single tightest gap around the entire bellhousing, which at 1 1/2" was more than I could have hoped for.

Next came the heads:


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Then the intake and carbs, though I am planning on running FAST EZ EFI throttle bodies as opposed to carbs:


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Sure glad I'm running a '65 Super Stock hood scoop because without it i think I'd have a "liitle" hood clearance issue!

Tomorrow will be trimming and cutting the firewall and floors to fit the headers, then on to the dash, steering column, pedals, and seats.

[ramlinman]

fantastic progress bob. your momentum is awesome.

[carnalsupply]

Thanks Ram, the only thing keeping me out of the shop all week has been relatives from Germany staying with us. It would have been an easy way out to head to the shop and work but probably not the most polite thing to do, but come this Friday I am back at it!

[carnalsupply]

The last time I posted the firewall and setback were completed and the final part of the trans tunnel was completed (though not welded), with the next step being the completion of the front floors where they meet the firewall.

The passenger side came out just fine, there were no compound curves to deal with and the headers have plenty of room; I knocked that out in no time.

The driver side was going to be a bit more difficult; the floor near the front of the tunnel has a crazy compound curve and the firewall zigs and zags like a drunk outside a bar at 2am. Since I already had most of the floor completed as well as the footwell (leading edge of the floors) I figured I'd just lay out some 16 gauge and pound, pull, and bend it into shape. Nope! With only a few inches from the leading edge of the completed floor and the curvy, zig zagging firewall I just could not form a piece to fit satisfactorally. Left with no other choice (that I could come up with) I cut out all the footwell material I'd only recently complete as well as about 18" of the already completed floor.

Once I had the area clear I formed the new footwell and floor leading edges, melding them into the firewall and setback in a way that increased the room between the floor and the headers as well as eliminating some of the worst compound curves.

Once I got the forward area fit and secured with Clecos I moved on to the floor. Having 18" or so in length to work with makes compound curves much easier to deal with, but they are still a pain in the butt! I have no idea what I did before I got my panel beating bag and hammers; a MUST have if your replacing panels!

Lots of talking (sorry) so here are the pix:


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I am TOTALLY thrilled with the results, my welds came out terrific, the fitment of the panels is tight, the overall look is far beeter than what I had before, and the headers now have even more room. A win win all the way around with only one mior setback; the corner where the firewall meets the setback is going to need some work. The firewall metal was really thin and blew out so I'm going to fab up a small corner patch and finish things up. At that point I can get to the steering column, dash, pedal, and seat placement.

[ramlinman]

very nice what's next?

[carnalsupply]

very nice what's next?

Hey Ram,

Once I clean up the corner I mentioned I'm going to mock up the dash, steering column, driver seat location, and figure out if I can use swing pedals or if I'll have to go with floor mounts. If I go with floor mounts I'll look for a set of Wilwoods or Tiltons.

The main thing is finding a position so the relationship between the wheel, pedals, and seat are comfortable. I am going to try and mimic the driving position of my Caddy since a) I friggin' love it, and b) I'm using the same seats.

[acegto]

Nice progress.

[carnalsupply]

The last few days working on the Fury have been pretty amazing; after many years I am finally in a position to begin fitting pieces back to the car as opposed to nothing but repairing. What a feeling! OK, the repair on the corner of the setback/firewall is being a pain in the ass but otherwise...

The first thing I wanted to test fit is the dash since the steering column and pedals mount directly to it and the driver seat aligns with it. Surprising to nobody, least of all me, it was instantly obvious the stock pedal assembly will never work and the steering column is going to need "some" work.

This first picture shows the dash in place, alleviating any fears of whether the height of the engine setback would interfere with the underside of the dash or defroster tubes.


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This picture, from a bit of a different angle, shows how the steering column centerline will go through the setback. If you squint really hard you can see a light vertical line on the backside of the setback. That line represents the outside edge of the engine, including headers and valve cover, meaning I may have up to 4" or so of room to slip the steering column past the engine.


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My initial reaction to the situation is to use a VERY short steering column with one universal under the dash, an extension passing through the firewall, another universal in the engine compartment, and another extension leading to the rack. This will necessitate using a rigidly mounted heim as a bearing (passing the rack extension through it) but I have TONS of space to mount one.

Before spending any money on a tilt column I'll modify the existing column, cutting it way down in length and develop the rest of the steering from there.

[Kenova]

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My initial reaction to the situation is to use a VERY short steering column with one universal under the dash, an extension passing through the firewall, another universal in the engine compartment, and another extension leading to the rack. This will necessitate using a rigidly mounted heim as a bearing (passing the rack extension through it) but I have TONS of space to mount one.
You could have a joint on your shortened column and another just inside of the firewall with a support bearing on the inside (fastened to the firewall). That would let you offset the shaft vertically and horizontally allowing you to run the second shaft in a straight line to the steering rack (space permitting).
I think the biggest challenge will be in creating enough support in the dash for the column. Those old dashes are pretty flimsy.

Ken

[carnalsupply]

Hey Ken,

I like your idea, it would allow me to have a straight shot from the steering rack through the firewall, making for a cleaner look. I guess the only question will be whether I have the room under the dash to make it happen, which I'll know tonight when I get to the shop.

Thanks for the idea!!!!

[dusterbd13]

for streetrods, they make this:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Steer-Clear-Steering-Box-Drop-Brushed-Finish,6254.html

you can probably find one much cheaper, but it gives you another option.

[Kenova]

Hey Ken,

I like your idea, it would allow me to have a straight shot from the steering rack through the firewall, making for a cleaner look. I guess the only question will be whether I have the room under the dash to make it happen, which I'll know tonight when I get to the shop.

Thanks for the idea!!!!
I'm more than happy to help out.

Ken

[carnalsupply]

for streetrods, they make this:
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Steer-Clear-Steering-Box-Drop-Brushed-Finish,6254.html

you can probably find one much cheaper, but it gives you another option.

Good morning Duster,

Yeah, I'm familiar with that setup but after going to the shop yesterday it doesn't look like the offset between the steering column and the rack extension will be that far; only a few inches either horizontally or vertically, while the offset chain drive you mentioned has a minimum offset of 8". As I move forward it is still an option and I appreciate you sending me the link.

Bob

[carnalsupply]

What an awesome day at the shop! I'd been telling my wife about some of the blowouts I've been experiencing and she made an off-handed comment about the fact some of the metal has been acid dipped, some is fresh and new, while other parts are from a donor car and have surface rust, so maybe I'm not cleaning it well enough. I thought about what she'd said and decided to use lacquer cleaner to clean all the weld areas prior to welding (after bringing them to bare metal) and low and behold, the welds stopped popping and blowing out! UNBELIEVABLE!

OK, so onto the work.

I had two areas of the footwells to complete as well as a bit of the floor near the front of the tunnel, and with my newfound cleaning method I knocked them out in a couple hours then got on to the steering.

I thought I was going to have trouble getting the column to line up with the rack due to the offset and possible interference with the headers so I dropped the engine and trans back in, threw on the driver side head and header, and began measuring. Pleasantly I have much more room coming up from the rack than I'd remembered.

I used some conduit to mock up the column, extensions, and u-joints rather than hacking up the steering column I have. Here's how it came out:


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After figuring out the wiring harness for my CTS-V seats I'll start working on the placement and attachment points.

[wfo guy]

Always listen when the wife speaks! :)

[carnalsupply]

Updates have been slow in coming but I've been making progress.

I'm using the seats from a Caddy CTS-V so figuring out the wiring and mounting occupied a bunch of time because of 2 things:
1) The seats have a memory, lumbar adjust, heat, as well as fore, aft, and vertical movement, so there's quite a bit more to hooking them up than connecting a single 12V and ground. I found othe people who have made them work but every one of those guys treats the wiring hook-up as some kind of f'n secret, so if there's anyone that ever wants the layout just let me know.
2) Unlike seats we've all pulled out of muscle cars over the years, the Caddy seats don'tjust bolt to the floor, the clip in the front and bolt down in the rear, so figuring out a clip-in method took me a little while.

This is the primary control unit for the driver seat, so if you use these seats you can virtually ignore all the other boxes, and it's the primary plug leading in that has to be correctly hooked up to power and grounds.

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These are the hooks at the front of the seats, and they need to be recessed into the floor if they are to mount correctly and spread their load evenly.
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I decided to cut rectangular holes in the floor, and through trial and error got the hooks to slide into the holes with very little fore/aft or side to side movement. Once I had the hole completed I found that 1/4" square tubing fit into the hooks perfectly, so I cut 4" lengths, slid them into the hooks with the seats in place, which held the tubing in perfect alignment, then tacked them in place.
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Here are the seats in place and mounted.
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To solidly mount the rear I welded a 1/2" - 13 nut to a 6" x 6" plate then welded the plate to the bottom of the floor, so the seats aren't going anywhere!

[carnalsupply]

I bought all the replacement body panels from Sled City about 4 years ago and only touched them when I needed to do some kind of test fitting or alignment, but now I'm FINALLY getting a chance to hang some of them on the car.

The first pieces I've messed with are the doors, which are easily one of the mos complex pieces of this puzzle. The doors are nothing more than hollow shells, no mounting studs, threaded inserts, slots, holes, NOTHING, so I've had to transfer every detail from the original doors onto the glass ones, and in some places cut areas out of the steel doors and bond them into the glass doors. This isn't a knock on Sled City, not at all, the pieces are stellar; they just take a LOT of work.

Here are a couple of shots of where I've grafted the striker/latch area from the steel door into the glass door. I used 3M panel adhesive and rivets, so they won't be coming lose any time soon.


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Here are some shots of the doors mounted, adjusted, and ready for "guts"


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Next I'll start the work on mounting the fenders and fabbing up a rad support.

[72BBSwinger]

Nice job, keep it up!

[driveit]

Keep the updates coming. Lookin good so far.

[Motown 454]

They fit nice! great job.

[carnalsupply]

Thanks fellas,

I'm waiting for my new riv-nut tool to arrive (my Marson broke yesterday) so a I can start mounting the fenders; more progress this weekend!

[carnalsupply]

My new Riv-nut tool arrived late last week but the time available to work on the car has been somewhat limited; regardless, I've been working on getting the doors mounted so I can then move forward and fab the fender mounts and rad support.

Here are the first shots I took of the initial trial fit of the fenders:


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If the car had any kind of structure left I think the fiberglass parts would be a lot easier to work with; I would have numerous reference points to work from, but as it is I'm winging it for most of the pickup points. Luckily, and I don't even remember why I did it now (it's been 5 years or so) but before I dismantled the factory rad support and frame rails I welded tabs for lining up the fenders onto my chassis plate, making my job quite a bit easier than it could have been.

[Motown 454]

The seats look good in there. Looking forward to seeing the fenders go on.

[carnalsupply]

Hey fellas,

I spent hours working on the Fury this weekend and made some excellent progress, though not without some difficulties.

In my previous couple of posts you see the doors and fenders in place, but the fenders weren't really attached to much of anything; they were bolted at the door jams but the forward ends were resting on shims; what I really needed was to get the rad support in place so the fenders have a permanant, fixed point to bolt on to.

Since I still have the bumper filler panel and the hood latch support, both of which bolt between the fenders, I used these two pieces to set the fixed distance the fenders, then centered them on the chassis.

This picture shows various pieces of string strung between the frame rails and the center points marked. Another piece of string was pulled (at 90 degrees to the other strings), running along the center points towards the front of the car. This string allowed me to accurately find the center point of the bumper filler panel.


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From there I had to set the fender height so I used my digital level sitting on top of a straight edge running between the fenders.

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But now is when the trouble began. I now had the fenders in place, level, and pretty much where they'd be at final assembly, so I decided to take some measurements at common points on both fenders, like the pointed tip and wheel arch.

Here are pictures of the measurements taken at the tips of the fenders; you'll notice the measurements are not the same.

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Wondering WTF I had done I used my digital level and checked the string running between the tips; I was within .1 degree.

Totally confounded I moved on to measuring the wheel arches:


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For the life of me I couldn't figure out what I'd done to knock the fenders out of alignment so I put my straight edge back across the fenders, and guess what; they were still level!

I spent the rest of Saturday trying to figure it out and the only thing I can come up with are errors creeping in during the manufacture of the fenders. The fenders are an assembly of smaller pieces bonded together and if errors begin to creep in the fenders won't be symmetrical.

I decided the best course to follow would be to use my established centerline and level lines and build the rad support around those known measurements.

[mmosley]

What is your datum? Are you measuring from the floor? Is it level? Are the frame rails level and level relative to one another? If your floor is not level do not use it as a reference. Hang a straight piece of 1" square tube below the frame, level it and use it as a datum. This is why the high end builders use a table. The table is flat and level side to side and end to end, then everything is built off that reference plane. Once leveled they will literally tack weld the frame at ride height to the table using 1" square tube or angle.

[carnalsupply]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for all the various points, I appreciate the input, but if you take a look at the second page of the build thread (https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/52504-64-Plymouth-Fury/page2) you'll see the car is solidly mounted to a steel frame table, which is leveled via screw-jacks, and all measurements are taken from the frame table as opposed to the floor. I'm definitely not a high-end builder but after years of working on Sprints and Midgets I understand the necessity of a flat, level surface to work from/on.

Yes, the frame is, as Art Morrison designed it, level at 4.75" from the surface, hence my choice to build the fender mounting points to be level as opposed to making specific points on the fenders "even". I may be totally wrong (not the first, not the last), and without a stock '64 (on a frame table) to measure from I saw little choice and choice in which direction to go. If I end up having to perform surgery on the fenders at a later date then so be it.

[mmosley]

Wow - guess you would have to measure from one point on the fender to another to figure out where that 1/2" went. I guess it is a mind bender because you just assume the fenders are symetric. Didn't remember you mounting it to a table, been following this one for a while.

[carnalsupply]

Wow - guess you would have to measure from one point on the fender to another to figure out where that 1/2" went. I guess it is a mind bender because you just assume the fenders are symetric. Didn't remember you mounting it to a table, been following this one for a while.

Hey Mike,

My best guess after looking at the fenders closely is they are a composite build, meaning small sub-assemblies (like the headlight buckets) are molded to the outer skin separately and that's where the discrepancies creep in. I did measure from the wheel lip to the top edge of the fender and they are symmetrical there, which makes things even more puzzling; I had an expectation the measurements would be off but they're not.

Hell, maybe Mopar built the original car with the mounting points out of level and I screwed the goose by making them perfectly level? I don't know but it's done now and I'm going to press forward.

[carnalsupply]

So once I made the decision to ignore the fender measurements and go with the centerline and heights Ihad established I took what was left of the existing rad support (it had lots of rot) and salvaged the sides and upper rail and began piecing a new one together.

With the fender width established and locked down using the bumper fill plate and latch support I fabbed up some small "L" brackets to span the distance between the frame rails and the rad support sides, spot welded them in place, then tacked the base of the "L" to the frame. Now the fenders have a completely stable attachment point and this allowed me to move on to the upper rad support bar.

Here are the side supports:


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Once the sides were mounted I took the top bar, put it in place, and wouldn't you know it, it was too narrow (side to side). This top rail, like the bumper filler and latch support came directly out of the car, and yeah, I had to cut the original support apart, but I never had to mess with the width, so for me this was just another indication of how the fenders were fabbed together with REALLY lose tolerances!

I took the upper rail, cleaned up the mating surfaces where it would meet up with the side supports, and tacked the driver side in place. Now I had a 5/8" gap on the passenger side so I used a cut-off wheel, cut the top bar in half, bolted the top rail to the passenger fender, tacked it to the vertical support, then filled the 5/8" gap in the center.

Here are some shots of the rad support in place along with the bumper filler and latch support:


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I've got a series of pictures of the front suspension all mocked up but they're in my PC at work so I'll post them later, but here's a bit of a tease; this is what the tire/rim combo looks like mounted on the suspension. To say I'm stoked is putting it mildly!

Once the rad support is finished (I need to fab a lower cross-member for the rad to sit on) and I play around with the roll cage I can take the car off the chassis plate and put it on the rotisserie, which will then allow me to finish weld many of the areas that are only tacked as well as patch the MANY small areas.

After all these years I can't believe I am nearing the point where the car goes on the rotisserie!

[carnalsupply]

It's been a few weeks since I've been on the board but that hasn't kept me from working on the Fury, far from it.

As noted above I took a series of pix of the front suspension mocked up so let me get those posted first:


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Once I got the suspension in place, checked for fender clearance (gonna be VERY tight) I mocked up the roll-bar. I chose to do this because I wasn't sure whether I was going to use the entire cage or just parts of it, and in the end I decided to use the roll-bar itself, the rear down tubes, and the engine compartment down tubes; I just don't like how much room the front roll cage bars take up, so here's the roll cage mocked up:


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I haven't permanently mounted the roll bar yet; I think it will be easier to replace the rear quarter windows and mechs without the bar so I'll install it later, but at least I know where it will be located and how to trim the ends so it will meet up with the mounting plates.

Once the front down bars were installed I re-installed the fenders so I could fab supports from 3/8" thin wall tubing; my thought being the supports could mount from the down bars, which they did at the rear while tying into the core support at the front (and adding a TON of rigidity to the core support at the same time):


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I'll post more progress shortly but I have to get out to the shop and get the car off the chassis plate and onto the rotisserie!

[RIDES BY DESIGN]

where are those updates LOL

[carnalsupply]

Due to the upload limits I was advised to keep my pix in my Dropbox and link to them, which sounds easy but every time I try I get an error message and my patience finally wore too thinany clues?

[carnalsupply]

So I've been fighting with how to get pix from the web loaded to the thread (as opposed to uploading them onto the forum and eating space)so it's been quite a while without an update but it looks like I've got it figured out, so hopefully you guys will come back for a look.

Before pulling the car off the chassis plate I decided to install the lower rad mounts; I figured it would be easier to get them level if the car was still solidly mounted as well as give me a real good idea of how high/low I needed to mount the rad. The rad itself is a Summit piece made to fit between the frame rails with only about 1/2" clearance on each side so there should be plenty of surface area to keep the car cool:


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With the rad mounts out of the way I spent the next couple days getting the car off the chassis plate and mounted on the rotisserie (which I made from some AWESOME plans). Taking the car off the plate was far more time consuming than I'd have hoped but in the end it worked out real well.


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Once the car was on the rotisserie it gave me clear access so I could finish weld virtually the entire car; there were LOTS of areas that were only tacked or at best insufficiently welded into place so I've spent the past 20 hours or so running bead after bead after bead. If you know from my earlier posts the problems I was having with welding, luckily enough my buddy Ed got my electrical figured out and I'm back to running some respectable beads:


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These shots show the four square covers I fabbed for the seat mounts. Fancy? Nope, but they are completely sealed and will do the job.


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This shot shows the two bolt-down points for the seats (1 per seat). I used 6" x 6" square roll-bar mounting stock to spread the load. Just above (in the picture) the mounts is the cross-member for the truck arms and the integrated driveshaft hoop.


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That's it for now but these few pix account for HOURS of work so I'm really happy with the progress.

Next I'll be finish welding the firewall and trans hump, then its on to working out the plumbing, wiring, and all kinds of stuff associated with fuel and spark. Anyone with advice or thoughts on how best to plumb the fuel and return lines are invited to throw your two-cents worth in. I'm figuring on using 5/8" Push-Lok for the feed and 3/8" for the return but I'm wondering on what type of "clips" to use along the way

[carnalsupply]

I got a couple hours of shop time in yesterday and finished all of the exterior welding around the firewall. Instead of trying to run continuous beads I used hundreads of individual welds, each overlapping the previous one. I'd wait just a second between welds to allow the atea to cool just a tiny bit yet still have the previous weld hot and malleable enough that the new weld could blend in easily. I know the common practice is to place the individual welds far apart and fill in the spaces between but I didn't like the results when laying a hot weld onto a cold one.

Here are some pix:


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[bonecrrusher]

Nice progress - keep up the good work!

[RIDES BY DESIGN]

outstanding car is really taking shape

[carnalsupply]

Been traveling and down with the flu (terrible ****!) but I have actually made some decent progress on the Fury over the past couple of weeks so here's some updates:

I finally got rid of the flu and I've been busy on the Fury so I got back to work on the Fury, fabbing up the trunk floor and areas around the wheel wells, then moved on to the bottom of the car where I cleaned up (read: ground down) any unsightly welds left over from my previous electrical issues. Once the grinding was done I was pleasantly surprised to see my original welds, albeit ugly, had made great penetration, but not wanting to have any weak joints I went back and re-welded them. What a difference when your power isn't fluctuating!

Once all the grinding and re-welding was completed I ran the 1/2" aluminum fuel line. It's the first time I've worked with aluminum tubing and there are definitely some pros and cons to it, but they're completed and I'm happy with the results.

Next I'll be tackling the interior welds on the floor, cleaning up any unsightly ones, but since there will be carpet over most of them it shouldn't take me too long.

Here are some shots of what I've been up to:


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I pre-shaped and pre-bent the floor pan, which took a couple of hours of fitting, grinding, fitting, grinding (repeat, repeat) but in the end it was worth it because the piece fit pretty damn well (IMHO). I found that once I got the floor tacked into place at the two front corners I could make great progress by making one weld at a time, maybe 1/2 to 1 second at the most, connecting the new weld to the one I'd just previously done. The trick was to go quickly enough so the previous weld still had some heat in it and the new weld would easily puddle into the previous one, yet not create so much heat as to warp the metal. I would weld a couple of inches on each side, alternating from one side to the other and shaping the floor. The results worked out great, I am really pleased with how this method allowed me to fine tune the floor shape while minimizing any warping.

Next came the two filler pieces behind the wheel wells. These pieces had been cut out due to rot as well as the fact we moved the inner half of the wheel wells inward. All in all not terribly difficult to fab up and by using the same welding technique I used on the trunk floor the pieces are solidly in place and sealed up tight.


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Next came the fuel lines, which you'd think would be easy to route, but with the truck-arm suspension and the side mounted exhaust there was precious little room to work with. Luckily there was some room along the passenger side frame rail and along the trans tunnel that gave me the room I needed while keeping the lines away from the spinning driveshaft.

This first shot shows the bulkhead fitting where the lines will pass into the trunk. To eliminate a really acute angle for the fuel lines (both inside and outside the trunk) I decided to cut the trunk floor in 3 spots and fold the remaining flap forward. I'm going to box in the open areas which will have the added benefit of protecting the fittings on the inside of the trunk. Not that I expect to be carrying much in the trunk but I'd hate to have something crash around and snap off an aluminum fitting.


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In the picture below you can see how the fuel line turns at almost 90 degrees towards the center of the car. Luckily the surface of the cross member the fuel lines are attached too (lower right corner of the picture) is lower than the bottom surface of the frame rail so the fuel lines are recessed up into the chassis; if the car was to bottom out the frame rail would hit while the fuel lines are safely protected. One thing I am going to add is a bolt on shield to cover this particular area of the fuel lines; with the lines running perpendicular to the direction of travel I am concerned something could pop up from the road and snag one or both, making for a real bad day. I also feel like the shield will help keep the heat of the exhaust away from the lines as well.


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Thanks for keeping an eye on the Fury; it's back to grinding!

[RIDES BY DESIGN]

moving right along i see...

[carnalsupply]

Wow, do I have a bunch of catching up to do with the blog, but I definitely have been working, so here goes.

I was able to finish routing and mounting the fuel lines (1/2" aluminum), which will be wrapped in heat shielding from DEI. I met with their folks at SEMA and found a really bitchin' "shield" that mounts (via stainless hose clamps) directly to the exhaust system, so I'll be using that as well.

Here are some shots of the fuel lines completed:


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I made a simple bracket to mount the bulkhead fittings to at the front end of the trans tunnel, but instead of welding the bracket in place I decided to use 2 1/4-20 riv-nuts and panhead bolts, that way I can remove the bracket when it's time to install or remove the engine/trans. In fact, all of the mounting points for the fuel line were made using 1/4-20 riv-nuts; those things are AWESOME!


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In a previous post I also mentioned I was going to build a cover to a) protect the perpendicular running fuel lines safe from snagging road debris, and b) to help deflect exhaust heat away. Here are some shots of the finished shield, which, like everything else, is held in place by 1/4-20 riv-nuts.


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This shot (looking across from the passenger side) gives you an idea of just how much space there is between the floor and the fabbed cover; there will be tons of room for air to circulate helping to keep the lines cool.


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Once I got the lines and their mounts finished I moved back to the trunk where the lines pass through the floor. Finishing off this area was pretty simple, I just fabbed up a couple of triangular shape pieces of 16g for the sides and a rectangular piece for the backside and spotted them in. The last picture shows just how protected the fittings and lines will be; no worries about things crashing around in the trunk and snapping off an aluminum AN fitting.


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While I was at SEMA I had a chance to meet with a number of manufacturers regarding different parts of the build, and boy was that helpful! I am now TOTALLY sold on using Lizard-Skin sound deadener as well as their ceramic heat shield. Both products are sprayed on, are 100% water-tight when cured, and should make a HUGE difference in both the sound and heat dissipation within the car. I'm going to spray both the inside and outside with the sound deadener then follow it with a couple of heavy coats of the heat shield. This will eliminate my having to use any seam sealer and will remain paintable if I choose to go that route.

[RIDES BY DESIGN]

any update?

[Peanut1959]

I'm curious what's been going on, as well.

[Godbolt]

And me! Just read this entire thread. Great work Bob. Your dedication is inspirational. Really want to see this one done.
James