Take Two - Back with a New Project - "Lawyer Up"

[andrewb70]

Awesome!

[ryeguy2006a]

Now that's a motor!!

[Midlife]

Brakes arrived from Baer - 6 pots for front and 4 for the rear. Good thing I ordered larger wheels!

[Midlife]

Well, I guess I'm not too good at keeping this up-to-date. I can't believe it's been over two years since my last entry; time sure flies. Lawyer Up has become a winter project these past couple of years and it's been rolled to the side in the spring. I just moved it into the place of honor in the shop (on the lift) so that I can get re-acquainted and pick up where I left off this past April.

Here's a pic of the current status - I'll add more updates as time allows, showing what's been done so far.

[andrewb70]

Keep it going. My recent redo was supposed to take 6 months. I'm going on two years.

Andrew

[Midlife]

Setting the "way back machine" to November 2020, when I began disassembly.

I was very surprised to find the floors in this outstanding condition when the carpet was out. Given that it never saw winter, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but it is, after all, a Detroit car and some rust was expected. The areas that were painted black were exposed back-in-the-day when the original owner was drag racing the car without any of the passenger and rear seats and other interior parts, so he painted those spots to cover up the red oxide dip primer.

Also, note that the console brackets have been removed with a cold chisel, leaving scabs of weld and holes in the floor that were filled with blue silicone. The original owner told me he did that back in early '73 (when he was very young), as the then-new style of taller console got in the way of his arm when shifting in competition and lots of owners of '70-'72 cars wanted that version of the console. So, he pulled it out, sold it, knocked off the brackets, and filled the holes with what he had on hand.

He also helped preserve the subframe and related suspension components by giving everything a very nice coating of gloss black Imron. As parts were removed for maintenance during it's racing days, he would clean and coat them with the preferred chassis paint of the '70s/'80s. Although this and the loss of all the numbers matching components means the car wasn't a candidate for survivor preservation, the result was a perfect car for a survivor exterior pro-touring build.

[eversaul86]

Love this body style. Split bumpers get my vote! Can’t wait to see the progress.
Martin

[Midlife]

One of the first things on the agenda before digging in was to plot the chassis points on the floor using a plumb bob, take measurements, then replace the rotted rubber chassis bushings with solid ones from Detroit Speed.

[Midlife]

After installing the solid body mount bushings, I re-checked the measurements from the same key pick-up points and confirmed that nothing shifted. Then, with the wheels on and the car back on the ground (well, on the four-post lift), I installed a set of Detroit Speed subframe connectors.

I was really hesitant to cut such nice sheetmetal, but after marking, checking with a laser, and measuring a bunch more times, I finally did the cuts and fitted the subframe connectors.

I'm not a pro at welding, but working slowly and experimenting with the power and feed settings on my Lincoln 110v MIG to get the right amount of penetration on the thick walls of the connectors without blowing holes in the much thinner floor sheetmetal resulted in a solid connection, both inside and underneath the car.

Since I may someday replace the front subframe with an aftermarket version, I didn't want to weld the subframe connectors permanently to the OEM front subframe. The instructions call for welding the subframe connector brackets directly to the OEM subframe, though. After a discussion with Detroit Speed and their blessing of converting to bolts for that part of the installation, I drilled each of the subframe connectors and installed sleeves to avoid crushing the tubing. I then welded the tabs to the ends of the OEM subframe once everything was aligned. By removing the body mount bolts and the six bolts in the subframe connectors, the OEM front subframe can still be removed from the car.

After the welding was done, I covered the welds with seam sealer, then etching primer and paint. I also tried a bunch of different undercoating products to mimic what the original owner put on the underside of the car years ago and landed on a pretty good match. Since I'm trying to preserve the patina, my goal was to make it look like nothing had been done on the bottom of the car.... I think I came close to hitting that mark.

[Midlife]

With the body and chassis solidly bolted together and subframe connectors in place, I turned to the interior and installed a Detroit Speed 4-point roll bar.

This version comes with pre-cut and bent tubes, including a removable rear seat brace with nice clevis attachments. Given that I'm trying to keep the original patina on the car, I really didn't want to remove the rear window and risk having to remove the vinyl top if I discovered any concerns under that window molding. So, I ordered up another set of the clevises and cut the rear down tubes just under the package tray, which would allow me to install the main hoop and the welded-on rear down tubes as a single assembly without removing the rear glass. Although this will compromise the strength of the roll bar somewhat, I'm not planning on tracking it - beyond some touring sessions - and the main purpose of the roll bar is to serve as a shoulder harness mount and chassis stiffener. I added four shoulder harness loops, as well, to help hold things in place.

I started by fitting and tacking the footpads in place, then lots of trial fitting of the tubing. Once I was happy with the fit, I tacked the tubes together and removed everything from the car for final welding. Once welded, I did another test-fit to make sure that nothing had moved, then dropped it off at the local powder coater for a sand-black finish - sorta like an old fashioned camera case finish - that looks great against the stock interior materials and the vinyl roof. They left the bottom inch or so uncoated so that I could weld the assembly in place, so after covering it with some protective padding and trimming the package shelf and the shelf cover, I carefully positioned it in the car, connected the trunk legs (that have a crossbar, as well), then welded the four feet to the pads. I finished it off with some seam sealer on the floor welds and then painting the pads and the bottom inch or so of the bars.

[Midlife]

As you may have guessed, after disassembling the car, my first priority was to get the bodyshell squared away. I was really happy to find that there was no corrosion to be concerned about on the shell.... just a little surface issue here and there. That was incredibly surprising for a car that spent its entire life in the Detroit area! I'm keeping all of the finishes in place, wherever possible, especially the exterior paint and vinyl top.

So far, I've caught you up to speed on the subframe fixing points, subframe connectors, and rollbar. Next, I turned my attention to other parts of the bodyshell that needed attention or modifications that will facilitate future equipment.

The first few pics are follow-ups to the earlier posts, showing how I modified the package shelf covering (added a passenger side speaker opening and grille, as well as cut-outs for the rollbar rear down tubes that I trimmed out with windlace edging), and the final appearance of the subframe connectors and rollbar footing (seam sealed and painted). Also, note in the subframe interior pic the replaced console brackets.

Other pics below cover the following bodyshell work.....

Front tow eye - For this, I used a Ford Performance part that is intended for the FP500 and Boss302S/R race cars. I had a set of these (front and rear) laying around and started to look at the front one as possibly working on the Z28. I was really surprised to discover that the bend of the bracket followed the front horn of the subframe where the bumper bracket mounts. Normally the bracket would mount to a Mustang behind the front fascia in a vertical fashion and the tow eye would fold down flat against the fascia where the front license plate would mount. In this case, I welded the hinged section solid after positioning the bracket against the bottom of the front subframe section. I had the now welded eye powdercoated red to cover the hinge area, then welded the bracket fully to the front subframe. About 3/4 of the red tow eye will protrude through a slit I'll make in the black plastic front spoiler, just below the lower painted valance.

Trunk floor access - This is another Detroit Speed part, which consists of a ring and cover plate. I'm using a Rick's Tanks baffled stainless tank with the modern GM fuel pump / filter / regulator module and wanted to be able to access it for service purposes. The trunk floor had a bit of surface rust that was attributed to condensation under the rubber mat. The original owner covered the surface rust decades ago with more gloss black Imron, but some was finally starting to poke it's way through again. Fortunately, the worst of it - really nothing more than some mild pitting - was right in the area that I cut out for the access hole. I then rosette and stitch welded the ring in place, seam sealed the edges inside and out, then recoated the trunk with a quality spatter paint. In the pic below, the spatter paint is still wet and the light is directly above it, giving it a glossy appearance that it has since lost.

Firewall clean-up - The firewall had been the victim of various coatings over the years each time the engine was out, so it was time for a cleanup and repaint. But, I wanted the appearance to remain as close to original as possible, so I left the areas that were okay alone.... particularly under the fenders where the blackout paint was gone and the red oxide underneath was visible. For this, I just sanded the wrinkly, peeling, and badly scratched areas - applied some primer where I took it down to bare metal, and then top coated it with Eastwood's 2k in a finish that replicated the original matte from the factory.

Dynamat - Now that all the cutting, welding, seam sealing, and painting was done, it was time to add some Dynamat. I covered the interior floor, doors, underdash, and up in the rear quarter panels. I wanted to damp as much of the harshness of the coming suspension mods and exhaust, as well as provide some heat insulation, but without any of the Dynamat being visible when doors, hood, or trunk lid were open.

This about covered it for bodyshell prep work, so future installments will cover the mechanical rebuilding. Stay tuned for more!

[Midlife]

Front tow eye pics......

[Midlife]

Trunk floor fuel tank top access pics.....



- - - Updated - - -

Firewall refinishing pics......

- - - Updated - - -

Dynamat pic.....

[Midlife]

Part of the disassembly process included removing everything except for the headliner from the interior. After finding some very old hacks in the wiring harness, I decided to go with a new Classic Update harness from American Auto Wire. This harness includes a few extra circuits and a modern fuse panel. And, it'll help me get rid of things like this..... a bolt acting as the connector for a bunch of wires and then "plugged" into the original fuse block.

[ryeguy2006a]

You're doing a fantastic job! Thanks for posting pictures.

[extremetoy]

Love the old school photos of it, definitely hang onto those!

[NCSU68]

Great work!

[Alwhite00]

No shortcuts here, looks great. My last build took 10 years so you are way ahead of me. Keep it up.

[Midlife]

As mentioned early on, I was blessed in finding a survivor car that wears most of it's original paint (valances - f/r - and the rear spoiler were repainted at different points throughout the years), the vinyl top that was applied at Norwood, along with all of it's original interior (except the console).

So, after I wrapped up the bodyshell mods and the clean-up / preservation, it was time to begin reassembly. The first step was to get the new suspension and brakes in place.......

• Front and rear ridetech suspension - four link rear with coilovers
• Baer brakes - six piston front / four piston rear with 13" rotors at all corners

The ridetech parts are really high-quality pieces and went together with no problems and the instructions / templates were clear and concise. Installation of the rear suspension frame on the inside of the car, cutting the oval holes for the diagonal upper control arms, and modifying the rear seat back frame went really well and the results are nearly invisible. That's important, as from a distance I want the car to look just like a nicely preserved older restoration or survivor on some slightly larger wheels.

Given that this car is getting a healthy increase in horsepower, I elected to buy a Currie 9" (Ford!) rear end. I sourced it through RideTech, as that way it came with all the necessary brackets welded in place and powdercoated in a nice satin black. It includes a TrueTrac diff with 3.70 gears and 31 spline axles, so it should be more than up to the task of handling the LS7's output.

[andrewb70]

You're making fast progress!

Andrew