Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

[CarMichael Angelo]

No real substance,....just keeping the thing on page one.

Yesterday, and today (in between applying for jobs) I decided to cap the passenger side fender where the bumper meets. I also installed both seats. Not so much as an attempt to move forward ( Since they'll come back out) but more to get them off the floor, and out of my way.

The fender extension was way too unstable. It simply needed some reinforcement. I added the 1/2" wide piece of strap, and now the thing is rock solid. I finally can move this side to bodywork mode.

Months ago, I actually had the driver seat kinda mocked up, but nothing was permanent. Yesterday, I made it so that they were. But,...they sit at too steep an angle rearward for me, so I'm thinkin that I'll add a 1" riser to the rear to correct that. For today however,...they're mounted and out of my way.

I drug the hood out and dealt with the water on the down pipe issue. Both your mustang, and my fairmont share similar hood substructure. That frame with the holes all around is how I intend for the air in the engine compartment to find a way out through the Gila vents at the rear of the hood. Problem is,.....there are 3 big gi honkin holes immediately above the down pipe, directly below the passenger side G vent. I had to come up with a Gandalf solution

I simply plated the bottom of those holes.

Not quite as impressive a feat as the Ol Gandy,....but just as effective. (only I wont fall to my death when the big thing passes by anyway)

Now water is gonna pour down on the driver side where those holes are still open, but the only thing water will pour on there is the rear most part of the intake manifold. Again,....I dont really plan to get caught in the rain, but I do expect to have to drive on a hot summer day,...so holes in the back of the hood win over worrying about water getting on my pretty engine.

I said before that when you cut the holes that expose that substructure, you also expose metal that Ford never intended to see the light of day. Consequently, there is a significant amount of surface rust accumulated on that inside metal. Since there really isn't a way to deal with that short of acid dipping the entire hood (not gonna happen) the cheesy solution to stopping that rust from advancing is to use the commonly available rust reformer. A spray paint that converts the rust from an active state, to a dormant state. It changes what we all call rust into a much more sophisticated version known as black magnetite. AKA rust that has been castrated.
I sprayed the hell outta those slots.

And killing two birds with one stone,...you get to see a side profile of the Gila Nostrils.

**Sorry assed picture hosting glitches...

This concludes tonight's update, we now return you to your regularly scheduled web browsing.

 

[stykthyn]

How do you like those procar seats?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

How do you like those procar seats?

They are pretty stiff, and lack any facsimile of built in lumbar support. But they fit me really well, they are fully reclineable (although that process takes a little effort), and they fold forward w/ a release lever. Plus,..they only costed like 209 ea, so way cheaper than a set of Corbeaus.

 

[stykthyn]

They are pretty stiff, and lack any facsimile of built in lumbar support. But they fit me really well, they are fully reclineable (although that process takes a little effort), and they fold forward w/ a release lever. Plus,..they only costed like 209 ea, so way cheaper than a set of Corbeaus.

Sooooo...not really something you'd want to spend a few hours in?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Sooooo...not really something you'd want to spend a few hours in?

It's gonna happen one way or the other. If I get a reprieve, and my second ship comes in where disposable income becomes a reality again, I'll consider having the center section of the seats supplemental y padded, and upholstered to augment those seats.

 

[95BlueStallion]

I dig the Gila nostrils. If it wasnt so cheesy, I would say that you should integrate Gila teeth into your grill area. Gila skulls look pretty gnarly.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I dig the Gila nostrils. If it wasnt so cheesy, I would say that you should integrate Gila teeth into your grill area. Gila skulls look pretty gnarly.

I think they'll look really good when blended in completely. Raw like they are now, they still stand out way too much, which makes them look odd. I also have to figure out how much of the front wings/arms/legs, whatever you call them I want to remove, or let remain.

I gotta replenish the body work supply cabinet.

 

[Noobz347]

So you have enough Gila skins to do the interior?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

So you have enough Gila skins to do the interior?

There is enough material to do the door panels, with probably enough left over to do a center section of the seats if I decide to have them bolstered in the middle. So the seats will be black and that antiqued leather color. The little Japanese kid will sit in black, the quarter pieces will be dyed a camel color to compliment the carpet, the headliner will be black, and the doors a two toned variation of both, because I still have to build a custom door panel to allow for the 6" component speakers that'll live there.

 

[Noobz347]

gila monster skin - Google Search

 

[95BlueStallion]

^ Shifter boot, cough, cough.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

^ Shifter boot, cough, cough.

There's no boot, cough, cough..

 

[95BlueStallion]

There's no boot, cough, cough..

Redesign.. sneeze, spit.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Redesign.. sneeze, spit.

No. I like it the way it is. There'll be an aluminum block with a slot cut out as a trim piece that sits around the shifter handle. If I ever get my life back, that is.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I know I'm not the same guy I used to be....even compared to 3-4 years ago. When I was building the red car,...I'd stay in the garage from 9AM, and drag my filthy, dead self out at 6-7 PM on a Saturday.

Now, if I last more than 4 hours, it's an event.

Today, as I sat in my chair deciding what the goal would be for today,....I thought....."No,....It's not a goal actually, It's more like what can be accomplished in 4-5 hours"?

I'll tell you.

You can drill a bunch of holes in your rear vent covers for the back of your hood, and cleco the covers in place.
Since you really don't have any body filler, you can only start on blending the G nostrils into the hood.

I bought the hardware to properly mount the splitter to replace the cobbled together bunch of unequal length bolts that were kinda holding it on.
That involved also having to come up with something to make the outside "spar" that will keep the ends of the thing from flapping in the breeze.

If you remember when I built the shroud, it bowed like mad when I welded it all together. The outside edges had come away from the bumper. So I dropped the entire assembly out and waxed the hell out of the bumper, and used kneadable two part epoxy as a filler to fill the gap. I made a little worm, blobbed it on top of each end, and re-bolted the thing in place. when it dries, I'll have a decent substrate to finish on so I can get it to fit perfect.

The thing is set at a fixed angle (like 2-3 degrees up) when the car is sitting on it's tires the rake will be 2-3 degrees down, so that should align that thing to be pretty close to perpendicular with the road.

It is bolted to the lower radiator saddle, tied into the oil cooler shroud, and fastened on the outside edges by a 1/4" stud passing through a piece of steel tubing. All the big fasteners are countersunk, the little screws in the shroud are just button heads.

Now,...clearly, I gotta change the orange 90 degree elbow that goes into the intercooler to black, but I love this thing,.....I think it'll really set the front end off just leaving it open. probably paint the shroud body color, and the splitter "wings" black.

 

[A5literMan]

I know I'm not the same guy I used to be....even compared to 3-4 years ago. When I was building the red car,...I'd stay in the garage from 9AM, and drag my filthy, dead self out at 6-7 PM on a Saturday.

Now, if I last more than 4 hours, it's an event.

Today, as I sat in my chair deciding what the goal would be for today,....I thought....."No,....It's not a goal actually, It's more like what can be accomplished in 4-5 hours"?

I'll tell you.

You can drill a bunch of holes in your rear vent covers for the back of your hood, and cleco the covers in place.
Since you really don't have any body filler, you can only start on blending the G nostrils into the hood.

I bought the hardware to properly mount the splitter to replace the cobbled together bunch of unequal length bolts that were kinda holding it on.
That involved also having to come up with something to make the outside "spar" that will keep the ends of the thing from flapping in the breeze.

If you remember when I built the shroud, it bowed like mad when I welded it all together. The outside edges had come away from the bumper. So I dropped the entire assembly out and waxed the hell out of the bumper, and used kneadable two part epoxy as a filler to fill the gap. I made a little worm, blobbed it on top of each end, and re-bolted the thing in place. when it dries, I'll have a decent substrate to finish on so I can get it to fit perfect.

The thing is set at a fixed angle (like 2-3 degrees up) when the car is sitting on it's tires the rake will be 2-3 degrees down, so that should align that thing to be pretty close to perpendicular with the road.

It is bolted to the lower radiator saddle, tied into the oil cooler shroud, and fastened on the outside edges by a 1/4" stud passing through a piece of steel tubing. All the big fasteners are countersunk, the little screws in the shroud are just button heads.

Now,...clearly, I gotta change the orange 90 degree elbow that goes into the intercooler to black, but I love this thing,.....I think it'll really set the front end off just leaving it open. probably paint the shroud body color, and the splitter "wings" black.

I really like that and agree with your color idea. That looks killer.

 

[95BlueStallion]

I mean, you could make a couple Gila fangs to hang down in there for the theme... But seriously though, that looks bad ass. Very clean and aggressive!

 

[jrichker]

I know I'm not the same guy I used to be....even compared to 3-4 years ago. When I was building the red car,...I'd stay in the garage from 9AM, and drag my filthy, dead self out at 6-7 PM on a Saturday.

Now, if I last more than 4 hours, it's an event.

I am probably 15 years older and wear out in about the same amount of time. I can tell you it that it will take a lifestyle change to make it better. But then, your family Dr. probably has already told you the same thing...

 

[Noobz347]

 

[95BlueStallion]

Mike will never go for that. It only has one scoop.