My Fox(es) In Surgery - Looking Like A Car Again,sort Of

[mikestang63]

Don't think I told you guys about this.
About a month ago I woke up early to go to a car show. For the first time in 5 years I forgot to put the hood pins on and,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hood came up. Crushed the cowl and did some danmage to the hood.

As I totally suck on body work, took the car to a budd's shop for them to repair the cowl, hood, and repaint. So........ when they removed the fenders that is when the fun started. Seems the prior owner did some half assed windshield repacement and it has been leaking for years, causing a lot of rust. They also decided bondo was the preferred method of repairing rust and cracks.. Needless to say I was more than a little shocked as this was a one owner low mile car and showed zero signs of this kind of rot...

So anyway, the rust and rot is being fixed, thebody parts primed, painted, parts undercoated. and the car will look like new again. A lot of stress and haggling Grundy athey are being great about this.

Luckily i found a used cowl in a junkyard car .

Guess it is actually a good thing this happened and the rust being taken care of before got to the point of totalling the car.

Enjoy the carnage pictures.

 

[mikestang63]

the horror,,,, the horror

 

[Jersey Joe]

Friggin eh, you just never know what's lurking down under no matter how nice the outside is.

 

[90sickfox]

That rust is a shame. Good thing you found it now before it got worse.

I'm seeing rust issues more and more in the A pillar area of our cars. We used to just have to check strut towers and floors....now these cars are at the age where we have to keep our eyes open for this stuff too.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I’m glad to see they’re getting after it. Did you find a salvage hinge/windshield pillar too?

Does the rot extend into the upper firewall as well?

 

[JD1964]

That’s a beautiful car. Hard to believe it looked bad in there. But, if it was dry, you probably never would have known anyway.

 

[A5literMan]

Very surprised by that rust. Wow! Good luck on the fixes Mike. Glad you found it now rather than later.

 

[Boostedpimp]

Have them check behind the area where the door hinges are... Been seeing allot of nice cars crusty behind that area

 

[Mustang5L5]

Wow.

I'm going to have to check my car out more closely now when I pull the bumper/fenders off to do my motor work

 

[Reddevil91]

For your hood supports did you have to readjust your hood, thinking about getting some just heard it moves your hood so it’s not flush. Where did you get that cluster in your vents? Was that custom made or a prefab ordered somewhere? What kind of HPs you pushing?

 

[Fordfreak93]

Damn, glad you are finding it before it got too bad. My car was originally from FL and that area was bad on my car too. The original owner let it sit next to a well water sprinkler in their apartment complex every morning and it rotted out behind the door hinge too. Looks like they are doing a great job, what a difficult repair!

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

All I can think about when I see the pictures of that guy working on your car is how clean your car "was" before the hood flew up. Now your car is sitting out in the rain with no hood and all those polished/chrome parts are getting weathered and lots of debris flying in to every nook and cranny of your engine. Put a friggin blanket over the engine while working on that beautiful car!!! They're not working on a Ford Contour for crying out loud!

 

[mikestang63]

For your hood supports did you have to readjust your hood, thinking about getting some just heard it moves your hood so it’s not flush. Where did you get that cluster in your vents? Was that custom made or a prefab ordered somewhere? What kind of HPs you pushing?

no readjusting needed
not sure what you mean about cluster for vents? If you mean the cowl gauge holder.:LMR sells it
I'm around 450 rwhp

 

[mikestang63]

sooooo... Merry Frikking Christmas to me

my buddy at the body shop is making good progress on the driver side..cut out all the rust, fabbed up new sheet metal, mocked up the replacement cowl

So far so good right?

. but....................... went over to the passenger side that had some bondo on it covering the inner frame for the fender and...........................

picture of how the prior owner "repaired" the passenger side
notice the bondo and the part cut into two pieces

let's pop off the one piece they BONDOED ON shall we? GREAT MORE FRIKKIN RUST

doesnt EVERYONE BONDO THE DAMN window pillar on?

with all of the BONDO and patch pieces removed...HOLY CRAP

So it is off to the junkyard to cut out a window pillar and the sheet metal and patch it in. I swear I want to go find the prior owner and kick him in the nuts.

I keep telling myself that its a good thing the hood flew up in hindsight or this car would have been completely rusted out.
Did I mention how much this sucks?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Ah JEEZ Mike, that sucks so bad!

I'm sorry brother, damn.

Good luck on the parts search. If it gets desperate, let me know. I could probably find something for you. Just got to overcome the 1800 mile barrier will be all.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Whatbin the holy hell? What was actually holding that windshield up? The glass?

 

[95BlueStallion]

sooooo... Merry Frikking Christmas to me

my buddy at the body shop is making good progress on the driver side..cut out all the rust, fabbed up new sheet metal, mocked up the replacement cowl

So far so good right?

. but....................... went over to the passenger side that had some bondo on it covering the inner frame for the fender and...........................

picture of how the prior owner "repaired" the passenger side
notice the bondo and the part cut into two pieces

let's pop off the one piece they BONDOED ON shall we? GREAT MORE FRIKKIN RUST

doesnt EVERYONE BONDO THE DAMN window pillar on?

with all of the BONDO and patch pieces removed...HOLY CRAP

So it is off to the junkyard to cut out a window pillar and the sheet metal and patch it in. I swear I want to go find the prior owner and kick him in the nuts.

I keep telling myself that its a good thing the hood flew up in hindsight or this car would have been completely rusted out.
Did I mention how much this sucks?

Holy crap man, that is crazy!

 

[GroverDill]

I has sads after seeing that, glad you are fixing it up.

 

[90sickfox]

Just to think.....I junked my favorite car ever for less rust than that.

Makes me feel a little bad for letting her go. I actually watched the crusher smash her...surprising how well the roll cage held up at first.

Glad your in it to win it.

That rust looks scary.....but imagine if you hadn't found it. That car was a rolling death trap. At least, its in an area that won't really be seen.

 

[billison]

My stomach hurts just reading this post. Hope that’s the end of the surprises