A New Jig

Looks like I haven't posted anything for about 2 months.  It's been a busy couple of months with my son in soccer, family campouts and hunting season in Utah.

First of all, I uncovered what's left of my convertible and re-assessed the work to be done.

Uncovered and up on some "jack stands"

Needs a complete new trunk floor and dropoffs

 Needs new rear frame rails and torque boxes (but so did the coupe)

Hard to tell but this is a repaired rear frame rail and torque box.

I decided to use the front half of the coupe since the frame rails, dash and firewall are in good shape.  Without a solid frame to start from I decided a frame jig was absolutely necessary.  So I went to the local scrap yard and found a bunch of 1x4 steel tubes for about $50.  I decided that I would make the jig from the  dimensions in the back of the 1967 Mustang Shop Manual to make sure it all goes together correctly.  After welding this together I tested it out on my coupe and it fit with very little grunting.

This is the base of the frame....still had the uprights to weld on.

Added 4 3" swivel casters with brakes

After adding the uprights I fitted it to the coupe frame to make sure I got everything right.

I had to "shim" the jig up to fit under the car, but later took the car off the jack stands and everything stayed flat and level.  Looking down the main rails of the jig showed that they remained straight which means that the weight is spread out fairly evenly.

With the coupe on the jig I've decided to cut the front end off and remove the rear end.  Then I'll roll the front end over to the back end of the convertible and put that on the jig as well.  In the mean time, I realized that the whole back end of the coupe was going to be so awkward and heavy I might as well cut it up into a few pieces.  I started by taking the top off so I could get a preview of what the next few weeks would hopefully bring.  With the door braces and the jig underneath I think it was pretty well fixed.

In my excitement to mount the coupe to the jig I didn't realize that I should have taken the rotisserie mounts off before I mounted the jig, so the rear mount will have to stay on until I cut the rear end off.

This is the closest thing to a convertible that I've had in nearly 8 years!