Body Modifications

By Frank Colgoni

Before the body could go off for body and paint, there were a number of things to take care of - both cosmetic and functional.

In the functional department, we had three things to take care of: a raised trunk floor to accommodate the raised rear frame crossmember / panhard (see article 9 HERE), the rear portion of the transmission tunnel to accommodate our Ford AOD transmission / shifter and the inner vertical surfaces of the door pillars to provide a level mounting surface for upholstery panels.

In the cosmetic department, the body came with a firewall notch to suit a small block Chevy. As we are using a small block Ford, we didn't need it. Could we have simply left it there? Of course but.... Also, the tops of the inner door panels terminated in a stock-type configuration. That is, there was a flange that would accept a door panel. If left the way it was, it would have required some fiddling to make it work. A nicer solution, in our estimation (the purists might argue), would be to make the inner door top mimic the height of the flange behind the door and, at the front, terminate in a downward "swoop" ending at the bottom of the dash. It will all become obvious when you see the accompanying photos.

The Trunk Floor
After some exploratory cuts to expose the crossmember, a final overall dimension and shape /approximate height was arrrived at. After this, Dream Machines fabricated a wood plug that would be used to lay up the fiberglass. The block was made by joining dimensional spruce lumber / plywood and then a lot of intensive shaping and sanding was done to arrrive at a smooth shape. The bottom of the plug was left flat. The fiberglass piece would be shaped to the contours of the floor after removal from the plug.

John (of Dream Machines) and I used the wet-on-wet method to lay up the fiberglass matt. Prior to starting, we covered the plug with aluminum foil to aid in releasing the piece and painted on a release agent.

Here's the trunk floor before any cuts. Some preliminary marking is evident relative to the crossmember location.

The first cut exposed the raised crossmember.

The second cut exposed the panhard. After this, the balance of the area was removed to provide for a symmetrical opening.

Here's the Dream Machines' fabricated plug for the trunk floor. This piece is too nice to get rid of. Nice work John.

The foil and release agent are applied next.

Here we are in progress. The 'glass extends down well past the plug.

The finished piece and the plug. The finished piece now needs to be contoured along it's bottom edge to match the curvature of the trunk floor.

What you're looking at is a piece light material that has been bent to the contour of the floor. A line was scribed on the finished piece and the piece was cut. This worked "like a charm".

Here's a shot of the finished piece laying in position. An outline was made around the piece with a marker, the piece was removed and the opening was cut to the exact shape of the piece. It was then laminated into place.

Here's the result from the bottom.

Transmission Tunnel
The process used for the transmission tunnel was exactly the same as for the trunk floor but on a smaller scale.


This illustrates the first cut. It was opened up slighty again after the shifter arm travel was established.

The lay-up of the new piece in progress.

The finished piece 'glassed in place requiring only the shifter opening.

From the underside.

Inner Door Panel Tops / Door Pillars
To start this process, paper, then cardboard templates, were made for the new door panel tops. The shape was then transferred to masking tape on the door to visualize the effect. Then, using material that was removed from the trunk floor (very handy), the pieces were cut to shape and relieved along the top edge so that they would slip under the existing flange. They would be resined in place but we decided that they would need to be held in place with small screws until the resin cured as the door surface is slightly curved. After dry, the joint with the existing door top flange and the screw holes would be filled with short strand fiberglass filler and finishing putties. For the door pillars, like the door tops, we used the available trunk floor material cut into strips and laminated to the reinforcing wood exactly as we did for the door tops.


In this photo, the pencil line on the masking tape shows the proposed extension to the door top. As you can see, the joint of the door top and the pillar will need some finessing. The arrow is pointing to a strip of the trunk floor that has been laminated to the reinforcing wood. This will allow for the interior panel to sit at the right depth relative to the flange above.


The top arrow points to the original door top upholstery flange. The bottom arrow points to the approximate location of where the new door top will terminate (matching the bottom corner of the dash). You can also see the reinforcing wood that will also be covered with a strip of 'glass materal.

The arrow points to the strip of material that has been shaped, test fitted under the existing flange and screwed in place. With the fit confirmed, it can be removed, the tape will be removed and the piece will be resined and screwed into place.

Further along in the process, the first application of filler has been made. The end at the pillar still needs gapping.

Further along again showing the complete door top.

Finished, painted and upholstered. This makes for a nice continuous line of both the door top and the upholstery panel.

At the front, the door top flows into the dash corner.

Firewall
Unfortunately, we didn't have a flat piece of trunk floor to use to fill the firewall so we had to build up the area will layers of 'glass material.

This is the inner view of the distributor notch in the firewall prior to removal.

The resulting patch panel in place.

With this work complete, the body was flipped and all the new joints and surfaces were smoothed and readied for surface finishing.

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