'70 Vert - waited long enough...

[ledphoot]

That's a serious project and you are going full tilt! Love it!

[GCragtop]

Great looking jig, keep the pics coming!

[dodj]

Looked at this thread for the first time today..with six pages I thought I was going to see a pretty stripped down 'vert....nope.

Seriously impressed with the jig though.
Almost gonna be a shame to cover that up with a car! 

[Cuda416]

Hah! that's fair. I decided to put it all in one thread including the jig instead of spreading it out.

Believe you me, I just want this thing done. Lots going on and a ton of reasons (excuses?) for not moving faster but I'm moving which is better than the previous 10 years.

The summer was particularly tough truing to work in an uninsulated barn (big mistake).

Thanks for the comment on the jig. Driving goal was the ability to break it down when not in use. I'm almost done.

1. Need to fab the corner braces.
2. Need to fab the frame rail stand-offs
3. Mock it up, make sure it's "square" ish. I say "ish" because due to it being adjustable, I just need to it to maintain it's "starting" shape.

I was going to weld on mounting locations foe various halos, laser line mounts etc but I'll build ones with clamps as I need them. That will help speed things up a "little".


I'll get there eventually.

[Cuda416]

More progress made on the jig, final stretch....

Got everything locked in finally. Juts need to spend some time chasing details and do a walk around in case I missed some welds. I know there are a few and the end caps need a final burn.

I changed the main stand offs to something a little better than my original hack/smash effort. Then got the corner bracers fab'd and bolted in place (5/8" grade 5 hardware). And finally, in all it's glory... Almost ready for paint.

[YellowThumper]

Looks good and seems well thought out.
Paint with gun or powder coat?

[Cuda416]

Thanks!

No way I'm powdercoaring this thing. It's huge! lol..

Lucky if it gets a brush at this point. I have two gallons of rustoleum (safety blue and safety yellow). Anything that can kneecap ya, get's yellow.

[Cuda416]

Alright, made one last change. This time to the feet. I realized how high the car was going to be when mounted and decided it was better to have it lower to the ground. I lopped off the feet I'd tacked on and went with this instead. Much simpler and a little over 4 inches lower overall.

[Cuda416]

Well, aside from needing to paint a couple of small parts (cold got in the way), here is the jig in all it's glory. I was a little concerned with the overall rigidity but after having a floor jack under one corner and seeing the whole thing lift without any twisting, I'm not concerned. The bolts weren't even tight.

The one thing I need to do is to add the "toggles" to the mounting posts, but that will be a fairly easy thing to do.

[anlauto]

So you built this very impressive jig just to restore your own convertible ? What are your plans for it after your convertible is finished ?

[Cuda416]

So you built this very impressive jig just to restore your own convertible ? What are your plans for it after your convertible is finished ?

Thanks for the compliment. I considered building a simpler jig that would only work for a cuda, then feature creep got the best of me and I decided to make it fully adjustable since (hopefully)  this will not be the last car I work on. I also have a 69 Dart vert. If something happens to change that those plans, I can sell it.

Looks like way too much effort, I know, and that might be true but I love building stuff and problem solving. At at this point I'm confident the jig will handle anything I can throw at it.

I've seen people to amazing things on jack stands. I am not confident enough to trust jack stands for this project.

Thanks again.

[Wayne]

Nice work on the frame jig...that is really nice

[YellowThumper]

I am the same way with building "stuff" to do stuff.
Box tube table for a lathe, bending brake, A frame, work tables that hover over a car trunk, etc...
Helps to start mentally sorting what the project will entail.
Looks good.

[Cuda416]

I am the same way with building "stuff" to do stuff.
Box tube table for a lathe, bending brake, A frame, work tables that hover over a car trunk, etc...
Helps to start mentally sorting what the project will entail.
Looks good.

Hadn't really thought of it that way, but I agree. Helps get yer head around something.

[anlauto]

If you attack the convertible with half as skill and enthusiasm, that Cuda won't know what hit it....can't wait to follow the progress