Mikes 1967 Mercury Cougar

Sandblaster part 6

2009-05-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

The parts required for the sandblaster are the following.

1 empty propane tank.
3 1/2 inch ball valves - one for inbound air supply, one for regulating sand flow, and one behind blasting nozzle
2 1/2 inch npt male thread hose barbs - to fit blaster hose to tank and nozzle
1 1 /2 inch pipe "T" - for the air manifold at the top of the tank
1 1/2 inch pipe cross - for the sand supply at the bottom. The cross allows for a tank clean out.
1 3 inch pipe nipple cut in half - for the filler neck
1 3 inch pipe cap - to cap the filler neck
1 1/2 inch pipe plug - to plug the clean out at the bottom of the tee
3 1/2 inch close fit pipe nipples - one to thread the cross to bottom of the tank, one to weld onto the tank for the air supply, and one to between the dielectric fitting used to hole the nozzle, and the valve to control sand flow at the valve
2 1/2 inch pipe elbows - to rout rigid air lines from the air manifold (1/2 T) to the cross at the bottom of the tank
1/2 inch pipe to fit air line - rigid air line
1 1/2 inch dielectric fitting - to use for attaching the ceramic nozzle
1 1/2 inch union - to allow the rigid air supply to be threaded into place
1 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch reducer - to adapt 1/2inch piping to 3/4 inch thread where propane regulator was
1 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch reducer - for pressure pop off
2 wheels
misc steel for legs and handle.
1/2 id rubber hose for the blaster hose (I used some old washing machine supply lines.

The majority of the fittings were salvaged from a house re-piping project.

Sandblaster part 5

2009-05-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I added a third leg, so the sandblaster doesn't have to lay on the ground. The legs are made of some perforated angle stock scraps I had.

The handle will make it easier to wheel around. I found the perfect thing in my junk pile, a lug wrench that doesn't fit any of our cars. good shape, about the right length (I'd have preferred a bit longer).

Next is the plumbing for the air and sand. It will be a little while though, because I'll be using the old galvanized water pipe and fittings that I'm currently taking out of the house. (We're re-piping in copper).

When I'm done I'll post a parts list in case anyone out there wants to make one of their own.

More later

sandblaster part 4

2009-04-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

So, More work on the sandblaster tonight... but first, Nicola served me a tasty dinner of sushi....Yum!

Tonight, I started on the axle for the wheels. While it's a small sandblaster, It will weigh 40 to 50 pounds when full, so I'd prefer to wheel it around than carry it.

To serve the purpose, I have some pneumatic wheels I've had from another project, so I'll use those. They will be good for rolling around the driveway with it's uneven surface.

Naturally they'll need air though.

For the axle itself, I have a steel rod, and a sleeve that fits tightly around it. It was leftover from another project as well, but it was sitting outside, so...

They're kind of rusted together,I'll put some liquid wrench in there and bang with a hammer to get them apart.

I stuck a screwdriver in the middle and .... banged it with a hammer. The rod is a tight fit through the bearings on the wheel, and the tube gets cut to a sufficient length to serve as a stop against which the wheels butt tightly....

The Only problem is that the steel tube is too short.

So, I'll cut the tube in half.

And I'll tack weld them to the axle-rod in the correct locations for the inside wheel bearings to register against holding them in position.

And with four tack welds, the axle is nearly complete.

The last thing before attaching it to the sandblaster is to drill two holes for cotter pins. which will be used to hold washers in place to register the outside wheel bearings for a nice snug fit.

The penultimate activity of the evening was to weld the axle onto the Blaster...

The final activity was to test mount the wheels.

In this picture you can see some of it coming together, and you can see how the axle tube had to be split, and the purpose it serves to position the wheels.

Next, I'll add a third leg so the blaster can sit upright, and a handle from an old tire iron that does not fit any of our cars.

More later

Sandblaster part 3

2009-04-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Resuming from yesterdays post. I welded in the 1/4 npt bung for the pressure releif valve, and drilled out the center of the 1/2 npt nipple for the air supply.

I threaded in the air releif valve..I was afraid I warped the bung with too much heat on the welder, but...no, came out fine.

Finished off one more bead on the air supply to fill in the tack welds.

Started on the brackets to attach the wheels.... it's looking pretty rough, but it will look a lot better once it's sandblasted.... :-)

More to come....

Sandblaster part 2

2009-04-27T21:40:00.001-07:00

I did a little more on the sandblaster today.

Lala and I drilled the hole where sand is poured into the pressure tank. (through the pipe nipple welded on in the last post)

I cleaned the paint off in a couple of spots where I'll weld on a 1/2 inch pipe nipple for the air supply going into the pressure vessel, and a spot where I'll weld on a nut to which I'll screw in a pressure release valve.

1/2 inch pipe nipple. I'll cut it in half and use it for the air into the blaster, and to make an adapter that will thread into the tank where the gas valve was. The thread in the tank is 3/4 npt, but I will be using 1/2 inch npt fittings.

I cut the end off the handle for the 3/4 in portion of the adapter.
I cut the end off the 1/2 inch nipple, saving the leftover for welcing on the tank later.While I weld up the two cut down threaded portions, I'll slide them down a piece of threaded rod to keep them aligned while welding.

And the welded together adapter to go from 3/4 down to 1/2.

Here it is threaded into the top of the propane tank, ready for me to put the other 1/2 inch fittings on.

Next, I drilled a hole for the pressure release. the purpose is to ensure the pressure doesn't build up to a dangerous level

Hole Drilled
Hole drilled to be big enough to clearance the fitting... I'll weld the nut that it will thread into later.

Finally, I welded on the remaining half of the 1/2 inch nipple to the tank. I'll drill out the 1/2 inch hole later.

More to come....

Tasty

2009-04-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

Had to be

Sandblaster

2009-04-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

I need a sandblaster. but I don't want to pay for one. I do however have heaps of junk, and a welder, so I'll make one.

I will use 1 empty propane tank, 2 wheels, 2 steel fence posts, and a heap of plumbing fittings, and the outcome will be a sandblaster.

first, how to get the valve off the propane tanks, normal wrenches won't do it. A 'propane tank wrench costs 29 bucks. that doesn't save money.So, I made one with some 1.5 in water pipe that has been laying around.

next.... get the valve off.

Valve off!
Then fill tank with water to displace the remaining propane
make filler lid so I can pour sand in, and have a lid which will hold pressure. I'm using a 3" diameter pipe cap with a 3/4 in pipe cut and welded on

For the filler spout, I'm using a 3" pipe nipple cut in half.............
Next, I cleaned the paint off the bottom of the propane tank where I'll weld the pipe nipple.Weld on to the propane tank (bottom).

With the lid screwed on.

That's it for today, next will be to add wheels, handles, and cut a hole where the filler pipe is mounted.

more to come.............

Catch up on progress to date part 2

2009-04-21T23:43:00.001-07:00

On the drivers side, fitting in the convertible re-enforcement required more finesse than the passenger side.

This is because the torque box and floor pan had already been welded in prior to making the decision to add the convertible type sheet metal to the coupe.

The toughest thing was to cut the proper sized hole to get clearance to insert the rail, as it extends all the way to the front of the torque box. Given that it needed to be inserted at an angle to clear the rear torque box, the hole in the front had to be over sized.

To do this while maintaining a tight fit for later welding in, a flap had to be cut and bent up to allow clearance, then bent down and welded back in, as shown above.Once that was done, the fit to the rear torque box was just right and dropped into place.

With the drivers side rocker in place, the passenger side was fitted as well, allowing for the seat support to be dropped in

With the seat support in place, the convertible sub frame could be clamped in to determine correct placement.

now that the seat support is in, we will be able to locate the replacement floor and torque panels

Front passenger torque panel being located. (in grey, upper center) View with seat support in place....no doors
Front torque panel in place...(temporary placement, welding of all panels will happen after they are fitted).
More to come... My daughter (lala) 's chalkboard, and her first experience with time on the tire.

Catch up on progress to date part 1

2009-04-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've been somewhat remiss about blogging. I have however had some time to work on the car... though progress may not seem like much.
While I was working on the heater, there were other things I was working on as well when weather permitted

Here it is with the with the hood off (behind me)..

I've been dismantling the car in the following ways

1. Completely cut out the remaining floor pan, and toe boards.

2. Removing fenders and doors and trunk lid.

3. Removing all glass

4. Removing front and rear suspension including rear axle

5. Removed exhaust.

6. Removed fuel lines and fuel tank.

7. Removed rear bumper.

There are are a few reasons for this.

1. while working on the car, it got knocked off the jack stands, and rolled down the driveway effectively removing the passenger side floor when it got hung up on the pile of wood and jack stands which got wedged up under it effectively halting its progress towards the street.yeah this very nearly ended the progress on the car, as I figured it would be easier to call the wreckers to come get the car off of our neighbors redwood tree than it would be to get it back up the driveway.Ultimately I drilled a hole at the top of the driveway to insert a bolt to which I attached a come along, and spent the rest of the day cranking the car up the driveway a few inches at a time.

2. Shortly thereafter, a scrap metal scavenger came up the driveway and stole the bumper, bumper brackets, radiator and oil cooler. in the process removing much of the grille.

3. With welding in the floor pan of the driver side being awkward already with the Transmission in the way, the case for removing engine and trans became more clear, as the passenger floor pan had been 'removed' for me already by my now bent jack stand and it also would need to be replaced before the gar got on the road

4. Given the other three reasons, and the clear knowledge the car would not be going anywhere anytime soon, I figured I might as well pull the engine and trans to make the rest of the work on the car easier, and to have the luxury of working on them in the basement rather than leaning over or crawling under the car.thus, I started dismantling the car starting with the hood (to make engine removal easier) and the grille which had been partly removed 'for me' already.

with that, I began the process of taking the engine out.

Engine out.........

Fenders, and doors, and windows gone.
After removing the passenger side of the floor pan, some of the damage from the roll down the hill is still evident in the portion that remains...it took quite a hit, buckling the whole floor up.

The driver side floor pan partially welded in had become rusty, so I ground it down, cleaned the rust off with phosphoric acid, and coated it with red epoxy to keep rust at bay until we wire brush, acid wash and prime the entire interior.

Given the extent of the dis-assembly, I ordered some replacement parts for the convertible mustang, which were used to re-enforce the topless version of the mustang (and cougar which shares the majority of the unibody with the mustang...only there was no convertible version until the 69 model year.)

The intent is to add some of these factory re-enforcements to make the notoriously flimsy mustang/cougar/falcon chassis stiffer for better handling.

The parts required are;

1. Inner rocker panel re-enforcements which will add to the longitudinal stiffness.

2. Passenger side front torque box... included in 68 mustang and cougars, but not 67's ... this is for torsional rigidity at the firewall.

3. Convertible seat platform. The platforms to which the seat bolts were mostly rusted out, and though possibly salvageable, the convertible seat platform goes all the way across the car, joining the frame rails on each side, creating a box section to increase torsional rigidity.

4. Under car convertible box re-enforcements. These tie to the rocker rails, and to the convertible seat platform above, further increasing the section of the box section.

5. Convertible sub-frame rails. these were shot on the coupe, and are of heavier gauge material, and are formed to attach to the under seat re-enforcements used on the convertible.The above modifications are similar to changes made by ford racing when they built their 65 mustang fastback 'cammer' to showcase the new 32 valve racing V8 which was introduced in 05.

The changes in question would be represented by the areas highlighted in red.This has been reported to increase rigidity a great deal. These parts were purchased nearly two three years ago, and have either been stored inside of the (leaky) car, or in the basement.... in fact, all the replacement panels were, so before putting them on, they have to be ground, and treated with acid to remove all traces of rust.... then I'm coating them with red epoxy primer to keep the corrosion at bay...Final primer will happen after all the cutting and welding.

For starters, Because I already had one floor pan in, and the inner rocker of the coupe was solid, I drilled all the spot welds off of the convertible inner rockers to separate the attached panel.

This saves some weight, makes it easier to prime the inside, and makes fitment easier.

Because I'm doing this work in the driveway that is not level, I was hesitant to cut the rear torque boxes for fitment of the increased cross section rockers. after months of analysis paralysis of weighing time against the possibility of marginal change in rigidity, I opted to leave the rear torque boxes alone, and cut the new panel around them. I assume the results will be similar once the new component is welded securely to the face of the torque box.

Once both were cut (note the high tech fabrication station, and sophisticated full spectrum lighting), it was time to test fit against the torque boxes (rear)
The rocker on the passenger side was most straight forward, as without floor panels, or a front torque box to get in the way, trimming and clamping was easy

As you can see, the rocker passes through the section where the new front torque box Will go (some trimming will be required)
Note also that the sub frame has been partially removed in preparation for attaching the convertible sub frame. Here it will tie into the transmission cross member adding further torsional rigidity.
Drivers side fitment - rear torque box.

Here you can see how the rocker addition will butt up against the rear torque box and be welded in place.

You'll notice the can of chalkboard paint, it's a critical component of the process....

Applying a layer now can streamline other processes in an important way...

It let's my daughter add her creative touches to the car.

On the other side of the car, She has begun the process of applying (water) color.
More to come

Didn't work

2009-02-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I was all excited about my brilliant sand/fiberglassing the heater box in the cougar.

Didn't work so well... boy, what a dope I am.

I used epoxy thinking it would stick well, and sort of glue the whole thing back together.

Well not so much, There were a couple of problems:

1. Lumpy fiberglass.

2. The epoxy didn't stick.

I think the root cause for no.1 is the following.....240 lbs of sand was not nearly enough. I didn't think about what it would mean from a psi standpoint. the surface area of each half is approx 240 sq inches, therefore, the max psi gain of all that sand is 1 psi, and probably more like .5 due to the box used to contain the sand is bigger than the part itself.

.5 psi will just not do it, hand layup would come out better as there is the opportunity to work the fabric as the resin cures.

I think the root cause of no.2 is the following.....? not sure it's possible the epoxy resin to hardner mix was off, or that there is something in the 42 year old GRP that inhibits adhesion.

The upshot is that I've figured it's not worth the hassle. I'll just hit what there is with some black paint to clean it up, and install it.

If the case falls apart down the road, it will be an opportunity to re-asses and determine whether I want to install a vintage air ac/heater unit to provide modern heating and AC for the cougar.

Heater part two

2008-02-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

Okay.

I've built a box out of scrap which will serve as the containment area for my 'sand press' to laminate the heater enclosure.

This was made from some scrap plywood that had been lying aound, and Im hoping it will be sturdy enough to contain the sand for the press.

I'm also performing a test to see if the epoxy I'm using will stick to the poly-ethene sheeting that I plan to use to keep the sand out of the epoxy layer on the heater.

These are the bags of sand I plan to use as weights.

Next post will be of the lamination of the first half of the heater.

Packed up the engine stand from harbor freight for return today

2008-02-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

So... I have this engine stand which I purchased in anticipation of pulling the engine on the cougar and doing some cleanup on it and the tranny.

Here's the deal though, I ordered it from harbor freight...and well buyer beware with them. The stupid thing was missing a bunch of pieces. I thought 'no big deal, I'll just have them send out the replacement parts'.

So in August, I sent an email, and they indicated it would take 'six to eight weeks' I figured that was fine, as I'm not exactly moving fast on this thing anyway, and I didn't wan to deal with taking the thing apart to ship out.

So I checked in at 6 weeks to see what the ETA was, and the response I got was that the parts were 'ordered, and I should wait until the 8 weeks had elapsed.

So, october rolled around, and still no parts. I emailed again to check the status and the answer I get is '6 to 8 weeks'. ???? I'm wondering if the parts are ordered at all. I give the benefit of the doubt, and ask for additional informatioon. apparently there is no way for them to know when parts will go out to me...they are ordered from 'overseas' no kidding.

I wait another six weeks, and check in again. The response I get is 'it should take 6 to 8 weeks. at this point it's been 14 weeks from the parts request, and 16 from the purchase of the item.

Okay, I'll take the darn thing apart and send it back. What a pain in the rear. I've been pretty busy, and taking this deal apart and packing it back up is not exactly at the top of the list.

Finally I'm getting around to taking care of this thing. Hopefully the replacement will ship within 6 to 8 weeks and won't be missing any more parts.

Given that it's winter now, it's not like I'm going to be taking the engine out of the car until summer again anyway.

Anyway, what a pain in the rear. Took two evenings to break down the stand and pack it up into boxes.

Okay, next post will be 'Heater Part Two'

heater

2008-01-31T23:27:00.000-08:00

Last winter I decided to pull a bunch of things off the Cougar to work on while it was wet outside, and I basically stripped everything out of the the cabin of the car.

Among the things I've removed, the most beat up was the heater. I'll try and work on that part through to completion, and chronicle the process.

I've already removed and dis assembled it. The fiberglass heater 'box' was cracked and crumbling, so I removed the blower housing from it, all the metal fittings, and I'm going to laminate additional fiberglass on the outside and inside to re-enforce it.

I've already filled the cracks with epoxy filler, scuff sanded it and I'm contemplating the layup of additional fiberglass.

The blower assembly had stripped threads on the studs that mount the heater to the firewall. I drilled out the rivits holding it to the heater assembly, cut off the studs and drilled the remainder out of the blower houlsing.

I tapped the holes where the studs were, threaded replacements in, and tack welded them on the inside.

While it seems like a simple solution, it took me a long time of just having the assembly sitting on a shelf before it occurred to me...

I've come to realize most problems I encounter are resolved by putting them asside and letting my subconcious work on them for me while I do other things that are more straight forward to me.

I then painted the assembly with black hammered paint. This was partly because i thought it would look neat, and partly because I had the paint from another project with no foreseeable use.

For additional corrosion protection the inside is coated with a zinc rich primer, and then topcoated with the hammered look paint.

The next step is to glass the heater case assembly referenced earlier. With all the cracks, and generally poor state of the fiberglass originally used, I'm gonig to laminate it with epoxy and a layer of 3 oz S glass inside and out. I figure that should be sufficient to craeate a strong assembly.
In addition to stablizing the deteriorating heater assembly, and my crack repars, the glass will give me a surface to re-build the deteriorated outlet holes with filler

Initially I was concerned with getting a decent layup over the contoured surface, as my shop is not sophisticated enough to have vaccum bagging facilities.

As mentioned abouve, typically when faced with a bit of a problem I don't know how to solve, by just giving it time, usually an alternate solution pops to mind. (sometimes they're stupid ideas but hey.)

In this case, I think I can accomplish something akin to vaccum bag results by layering the glassed component with some non stick film and covering the assembly with a couple hundred pounds of sand until it cures.

Naturally I'll have to build a box to contain the sand, and figure out a convenient way to contain the sand, but at about 12 dollars for 240lbs of clean sand, the price is right.

This should ensure uniform pressure on the irregular workpeice without undue expense. I'll update when I've tried it.

my blog!

2008-01-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a 67 cougar on and off for a few years (mostly off) and I think I could document my efforts with a blog!. Hopefully this will be fun