Sheet metal diagram

[fstr-thanu]

Hello, I am looking for a replacement sheet metal exploded drawing or bill of material for a 1960 golde.

Recently I purchased this square bird with intentions of doing a little cruising with my girls to some car shows. I bought this car completely un informed and now am forced to deal with the consequences. I bought it from a guy who inherited this car from his passed grandfather. He passed from cancer and I was told a good portion of the price was going to a cancer research charity so I felt ok to overpay for a nice solid bird (17k). Little did I know the car also had a severe cancer of its own. I realized there was an issue when the front sway bar was hanging half off and the pass mounting plate pulled away. I thought maybe a bolt had just fallen out but when I saw what appeared to be bondo and fiberglass where the plate scratched against the mounting point I knew this was gonna be bad. 5 hours and 15lbs of bondo, fiberglass and undercoating has revealed the complete front radiator support, pass front frame rail, pass and driver front floor pans, pass floor pan rail along the rocker, and the pass rear pan is completely rotted. I will be taking the interior out next to see what other surprises I find but it would be nice to have a map of replacement metal to have ready to go before I begin cutting anything out.

Thanks!

Tom

[jopizz]

Tom,

Sorry you found out too late what most of us have learned over the years about squarebirds. They are prone to rust and the areas you mentioned are the main problem areas. Unfortunately only the floor pans are available from what you mentioned. The inner rockers, radiator support and frame rails will have to be made from scratch. Here are some exploded drawings to show the parts as they were assembled at the factory.

John

[fstr-thanu]

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for!

Tom

[YellowRose]

Sheet metal diagram

Tom, if you do not have the Bird Nest catalog, you might call them (800-232-6378) and ask them to send you one of their free catalogs. They (and probably other Tbird parts houses) have a listing of the Squarebird body patch panels that are available to us. If you do not have any of the catalogs look in the Advertisements Forum and you will find all our major vendors listed. If you do not have a shop manual and some of the other manuals, you can also get them from our vendors.

[fstr-thanu]

I have been getting the manuals ordered this morning.

Thank you!

Tom

[tmjsong1aolcom]

I have seen this before and there have been several on the list who have run into Bondo Bob.

I cannot tell you how to proceed but would recommend buying a parts car if available in your area.

What you are undertaking is basically building a new bird similar to production at the factory but you have to replace.

Pics from what you have exposed so far can help with advice. There is a gent on here who is redoning a 59 I think and found similar state once all the paint ect was removed but his skill level with metal amazes many of us.
Fuz
Good Luck
58's&64's
Sun Prairie, Wi.
tmjsong1@aol.com

[Tbird1044]

I have access to a parts car with good panels that I could use. I'm looking at the rt. rear 1/4 and also rt. front fender. How much work is it to R&R the panels on these cars. With everything being welded together and then the need to reweld the parts back together, some relatively minor bondo work does not seem that severe. I would like the panels as bondo free as possible, but not sure about the amount of work getting there. Any thoughts?
Nyles

[Joe Johnston]

There are several good books and videos available showing various bodywork procedures as well as painting techniques. A lot can be learned from a few hours reading or from videos on a winter's evening. Best to study up and learn the proper methods and not learn short cuts.

Good luck - you have a good project and one worth learning on!

[fstr-thanu]

I removed all the interior and spent a couple days grinding, cutting and scraping. My plan of attack is to start at the front of the car and work backwards.

Bondo Madness!









Trimmed off all the rust and rebuilt new panels







Now to metal finish these panels and move on to the next pass front frame rail. I am trying to have all the metal work completed in 2 weeks.

Thanks,

Tom

[Dakota Boy]

nice work....

and nice garage!


If I had a garage like that, nobody would ever see me (unless they were in the garage).

[Dan Leavens]

Greg I agree with the garage statement as it would be nice to have all that room and a HOIST or two It has some nice looking iron in it already

[fstr-thanu]

Thank you! I am very lucky!

The fab work and welding and grinding continues:

















This just takes hours and hours but it will be done right this time. No BONDO and FIBERGLASS hiding rust anymore.

Tom

[lawyercalif]

You do excellent work. I do not want to alarm you, but if you haven't done so check your rocker panels for rust. That is the most usual place you find rust on the squarebirds. With the amount of rust up front, I would be checking the rockers.

[fstr-thanu]

Thanks again! My progress is not going as quickly as I would have hoped. Every part needs to be hand made and unfortunately it takes a couple tries to get it right. I am working my way from the front to the back so I have not actually cut the rust around the rockers but so far they look like they were replaced at some point. I just have no idea why they did not do the job properly!









I am still not sure what I should use to undercoat the car with when its complete though.

Tom

[Dakota Boy]

Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on the bare metal.
That gets my vote anyways.

I've used it inside my trunk, and it is really nice stuff.