It all started with a trip to Sears to check out a sale they had on a cordless reciprocating saw, just what I needed to cut the floor pan out of the Bobcat at the scrapper!
So I ended up paying about $30 more than I had hoped to, but was it worth it or what?!
I took my dad with me out to the yard today since he was bored and wanted to tag along. We dropped $5.00 of gas (at $1.71/gal!!) into the Saturn and off we went.
After arriving at the yard, we signed in, paid the entrance fee and out into the Jungle we went.
After finding the poor little Cat, stripped of it's insides and feet, we started by removing the windshield. Since I had already removed the trim and fasteners in a previous visit, all was left to do was to pull the windshield. It wasn't easy though, as it really didn't want to budge. With a little work of a crow bar and a severely damaged windshield later, we managed to pry it out of it's seat and rock in all out without any glass shattering (It already had a nasty crack across it, so I didn't mind hurting it more).
Once that was done, the next step was removing the dash. Now that was the easy part. Next up was the hard part, removing the pedal and column bracket to clear out as much space as possible so we could cut the floor out without being cramped up underneath anything. About 11 - 12 bolts and nuts later, it all came out. Now the cutting begins!
We drop a blade into the saw and fire it up with a start incision through the drain hole farthest back, slicing through the sub frame and fuel lines in seconds. We then work our way around the rocker panel and up towards the firewall, running into the upper sub frame which is considerably thicker than the one we started at. We decided to stop there and go around the other way. Now going the other way, we continue to cut around the floor and along the tunnel. Once more we hit the upper sub frame and stop, thinking of how we are going to get past this large chunk of metal that stands in our path. As we attempt to cut through the top and plan to finish it off by cutting through underneath the car, the blade dulls and the saw stops cutting. I reach for another blade but there are no more! Disappointed that our efforts have gone by fruitless and the yard was closing soon, we decided to call it a day and go back tomorrow. I take the dash and we head out to civilization once again, with anticipation of the return trip to save some good floors!
So, today I was able to get myself a nice reciprocating saw with two batteries and a charger, a replacement dash which I will clean up and paint to swap out when I have my windshield work done, and some 10" metal cutting blades to finish the floor pans tomorrow.
Did anyone else get anything for their Ponies or fun tools to help aid care of them? :)
No, but my pony gave me a headache lol... Is your floor badly rusted?
The driver's side where my feet sit, right under the pedals, around the drain hole, has very bad rust. I put an old worn out bath towel between the floor and the carpet because it is so bad. When underneath the car, I can see some of the towel in spots!
Not only that, but that area of the floor also bows downwards since it is so thin. So it is more of a bowl than a pan right now.
So you are the one that made it real easy for me to get my floor pan today!!! I was wondering who would do all that work and leave that little bit to finish it off. Only took me 5 mins to cut the rest and we got out just as they closed!!! Thanks !!!!!
Ok, I was kidding!! LOL :laugh: Good luck tomorrow!!!!
Kim
lol. I was starting to worry there! Thanks Kim, I will post a shot of the pan when I get back tomorrow afternoon! :D
Quote from: dave1987 on November 28, 2008, 11:05:11 PM
lol. I was starting to worry there! Thanks Kim, I will post a shot of the pan when I get back tomorrow afternoon! :D
I thought you might get a kick out of that!!! LOL
You have a wicked sense of humor there, Kim! LOL :lol:
Dwayne :smile:
Well..., I went to the Pick A Part 50% off sale on Thursday in Sun Valley, CA.. It never rains in California (Southern), but it did this week. Everything was wet and the yard was strewn with parts because no one wanted to go out in the rain and clean it up.
Anyway, only one Pinto (1973 wagon) and it was rather gutted. The glass was good, and if you want an early style sway bar... . But that was about it. No Mustang II's either. I've been searching for a way of getting air to the turbo intercooler (stock T/C) and have been hoping to find a Nissan 300 ZX hood scoop that is an ideal fit. No luck. I pulled the intake grate off a turbo Dodge Omni ($1.88 out the door) and while it fits the intercooler footprint it looks like a BBQ grill. There is no real ducting of air (like a scoop), but it looked like rain and leave have an easy ingress. At this point I'm going to proceed with using a single T/C scoop. I mapped it out today.
So, my "black" Friday was a dark Thursday. Oh..., wait.., I did pull a vacuum fitting off a Mustang 2.3. I ground the top of it, and filed the treads in my lathe. Now rather than the stock T/C fitting hitting the hood I have nearly 1/4" of clearance. Ahhh, the silver lining in my cloud.
All the best with the floors. Someday I have the same planned for my Corvair Wagon.
Tom
You paid $1.88 for an Omni GLH Turbo hood vent?!? Now that is a find and a half. Those suckers go for $40 easily! On the other hand, may another GLH rest in piece.. such a waste since those cars are rare in good shape.
Well I got the pan cut out today, so I can repair the rotted section of my floor when I have my windshield replaced!
While I was there I grabbed the fuel sending unit. I do not know if a Bobcat wagon unit will work with a Pinto sedan though. If anyone knows, I would be happy to hear! Any ideas on how to test it?
I also grabbed a set of mudflaps off of a Jeep Cherokee that I can cut to the shape and fit of the Pinto, so hopefully that will protect the quarter panel on the passenger side that is starting to rot.
Now, how do I go about separating the the sub frame from this floor pan?
Pics of what you got?
Dave,
There is a tool specially designed for cutting out spot welds. On the other hand, I used an angle grinder and ground out spot welds when I made replacement panels for my Pinto floor. Basically I used the grinder on the discs edge and ground where the spot weld showed. You need to be careful not to cut too deep into the metal you want to save. However it is inevitable that you will grind some of it. It will take some time to accomplish.
Tom
I believe the sending units are different from a wagon to a sedan the tanks are and the parts book has a different # for them.
There is a special drill bit made just for spot welds, it is kind of flat on the cutting end so you can just cut thru the weld and outer metal. Then use your air chisel to cut away the unwanted part.
71pintoracer, thank you soo much for the heads up on the special drill bit, I now know how I will pull the cowl vent from the car at the yard! ;D
I will try to get pictures tomorrow. It has been a long day getting things done.
Apparently a sawzall isn't even allowed at the yard I frequent, but they told me that AFTER I cut the floor out. I guess I will have to find another way to cut floor pans in the future. :(
If all else fails for the sending unit, at least I have a spare for someone whom might need one. :)
Quote from: dave1987 on November 29, 2008, 11:53:31 PM
Apparently a sawzall isn't even allowed at the yard I frequent, but they told me that AFTER I cut the floor out. I guess I will have to find another way to cut floor pans in the future. :(
It called a hammer and several very sharp chisels!!!!!! LOL Our yards don't allow sawsawls either! We had to hammer and chisel the front clip out of a car once!!! Pretty fun!!! LOL
Try a Blair Double-End Spotweld Cutter.. The Blair does a nice clean job of removing the spot welds and the panel..
(http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotweld_Cutters/images/13224-shadow.jpg)
(http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotweld_Cutters/images/13214-shadow.jpg)
I believe I saw that for sale at Harbor Freight for about $4.00. It may only be a cheap brand but I'm sure it would do the job.
I couldn't find that special drill bit at sears or home depot, but I will check harbour freight for that other one, which is available on their website. It appears to just be a very small hole saw (I am more familiar with hole saws 1-6 inches).
My local harbor freight carries them in stock and the price was about $4.00 but i haqve not tried it yet.
I'll let you know tomorrow how it works out, Phil. I got your voicemail but have been a bit busy, and my black friday trip was my only time away from work all week. I will call you Monday about that part.
Got to visit my friends at the parts counter at Ford today and figure out some info on fuel sending units. Here we go....
D9FZ-9275-A
(non-wagon) 77-79 Pinto - 4cyl only
77-78 Mustang - 4cyl only
(non-wagon) 77-79 Bobcat - 4cyl only
D7ZZ-9275-A
(non-wagon) 77-79 Pinto 6cyl
77-78 Mustang 6 or 8cyl
(non-wagon) 77-79 Bobcat 6cyl
Wagon units are different, but I could not get the part numbers or interchangeability for the wagons, as the bulb for the microfiche blew out.
If anyone needs a 77 Bobcat Wagon fuel sending unit, let me know! :)
Dave, the drill bit is available on the tool trucks, (snap-on, mac, ect) not sure of the price. It is a double-ended bit so you get to wear it out twice! ;D
I got two of those bits at Harbor Freight for $3.00/ea. today. not to bad, and I may end up going back for a couple more before the sale is over, but we will see how well they work first.
Here are some pictures of the goodies I pulled from that Bobcat wagon I have been stripping down since August. The only thing I might want that is left on the car is the cowl vent. Other than that there isn't much left of the car aside from glass, the body panels/doors and the drive train (engine, tranny, axle, etc.)
First the dash. I had already pulled most of the dash which is in storage. The radio bezel, dash cap and vents were sold to other members, I do have the wiper switches w/bezels, and the gauge cluster bezel though. The glove box door was already taken or was missing before I found the car.
The close up photo shows the only real damage to the dash. There is a light scratch here and there, but barely visible. I buffed up most of the paint, all but the nooks and crannies, on the front and half of the top.
Here are some shots of the mud flaps and the floor pan.
The second photo of the mud flaps shows a comparison to the size of the flap I pulled off the Bobcat this summer. It was a Datsun flap, but it was cut well enough to look good on the car. It is what I am using as a template to cut new ones out of the Jeep set. I have flaps on the rear right now, just need to get the front done.
The second I removed from the floor wasn't much, as I don't have very much rust aside from the section that has holes through it. I should have enough material on this donor pan to overlap the good metal and weld it on.
Last but not least, the fuel sending unit and (I forgot to mention them earlier) a set of good wires I pulled off the motor.
The wires are "premium silicone", and strongly resemble the Borg Warner Select wires I have on the car right now. I will keep these around as spares in case of an emergency or troubleshooting purposes. Can't beat $2.00 for wires! :)
My receipt...
Dash - $15.00
Floor pan - $5.00
Mud flaps - $5.00
Fuel sending unit - $10.00
Wires - Free!
All in all, I think I did pretty good for $35.00! ;D
Yup, that's pretty good for $35.00. I just bought a set of 8mm silicone wires for mine from Rock Auto, and they were $25 plus shipping.
That's some good parts finds you got there. That's cool you only needed that part of the floor. My entire floor is nothing but swiss cheese & needs MAJOR repairs. Fortunately I have the front of an old washer my dad got rid of this year. Nice find on the plug wires. You not want the distributor? It seems always a good idea to have a spare one for all the times they tend to go out.
I was considering it, but a new dissy from Parts America is only $48 and it comes with a lifetime warranty. I was just thinking that if I would replace something that is always moving, and electrical, it's bound to go out more than once during the time I drive the car as a daily driver, I might as well just buy a new one and replace it free of charge when it goes out. The salvage yard wants $30 for a dissy.
Here is a shot from a little over a year ago of the driver's side floor. It is only slightly worse now, but still stable for the most part.
Wow, they dropped since I last priced them. Can't blame you for not getting it at $30 for a used one. I am jeaulous of your floor. lol.. It's got a street sign on the driver side for now. I see what you are talkin about on removing the subframe from the new piece. Good luck on drilling out the welds. I gotta get me a spot weld bit so I could do the work on my car a littl easier.
Ladies and Gents, the spot weld bit worked pretty darn good!
The bit is very easy to use, but I highly recommend keeping a punch near by. Occasionally, the bit will start to walk away from the desired location. Hit it with a punch (preferably a spring loaded one. :)) a couple times, and go back at it. It took me about 15 minutes to drill out all of the spot welds, pry the two pieces apart with the short end of a crowbar and a hammer, and use a drift to straighten out the drain channels.
It left the floor panel looking like swiss cheese, but in the end, it should really help with welding it back into place on the sub frame, and the parallel lines of holes won't even be noticed!
r-r-r-rust? in the floors? I'm not sure what that would be like to deal with, Dave.
I don't think you would like to deal with it, Chuck. With such a confined area beneath the dash, I had it real easy at the salvage yard since I had already removed 90% of the interior and the dash. When I cut out my original pan, it won't be so luxurious! I believe I will end up using my brother's air saw rather than a sawzall, since it is smaller and should be much easier to use in such a small space.
Hopefully I can get the whole welding thing down by spring. I should have my windshield and it's gasket replaced by then, possibly the headliner too!
Quote from: discolives78 on December 02, 2008, 10:59:14 PM
r-r-r-rust? in the floors? I'm not sure what that would be like to deal with, Dave.
Usualy in a salt zone that = no floors Rockers, fenders, ect....
I believe they use sand on the roads here in Boise, now. The roads get really nasty and dirty when the snow starts to melt.
My dad was saying they have switched from salt to magnesium phosphate, but from what I can find, MP is used as a steel treatment to aid against corrosion. I think he was thinking of magnesium chloride, which is an alternative deicer.
I will have to check with the state on this one. I will get back to you all when I find out.
Now they call it "cinders" more traction less melting but it still eats cars just not as fast. In the spring the roads are covered in sandy/ gravel mix so for the first month or so after the snow melt you here the pebbles hitting the car as you drive almost like driving in a sand blaster.