'64 Fury Pro-Touring

I've had a life-long love affair with '64 Fury's and Belvedere's, especially those from NASCAR back in the day, so now I'm building myself a Pro-Touring style Fury with a 500" RB and lots of other goodies.

I am a newbie to For B-Bodies Only so in the future I'll make sure to post updates here, but to see what I've been up to and where my project is at this point I hope you'll follow this link to Pro-Touring.com:
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?52504-64-Plymouth-Fury&

If my putting the link to another site is problematic or an issue please let me know; I just don't have the time to reconstruct the many posts I've already made.

I hope you enjoy my take on the perfect MOPAR,

Bob

First: welcome aboard! Second:Sorry to hear about your dad.This Feb 2011 will be 2 years my mom went down the "C" road. Third:Why did you use motor mounts and not a plate??Fourth:will you be posting the updates here or over there with links posted here?I give you alot of credit,I don't think I would have gone that far to save that ruster:icon_rambo:Unbelievable workmanship and determination!!!!KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!

Welcome Bob!

That fury sure is nice I'm really liking the billet wheels got the same planned for mine but in 18s, keep us updated with any progress cant wait to see how it turns out.

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and the kind words, I really do appreciate it.

I used motor mounts because I didn't want to mess with plates and the associated spacers, etc. The mounts were an easy, quick, strong, and attractive solution.

I'm going to try and do simultaneous posts from this point forward for a few reasons:
a) Now that I've found B-Bodies I want to become an active participant, getting to know other knuckleheads foolish enough to build these old beasts.
b) I'm hoping to build a source of information and resources here that are B-body specific, something that's difficult on Pro-Touring because the Fury is so far outside the box in terms of the typical build.
c) There are some AMAZING builders running around on Pro-Touring, people with far more imagination and talent than I have, and virtually everyone is willing to give and share with their thoughts and ideas, so maintaining a presence there is very important to me.

I decided to build the car, regardless of the rust, because I'm a dumbass who spent WAY too much money with a person I trusted (wrongly) and I couldn't bare to simply throw the money away, besides, what else would I do with my time?

Thanks again for the welcome and the well wishes.

Bob

Finally, after what seems like months away from the Fury I got back to work this week and the progress, while visually minimal, has taken a great step forward, and hopefully I'll get some momentum going and the car will progress somewhat quickly from here (where's the "fingers crossed smiley face?).

Unsure whether some of my sketchy welding results were my lack of experience, poor technique, or a combination of these, I twisted Jimmy's arm and convinced him to make the trek over to my shop for the day to give me a hand and the results were outstanding. Along with getting a number of vital pieces finish welded into the chassis Jimmy was kind enough to give me some pointers and instruction in welding that should really help me in the future.

The engine mounts, noted in an earlier post, were sent off to Jimmy's shop to be finish welded (TIG), so he brought those back with him and once mounted on the engine we dropped the engine back in place, tightened everything up, ensured we had between 2.5 and 3.0 degrees of tail down angle, and Jimmy proceeded to finish weld in the frame tabs for the mounts.

Here's the drivers side and the picture below that is the passenger side:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1626.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1627.jpg

Once we got the engine mounts completed we moved on to the Truck Arm Cross-member, which I had previously tacked in place. Jimmy and I discussed the various options in terms of the vertical placement (the fore-aft had already been decided by the wheelbase) and in the end we decided to place the cross-member as far towards the top of the frame rails as could be managed without interfering with the floor, which is going to sit directly on top of the rails as opposed to channeling the floor over/around the rails.

This is the Truck Arm Cross-Member finish welded in place and the picture below details the welds:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1625.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1624.jpg

With the engine and suspension placement now finalized Jimmy and I sat back and began to plan out our next move, which will be the firewall and floor placement, but this brought about another set of issues (what else?), such as exhaust placement and interference between the firewall and engine. Knowing these two areas had to be addressed here's what we decided:

Exhaust - as noted in an earlier post we will be using V-band clamps on the exhaust, both eliminating the need for gaskets as well as allowing for 360 degree rotation of tubing, but we've now decided to use the V-bands even more extensively as well as something a bit more out of the norm: instead of cutting oblong holes in the frame rails and lining the inside of this passage with sheet (forming a tunnel) and passing the exhaust tubing through the newly created tunnels we are going to weld the 3" stainless tubing directly into the frame rails, then run stainless tubing from the headers to the newly created frame/tube junction, joining them with V-bands, then running more 3" stainless on the outboard side of the rails, into 12" - 14" round mufflers, then blending into oval tubing that will exit out the sides of the car through openings in the rocker panel. I wish I had my desktop PC to work (killed it with a virus on Thursday) with because I'd draw up a quick picture in Photoshop to illustrate exactly what I mean. As soon as my PC is back up and running I'll throw something together.

What this solution offers us is tighter packaging as well as avoiding the chance of exhaust tubing touching the frame rails and rattling. We do realize the exhaust passing through the frame will cause a sensation all its own but I'm willing to take the trade-off. Besides, this method, combined with the use of the V-bands, will make maintenance of the exhaust system a breeze.

Next we moved on to the problem of interference between the engine, cowl, and firewall. With the engine set back we have (some 3" - 4" more than stock) we knew the firewall would need to come back, but how far we weren't sure, so we decided that rather than try and use the tattered and patched cowl we had in the car we would simply cut that entire piece out and patch in the one purchased from Texas Acres a month or so ago. This would also give us the advantage of having a couple of stock fender mount locations back on the car since the originals were lost to rust.

Jimmy and I carefully cut the excess material off the Texas Acres replacement cowl then outlined exactly what needed to be cut off the Fury. The replacement cowl went with Jimmy to be soda blasted and below is how the Fury looks with the cowl removed:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1628.jpg

Luckily the window frame and the adjacent inner panels are all in good shape so melding the replacement cowl onto the body should be pretty straight forward as well as give us lots of strong material to work with. The one thing that's still up in the air is just how much we're going to have to pull the firewall back to clear the engine, and part of that question will be answered soon with the arrival of the A&A Transmissions Max Wedge Cross Ram.

This intake is a direct replica of the cross ram intake used on '64 Max Wedge cars and should work really well with the new Edelbrock Victor Max Wedge heads I've got. The one thing of concern is just how much of an overhang is there with the intake in place, hence the questions about firewall set back and clearance.

Here's a shot of the A&A Transmissions Max Wedge Cross Ram:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RMWACRIM.jpg

At this point I'm not sure what throttle body injectors I'm going to run, there are so many choices out there, but I am leaning towards dual Retrotek's since they have the appearance of carbs and they make a complete system that is set up for dual quads as well as being "self learning".

Here's the Retrotek throttle body:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RetrotekP4020153-1.jpg

That's it for now but it sure is nice to be back at it!

Nice fabrication Carnalsupply, man that thing is going to be solid.

Thanks Red, I appreciate that. What's under the hood of that red monster of yours?

It's a factory 383 car, rebuilt but stock......seeing as the engine's out for the engine bay overhaul, i'll change the cam,springs,intake and exhaust while i'm at it.

On the other forum we've been discussing the exhaust situation, which is inherently more difficult on a car like my Fury because of the Truck-Arm suspension. While you can get exhaust tubing over or around the truck-arms it's extremely difficult to package without compromising your floor pan, etc. To accommodate the exhaust I've chosen to have the tubes exit the side of the car, but rather than simply have the exhaust tubing hang under the car like the T/A Challengers and AAR Cudas (which IMHO looked horrible) I'm going to scallop the rocker panels and have the oval tubing fit neatly into the scallop, then add a small vertical rocker extension like a current Cup car.

Here are an illustration I threw together showing my thoughts:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/ExhaustOutletProposal.jpg

Here's a shot of the rocker extensions on a current Cup car:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Gordon-Side.jpg

How deep are you thinking of going with the extension CS and will it be radiused like the existing rocker?
Seeing as your throwing ideas around....and this is just a thought, could you rebate the inner and outer rocker in same place as your extension idea.
I suppose what i'm picturing is a side exit exhaust semi rebated, similar to that of the tailpans of some cars. Either way it won't look as half arsed as the T/A's and AAR's as you mentioned.

Hey Red,

I'm not sure if I follow what you mean by "rebate", but if I do follow your meaning here's my idea:

From the bottom of the door to the bottom of the rocker is just about 4" (101.6mm) so I plan on scalloping approximately 2" from the bottom up, thereby making a small recess for the oval exhaust tubing to pass through, and yes, the ends of the scallop will be radiused, basically mimicking the shape of the oval tubing.

The rocker panel rolls under the car as it proceeds downwards, and the exhaust tubing will be cut to match this contour as well. I do not want some unsightly blunt exhaust tubing end to protrude past the rocker panel face.

BTW - are you a fan of V8 Supercars? It is, IMHO, the BEST racing on earth.

The way I was thinking of it was similar to your drawing.....minus the lower side skirt.......just the scallop/recess in the rocker panel only.

Yeah, I watch the Supercars sometimes, not a huge fan though. Funny part is,everyone over here assumes your a die hard Holden or Ford fan....they look at you strangely when your asked which side your on,and reply .........neither,Mopar.
We refer to them as V8 Supercabs........90% percent of our Taxis are Holden or Ford.

LOL, I like that, SuperCabs!
A friend of mine who lives in Melbourne was telling me the support races for the SuperCabs are V8 Utes, which must be absolutely insane.

Over the years I've owned just about every manufacturer of American car so I'm not a brand loyal kind of person overall, but I must admit to having some serious leanings towards Chevrolet, so when I watch the SuperCabs I absolutely pull for Holden. Don't get me wrong, I love Mopar, but don't plan on having the logo tattoo'd on my bum or anything :-)

If you like the SuperCabs you'll definately like the V8 Utes,it's very close matched racing.......a little too close actually....it's more like a Demolition Derby at times.

So this weekend turned out to be pretty productive: I wanted to get the remaining body to chassis mounts fabbed and installed, which I did, as well as add some reinforcement to the truck arm cross member, which I did.

The truck arm cross member is fabbed from 2" x 2" square tubing, which is probably just fine in terms of strength, but with the mid point of the piece scalloped for the driveshaft I just wasn't as comfortable as I'd like so I decided to add some additional 2" x 2" bracing to aid in preventing any fore/aft deflection. I'm not at all concerned about any vertical deflection because the truck arms are so long and the suspension travel so limited the arms can't gain enough angle to exert any pressure in the y-axis.

Here's an overall picture of the cross member and the braces I added. One thing to note in the lower left of this picture are the layout lines for the 3" stainless exhaust tubing discussed in an earlier post:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1633.jpg

I mentioned in a previous post my friend Jimmy had come by and given me some really good pointers on welding, and I hope/think/believe the results have improved drastically. I'm not saying I'm some kind of professional but the results are markedly improved over my initial attempts and I have every confidence they'll both hold up under extreme duress as well as continue to improve.

Below are some close-ups of the welds for the right and left braces:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1635.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1634.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1639.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1636.jpg

Once the additional bracing was completed I went ahead and fabbed up the 2 mid-rocker "stringers" that run from the outside of the frame rail to the inside surface of the rocker panel. While not complicated or difficult, these were actually pretty time consuming because of the various angles and contouring involved.
In order to get the bottom surface of the stringers to conform nicely to the shape of the car I had to use my plasma cutter and pie-cut the sides, then reshape and weld the pieces together. Like I said, nothing difficult but certainly time consuming.

Below are a couple shots of the right stringer and below them are a couple pictures of the left:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1638.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1640.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1637.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1641.jpg

What's really exciting for me is the fact the chassis and body are now "1" and I can remove (if I want to) the car from the chassis plate and put it back on the rotisserie, a set of jacks, or a lift to make working on it easier.

Next is the exhaust, cowl, and floor fabbing, and if all goes well Jimmy and I will be getting a bunch of that done in the next week or so.

Plasma cutters are definately our friend with this sort of fabrication CS.
As you said,all this welding is a learning process for you......don't get me wrong here as this is a purely constructive comment/suggestion.....try weaving a little more when your doing the vertical welds,they'll come out looking more like your horizontal welds. I'm sure Jimmy can point you in the right direction in regards to technique, keep up the good work.

Thanks Red, and you're correct, Jimmy said the same thing!
Practice, practice, practice!

Christmas came a little early to my house today: both my A&A Transmissions Max Wedge Cross Ram as well as my stainless Borla mufflers arrived!

The intake was a bit rougher than I'd expected; it appears the intake comes out of the casting a bit rough and they touch them up with a grinder to remove slag, but all in all a nice piece and I LOVE the way it looks on the engine. This piece alone has me totally amp'd up to get moving.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/AAMaxWedgeCrossRam.jpg

Here are some shots of the intake on the engine. Please ignore the beautiful blue marine Holley's, they're just there as placeholders.

It's amazing how wide the intake looks mounted on top of a wedge versus on top of a Hemi:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/CrossRamwCarbs01.jpg

These next two shots give you a good idea of just how low we've placed the body over the chassis (note how close the top of the carbs are to the level of the cowl):

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/CrossRamwCarbs02.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/CrossRamwCarbs-Side.jpg

Knowing we had such a tight area for mufflers I was thinking I'd have to fab up something but luckily I found these little 14" x 8" stainless Borla's.

This first shot shows where the mufflers will sit between the frame rail and the rocker panel. We should have just enough room to get some 3" 45 degree bends in through the frame then the same going out through the rockers:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/BorlaInPlace.jpg

Sorry about the box in the picture but if you look carefully you'll see how the muffler will just barely protrude below the bottom of the frame rail, keeping things clean and tidy:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/BorlafromBelow.jpg

Once Jimmy gets healthy (caught some NASTY virus) we'll get the cowl back in place, the exhaust tubing routed up to and through the frame rails/rockers, build a firewall, and drop a floor in place. Damn, sounds easy from here!

This is looking friggin' saweeeettt!!!

i see your having fun bob

If spending money and getting spatter burn is fun then I'm having the time of my life!

I've got some family obligations this weekend but I'm going to try and get in and prep the front A-Arms for bead-blasting and powder-coating, which means pulling all the bushings and removing all the casting flash.

Well fella's, I've been searching for just the right pieces for my Fury, and now I believe I've found it!

You know how the '69 Daytona's and '70 Superbirds command all the big money and attention? Well, I'm going to join the "aero-wars" too, and to be competitive at speed I'll be mounting this bad-boy on the roof, just forward of the rear window!

What'ya think of this?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/Assorted%20Stuff/Junk.jpg

Don't be hater's, I'm happy to share my source :icon_rendeer:

I love pro-touring builds!
I recently met and talked to a guy who is in the middle of doing a pro-touring build on his 1970 Chevy Caprice Coupe. Pretty interesting build. By the time he's done, he wants that old land barge to be able to run with Vettes, and from all of the work he's done so far and the rest of it that he has planned, I'd be willing to bet it will!
Your work looks top-notch, I can't wait to see more updates.

PS: I'm glad you're kidding about that wing!

A full size Caprice? Running against Vettes? And I thought I was playing outside the box! I wish that guy a lot of luck.

BTW - who said anything about kidding? I doubt I'm getting the spelling correct but look at all the press the Benecke's are getting putting together winged cars that never existed, like the '71 they just completed?

If anyone ever sees my Fury with a wing on it I beg you to please hunt me down and KILL ME!

On your vertical welds are you welding up or down?

Well fella's, I've been searching for just the right pieces for my Fury, and now I believe I've found it!

You know how the '69 Daytona's and '70 Superbirds command all the big money and attention? Well, I'm going to join the "aero-wars" too, and to be competitive at speed I'll be mounting this bad-boy on the roof, just forward of the rear window!

What'ya think of this?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/Assorted%20Stuff/Junk.jpg

Don't be hater's, I'm happy to share my source :icon_rendeer:

Maybe the "HOOD ORNAMENT":headbang:

holy cow man you're really into it there. looking great so far keep up the good work!!

Thanks for all the kind input, I really appreciate it.
Hood ornament? Hmmmm, maybe I'll buy 2!

Hey Super, I'm welding upwards. One thing my buddy Jimmy has been trying me to do is slow down and move the tip farther to the left and right: he says it looks like I'm nervous and hurrying, both of which are pretty fair assessments. I also need to slow my wire speed down again. Any thoughts?

Damn, does life get in the way of fun or what? What with work and holidays I've been delayed for weeks again :banghead: but I'm not giving up yet, especially because my fiberglass body parts arrived today (save for the Hemi hood scoop) from Sled City.

The parts may have taken a LONG time to get here (better than 5 months) but I have to say their product quality and packing is terrific. All the various holes and mounting locations appear in their correct locations (as much as I can tell at this point) so hopefully a great deal of the guess work will be taken out of the reassembly.

One thing I have to make note of here, and it is NOT a surprise to me: the body parts I purchased are EXTREMELY light, especially in view of their physical size, so if you decide to buy parts from Sled City don't think you're buying heavy duty, high-wear pieces: they're not. When I unpacked everything today the sun literally shone right through, and while I don't mind I wanted to make others aware of the fact.

On to the body parts!!!!!

Hood, minus the Hemi Scoop - 19 lbs

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1667.jpg

Trunk Lid - 11 lbs

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1666.jpg

Fenders, WITH light buckets completely molded in - 14.5 lbs

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1661.jpg

Detail of light bucket

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1663.jpg

Doors (outer) - 16 lbs

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1664.jpg

Doors (inner)

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1665.jpg

Bumpers (front and rear)

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1660.jpg

I haven't weighed all the stock parts yet, they're stored around the shop, but I will during the next couple of weeks and post the weight savings.

Hopefully next week I'll get back to work; the cowl is now completely stripped, we have all our exhaust paraphernalia, and the U-Bolts and lowering blocks arrived, meaning we can get started on the floors, the firewall, set and lock in the pinion angle, as well as work on the radiator support area again.

does this mean a heavy duty weekend?

Could you post a pic of the underside of the hood???

I wish it meant a heavy weekend of working/playing with the car, but today (Saturday) I have family obligations and early tomorrow I fly out of town AGAIN on business. Like I said, life just keeps getting in the way :-(

Sure, I'll be happy to take some shots of the underside but they'll have to wait til sometime next week or so (see above).

Have a great weekend

Hey Hemi,

Here are the pix of the underside of the hood and trunk you requested. You'll note there is a bit of strengthening pad worked into the fiberglass matting as well as some reinforcing ribs near the perimeter.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1673.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1672.jpg

Hey Hemi,

Here are the pix of the underside of the hood and trunk you requested. You'll note there is a bit of strengthening pad worked into the fiberglass matting as well as some reinforcing ribs near the perimeter.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1673.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1672.jpg


build looks good!
Are the hood and deck lid pin on?
can't wait to see how they fit.

Wow, I didn't realize it's been a couple months since my last post, but with holidays and work I've had only a limited amount of time to work on the Fury, but I have been keeping busy on a bunch of mundane, behind the scenes kind of tasks that must be accomplished before we can move on to the more visible or tangible steps, so here's a brief look at what I've been up to.

A couple of weeks ago Jimmy came over and we finalized the rear housing position (side to side, pinion angle, etc.) and tacked on the billet perches. We then started looking at the coil-over mounts, which from the start Jimmy didn't like; he felt they were far bulkier and space wasting than necessary so he came up with an alternative that will mount the lower end of the shock directly to the aft end of the truck-arms. This solution is actually pretty eloquent and will save a GREAT deal of space for the Watts linkage while also adding about 1 1/2" of shock travel by moving the lower mounting point that much farther below where my original mounts would have. Sorry, there are no pictures of the mounts at this point but once everything comes back from powder-coating I'll get some shots.

Once we got the rear housing done we moved on to the exhaust routing. If anyone ever tells you truck arm suspensions are difficult to package, TRUST THEM! As noted in an earlier post I decided to run the exhaust out the sides, which I would have done whether I ran truck arms or not, but still, packaging is TIGHT! While I worked on the doors (more on that below) Jimmy set about lining working on the headers, tubing, v-band clamps, and cutting the holes in the frame.

The first step was cutting off the flanges of the TTI headers so the ends would be perpendicular to the frame then tacking on a v-band ring and lining up the first piece of exhaust tubing. From there we figured out where we wanted to cut the holes in the frame, which Jimmy did using my handy little plasma cutter. It was the first time Jimmy (a VERY accomplished fabricator) had ever used my cutter and he was stunned at how well it cut, comparing it to his FAR more expensive shop unit. Below are a couple shots of what we ended up with:

View from above through the drivers door:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1741.jpg

View from below at about the same location:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1742.jpg

Once we get the headers back from coating (we're using this trick looking Titanium colored coating) we'll go ahead and solidly mount the stainless exhaust tubing in the frame, then mate up the mufflers (as shown in an earlier post) and other stainless tubing.

Like everything else I've encountered with this build I end up having to do things in what would seem to be a very strange order, but like any puzzle there's really no alternative other than to work through the steps logically and in order. What I'm talking about are the doors, without which I can't move on to the fender and cowl placement, both of which are upon me, so I've been working diligently to build out both doors, and while on the surface that may sound like a quick transfer of parts from the originals to the glass replacements, it's anything but.

The glass doors are remarkably detailed, and if this was a track only car I could simply bolt on the pieces I need, but since it's a street car I felt the glass was far too weak to simply bolt on the striker, window cranks, door pulls, etc., so I've been dissecting the original doors and sourcing the metal to use in the glass doors. While I wish I could simply use the donor metal as backing material that isn't always possible, so in places like the striker I have to carefully line up the donor metal, remove the fiberglass, then meld the metal into the glass door. It's actually been pretty enjoyable, but just another unforeseen layer in the build.

One thing I found that's really aided in the process is a 2-part structural adhesive from 3M, part number 051135. This stuff has a pretty short pot-life but it seems to be EXTREMELY strong while remaining less than brittle.

Here are some shots of the doors and the work that's had to be done.

Striker area:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1745.jpg

Outer Door Handles:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1743.jpg

Inner Door Handles:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1744.jpg

With all the rust damage I decided to get a replacement cowl (detailed in an earlier post), so we had the replacement cowl blasted and luckily found only minor rust issues which we can easily repair. I began prepping the replacement cowl by removing the inner-most layer of steel (there are 3 layers that make up the entire cowl) because this inner-most layer is the only remaining part of the original left on the car; you can see it in various pictures throughout my post. What I'm hoping is to simply marry the replacement cowls 2 remaining layers right on top of the single layer remaining on the car, finally leaving me with a usable structural mounting point.

One thing I was uncertain about was how far our engine set-back REALLY was, what with the fact there was no cowl, no front sub-frame, no nothing to really gauge things from. Well, I guess pictures are worth a word or two because the pictures below pretty much tell the story: 50/50 weight distribution shouldn't be an issue, especially when you combine the set-back with the fiberglass hood, fenders, and bumper!

Yes, that's the original firewall sitting on top of the intake port for #8 cylinder:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1738.jpg

Here's the view from the right side of the car:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1740.jpg

And one from head on:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1739.jpg

At this point I'm going to massage the replacement cowl and get it to line up nice and sweet, replace the rusted area with a patch panel (already have it), and begin to figure out WTF I'm going to do for a firewall. One idea, believe it or not, came from the Ring Brothers; they suggested using a wheel-barrow! Think about it, what a great contoured shape, it's heavy gauge steel, and if I can find the correct size it might just work, so I'm off to Lowe's to see what they have.

Thanks for all the support and I appreciate your keeping tabs on my progress.

Hey FuryOus,
Sorry, I forgot to answer your question in my post!
The hood and trunk are intended to be pin-on but I don't know if I'm going to go that route or not. The hood on my Vette was intended to be pin-on and I fabbed it up so I could use hinges, which is my preference. I don't like having to pull pieces off and lay them aside for routine maintenance, unless of course I owned an original A-12!

I just noticed in my post where I attributed the "wheel barrow" idea to the Ring Brothers, when in fact the idea came from Prodigy Customs. Sorry for the brain fart.

You know how in every job there's always some really necessary part that's boring, tedious, and downright crappy? Well that's been my life over the past week while I repaired the rotted end of the cowl. I knew I couldn't go any farther without the cowl and repairing it after installation would have been WAY more difficult, so I've spent the past week drilling, grinding, cutting, filing, and welding, all to end up with a mere shell of the cowl I started with.

Regardless of my whining the cowl repair really did come out pretty well and I'm happy with the results, so now I can begin working on getting it permanently installed then move on to the fire wall, doors, fenders, etc.

One thing this part of the project taught me was to lower the power setting of my welder as well as the wire speed: the spot welds came out fantastic by doing so. A lesson I won't forget going forward.

Well here are the shots of what I've been up to.

When I look back at my early posts I notice this part of the cowl looks exactly like the original, which is to say "F*#&#d Up"!

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RottedCowl.jpg

Not that I had any real expectations of the replacement sheet metal actually fitting well, and I wasn't disappointed: the replacement corner had to be cut apart like a pie then welded back to get it to fit:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-Pieces02.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-Pieces01.jpg

Once I got done with all the cutting and splicing I ground down all the welds and cleaned up the repairs:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-Ready02.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-Ready01.jpg

Then got busy with the Cleco's (got to be one of the best inventions EVER!) and welded it all together:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-PreWelding.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/NewCowl-InPlace01.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RepairedCowlInPlace-Front.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/ReparedCowlInPlace-Side.jpg

That's it for now.

top notch work Bob......Looking really good

Thanks Prop, I'm finally at a point where I feel like I can begin building the car as opposed to the constant repairing!

Progress! I'm so glad to finally be building rather than repairing, and here's the last weeks worth of work.

I got the replacement cowl all cleaned up and in place then mocked up the wheel barrows I'm using for the firewall set-back. Although they're a little thinner than I'd like they have a great look, offering a much smoother and finished appearance as compared to using flat sheet and angles.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RepairedCowl02.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/WheelBarrows.jpg

Once the wheel barrows were lined up and firmly in place I made some oversize templates I could use for lining up the outer panels:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/FirewallTemplates.jpg

Once I got the panels laid out I used my Plasma Cutter (AWESOME little tool) to quickly remove the parts from the sheet and began working the passenger side panel into shape, a process made all the more difficult because I don't own any metal shaping tools other than a 60" sheet-metal break. I decided to go old-school and broke out various size round and steel tubing, a rubber mallet, lots of clamps, some body hammers, and dollies, all of which worked great. The most difficult part of the passenger side was a compound curve in the lower section: the panel is about 10" wide at that point but has a convex curve on one edge and a concave curve on the other, which was a bitch to make by hand, but I'm really proud of the finished product.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Firewall-Pass01.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Firewall-Pass02.jpg

Once I got the passenger side completed I moved on to the driver side, which by comparison was really pretty easy since it didn't involve any curves, just simple angles.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Firewall-Driver01.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Firewall-Driver02.jpg

And here's a shot of the finished firewall:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Firewall-Complete.jpg

An added bonus is the fact I'll be able to use the replacement floor panels I purchased, making for a much stronger and better looking finished product.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/ReplacementFloorpan.jpg

build looks good!
Are the hood and deck lid pin on?
can't wait to see how they fit.

I wanted to see the front reinforcement,had a problem with the front of my glass hood curling up at 45 mph.I glued an aluminum reinforcement in and it helped but did not cure it.I am still racing without the hood.

hey carnel supply,that's some amazing ingenuity,i would've never thought of that.

Hey Hemi, I suspect I'll have to add some reinforcing across the leading and trailing edges as well to avoid the bowing problem you're describing.

Thanks RR'man, I only wish I could take the credit for the wheel barrow idea, but regardless it worked out great.

Outstanding once again!!!! Good to see all this great ingenuity going on.

Awesome work Bob!

Thanks Prop, I really appreciate the kind words.

As for the ingenuity, I have to say I probably have it easier than the guys trying to do 100% accurate resto's because I don't have any rules, guides, or judges to abide by. I found out when building my '70 LT-1 Vette how much people (who aren't spending their money on my project) hated on me for defacing such a rare and collectible car.

Regardless, thanks much!

I just noticed the link to my original build thread on Pro-Touring was no longer working (they migrated servers) so just in case anyone wants to see the horror that's my Fury from the beginning here is the new link:
Pro-Touring Build Thread (http://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?52504-64-Plymouth-Fury)

Nice job on the build!

Wow! Awesome!!

I love the firewall idea!

Carnalsupply, man of man clecos... :grin:

Thanks for the kind words, and didn't you know my middle name is "Cleco"?
Those damn things have to be one of the best things ever invented!

I need some, I have no idea how I have got through life thus far without a set.

:grin:

I'm telling ya, they're like crack; once you use 'em you can't stop!
I should just send you mine since I won't be using them for a while: my build has stalled due to an insane work/travel schedule.

So it's been FAR too long since I've been able to get in and get my hands dirty on the Fury but this weekend was wonderful! I got to come in and spend both Saturday and Sunday working on the car and made some great progress on the floors, and while you'd think floors are a "nothing" job I'm hear to tell you they're anything but easy, especially when you don't have a slew of metal working tools.

I did purchase a 48" break (shown previously in the blog) but other than that it's all pretty much a "seat of the pants" gig so I needed a way to put nice, gentle curves in the sheet metal and came up with this:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/IMG_1809.jpg

I got various diameters of exhaust tubing (1.75" is shown in the picture), cut them to 48" lengths, drilled a hole at each end (along the seam to keep the holes in line with one another), and bolted the tube to my bench, then slid the sheet metal between the tube and the bench and molded the sheet to the desired shape around the various diameter tubes. Yeah, it took some doing but the results worked out really well (IMHO).

I did use some re-pop floor pans for the foot-wells but they had to be modified to work, then I fabbed up the mid-floor areas from scratch. The single most difficult part of the job was rolling the outer edges and getting them to match the rocker panels because the radius decreases as you move towards the rear of the car.

Here are some shots of the foot-well and mid-floor pans, now all I have left is the small area running back and up under the rear seat:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/FootwellFloors.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Floors.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Mid-Floors.jpg

Below is a small detail that took some time to work out and fab up. The floor runs flat along the chassis rails until it reaches the original rear sub-frame, where in the original floor there was a VERY small diameter radius up followed by a 90 degree bend towards the rear, thus allowing the floor to follow the sub-frame contours. I chose to eliminate the small diameter radius and use a 90 degree bend followed by another 90 degree bend, thus producing a floor that goes from horizontal to vertical then back to horizontal all within the space of 1". Then I had to meld in the rolled edge to blend in, making for a pretty decent amount of work.
I hope that all makes sense?

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Mid-FloorDetail.jpg

From the pictures it should be pretty obvious how much we've lowered the body from stock, what with the trans protruding so high into the passenger compartment. This presents a bit of a challenge in terms of the trans tunnel because I think a simple rounded tunnel would look boring and easy, and sticking a console on top of it would probably be far too high, so what I'm thinking of is a tunnel with 5 sides, vertical on the sides with a horizontal top plane and 45's joining the horizontal and verticals. It's just a thought.

Also just got word my seats should be done pretty soon. I have a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V and I LOVE the seats, so I picked up another set for the Fury. The problem is the seats have side airbags and I'm just not in a position to have custom seat covers made that eliminate the airbag holes so I had an upholsterer make up "blank out" panels similar to what you'd see in a radio or heater delete situation, save for the fact my "blank out" panels will be upholstered to match the existing seat covers.

That's it for now, and as always, thanks for the continued support!

Good to hear you and your car got some needed "me" time Bob. Was wondering where you've been.

Looking great as normal!!

Thanks Prop!
Real life called and some of the fun got sidetracked, but luckily not derailed!

Looking good. I understand the real life calling, mine is dragging along. If you don't mind I have some thoughts on the console. I have the stock 70 and plan to keep it in with as much of the stock interior as possible. I prefer rounded tunnels or square with flat top and dislike the ones guys run up into the dash like the modern cars. All that said your modern seats and the 5 sides sounds good. I would look at the whole package and keep the angular look throughout so no one piece sticks out and catches your eye, if you know what I mean. I'd better get off my rear and at mine, keep it coming.

Hey Coronet,

No, I don't mind your thoughts at all, that's why my Fury is out here, to garner feedback and input from others.

Knowing the '64 Fury has some pretty aggressive angles designed into the body lines makes the 5-sided console a pretty cohesive unit in my eyes. For instance, look at how the horizontal trunk surface blends into the "undercut" taillight panel, or how the C-pillar blends into the top of the quarter panels, those are some pretty acute angles I'm hoping to tap into.
That being said, I have not finalized my idea yet except for the fact I don't want a simple rounded top tunnel.

If I had a stock console I might consider making it work since I love the looks of them, but when you look at the cost of a refurbished one I just can't justify spending the money on something that just might not look right perched on top of what's going to be a pretty sizable tunnel.

More ideas, please, I love to hear them!

Well it isn't glamorous and it sure isn't easy but the floors of the Fury are now done! Granted, the tunnel isn't done but that will have to wait until after we get the rest of the drive-line mocked up (more on that later), but I can't imagine the tunnel will be anything nearly as difficult as the floors.

To help ensure the floors would be strong and solid I formed them out of 18 gauge steel and I am extremely happy with the results. I have every confidence when the tunnel is in place and everything is joined together the floor will be absolutely rock solid.

Below are some shots of the various panels:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Mid-RearFloorPans2.jpg


http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/Mid-RearFloorPans.jpg

The rear most pans, while deceptively simple in appearance, had their own little fabrication issues, most devious of which is the point where they meet up with the mid floor section. The original floor was a beautifully contoured, multi-level arrangement that presents all kinds of problems when you try and build a floor from scratch yet stay true to the various floor heights AND accommodate a chassis that wasn't there from the factory.

Here are the rear most pans:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/RearFloorPans.jpg

The final panel to be replaced was at the end of the original tunnel where the pinion snubber used to bolt on. It appears the suspension compressed EXTREMELY hard at some point and literally folded the floor pan up, leaving a couple of creases I just didn't want to leave in place, so I cut out the entire section and fabbed in a new one. The panel will be modified to incorporate the tunnel opening once the tunnel is in finalized, until then I'm just going to leave it as is.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r84/carnalsupply/64%20Fury/TunnelReplacementPan.jpg

The next step will be mocking up all the suspension, front and rear. I got a call from Jimmy and he said the powder-coating looks awesome so I'm pretty excited to get all the pieces back and see how everything mounts up. At that point I'm not sure what I'll do since I'm getting ready to move my company (where my shop is located) to Vegas: time may not be on my side for getting much else done, but with any luck I'll be able to weld in the firewall, the "through the frame exhaust", then the floors before packing up for the move.

Any new work on the Fury done Bob?

Thanks Prop!
We're in the midst of moving both our company and home to Las Vegas so progress has pretty much been halted at this point, but before things came to a halt I got some of the underside of the cowl finished off as well as deleted the cowl vents themselves. Once the move is all complete and I'm back at it I'll get some shots and update the blog more extensively, but in the meantime I've got boxes to pack!

Talk to you all soon

Vegas...Wow! Good luck with the move Bob. Hope all goes well. Look forward to your progress once the dust settles.