'78 convertible conversion update
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,560
Likes: 4
From: Arlington texas
'78 convertible conversion update
Well, it started almost 2 years ago. Two moves during that time and difficulty finding extra time, I lost my motivation. I've spent the last several months buying tools and parts but just couldn't get back to the conversion until now.
I fought and fought trying to mount the rear deck. It just wasn't wide enough to fit around the rear wheel well section of the tub. With limited knowledge of fiberglass work, I mainly sat around scratching my head and trying to figure out what to do. I thought about ordering a new deck but was afraid that I'd get one and have the same problem and didn't want to be out almost another grand. I even found a '78 that just needs paint and interior (which I have complete and new in my garage) for $3000. I wanted to just go buy it and put a coupe back together with all of these parts that I have sitting around.
I tried slicing the deck partially up the center to give me that extra inch or so that I needed but all the did was make the opening to the deck lid too large for the lid and stretched the rear deck so much that it didn't have the necessary curve in it to match the lid.
Finally today, I got motivated and left work early to come home and figure out a solution to make this thing work. I ended up taking out the old trusted grinder and slicing on both sides of the deck about 3/4 of the way down. This gave me the clearance that I needed to fit over the bonding strip and allowed me to keep the deck lid centered where it should be with a really good tight fit on the lid. I threw a couple of strips of fiberglass down each cut after lining up the body lines as best I could. I just want this secure enough that I can remove the deck, flip it over and fiberglass in the cuts and add some more support to it.
Here are a couple of pics of the progress today. I don't see any reason this isn't going to work but thought I'd throw it out here and take suggestions from some more experienced than myself. This sound reasonable to you guys? When I really get it in positions the body lines seem to match up pretty well.
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I fought and fought trying to mount the rear deck. It just wasn't wide enough to fit around the rear wheel well section of the tub. With limited knowledge of fiberglass work, I mainly sat around scratching my head and trying to figure out what to do. I thought about ordering a new deck but was afraid that I'd get one and have the same problem and didn't want to be out almost another grand. I even found a '78 that just needs paint and interior (which I have complete and new in my garage) for $3000. I wanted to just go buy it and put a coupe back together with all of these parts that I have sitting around.
I tried slicing the deck partially up the center to give me that extra inch or so that I needed but all the did was make the opening to the deck lid too large for the lid and stretched the rear deck so much that it didn't have the necessary curve in it to match the lid.
Finally today, I got motivated and left work early to come home and figure out a solution to make this thing work. I ended up taking out the old trusted grinder and slicing on both sides of the deck about 3/4 of the way down. This gave me the clearance that I needed to fit over the bonding strip and allowed me to keep the deck lid centered where it should be with a really good tight fit on the lid. I threw a couple of strips of fiberglass down each cut after lining up the body lines as best I could. I just want this secure enough that I can remove the deck, flip it over and fiberglass in the cuts and add some more support to it.
Here are a couple of pics of the progress today. I don't see any reason this isn't going to work but thought I'd throw it out here and take suggestions from some more experienced than myself. This sound reasonable to you guys? When I really get it in positions the body lines seem to match up pretty well.
[IMG]
[/IMG][IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG]
[/IMG]
Racer
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 257
Likes: 1
that looks like its working 
...so were the fender 'tops' of the coupe completely cut away?...like the fender 'peak' from the side fender bonding strip up and over to where the coupe top was?...as on coupes that seems to wider than what the fender top is on the rear deck of a convertible to the deck lid, and some of that could have been used?
but anyway, as long as the rear deck area works with the door lines(which seems to be an over complected little area of body lines on stock `verts) it should be great
`72 coupe
`74 convertible
...so were the fender 'tops' of the coupe completely cut away?...like the fender 'peak' from the side fender bonding strip up and over to where the coupe top was?...as on coupes that seems to wider than what the fender top is on the rear deck of a convertible to the deck lid, and some of that could have been used?
but anyway, as long as the rear deck area works with the door lines(which seems to be an over complected little area of body lines on stock `verts) it should be great
`72 coupe
`74 convertible
Last edited by T Rush; May 14, 2011 at 02:40 PM.
