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 To give the upper panel an...  To give the upper panel an air extractor look Danny has to fabricate a small patch that will go over the forward end of the previously installed panel to create the "outlet" of the extractor. First, Danny cuts the patch to fit, and then he trims the opening end for a nice look and to make it parallel with the fastback's window opening.  With the top section of the...  With the top section of the extractor welded in place Danny proceeds to grind down the welds of the upper patch as well as the surrounding metal, giving it some "tooth" for the plastic body filler to stick to.  Danny prefers Evercoat's Lite...  Danny prefers Evercoat's Lite Weight non-clogging body filler, as it is easy to mix and apply and, most importantly, is easy to sand. Here, he mixes a small batch of filler to start shaping the upper quarter-panel area and our new extractor vents. One side down, one side to go.  S197 Door Handles
We knew...  S197 Door Handles
We knew that with our CDC Flashback fascia and other modern exterior touches, that the standard '65-'68 Mustang chrome exterior door handles might look a tad out of place. We've seen early Mustangs with '71-'73 "lift up" door handles, but we decided to skip a few generations and use the '05 and up S197 Mustang outside door handle, which is a molded handle that you grab and pull outward. We scored a pair cut from a wrecked race car. Make sure you get a few inches of metal around the actual handle too.  After Danny took our handles...  After Danny took our handles and trimmed them down to an oval-like shape, he transferred the shape to the doorskin and proceeded to cut the doorskin opening with a cutting wheel. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it does need to roughly match the door handle shape.  Once Danny has trimmed the...  Once Danny has trimmed the doorskin to size, he grinds the surrounding sheetmetal down to bare steel in preparation for welding in the door handle assembly.  The plastic handle is temporarily...  The plastic handle is temporarily removed from the S197 Mustang's handle sheetmetal, mainly to make it easier to weld the panel into our doorskin, but also to prevent any melting of the plastic handle. Danny then carefully tack welds the panel into our doorskin, stopping every other tack or so to make sure the panel stays flush with our doorskin.  Once again, the patch panel...  Once again, the patch panel is fully welded in. Working around the patch to prevent warping it, Danny uses a wet rag after each small welding session, as the area is quite small.  As with our other sheetmetal...  As with our other sheetmetal work, the welds have to be ground down with a grinder to prepare them for further bodywork and plastic filler.
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