Day 104

Today I finished welding on the rear apron.  It took FOREVER!  Between fitting the piece, filling in all the plug weld holes, grinding them down, and making everything look right I had about 5 hours into this piece.  By the time I was finished I was just happy to be done so I called it a day!

Next time I work on the car I'm going to try and get some of the welding in the trunk done.  That includes the master cylinder shelf, spare tire well, and another rusted area up by the driver's side left knee area in the trunk.  I also need to fit and drill holes for my pop out windows.

Also had to do a repair to my shoe :)

I've had them for 10 years and they fit just right!

Day 103

Well I actually ended up having to reweld my driver's side rear bumper support.  I didn't have the heat turned up enough and the plug welds were too cold, which meant the weld didn't "stick".  So I went to test it with a screw driver to see if I could pry it off, and some of  the welds were no good.

I drilled out the plug welds and re-welded them.  No big deal and all fixed!

Today, I worked on the passenger side rear quarter where I had the rust issue below.  You can see both a hole in the sheet metal where the bumper support is and also the rear part of the quarter completely rusted away.

So, first step was to remove the rear apron.  I did so by using my spot weld cutter and removing the spot welds on both quarter panels.

Here you can see the rear apron removed as well as the holes made by the spot weld cutter on the left and right sides.

Pretty nasty shape.

Bad stuff cut out.

Pretty nasty.

Back side.

Old vs. new cut to size back.

Old vs. new front.

I proceeded to weld it back into place.  I really took my time on this.  I made sure to tack weld every few inches.  Let it cool.  Then I'd grind down my spot weld, hammer and dolly if accessible, and repeat.  Probably spent about 2 hours just on this little piece.  It turned out very good!

Tomorrow I hope to re-install the rear apron and possibly work on getting my pop-out windows mocked up in the car so I can drill the mounting holes.

Day 102

Today I was productive, albeit not as much as previous days.

I am trying to take my time and do things right the first time and so that I'm happy with the end result.  The passenger quarter panel kinda bummed me out because if I had only gone a bit slower it would have turned out better requiring less filler work.

Anyway, I replaced the driver's side rear bumper mount today.

Original.  Replacing it because of that bend near the first captive nut.

Removed.

All done!

 I talked about the rust area in the trunk last time and didn't have a good picture for it.

This is what it looks like, it is a very intrique area and I have a replacement coming from a donor car.  Hopefully it works out or I may have to try some sheet metal fab skills!

Day 101 - More welding!

I expect the welding to continue for a while :)

BUT, I did make some progress yesterday.

I had to repair the driver's side rear quarter panel fender area.  The damage wasn't quite as bad and I made sure to take my time so it turned out very nice.  A thin coat of filler and I'll be good to go!

Old vs. new

Ta dahhhhhh

Custom made patch for the lower area.

Not bad.

I also filled all the carpet tack holes inside the car.  And had to do a repair on the front "firewall" where it had rusted through.

Today I hope to finish up the rear end of the car replacing the bumper bracket on the driver's side and the partial rear quarter panel on the passenger side.

I still have to tackle the front, replacing the spare tire well, straightening the front completely, and replacing part of the trunk that is rusted through.

One step at a time...

Day 100 - Body welding!

It certainly has been a while.  I had a nice work trip to Alaska and some friends in town.  Hard to find a clear day to work on the car.

Today I spent about 10 hours in the garage working on the passenger side taking care of some of the rust.  I got most of the passenger side done expect the A pillar.

I feel ok with how the welding turned out.  Not the best, but strong and fixed the rust.  I will use a light skim coat of body filler to take care of my imperfections :)

Enjoy!

The bad and ugly.  Note the area cut out.  See next pic for my custom patch.

I didn't have a metal piece to replace the cut out area, so I fabbed one up!

The re-enforcing rib in the middle of the picture needed some welds.

Other bad area cut out, replacement fitted.  Welded and sanded down.

Ehhh welding.  Could have been better.

Driver's side to go.  Both A pillars.  Rear apron is going to have to come off to replace my passenger side quarter panel.  Driver's side bumper mount.

Still need to do the front apron area and rear which is going to be a pain.

AKA still a long ways off!

Post paint cleanup

I didn't do much on the car today.  Just got my paint booth taken down and cleaned out the garage.

I did spray Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating in the heather channel, both inside and outside the heat carrying portion.

This stuff is the same that I used in the tunnel to get to the areas I wanted to protect from future rust and neutralize present rust.  It's very thin and gets into all the nooks and crannies.  Better than nothing, for sure!

I have a garage back!

Will start working on metal work tomorrow :)

Day 99

Well I guess it's fitting that day 99 marks the last day of a major hurdle in the project.  I have all my parts and pieces in epoxy primer.  I can now feel a bit relieved and say "AHHHHH" because the parts are cleaned, painted, and protected from rust.

Staged the night before

Hooks in action!

A lot of small stuff!

Laid out, ready to paint!

But of course, they are no where near being ready for final paint.

That's where the next section begins!  Metal and body work!