Taylors new project thanks to Wes, Rust, just not in the usual places. Options

[cary]

After a little more inspecting ..................

I found the left front sway bar mount is missing a nut and torn. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)


Used my Tangerine backing plate to center it up and weld on an 8mm flange nut to
put it back in business.


Then it was time to take a look at the front trunk channel.





I'll probably move this repair to a separate thread because I'll be using the 914 Rubber's weatherstripping channel repair strips.

[cary]

Next it was time to cut out the right fender pee pee holes.


Here's a few shots of the pee peed metal.

[Mikey914]

Thanks Cary,
Looks like it was a little worse there than we thought, but a t least we will have it fixed.

[cary]

Got all bundled up and got back to work. Still 40 degrees ...............


Out came the right fender..............


Trimmed off the excess on the new patch piece. Then clamped it up and cut out the patch to fit.


Got a nice tight fit on the patch. I was thinking that I made the patch too big. But I still ran into some thin spots along the seam. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)


Let the fun begin ..................




Welding was pretty uneventful ............ other than the thin spots I'll need to tackle in the morning.




I love my MillerMatic 141 .................... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

[Mikey914]

Good news is it's supposed to be warmer tomorrow.
Mark

[cary]

Started with tidying up the thin spots created by the round material and over finishing.
Tough sledding on the round surfaces.


Then on to filling all the spot weld holes and 40 years of PO sheet metal holes.
Had to make a couple patches on the cross member arch.



Handy tool



Took a while but got them ready for the next step. Didn't over finish too much. They'll get spot or rosette welded again.

[Mueller]

^wow, great sheet metal work there!

[jimkelly]

man, i love to see a car being blasted right down to metal, nice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[cary]

It costs. But it's the only way you find everything.

[Mikey914]

This is my gift to my son. He puts in the time, I put up the cash ...and parts.

[cary]

Next was the tune up of the hinge support and dash tie in.



Yes, the blasting glass continues to fall out of the long ...............

After close inspection I decide the floor/firewall/chassis tie in braces need new flanges rather than trying to fill in the damage done by the spot weld removal.

Went to Rothsport today and stomp sheared some 1/2" 20ga strips.

Then it was time to start the fitting of the replacement fuel tank/firewall lower portion.
It's going to take some time determining the cut out. Nothing was left of original section. It came out in pieces.




The lower section of the fender/fuel tank will be installed after the section above.

[cary]

Forgot to post Sunday's work.

Started the day by seeing if I could shrink the 1/2" strips I sheared at Rothsport.


We'll come back to those later ................

[cary]

Next onto the seriously dented cross-member mount.
I decided the mount would have to come off first so I can pound out the dent.



That's supposed to be flat .....................
I'm surprised Jack didn't catch it when he dropped the front suspension.

Off she came.


Ended up with an oil can dent inside the orange lines. Tried to move the metal too fast.
Needs to be in the car and solidly attached. Shrinking hammer was enough. I'll fire up the shrinking disk after the patch panel is solidly welded in.

[cary]

Then it was time to start fitting and trimming .................




Here's the bottom of the cross-member mount dent.
It will take some tuning to get the edge to line up correctly.


Then it was time to fill all the spot weld cutter holes.

[cary]

Let the fun begin. Tuning and tacking ................




Got a good start before I headed home ................

[Mikey914]

Thanks Cary,
See you Wed with some cash.

[cary]

Friday didn't quite go as planned so I went back to work on Taylor's car.

Finished the stitching and got the front seam welded in. Didn't over finish the bottom. It will be under coated. The top side finished up real nice and its ready for the wall section.




Then it was back to the oil canned section next to the fuel tank access hole.



The little shrinking disk takes quite a long time to get the metal heated up. Or maybe its just cold outside. With the front attached I got about 80% of it out.

On to the passenger floor seam .................
With the front tied down it allowed me to pound it down flat. As it flattened out I trimmed a couple more mms out between the 2 pcs as I went along. Saw blade width.




I even retained the drain slot ...............

6 inches to go on the back side. I have a piece to trim down to replace the section that got scalped during cut out.


Getting an early start. Want to get this section finished up. Plus waiting for a reply on a wood/metal upright band saw on Craigslist. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[cary]

Got the tip welded back on ...........




After test fitting Doug's old cross member it looks like we have a little issue.
I'll do some measurements tonite to see where we're off. I have the car on the frame bench to measure against.


Yes, I could make it fit. Bigger Hammer. But I don't want to use up our given +/- tolerance with a hammer.

Doug's mount fits into my project car, like butter.

Taylor brought out his cross member and it fits like Doug's so we'll go with that.

Odd thing though. The cross member we'd set aside for the frame bench fits into Taylor's car as is. Who knows ......... They should all fit the same ............. Strap(s) tweaked.

[cary]

Well I went to the geometry expert for some input. Rick 918-S.
Best guess is that the car took a bump to the right torsion bar tube end.
I'll take some more measurements in the am to confirm. While we're measuring and coming up with a plan I'm going ahead with the front channel rust repair.




I'm going to cover this in a separate thread. Because ................
Mark and the team at 914 Rubber are going to make the replacement pieces available.
But looks like I need to get some measurements to get some complete channels made up.

[rick 918-S]

Nice work Cary. It's always interesting and challenging when it comes to chassis diagnosis. Specially with 2000 miles between us. Looks like we figured out what happened. I have a few ideas how to set it right. I will send another email then we can talk again.