I think I could have gone a little hotter. Maybe that would have flattened them out a smidgen. But I was really focused on the penetration level. Of the 100 welds on the tunnel I only touched up 6 from the bottom side. Those were caused by the metal not being tight enough together. I didn't grind the old side of the tunnel flat enough.
And I only blew through three on the 200 rossettes I did on those two days. And all of them were up under the steering wheel on the old tunnel metal. Even with the rotisserie and a welding helmet they were kind of a bitch to get too. Bad angle. Hotter on one side.

As a rule I was counting to 7 on each weld. Seemed to work for me.

Those rosettes will grind right off with a flapper disk. I love those things. I wish I had found them sooner.

Thank all of you for the words of encouragement. Now I wait for another week.

Drill!?! I don't think so. That is a necessity if I ever saw one.

I just wish it made a little bigger hole. I use a #10 self tapping screw and it almost cuts the same size hole. Bigger hole would give you a little more to weld to.
But I'm figuring it out .................

The AX went awesome. My best performance ever.
Was 5th overall. Moved up 10 places. 5th out of 73.

Beat both GT3's.
Two other 914World members came in 1st and 2nd.
Doug Skinnerd and Gary Chapman. Gary in his 914-6 (1st). Doug in Kermit, 911 RSR.

Just read through complete thread. Great work! Sobering to think what I might have to do to my '76.

I would think this would be a worst case scenario.
I decided to take on my worst case first.
I 'm building this to be my daily driver. It will probably be over welded and over seam sealed for most folks.

Pretty much what this one has...

'76 Parts Car or Keeper?

Last Friday was pretty uneventful. After servicing the truck I knocked down the rosette welds and the floor pan seam. I'm real happy with the seam. If it was going to be seen and out in the open, I could make the weld disappear. I have only one spot were it wasn't perfectly even. But the bottom will be undercoated and the interior covered with sound mat.

Click to view attachment

Today I fitted the inner firewall pieces. Once again, it takes some fiddling to get a nice fit. Every time you fit a piece you question whether the car is square. So you double check everything again. But at this point it isn't going to move too much.

Click to view attachment

It's really starting to become fun and rewarding.
I'm about half way thru with welding it in. Pretty tedious. Back and forth, up and down. The metal tells you when its getting too hot. The edge of your punched hole blows out. Stop, cool everything, take a break.
Oh yeah, once again dumb ass used too much weld thru primer. What a frikking mess and hassle. What a waste of wire and gas.

One thing I did learn, or teach my self. Using the 1/4" Blair/Rotacut spot weld cutter to cut the rosette holes makes a much nicer weld when combined with the self taping screw. Makes a nicer, flatter weld. If some one else was paying me for my time on a no expense spared restoration that's how'd I'd do every hole. Screws, 7.5c (Fastenal), Blair cutter head $7.50 (Airgas Online), they add up. But then so do grinding disks, flapper disks and Rolock disks. LOL.

I'll be back to it on Monday. Hopefully get that finished up and move on to the cross members.

Looks awesome, man. Inspiring work here.

Finished up the welding. Not real happy/proud of the flange on top of the tunnel.
Should have cut it off and replaced it.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Added a little brush on seam sealer.

On to the jack points.

Click to view attachment

Prepped and ready to go ................

Click to view attachment

Welded in, ready for the grinder.

Click to view attachment

Front jack point located.

After years of welding I'm finally getting the grinder pile down to a manageable level.

Click to view attachment

Time for a couple tools shots.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Im lovin' it!

great progress and job.

Back at again .........

But first, a new computer station. Repurposed an old TV wall mount.

Click to view attachment

Then I got tired of picking the the air hose (cooling) and the wire feed pliers off the floor. Which caused an outburst of profanity ....... Used a magnet from HF and a eyelet bolt.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Might build a bigger one for the pick hammer. Must be the IE in me. Spent too many years teaching folks how to do it faster and with less energy.

Off to lunch ...............

Was going to come out tonight (Wed, June 3), but not sure if you work at nights or just during the day?
Let me know a good day and time to come visit.
-Doug

I'm only out there during the day. I usually stay till 5:30.
I'll be back out there on Friday.

OK....I'll see you this Friday then.

First order of business after lunch. Change the outside splatter shield. Whoa, it was hammered. No wonder it was a little blurry.
Yesterday I turned down the sensitivity. I can finally see what I'm working on. Nice.

Click to view attachment

Dad also did an oil change on the Princesses car.

Click to view attachment

First was tidying up a few spots on the bottom of the pan. The welding is getting easier. Don't know if its the miles and hours, or I'm working on a little less rust.

Then I moved on to the inside bottom edge of the front firewall to floor pan.
Not exactly my finest hour, I should have put a new bottom edge on them.
But it welded up much better than I thought it would, and it will be covered by seam sealer. Oh well ................ lesson learned for the next one.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Then I SE primered the bottom. I'll start epoxy primering after I'm done welding.
I hate the weld thru primer splatters. Black specks ............

Click to view attachment

This put a big smile on my face.

Now on to the center braces .................... I thought I'd never get here. Like everything, it takes fiddling to get that perfect tight fit. It's beginning to become fun.

Click to view attachment

Left side fitted. Clamped in place.
I forgot to say. I have the 74 to measure and get dimensions off of. Measured off the back wall to get the correct location.

Started tinkering with the right side.

Click to view attachment

Then I decided to prep the seat adjusters. Drilled out the rosette weld holes. Then cleaned off the cutting oil in the parts cleaner. They are ready for weld thru primer on Friday.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

A tool whore shot. The shear sure makes short work of the trimming.

Click to view attachment

But I wish I had a big shear that would cut thru 3ft. of 16 gauge mild steel. Maybe when I win the Powerball.

You are kicking ass now!

John

I got that for Christmas. I think my son wanted one so I have it! Great things fathers and sons. Wish I had a super in law, but perhaps I will simply become one someday. Forlorn hope I suppose.

Next shop project.
We're going to build a two sided panel to store/clip all the plastic bags of parts on. It will be on wheels so it can be moved around.

It's almost time to send stuff off to be plated. So Ill go thru every bag. Photo every bag. Rename if needed.

Hmm ........... I need to find that e-brake tube/spring bracket. Having to dig thru the tub of bags isn't real handy.

Click to view attachment

On the way to the shop this am we're stopping at HF for a couple more magnets. Ace Hardware for some eye bolts and maybe some copper tubing.
Oh yeah, maybe some taller wheels for the bag panel at HF.

Time to make some coffee .................

Click to view attachment

Here are the fiddling weapons I was talking about.

Metal. Different shapes an sizes.

Click to view attachment

Something to hold the metal and wood.

Click to view attachment

Something to pound on.

Click to view attachment

Decided I'd cut out the e-brake light switch while the brace was out. Took the location and size off the yellow (74) car.

Click to view attachment

It's just a smidgen shy of a 1/2" square. Drilled a hole in each corner. Then cut between the holes with the Dremel. Should have used a smaller cutting disc. But I like the reinforced one ................ Does blow apart when you breath on it.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Now for the task at hand ...................
Forgot to shoot pictures of installing the adjustment brackets. Pretty simple. 245mm from the long. Square up. Weld in the rosettes.

Click to view attachment

Rosettes welded in. The larger ones are caused by not letting or the getting the metal cooled down.

Click to view attachment

Beautiful ending to wonderful day .................

Click to view attachment

Hey I need to do that passenger side movable seat install on my car.

Tried to come by on Friday, but I couldn't really find the shop.
Guess I need better directions next time.
Saw a horse stable and a farm, but nothing looking to inviting.
Better luck next time I suppose.

You were there .............
It's up behind the horse stable. Turn at the third driveway.
Sorry I didn't give the phone number with the address.

Let's call it a unique arrangement, .15c sq. ft. utilities paid.

Yours is fixed ?

Great looking work!! Turn your wire speed down or your temp up on your mig, your welds are a hair large

I think I'm going to tinker with turning the wire speed down just a hair. This is a good test area because I can look a the penetration from the back side.
On this beautiful RD Galvanneal I run the Miller 180 (220v) at 17 on the thickness gauge (heat) and 45 on the speed.

Thanks for the critique ....

So we have another day to play. First half of the was spent unloading the enclosed trailer full of the middle kids stuff into the warehouse.

Then onto the seat mount/hinges. Watched the RD video a couple times, Adam does a nice job. Tried doing the hinge tack on the first one. Just didn't work with the door braces in the way. Really pretty simple. The hinge pin is supposed to be centered right at the peak of the mount. Just scribed a line on the mount and aligned the hinge pin the line.

First step was to get everything in place. Bad part, looks like the seat frames will need a little restoration. Handle shaft has some rust. I'm thinking yellow cad plating on the handle ?

Click to view attachment

A couple shots of the hinge welding.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Once again lots of time spent cooling the metal. Rosette welds still a little too big. Turned down the wire speed, which made them flatter. But still to wide.
Maybe Next Time. But the welding is just about over. Next will be the door sills.

Click to view attachment

Sitting here watching the first hour of Lemans on Fox Sports 2.
Then off to my first PCA Arrive and Drive rally in the Carrera. 100 mile drive with 40 or 50 Porsche's. Tomorrow will be spent at the Rose Cup races at PIR.
Might squeeze in a 30-40 bike ride after the arrive and drive.

Fine work tackling some serious rust!

Back to work. Finished grinding down the spot welds and touching up the backside.
Kind of tricky grinding. A lot of using the outside edge.
Then proceeded to apply the first layer of brush on seam sealer.

Click to view attachment

Spent the first half of the day putting new pads and rotors on the pickup. What a messy job ................ That brake dust gets everywhere.

Then took out the lower door brace so I can start working on the door sill.

Click to view attachment

Another Tool Whore shot.

Click to view attachment

Bought a good set of butt weld clamps for re-attaching the rear fender.
I've already bent the crap out of the HF ones.

Just finished reading Michelko's, Digging into Hell. Kind of wish I'd used POR15 along the way. Looks so nice and tidy after he finished a section. Oh Well ...

Looking at buying a fresh air respirator before I start shooting the epoxy primer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Supplied-fresh-Air...k-/380153845245

I'm going with prepping the metal with OSPHO, then SPI epoxy primer. After that, spray on seam sealer, for the factory look.
I am brushing on sealer sealer over SEM self etching primer in the spot/rosette welded areas as I go.

Dude.....you gonna come out and work on mine too sometime?



Seriously....after looking at your rotisserie, I'd like one but don't have the lift to get the shell onto it.
Need to do the seat bracket thing on my car for sure.
But I think the paint & body shop I'm going to use can handle it.

All in all, you're the "man."
So much work you've been knocking out.
Do you really have a "real" job too?
hehe
Where do you find the time?

Plus you must have a godzillion dollars worth of new-ish tools as well.

Well done young man.....

If you buy a rotisserie most have a lift built in.
I try to do as much done as I can in two days per week that I have ............. This is my sanity check

But now it will be three weeks before I get back. AX this Sunday and the STP bike ride the week after.

Very Productive Day .............

Started by removing my frame/jig that has been on there a couple years.
Now we're making progress.

Click to view attachment

Without jig. That allowed me to tidy up the seams and rosettes that I couldn't get to with the jig in the way.

Click to view attachment

On to the task at hand.
Installing the door sills.

Click to view attachment

Rosettes went real well. A little more heat, a little less wire speed.
But it almost feels like cheating, welding new metal to new metal.

Click to view attachment

Then I installed the braces. Used the tri square to line up the top screws.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Added a third brace. Salvaged off the old stuff.

Then I moved on to the door jam .............. That's dandy piece. Not an RD manufactured part and it shows. If you look at your door jam. All the bends are acute 90 angles. But on this piece they're all rounded. So there as quite a bit of reworked to get it to fit nice.

Then Mr. Patience let the metal at the butt weld get too hot. I had it almost perfect on the first pass. Ground down the weld with the flapper disk. Then went to add just a smidgen in the low spot.

Made a mess ................ time to walk away. Should have had another project going at the same time. Dammit ...............

I'm going to have to look into cooling gel.

So I went to look at the fender that needs to be welded back on. Looks like I need to remove the old door jam material from the backside of the fender.
That's going to take some doing to get it out of there without bending the fender.
I didn't leave myself a lot of space to work. There's about 10 spot welds to drill out.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Cary,
Was that 245mm from the long to one edge of the bracket? If so which edge? Or center?

Cary, I cannot tell you how I admire this thread. Really bringing a crusher bait to life. So very cool. So very cool. Have you been contacted by the Smithsonian by any chance? They oughta snap it up while it is still affordable. They would let you drive it of course. I really like seeing your posts. It gives me faith.

Its from the inside of the of the hook side of the bracket to the long. Going from memory. I'll confirm tomorrow.
When you go to set the seat frame into the bottom hook on the teeth. Don't tap it in tight with a hammer. Just use your hands. I'm going to have to grind off just a smidgeon on the bottom tooth. It catches just a little bit when going up.

Click to view attachment

I'm going to pickup another tub tomorrow night after work. No title 1976. I know I'll need a donor car in the future. Couldn't pass it up for, shhhhhh $75.
Firewall looks good. Windshield frame looks good. Based on past experience. I'll come home with a whole pickup load of stuff.
From what I've been told this guy has a bunch of stuff.

Click to view attachment

[/quote]
Cary, I cannot tell you how I admire this thread. Really bringing a crusher bait to life. So very cool. So very cool. Have you been contacted by the Smithsonian by any chance? They oughta snap it up while it is still affordable. They would let you drive it of course. I really like seeing your posts. It gives me faith.
[/quote]

That's the best part. Starting with my worst car. It's all down hill from here.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Thanks! I will wait for your follow up.

I stand corrected. Its to the outside of the hook to the long.

Click to view attachment