Fit the panels to repair the inner wheel well. Feels good to be starting to put things back together. Still have more clean up and more pieces to make. Here's the surgery on the drivers side

Here's the patch fitted to the hole

Here's the hole on the passenger side. I kinda freaked over this but the panel from Restoration Designs fit very well. It needed a little massage but not much

Here's patch passively fit. Great product.

Dave

Look at that...

The 914club sticker is "watching" over your work.

Another quality piece from Restoration design.


B

You are making great progress. Way to go! (we need a welding smilie)

Fit a cardboard template to the missing part of the frame rail.

Dave

I have to do that same repair.

Bought this flange tool for the job at Harbor Freight.

One side of the die makes a flange & the other side punches a 3/16" hole.

Holy Toldeo Batman. (I mean Mark)

That is cool. I knew what task the tool performed but I had NO idea that it punched the hole also.

Damn.. it is now on the "must have list".


B

Brad,

Send me that orange front trunk that is collecting dust in your shop and I will send you a flange tool.

here is the link for the flange tool. I got one a while back, but have not had a chance to use it on the teener. I did test it out on some scrap it works real good.
flange tool

They are having a special on a body saw. This works good for tight spaces. Mine zips through the sheet metal without any trouble.
body saw

Passively fit the top portion of the frame rail. Making a template really helped. Tomorrow I'll get the firewall pieces done.

Dave

Cool D. Wanna come do mine?

Chris

I DON'T THINK SO, but by the time I'm through I should be well qualified to watch and give advice.

Dave

Cut and fit template for firewall on driver's side

Cut and fit template for passenger's firewall. Both of these areas are actually 2 pieces (upper firewall and lower inside firewall). Time to go cut and bend some metal.

I've become consumed working on this. I get up early and work on it before I go to the office and after i come home. The wife is getting so desperate to do something together she wants to help do the winter clean up in the vegetable garden. I'm gonna have to get a real life soon., but maybe I can stretch one more day of working on the car.

Dave

morning dave, if you're still at the computer. have the kids pull the pig weed, throw the left over squash in the black berries, and till the whole shebang under. let it rot!!! your brother in labor/time intensive yard work.

kevin

Ya Kevin I'll do you one better. I'll put the 4' wide rottiller behind the JD tractor and let Gerry till the whole thing under. Betsy and I can get our together time watching the kid work. (Might work once until Gerry finds out how boring it is to drive the tractor at a whooping .5 MPH.)

Dave

no dave, gotta pull the pig weed. unless that's what you want to make your salads out of next year . thoses seeds are a menace.

kevin
"roundup is my second best friend"

Finished cuuting out and fitting all of the pieces. Here's a picture of the passenger side firewall.

Driver side firewall

Driverside engine shelf. Not pretty but functional. It's the best I could do with a ball peen hammer. Time for a beer. Hare's Ear Hefeweisen from the Metolius Brewing company (very good).

Dave

Really nice work Dave! I guess you're treating it like fixing a cavity...

Meticulous work and it shows!

very nice work dave. where did you go for the metal other than resto design pieces? jesus karl, i just lost 10 minutes out of my life "reading" your avatar.

kevin

What's wrong with you guys, taking the time to read that. Just sit back and enjoy.

Kevin

Got some scrap from Tacoma Steel Supply. $5 in their coffee fund and I got plenty of steel with a whole bunch left over

Dave

Welded in passenger inner wheel well. ain't pretty but it's stuck.

Dave

Dave,

Did you seem weld that after you spot welded it or did you do just the spot welds?

Nice job

-Pete

Pete

I seam welded from the opposite side. That why I say it's a mess. Globs of metal in the wheel well.

Dave

Hey Dave:

What type of grinding tool did you use to get down in the very corner...I have the same exact repair to do on the passenger side but the driver side is OK, I think.. I just can't get in there to grind the rust out of the corner...

It appears by jabing with a screw driver that it's only surface and I think I'll be able to save it , if I could just get the rust out and treat it...

The other side (under the battery tray) is gone though...

Taking the rocker panel off yields good news...no rust at all...inside, outside or under the long looks great and soild, but the top is gone...

Is the Long a box and the engine compartment a second skin, so I should expect to repair the top of the Long and the engine compartment skin as well ???

2-OH!

2-OH!

I used a couple of wood chisels to get most of the seam sealer off. Then I used a combination of various wire brushes including smaller ones with the bristles out the end (go to the hardware store, you will see a bunch of different ones). I also used some 3M pads that are used to remove paint.

One thing that helped me was one of those extensions for electric drills. It allows me to get the body of the power tool back and away from the firewall and wheel wells. Finally I just scaped and sanded.


When you go buy wire wheels, abrasive disks and sand paper take your plastic. You're gonna need a lot. The project kinda grows.

Dave






Whe

Dave:

Are there two thicknesses of metal, one for the Long and one for the engine compartment cowling ???

2-OH!

Well sort of. There is an inside portion of the frame rail which you see at the surface. This wraps over the top ans spot welded to the innerwheel well. This is what you see rusted. Under that is a second piece that goes from the inner frame rail to about 1/2 of the way across the top. The first piece is spot welded to the underneathe piece. On the outside there is a piece under the inner wheel well that just curls over the top.

Hard to explain, I'll try to get a picture tonight

Dave

My problem is that the drain hole area is rusted to about (at least) the size of a half dollar...Got to get in there with something small and grind away until I find parent metal...I also have a rust hole IN both the firewall and down)in the very corner of the three pieces, firewall, inner wheel well and engine pan...That makes me think it has rusted through the Long...

2-OH!

Take a look around but you won't see it all until you take out the engine remove the tons of seam sealer and start cleaning up with a wire wheel or abrasive.

I started with a 50 cent piece sized hole in the engine shelf. Clean up revealed a few small holes in the top of the long and lots of pitting. After I cut the piece out and turned it over I was really glad I removed. Would have been swiss cheese soon.

Dave

Thanks Dave...I've got the motor out so it's just a task of getting in there with the grinder and start cuttin' away the bad and see whats left...

2-OH!

2-OH!

Here's the picture of the framr rail

Thanks Dave, I'm off to the grinding wheel store on Friday...Ain't nothin to but to do it...

2-OH!

Cleaning up the welds in here was a bitch. Couldn't sleep (damn prostate, had to pee) so I thought I would get something done this morning. 2hrs of grinding. My hands are practically tingling. I ought to have a great touch this morning.

Inside passenger wheel well

Started cleaning up the patch in pergatory

Dave

dave, i completely understand the frequency issue. get a nightlight for the john, leave the overhead off, sit down.

kevin

I have a 1/5 hp flex shaft dremel that I use to get in the tight areas. It's about $220. A pine cone carbide bit does wonders.

Yep, bought one last nite with the cone bit and flex shaft...

My concern was that the Dremel tool was to liteweight and might burn out...But I think it is the best way to go...

Thanks,

2-OH!

I have the same flex shaft. Great tool but it takes time to do much with it.

Gonna cut a little more out of the top of the framerail. Just a small window so I can get access to the inside. Since i already have the top layer off I decided that the small amount of work needed would be more than made up for by having good access to inspect and treat the inside. Also, the nut under jack point that holds the rocker panel twisted off when I removed the stove bolt. I suspect red cancer. So, as long as I've come this far I better be sure and take care of it. Also I can weld on a new nut. Now that the inner wheel well is solid I'm not worried about the car bending

Dave

Looks good Dave!! Its a bitch grinding in those tight areas but just take your time and take a break now and then so you hands don't tingle.

I have either tea or a beer for a break.

Geoff

Opened up the framerail a little more. Already had the top layer off so I took a little of the second layer out. I needed to replace the nut below the jack point as it came off when I removed the rocker panel. I was fearing the worst (more red cancer) and I knew it would bug me if I came this far and didn't check. So out came the sawsall and I had a look

Not as bad as I feared. I already rewelded the nut for the rocker and sprayed Metal Ready. Tomorrow I'll give it a coat of Por 15 and close it up. Hope it never sees the light of day again.

Here's a pic before welding and Metal Ready.

Dave

Here's a close up. Awful looking hole but it's not full of rust

Driver's side firewall patch welded and ground down. I've been using 3/4" separating disks in a flex tool for the tight spots. Separating disks are thin carborundum disks we use in the dental lab for roughing out castings like crowns and partial denture frameworks. They are made to cut nickel chromium so the cut welds pretty well. Each disk lasts me about 30 seconds so I waste a lot of time changing the little things. Still they work well for tight places. I'm off to the dental supply house to pick up a bunch.