Miles to go before I sleep.

[E Sully]

My 1973.5 is slowly becoming solid again.
I have been turning my Long Hood into a Boxster, while 95avblm3 is turning a Boxster into a Long Hood.
So many baggies full of hardware, and boxes filled with parts I've removed. Running out of room in the garage.
As I found, once you strip back the paint to bare metal. there can be a lot less solid metal than you think. Fabricating some parts works well, but for many sections it is easier to buy sheet metal from cars being cut up. I found some from original 1973's and some from SC's, and fabricated others. Sometimes the best way is to just buy the replacement piece. I have found sections where others did not remove the rust, they just welded a patch over it, or covered it in bondo. You learn as you go, and miles to go before I sleep.

[Fishcop]

Great skills Ed!

[95avblm3]

Ed,

I just saw your post over on my thread. Thanks for the nice comment. I had to come check yours out... Wow! Looks good. You've got quite a bit more rot to cut out and replace than I but it is quite the inspiration for me to get a move on.

Tell me, it looks like you used new battery boxes, suspension pan and gas tank support. Are all of your other patches had made from sheetmetal? Did you just use cardboard to make templates? Pretty sure this is what I am going to do.

If you have a chance, would you mind taking a picture of where the front bulkhead/hood latch panel meets the suspension pan from the underside? I have a big gap at the bottom of mine and I just don't think it's right but I don't have a good frame of reference.

Thanks!
Jeremy

[E Sully]

John,
Thanks for the comment. Threads like yours inspire me to keep going. I've read your thread numerous times. Your car looks great.

Jeremy,
I'll get a picture of that section for you. It was a bit of work to keep that section tight for welding.
I was fortunate with a lot of the parts. I have scoured the Used Parts Forum for a couple of years picking up parts when I could. I was lucky to find the front corner bracket from a fellow Pelican in Oregan. It is unique to the 1973, and most were as rusty as mine. A few of the inner fender parts were from an SC being cut. They haven't changed a lot of areas over the years.
I got the Dansk battery boxes and gas tank support at 1/2 price from other sellers that changed their mind after ordering the parts. The suspension pan was from Pelican.
I have the inner rocker panels at a very reasonable price from someone that just needed the end for their repair, and I fabricated the cut off section to complete it. Using some carpentry tools like the pin profile tool helped me make the contours for curved sections, transfer them to cardboard templates, and then shape and cut them. A lot of it was made with a hammer, vice, dolly, and jig saw. I try to keep as much of the original metal as possible, but some is too thin after rust removal, it will evaporate when you try to weld to good metal. Properly clamping parts together can get tricky. Getting the final grinding and sanding to make it smooth seems to take the most time.

[timgt3]

Ed,

This is great to watch. You are doing many of the areas I am yet to tackle on my 70S. I have picked up a donor 73 Targa car with no rust to cut out the required sections.

Keep up the good work, and I will watch with interest.

[wachuko]

But you have promises to keep, and miles to go before you sleep. So keep sharing the progress

And also make sure that you do not go gentle into that good night... rage, rage against the dying of the light... So just get some good lights to work at night.

[E Sully]

Come the Snowy Evenings I too must stop. Winter is tough on my old bones. Aside from metal car parts, my hip will soon need replacement. I am no longer the young lad that would bench press an automatic transmission into my Mustang in the driveway. A cold detached garage is where The Other Woman will wait till spring.

[wayner]

Hard core

Great progress !