Opened a longitudinal can of worms
 

My car has had a fair amount of welding work done in the past, clearly one shop did a great job and another terrible. What I'm working on was all done 15+ years ago so wasn't done with proper repair panels. I've not spent the morning digging into it and could use some advice. Pics below, you can see I have a nice 87 cut that I plan on cutting up and using as needed with the goal of as few cuts as necessary.

I could have just cut a small patch out of the donor sheetmetal and welded that in and been on my way looking at pic 2, I'm glad I didn't. But now I have worms everywhere. The floor is good where it isn't cut away. Some questions:

It has new B pillars and outer rockers. Door gaps are fine but I dug under a lot of filler and found that mess. I can take the pillar better. Should I fill in the gap meeting the rocker with metal? But an even better question is since the rocker isn't closed off with the kidney bowl, you see all the way down to the A-pillar, should I pull the outer rocker and get a new one?

Should I pull much of the quarter? I did 8 inch flares and want to leave them, but will pull all apart if a good way to go. The B pillar is positioned correctly in terms of the door.

Similarly, a good idea to pull the jack receiver and start fresh?

Patching up the longitudinal: Are there diagrams for inner and outer sheetmetal? I'm getting a little confused on what is factory double layer and what is patchwork layer over factory single layer. The car is a rat, building it more toward track, so I want things to be strong and I also want them done right.

Heater tube, car has headers, don't mind pulling it out. Any ideas on that?

I'm confident in my welding abilities but could use a little help with direction. I"'ve purposely cut away as little as possible knowing I'll probably be cutting away a lot more.

Any and all advice is much appreciated! Is there anything I SHOULDN'T do?!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086381.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086391.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086400.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086413.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086423.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086435.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086444.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086521.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367086530.jpg

rust
 

Wow Im having flashbacks of the rust repair on my car! it all sorts itself out at the end and probably will be stronger than factory.

Get a spot weld drill bit and start taking your donor apart. As you clean seams and panels, the spot welds will appear. Drill an 1/8" hole in each then hit with the spot weld drill bit. As you take it apart, you will see more clearly what you need to cut and massage into your car.

I actually just buttoned up that area on my car and have moved to replacing the front suspension pan. It's not easy but if you pay attention on how the donor sections come apart, putting yours right will be easier. Take your time and do one panel at a time.

By the way, the guy running the spot welder was a busy man.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_13440.jpg

Thanks for the advice, going to take it slow. I have a new outer rocker and jack post coming. And just ordered carbide tipped die drill for all the spot welds. More to come.

BTW, don't rock the drill to make it grab more. You'll end up knocking teeth off the bit. BTDT. Once I learned to keep it straight, I haven't broken a single tooth off my bit. And if you get one like pictured above, it's obviously reversible.

thanks, good advice but I ended up getting a 15/64ths carbide tipped die drill.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367608456.jpg

Hmm, that's just shy of 1/4". Sounds a tad on the small size. Let me know how 15/64" works for you.

The glory of the one I pictured is that it cuts around the weld on one side leaving the other side intact so you only put a hole in one of the two pieces welded together. My pictured bit has a barrel of 3/8" putting the ID of the barrel, I'd guess, at a bit over 1/4"?

I picked mine up at the local NAPA, a 2 pack for about $12. My guess is that most FLAPS that serve the autobody market will have them.

Thanks Tharbert, I didn't mention that the new rockers put on the car years ago were done with gas. The welds that it didn't matter if I drilled through the carbide die drill worked great. I could have gone with a full 1/4, or even larger. The brass welds actually leaked under the outer rocker so I had to use an oxy-mapp to melt them as I pulled off the top cut section. Bottom I just melted and pulled off.

What a day, found A LOT more rust. Have to pull off the door post to do the kidney bowl and have a lot of other fabrication. Was expecting to have a good amount of the repair done this weekend. I think I have another 20 hours just for this side.


Starting off today.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712142.jpg


The "new" outer rockers were welded on with gas so after drilling them out had to oxy-mapp the brass welds that had leaked in between the two rockers. Heat and pull.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712163.jpg


Wasn't expecting the kidney bowl to be bad. Worms galore.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712174.jpg


End of the day with a lot more to do before I even think of start welding.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712194.jpg


So glad I wrestled and wrestled with getting the heating tube out, it completely hid all the rust on the inner longitudinal.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712204.jpg


In front of the inner rocker, have to cut all that way and do some fabrication
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712218.jpg


Long day but making progress
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367712229.jpg

Subscribed!!!

Very nice. Subscribed

Shaun, I still have my 87 parts car if you need panels.

Thanks Brendon, I may take you up on that. the car is close to stripped down to a shell, then I'll build an internal support structure, and then cut everything out at once. We'll see what I need as early as this weekend.

Got a litte clean-up done last night. Going to be a long, slow project but great practice for when I restore the S, which is 10X as rusty.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368544002.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368544041.jpg

Sloooooow going! This is my busiest time of year and I thought I'd be done with all the initial light repairs by now. Great use for some old silk screen frames, I made a brace today so I can keep cutting and plan on getting a lot done this week after work. I was going to add a lot more bars tied in to the shoulder and rear seat belts, sort of a roll cage, but don't think I'll need it, the floor, other than driver rear, are good so there's a lot holding the car together, and it's triangulated on the dolly, so I expect it will be fine. I'm going to get a laser measuring tape and take a standard set of measurements and then keep measuring as I cut away. If I see any flex during cuts, I'll stop and add more bracing.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368916737.jpg

Getting ready to place a sheet metal order. If you go factory on all parts, I am, only available outer rockers are 965 and are designed for the much beefier L shaped kidney bowls. The 965s will work with early kidney bowls but I think the later combination would make a significant difference in strengthening the car.

Early car prices are rising fast oddly, though I have no plans to sell the car for a long time. It’s a rusty old T that I’m doing rear flares on and it will be a hot rod. Not a purists car, though I am in terms of the quality of the parts.

Any consensus on the plus or minus of using later metal?

OEM 965 rockers and L-shaped kidney bowls for strength

OR

Aftermarket rocker and OEM early style kidney bowl?

Small update, I've ordered all the sheetmetal I need, mostly OEM, it should be here next Friday. Since I'll be painting, I figured I should put a proper face and front door on the garage I made after my original got crushed under 2 feet of snow in January. This was the hardest thing I've ever made, getting it square while welding in everything in 2 days of 90+ heat, was close to impossible. A plus, great use of old silk screen frames I had laying around.

The frame I made, half done.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370223681.jpg


Reusing the old shelter cover temporarily, new one that will wrap under and up arriving this week
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370223693.jpg


Started making doors with the silk screen frames
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370223777.jpg


Door finished. Found that the old screen adhesive is INCREDIBLY toxic. I'm surprised I still have lungs. Got my respirator out immediately after breathing in some dust while grinding.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370223852.jpg


Progress and mock-up. Had to make a spreader, nothing is square of course, neither the frame nor the ground. Backbreaking hard work.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370223934.jpg


Incremental spreader.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370224033.jpg


Finally just made a buttress to keep it square while welding in the sides. That worked well.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370224065.jpg


Frame is nice and square, this is end of day yesterday.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370224090.jpg


Today I got the doors hung and I'm fairly happy with it. New cover is on the way, next I have to panel the front and the doors.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1370224129.jpg

Has this project died in the a-r-s-e ?

It's still very much alive, it just took a long time to get all the sheet metal I need. Then work got in the way. With my main trade show over, I should be able to start up again at the end of August.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375966426.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375966456.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1375966471.jpg

Hey Shaun, any updates to the car???

Hi Moe, no, I'm screwed for time. Took on this project for a friend, light restoration of an 86 Cab and I'm getting an 84 M491 week after next that I've got to put time into. So I think we're looking at November for me to start welding the 73. On the plus side, I picked up a Celette base, need to get all the crossmembers, towers, fixtures though. Want to loan me your truck to pick it up in Jersey? :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1379004173.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1379004200.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1379004120.jpg