Shiny new front pan
 

I am getting ready to rebuild my complete suspension but before I do I needed to replace my front suspension pan. I had some pretty good battery corosion and what I thought was a "little" rust. As you already know there is no such thing as a little rust....

Once I got the battery tray out I realized that the PVC undercoating can hide alot of problems.

Overall it wasn't bad. I drilled out all the spot welds except for the bottom seams which I used a grinder to cut out the spot welds. I removed all parts that were rusted and cleaned off all areas where I would weld. Then I dry fit the piece and measured bolt holes about 40 times to make sure it was in the exactly correct position. I then tacked it in place and double checked my measurements before I welded the new pan in place. (Don't laugh at my welds, I suck at welding :) but I did make sure they were hot enough to be strong.)

I coated the whole thing in POR15 and will clean it back off in the areas I plan to weld ih the batt tray. I also plan to spray a rubberized 3M undercoat on after it is all over.

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Pat

Pat, that looks great. Nice job! Way better than mine!

Very nice bro, now you gots to get it back together...again... :D

pat S! that is nice! i think your welds came out pretty good.

Thanks guys,
I forgot to add the three things I'd do different next time:

1-Wear ear protection. Not due to sound, but because I was grinding in several diferent postions. And at one point a hot spark bounced of something and straight into my ear. Man that SUCKS!

2-Follow instructions and drain the gas tank. I kind of forgot that there are two hoses at the base of the tank. When I started lifting it out with about 1/8-1/4 tank of gas I started hearing the sound of running water, or in this case gas. Lost about 4 gallons on the floor before I was able to get the situation under control... Luckily, nothing happened.

3-I'd cut the pan out along the seam that runs under the car and along both sides. by the time I cut out all the spot welds, there wasn't much metal left. If I ever do it again, I'll just cut the pan along the seam then grind down the lip to the thickness it should be.

glory at last! GLORY AT LAST!!!!

Awesome job, I like the picture of the old parts compared to the new parts. Rust is definately an enemy but looks like you won the battle.

You might consider the Porsche undercoating material. I used both under my car (3M rubberized and the Porsche brand) and the Porsche stuff matched the underside of the car much better.

Yeah, and I just found out on Sat talking to my brother-in-law, who is in the body shop business, that there is a shultz in a spray can that looks just like Wurth SKS. It's available at auto body and paint stores. Gotta write the name down and report back.

Sounds good, Thanks guys!
Milt, let me know what you find please.

Pat

Pat,

Nice looking work!!! Thanks for sharing your "lessons learned"!

Okay, Lesson learned #4 - Metal Fume Fever (Zinc Fever) SUCKS more than a spark in the ear!

I had an old 3M respirator, was welding the panel on a 74 chassis, but did it in a closed garage. (Yeah, well, hindsight is always 20/20 and it's cold out you know.)

Well since none of the metal is galvanized I wasn't too worried even though the filters in the respirator needed to be replaced. But today I got hit with a very bad feeling.

Around 1pm (17 hours after I finished welding) I started getting a headache. I didn't think much of it, but then by 6pm today I also got very nauseated, heat flashes/cold chills, fever, and a very strong metal taste in my mouth. Now at about 10pm I'm feeling much better but still have all the symptoms.

Strange though.... I figured this would happen shortly after welding, not nearly a full day later....


From the OSHA web site:

that is weird man!
I find it harder to take care of myself when I'm working in my garage than when I'm at work. I think it's because I get relaxed and take my time more. I hang out and putter where at work i'm totally on, So I don't always remember to wear the mask when I should be wearing it.
That zinc thing sounds nasty!

Pat S! whoa, that zinc topic should be another thread! i think you need to match the correct filter to the task. most of us only have the pink hepa filter, and i dont think that filters the zinc vapors or the lead in that type of work. hope your feel better soon. thanks for the heads up.

cliff

Pat, that looks great. I especially like the tow-hook relocation. I have pretty mediocre welding skills, do you think I can unweld the one in the stock location and add one like yours? My cars front end went over a curb (I was driving like an idiot in a residential area) and the tow hook got completely bent over, but neither one of the tires came in contact so the suspension geometry is still alright. What kind of metal did you use for that?

huh!...

"The subject can then appear to be more susceptible to the onset of this condition on Mondays or on weekdays following a holiday than they are on other days."

Did you add that Pat?

Nice work by the way!

I thought that was strange too. I bet it has something to do with building up a tolerance and loosing it when away from the zinc on the weekends.

Crap...I should use that one on my bosses! I won't have to go in on Mondays and days after drubnken holidays.....

That is exactly why according to some of the info I read last night. and I didn't add it, that was straight from the OSHA site :)

I don't see why you coudn't relocate it. Restoration Design makes the peice and it comes on the front pan or seperate. Pelican Part# PEL-RDP201, $25.50 for just the tow hook. I believe it to be regular old steel , maybe with a zinc coating :) As long as you can make a strong weld, you should be okay, no need to be pretty. Remember though if you ever need to use the tow hook, you wont want it to come loose.

Thought about that but wanted to put it here since when folks are trying to tackle the job in the future, I hope they see this thread and realize they should be concerned. I knew about the problem, but thought I was safe since the panels were not galvanized. That turned out to be inaccurate.


The only good thing about the metal fever is that it goes away quick. If you can imaging compressing a normal 48 hrs worth of flu into about 5 hours that really was how it felt for me. I'd guess that the more exposure you have the longer it would last, but I'm not really sure. Overall still another interesting learning experience.