Looks great! Keep up the great work and it looks like you are doing roughly the same thing we had to go through! Hows your rockers/strikers?

Michigan Bro's Pcar Build

Thanks guys! My OJT car restoration has been going in fits and spurts but I think I am rolling now.

Mike, I saw your thread a while back. Very cool and kudos to you guys for just jumping in and doing the work! I think I am going to have to scab in pieces like you guys did for the driver side unibody. That is great for me to see b/c it has been keeping me up at night trying to think how I am going to fab it up and now I see how you guys did it and it doesn't seem to bad. :D

Mike and Mats work below...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1285707775.jpg
I will also be doing a lot of the mods (strut bars, sways, etc) that you guys welded in so I will be checking back!

Regarding the rockers/strikers, I think I am in good shape for now. The car in other areas is remarkably solid (knocking on wood). This year I am just trying to get the car functional and road trip worthy by spring. So the front end is obviously first and then I am moving to the motor next....

PS- 2 extra points for having a Brak avatar

Bryan, Keep up the excellent work.

Bryan, well thought out and executed, and excellently documented. It's obvious that you're enjoying the process.
I too have a pastel blue 911 (1970) which will be restored once my garage is finished...
Looking forward to the rest of your project.

Day 75 || Driver Side Unibody Repair
21Sept2011
Last night I decided to take a crack at fabricating the complex surfaces near the fore A-arm mounts since I do not have any donor sheet metal. This task took a lot of head scratching and trial and error. I don’t have any exotic sheet metal forming tools or experience. What I am using is a small anvil, hammers and wood/pipes to bend and form.
The drivers side is ½ gone from corrosion so I needed to create a pattern from the newly built passenger side and transfer it to the drivers side.

Here are my process steps so far-
1) formed heavy aluminum foil on the unibody
2) cover foil with duct tape strips to stabilize the foil then removed it from the car.
3) cut pattern into strips that can be then laid out flat (note that I marked where the unibody creates fillets so I have a marker indicating where to bend the sheet metal)
4) number and mark direction of ‘flat patterns’ then invert shape and trace onto new sheet metal
5) trace ‘flat patterns’ onto the cars remaining sheet metal.
6) Start bending up and hammering out each individual parts. Test fitting to the car often.
7) Once each part fits then tack pieces together continuing to fit to the car.
So far this technique is working.

What I am repairing (the first time this car received a new tank support and longitudinals, this area was not repaired or protected properly. This original sheet metal was so thin in places that you could easily push a finger through it)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-a...0/P1080353.JPG

Creating pattern off of the newly built passenger side
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...-40-43_796.jpg

Pattern removed from car
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-K...-42-24_643.jpg

Pattern flattened and fully numbered with orientation marks
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1...-00-56_968.jpg

Pieces individually transferred to new sheet metal (NOTE!- pattern is inverted (foil side up) very important to note the weld flange direction and which direction the part will be bent up so you do not have to redo the part.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...-23-27_342.jpg

Encouraging progress after lots of anvil work and tricky bending and fitting to the car (NOTE- I transferred the pattern outlines from my pattern onto the car which helped locate and form each part to match the surfaces as I hammered the new part to match the car)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d...-36-45_607.jpg

Third part ready to be tacked
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J...-03-10_295.jpg

More to follow as soon as I shake this nasty cold that has taken me out today...

That's some great work! Every time I see a project of this size it makes me want to find another bucket to build..................
There is an second gen Camaro at the shop that is in desperate need..................:D:D

Looking good, dood. I just got over the cold going around. It is rough, but mercifully short in staying power. Awesome idea on the sheet metal! I was scratching my head, too.

Bryan, that passenger side looks killer...keep up the good work!

Great stuff!

Hey thanks guys!

Tom, I poked through your build...what a great looking car! I have always been fond of that color green.

I am starting to see a path to the finish line for the trunk. Same gripe as everyone....just need to find more free time to work on it. I would stay out in the shop and just work to the end if I could!

Amen

Bryan, any updates?

I hate to think that I'm the only one inhaling welding sparks!

Ha ha...Chris you are not the only one grinding, welding, and hammering.

It was impossible for me to work on the car this past week but this weekend I was able to get out there and weld in my part I made.

I guess I can post the pix. See next post.

How is your project going?! Need to see it in person...maybe when we ferry Keniks car south for paint?

Day 86 || Driver Side Unibody Progress Update
2Oct2011
Spent the weekend fitting the lower left section of the unibody and welding it into place. Removed the battery box and trimmed back the hole to fit the battery box outboard wall.

I was going to prime and seam seal tonight but I realized I have a little forming to do on the complex surfaces of my fabricated piece and I don't have a ball peen hammer to dolly the concave surfaces!

Here is my progress.

Battery box removal. I will use the outboard wall shown to fill the hole left when the box is fully removed.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8...-31-44_988.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...-39-12_220.jpg

If you are not trying to be delicate just use a wood/demolition blade in your sawzall. It works slick for cutting car sheetmetal...even better than a metal blade! Thanks cnielsen for the tip!
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...-39-19_947.jpg

Do you think this section of the car needs replacement?
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...-50-45_550.jpg

With some gentle persuasion the part I fabricated fits! I have never worked sheet metal like this so I am fairly tickled that I was able to do a fair job. This piece is not perfect but I think I can dolly it out a bit more to pass muster.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...-00-33_859.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...-01-22_415.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...-01-01_996.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0...-01-50_302.jpg

Tomorrow I will etch prime and seam seal the sheet metal flange joint and try and weld in the longitudinal. I guess I need to start thinking about where the battery is going to go. I also have an RSR strut bar on the way from TRE that will also get welded in before I start to do a final strip and prep for epoxy primer then finish off the trunk and start some reassembly. :D

I think that's professionnal work.

Congratulations.

Bryan, that's really impressive.

Looks great Bryan!!!

Thanks for the kind words guys! It will be great to get this thing off the blocks and get the other car in the shop and see if I can get the donor cars 2.7 to fire! That will be the next big step. I still have a lot of mind numbing grinding/stripping to do once the welding is finished. Then I can get my shop back to 'clean room' status and paint/prime!

Looking good!

Hey John and Bryan, WOW you are Very Brave ...

GOD BLESS YOU, keep doing Great Work!!!


-Y. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif[img]