A sort of barn find

[Matthew Barnes]

Time to start making patches



Some shrinking and stretching to be done.
In the absence of proper dolleys and a set of hammers, I have to make do with what I have: a stove cap, a few pieces of pipe and a my trusty scrap anvil.



Start with this bit. The clamp is rotten.







Part two:



All the pieces together.
With some bending they'll come together nicely.

[Matthew Barnes]

Now for the outside piece; a bit trickier.









Some heat and some dolley work and it should smooth up a bit.

And here are the four pieces to make the repair.
I'll most probably tack for fit then run a bead on the bench where there is air and light!



Only 28 days of 8 hours a day left to get to a rolling chassis that is ready for paint. At my work rate of one day a weekend that makes 6 months more before we're ready for paint.

So roughly three years part time to get to a solid body on refurbed suspension, ready for exterior paint.

YEAH!

And that'll leave only a few minor things like engine, gearbox and electrics.

[Matthew Barnes]

You got mail!
I finally bit the bullet and ordered some parts from RD.
Great service and very quick delivery: 7 days from Canada to South Africa.
And the shipping was less than the cost of the parts!



The outer floor pan section is a really clever patch.
Runs to about an inch inside the inner sill wall, so you have enough space to drill the spot welds and butt weld the section onto the remaining floorpan.
Well done RD. Good thinking.

The lower door lock post patch saves some time: but then maybe I'm just getting lazy!



A collection of the rot.






The internals are not too bad. Judging by the state of the seat rail supports and the outer section of the floorpan I was expecting much worse.

[Matthew Barnes]

And now to make patches.
Trying to stay busy and motivated while the MIG is out of action and time is precious.







Even managed to knock in a flange to mate with the inner sill. Slowly getting better at this.





And that's it for the weekend.
A few more small jobs ticked off a very very long list.
When the welder is back in action I'll have a whole pile of patches already made, ready to be welded in.

[Matthew Barnes]

Now for the front end of the lhd sill. More rot.



Start with this...



Add one of these...



[Lots of hammering and four letter words]

Presto:





Proper shrinking hammer helps. But one of these days I'm going to get myself a decent stump for shaping.

[85911]

You are giving the word "tenacity" a new meaning. Having started with no welding/metal working skills is also a testament to your achievements. Will continue to follow your thread with great interest.

And, the amount of time you've spent in documenting your work is very much appreciated.

I would be interested in knowing what metal gauges you are using. And, did I understand that you are using a MIG welder without the gas (75% Argon, 25% CO2)?

Thanks.

[Matthew Barnes]

The seat rail support.







All the patches that need to be welded in....excluding the bigger RD panels.



One of the last 'major' patches: the lhd quarter window.
It was repaired before - badly.
Getting the three dimension right is tricky.

The 'easy' way to get the dimensions is to make a series of relief cuts.
With a proper shrinker I guess you could do it without the cuts (i.e. properly).
A shrinking hammer and an anvil is too much hard work!





The benefit of relief cuts is that bending to get the curved edge is easier as you can bend each piece in smaller sections.



Once I had the shape pretty accurate, it was time to cut out the rust.





Same old story of welding (if blobs of gas weld filler are considered welding) steel over the rusty bits.

[Matthew Barnes]

Originally Posted by 85911

You are giving the word "tenacity" a new meaning. Having started with no welding/metal working skills is also a testament to your achievements. Will continue to follow your thread with great interest.

And, the amount of time you've spent in documenting your work is very much appreciated.

I would be interested in knowing what metal gauges you are using. And, did I understand that you are using a MIG welder without the gas (75% Argon, 25% CO2)?

Thanks.

Thanks for the compliments. When you have no experience, tenacity and ambition help a lot! Documenting the work is as much for own motivation as it is for the general diy resto community.

Whenever I am ready to give up I remember how little I paid for the car and the engine and all the spares (just before the price madness). This is my chance to own a completely restored SWB 911. Albeit non-matching numbers. Since I started the value of the car - in its unoriginal state - has quadrupled! So best I continue!

I'm using 0.8mm and 1mm steel. I buy a lot of it as scrap from a big local dealer. The off cuts from their guillotine are more often than not big enough for my purposes. And I pay scrap prices which helps.

I'm using a 90amp Mig with 75/25 gas. 0.8mm wire. Can't imaging how you can get clean, solid welds without gas. Butt welds are most often run at about 50/60 Amps with a series of spot welds joining into a bead, rather than trying to lay a longer bead. A big fat piece of brass clamped up against the back of the weld helps to dissipate heat.

When I'm welding heavier panels with mass behind them: inner rocker etc, then I run the full 90 amps. Especially when plug welding. I'd rather risk a little burn through than a lack of penetration.

Anyway. Thanks again for the kind words. Glad my adventure is of value, a small repayment for the hours and hours I have enjoyed reading the rest threads of Jury / Speedo / Fishcop and Chris N.

Cheers and have a great Xmas.
Matthew

[KNS]

I somehow missed this thread before, stumbled upon it and went through all nine pages this morning - and watched your welding skills progress. Excellent work!

On my old SC I did a little bit of cutting/fitting/welding under the battery tray and in front of the fuel tank. I had the help of a friend and quickly realized welding is an art. And I suck at it. You're doing an incredible job with that car and I'll look forward to additional posts.

Keep at it!!

[Matthew Barnes]

Originally Posted by KNS

I somehow missed this thread before, stumbled upon it and went through all nine pages this morning - and watched your welding skills progress. Excellent work!

On my old SC I did a little bit of cutting/fitting/welding under the battery tray and in front of the fuel tank. I had the help of a friend and quickly realized welding is an art. And I suck at it. You're doing an incredible job with that car and I'll look forward to additional posts.

Keep at it!!

Thanks very much. Welding most certainly is an art: learning the little details that effect a great weld come with time and practise. I've still got a long way to go. But it certainly is rewarding. I have new respect for the resto guys who do this on a regular basis. What's more, the old school metal working skills seem to be a bit of a dying art. Cheers again for the feedback. Matthew

[Matthew Barnes]

The little MIG is finally back in action.
On with the welding.

First job to reinforce the lower section of the front suspension pan. Helps get the hands back in the swing of things, and dial in the welder.



Then, one of the jobs i have been dreading: the lower part of the smuggler's box / steering tube. Working in here is a real pain.

I took the decision to cut more away than i needed, just to make access easier. But even so, the steel in here is tired and not too happy to take a weld, so patience and as little heat as possible are the only approach.



Another perfect recipe for rust in here: where the lower floorpan skin and the smuggler's box lip come together. The double skin is exposed to pretty much everything the front wheels throw up, so not surprising it's such a mess. I cut until I managed to find reasonably solid steel.

As you clean things up, you find more rust. It's the little spots that are the most frustrating. It's so tempting to leave it be, but that would undermine all the effort of going in here in the first place. So out it comes, and 4 hours disappear as I have fabricate another little patch, in two pieces and then weld it in.





Just getting the steel clean and shiny to take the weld in here is hard enough. Thank the Gods for the Dremmel.



Now the patch that completes the opening; the patch that will be welded to the inner patch at the front end of the transmission tunnel (also rotten)



As always, the more accurately you measure and cut, the quicker it is to actually get to the welding part!



The Minister of Home Affairs popped in to visit, bringing cold beer! That'll brighten one's spirits.



Not the prettiest bead but it's strong, with minimal burn through where the old steel is weaker. Decent penetration. The Dremmel will clean it up nicely.



That's 8 hours of work, excluding the patch making. Another little nasty job done. Now the rest of the patches will be easier......touch wood.

[Matthew Barnes]

Onward with the trickiest patch on a 911! Well, for me anyway.

This really is the worst welding position. Even though the car is on its side, being 6'2" means I have to kneel and lean forward with both hands almost above my head. The work light gives my neck a good tan on one side of my neck.

Had a closer look at some of the welds and laid a bead on the reverse just to make sure everything was sealed up and strong.

Next step: the four pieces of the internal patch.



And then the next piece. A set of Butt-weld clamps are very very useful. Every DIY'er should have a set.



I roughly shaped most of the patches when the MIG was out of action. That saved quite a bit of time, but getting the gaps and fit just right involved more standing and kneeling than an old-school Catholic wedding ceremony.

Tack welded in place.



And after patiently laying a bead....leaving lots of time to let the steel cool.



And then the last piece, the lower patch, welded in. I overlapped the two pieces and used pool welds to sort of copy the original spot-welded seam.



In truth, it's far messier than the original, but just as strong.
And from inside the smuggler's box.



And then, suddenly, the time was up and I was summoned to the garden to continue work on (one of) my other projects

[Matthew Barnes]

Finally. One mini-project to tick off the list: smuggler's box and steering tube.
When I have the steering rack and steering column back in place, I'll position and weld-in a replacement donut-bracket that holds the column.

Not a huge amount of achievement in the greater scheme of things, but a mental victory. It's one of the rotten spots that I have stared at for 2 years; knowing it was going to be a real bugger. Now it's done.





My plan at the moment (and I stress 'at the moment') with work to be done at the front, at the back, and lots of places in between, is to try and get the underside done.
The front slam panel, lhd flare, lhd sills and engine bay can be done when the car is upright.

Once I have done all this, and finished seam welding in the interior, I'll be able to paint the underside.

Seam welding with a little MIG with a low duty cycle should be fun!

A bigger issue is the residual bitumen sealer in the seams. Even sandblasting doesn't get rid of it.

So even with a Dremmel and a sanding pad getting into the corners of the seam, one hit with a MIG and the bitumen boils, the gases playing havoc with the weld quality.

My tactic so far has been to spot-weld along the section to be welded. The clean up the mess with the grinder, then hit the same path again. The second time I can get a reasonably decent bead and decent penetration.

Another long,long job. (I wish e-coating was being done here)

Any tips from the pros? Wisdom most welcome.



Cheers.

[Eharrison]

Excellent work Matthew! It's these types of jobs that you are doing are the causes of my long breaks between working on the car and other projects! Keep on keeping on!

[Matthew Barnes]

Originally Posted by Eharrison

Excellent work Matthew! It's these types of jobs that you are doing are the causes of my long breaks between working on the car and other projects! Keep on keeping on!

Hahaha, I know the feeling! Thanks very much. Same to you.

[Matthew Barnes]

The New Year has begun.
Back at work.
All memory of the beach and the sun soon forgotten.

Thank God I have my garage....

Not sure if I posted this before, but this is the momo I got in trade.
As yet unidentified.

Horizontal logo and stamped 2-78 on the back.







If anyone knows, please let me know. I really like it. A variation on the theme of the original R wheel.

Now back to the never ending saga that is the steel.
Reinforcing the front suspension mounts.
There is a fantastic fitting for the Dremmel that I have just discovered: a one inch diameter sanding pad that snaps on.
Perfect for getting bare steel in corners and seams.
Helps get a much cleaner and stronger weld.





This is the front end as it stands.
With the smuggler's box repair done, I took the whole underside of the footwells back to bare steel and covered it towhee tech primer.
After two years in primer, this section was starting to show little tiny spots of rust.
Etch primer on clean, degreased base steel seals very nicely.
Once i'm all done with seam welding the inside and all the patches, I'll sand the underside and epoxy prime the lot.



Onto the rear of the LHD sill.
Cut away the rusty bits until you have good steel....
These corners, at either end of the sill, take a hammering.



And weld in a plate I prepared in my MIG downtime.

[Matthew Barnes]

Another bash at getting the LHD sill area ready for the new outer floor section.

After stripping that bitumen underseal, drilling out spot weld is my next favourite job.



Ready to come off.



Quite a bit of persuasion...must get a panel chisel.



Nice, clean seam.
Wanted to make sure there was no rust between the flange and the floor pan.
Now I know.
It didn't look good when I cut it open.
Nice surprise. Doesn't look like I need to patch any of the flange.



And a test fit with the new outer pan section.



Daylight.



The corners need quite a bit of reconstruction; the heater tube under the torsion bar mount and at the front.

I made some rough patches a few months back.
Saves a lot of time now. Just fit and weld.....'just'



I'm certainly no Barry Carter but I'm better than I was...(which isn't saying much)
I thing I can't get my head around is how he blends the weld bead so flawlessly into the steel. Amazing.

That's it for the weekend. Back to the trenches tomorrow.
Getting this outer floor pan in is a major item on my list.
Means I can crack on with the sill.
Then it's just the front slam panel left....there's that word 'just' again.

Ready for paint on the 3rd anniversary?
Hmmm.
Maybe just back on its wheels is more realistic.

[Matthew Barnes]

The front corner.
A tricky bugger.



Test fitting the floor pan replacement panel and the inner sill - on and off - to get the flange shape right is time consuming. Having the cricket on the radio helps!



All buttoned up.
And the flange lines up nicely.



Porsche Dog enjoying the sunshine. One of those kinds of afternoon.





The rest of my afternoon was taken up with trimming the existing floor pan to fit the outer floorpan repair panel. Fit, clamp, mark, remove, grind....repeat (lost count at 30)

Then a beer and mock-up. 15 x 5.5 with hearts....but I only have 3.



Or 15 x 7 alu replicas, of which I have three! Pretty good 80s Japanese replicas. Considering having them cut and welded to make 7Rs for the rear. Would love to not mess with those beautiful, smooth swb arches.
Or ATS's. Or those dull gold Campanola Reps...or steelies...although anything other than Fuchs means importing and our exchange rate puts that out of reach.

Keep the '67 date stamped 5.5s to go on the front.
Long time until the suspension is on, let alone hubs and wheels.

[Matthew Barnes]

Here's the 15 x 7. Gold is almost certain to be a part of the final colour scheme.

[Matthew Barnes]

First step in rebuilding the LHD sill is to get the seat rail support welded in. Getting the flanges to line up with the floorpan is a bit of a hit and hope....despite lots and lots of measuring.



Hit all the hard to get to places with etch primer



Ready for the great weld.

First need to strip the RD replacement panel down to bare metal. Considering all the work that goes into rebuilding these areas, I have always preferred to strip the replacement panels back to bare steel and then hit then with degreaser and etch primer. I assume the black coating is just a shipping paint. Could be wrong, but this way I know it is done properly. Besides, nice shiny steel always looks great.



A decent set of butt-weld clamps are a must have.



Let the welding commence.



Was worried about how strong the old steel waist a few places, but took a weld pretty well.







Seat rail support welded in. Plug welds through the bottom of the floorpan, and a few beads along the inside. All strong.

Hit everything with some etch primer. Ready for the outer sill.
Inside seam looks good. Will lay a bead along the inside to make double sure.
A few of the flanges need some attention with a hammer to come together nicely.





Another weekend done.
Off to the salt mines tomorrow.