well i have been busy each night making pieces and fitting them into place...i also attached a come along to bring the door back into the right shape so when its all welded up it will be in the correct dimension
Looks like you're digging right in :thumbup: , watch you don't burn that seat and also watch you don't throw grinder sparks at the glass. The car looks fairly solid and damage free on the exterior. Bob
well this makes it about 2/3 way done on this side. the seats look better then they really are but i will drape a tarp over them so that they don't get any worse. the car is in pretty good shape and there is no accident damage just the usual rust that you would expect and it looks like it had some previous attention to it maybe 20 years ago or so by a pretty good amateur.
Well Mr Ginther my car mentor use to say eat the elephant one bite at a time....he was agreat guy and i do miss him....so i kept nibbling at the elephant tonight...i paint the under side of my stuff with cold galvanixing compound thats what the grey is... next i will move to create the inner support structure and then start grinding away....
moved into the inside today to start to fabricate the new inner panels....i will make thme first and dry fit everything and then temp mount the fender and then drill the holes for the caged nuts and start the finish grinding and weld in the new inner structure
that big panel is 14 ga galvanized the rest is 16 ga
its going to be a street rod and i have already got the engine squared away ...its a 350 SBC from a vette. no rush on this project its a father/son project with a 5 year time line...the son i'm doing this with is 13 and he was cutting all the sheet metal....he likes this stuff so it should be a fun project
well heres todays work. i made the bottom panel and tack welded it in with some other panels....one more panel to make then iti will be time to weld it all together and grind away the high spots...i guess another week of 1` hour per night after the kids go to sleep
well still creating little shapes ....my version of cutting out paper dolls. this is cold galvanizing compound on the back of the pieces
this is the trial fitting putting all the pieces together, the tricky part is i have to be able to get at a nut thats inthe bottom of the door pillar for the lowest fender mount, it was originally a caged nut but decided not to do that this time. after its all welded up i will make an inspection cover to hide the open area ( right below the clamp).
well tonight i suited up with a full face mask, hearing protection and a particulate mask and spent about 45 minutes grinding away at my welds. tomorrow night i will weld up any gaps then move to do the tack welds inside the door pillar area...
i put a light skim coat of fiber glass over it ....most of it will be sanded away
but i like this to cover and fill in the gaps by the welds. i prefer this over bondo since it is water proof and absorbs no moisture
yeah i saw that right after i took the picture and then went back and put a another really thin coat of well mixed stuff over it....so that the hardening agent would react with the stuff that wasn't mixed right...i'm glad to say its all hard today.....in any event most of it will get sanded off and the only part where there will be any filler is right around where i was grinding the welds.
well got to looking at the picture and thinking about baddbobs comments and decided to take it back down to the metal....this isn't a rush job....the good thing is that some more sanding on it actually made it look even better...so tomorrow i will hit one more time and then mix this stuff up again....
well did some more work today, reapplied fiberglass and sanded and then painted with self etching primer and this will be all i do until i can l fit the fender. so i need to do a small repair to the frame, small repair to the inner fender cowl, a little work to the running board and then the fender can get trial mounted......so my spring project is planned out...
well did a mock fit of the door.....and need to use some shims on the hinges and do some work on the bottom of the door where BUBBA visited....i will have to cut off some ugly welding and tidy that up a bit
doors done now on to the inner fender, i squared up the hole. cut an insert to shape, tack welded it in and then followed up with a full bead ground it down then followed up with a skim coat of fiberglass (on both sides), it will get sanded down tomorrow. next step is that small piece of frame rust to take care of.
kicked butt today.....painted shutters on the house and managed to get some playtime in also....finished up the inner fender and sanded it and primed both sides and then moved on to the frame, cut away the rust and then cut a piece to insert from 11ga steel. after welding on the sheet metal welding on real steel is so much easier.... tomorrow i will grind the frame and then move on to the running board
Glad to see some progress, step by step and before you know it the job is done. Is that etch primer just for temporary protection as you get the spots done? Bob
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