Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by RatRod68

What about the color of the Transformer Camaro?

Ummm... Yeller lives just a few miles from here, not sure the neighborhood is big enough for the both of us.

[Low Elco]

WOW, that'd be a lot of yellow in that parta town!

Repeat after me, I will not overbuild, I will not overbuild,.... See if it helps. Probably not. Heh, heh, heh........
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[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Repeat after me, I will not overbuild, I will not overbuild,.... See if it helps. Probably not. Heh, heh, heh........

You mean like this???

After welding in some 1x1 braces, I windowed the floor. Found that it has been patched more than once. I really love it when they just keep stacking patch panels one on top of the other. Guess they didn't want their butts hitting pavement. Of course, the seat belt mounts were so rotted out that even a minor accident could still launch driver and passenger thru the windshield. Oh wait! Seatbelts? We don't need no steenkin' seatbelts!

Was forced to leave more of the floor than I wanted across the back. When I cut all the way thru the brace, it got a bit flimsy. MIG'd the cut back up and stepped back a bit on the cut. Still need to drill some spotwelds and remove some sections of the firewall. At that point, what's left of the cab will be ready for media blasting.

[bguild]

Looks like someone has been busy today. Great progress!
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[sduckworth13]

Vic, one thing I enjoy about your builds is because your fearless and you do outstanding repairs. Looks like another great build is taking shape.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by bguild

Looks like someone has been busy today. Great progress!

Yep, been going thru cutoff wheels and bi-metal Sawzall blades right and left. The scrap metal pile is growing by leaps and bounds.

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Vic, one thing I enjoy about your builds is because your fearless and you do outstanding repairs. Looks like another great build is taking shape.

I sure hope so, Scott. This one involves a bit more surgery than I'd planned. Hopefully the replacement floor won't be too far out of whack. I've done a firewall before and it fit pretty well. This one will get the smoothie treatment, so I can correct any misalignments while I'm at it. However, the floor really needs to fit. Everything else keys off of it.

[Low Elco]

Daaaaaang! That floor was REALLY strong- in that spot! Good Work!
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[Xeen]

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Vic, one thing I enjoy about your builds is because your fearless and you do outstanding repairs. Looks like another great build is taking shape.

I second that.

[Vic1947]

Once again the shop was full of grinding dust. At least until it dawned on me that it was actually a beautiful day outside and I opened up the garage doors to let in some fresh air. Firewall is now largely gone. Added a few more braces to hold the remaining parts of the cab in position. I really love the MIG welder for this kind of stuff. With the TIG, you have to be in a relatively stable position since you need to use both hands. The MIG only requires that you be in the general vicinity and pull the trigger until you get a weld pool that extends onto both parts. It's ugly but it's fast.

I plan to transport the cab to the blaster with the windshield in place and remove it once the cab's loaded on the roll around cart they use in the shop. Still need to do a couple of things ...remove the ashtray and clean up some remaining seam sealer. But I'm really close on the cab. Next up is disassembling the chassis.

[Vic1947]

A while back, I sent some parts out to the metal blaster and ever since, a few rusted spots on the inner fenderwells have been sitting there giving me heartburn. Decided to take a break from the cab and chassis to address the source of the irritation. After trimming back the rusted edges of the rotted areas, I made a few small patterns and transferred them to sheet metal. A bit of tweaking got them in the holes proper and out came the MIG.

I took Chip's advice and bought some EZ Grind wire, so I loaded it into the machine for a test run. Seems to weld real nice, although I probably should have searched a bit harder for .023" wire instead of the .030". It builds up fairly quickly which leaves you more to grind back down. Regardless, I got it all stuck together and finished down sufficiently for a thin skim coat of filler. I recently ordered a gallon of Magnet Paint Chassis Saver Satin Black and will apply it once the areas are prepped. I sprayed anti-spatter around where I was doing the MIG welding and have no idea how that will interfere with paint. Stuff almost looks like silicone going on, and if it is, that's a death sentence for most paints. Guess I need to do some research.

[Vic1947]

Took the day off yesterday to go look at a 69 Roadrunner. Didn't buy it, but it was a nice day trip. Back on CRLS today I cleaned up a section of the frame where a PO had hacked it for header clearance. I plan to set the 350 in the rearward holes using the I6 perches. I'll be using the exact same block hugger headers as on my previous build. Based on that experience, I know there will be no interference, so I wanted to fill in the notch in the frame.

As luck would have it, I happened to have a piece of material in my scrap box that was almost a perfect fit ...just hung out a bit too far. Marked a line and cut it with the bandsaw, then did some minor sanding to get a nice fit. With the MIG cranked up to the max I laid down a fat bead and then ground it down. Fixed a couple other places while I was at it.

A wider gap with the heavy plate would probably have resulted in a bit better penetration. This is one area where the TIG differs from the MIG. Once the MIG wire hits the material and the metal transfer occurs, there's no going back. With the TIG, you can wait to feed the wire till you have the weld puddle like you want. Still in all, it made a nice repair and after the frame's blasted and painted, you'll never know the difference.

[bguild]

Looks great Vic also
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[bguild]

Looks great Vic --what does Tues look like for some help on that Body work on my cab?
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[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by bguild

Looks great Vic --what does Tues look like for some help on that Body work on my cab?
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Perfect, just give me a call and let me know when it's convenient to come over.

[Low Elco]

Not to be that guy, but with a MIG, it's important to v-cut your seams back at a 45 deg angle, to give you room for the "root" of the weld and to allow penetration to the bottom. Still looks good to me!
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[Low Elco]

An example-




I need some TIG lessons! I've done some on stainless, but not much. Gas, for that matter, I got a full torch rig and need to learn to gas weld. I hear it's similar to TIG.

Oh, PS- Brake Cleaner and Scotchbrite followed by lacquer thinner is pretty good for getting anti-spatter off for paint. I've never really needed to use it in the automotive arena, things just dont seem to get that hot, and whatever there is just dusts off afterward.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Not to be that guy, but with a MIG, it's important to v-cut your seams back at a 45 deg angle, to give you room for the "root" of the weld and to allow penetration to the bottom. Still looks good to me!
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Yep, same with a TIG when welding material as thick as that in your example. Just figured an .060" gap on .125" plate with MIG amps maxed out would burn thru. Not so. I'll know better next time. Thanks for the heads up.

[Low Elco]

PS again- a Public Service Announcement to all who may be watching.

The Brake cleaner trick is great, but be sure you're done with all welding/heating operations on the part entirely before doing it. Don't heat/weld ANYTHING with that stuff on it. I can tell you personally, it will ruin your whole damn day. Just an FYI.

[Vic1947]

I've been doing some decidedly unglamorous work on CRLS, so I haven't been posting much. Mainly getting the frame/suspension disassembled and prepped for the sandblaster. In keeping with my "reduced budget" approach, I plan to retain the stock drum brakes. I was pleasantly surprised to find the drums have never been turned and the linings have a lot of service life left. I'll clean them up and freshen the hydraulics, but other than that, they should be good to go. I also finished welding and grinding the passenger side door bottom. Turned out pretty nice and hopefully will not interfere with the rocker panels. It will be a while before the verdict is in on that one.

Also took some time to patch the driver door. Had to do both lower corners, the area where the mirror attaches and the door jamb where the upper hinge bolts on. Major ugly in all those places with MIG welds on top of welds. Cut most of it out and made new replacement patches.

[Xeen]

Holy smokes you have gotten a lot done since I was there last.
Nice work on the door speaker enclosures and the rust repairs.
I can't wait to watch you section that bed.

[bguild]

I cant wait for the bed either (-;

[Saclandman]

Looking good! How 'bout you come on out to CA for a vacation and do all the sheetmetal work on my Coca-Rustola C20 long step. Not sure if I'm up for the job.

[Low Elco]

Whoof! That was nasty! Good work there. X3 on the bed, can't wait!
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[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Saclandman

Looking good! How 'bout you come on out to CA for a vacation and do all the sheetmetal work on my Coca-Rustola C20 long step. Not sure if I'm up for the job.

As much as I like CA, sheetmetal work ain't my idea of a vacation.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Whoof! That was nasty! Good work there. X3 on the bed, can't wait!
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Won't be long now. In fact, I need to check your schedule to reserve LBT and the trailer for the trip to the metal blasters.

[Low Elco]

Anytime, let me know!
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