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In order to have easy access to
the air vent area we're going to combine the floor panel,floor braces,inner rocker panel,inner fender panel and rear bottom
edge of the fender.After sand blasting I didn't expect to see all the body damage.We are working on the left side of the
car first.
I laid out the floor replacement
panel,scribed a line and cut out the section of floor to be replaced.Tools I used to cut out rusted panels are an electric
shears,cut off tool,hand tin shears and a small recuperating saw.With this panel out I can now stand in the floor panel
hole instead of opening the door and crawling inside.
Two of the three body mounts
need to be replaced so we're re-working the inner rocker panel.The rotor is not mounted to these body mounts so the body
should remain rigid while replacing them.
A large template
was made with measurments taken before the 2 body mounts were removed.Another reason to set the body back on the frame before
painting.
It was important to take accurate
measments and easy to do before doing any rust removal.
I laid out the repair panel
for the rear bottom fender and cut out 1/2 inch below the line to fine tune later for a butt weld.
We're going to start with the
vent door opening.Before sand blasting and seal removel it didn't look like a problem.
Using the vent door we're forming
a repair panel.
We allowed extra metal for the
rusted out section on the left side of the panel.
Spot welds were drilled out and
the trough unit was removed to repair the panel.The panel was clamped into the fender and welded back in.Accessabilty to weld
from the back side because of the removal of the other panels first was nice.It is important to repair these sections in an
advantageous order.
Now we're making a template
for the inner vent opening panel.This was formed with carboard and the new panel was cut out.
The repair panel was positioned to mark out and remove the bad section.
Welding the panel in place.Overlapping
the panel and improving my skill on areas that don't show.
Tack welding the panel.Notice a
small section of the fire wall has been added to set the floor pan panel on.
Welding the back side through the
cut out front fender.Notice a patch panel has been added to the bottom door post.
A picture of the repairs
under the fender.The bottom tip of the rear fender opening had been welded in a previous restoration and may be a problem.None
of this area shows and will be painted with a Eastwood product.
It's time to weld the fender
panel in.More time should have been spent fitting the panel to the fender to butt weld.C clamping it in place and tack welding.
Welding it in and grinding welds.
After welding the panel in it had
a pop can give.After talking to the guys in the group I determined the panel needed to be streached a little.The repair panel
was flat and I think the fender has a slight curve so I used a metal bar and poped the panel out.I turned the fender on end
and lightly heated it with a torch.I than covered the area with cold water.Two applications and the panel tighten up.Learned
something new.
We're finish up this section
by welding in a inner fender repair panel.Most panels were welded on both sides.
The panel finished and ready for
primer.
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