Started back on the wagon tonight, the rear hatch was a bit snug for the opening the factory provided. Rather than risk certain chipped paint, we'll work to get the gaps more consistent... Then the edge was ground to our mark and some c-clamp vise grips held all three pieces snug while they were tacked in place. Then the top and bottom sides of the weld are ground flush with the panels. This removes the bulk of the weld and makes it easier in trimming the side.... Marked again.... ....and ground to yield a much better gap. One down......
Very nice. What do you have in your compass? Almost looks like pencil lead. ETA: Disregard. I'm assuming that's just a special kind of lead designed for that compass?
It's a lead designed for the compass.. I typically sharpen it when I get to the final marking. The point on the other fly was off a different compass in the kit it was in, the extra length on it helps in accuracy, as it rests against the side of the opening..
I gotta check out the Vicky one day Dave... one day..... Continuing on to the driver's side, this one is a bit tighter at the bottom than the other, shows about 1/32 gap. Used the compass again to mark the cut line... Tacked, welded, and welds dressed... All finished for this evening, have a couple pin holes to fix, will get them when we do the top... New gap is right at 5/32", or to be more technical, one paint stick width....
Ok, one side left to go... Trimming to fit.......... Welding the layers together.... After dressing the welds..... I do have a couple pin holes to fix, but the gap is looking much better.
Your work is so nice! Thanks for taking the time to take and post all the pictures with explanations.It sure helps a novis trying to teach ourselves that it can be done on our projects.
Nice details. I have a love/hate relationship the little details. It seems the more I do, the pickier I am, the longer it takes, well you know. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comments guys. Spent tonight working on the tailgate jamb area, touching up some factory welds in preparation of installing the rear tail pan. Wasn't too long before Murphy's law reared its ugly head, and the lower part of the jamb showed some signs of rust lurking inside. Cut open an access hole and cleaned out the inside as best I could for welding in some new metal.. For making a replacement, I have an "anvil" I made recently out of some scraps from under the welding table... Here's the anvil end we'll use this evening as matched up to the original... Fitting, trimming, and welding... ....and, as can be expected, one more to go... Until next time.
Thanks for the comments fellas. Had a couple hours this evening so I decided to remove some mud daubers nest.... Used a combination of burr grinder, roloc sander, etc, to clean out the rust and scale as best I could. Once the car is up on the rotisserie again, the troublesome voids such as these will get a good flood of paint. As this one needs a bit more flange turned in, the inside will need a bit more stretch to go with it. A suitable hammer with more heft will come in handy. A couple fitments and adjustments, and this is ready for the welder... and with it getting late, we'll cover the welding on the next update..
Nice work on the corner patches! Now, can you do something about the ill designed drip rails? Inquiring minds wanna' know!
I think you have to park downhill so it runs out the front! Time to finish this part up.... All cleaned up....
Thanks! Starting on the tailpan, we were torn on using the pinch weld flanges. Some of the "subtle" mods we had done included removing the pinch weld flanges and leaded seam above and below the tail lights to get rid of a dirt trap/rust generator... The pinch weld seam for the tail pan is also in the tires path, especially given the wider rear tires and mini-tubs it's now using. So we decided to get rid of these as well, and butt weld the panel in. With the car still sitting on the frame, the standard offset snips had some interference issue with the frame rails... Luckily my lovely bride had picked these up for me a couple years ago... For a much better fit in such a tight area... The tailpan was trimmed as well, leaving a bit extra to insure we had enough metal to span the gap... Used the tipping tool to unfold the remainder of the flange and the door skin hammer to flatten it out... After another test fit, the reproduction showed to be not that accurate, go figure.... After marking the new bend location, the bead roller was fitted with the tipping die to relocate the bend... Now that the tipping die has left a crease indicator on the bottom side, a hammer and anvil is used to flatten out the incorrect crease... For a much better fit..... With tail gate test fitted.... Well that's about all for this go round, will start welding the tail pan in next time...
Thanks guys. The tail pan and rear opening were prepped a couple days ago by painting some epoxy on the surfaces that would be adjacent to each other after welding for some rust prevention. Tonight holes were added to the tail pan for plug welding, and the panel fitted up.. Here's the epoxy, I use a letter A size (.234) drill bit for my plug welds, and to clean the epoxy from the adjacent panel, I use a letter A that has been flattened and backfaced to form a cutter similar to an end mill. It cleans the paint well, and hardly touches the metal on the adjacent panel.. Butt welding the vertical seams... Note the views from the back side show full penetration welds. Next, grinding the welds in prep for the next set of weld dots..
The Jalopy Journal
