Thanks for the heads up on the wire to use. Your technique for welding around a threaded hole was pure genius. Of course, now I want to take my wagon and push it off a cliff after looking at your level of detail... Keep up the good work.
Thanks! Some more cleanup work on the roof weld, didn't get much for in process pictures, but then this part gets pretty boring anyhow... Inside... I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out this time. Still has some metal bumping needed to address some highs and lows, which we'll work on next time in the shop, as well as welding in the last pieces of the lift gate..
Made my head hurt but I just went through this whole thread and definitely learned a thing or two. Awesome work!
My nephew Chris worked inside the wagon to clean up some of the welds... Before closing up the lift gate, we have a couple more items to cross off the list. A rubber bumper gets installed at the bottom in case the gates are closed in the wrong order, you won't scar up the paint on the top of the tailgate... The old sample only had one good hole location for us to use... Next, the floating nut plate was plug welded to the bottom.... With that done, we could prep for closing up the bottom. In order to use the spot welder along the bottom seam, we needed to clean off some epoxy primer where the spot welds would be located. Used and even spacing of 2" and marked both flanges... In order to remove as little epoxy primer as possible, we decided to use the modified plug weld drill bit (the flattened one) over all the errant marks a roloc sander would make. In order that the flat drill bit didn't walk all over the place, another specialized tool was made.... Here's another close up of the modified bit... .....and the "prepped" flanges... Ends tacked in place, and spot welded the bottom flanges together...
A bit more welding....... Cleaned up.... Other side..... Only thing left on this piece is the plug welds in the window opening. Need to put the rubber on the window glass and fit it to the opening to see if this part needs shifting prior to welding... This might even work....
When you weld up the ends like that, do you just not be so concerned about the shrinkage? Since it seems there is no way to get to the back for planishing. The whole gate, top and bottom looks great.
I could have put the inside panel on last to have provided planishing access for this panel, but it didn't work out that way.. I thought it would be better to do this outside panel last and hold the upper flange plug welds to the end after fitting the window glass, to minimize movement in that area and provide for a better window fit. Still waiting on the owner to bring over the windows seal to finish this up. But while I couldn't get to the back side for planishing in this panel, it looks like the weld location did play a part to minimize the effects of shrinking. Looking at the weld area, one would expect shrinking issues along the horizontal crown where the length of the weld (red arrow) would pull down into a valley, or toward the inside of the lift gate. Now looking at the reverse crown (vertical) as indicated by the yellow arrows, shrinking issues there will have a tendency to pull the weld outward. So in essence, the weld placement helped these shrinking effects to counteract each other. If it hadn't been for that reverse "crown", I think the results would have been much different.
Thanks for explaning your thoughts about the shrinkage. That is what I was thinking, ( why didn't it pull into a valley ? ) so it makes sense to me now.
Thank you...I sure do appreciate these detailed descriptions and pictures. I have already "made money" off this thread by not buying a car that looked great on the outside, with "just a few rust spots" to fix. I would a been waaay over my head... Please keep us updated, now.
Thanks for the comments guys.. Not much progress to show, but I did test fit the rear window, and finished the plug welds. Cleaning the epoxy out of the holes... Welds cleaned up.....
Thanks Dave! My nephew Chris stopped by to help this morning so we decided to work on the roof a bit. Added a guide coat and skimmed across it with the vixen file to show the high spots... To help keep inside and outside guys on the same page, some reference marks were added from the door opening back, on inside and outside of the roof. Worked the highs and lows, and thought we'd compare it to the other side. Making a profile template to match the good side... Shown at about 6, 12, and 18". We're getting close..
Hey Mac, The roof panels are lookin OEM! I'm curious as to what products you'll use to control rust on the cant rails you've welded to, inside the roof?
Mike, are you at work or somewhere with Photobucket filter? I've got one of their premium account, so it should be there... The worst of the mess where the rust used to be was replaced with new metal.. A perimeter inspection with a mirror and bright light showed the rest to be very solid. It will eventually be going up on the rotisserie, and those voids will likely be filled with epoxy primer once the car is turned up on the side.
I had a request to show how I made the profile template I used for the roof. Start with a profile "blank" and span the profile you need to copy. Using a compass, open up the span to insure it is wide enough to make the mark on the blank on both ends ... Don't rotate the compass as you move it, this will make the radius larger than the original. Keep it "locked" pointed in the same direction as you glide across the roof surface, leaving the profile to cut.... Cut with a band saw, jig saw, tin snips, whatever is easiest for you and most accurate. Test fit and adjust as needed.
Ah! that should make for a very sound treatment with this being put up on the '' rotisserie '', much easier to see what you need to. Thanx again!
Holy moly. I just found this thread. Thanks for taking the time to document everything. I consider myself to be a "not bad" metal guy and I learn as much as I can every chance I can, but I still have a long way to go to get to where you are. Man you are talented! Thanks for taking the time to show us a thing or seven!
Robert, you may have answered this a few times before. If you brush on the epoxy primer vs. spraying it on; do you change the mix of hardener and reducer? Also, if you use house of color epoxy primer, can you spray PPG paint or Dupont paint over it? I assume you can because it looked like ppg gold paint on the valve covers you painted and hok primer.
The mixing on the HOK epoxy is a 1:1, regardless of application method. It can be thinned to promote spraying but this epoxy does have high build properties where some don't, so typically you'd mix it without thinner to take advantage of the high build. I think the thinning is more to accommodate guys using paint guns with too small a tip or for use as a sealer. Ideally you would use as little thinner as possible, as many paint problems stem from solvent issues. As to what you spray over top, epoxies are a good substrate and prepped properly will accept most any topcoat. The PPG gold we sprayed had no adverse effects from the House of Kolor primer under it...
Hard work and dedication is evident in every new post,,no small detail is being overlooked. I consider this one of the best threads on the hamb,if a inexperienced guy will just take the time to read and with all the photos he should be able to have a good understanding of how to apply these techniques to your own project. HRP
Thanks for the response and every other post you've made. I know it takes a lot of time and effort to stop and take pictures and explain everything.
Very detailed thread. Now to find a 55 Handyman that doesn't need quite that much work. Thanks for the inspiration for another long roof project.
Trying to finalize the rear end of this car.. The tailgate skin didn't align too well to the upper lift gate, the gap was way out of whack. I guess this is what I get for installing the skin based on the old tailgate. Note to self, don't fold door skins unless adjacent panel is there to set gaps.. Time to break out the door skin removal tool.... Flange unfolded.... Spoon was slid between the skin and inner panel and body hammer used to flatten out the crease... Right side flange is now a bit short, so added a strip of metal.. Flange re-folded, just needs some fine tuning and finishing the corners.. Much better...
That last set of pics shows your skill and more important your nature, patience, persistance which many of us can learn from as well. What you just covered is where a lot of us guys would have said "close enough" and left it, or put it the car in the back corner to forget about it for a few weeks, which becomes a few months, then a year... Thanks again for sharing.
Here's the tools used to re-fold the flanges. Don't mind the aggressive hammer marks.. A mark was used on the front to indicate the new fold line. This press brake die was placed against the back side, and the flange tapped over. A flush tap against the face every now and then keeps the folded edge crisp.. That took the flange over about 90 degrees, then this modified gooseneck die was used to take it over to about 135 degrees... At this point the gate was closed to verify gaps. A door skin hammer on the inside and a dolly against the outside skin was used to complete the fold..
The Jalopy Journal
