Hey, Whenever ya cut open an old, butchered up repair you have to consider just when it was done. The quarter on that Olds may have been rendered when it was a $300. car. Think it through, how much would you have paid/charged a guy with a '91 Pontiac sedan, today, that needed a quarter replaced? Lets see, 4-6K to repair it " right the first time " on a vehicle thats worth, maybe a grand? A guy quotes ya $300-$400 to patch and mud and squirt some primer and get ya back in the race and the perspective changes, no? In the 60s & 70s we didn't have squirt gun welders, cheap "Horrible-Fucked" Chi-Comm tool outlets and no intercourse/Ebay to hunt old replacement parts. Brazing sheetmetal panels was the mig welder of the 50s,60s & even into the 70s. a panel brazed correctly made a lasting repair. Now mud 1/2''+ thick usually ment you wern't much of a metalman to begin with and that you probably lost your ass on the job because you had spent too much time sanding several layers of filler you could have avoided had you bumped out the metal more to begin with! Nads, great job on the Shev-o-lay El Kie! " The very core of fanaticism is its indifference to things of the mind ''
Get to see alot of this type of stuff on vehicles we media blast. The best ones are when the customers think they have a pristine project. Before we started: First signs of mud. Shut down and take more pictures so we're not accused of warping their fine project: Finally, once that .5" to 1.5" of mud is off: Wish I would have taken a picture from the top so you could see how caved in it was.
I fixed a rusted out rear bumper guard. It turns out the El Camino ones are different and hard to find so I found a pair for a passenger car and chopped 'em to fit. One of 'em was trashed but well worth the $5 asking price. Cleaned up with a cutting disc, also remove all the chrome from the welding site, weld will get contaminated by chrome. Find a piece of thick scrap to weld in. This looks like sea urchin. It had multiple pinholes on the side so I used sheet metal on the front and welded the holes from behind, looks like shit, right? All ground down and a slit being cut in just like the original to let water out. Good as new Off to get rechromed.
nads, you are really putting a lot into this car...i would too - one of my favorite designs. excellent photos of good old fashioned garage fixes.
For Muncie, straightening and polishing stainless. This piece has very minor damage but the principles apply to anything. Look at my messy workplace, I tap out the dent very carefully with my trusty welding slag hammer, go easy, no wild unrestrained bashing. Tapped out Now sand down with 220 grit using a DA to get out the minor imperfections Nice and flat Sand down with finer grits, I end up with 1000, but you can go even finer, it's easier to polish. Polished with coarse compound down to stainless One down, shit load more to go, fortunately all my stainless is pretty good but it still needs polishing, it's time consuming and dirty work, but it's worth it. Too bad all my bed moldings have been drilled for a tonneau cover but I'll live with it and keep looking for undrilled pieces.
Thank you kindly, I've started on my least favorite part of car building, the application and sanding of Bondo, I hate it with a passion, I also hate block sanding, and this car's friggin' huge, at least it doesn't have a giant roof, but the bed sure is. BTW I found huge quantities of Bondo in the back of the cab, there's a tear in the metal from something flying into it which they just bashed in and filled. It's a super easy fix though.
You're doing a great job in bringing a beater back to life, I have my own bucket project that most would think of as a parts car, at best. Just a suggestion, or what I would have done, instead of using pieces of steel for a backer I'd have used either brass or copper. Once the hole is filled the brass, copper will just fall off. Saves on a lot of grinding.
bobj49f2, yup I should have, and I have a copper spoon on my welding cart that I use quite often, but quite honestly I forgot and just grabbed some scrap steel. I pretty much wasted an entire disc on this piece. I am a bit dopey sometimes.
Hey Nads, Why not find someone who can weld up the holes in your stainless where they were drilled for snaps? Just dolly the area around the hole flat, this will partially close up the hole, then a small tack of stainless wire closes up the hole. Hammer, grind, file, sand and polish smooth. I once tried to find missing trim for a '60 , but no dice!
We have a Hudson Wasp in the shop to be converted to disc brakes and 12 volts. I drove it up on the four post lift and raised it up. Those cars where "uni body", well sort of. This one is rusted so bad some dumb ass duct taped over the missing structural areas and smeared tar over it to look like under coating. Some on would get killed driving that kind of crap down the road.
A buddy of mine in High School "fixed" the top of the front fenders on his Rambler by laying in a 2x4, filling it full of staples "so the Bondo has something to grab". Then plastered in all in.
Thanks Nads for the step by step I reallly appreciate it.Im not quite there yet on my build but hope to be before the summer is over.
Pimpin' Paint, I think I'm gonna plonk down some dough on a TIG machine right soon and do it myself. I did some practice on a friend's top notch machine with thin trim stainless, I bet with a few hours practice I coulda done pretty well. I wasn't burning holes or anything.
This was posted on the AACA Buick site by a guy who does stainless repair in reply to welding holes in stainless trim. I thought you, or any one else who is thinking of doing this, might be interested: Before doing this type of repair I strongly suggest you search the HAMB for more information and suggestions. I would almost guarantee some one has something posted.
Seeveral years ago a plumber left an 8ft stick of 1in copper pipe here. It soon became a collection of welding spoons in various lengths & curves after it was hammered flat
I had to quit reading, this guy is insane. persian carpet? wadded up hammered copper riveted in then slathered in bondo for shape. WTF
I made some oak hammer heads, drilled and filled with lead for weight on the backside to work stainless, they move the stainless without causing more dents. pretty much body hammers from wood. I ve seen plastic resin hammers that would work also. I keep some hardwood around with different radii sometimes the dents can be pushed out from the backside with this method. Hope that helps
I fucking hit my garage door wall yesterday, canned my freshly replaced passenger quarter. I'm sick and angry over this. There's a reinforcement behind there and very little access for a hammer and dolly. Most of it came out by itself but i had to use a stud puller and shrink the metal at the highest point. It ain't pretty, I'm too embarrassed to post a pic, I didn't take any anyway. It's the best I can get it, before using the dreaded Bondo. I'm glad I didn't get it into primer before this happened, paint's expensive. These fucking 59s are wiiiiide. I'm pissed.
Just relax man. I am sure it could have been worse. You've done a great job so far. Keep at it. I can't wait to see it done.
I can understand why the repair might be done in this manner. The body man likely worked on a commission. Everyone at the dealership had to havea part of the profit. Back in the day you had to be fast. As long as it looked good when the customer picked it up it was a good job. A dealer mech or body man didnt have the luxury of time. Ive stuffed newspaper foam rubber taped part of plastic jugs screen wire rags ect in holes and bondo over it. I worked for a used car lot. We would repair rusty trade ins in this manner and sell them at the dealer auctions. Never sold them to the local customers. My sister had a 69 chev wagon that she couldnt get to pass inspection because of extensive rust in the quarters. Every year she would fix them with paper mache and a coat of plaster of paris! Lots of time there is some reason for what seems to be insanity. OldWolf
I dont blame you, I would be too. Go beat the snot out of an old metal trashcan with a bat and scream until your throat bleeds. It wont fix your fender but it might make you feel a little better & the neighbors will be entertained.
It's a good thing i had removed the trim or it woulda been crushed. It'll be alright, but the evidence for the damage will live on because on the internet, everything you say remains for all eternity.
I feel for you, man. I am going to keep in consideration how wide the '59 is. I think it's 4inches wider on each side, compared to my 55. The '58 is 2inches wider, each side. Sorry to hear that!
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