Month: December 2007

Rust Hunting

Rust Hunting

aaron

Got out to the shop last night for some more cutting. I’m going to have to get some more cutting wheels 🙂

Yesterday, I cut away the rest of the panels that overlay the rocker, the rear part of the front fender opening, and the front part of the rear fender opening.


In my diagram here, It appears that I’ll have to replace the entire rocker, outlined in red, or maybe split it at the seam with the green mark. I’m also not sure how to get the area where the door jam welds to the rocker (white line) separated so I don’t mess it up. Maybe taking the body off the pan first will help?

I also have a nice little hole here.

Yep, that there is a heater channel

aaron

Or at least it was. Next step I believe is to weld braces across the door openings, and take the body off the pan. I’ll have to remove the entire area between the fenders and replace it all. I’ll cut apart the other side to see whats there so I can order the heater channels and rockers. That’s about $600 worth of stuff, about doubling my projected sheet metal price. I hope to keep my sheet metal budget below $1800, or three times my origional estimate. My current plan of attack is to work my way from the back to the front. All this is easy complared with what I’ll have to do in the front.

Cutting Rust

Cutting Rust

aaron

I got the parts I ordered about two weeks ago, but since I’ve started working, I haven’t been out in the shop. So tonight I went out and made a couple cuts. You know how I said that I’ve spent about half of what I’ll have to spend on sheet metal? Well, I forgot to multiply my total estimate by 3. The first chunk I cut out revealed some bad rust in the rocker, possibly extending into the edge of the pan.

This behind the right door. Rusty bit of tube holds the wiring harness from the engine compartment, up the the front of the car. You shouldn’t be able to see it, but rust has eaten everything around it.

This is the hunk I cut off, and a pile of rust and dirt that fell out.

This is behind the right rear fender. I have all the sheetmetal I need for this area I think.

Cutting wheels wear out really fast.