Hello, all. I am writing this first post on the new website, which uses Wordpress, so we'll how the learning curve is. So far, though, it appears to be only minor differences. With that, on to the video:
My initial work was on the lower portion of the upper A post (here we go with the lower and upper stuff again). Due to the complexity of the repair (good pics and info in the video) I wanted to measure twice and cut once, so to speak. My biggest concern was the vertical support that ran up the inside of the A post as that would be in the way of some of the metal repair that needed to happen.
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| Pic of the ragged edge of the extent of the cancer. |
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| Bottom edge of upper A post looking up, the vertical support being clearly visible. |
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| My Hobart 140 makes a cameo appearance through the missing A post (as taken from inside the car). |
I decided at that point that I would be better off stopping there and sleeping on my approach for a while. I moved onto the bottom of the B post / rear wing instead. Of course, with so many repairs to do, it's easy to switch between jobs when I hit a snag or delay!
I had the bottom of the B post pulled out from my terrible weld job and had it already prepped to go back in, so I decided to work on the repair of the bottom rear wing.
The trailing edge where it rolls into the wheel well was pocked with rust, much like the driver's side, so I fabricated a piece off of the damaged part. The repair was two pieces, actually. I used a part of the black car's outer sill again because the curve matched and this became the face of the repair. For the trailing edge that rolls into the wheel well, I cut a separate piece of metal and welded them together to make the whole piece.
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| The lip of the trailing edge getting lined up for welding. |
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| First few tacks. I need to figure out why some of my weld beads grow and poke out as they cool (like the center one). |
I finished up the edge weld, little bits at a time to avoid excessive heat generation that would warp the metal.
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| Welding done. Still come caterpillars there, but better. |
I cleaned that up and...wow, probably my best joint so far. As a matter of fact, it was a bit too good as it should be more of a smooth "rolled" instead of a sharp edge. Oh, well, it's definitely good enough!
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| Ooooo, ahhhhh. No touch up spots, even! |
I had already cleaned up and POR-15 Metal Prep'd the original wing piece that I was saving, so I clamped the two together and welded them up.
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| New and old ready to become one. |
Unfortunately, as I welded closer to the bottom edge where the flange for the floor connection is, it got a bit warped and didn't weld up very straight. I was able to bang it out, though, and it worked out fine.
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| You can see where the weld gets obvious at the bottom again as the grinder couldn't "reach" into the depression. |
There was one more small part of the original wing that has some pinholes in them, so I cut out that 1" x 2" area and fabricated and welded a new piece in.
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| New metal and gap it will fill. |
In the above and below pictures you can see where the top edge is not at all even across its length. I did that intentionally to give me some wiggle room on re-fitting and also to ensure I didn't originally cut my repair pieces too small and waste the time, effort and metal in doing so.
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| Solid, if unfinished, repair. You can see the ragged top, hopefully. It's easier to see in the video. |
That was about it for the evening. No new metal on the car but some good preparation work to get some done the next visit!
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