81 Oldsmopile ( G-body rust repair )

Ok, been working this door for the past couple of days and though id share my progress. On monday I finished welding up the patches. I had to adjust the gap since the welds pulled the metal together and pushed up.



So I used an air saw to run along the gap and open it up tac welding it back together after cutting through the previous spot weld. This gave me a perfectly consistent gap a little smaller then a 1/16" wide.



It also flattened out the panel



I basically bounced around the door spot welding, never getting the panel hot enough I couldn't put my bare hand on it. I did this till all the spots were close but not touching then grind them down.



Then make a second pass welding between the previous welds. I find this method helps me stay level with the panel wile also getting full penetration, so that there isn't a gap on the back side. Once finished I ground down all the welds to this.



Its hard to see but no matter how slow I went the panel still sunk around the welds. about 1/8"



So after a night of thought and the internet, I made this.



I was almost to the point of hopping in my car and driving to Bangor Maine to the harbour fright to get a stud welder. Since the Canadian cheap tool supplier didn't sell them. and I wasn't about to fork over $400 for a legit one. What I did is weld some old vise grips to a slide hammer, then weld some "tabs" to the low spot in the door. After a few good pulls the low spots started to come up to where I was happy with it. But of course I was having to much fun and didn't take a pic of the tab arrangement, so just picture a stegosaurus.



And after some clean up and some minor hammer and dolly work I was able to ruff in the shape. still have the rear of the door to do, but I think ill drop the tabs in favour of pins. Im gonna try and make something like this. http://www.eastwood.com/mig-stud-welding-kit-52484.html The tabs pull funny. Here is what I managed so far, used some leftover paint to aid in nocking down the high spots.

Well I kinda left things unfinished. Been busy but Im still getting work done. I finished "adjusting" the patch on the door to a point I'm happy with. I did end up making a spot welding attachment for my mig.

Here's how it turned out. Some old brake line some pipe a nut and bolt and voila!



Hard to see but this gives an idea how its used.



The "studs"



And the end result. About 1 out of 10 break off but it does the job.



And the door after some pulling. Its still got some low spots but its good enough for a bit of filler, Ill probably go at it again before I prime it.



After this about a week went by without doing anything on the car. I did score some body mounts on kijiji. I was going to go with energy suspension since they are readily available, but found someone selling Kirban performance body mounts right in town. I googled them and found that they are original GM mounts with added lower mounts in 2 positions. Im glad I found them since they will fit the comfort level Im going for and they came with bolts for less then the poly ones. Was kinda worried the poly mounts would be to stiff anyway.

Then this past weekend I got back in sanding mode and scuffed the inside for epoxy primer. I got 2 coats over all the bare steel inside as well as seam sealed all the gaps and bedlined the trunk with what was left over from doin the bottom. Gonna hunt for some satin black to do the fire wall and engine bay stuff and probably use that to put one final coat on the inside to hide the white seam sealer.



Yesterday I rebuilt some hinges. The cutlass ones were buggerd up so the parts car gave up its upper driver hinge since the rollers and bushings were original. And with tight hinges I was able to mount up a door. It fits pretty good, my main concern was lining up the body line just bellow the windows.



Next weekend is a long one for me, I have 3 extra days off. My big goal is to hopefully have the driver quarter atleast ready to mount, I need to add some flanges on the bottom of the sherman quarter skin to glue to the rocker and trunk drop off flange.

I also picked up these today, they should help with the mess im going to make when I weld the top of the quarter skin to the old one.

Been making progress on the quarter. These quarters were only $140 so I knew they wouldn't fit effortlessly, I think the intended purpose of these ones was something like a slip on rocker not an OWM fit.

I had already cut the top off them so that I can retain the original body line, the line on the replacement qrt's wasn't as crisp. The bottom of the quarters don't line up with anything on the rocker so I had to fabricate one. With the bodyline lined up to the door and the door lined up with the bodyline/crease below the window, I was able to start making the missing pieces.



What I started with for infront of the wheel.



And after some manipulating, I was able to get it to fit exactly the shape of the rocker



I hade to make the flange for the rear aswell, It was much easier to make.



The major Issue I ran into is the outer wheel well sunken in. If i finished the panel like this it would narrow the inside of the wheel well not wat I wanted if I run big meats in the back. The line on the scrapper shows the how far the quarter fit onto the outer wheel well.



So now I have to stretch the outer well out to meet the quarter. This ment making a new tool.

With my new tool made I was able to "stretch" beat the lip of the wheel well out to fit into the quarter nice.

From this



To this



I moved the flange that will attach to the quarter flange out about an inch. It was sad hearing the bed liner crack when I was pulling the edge out but the Por15 on the inside didn't crack or chip with all the hammering, Ill wait to finish coating the inside once the quarter is finalized.



Heres my new tool, it would have been about a 3 week wait to order one so I just made this instead.



Since I was hunched over in the wheel opening I also added somewhat of a rolled edge to the lip to kinda pretty it up. I didn't like the way the flange looked so big. Im not planning on running the chrome wheel well trim so I wanted to hide the flange as much as possible.

before



And after



I got the panel to the point that it "snaps" on to the body and everything lines up without any force. I just need to grab the quarter panel extensions and make sure I have the holes in the right spot. I have one more day off tomorrow, and I'd like this panel to be ready to go on once I get some 8115.

Im half way through glueing the quarter on and need to wait 4 hours to remove the 16 vise grips so I can use them on the other side. So I figured I would make an update.

At some point I didn't have enough money to buy the $75 body adhesive, Instead I got some engine paint. First I had to remove the orange that I painted 2 yrs ago when I first put the engine in. I just used gasket remover to blister the paint off.




I sand blasted the valve covers, Intake and timing cover.



And painted it the proper Corporate Blue. Not sure how accurate it is, I just used Duplicolor from Crappy tire.



The engine is far from being ready to go in, but it was a fun brake from body work. When pay day came around I got 2 tubes of 8115 panel bond and ordered me a new primer gun.



I got to test it out on the inside of the quarters. It layed out pretty good if I say so myself. Much better then the other one. I do have to get a decent regulator the Princess auto one I have been using is either full on or shut off.

I've got the glue setting up on the passenger quarter right now. I was trying to get it on as fast as possible so no pics of the application. In 4 hours at midnight Im going back to the shop to do the other side. I used what was left of the tube I had from a couple months ago and 2/3rds of a fresh one, and still have a complete one left. Its gonna be another late night but Ill have both quarters glued on. A few words of wisdom that you only learn the hard why is, put tape on the jaws of the vise grips so they come off easyer and don't put your head under the drip path.