BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

I'd rather be lucky than good.
All day long, anytime.

Sometimes success in a project can come down to nothing more than luck, pure and simple. Such is the case here.

Earlier in the thread, Jared, Kevin and I had tossed around the notion of finding a donor section from a parts car to aid in replacing the rusted out sections that have complex body lines in them. Nothing ever came of that discussion for various reasons, but it did get the rusty old gears in my noodle turning.

Years ago when I bought the parts car affectionately referred to as The Brown Bomber, I had cut off and saved the entire quarter panels for use in the future on a special project slated for The Juggernaut.

When it became apparent that I would need to repair and replace the rusted sections on this car, I had never really given those quarters a second thought. Mainly because I knew that when we cut them off, we had cut them fairly short, not including much of the sail panel. Well, I figured it at least warranted a closer look, if nothing else than to confirm for myself I was right.

Digging the quarters out of the shed, I laid them out on the lawn for a better look:



This is where my bit of luck came in.
A closer inspection of the needed areas was rewarded with a happy surprise...





Not everything I needed was there, but good usable sections on both sides definitely were! I could work with what WAS there, and still not jeopardize my future plans for the quarters.


A few minutes and some carefully placed cuts later, I had the sections I needed cut off and on the bench:



Since I'm currently working on the driver's side of the car, I stripped the paint off the driver's side patch in preparation for use:



This is the affected area that the majority of the patch would be priceless to use:



Once I had the new patch trimmed down a bit, I held it up for its first test fit:



Looks good, it's going to save me a whole pile of time and complicated fabrication trying to duplicate it!

Next, I traced around where the patch needed to go...



...and then shortened it up a bunch and re-traced it. There was no sense in cutting out all that good unblemished sheetmetal if I didn't have to.



Once I knew where I had to cut on the body, I transferred that line to the patch:



Continued >>>

Then it was time to cut the old rusty crap out, and prep the opening:



Fitting the patch in place with magnets...



...and the first couple tacks to hold it in place.



Once I had the pivot points tack welded, I could fine tune the fitment to make sure everything sat nice and flush in alignment. Then more tacks:



And finally fully welded in, with the exception of the rusted areas. These will obviously get replaced in the future, so no need to try and weld there:



Time to dress down all those ugly welds, and do some metal finishing. The end result:






Looks SO much better already!
No rest for the wicked tho, onto the rusty section above it.
Marking out an area just slightly larger than the rusted area, the offending material was cut out.



Once I had the piece removed, I could see through to the backside of the patch I had made with the shrinker/stretcher. I hadn't yet fully welded it in yet, and this reminded me to do it.
I didn't take a "fully welded before grinding down the welds" pic, but here it is afterwards:



Now that I had the inside welded up and dressed down, I wanted to protect the backside of that area while I still had access to it from the outside.
I masked off the surrounding areas, and shot plenty of weld-thru zinc primer in through the hole:



Continued >>>

Using the old piece I cut out, I transferred it onto a fresh piece of sheetmetal, cut it out, and marked lines on it where I would need to recreate the body lines. These are shown below in Sharpie.

Using mainly the vise and my body hammer, I slowly stood up the first edge along the inside body line:



Once that was done, I basically duplicated the process along the second body line, but in the opposite direction. This gives the piece an "S" configuration when viewed from the side. Note how the second body line starts to converge with the first:



Once I had the replacement piece matching the original, it was time for its test fit:



You're all already familiar with the process; tack it in place at the body lines, then manipulate the edges into place and tack them.

The new patch, locked into place and ready to get fully welded in:






You guys know what's next...

Reveal pics to follow tomorrow!
Slowly but surely, the rust is disappearing, and it's getting more and more solid.

That's it for now, thanks for checking back.
And PS: I'm in the running for this month's GBOTM, don't forget to vote for your favourite!

Donovan

liquidh8 said:

Having that bend with the compound curves had to be a life saver. Sure beats making it out of 2 pieces. As always, looking good!

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

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That small piece definitely was a life saver Jim. An even bigger time saver. I obviously would've preferred if it was a bit bigger to replace the entire rusted section, but I'll take what I can get!

dr78442 said:

The brown bomber. The cutlass that keeps giving. As far as luck and skill looks like you have both. Nice score and Amazing repair. You make me want to cut metal and weld it back together.

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Thanks Mike!
Yeah, it was sheer luck that I had enough there to get me outta trouble. Thank you Brown Bomber indeed!
Glad I inspire you guys, go out there and just do it! It's only metal, it can be added to or cut back out if you screw up! That's why I far prefer metal to wood.

ssn696 said:

No rust for the wicked (-ly good)!

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Oh, very pun-ny!!
Can't believe I missed out on that opportunity given my penchant for all things pun related...
Good one!

Longroof79 said:

As always, nice thorough and effective repairs. I never get tired of watching your amazing work in progress.
I hope our friend David will be able to glean some good information from your informative thread. Keep up the great work, Amigo.

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Thanks for the encouragement Jack.

It feels good to be ridding the car of its cancer. With every little bit I do, it's slowly looking better and better.

Yes, hopefully David makes out ok with his roof swap. We're all here for him if he has any questions or concerns tho. I have faith in him, he should be able to make a go of it either way.

sportriderOK said:

Time to cancel Netflix. This is more binge-worthy than anything they show!

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Awesome!!

(Couldn't agree more, but that's just 'cause their selections SUCK lately!)

O. D. Showtime said:

Great work as usual Donovan! Olds Cool is definitely in the right hands...

I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you out with parts from a donor car...sadly I haven't been doing much auto related stuff at all lately. I feel bad as I had hoped that I could have helped out on this one and the other parts we have been talking about.

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Kevin,
Please don't feel bad. It's no problem whatsoever. Given the accelerated timeline that I'm trying to complete this on, waiting for patch panels or other parts likely would've been a problem anyways. Not to mention the added cost, shipping, etc etc.
Things happen for a reason, and usually find a way of working themselves out. I sincerely appreciate your concern and offers tho, thank you!

As for the other parts we've been talking on, there's no rush on those ones yet either. Whenever you can, will work for me.
Speaking of parts tho, do you recall offhand if you have any Claret interior parts in your stash(es)??
Specifically, I could use better condition bucket seat upper seatbelt guides, a good condition lower door panel, and driver's side front bucket seat seatbelt. The ones I have are ok, but I'm always on the hunt for better condition stuff. Let me know when you have a chance.

Thanks for the compliments and comments everyone!

Donovan