I applaud you! If I really wanted to fix up a rusty 442 I woulda just found a rust free shell and swap the foot around teh vin and welded it in place. Replacing that much metal is insane. I have a lot of patience and would have gave up.
Project 85 Black 442 frame off restoration
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81cutlass said:
I have never done any body work so this is my first stab at this. I have a pretty nice 81 that I can drive anytime. This is the one that I want to make all original and take my time and learn how to do all of it. Another reason I keep this car all original is due to the fact that this is a Canadian Export car, that proves it to be special rare.
Nice job on the car sir! I am doing a similar resto and know what your going through!we need to save these cars!
THought I would remove some paint and undercoating a few days back on the upper trunk deck. Pulled the seam sealer around the wheel house to find MORE RUST at the upper deck to inner wheel house edges. So.... out comes the upper trunk deck to find all kinds of issues with it. The corner supports were shot, the edges where the spot welds were shot, the area I tried to do an in car patch turned out to be less than acceptable that I have seen the piece out of the car.
So after I decided to pull the trunk completely out I bought a handful of spot weld bits. THe amount of spot welds in this area is amazing
THe damage from the rust is pretty severe. Enough to warrant cutting pieces out and fabricating new patch pieces to make a new trunk deck.
I started cutting out some pieces and welding in some new ones.
I took some corner brackets from another donor car of mine and took them out and re welded them onto this pan.
Since the top deck is visable during shows I decided to take some time to finish the topp side with flowable polyester filler and make the top side finish as if nothing was ever repaired.
So after I decided to pull the trunk completely out I bought a handful of spot weld bits. THe amount of spot welds in this area is amazing
THe damage from the rust is pretty severe. Enough to warrant cutting pieces out and fabricating new patch pieces to make a new trunk deck.
I started cutting out some pieces and welding in some new ones.
I took some corner brackets from another donor car of mine and took them out and re welded them onto this pan.
Since the top deck is visable during shows I decided to take some time to finish the topp side with flowable polyester filler and make the top side finish as if nothing was ever repaired.
finally finished the upper trunk deck pan. Was able to get a good finish that I was satisfied with, the pan looks original and doesnt looked patched at all. I applied the usual epoxy prime and top coat satin black
Now I can proceed with some small patching of the inner wheel wells. I thought about replacing them but this would involve me removing some of the repaired work already performed on the drivers side.
Ill be re building the wheel houses then removing all the under coating next, then painting with some DTM hopefully by this weekend. My goal was to have this thing up on rotisirie during my break, but it didnt happen due to the rust
Now I can proceed with some small patching of the inner wheel wells. I thought about replacing them but this would involve me removing some of the repaired work already performed on the drivers side.
Ill be re building the wheel houses then removing all the under coating next, then painting with some DTM hopefully by this weekend. My goal was to have this thing up on rotisirie during my break, but it didnt happen due to the rust
I finally got to repairing the wheel wells, and made great progress putting all the trunk pieces back together
Stripped all the old undercoating and paint from the trunk bay
got to apply the epoxy to the engine bay
Finally got to start installing the pieces that I have refinished
All the pieces lined up perfect
THis is the pass side inner fender well, notice the patch piece lines up perfectly with the donor trunk pan
Final application of the satin paint for the finish before a nice coat of sound deadeiing after I finish the welding
Stripped all the old undercoating and paint from the trunk bay
got to apply the epoxy to the engine bay
Finally got to start installing the pieces that I have refinished
All the pieces lined up perfect
THis is the pass side inner fender well, notice the patch piece lines up perfectly with the donor trunk pan
Final application of the satin paint for the finish before a nice coat of sound deadeiing after I finish the welding
I FINALLY got to the passenger rocker assembly build. I need to rip the entire rocker out including part of the A pillar post and rebuild part of the front outer and rear outer wheel house then we can FINALLY go frame off!!
Took measurements of the height of the inner so I would not forget
I braced the roof to the floor pan so the floor would not flex and make my measerement of the inner once re-welded off.
Donor and cut off piece of the lower A pillar, all these are shot on 90% of our cars, we need to have something similiar reprodced
I used the old piece as a templatre to get a good trace where the replacement needs to be cut at, I have used this methodology in all the pieces that I have replaced with very good accuracy
Here I stripped the front side of the quarter and prepared a small patch piece in the wheel well. I ran out of Argon, so I spent some time making this piece today. In teh next few days I will be receiving a prototype inner rocker panel to test fit. If it work well, we will have this item available soon.
Took measurements of the height of the inner so I would not forget
I braced the roof to the floor pan so the floor would not flex and make my measerement of the inner once re-welded off.
Donor and cut off piece of the lower A pillar, all these are shot on 90% of our cars, we need to have something similiar reprodced
I used the old piece as a templatre to get a good trace where the replacement needs to be cut at, I have used this methodology in all the pieces that I have replaced with very good accuracy
Here I stripped the front side of the quarter and prepared a small patch piece in the wheel well. I ran out of Argon, so I spent some time making this piece today. In teh next few days I will be receiving a prototype inner rocker panel to test fit. If it work well, we will have this item available soon.
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