BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Longroof79]

Hey D,
Be careful out there. It's so easy to hurt yourself. Blood, sweat, and tears...the true sense of that statement.

As for the drip rail moulding..wouldn't it be common to have a slight dip in it for proper drainage?

Fine work as usual my friend.

 

[Clutch]

Such nice work your the man

 

[Rktpwrd]

Awesome work Donovan! I was really wowed by the work with the shrinker/stretcher. Were/are you a metal fabricator by trade?

Hang in there on the scope of the project. You're still in control on that. I'm not sure that I see a lot of difference in scope, painting wise that was brought on by the unexpected patch. What has canged your thinking?



Love it! That's where we were at when we found all the bondo and the sins beneath it on Sean's car.

Thanks for the encouragement Jared!

The shrinker/stretcher is a neat tool. It's very limited in its usage, but for the things that it can do, it's priceless.
There's a pretty steep learning curve with it tho, lots of experimentation beforehand, and little changes here and there are the key to creating a successful piece.

No, I'm not nor ever was a professional fabricator. I'm very flattered at the suggestion tho, thank you.
🙂
No, in fact when I got out of the autobody trade due to health and wage concerns, I ended up going into building natural gas compressors for use in the oil patch.

From there it was industrial process pumps. When the bottom fell out of the oil and gas industry here, I moved from gas compression to air.

So now I'm a mobile compressor service tech. I fix and service air compressors and build and install compressed air piping systems throughout the city and Southern Alberta. I guess you could think of me as The Maytag Repairman for air compressors.
Lol

I probably have more millwright experience than professional fabricator experience. At the end of the day, I'm like you and the rest of the guys on here, just another guy working on his car out in his garage.

As for the scope of the project, I guess not much has really changed. I suppose I was just venting a bit of my frustrations with the increasingly apparent poor condition of the car.

I'm not (and never was) looking for another long term project. I already have one of those with The Juggernaut approaching 10 years off the road next year.
I was hoping with this one I could, for a change, have a ride I could tune and tweak on during the week, and enjoy on the weekends. After a month off the road already for rust repairs, that goal is seeming further and further away.

For this year, I was (and hopefully still am) looking to only repair and epoxy prime (and maybe paint) the roof and quarter panels. But the more I dig into this thing, and the closer I look, the more I'm afraid I won't be satisfied with anything less than a complete repaint.

I guess I need to be happy with what I have, and with what I can do for now.

Sorry for the long reply, there was a lot to say in response I guess!

Thanks again for following the progress and commenting.

D.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Donavon,

I just made my kids late for summer camp binge-watching this thread. You are doing some amazing work here. I gave up on a coupe 20 years ago that had an aftermarket top. The bubbas cut the roof rail with a Sawzall and didn't bother welding the roof and frame together, but buried it in padding, vinyl and a million rivets. The rain of course, got in and ate the metal underneath. About nine times now I wish I had kept the car and used more parts from it.

I too am sold on the Eastwood shrinker/stretcher. I mounted mine to a shank that clamps in the bench vise, since it does not get used that much.

All this work - do you do it after your day job? I keep using the excuse that work plus kids = not enough time to do the things I am (was) passionate about. Then I keep thinking that I'll retire and have time to learn this kind of magic. We will see what happens.

Meanwhile, keep up the detailed lessons for us. I REALLY appreciate all the time you have taken to capture photos and explanations for the rest of us.

Thanks very much Quinn, appreciate it!

Sorry I made your kids late to their summer camp, I don't recommend you attempt to read this whole thread all in one sitting!
Lol

Your idea of mounting the shrinker/stretcher in the vise is very similar to mine. The only difference is, I just hook the lower flange of the jaws onto the vise top and tighten the vise down on the body. No shank required that way.

To answer your question, yes. I only have time to do my thing on the cars after work, after dinner.
This week is the exception to that rule, I'm on holidays all this week.

Otherwise, I work full time, 40+ hours a week. Combine that with the fact that I own my own house and live alone, it's pretty remarkable that I have any time at all to play with the toys!

I'm glad you and several others appreciate and are enjoying the updates. They're not meant to be lessons per se, but more a demonstration for guys to see that if they break down a seemingly daunting task into little sections, it's not so intimidating. And before you know it, it's fixed, and you're done.

I guess it's my way of contributing and giving back. I can spin wrenches with the best of them, and my mechanical knowledge is pretty good, but I feel repairs like this is probably where I excel. Just don't ask me to modify a tune in the fuel curve on your LS, my tech skills just ain't there!

Thanks for relating your experiences and the kind words.

Donovan

 

[Rktpwrd]

Hey D,
Be careful out there. It's so easy to hurt yourself. Blood, sweat, and tears...the true sense of that statement.

As for the drip rail moulding..wouldn't it be common to have a slight dip in it for proper drainage?

Fine work as usual my friend.

You bet Jack!
I'm as careful as I can be most of the time, but as we all know, s**t happens sometimes. Bloodied knuckles, bruises and scrapes are all part of the journey.
Besides, chicks dig scars right?
😛

As for the drip rail, it was just the chrome moulding that had the dip in it.
The metal portion of the drip rail itself has a gentle arc to it and tapers downwards at the ends for drainage.
Being a used moulding, I suspect it got tweaked at some point leading to what I was seeing. It was also just on the one side. The other side is fine.

Even when I clipped the moulding on the rail, it sat nice and tight everywhere except where that weird little dip was. There it was a little loose. Once I straightened it back out, it sat tighter and looked much better.

Good catch on that, thank you!

Such nice work your the man

Thanks very much Clutch!

And thanks for tuning in. Being an experienced body man, you're probably more familiar than most to seeing these repairs.

Good luck with the 442, you're making good headway. Looking forward to seeing you get it out on the road again.
🙂

D.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Well, I found my first bit of bondo in the car today. It's between the upper front windshield moulding and the front of the AstroRoof opening on the passenger's side.

The car had a poor repaint done on it at some point in its life, so I'm not the least surprised to find it. I can't help but wonder if the poor quality of the refinish work I'm coming across isn't partially or even fully responsible for the rust issues I'm dealing with.

The paint job itself is terrible. Lots of trash in the paint, solvent pop, runs, and poor coverage to name a few sins.
I'm finding areas where the original paint was chipped, and instead of feathering it out properly, it was just primed over and blocked out from there. All the hallmarks of a Maaco $399 special.
😡

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Today was spent entirely on welding in the patch above the passenger's side window. With the second coat of POR 15 dry this morning, I got to it.

First off was to trim the patch a bit more until it fit the opening reasonably well. Then it was positioned with the aid of a couple magnets:

I used a few strong spring clamps and hung my welding blanket over the opening below where I would be working. I also placed an old moving blanket over the door to provide some protection for it. It's not spark proof, but in this case it's sacrificial. I'd rather burn a hole in it than the door panel.

With everything in place, I laid in the first few tacks:

Note how the patch is biased towards the top. I've got a bigger gap at the bottom than at the top. This was done intentionally.
I often find that my gap closes up as I start welding a patch in. When this happens, I can go back and create the gap again with either the cutoff wheel or the body saw. In this case however, there is no room for the blade of the body saw along the bottom cut. The roof structure is directly behind it. Along the top cut line however, there is lots of room.

A closeup:

Working slowly and methodically, I placed tacks evenly along the bottom cut line first:

This is just another closeup showing how I have virtually no gap at the top. This is bad. There must always be a slight gap for proper penetration when butt welding a patch in like this.

Once the patch was securely in place, I cut access slots beside each top tack weld. This lets me insert the blade of the body saw, and cut along to the next tack.
I prefer recreating the gap with the saw vs the cutoff wheel as the saw doesn't burn the metal (and the coating on the backside). It also provides a bit thinner gap to fill than the cutoff wheel.

Once I had my gap back along the top edge, I kept adding tacks, each time splitting the difference and cooling them with the air gun. This is a very time consuming process; the patch must constantly be adjusted to ensure it stays flush with the surrounding areas.
I continue this adjusting procedure until I've got roughly 1/2" between tacks.

This pic was taken a little farther along than that, I've got more like 1/4" between them here:

After much time (and patience!) later, it was finally fully welded in.

Continued >>>

 

[Rktpwrd]

Next up was to grind all the welds flush.
Again, this is a very time consuming process. Care must be taken not to put too much heat into the panel just like with the welding. Once the welds were ground flush, I went back and spent considerable time chasing down and closing up all the little pinholes left behind.

For the most part, they didn't give me any trouble, until I got to some of the ones along the bottom. Every time I struck the arc, the POR 15 behind it would melt and contaminate the weld puddle, causing another void under the one that I was trying to fill. This was frustrating to say the least.

Eventually tho, I got them all closed up and ground down. Here's the finished product, ready for a skim coat of filler:

It was a bear of a job, especially considering I hadn't even anticipated this area to be a problem. But it's done now, and I'm relieved for it.
It's satisfying knowing that this area is now solid, and shouldn't give me any problems in the years to come.

As for the filler I found, you may (or may not!) have noticed that I also stripped the paint and primer from the area directly above where the patch was welded in. After all the welding that went on there, it was looking like crap, so I took a little extra time and sanded it off. It had to go eventually anyways.

That's it for today's progress. Tomorrow I'll jump back on working around the driver's side quarter window. That should be considerably more fun than today's work!

Thanks for checking back everyone.
🙂

D.

 

[1evilregal]

glad to see the frustration of unexpected repairs didn't keep you down for too long! I've had a few setbacks with the Chief that has left me walking away from it for more than a month at a time....

the way you did the patch over the door is probably the route I'll have to go on my roof, as it sits less than 1/2" away from where the roof drops for the t-top assembly (that and I don't have a flanging tool 😛). I'm carrying away lessons from your posts, but could you teach some patience lessons in the next batch? 🙄

 

[ssn696]

They're not meant to be lessons per se, but more a demonstration for guys to see that if they break down a seemingly daunting task into little sections, it's not so intimidating.

Note how the patch is biased towards the top. I've got a bigger gap at the bottom than at the top. This was done intentionally.
I often find that my gap closes up as I start welding a patch in. When this happens, I can go back and create the gap again with either the cutoff wheel or the body saw. In this case however, there is no room for the blade of the body saw along the bottom cut. The roof structure is directly behind it. Along the top cut line however, there is lots of room

You nailed it. Being fearless is half the battle, Knowing how to proceed is the other half.

How do you manage to do all that grinding and welding with the interior in place and a nice car nearby without destroying either? [That's a rhetorical question - you answered it already - just can't believe that is enough.]

 

[Rktpwrd]

glad to see the frustration of unexpected repairs didn't keep you down for too long! I've had a few setbacks with the Chief that has left me walking away from it for more than a month at a time....

the way you did the patch over the door is probably the route I'll have to go on my roof, as it sits less than 1/2" away from where the roof drops for the t-top assembly (that and I don't have a flanging tool 😛). I'm carrying away lessons from your posts, but could you teach some patience lessons in the next batch? 🙄

Darin, believe it or not, I'm probably the LAST person you want giving lessons in patience!
Lol
Just ask my girlfriend, when it comes to patience and other people.... well, let's just leave it at that!

Doing butt welds like that isn't a bad way to go, and in an instance like mine or yours, it's often the only way to do it. It is time consuming and finicky work tho.

I really appreciate you and the others here that are loyally following along with my trials and tribulations.
Thanks man.

You nailed it. Being fearless is half the battle, Knowing how to proceed is the other half.

So true!
Never thought of it that way...
🙂