Great work Donovan! Sorry to hear about the windshield but the repairs are coming along very nicely!
BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
that hole in the rear glass area looks eerily familiar, just in another location....
the last patch came out really good! hope mine goes half as well!
Thanks Darin.
Yeah, the last patch turned out pretty well all things considered. Especially when you consider what I had left to work with. It's been a lot of work already but I feel it's going to be worth it in the long run.
When are you considering repairing The Chief? Do you have any plans in place already with how you're going to go about it? If I may offer my advice, try and find rust free donor sections off of another car. It'll greatly cut down on the fabrication time, and be much easier in the long run.
Good luck!
I'm not actually sure if that's the case or not Jared.
It could be that we just have two "flukey" examples. Given the penny pinching, cost cutting tendencies of the Big Three during those days, I can't see them equipping our cars with both options needlessly...
Just thinking out loud here.
There's a lot of little things like this I find suspicious on this car, so I certainly wouldn't use this one as a "shining example" of what was done standard back in the day.
Most of the things I'm finding almost point to someone that was trying to cut corners and pretty the car up for a quick resale possibly.
Things like a new windshield installed, but quickly and poorly. As well as not the right one, the correct one costs more.
Add to that the cheap aftermarket power antenna, almost an afterthought to make up for not having the correct one in the glass.
Also the repaint it got. Probably initially looked good from 10 ft, but when you inspect it closer, shoddy workmanship and poor quality.
Like I said, who knows. Just spitballing here.
Thanks as always for your thoughts.
🙂
It's funny that you ask Ope!
As I'm standing there watching the senior guy do his thing, I look over at his helper and see him eyeballing The 'Naut up and down.
So I ask him, "Whadda ya think of that one?"
He looks it up and down some more, and replies "Its nice."
That's it, nothing more.
OBVIOUSLY not a car person!
Lol
The senior guy was more interested in getting the job done, so he didn't really pay much mind to either one. And so it goes. Hard to impress guys that just aren't into the things that would make the rest of our heads spin, and the drool start dripping.
No skin off my nose, to each their own!
Thanks very much Kevin.
I appreciate the comments sir!
Donovan,
Always look forward to your updates, so when will you update us on the drivers side rear quarter ? i swear I'am seeing flash rust happening !
and thank you for taking the time to educate and entertain us.
Dave
Always look forward to your updates, so when will you update us on the drivers side rear quarter ? i swear I'am seeing flash rust happening !
and thank you for taking the time to educate and entertain us.
Dave
I'm digging on the quality of the work when are you going to do mine lol
Opie Knievel
Rum Fueled Midnight Mechanic and Moderator
Obviously not a car guy. If I had been that guy you would have had to give me a complete tour of the Juggernaut. Just looking at the outside of the car you can tell it's had a lot of attention paid to it and there's probably a lot of goodies you can't see. (Which we all know is true.) I'm one of those guys who can't understand why everyone isn't at least a little bit into cars.
My pleasure Dave, thanks for following along with me.
Damn man, you're getting ahead of the program! Up till now I've been sort of selectively choosing the camera angles so as not to reveal that little gem. But now that you've caught it and called me out on it, I've gotta fess up on it.
The original plan was, as soon as I was done the rust repair on the driver's side, I was going to tackle that area and explain what I did/didn't do there.
In case you're not sure what Dave's referring to, it's the driver's side rear lower on the quarter panel seen here:
To answer your question Dave, the short answer is that was a repair that I started and didn't follow through on. Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, I'm not perfect either!
When I bought the car, someone in its previous life had run over something and kicked it up into the quarter behind the tire.
Here's the best "before" pic I have of it before I started messing with it:
As you can see, the fender trim was bent and twisted, and it boogered up the quarter behind it a bit too, especially the pinch flange. I started to fix it, then got sidetracked and kept driving the car. So it sat in bare metal. For quite a while.
Lol
So it's a little more than flash rust, but I know it'll still clean up ok.
Like I said, I was going to address this area next, but with the two week deadline before the new windshield shows up, I'm going to postpone that a bit longer and try to get the front and rear window channels repaired and ready first.
So there ya go. My dirty little secret is now out in the open! Stay tuned to see it get repaired properly and permanently soon.
D.
Thanks Eric!
I'd be happy to do yours for "a nominal fee" just as soon as you drive all the way up here!
😉
Completely agree my friend.
But then again, we're car guys and it's hard wired into our brains. For almost anyone else, it's a completely foreign concept. Its just another old car to them, they simply don't see what we see.
Alrighty. Time for the last update for the week.
I had an excellent night out here in the shop tonight. After spot welding on the row of studs in the low area on the sail panel last night, I clamped my sheetmetal vise grips on 3 studs at a time and pulled hard on them while hammering the surrounding areas. I alternated this with using the slide hammer on them, and gradually brought the low area up.
Once I was happy with what I was feeling, I nipped off the studs, and ground the remainders off so I could get a better feeling of how it was. I was liking what I was feeling, so I dressed down the rest of the upper patch welds and finessed the area a bit more with the body hammer.
The sail panel/quarter window/upper quarter panel rust repair on the driver's side is now totally complete!
There's nothing further left to do here now until the filler work starts!
Couple pics:
As compared to before, remember this?
Big difference!
🙂
With that now officially under my belt, I turned my attention to preparing to fix the couple small rust areas above the back window. The best way to access this is going to be to remove the trunk lid and sit inside the trunk. This will give me the best way to reach the areas I need to.
The wiring for the lid came out, and the trunk lid itself came off. With that out of the way, I cleaned out all the interior parts I had stored in there, along with the trunk mat. Perfect, lots of room and good access now.
I then geared up and started stripping all the old urethane, seam sealer, paint and primer out of the channel. My preferred method to do this is with this:
That is a "Clean and Strip" wheel for those who are unfamiliar with it. This is DEFINITELY the hot ticket for doing this unpleasant job, I wouldn't even consider attempting it without one.
I use it in Roloc form, with the arbor in my die grinder:
Walmart sells a pedestrian version of this, more geared towards the hobbiest, but this purple baby is the s*%t. It's harder and more aggressive than the Walmartian versions, and it will eat through almost anything in its path. Including skin!
To give you an idea of what it can do,
Here's a before pic of the channel with the glass out:
Here's the exact same area, after spending 45 mins or so with the wheel:
Nice clean, shiny bare metal.
Nothing else was used here, only the Clean and Strip wheel. As you can see, it does a phenomenal job of removing pretty much everything in its path. I love it, it's one of my more frequently used materials.
Just don't be afraid to get dirty tho...
...'cause it does create quite the mess!
I still have to spend a little more time on this area before I get to the cutting and welding, the bottom ledge still needs to be cleaned up with the wheel, and I'll have to remove the last inaccessible bits with a burr. But once that's done, I'm onto getting the rust above the window looked after.
That's it for the next couple days everyone, thanks for checking back. Have a great weekend, and for our Canadian members, have a happy and safe Canada Day. 150!!
D.
I had an excellent night out here in the shop tonight. After spot welding on the row of studs in the low area on the sail panel last night, I clamped my sheetmetal vise grips on 3 studs at a time and pulled hard on them while hammering the surrounding areas. I alternated this with using the slide hammer on them, and gradually brought the low area up.
Once I was happy with what I was feeling, I nipped off the studs, and ground the remainders off so I could get a better feeling of how it was. I was liking what I was feeling, so I dressed down the rest of the upper patch welds and finessed the area a bit more with the body hammer.
The sail panel/quarter window/upper quarter panel rust repair on the driver's side is now totally complete!
There's nothing further left to do here now until the filler work starts!
Couple pics:
As compared to before, remember this?
Big difference!
🙂
With that now officially under my belt, I turned my attention to preparing to fix the couple small rust areas above the back window. The best way to access this is going to be to remove the trunk lid and sit inside the trunk. This will give me the best way to reach the areas I need to.
The wiring for the lid came out, and the trunk lid itself came off. With that out of the way, I cleaned out all the interior parts I had stored in there, along with the trunk mat. Perfect, lots of room and good access now.
I then geared up and started stripping all the old urethane, seam sealer, paint and primer out of the channel. My preferred method to do this is with this:
That is a "Clean and Strip" wheel for those who are unfamiliar with it. This is DEFINITELY the hot ticket for doing this unpleasant job, I wouldn't even consider attempting it without one.
I use it in Roloc form, with the arbor in my die grinder:
Walmart sells a pedestrian version of this, more geared towards the hobbiest, but this purple baby is the s*%t. It's harder and more aggressive than the Walmartian versions, and it will eat through almost anything in its path. Including skin!
To give you an idea of what it can do,
Here's a before pic of the channel with the glass out:
Here's the exact same area, after spending 45 mins or so with the wheel:
Nice clean, shiny bare metal.
Nothing else was used here, only the Clean and Strip wheel. As you can see, it does a phenomenal job of removing pretty much everything in its path. I love it, it's one of my more frequently used materials.
Just don't be afraid to get dirty tho...
...'cause it does create quite the mess!
I still have to spend a little more time on this area before I get to the cutting and welding, the bottom ledge still needs to be cleaned up with the wheel, and I'll have to remove the last inaccessible bits with a burr. But once that's done, I'm onto getting the rust above the window looked after.
That's it for the next couple days everyone, thanks for checking back. Have a great weekend, and for our Canadian members, have a happy and safe Canada Day. 150!!
D.
As usual D, you're build threads are a joy to follow! The skill it takes to achieve the quality your after is unreal!!!! For the members who don't check the threads out are missing out on a plethora of knowledge to be had if they want to attempt some rust repair themselves.
I noticed that spot on the 1/4 Dave mentioned, but was sure you would cover it at some point. With the glass deadline, i see why you are focused on getting the channel areas repaired first...those take priority over the 1/4 by far!
Looking great as always buddy, keep it up! Have a great Canadian holiday weekend, hope they put on a good show for the 150th!!! I mean, come on, what guy doesn't like fireworks....fire a d sh&t that goes BOOM!!!!
I noticed that spot on the 1/4 Dave mentioned, but was sure you would cover it at some point. With the glass deadline, i see why you are focused on getting the channel areas repaired first...those take priority over the 1/4 by far!
Looking great as always buddy, keep it up! Have a great Canadian holiday weekend, hope they put on a good show for the 150th!!! I mean, come on, what guy doesn't like fireworks....fire a d sh&t that goes BOOM!!!!
It's so nice to see the pride in your work
Opie Knievel
Rum Fueled Midnight Mechanic and Moderator
The driver's side is looking great! Glad to see you got the metal work wrapped up. I'm gonna have to get myself one of those Clean and Strip wheels. It looks like it does a damn good job. Can't wait to see the next update. Keep up the good work Donovan.
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