BUILD THREAD Rustier then I thought!!!

[RabbitHoleSS]

Well I had time to work on the car since corona.. I used it to get out all the seat brackets. They came fairly clean with my home made sand blaster. The abrasive wore a hole in my blow gun nozzle so I couldn't finish.

I taped off the spot weld holes and sprayed with rustoleum 2 coats.

Since I got the flux core wire I decided to tackle the frame body mounts. I ran it with lower wire speed like turbo zach recommended and it worked out pretty good. Im not sure the best way to enlarge the holes to fit the washer so I used a grinder with a tiny cutoff wheel.
I cut the circular outline and then made relief cuts to the line and broke them off with pliers.

Once they were all broken off I used a die grinder and cheap HF black rasp. 10 for 5 bucks.Theyre not very sharp.
Passenger #6 mount

Passenger #4

Passenger #2

Driver #2

Driver #6

There's also this passenger #7. Its questionable I thought about leaving it. What do you guys think.

Still waiting on my last seat bracket and rear seat crossmember. Im cutting the old one out tommorow. Im gonna hit it hard while on coronacation. Social distancing self quarantine type situation 😁

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

I've had plenty of time to work on the car since corona. I got my driver seat bracket and rear seat crossmember.

So I sanded the inside of the crossmember cleaned with dawn then w/g remover then brushed on epoxy then rustoleum.

I drilled out the spot welds on the rear crossmember. I found them by sanding away the paint and marking with a sharpie. Then I use 1/8 bit to drill a pilot but not all the way through. Then HF spot weld cutter them out.

I contemplated just fixing the ends that were rotten on the crossmember but decided against it because I suspected heavy rust on the inside. Gm didn't paint the inside of the crossmember or seat brackets. It's just bare metal.

And under the car.

After hours on my back grinding/sanding. This sucked. Im not doing the rest of the car from my back.

I taped off the spot weld holes and brushed on epoxy then rustoleum again.

The sides were the crossmember mounts were rotten. So I cut them out and made patches from slightly thicker steel.

While messing with this I realized I missed a rusty area on the pass wheelhouse. Well I thought it was ok so I didn't replace it.It wasn't so I did it today.

Fixed

I also got the floor pan fitted and seat belt mounts plug welded in.

I went ahead and fixed the #7 pass mount.

Its seemed like slow going this last week but I feel I got all the prep done to finish this floor/backseat area out. I need to get the frame blasted but not sure if there open right now. So in the meantime...

child labor laws are suspended right now correct?

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

Went ahead with the crossmember today. Started by patching where the crossmember gets welded.
Before

After

Then I fit the crossmember but it was short on each side an 1/8 inch. I figured I could hammer it in place aftee it was plug welded to the back seat. I took measurements to get the body mounts in the right spot. It fit pretty good Im happy with it.

I had to hammer in a few spot weld holes on the hump so it would be tight enough to weld.
Before

After

Underneath where I welded the crossmember to the body.
I ran out of gas. So I'll finish up tommorow.

I got the patches for 1 side of the backseat made. For those keeping score. That's 7 of the body mounts on the cab I replaced. I dont know WTF I was thinking. Oh well I'm in to deep to quit now.

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

I've been busy working so I haven't had much energy/time for the garage. I been going at the underbody. It was a little rusty to start.

I clean n stripped it then put rust converter on (ospho). I brushed it on and let it dry. Then read a bit more about it. Adhesion is an issue when trying to put epoxy over it. The remedy is to reactivate the dry ospho by brushing it on again and waiting 5 mins. Then I used my pressure washer to clean it off.

Then i moved to behind the backseat.

Then to the rear end where the body mounts are located. There's so much undercoating on this thing. I wonder if they were covering something up.

By this time Id had enough of cleaning this thing on my knees and back. So I started building the tip over jig today after work.

I had to drill 4 holes to run the bolts thru. They'll be covered by the bumper cover and ill weld them shut when im done.

I gotta finish it tommorow. My jigsaw blade is toasted so I couldn't cut the radiuses. Ill throw some 4x4 legs on it, the radiuses, and the 2x4 thru the doors and it should be ready to roll after i weld the floor in. I ordered some upol raptor liner for the underbody, trunk and rear wheel houses.

 

[Cte069]

Looking awesome!

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

Thanks its been a challenge but its cool to learn something new.

 

[blk7gxn]

Great progress and workmanship!

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

I got the tip over jig finished. It feels really quite sturdy.

Ive been making the pieces for the back seat for awhile. I felt like I had them how I wanted. So I painted the underside and prepped everything for welding.
The passenger side.

The driver side

I still have to fix 1 seat belt area for the driver side back seat. I got the floor pan prepped and fitted for welding. It fit really good almost dropped right in. I ran out of gas so Ill save that for this weekend.

 

[Doug Chahoy]

Looking real good ! When you get that car done you’ll be a journeyman autobody tech.

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

Great progress and workmanship!

Thanks I appreciate it. Im trying not to be a total hack and take my time.

Looking real good ! When you get that car done you’ll be a journeyman autobody tech.

I dont know about that but I appreciate it. I have a new found respect for anyone who does this for a living. Im starting to understand why paint/bodywork is so expensive. Its also given me a reason to buy tools and teach my boy how to use his hands and mind.