What did you do to your G-Body today 2024

[MalibuDavyou5]

After a few hot days, I finally had a morning cool enough to start back on the welding of the passenger/right Quarter Panel. I had a few holes to fill in which in turn created a few more. I also cut and welded the piece that would cover the bottom of the panel. A few more weld tac's and grinding it will be complete. A lot of booger welds went on to this section and of course grinding, however it is warped a bit. I will be covering the side and possibly bottom of the panel with a build up of Fiberglass Filler to straighten it out. After which will be primed and painted. I have much to learn. . .

 

[old80cs]

Wet sanded 4 rims and going to paint Sunday when the weather improves. No pictures to prove it but they are sitting in the garage ready to go.

Went and got the paperwork rolling for insurance this morning and that is essentially ready to go as well only obstacle is they want photos of the car on its wheels. At the moment it doesn’t have wheels. They want photos of the front, in the garage stall to prove it is stored inside, back, sides, interior and engine compartment. Still have work to do before I can submit those. On the just bought side I just ordered the new tires, Cooper Cobra 225/70R14 from TireRack. They will be installed next Wednesday.

 

[CopperNick]

If you can lay hands on either/or, a micro butane torch or a Mapp Gas Torch, you can do some metal heat and shrink work to the high/warped spots you have to bring them down. Being as small as they are, you can work with small areas instead of having to heat large areas because the point of heat from the torch head is both small and can be concentrated in a tighter location or position. Your lower quarter panel is a good place to practice as it is not an obvious area, lookie-lou's seldom make the effort to get down on their hands and knees to look at quarter panels unless they are totally OCD about body metal. For the shrink, you can either use air if you have a compressor, or a clean shop rag that is not synthetic, cause they melt, and a bowl of cold water, toss some ice in it to get it real cold or for the burnt finger tips that happen if you touch the metal too soon 😲. I concede that it is a slower method than going with the 'glass but come with a higher satisfaction level when you run your hands across the finished surface and then smile to yourself at what you feel.



Nick

 

[CopperNick]

Threw another four hours +/- at the Monte again today, post work shift. Ended up drilling out three more spot welds to get enough panel deflection on the B pillar to cut away most of the remaining rocker panel. Unhappily I have come to the conclusion that I will have to cut away a section of the lower B temporarily to gain enough working room to properly prep that section of the rocker for the new inner piece.

Made some more progress on the A pillar to the point where I was able to test fit the new replacement lower cap. There does appear to be some difference in the general shape but nothing a hammer and vice grips can't torment into position.

Also spent some time stripping the frame rail to the point where it got its first coat of Rust Mort. I may have to seriously revisit it as some of the areas did not seem to be turning black; usually a sign that the Mort is not eating into the rust.

The box score for tonights labor went like this. Blew up one 60 Gr floppy disk on the 4.5 when it caught a crab behind the inner rocker flange, Blew up one Dremel cut off wheel and turned two others into stumps, Tore one pair of almost brand new blue jeans on a shard of metal hanging onto the B Pillar, replacement cost yet to be determined, Tossed one pair of vice grips to the floor and left them there due to repeated pop out of the adjusting arm. Not sure yet what I will do with them; mabye come fall I'll think of something. Turned one brand new sawzall blade, very fine tooth for steel, into floor art by bending the tip to around 90 degrees. May retrieve it and hammer the tip flat or consign it, again, later for that.

Finally, I managed to re-assemble my door lifting cradle back onto the floor jack. The original bushing insert for the cradle is mia and I had had to machine a new sleeve from a chunk of Nylon round bar stock which was an interesting excercise. Did have to create a custom length bolt for the bushing as what I had was too short and what I had picked up yesterday was right but had no shoulder. Still need a 3/4 NC Nylock nut just so I can have the ability to adjust the rotation tension and be able to lock it where I like it.

Smells like chicken fried iron filings around here so about time for a shower and some serious rack time, tomorrow's another shift.


Nick

 

[CopperNick]

So just to keep the momentum moving forward, I went back into the shop again after supper. That slashed pair of blue jeans cost me 55.00 plus tax to replace; bought the last two pair in the shop, jic.

Did go back and put some more time in with an grinding disc and a wire wheel on the air motor before applying the second coat of Rust Mort. There may still be a couple of iffy areas that will need some further attention.

As forecasted, cut away the lower section of the B Pillar but only as far as the bottom of the shoulder harness pocket. That gave me the room I needed to finish removing the rest of the old outer rocker panel and a lot of the dead wood from the old inner section. plus let me reduce the remaining shoulder to match what I had done for the rest of the strip.

Took a run at further dissecting the donor A- Pillar to harvest some more sections that would be of use. Gave it up for the evening due to the air saw repeatedly jamming its blade in the metal. Not really the saw's fault. Even at 32 tpi the blades are still too coarse and the metal too thin, so you need a major angle on the blade and it isn't always available so the blade grabs and jams. The cure for that will be a flap wheel to cut off disk swap for the 4.5. There is a section of the inner pocket for the lower A pillar that I want to graft in to close the Pillar properly; it's a "while i'm there" thing to do, as usual.

Tonight's human oddity was having some pilgrim come wandering by along the back lane and and stop at the gate to ask if I had a towel? Huh. Nope, no full sized adult towels. Blanket?? yeah, but they are for the car and full of fibreglass shrapnel and steel dust because they are welding blankets and currently being used to cover pretty much the rest of the vehicle.

Come to find out as he is leaving that he just finished taking a quick dip in the river!!! The river at the end of my street is not meant for swimming; no one has swam in it since they found lampreys in the water almost 60 years ago. I won't say that it is toxic but the water is so muddy and sullen that it has no appeal to anyone except the geese who both swim and s*** in it with equal disdain. I did swim in it as a small child but with my mass to weight ratio I don't swim, i flounder a little and then I sink. Moreover due to lake action it now has a definite in and out flow and strong currents at times. Of those who have entered that river of late, few have ever returned to tell about it.

He didn't want to say whether he went in voluntarily or was pushed or shoved or tossed, but at that point some type or intoxication or impairment was likely so he went on his way and I went back to setting up to apply more Rust Mort.

Anyway, done for tonight. Tomorrow is a Non G-Body day as I have to rebuild a toilet tank?!?!


Nick

 

[MalibuDavyou5]

We have a strange anomaly in weather making the morning cool for the next three days. I Started filling the welded area in. I forgot to take another photo of an additional filling and sanding of the area but will post up my finished result. Also I did start a new job but one due to current economic times is giving me less than part time hours, this is going to make saving for the interior parts for next year harder.

 

[CopperNick]

I do purely feel ya on the hours and income issue. For me the summer is just about over and call ins are about to become few and far between. I may just be back to the whole issue of job hunting again.

Tonight was a light night. Did do some test fitting of the various panels to see how they get along with each other. Used a harvested section of the old inner rocker panel as a template to identify and scribe the radius curve at the A pillar end that it will need to match the new outer cap. The outer rocker panel sits in okay but there is a tab at the rear corner for which I will have to clip a notch in the inner wheel well. That will allow the rocker to shift to the rear about 1/2 more and bring it into alignment with the B pillar. The rest of the apres supper exercises were non G so need to be related over there.



Nick

 

[MalibuDavyou5]

Had a very cool day, again with the anomalous weather pattern. Slight sprinkle of rain earlier with some wind. So today I finished off the side of the panel, put on the Upper Door Hinge Driver/Left Side, and cleaned up a few windows. Getting the old Door Hinge off was a pain in the A$$! Not to mention trying to get the Adjustment plate, (Inner part of the door) set up to the right height and space that a bolt would catch on to it, that took a better part of the day to finish, Thankfully I knew a little something about Door adjustment. I also put some bearing grease on both the top and bottom. Door is solid now and closes with little effort, but I will still need to get a Door latch. That won't come until I can get all the pieces needed to complete the interior. I will note here that the Triangular patterned gap in the window is now barely a gap, I am going to assume when I get weather stripping that will fix that. Next plan when I get the cash up is to buy more Truck Bed Liner to spray all of the bottom of the car where I painted. I figure it'll give some protection from the winters and salt to come. I will also buy the much needed Wheel Trim pieces too and get them put on before Winter hits. Hopefully I will get more hours from my new job.

 

[86LK]

So just to keep the momentum moving forward, I went back into the shop again after supper. That slashed pair of blue jeans cost me 55.00 plus tax to replace; bought the last two pair in the shop, jic.

Did go back and put some more time in with an grinding disc and a wire wheel on the air motor before applying the second coat of Rust Mort. There may still be a couple of iffy areas that will need some further attention.

As forecasted, cut away the lower section of the B Pillar but only as far as the bottom of the shoulder harness pocket. That gave me the room I needed to finish removing the rest of the old outer rocker panel and a lot of the dead wood from the old inner section. plus let me reduce the remaining shoulder to match what I had done for the rest of the strip.

Took a run at further dissecting the donor A- Pillar to harvest some more sections that would be of use. Gave it up for the evening due to the air saw repeatedly jamming its blade in the metal. Not really the saw's fault. Even at 32 tpi the blades are still too coarse and the metal too thin, so you need a major angle on the blade and it isn't always available so the blade grabs and jams. The cure for that will be a flap wheel to cut off disk swap for the 4.5. There is a section of the inner pocket for the lower A pillar that I want to graft in to close the Pillar properly; it's a "while i'm there" thing to do, as usual.

Tonight's human oddity was having some pilgrim come wandering by along the back lane and and stop at the gate to ask if I had a towel? Huh. Nope, no full sized adult towels. Blanket?? yeah, but they are for the car and full of fibreglass shrapnel and steel dust because they are welding blankets and currently being used to cover pretty much the rest of the vehicle.

Come to find out as he is leaving that he just finished taking a quick dip in the river!!! The river at the end of my street is not meant for swimming; no one has swam in it since they found lampreys in the water almost 60 years ago. I won't say that it is toxic but the water is so muddy and sullen that it has no appeal to anyone except the geese who both swim and s*** in it with equal disdain. I did swim in it as a small child but with my mass to weight ratio I don't swim, i flounder a little and then I sink. Moreover due to lake action it now has a definite in and out flow and strong currents at times. Of those who have entered that river of late, few have ever returned to tell about it.

He didn't want to say whether he went in voluntarily or was pushed or shoved or tossed, but at that point some type or intoxication or impairment was likely so he went on his way and I went back to setting up to apply more Rust Mort.

Anyway, done for tonight. Tomorrow is a Non G-Body day as I have to rebuild a toilet tank?!?!


Nick

$55 dollars!?! geez, where are you buying your jeans at? Saks 5th Avenue?

for grungy garage work, I usually wear jeans I've bought from Salvation Army for less than $6 bucks. that's the only time I buy Bugle Boy Jeans

 

[MrSony]

Got the new transmission in.
Didn't want to deal with the ****ing headers so I cut the dust cover ears off. It got to be 9:30 and I was soaked in atf so I called it quits till after my 2nd job tomorrow. Got it sat in and half bolted up and sitting on the crossmember, the rest will come tomorrow.