Gimme a 60s 3B Engine Swap

[Gimme a 60]

Here it is.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Carpet comes up.


Floor looks rust free… except for the wheel arch!


I don’t understand. It has rusted from the inside out… in such a weird way. Must be a manufacturing issue.

The thing I don’t understand, when they build the inner wheel arches, they press two 14 gauge pieces of metal together… creating a thin void in between the two pieces… so obviously it’s going to rust.

So, I’ll cut it out, and replace it with one solid piece of 8 gauge material.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Using my CP 90° die grinder, and my Makita angle grinder with a 5” Zip disk, I cut out the section, I found the best was was to try and hit it from the inside of the wheel arch. Unfortunately I did have to take the handle and the guard off the grinder to get it in there. (So please be careful)

Once it was cut, I realized I should have put more effort into cutting the hole square.


Anyways, next I cleaned off the weld surface with a mini flap disk on the die grinder.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Then after using some CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) as @Ol Yeller would say! I fit up my piece. It will work well enough.

The only thing that bothers me, is I won’t be able to achieve the OEM stamped steel look from the piece I cut out… it will just have to be flat I guess instead of having that strengthening “rib” on the inside of the arch.

 

[bj70bc]

hammer will do that
pretend youre a blacksmith

 

[Gimme a 60]

Patch done.

I was able to achieve the “rib” look in the stamped steel by using some 5/8s round stock I found in the shed.


Then I cut the round stock horizontally 1/4” - which appears to be around the same height as the factory stamped steel.

Then Welded both sides, but it was really hard to properly grind the outside. So as a result you can see some lack of fusion. However, when I welded the inside I left some weld profile on the surface for Strength. I’ll use epoxy to primer to prep the surface, then seal with some gravel guard,

A new flap disc and Die grinder are your friends!

 

[Gimme a 60]

Any ideas what I can do with this AT shifter hole? I’m about to plate over it, and weld it.

 

[cruisermatt]

I sell a bolt-on plate and gasket but they are expensive and 18 year old me would have welded it up.

 

[BrickRunner]

I would make a cover out of some thin sheet and utilize the existing bolt holes to mount it

 

[Ol Yeller]

Simple CAD project and bolt on

 

[Gimme a 60]

Small update:

Started repairing the other side, there were two very small rust bubbles, that ended up turning into a massive uncovering of rust in behind the seat stiffener.

the proper way to repair the area is to drill out the spot welds and separate the stiffener and the seat mount. (Which I didn’t do on the first time - I really regret not just drilling out the spot welds instead of cutting out the entire plate like an idiot). Anyways, I have learned now, and will fix it properly.

 

[trevor philipps]

This is bringing back memories.

 

[Gimme a 60]

This is bringing back memories.

That does not make me feel good.

 

[trevor philipps]

That does not make me feel good.

Looks great!

 

[cruisermatt]

nice job.