Builds Rebuilding a 40 but no longer in a 1 car garage. (1 Viewer)

[waiting for time]

Door panel is off, bottom is mostly gone.

Here is the door frame, bottom is bad but can be fixed. You can see the cross bar that is missing from the other door.

 

[waiting for time]

Waiting for the new door skins so I started to look into the fire wall repairs.
I have a new upper dash panel but before I cut it out I want to have the bottom of the window dialed in.
I started with clamping a blank on the sections that needs repair.
I drew the arch of the window frame on the inside of the blank.

This turned out to be a mistake. The arch will follow from straight line once the shape is introduced, this became clear after screwing up the first try.

In the mean time I made a tape template.

The second attempt, started with one side this time.

After some shaping I got the right angles, now for the other side and final fitment.

 

[waiting for time]

Removed the top of the dash but left a small piece on each side. That way I can clamp the old piece in to determine the edge of the window frame.
Here are the old and new dash top.

Almost finished the middle section.

Next I made a template for the corners, the old corners do not connect to the rest of the frame leaving a weak spot in the construction. undecided to make a piece on each side that connects the fire wall to the A pillar closing up the construction.
Used CAD for A template.

One side roughly made.

As the top of the fire wall is very thin I decided to replace it entirely. Here is the new material roughly shaped.

 

[waiting for time]

Working on the fire wall.

shaped and fitted.

Cleaned and prepped for welding.

and welded.

 

[waiting for time]

The other side.

 

[waiting for time]

Continued with the fire wall.

All the bad parts cut out, now the fitting begins, the parvan in its fitting position.

Hood in place.

It was a challenge to get the curves right.

I need to set the sub frame in to be able to align all the panels in the front. There are a few slits in the top of the fire wall to allow some tweeking. When the sub frame is in the front can be set and all the panels in between.

 

[waiting for time]

In the mean time this came.

two new door skins.
Started with fixing the bottom of door number one.

The skin is a nice fit.

 

[waiting for time]

Clamped and ready for protection before it if fused together.

I‘m not going to finish this one yet as it might be needed as a template for door number two.

 

[waiting for time]

WHAT is behind, the skin of, door number two?
This.

Booger welds and bondo.

 

[waiting for time]

Once all the excess steel was removed the reason for not using double layers of steel inside and on the bottom of a door is very clear.

Not much left of the original material.

enter the challenge of making a new door bottom.

This is a first test piece, as the bottom is not completely straight and has two different radii in the bends, this is a bigger challenge than what it looks at first.

 

[middlecalf]

Once all the excess steel was removed the reason for not using double layers of steel inside and on the bottom of a door is very clear.

Are you changing the design so this is no longer the case, or replacing metal as originally designed? Cruisers are notorious for double (and triple!) layers of steel, and hence the associated rust issues as you’ve shown. I prime both (all) contact surfaces in this case, and then remove the primer in the areas where I spot weld together, but I’m actually using plug welds so I know where they’re going. Lots of hole drilling though, . Hard to do that with a clamp spot welder like you have. But I have no idea how to treat those inner surfaces. Maybe seam sealing everything (if even possible for a lot of joints) but that’s not what the factory did. Any surface treatment has to be removed for a valid weld, right?

 

[waiting for time]

Are you changing the design so this is no longer the case, or replacing metal as originally designed? Cruisers are notorious for double (and triple!) layers of steel, and hence the associated rust issues as you’ve shown. I prime both (all) contact surfaces in this case, and then remove the primer in the areas where I spot weld together, but I’m actually using plug welds so I know where they’re going. Lots of hole drilling though, . Hard to do that with a clamp spot welder like you have. But I have no idea how to treat those inner surfaces. Maybe seam sealing everything (if even possible for a lot of joints) but that’s not what the factory did. Any surface treatment has to be removed for a valid weld, right?

You just use weld through primer, it works the same for spot welds as plug welds. The difference id the spot welds introduce less heat in the surrounding areas, it’s just a lot of heat in a small area for a very short time. The weld through primer only burns away where the metal is fused together. After the welding I soak the seams in etch primer.

The bottom of the door was badly repaired, hence the double steel with bondo. This holds water and induces the rust, therefore I meant repairing things should be done the way it was designed just with better rust protection.

 

[waiting for time]

making a new door bottom.

The part on the right was not correct so I made a new one.
This time I extended the bend a bit and included the corner.

I cut out the old and started welding in the new.

Here is the other side almost ready for cutting and welding.

 

[waiting for time]

This came with the door skins.

It needs to replace this.

 

[Kerby J]

Looking good! Can't beat the quality work you have shown here!

 

[waiting for time]

Looking good! Can't beat the quality work you have shown here!

Thanks but there are better fabricators on here.

 

[1911]

Thanks but there are better fabricators on here.

I seriously doubt that Michael; not many anyway.

 

[waiting for time]

I seriously doubt that Michael; not many anyway.

Thanks for the props.

 

[Kerby J]

Thanks but there are better fabricators on here.

I would have to side with @1911 with all that you have demonstrated on here!

 

[waiting for time]

I would have to side with @1911 with all that you have demonstrated on here!

Thanks