[Entropy11]

Thanks rasilverbird, that’s a huge help!

[Andretti]

Break's over... Time for an update!

[Entropy11]

Originally Posted by Andretti

Break's over... Time for an update!

Haha thanks for the motivation!

I have to grab some pics . I’ve been slacking on the pics more than the work luckily. The new supports are welded in place and the trunk floor is ready to weld. I had to pull the rear end so decided to do that now and make life easier. Just got that out on Sunday and should have the front bolts out of the upper/lower trailing arms tonight so i can get to work on all the bushings. Thankfully the “disassembly” stops there!

Side project going on driver bucket seat springs/support. Finished the lower frame repair piece this past weekend and new springs being bent up tonight.

Haha I do sound slightly sidetracked but progress is progress! Lol

[Entropy11]

Pic of the seat repair piece just before I put the last bends up either side. 9ga edge/spring wire all bent cold. 42 total bends… 3hrs start to finish and never to be seen by anyone ever again haha.

[Sidponcho]

Originally Posted by Entropy11

Pic of the seat repair piece just before I put the last bends up either side. 9ga edge/spring wire all bent cold. 42 total bends… 3hrs start to finish and never to be seen by anyone ever again haha.

Nice work
I sell a programmable machine for producing stuff like that in volume.
https://www.aimmachines.com/

[Entropy11]

Originally Posted by Sidponcho

Nice work
I sell a programmable machine for producing stuff like that in volume.
https://www.aimmachines.com/

Those are impressive. I get caught up on YouTube watching machines like that work. The rate at which they knock out springs and complex shapes is unbelievable!

[dataway]

Originally Posted by Entropy11

Pic of the seat repair piece just before I put the last bends up either side. 9ga edge/spring wire all bent cold. 42 total bends… 3hrs start to finish and never to be seen by anyone ever again haha.

I've done some hand bending in my time ... I would be very proud of that piece, it's no easy task to keep things symmetrical on a job like that.

[Shiny]

Way to go. Had to be challenging to get all those in the right place, let alone the right angle. Do you have a pin-type bender or were you wrestling with pliers?

Sidponcho - thanks for posting the link. Fun to watch. I've seen videos of spring machines but never one of those.

[Entropy11]

I appreciate the kind words guys. Thanks.

I just have a budget “Mini Universal Bender” from Amazon. Once you shim the rotating assembly it’s actually pretty handy to have around.

[Entropy11]

I’ll have to grab more pics of the work under the trunk floor, I can’t find them on my phone now. I ended up having to weld in a new cage nut in the rearmost location. Best time to do it with everything out of the way I guess.

Finished all the trimming tonight and was able to get the new trunk floor test fit into place. There is a small section remaining (forward end of the fuel tank brace visible in the pics) that I’ll cut out and weld the new piece into place after the main section is in. It’ll be more accurate going in after and will be pretty simple. It’s already been rolled into shape and is ready. This whole piece basically friction-fit in on all the edges and lines up nice. Shouldn’t need much filler rod at all when I weld it in. I’ll have maybe one more evening to just prep the underside by removing any primer, paint, and undercoat on the old metal. Welding should go good… pretty tight fit on all 3 of 3 sides.

[Entropy11]

Working on the tank brace and body brace spot welding to the trunk floor tonight. Instead of the drill/fill plug style “spot” welds I switched to a blunt recessed tungsten, 2x “normal” amperage, and a quick 1.5-2s blast with the cup held flush. Saved some time at least. Can’t wait to get to the inner and outer wheelhouses for a change of scenery.

[dataway]

Sweet. I'm going to have to try that out. Have you ever bench tested that method to see how well it holds? Are you using something to hold the two pieces together tightly? I assume the two work pieces have to be very clean.

[Greg Reid]

Can you guys explain to a novice welder what is meant by " blunt, recessed tungsten"?. MIG, TIG?
I know a guy that simulates spot welds by simply turning the amperage up high enough to basically 'burn through' the top layer bonding it to the lower layer...My description, not his... Never tried it myself as all of my efforts are usually focused on trying to avoid a burn through!

[Greg Reid]

Can you guys explain to a novice welder what is meant by " blunt, recessed tungsten"?. MIG, TIG?
I know a guy that simulates spot welds by simply turning the amperage up high enough to basically 'burn through' the top layer bonding it to the lower layer...My description, not his... Never tried it myself as all of my efforts are usually focused on trying to avoid a burn through!

[Entropy11]

Yep sorry, it’s TIG. You basically just take one of your tungsten electrodes and make it look like it shows up in the package when you get it. You want a factory 90° edge instead of the usual pointed edge that you would prepare before welding. Recessed just means that you keep the end of the tungsten up inside the cup just a hair. Normally you’d never be able to weld anything that way, but with this you’re basically just trying to make a broad arc jump off the end of the tungsten electrode and create a “spot” essentially. You hold the end of the cup 100% flush to the top layer.

It’s kinda odd, usually you’re doing everything you possibly can to get a fine point and focused arc to jump off the electrode and give you a tight puddle to create your weld. With this you want a dull/broad arc to slowly melt the top layer into the back layer. If you can get it sorted out correctly, it gives you a very nice fake spot weld that looks very similar to a factory resistance spot weld.

The factory welds used clamped together force to pass electricity through and fuse the layers together in the process. With TIG you’re purposely jumping an arc off an electrode to the work piece to create a heated molten puddle where you can join metals, so this is kind of a work-around to get that factory look.

[Entropy11]

Originally Posted by dataway

Sweet. I'm going to have to try that out. Have you ever bench tested that method to see how well it holds? Are you using something to hold the two pieces together tightly? I assume the two work pieces have to be very clean.

If you can get that same heat signature on the back side of your second layer and some dull gray center, I can’t seem to tear them apart. I played around on some scrap to get it dialed in and be able to destruct it a bit afterwords. This was essentially 20g on top of 16ga so it might have been a little tougher to dial in as opposed to same on same layers. The beauty here was the repeatability and speed. Especially in tough to reach places. If your Lincoln TIG machine has a “spot” function you can use that timer to make it almost foolproof. If not just do a simple count when you figure out the “on” time.

This run of spot welds was the trunk floor to the tank support member. I just run an old scissor jack on the ground to a length of pipe that can hold upward pressure if needed, and sometimes a weight (dumbbell or old brake drum) inside the trunk. I’ll try it on the rest of this job but might need a pair of vice grips locked on either side of the spot when possible or a pair of those fabricated spot weld pliers might help.

To prep it was just my usual clean up with 3M purple Brsitle Brush and a wipe with Acetone.

[Entropy11]

Still moving along. Inner wheelhouse lower patch panel is now in. Playing with the alignment of both the outer wheelhouse and wheel arch patch panels.

Any chance someone already has or could possibly take and post some pics of where the outer wheelhouse nestles into the lower quarter/wheel arch area? Pics would be from inside the wheelhouse area looking out. I unfortunately can’t trust the other side of the car because of the questionable previous work and some of the area is missing anyways (headed to that side next). On the forward side it actually ties into the end of the rocker area. I’d just love to know I have the outer wheelhouse tied in perfectly down there before I get into the arch itself. Essentially, I don’t know how much “flashing”on the lower edge of the wheelhouse replacement should be removed to nestle in there properly!

Many thanks to anyone who can assist.

[Entropy11]

Getting closer. I’m just trying to tweak the “clock” position of the outer wheelhouse now. I guess this whole process would be easier if I was replacing the arch with a section cut from a full quarter instead of forward and rear patch panels. Hard to tack in a piece that aligns in 3 different spots with only one of those spots currently in place. Lol

Still making progress though!

[Entropy11]

Does anybody recall if this looks like the proper place for the outer wheelhouse to fit into the rear lower wheel arch? Does the wheelhouse actually kick out down there to take on the contour of the quarter or am I possibly just wasting my time with what might be useless flashing from the stamping?

This was part of my issue a few posts above and I’m still revisiting it.

Thanks for any info if you happen to remember.

[Entropy11]

Figured out the issue… I had to tweak that lower edge of the outer wheelhouse stamping a bit. Things would fit fine laying the wheelhouse into the quarter patch like like pic above, but once the outer wheelhouse was mated to the inner things were off. I also had to extend the cuts on the stamping where they folded and boxed that lower edge to kick inwards. Now it kicks inwards about 1/4-3/8” higher and everything fits when assembled.