Pics of this week's work (rust repairs)

[shamus1980]

The poor old zed has hung on the rotissery for nearly 2 years (2 kids and a house move didn't help) but I've pulled my finger out and am having a crack this week while I'm on holidays.

I've got the drivers floor fully welded in, floor rail on one side and several other small rust repair sections around the car done.

Note the battered front section of the old rail and the finnished result with the new rail. I had a longer section of floor rail folded up and used the extra length to plate the underside of the remaining rail so there is no weld/join where the floor finnishes. Hopefully this will help avoid the chance of the rail cracking where it would have been joined.

The floor was good but took a fair bit of convincing to go in and the original rails I bought from the US were too narrow and could not be used.

I've done another days work since these photos and all the work is ready for primer in the morning.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

great work! Kudos to getting out there and knocking out some tough love.

[shamus1980]

Thanks, All my recent hard work is in primer and another couple small patches finnished and a dozen odds and ends back from the sandblaster in rust treatment at the moment.

It's a case of two steps forward and three steps back, I cut off the lower panel between the door and the rear wheel arch and found more rust. I was going to leave my sills on but I think now it will be both sills off and back to the sandblaster.

One good point will be there is nowhere left for rust to hide.

[stevef1972z]

Wow well done!

[Walter Moore]

Ah, three countries separated by a common language...

"...pulled my finger out..." Man, didn't that hurt?

"...had a crack.." Not the type that requires a pipe I hope.

But seriously, that floor looks wonderful. Keep at it! One of these days it will be a fun car. For now, just a fun project.

[shamus1980]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I have used a thin strip of 1mm aluminium to fold up an accurate outside profile of my sills and a local sheetmetal place folded them up for me in 1.2mm steel. I think the originals would be .8mm but I'd prefer a bit more thickness.

The pair cost me $109 AU. No postage also makes it cheaper.

When I take off the sills I'll add some more pics, before and after sandblasting.

[shamus1980]

Some updates.

On the the repair above the taillight I ended up cutting out the last piece of steel thru to the taillight hole and folding up 3 seperate sections that overlapped to replace all the steel. work is primed but no filler so fairly happy with result. I couldn't neatly replicate the small pressed 45degree finnish on the the left end of the panel so it just ends in the same profile.

The other repair is behind the drivers seat in the bottom of the storage bin. Cut out from underneath. This will be covered in seam sealer and body deadener inside so I won't be trying to hide the welds.

Also new vs old floor in primer. The plan for the passenger side is to remove the old rail and beat the floor flat and put my new rail on and plate the front section like I did with the first rail. Only the new floor looks so nice and straight I'm tempted to replace it but it doesn't actually have many rust holes in the floor and it's a hell of a lot of work to put a new floor in.

To pull the floor hard up against the rail when I'm welding it I will drill spot/plug weld holes in the new rail and then tech screw thru them into the floor. This pulls the two panels tighly together because clamping it is not possible.