2 4 0 Z Uh Oh Project

[disepyon]

On 2/1/2017 at 11:39 AM, SledZ said:

Awesome work and glad I found the link as I am doing mass repairs myself and your pictures are my guide. I suspect you already have the answer to the dogleg question but in case here is a pic and it should be almost straight across. I am going to have to get a shot bag because the piece you made to fit below the seat belt pocket was nice! Is that what you used? I had to cut and form the one I made. Keep posting! I am contemplating the rear quarter wheel wells but super apprehensive.

Thanks for that pic and letting me know.  Yeah I kind of figured after a while and looking at hundreds of pictures online that it should be straight across in that area. Glad to here my thread is helping you out.

I havent been up to much on my project. Been spending most my time working and making replacement inner rocker panels for customers.  When I do have free time, I am already mentally and a bit physically exhausted to dig back into my project, just want to relax.

I have done some work on my car though. Got the driver side quarter up and fitted. I still need to work on the dogleg area to get it straight, but other than that, they are read to weld in. Will wait though till I get the inner well made and figured out.

I reworked the crease, softened it up a bit and blended the middle of it where it peaks with the wheel arch like it is stock.  I actually didnnt have to do this as the flares will cover all of it up anyways, but its good practice, good to learn and gain experience.  A body shop will have to fine tune my inexperience work with bondo, but shouldnt have to be that much. The more exact you are with your metal work, the less bondo the body shop will use, the goal to achieve when doing stuff like this. 

Just a tip if none of you didnt know or maybe it isnt a tip, but what works for me.  Get a straight edge (i used a 90 degree ruler) and put up against the joints of your panels. There shouldnt be any flat spots or gaps in the straight edge.The straight edge should always be touching the panel at its center point or only be touching at one spot of the straight edge where your holding it. The only area on the rear quarter where it is flat, is at the peak of the arch where the crease fades.  Once I get the joints tacked and welded, I will go back and fine tune the joint by hammer and dolly as best as I can.

 

Since I did the passenger side quarter first, I cut the dogleg area of the rocker to short, hehe. You learn I suppose. Will have to weld a new piece on and re cut it, talk about a pain in the arse.

Driver side is good!

Pictures of the door jam area.

One complaint I have is Tabco didnt leave more metal in this area. Deciding if I want to add on extra metal.

All for now, Stay Tuned!!

Edit:

To answer your question about the use of the shot bag on the lower part where the seatbelt pocket is, would be no. I need to buy one though. I have a stool with a soft top on it. Been using that to beat on metal, hehe. Though I dont do much shot bag metal beating.  Some of the shape was from the bead roller. I used various dies to bend it into shape.  The passenger side, I actually made a relief cut, cant remember off the top of my head, cut excess metal after folding it into position then welded it back together. The driver side I made no relief cut, it didnt fit as good as the driver side. Though I did the driver before the passenger side, which is why. I also used various dollies for shaping as well.

Edited February 4, 2017 by disepyon

[wheee!]

Looks awesome as usual

[Patcon]

I suspect Tabco didn't leave more metal in that area because it had a tendency to wad and wrinkle up. The original panels seem thinner than the tabco patch panels so it would have been easier to deal with the excess metal in the folds

[disepyon]

On 2/6/2017 at 4:58 PM, Patcon said:

I suspect Tabco didn't leave more metal in that area because it had a tendency to wad and wrinkle up. The original panels seem thinner than the tabco patch panels so it would have been easier to deal with the excess metal in the folds

Yeah that makes sense.  Think im going to add metal there to keep it consistent looking with the rest if the lip. 

[Patcon]

On 2/7/2017 at 9:12 PM, disepyon said:

 Think im going to add metal there to keep it consistent looking with the rest if the lip

I think that's what I would do too...

[disepyon]

Small boring Update!

Back at it again with the Quarter Panels. My previous work wasnt working for me and decided to redo the dog leg area and the area that matches up with the door.  

First though, I got my upper English Wheel bracket made by a local machine shop. For the most part is great, just slightly off on one side but not by much. Works great and able to switch out between the larger wheel and the smaller wheel.

Old Brackets.

Smaller wheel.

Also I purchased foot operated stands for my shrinker and stretcher. Yeah I could of made them for much cheaper, but too lazy and didnt feel like spending time on it. Much better than the one I made originally out of junk aluminum that didnt hold up.

Rework on the driver side rear quarter panel. Keep in mind the door isnt perfectly aligned, but close enough to get the quarter to match up. This aint no show car, hehe.

Made a quick template of the contour of the end of the door to use for the edge of the quarter panel.

Made a paper template for the rocker area.

Good enough for me, will rework the passenger side and then get them prepped for welding. Next will be the inner fender. 

Stay Tuned!!

[wheee!]

Beats my PO's panel alignment ....

[disepyon]

Thats nothing compared to what ive done in the past. Believe me, you would of thought my work was a joke/pranking someone. The only difference now is i rather spend the time to make my fitment as best as possible then to spend it to sand, grind, weld to build up material and over bondo. Still have to do that just not as much. im still trying to get my welds/seams to blend in after sanding.

[wheee!]

Your current skills put all that behind you now. Amazing work!

[disepyon]

Another Update!! Progress has be extremely slow at a snail pace, but going at least.

Now that is pretty much summer here in Oklahoma, the humidity has be attacking the exposed metal on my car.  The floor pans stated to rust, so figured since this car will have full interior when all finished, I might as well coat with with some POR15. The bottom is alright, will coat the underneath of the car later. Had some Chassis Black Colored POR15 left and finished it off with a semi black top coat. Will coat the back end of the floor later to match.

Finally it was about time I stopped being lazy and got to work on the freaking quarter panels.  Started with getting the inside of them cleaned and coated. The supports for the rear section of the quarters where still in good shaped, So I just cleaned them best I could and coated.

Worked on the Driver side quarter panel yesterday. 

All tacked and some hammer and dolly work to get everything aligned. I also did another two rounds of tack welds and hammered and dollied all the welds to stretch them out so the panel can go back to its original shape.

All welded up and again hammered and dollied the welds to relieve tension/stress on the panel so it can return to its original shape/position.

Used a straight edge to check for any flat spots and gaps.

Welds smooth out. There are some pits/low spots, thought about filling it with weld, but dont feel like it. Will leave it up to the painter to smooth it all out with bondo.  There is one small area near the back end of the panel that dips in a little where the support bracket for the wheel well is on the inside. Because of it, I cant really get behind and stretch out the weld in that area. Tried my best to work with it from the outside. Hopefully not much bondo is needed to blend it in by the looks of it.  Also the lower rear corner of the panel I couldnt get to either because of the support bracket for the quarter panel.  Looks like POO, and again, hopefully not much bondo is need to smooth all that out. The creased line needs to be blended in with bondo as well. I got careless and over sanded on the lower end of the crease. 

Now just need to fill in the hols and plug weld the flanges. I decided not to add material on the flange of the door jam side, dont feel like spending time on it when its just gonna get covered up with sealant.

Thats it for now. I may do some more hammer and dolly work to smooth out some areas. Passenger side should go a bit smoother as the fitment of the panel is better.

[wheee!]

Words fail me...

[Captain Obvious]

Incredible.

You are working on the wrong kind of car. I know this isn't the "day job", but you should consider changing focus to doing metal restoration work on Ferraris or Maseratis. Something with a higher price tag than old Datsuns. There are people out there willing to pay for that level of work.