1 hour ago, inline6 said:

Thanks man.  Hey, I looked at your profile and just about every license plate in the pics is from Virginia.  But you are in Toronto, right?  Why all the VA plate pics?  I am originally from there - Charlottesville.

Garrett

That's weird, I only have 1 photo in my profile and it doesn't show the Ontario plate.

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

.... and now he has to kill you...

LOL!  

 

45 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

That's weird, I only have 1 photo in my profile and it doesn't show the Ontario plate.

I guess the "About Me" on your profile isn't about you!  ?  Must be a forum software glitch?

Ok, onward with the work at hand - reconstruction in progress:

    

Fit turned out really nice with this custom piece:

    

Some more that had to be cut out because it was just too damaged:

    

It is actually pretty incredible how far rust goes when it takes hold.  Eventually the removal of cancer came to an end and reconstruction started to take hold:

    

Some red oxide primer was used in hidden areas and welding of replacements finally began:

    

Though never seen by anyone, grinding down welds couldn't be helped:

    

Zooming in on some of the welds to the thinest original metal:

    

I will soon be able to finish the work in this area.  Drilled through in preparation for rosette welds...

  

Edited February 22, 20205 yr by inline6

On 2/11/2020 at 10:02 PM, inline6 said:

I guess the "About Me" on your profile isn't about you!  ?  Must be a forum software glitch?

Too funny. I believe that is @Diseazd's collection.

@Mike - You may want to take a look at that.

Hey grannyknot......you stealing my cars lol! Don’t know why I put all my cars under “about me”. Probably because my technical skills aren’t too strong. I always call SteveJ when I need help!

18 minutes ago, Diseazd said:

Hey grannyknot......you stealing my cars lol! Don’t know why I put all my cars under “about me”. Probably because my technical skills aren’t too strong. I always call SteveJ when I need help!

Which, of course, is proof that his technical skills aren't too strong.  

I made some good progress yesterday. As always, clicking on the image will give you a larger picture.  Rosette welds on inner panel and finish grinding on wheel house repair area, marking out where to cut on the rocker curved surface:

    

Trimming replacement rocker piece to fit (no overlapping joints):

    

Fit is decent.  After removal of the area being replaced, I took some pics showing the inside of the rocker:

    

Inside the rocker looks very good.  Starting to tack the new panel in:

    

Several angles:

    

Continuing to weld all the way around:

    

Just a small spot that needed to be closed:

    

Grind down welds - finish work:

    

More rosette welds where needed.  Additionally, I used a small amount of fiberglass body filler in a few strategic areas.  Fiberglass body filler is 100% waterproof.  And I learned recently that it is a good idea to use it on certain weld seams like these to fill tiny holes that are present after welding and grinding down.  Additionally, I wanted to fill the pitting and couple of holes in the rocker panel in the area that I did not replace.

    

Finish repair of inner panels in red oxide primer.  Final fitting of outer replacement panel.  Taking time here to get the fit dead on is really important.  The finished result after grinding down the welds will come out much better if old to new panel alignment is 100% level and weld gaps are present but don't exceed 1 mm.

    

New to old panel fit is good.  The gap got wider than optimum in a couple of areas (middle photo): 

    

Front edge fit.  Door gap in corner corrected for better gap consistency:

  

 

There isn't much more welding and finish grinding to do here to complete this part of the project.  Body work elsewhere on the panels is probably about 75% at a guess.  I am going to be spraying the whole thing and all loose panels in epoxy primer one more time, then the high build primer, and started guide coat sanding.

Excellent work!

I’m impressed inline6.......looks like you are having fun too!!

Thanks for the compliments!  Challenging to keep raising the bar on the quality of work, and fun when the outcome meets or exceeds my expectations.  Makes it more tolerable to put in all of the hours.  

I love doing fab work like this - good show