Thought I'd go back and show more of the core support repair. I have said a lot of these patch panels are made for Lego cars and not just Buicks . Here you can see both lower corners are square and the left side is not wide enough. Here I have marked the corners to be cut/rounded and anyone familiar with these knows that the hump or raised relief isn't stamped in the repair panel. Actually none of it is actually stamped, it's made on a brake which is why I call them Lego parts. So I have heated and hammered and pressed in the hump/relief area to match.
I'm adding to the corner here. Also the lip is not formed or bent over on these. What they've done is spot weld a piece of angle to it. What I've done is weld the seam and round it over to resemble the factory edge. I know noone will see it on the car but I will and it'd drive me nuts. I'm not building a concours car but I am not building a Lego car either.
Welding ,forming done and weld through primer applied whete needed. Now it's ready to be welded into the support. Finally.
Another example of the Lego parts... can't make panels for cars(floor in this case)with curves on a brake, they won't line up or fit. This is a driver side floor patch panel for a customers 72 Satellite . I made a test panel from scrap first before hammering on the new panel.
After hand forming ,welding the corner and trimming to fit, ready to be installed . Well not quite I still have to drill the holes for plug welds to the frame channel and apply the weld thru primer.
What a job. I wanted to uncover anything that might be hiding under the undercoat which appears to have been sprayed when knew. After lots of thinking and looking I decided to remove the undercoat and to do it in a way to preserve what the factory did as far as over spray. After hours/days with razor blades I was successful and found that the over spray from the passenger side reached the transmission tunnel, I also found solid/clean floors except for under the bottom of the back seat. I had discovered that when I replaced the interior and I removed the lowest area under the back seat and butt welded in new metal then. All that was needed now was to finish cleaning the bottom of the welds now that the exhaust and frame are not out of the way.
I know all about the meaning of "it's a labor of love" and "patience is a vertchue". After all the time spent on the firewall and underbody I was ready to spray the epoxy primer and paint. Primer went on without any issues as well as the color. Unfortunately though the color the new guy sold me was gloss. I told him I absolutely didn't want gloss that I am painting my firewall and other items with it. He proudly said oh yeah I know just what you need me and paw use this for that all the time. Well at midnight last night after the paint had plenty of time to flash and dull it was still shiny as can be. So I called and talked to someone in charge this morning they mixed up what I originally wanted and sent it out and now after painting again it looks like it should. ..finally. I guess the bright side is it has 1 more coat of protection on it.
Ready to start cutting. I have drilled from the bottom beside the braces the location of the spot welds and masked off the surrounding area to prevent the debris from going everywhere it shouldn't. The vast majority of the floor is solid but there's enough pin holes that I don't feel comfortable letting it go since the frame is out of the way.
Still waiting for the trunk floor so I took the time to finish the exhaust system. What a time consuming effort. It's 3" to the mufflers with an x ,then 2.5" from mufflers back thru the bumper. All mandrel bent pipe.
Thrust welded/chambered mufflers . I welded the front section /mid pipes and ground the welds. Most of the pipe is aluminized but I cleaned and painted all of them with header paint because of the welds. The mufflers will be clamped so removal will be possible later if needed. Now I can remove the motor and dummy trans again, take care of the bumpers and numerous other items to be addressed. I know I'm not the only one but I was just going to build the carb and install 1.65 rockers and keep driving it. ...?
What did you use to clean the firewall? You'd think whatever chemical you decided on would remove the crayon as well. I'm curious....
No I couldn't see any markings before I started. There had been a light spray bomb detail done before which covered the marking. Fortunately it was spray can, done lightly and no sanding so the scrub pad easily removed it. I was also looking for the marks and worked slowly and rinsed often. Once they started to appear I was more deliberate about what and where I rubbed with the pad. I have found the green on the spindles, yellow on the pinion yoke and white on rear that way also.
Somewhere along the way - and over the course of 9 owners - the entire engine bay was spray bombed. Including both the power steering and alternator brackets. My engine will be removed late winter/early spring, so I'll definitely be doing this.