Cantedvalve

Tonight I welded up the roof support crossmembers, and ground down some of the welds on the rockers. Found a few that I had to touch up with the welder, but still over the moon with the results. Roof crossmembers were tack welded in place with the roof on, then the roof was removed and plug welds were administered. Refit the roof tomorrow to check that all is still good, along with more weld grinding. Also going to pull the quarters and prep the wheel wells for primer and welding.

Yesterday I welded up the driver side. Completely uneventful, which is a good thing. Today I need to do the roof crossmembers and start final fitting of the firewall.

The big day is here! Today we made sparks! Previously we drilled holes at 5/16” In the inner rocker. We are welding inside to out, as it offers much less area you have to grind on that will also be visible. We did have some exceptions back at the torque box area where we had to weld outside to in. We completed the welds on the passenger side. Truthfully, I did most of it while my son helped, but he did get in there and do some himself, but he wasn’t as confident as I was with rosette welding. We used 5/16” holes, but we could have used 1/4” holes particularly if we were welding outside to in. Our process was as such. We put epoxy primer on both the inner surfaces, including where the wells would go. We then drilled holes. We then positioned the body side back up on the car and clamped it. I took a burned up 1/4” drill bit and flattened the end to use as a scraper to remove the epoxy on off the back metal in the hole area and used it with a die grinder. Then we welded. Where you see scorch marks in the first photo was where we had drilled holes and used screws to hold it together. Turned out awesome. Still need to grind the welds flat. About 3 hours of work Pictures…

Epoxy primer done, and plug weld holes drilled in inner rockers. We reassembled the body sides, roof rails, quarters, and roof. Everything is fitting well. Tomorrow we weld!

Sand blasted the roof crossmembers and the rear seat support this evening. The boy sanded the inner rockers. Tomorrow epoxy primer goes on the inner rockers, roof crossmembers, rear seat support, and firewall. Pictures then. Also starting to pile up parts. Got our HEH-P Toploader, Hurst shifter arrives tomorrow. Heads are here, as is most of the rest of the engine parts.

Finished up the mower engine today. It’s back in and running well.

Weather seems to be warming up. We havent had much chance to do work on the car. I've been rebuilding the engine in dad's mower (Onan P220 for the interested... couldnt talk him into the SBF). That will be done Friday. Next week will be warm enough that we can get primer on the firewall (which miraculously hasnt rusted), and continue mock up. I did start purchasing engine parts. We also tore down the block to the bones, and it will be headed towards the machine shop this summer. I hope to start having more regular updates starting next week.

Not really. It's been too cold here to spray primer. We have everything mocked up, but I need to spray some inner surfaces before we start welding, so I am waiting on the weather to turn.

Our quarter panels are doing the same thing. Very tight to the rockers, mostly towards the back. Everything else lines up very well, save the passenger outer wheel well. It wants to be 1/4" rearwards from flush vs the inner. We arent that concerned with it unless someone tells us to be. These cars werent hand built, and I dont expect them to go together the same way twice. Quarter panels are the same height on both sides (as measured to a specific point that I cannot describe well) and match my other 1970. I wouldnt mind rotating the quarter panel towards the front (lifting the rear), as it would help with the trunk drop off match, but even that is pretty good the way it is. I can definitely weld it into place without having to force it though.

Worked on the passenger front roof crossmember stub today. Cut it off, trimmed where it needed , and tack welded it back on. It now flows with the roof, and we can clamp all 4 corners down. So it will install! Here’s a single picture of the tack welded after.

I do the same thing. kinda a swirl from the outside in.

We worked on the roof again tonight. I think we have solved the puzzle. We started by lining up the back of the roof, clamping it in place, and then working in the front. We got the driver front clamped down, but the passenger front would not go. I think that the crossmember stub on the front needs to move back about 3/8”. That would allow the crossmember to move back on the Passenger side, and then the roof would fall into place. Trick is making sure all the measurements are in. Still not sure on how. Here’s how we left it, although it doesn’t look as good as it really is due to removing a couple clamps to use elsewhere. Driver front is good but looks lifted due to a clamp missing, passenger front needs to rotate to the rear, passenger rear is good, driver rear is good even though it doesn’t look like it in the photo. It may end up needing a little trimming.

Here are some pictures of what I am doing in the export brace area. First one shows you the replacement flange from the top. I grabbed some steel corners (came in on some flat stock, used to prevent damage in shipping) from work that were going to the scrap bin, and what do you know, perfect width. The rest was trace and cut. Second picture shows the 5/32” inset from the top of the flange where the reinforcement plate will go. It will have a companion plate running downward inside the firewall to give it additional rigidity.

Those are the best ones I’ve ever done. The rest probable look similar to yours. I got one of those backing clamps that helps prevent burn through, and I turned the welder up. Worked well. Doesn’t always though as you can’t get that clamp behind everything.

Last night I worked on correcting the driver side rear roof crossmember stub. The piece that the crossmember welds to. It was too wide by 0.5" and it was too far back by about 1/8". Fixing that solved the problem seen here... I also worked on trimming up the front passenger side from the corner that still sticks out...

Well, mine is the Dynacorn assembly, so the floor supports and the inner rockers are already in place. Front apron assemblies need to be there for the torque box uppers, at which point getting the firewall in is kinda like a contortionist squeezing into a ketchup bottle.

So how would one go about this if they are starting with a floor assembly and a full firewall?

So we worked on getting the roof to fit today. We have the body sides squared and wheel wells in place. All good, but the roof just doesn’t want to fit.. It feels out of square. I can line up the front corners and the passenger rear. The driver rear feels “short.” The roof doesn’t overlap the quarter panel by much towards the rear… certainly not enough to plug weld it. Everything else seems good. We will keep working on it.

Okay, back it goes. What part of the harness? I’m guessing the wiper motor?

Been working on the firewall. Spending a lot of time on it because a) it needed help, and b) I am making some subtle modifications that should help with strength. The metal was thin where the export brace bolts up and the holes were wallerd out, so I cut that out and welded in new metal. When I did, I dropped it down around 5/32” because I am planning to integrate an export brace reinforcement into that area. I am not fond of just welding it to the outside of the cowl, so I am integrating it into the firewall. It will get plug welded on, and when it’s done, won’t be easy to see. I finished on the flat piece that goes on top of the firewall where the export brace bolts on. Turned out very nice, and flush to the top flange where it will be welded. I will have a vertical piece on the inside of the firewall that will plug weld also and weld to the top piece. It increase the strength of that area nicely. I also took off this little bracket from the driver side of the firewall next to the export brace flange. I have no idea it’s function. I know someone smarter than me can tell me. If it is of no use (as it isn’t on my 1970) I may leave it off.

Top coating might be the answer

Probably not uncommon to see interchangeable parts interchange early in the model year.

Date code on the door is 9M03, which I think translates to December 3, 1969. The boy was all worried he was getting a 69 door because it had 69 glass in it. Not the case.

Finished repairing the rear seat support today. It’s not going to look new, but it will do the job and largely won’t be seen. II’d love to find a 2” lightening die to put some rigidity back in the structure to prevent vibration/harmonics/whatever. Also did another assessment of the door we flayed. just needs the bottom repaired and the inside sand blasted… something we can’t do until better weather.

Tonight I worked on my beefed up reinforcement plate for the firewall. I made a slit in the back to allow me to bend it (it’s HSLA 050XLF steel at 0.145”), then welded the cut back up after the proper bend had been achieved. I also started working on putting the holes in it for the brake system and steering column. I test fit it before calling it a night. Is it overkill? Sure, but that section of firewall WITH the old reinforcement plate had flexed and the holes were out of shape. Since rust caused me to make a new one anyway, I figured a bit more steel would help fix those problems. I’m quickly running out of stuff to do given it is winter here and I can’t sand blast or put down epoxy primer. Have to have access to both of those things before I can start welding parts together. I can still strip the doors and get them ready for new skins. Rear seat support has some repair work left on it. Many small parts to sand blast in the cabinet, but I’m not able to prime them… unless… I can prime them at work! Oh perfect! But hey, don’t tell anyone!