Silverbullet's resto: Bodywork

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:12 pm

Its great when things work out

Looking forward to the photos when you weld it in

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 6:12 pm

So in preparation for next weekend (long weekend) we decided to organize things so I can spend a solid 3 days welding, knock a few jobs off hopefully. I will get a new gas bottle this week and today we removed the windscreen and dashboard so I can get at that windscreen corner. Glass came out easy and an hour of undoing screws, cables and plugs and the dash came out too. Found some lost items in the dash, and alot of the air ducting has broken and disintegrated with age (replacing them could be tricky) At the moment looks like a bomb has hit it, may need to do a tidy up before work begins

I am amazed at how good a condition the corners are, the rusty one isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting and the other side is completely untouched with everything in between looking like new still. The front and rear screens which I though were going to be the hardest repair are turning out to be the easiest, pretty happy with that

Stay tuned for some decent repair progress pics next week.

Windscreen out

The mess!

Rusty corner

Passenger corner, untouched by the kiss of rust

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:32 pm

What a marathon today was! Up bright and early (for a saturday anyway) and got stuck in around 9:30 this morning, only just came in at 7:30PM

I am absolutely loving the flood lights, gives me an extra 3 hours of work time easily and more if I felt like going longer. And I've got plenty of pics to show everyone the detailed jobs of repairing the rust where all of these cars suffer; the tailgate corner and windscreen corner.

The tailgate corner was the easiest; only one layer of steel to replace and with my patch panel it went straight in, looks a treat and it doesn't even have a skim of filler yet

The windscreen corner on the other hand is a little more complicated with no less than FIVE layers of steel in that area. And I can now see why they all rust in this area: there is a separate panel for the bottom windscreen channel and the two side pillars with an overlapping seam/join right at the bottom of the corner. I have no doubt this is where the water starts it's damage seeping into that seam and causing grief.

I am so so glad I had the foresight to buy two of the beautiful hand made repair panels from last celtic warrior (one of the subie boys) up in Gympie before he moved on from subies, without them this repair would be near impossible for me and they are like pattern parts, absolutely perfect. I tried to cut the repair panel as little as possible and altered the car to fit it. With this panel now the side pillar blends into the bottom channel in one continuous piece with no chance for water entry; a superior method IMO. I haven't welded this part in yet, I spent all my welding time today on the rear section (next post)

Enough drivel have some pics
Here's right after I cut into the section, count the layers!

Offering up the panel to check where I need to cut

(almost) perfect!

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:37 pm

Here is my rear repair panel, measured to make sure there is excess around the existing hole

The panel was traced onto the door itself, then cut close to the line but not quite to allow for some adjustment and fine tuning

Clamped in place, a perfect fit

Tacked in place, looking good!

Fully welded, not a single blow through!

A all ground back it looks a bit messy with the bare metal, after a quick coat of paint it looks even better

Over all I'm stoked with the results so far, all in a days work hehe. The tailgate is now 99% done and I should have the windscreen done tomorrow, stay tuned.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 7:22 am

I have to ask Sam - was the donor tailgate for that repair piece rust free/ ding free , but you just had to do the panel repair ??

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 4:12 pm

Silverbullet wrote:

Great work, well done!

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:06 pm

Thanks Nachaluva!

steptoe wrote:I have to ask Sam - was the donor tailgate for that repair piece rust free/ ding free , but you just had to do the panel repair ??

HA! As if! I wouldn't have done this amount of work if I didn't have to

No the donor tailgate was in far worse condition than mine, it just happened to have the corner I needed in perfect condition. Oh and a rear glass with a working demister. Worth the $80 IMO.

Here's the pics of todays progress; just the windscreen for today since we lost an hour (clocks went forward) and I finished earlier since I was knackered

I changed a few things around with how all the seams and panels meet in this area, improvements I think to almost eliminate the possibility of water entry. All the panels were fully seam welded and smoothed off. Also had to do a cut and shut on the repair panel where the window flange didn't quite meet up with the inner skin flange right on the corner. Just needs a quick skim of filler to cover up the welds. Just think, it took 30 years for this corner to rust to this stage and it wasn't as bad as I feared, I reckon in this state it should be safe for another 10 years at least? I drenched the whole area inside and out in fish oil until it dripped out the bottom of the car and that stuff creeps into every crack it's amazing.

Here's the panel tacked in place. It took a bit of beating with a rubber mallet to get all the edges in position (the panel had a slight twist in it) without putting dents in it

Fully welded

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
All ground back, this took most of the day to clean up as most of the welds couldn't be reached with an angle grinder. Had to use the Dremel clone and a carbide burr very very slowly

And with just a quick coat of primer to stop it rusting overnight, it looks almost like new!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:49 pm

Mate, top work!!!

You'll have one awesome wagon once you're done mate!

Keep up the good work

Cheers

Bennie

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:49 pm

Thanks Bennie! As the rust spots get knocked off one by one I get closer and closer to the full respray. Then from there on it will all be a down hill ride. I can't wait to get stuck in to modding and fitting all the mechanical stuff underneath I have planned but first I will paint underneath in sound deadener/rust proofing. Finding a place with a spray booth that will actually do the body is proving difficult though; crash repairers aren't interested and I haven't found a dedicated body/paint shop yet. More searching to be done.

Todays progress was to fix the hinge area on the "rust free" door I got from the wreckers

I have a bit of deja vu here...That's right I repaired exactly the same area on the front passenger door too...It looks like this area is a haven for water seepage and to top it off the metal here isn't even galvanized! Take off the top layer underneath the hinge and it was shiny bare steel where it wasn't rusted. Going to have to flood all doors in fish oil me thinks.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:05 pm

Love your work.. when can I drop my Touring Wagon off

Rock Ape · Post by **Rock Ape** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:52 pm

Paint it yourself you look like you could pull it off!

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 5:33 pm

Hey Paul if you can drive the car here and give me about 5 years, I might think about it

Also more researching has turned up a few possibilities not far from home for the paint job (thanks for the compliment Rock ape

) I've ruled out doing it myself a long time ago for a few reasons. And I've saved up some serious dosh for it so I want a professional finish which I couldn't achieve at home.

Anyway some new shelving in the shed meant we could empty the boot of all the car parts and I started digging...and oh dear, that rear windscreen must have been leaking for quite some time. Into serious stuff now; this section of floor is welded to a chassis rail and there are other sections which will need surgery all around the perimeter of the boot floor

This really took me by surprise and will no doubt push my plans back a fair bit. At least this repair won't have too look good just be strong.

With all the tar chipped off a while ago there was rust here already, but it's just gotten worse and worse

The camera shows up the orange brilliantly, those big holes go straight through to a chassis rail

Rodeo4jake · Post by **Rodeo4jake** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:06 pm

Mate that is a bit of rust in the boot floor! Should be easy compared to some of the other repairs you've pulled off recently. As you said it won't need to look as pretty in there.

Cheers Jake

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:25 pm

Silverbullet wrote:Hey Paul if you can drive the car here and give me about 5 years, I might think about it

Don't tempt me.. I'd even box my hatch up and send that to you

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:02 pm

Don't send the Hatch Paul you'd never get it back

It's been a few weeks, other things get in the way as usual and we've had some pretty stinking hot days. I finished repairing the boot floor but forgot to take pics of the process, looks good though I used 1.9mm material so it's very strong. Also did quite a serious patch right on the top of one of the doors (again, neglected the camera here) just doing the bogging and sanding on that now.

And then we come to this! This is the very last section that needs to be repaired, the last cancer hole the last rust patch and the last bit of cutting, welding and grinding I will have to do on this car! Yippeeee!

This is the botom of the A pillar, drivers side. I repaired the same section on the opposite side you might remember, but this side was alot worse. Actually had to cut a big section of good steel out just to get access to the rotten stuff, then weld the original piece back in. Anyway pics speak a thousand words so:

Believe it or not this rust has been here since at least 1987, amazed it's not worse!

Had to open the whole section up to get access to the inner layers.

My patches made up

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:07 pm

Inner sections repaired and sealed up with copious amounts of cold galv

All done! I actually welded completely along the bottom, welding my patches to the bottom rocker panel. Just because it looks neater, will be a pain if I ever have to repair it again though

The eagle eyed might notice I forgot to put a hole in the larger patch; there's a threaded hole behind there for one of the fender mounting bolts

No matter, I should be able to get a rough location of the hole by putting a fender up and just drill it out afterwards. Annoying since that will open up the repair section to water again, maybe some rubber O-rings around the bolt would prevent it rusting again.

Rodeo4jake · Post by **Rodeo4jake** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:51 pm

Once again I'm very impressed, with both your dedication to the project & the work your doing. Can't wait till I see you paint this & fit that motor you had for it.

Cheers Jake

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 10:03 pm

Thanks Jake

I can tell you I'm getting just a little excited now, but I have to paint the underbody first and get it back to a rolling shell before I can wheel it off the the paint shop. If I can get my arse into gear on the next job I'm thinking it will be painted in the next 3 months

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 10:06 pm

As usual, more excellent work

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:44 pm

Well done mate , your skills have come a long way and your patience has certainly paid off!

I know you want it in the road but be meticulous with the final stages of prep work to ensure you get it right!

Keep up the good work, that stuff at the driver door you've done looks top notch!

Cheers

Bennie