Silverbullet's resto: Bodywork

[Silverbullet]

I'm not a big fan of using bog, well not for big rust holes that is.
I prefer to use it the way you are Sam, welding up the patches first, then smoothing it out with bog.
In America it seems to be all that they use. They cover the whole car in bog, and then get a plane that matches the cars contour and smooth it to a perfect finish.
So the end result is metal, lots of bog and then paint.

Cheers Cam

I know what you mean! Some people even do it to 50's hot rods i.e fill all the rust holes up with bog and ignore the real issue...don't know how they sleep at night With my repairs they might look lumpy straight off the grinder, but they're still strong and then use a little bit of filler to finish it off.

Jonno it could have been the earth clamp now I think of it, maybe some paint in the way giving a dodgy connection. Amazing you saw your first choice of first car 30 years on! and even more that you still have your second choice With filler I think it's important to do it on a dry day, onto clean bare metal and keep it dry until you can paint it. Any moisture will destroy the plastic stuff eventually.

[Bantum]

Some tips from my experience on getting a good weld :
Make sure that you prep area to be welded by removing old paint, surface rust, etc from a larger area to be welded with suitable sanding, then wipe down with a solvent like acetone as it helps to remove contaminates that can get into the weld ... ( P.S. - Keep solvents away from your work though ! ) Also make sure the welding earth has also got fresh bare metal to 'bite' well.

If your wanting to experiment a little : Try getting hold of a suitable 'tig' tip and try the slow & steady approach, much more controlable - but takes ages to do ...

[Silverbullet]

I've been grinding all paint and rusty bits away before welding. As for TIG, I don't have the skill to want to attempt that just yet. TIG welding was never my strong point, couple that with my machine can only do lift TIG and not HF, not gonna go there

[Silverbullet]

Another day, another patch! This time the bottom of the A pillar on passengers side. This one is the best I've done so far; I took a lot of time making sure the patch edges were completely flush all the way around before I tacked them. This not only made welding easier but also when it came to grinding it back I wasn't chasing my tail trying to get it the same level. This all resulted in a much much smoother finished job. There are still a few imperfections, but the smallest smear of filler will take care of this.

Right after grinding, the dremel earned it's keep yet again here

Wire brushed the whole lot, now you can see the imperfections better

[scoobymine]

That's a nice job, similar to what i did. Then i filled it with fish oil, let it dry for a few days. Haven't seen a speck of rust reappear in 4 years. Fishoil, smelly but it's great stuff, i also used Fertan to neutralise any bits i couldn't see.

[El_Freddo]

Good work Sam! You should be proud of your work

Personally I'd be looking at rust treating all areas that you uncover/weld/cut etc, rust oxide paint, primer paint it then use some bog if you need it or use a few coats of high filler and buff back from there.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Already done Bennie I didn't take a "before" pic but any area I uncover I treat with rust buster (if there's still some surface rust) and then paint with Rust guard. I also painted the insides of my patches but I dunno how this all lasts after the heat of welding. And to finish it off once it's all done I'll be using cavity wax and fish oil as suggested everywhere I can get it. That will be after the car is fully painted though, don't want to risk any waxy or oily stuff seeping out during paint.

[NachaLuva]

Nice job!

[RSR 555]

Some good work going on here Sam, keep it up

[Silverbullet]

Finally a cool weekend to get back to work. The last 3 weekends in a row have been above 30/high 30's, too hot for me to be grinding and welding. In the mean time we have acquired a bench grinder so now I can grind my own spot weld drills which will make life easier.

Just a little bit of rust cut out today so far, at the bottom of the gutter/drip rail on the passenger side. To get to this I needed to peel back the gutter all the way up to the top of the window to get enough room for a dremel...sadly I made a bit of a mess of the flimsy strip I should be able to get away with it though. And then the little patch was cut out, just a flat piece. Luckily this rust was from the outside in so it's mostly surface rust and not the cancerous rot from inside.




I have to re-weld this battered gutter strip in later...somehow This was before we got the bench grinder

Don't worry that's not a huge gap around the piece, just an illusion created by sharpie ink

Before I weld this I hit it with rust buster and will spray some rust guard inside.

[El_Freddo]

Looking good there Sam!

Temps haven't been THAT bad! Last weekend I finally did the acid treatment, wirewheeling and sealing of Sunnie the Brumby. In the last week I planned to sand and do another coat of red oxide - but a) the weather wasn't really good for painting on part of cyclone rusty (ironic isn't it?) and b) I was stuffed after work so nothing was done!

Sometimes you've got to endure the heat otherwise before you know it it'll be too cold to do anything - especially painting!

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

Hehe don't you worry the cold doesn't bother me I remember rebuilding my old engine over winter at night, in the shed, breathing frost...fond memories. I'll be out there every weekend over winter...as long as the driveway doesn't flood too bad

[El_Freddo]

Yeah the cold isn't bad to be working on mechanical things especially if you've got a shed to do the work in!

But when it comes to temps, humidity and paint you've really got to make sure the weather compliments the effort you're putting in to rid your ride of rust for good in the areas you're working on.

The tray area on Sunnie the Brumby that I'm working on is an area I've already worked on - just that I didn't get it right in the first place. Very frustrating!

This time I will not have an issue again! Best to get it (and the weather) right the first time!

Cheers

Bennie

[steptoe]

Speaking of engine builds Sam, can you ask your therapist when you can start to talk about the twin port and its dizzy escape ??

[Silverbullet]

can you ask your therapist when you can start to talk about the twin port and its dizzy escape ??

Oh yeah that's all sorted now Turned out someone F%#*'ed up when they put the dizzy worm gear back on the crank and cracked it through the key way, when I turned it over it just self destructed and scraped some off the inside of the alloy engine block. Replacement gear fitted and the engine is back sitting in the shed until the car is finished...

[El_Freddo]

Replacement gear fitted and the engine is back sitting in the shed until the car is finished...

That's good to hear! But not good about the work that resulted in this damage.

Cheers

Bennie

[Silverbullet]

More than a month since I've done anything, not good!!!:-|

Well today has changed that, and I can see myself doing a lot more a lot quicker from now on. Having the new Dremel has helped, but while I was lying down there grinding away looking at the same spot I was about to re-tackle with horrible access and thinking about my struggle with the standard welding shield I thought bugger it; I got paid last night I'm going out to get an auto shield. So I did; a Lincoln Electric auto shield with adjustable shade (from 9 to 13) adjustable sensitivity and delay time, and the big full sized viewing window not a small strip.
And my god has it made a difference I honestly cannot believe how much easier it is to weld on the car now I can actually see what I'm doing and where I'm about to strike an arc. The couple of patches I did today with the auto have transformed my welding, easily 100% better and alot quicker too since I'm not struggling to keep the gun where I want it. I'm looking forward to this part of the resto now instead of dreading it, I will never go back to the standard shield.

I could go on all day about how awesome it is, but how about I show what I've done. Here is the part I've been struggling with for ages, now on the way to being done. This is the inner skin and I decided to do in 2 sections to make patch fabrication easier. Now I can see everything it allows me to weld in much tighter spaces and get the wire almost anywhere and put a good weld down. I can also weld over bigger gaps so patches don't have to be absolutely perfect.

Next the bottom of the gutter on passenger side, just a small rectangle but hard to get to because of the gutter I had to drill out and peel back.

After welding, no distortion

And ground back (my $20 chinese ebay carbide burrs have proven their worth to no end)



That's it for today, waiting for some paint to dry on that dog-leg corner section before I finish it, maybe tomorrow. With the new shield I can't wait to get out there again. As far as I'm concerned, if you're planning on doing this kind of work on a car you need an auto shield.

[Rodeo4jake]

Good to see you back at it again. I've got one of those auto shields & have to agree that they are really good to use.
Keep it up the repairs are looking good.

[60766244]

Wow I am impressed you did so well with the old shield. I got an auto-shield for my birthday and I can't believe how much better it is. Well worth the layout for sure! Great repairs as always.

[El_Freddo]

Good progress mate!

Makes me want to quit my job and work on cars all the time... Not cool!

Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Bennie