This work is almost the direct result of ed1993's thread about buying some tools. Looking at how much fun can be had mucking around with cars and the preparation work knowing the long term goal is to restore the car back to a running condition, improving everything along the way.
The rusty bulkhead had been worrying me, I'm not a welder, I have only the rudimentary tutelage of George to go by and I was nervous about stuffing it up. But if all that is needed is some stitch welding, I thought I'd give it a go. bear with me, this is a step by step story on a noob tackling some panel work
pretty typical rust
Brushed it back with a wire brush and carefully cut out the offending section, being careful not to interfere with any of the existing holes in the bulkhead.
The piece that needed making up was curved and had two reinforcing channels in it.
I hit the bulkhead with my cheapie sandblasting set up. $30 and a bag of garnet, got rid of the rust I couldn't get to with the brush
the result of the sandblasting.
I then hit it with some rust converter. The chemist in me sees the logic in how it works and despite other advice saying it isn't needed, I figure it can do no harm
The trusty spare metal department, an old 2500 bonnet (yes, that is a bullet hole)
fabricating up a new piece, the effort on top was a fraction small so I made up the second replacement, with key to fit into the lapped upper panel. This is just lots of fun. Simple tools, a hammer and a small rod on top of a makeshift anvil and it is surprising how accurate you can get it. In the end, the piece was a bit too short but I was able to fill in with weld.
flap wheel on the angle grinder to bring it up sparkly. Feeling pretty confident about now, this was how George does it. Takes a while to get the fabrication done, but worth it.
fitted in place and held with a magnet. There is about 2mm gap on the underside, but I had been told to leave a bit of a gap for the weld to fill into.
This is where the purists and proper welders are going to cringe. Lots of faffing around and lots of chicken poop. But pretty much held in place.
a radio going (a radio version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, of all things) and a cup of coffee with what are arguably the best biscuits in the world, Montes.
My good wife came out and grabbed a rare shot of me working on the car. The process of welding and grinding wasn't as smooth as it might have been. I think it took 8 goes to get it all filled in, grinding off the excess between welds. George does it in one
OHWS safety shot, mainly for Jonners who loves this sort of thing.
The welder. Picked this up second hand for $100, I use it gasless. There is a problem with the wire feed and it is very erratic. Not that I am blaming the welder, but it excels at stitich welding and is hopeless on anything requiring a run.
Finally finished. I put a spotlight inside the car and could see where I still had pinpricks of light coming through the bulkhead. I learnt the hard way about leaving the mig in one spot for too long, but also got the hang of filling in holes. I wouldn't leave it like this on an external panel, but since this will be covered by the bulkhead pad, I figured a less than perfectly smooth finish was going to be okay.
finish the days work with a clean and then spray of Zinc Black primer.
So what to do from here ? Do I continue with the engine bay and respray it slowly or go straight for the jugular and refit the (repaired) engine. How much engine work should I be looking at doing ? Complete strip as last time and a trip to the engineers shop to plane the head and set the valves up or just plonk it back in with an overhaul of the water pump, oil pump and other ancillaries ? How much do I spend on the body ? I'm really, really torn here.
stu