Wagon Progress

MP&C

Member
Tonight we worked on getting the front fenders ready for epoxy primer, just a few more items to cross off the list. An earlier repair to resolve some rust on the top of the fenders.........


Picture366.jpg




.........when checking the gap to the hood recently we noticed it was slightly wide at these spots where the weld had pulled. Shown here with the straight edge....


Picture1632.jpg



Time to make a tool that will reach between the inner fender brace for a bit of bumping...


Picture1634.jpg



Picture1635.jpg



The shortened hammer comes in handy again...


Picture1636.jpg



A few good raps along the area brought it out nicely.


Next, we have some early model fender emblems to install on the front fenders, so we needed to fill the old holes...


Picture1637.jpg



Picture1639.jpg



Three separate quick zaps were used (about a minute in between) to minimize the heat introduced into the panel for filling the slotted holes. Note minimal HAZ..


Picture1641.jpg



Holes laid out and drilled for the new emblem...


Picture1646.jpg



Other fender...


Picture1647.jpg



Note minimal weld bead height using EZ Grind..


Picture1650.jpg



Picture1651.jpg



Next, we had one more minor adjustment to do to the driver door lower corner. It was tweaked inward slightly and needed some adjustment. I recently noticed one of my hole punches was broken, and it looks like it will work for what we need, in conjunction with the vise grip dent puller...


Picture1652.jpg



Picture1653.jpg



Kyle started media blasting the inside of the driver's fender.... A bit of a squeeze in a 58" wide blast cabinet..


Picture1655.jpg



Rather tight to the door!


Picture1656.jpg



Until next time.....
 
While I was doing the family thing today at an FLL robotics competition, Kyle worked some more on prepping the front fenders for priming..

One down......


Picture1657.jpg



One to go....


Picture1659.jpg



Another issue that plagues most of the trifive Chevrolets is cracking at the leaded joint at the top of the A pillar.


Picture1660.jpg



A look at the other side shows a gap that is quite a stretch to expect a good permanent repair regardless of the filler used..


Picture1661.jpg



At over 1/4" wide, something we will need to address...


Picture1662.jpg



Picture1663.jpg



So we'll attempt a repair similar to the radius-ing that was done on the rear tailgate, using STEEL..


Picture345.jpg



Until next time....
 
Robert , awesome work as usual. I learn something every time I look at these threads. Thanks for sharing.
 
More shop time on Saturday. While Kyle continued media blasting fenders, I worked on closed up a gaping hole....


Picture1673.jpg



A couple weak spots dictated a bigger hole. Here the radius was added from the A pillar to beneath the drip rail..


Picture1675.jpg



Test fit


Picture1676.jpg



Welded in place.....


Picture1679.jpg



Picture1680.jpg



Picture1682.jpg



Used a torch and wire brush to clean off the other side, looks like this gap was a factory deal, and we have another radius to install..


Picture1683.jpg



Picture1684.jpg
 
Thanks Bob!

More progress, although it doesn't appear like much, progress just the same...


Door skins had been left "loose" on the inner door to allow twisting/tweaking for fitment within the door opening. Drilled some 3/16 holes from flange into inner door and plug welded.


Picture1688.jpg



Parts ready for SPI epoxy primer..


Picture1690.jpg



These are the stiffeners for inside the door skin that go behind the door handle. The inside of the door will be sprayed, as well as these parts, and allowed to flash. Then another application on both and they'll get bolted in place, letting the epoxy primer act as an adhesive to hold in place and seal to the door skin. Once door handles are bolted on they will be there for good..


Picture1691.jpg



This car has belt line trim that goes around the perimeter at the bottom of the windows, which needed to be added to the new door skins. I had saved a piece from the old door skins to get the locations correct. Here's the layout of the slots for the stainless attaching hardware, we'll get that finished next time..


Picture1689.jpg
 
Why is it when you're getting ready to mix primer you find other issues to fix?? More minor tweaks so that hopefully we can spray this afternoon...

A crack that looks to be from some previous body damage.


Picture1692.jpg



Picture1694.jpg



A post dolly is used to provide an off dolly effect, and the body hammer is struck on the "high" spot.


Picture1695.jpg



Picture1697.jpg



Used a copper backing since we're so close to the edge and the metal has been fatigued. Filled the crack and dressed the weld...


Picture1698.jpg



Picture1699.jpg



Picture1700.jpg



Picture1702.jpg



Then I noticed a low spot on the fender's bodyline crease...


Picture1703.jpg



Time to lose another Craftsman chisel to become a body tool...


Picture1704.jpg



....the rod was heated and bent around, then finished welding.


Picture1705.jpg



Placed the fender on the large shot bag and used the dead blow hammer to apply the persuasive force...


Picture1707.jpg



Picture1708.jpg



Much better with a more consistent crown across the fender..


Picture1709.jpg
 
We have primer! Sprayed the SPI epoxy tonight, later this week we'll spray the doors and outside of the fenders and hood. Then we can assemble the front end and block across the adjacent panels..


Picture1710.jpg



Picture1711.jpg



Picture1713.jpg



Picture1714.jpg



Picture1715.jpg
 
Thanks Mitch!


One of our projects for tonight was to make a stand to hold the doors for painting. I have some heavy duty "tripods" on casters that have a 2" ID pipe on top with a setscrew, which works well for changing out various fixtures for painting, as shown below on the left....


Picture066.jpg



My thoughts were to make a similar "tree" to hold the doors, using the hinge mounts. Here's the prototype design...


doorstand.jpg



Here's our CAD layout this evening (cardboard aided design). As the flat bar is a bit cheaper than the pipe, we altered the pattern slightly...


Picture1717.jpg



While Kyle was working on the parts for the door "tree", I turned my attention to one of the doors that still needed some finesse. One of the problem areas on the 55 wagon is that apparently GM did not have sufficient quantity of passenger doors specific to the wagon for the assembly line, so the quick fix was to install doors from the 2 door sedan. The downside was that the rear of the door tapers off where the sedans roof starts to drop off to the back window. With the belt line trim details aligned, note what appears to be a sagging rear edge with a widening gap to the upper door opening.... Most people don't notice this detail..


Picture1718.jpg



Picture1719.jpg



Picture1720.jpg



For comparison, the driver's door aligns well to the trim lines...


Picture1721.jpg



To fix the passenger door, we plan on a sectioning and a lift kit, adding a wider patch in the B post of the door to make up the difference.


Picture1722.jpg



Picture1723.jpg



Picture1724.jpg



This may just work yet.. Hope so, there's a big gap there..


Picture1726.jpg



Picture1727.jpg



New section fabbed and fitted...


Picture1728.jpg



Picture1730.jpg



Picture1731.jpg



Bottom seam welded in place...


Picture1733.jpg



Picture1734.jpg



Yeah, this will be much better...


Picture1737.jpg



One seam down, one to go...


Picture1738.jpg



....and Kyle tackled his first welding project this evening..


Picture1735.jpg



Picture1736.jpg



until next time, Merry Christmas to all!
 
Had some time this evening so worked a bit more on the wagon..


Finished up the door paint fixture.. will be adding some ballast to the base..


Picture1739.jpg



Picture1740.jpg



Picture1751.jpg



Just to compare the driver's door and fitment / body line alignment to what we had to modify on the passenger side:


Picture1741.jpg



Paint stick gap width at the top rear, all body lines straight across, about as close as you can get to what should be there.


Picture1742.jpg



Also needed to finish the slotted holes for the trim under the door's window.


Picture1743.jpg



We'll use a carbide ball nose in the Dremel...


Picture1744.jpg



Picture1745.jpg



Straightedge spanned across two slots for a more precise scribed line..


Picture1748.jpg



Picture1746.jpg



Picture1750.jpg
 
Today Kyle worked on another paint fixture for the wagon, one to hold the front fenders, while I started on adding the weatherstrip and drain holes in the bottom of the driver's door. I had made new bottoms and hadn't gotten around to these holes just yet. I did save the old bottoms to use as patterns.


Picture1768.jpg



The old was merely laid over the new and traced to get the horizontal alignment of the drain holes and weatherstrip holes. Then a more accurate measurement located the vertical dimension of the drain holes...


Picture1769.jpg



Picture1770.jpg



After drilling, a couple of twirls by hand of a 3/8 bit worked nicely to de-bur the holes, inside and out..


Picture1771.jpg



The end of the old section was cut out and trimmed to be able to use it as a scribing template..


Picture1772.jpg



Picture1773.jpg



Picture1774.jpg



Using our same Dremel set up from the top slots.....


Picture1745.jpg



Picture1776.jpg



Picture1777.jpg



Picture1778.jpg



Kyle is getting the hang of this welding stuff.....


Picture1779.jpg



Picture1781.jpg



Picture1795.jpg



Picture1796.jpg



While he started media blasting the core support, I finished up the passenger door's "un-chop"


Picture1784.jpg



Picture1785.jpg



Picture1787.jpg



Outside done, now for the inside piece...


Picture1789.jpg



Picture1790.jpg



Picture1792.jpg



Fitted:


Picture1793.jpg



Picture1794.jpg



And that will do it for today....
 
House of Kolor epoxy. Like SPI, it is one of a few epoxies you can actually sand. It's also quite a bit more expensive, which is why I decided to give the SPI a shot..
 
Working on the inner part of the door's un-chopping today..





Tacked...





Picture1817.jpg






Picture1818.jpg






Picture1819.jpg






Then I got on a roll, here's the welded and finished product...





Picture1823.jpg






Picture1824.jpg






Picture1825.jpg






Much better fit..





Picture1820.jpg






Picture1822.jpg






Picture1821.jpg
 
Took delivery on the ballast material today for the door paint stand. Without this it didn't care for the one door added at a time, and wanted to do a nose dive. This should work well!


IMG_20150102_151939467.jpg



IMG_20150102_152516692.jpg



IMG_20150102_152555150.jpg
 
Today Kyle worked on prepping the driver's door for epoxy primer...


Picture1829.jpg



Meanwhile, with the passenger door unchopped, I turned my attention to the slots for mounting the stainless trim and drain holes.. The old door's "window sill" was aligned and clamped in place to mark the slots..


Picture1827.jpg



Picture1826.jpg



Then the slots are marked onto the new skin, and that location transposed down to the proper location..


Picture1828.jpg



Picture1830.jpg



Picture1843.jpg



This is what happens when you pull the carbide cutter out too far while joining the holes...


Picture1844.jpg



Weatherstrip holes drilled, drain holes laid out...


Picture1845.jpg



Picture1846.jpg



Picture1847.jpg



Kyle has the driver's door scuffed and ready to go, once the passenger door is finished we can spray some more epoxy..


Picture1848.jpg



Picture1849.jpg
 
was the stand engineered with the concrete blocks in mind? I like it, multiple uses and it rolls!
 
Those came from a previous employer, the stands came with some pintle hitch trailers that left without the stands. So when they asked if anyone wanted any of them, I scooped some up and added the casters. The base sizing for holding the cinder blocks was just dumb luck. They have worked well in many situations. For this time of year, I go through a bit of Kerosene just keeping the booth up to temps for spraying, so the door fixture was built to help get the Epoxy done all in one spraying..
 
Back
Top