I've started to remove some of the rusted piece. At the left side where I've done some removal you can see a strip of a rubber like material that was installed between the two panels to seal from water and/or air leaks. I will modify this a bit. I will not try to reinstall another such strip. Instead I will try to seal the area with caulk after the panel has been replaced.
I have removed some of the screws from the "A" pillar to access the repair area better.
You can see in this shot that the replacement panel does not have lines that are as "crisp" as those from the original piece. I will try to correct this .....somehow.
I am starting to remove the rest of the piece from the car. I have rolled part of the panel over onto the dash area. You can see more of the seal that is sandwiched between the two metals. This may have retained dirt and moisture causing this area to rust so badly.
I have left this corner in until I figure out how I want to proceed. This is the area that I was referring to earlier when I mentioned the crisp lines. The replacement part has very "round" corners.
Here is a shot of the first part that I have removed. I will take more of the area out but I only want to remove enough right now so that I can layout the final cut. The final cut will be closer to the area where there is still paint on the dash.
OK, I'm done now! Well, I wish!
The replacement panel is just laying in place right now. Still quite a bit more cutting/removal left before I can fire up the welder. It is starting to look so much better already.
It has been a while since I have reported any change with the wagon. I finally got a chance to spend some time on it. I was concerned that when I remove the existing rusted window channel, that the dash could easily move about. I decided to be cautious and secure it in place with this rod that you see in this picture. It may look funky but it worked great.
Then I laid out the area that I would cut with tape. You can see that I have started the cut already at the left side in this picture.
Here I have started the removal. I ground the spot welds to weaken the metal around them.
In this shot you can see where the weakened metal is tearing around the spot weld. I carefully did this to each spot weld. My thinking is that I want to leave as much material remaining on this piece so that I do not have to replace it too. I plan to plug weld through holes in the replacement piece right at the same spot as the original spot welds. As you can see it is the best looking metal that I have to weld back to.
Here the entire old channel is removed. The crumpled remnants lay in the way. Out with the old in with the new!
I have changed my mind again and decided not to try and use the original "ends". Here in this shot I am pointing out the new spot that I will cut on the passenger side.
After the corner is removed you can see that this is an area that several pieces of metal come together. When I was tearing this all apart, there was a large chunk of material that was very close in consistency to Plumbers putty. I have also removed pieces of a yellow seam sealer type of material from here. This is important to note because after I weld the new piece in, I will want to try and duplicated the seal as best as possible. More to come on that later.
I will use all of the replacement part on the drivers side. This area of the car was in bad shape and in need of replacement. The new part is not the best in this area. You will notice in the next couple of shots that I have to do some modifications to meet my strict quality control inspection. OK it will fit better!
I projected each of the spot welds onto the dash using the yellow marker. I temporarily installed the replacement channel long enough to project the layout marks onto the new channel.
Next, I drilled each of these locations. I will "plug weld" each of these locations at the original spot weld locations.
Looks like the holes match the locations of the old "spots". The plan is coming together!
I want to get ready to sandblast for my metal repairs now. I did not want to deal with the engine and trans in the way any more so out they come.
I have completed the sandblasting now.
I have done the final fitting of the replacement part here. Because of the rust removal from the sandblasting and the thinning of the metal in this area I will not butt weld the seem between the replacement piece and the dash. I will leave the 3/16" ovelap and weld them together at the edge of the new steel.
Well some time has passed again without much work completed. I have been cleaning and doing some mechanical repairs on the GTO. I did manage to get a little work done to the windshield area on the wagon. The next couple pics show what I've done and ...where the car repair is at today. I will be hitting this hard again after the Memorial day weekend. We take our annual trip to Bend Oregon for the Goat herd's Tiger Run - GTO show. Hope to see you there. If not, I'm sorry that you missed out on the FUN!
I primered the repair area with a weld through primer. Welding "precisely" placed tacks is soo much easier with nice clean metal so I ground back the primer a little bit.
The replacement piece is back in place for the last time!
Well, I think it is clamped well enough to get 'er tacked in place.
Getting enough tacks and plug welds to remove the clamps.
An example of a plug weld.
I like welding a few tacks and then grinding them before welding more tacks. Take it slow and watch the heat!
Trial fit with the cowl cover. I suggest checking your fit several times along the way. This is just the first photo that I took. I measured, test fit and measured several times and places before welding. I also continued to check dimensions and fit along the way.
Well it is a week after Memorial Day and I have only spent a few hours working on the car since the last photo. I have stitched some more tacks about every half inch .....
....and a little more than half of the plug welds.
Remember this shot? I feel a need to work on this for a while. Mix it up a bit!
A shot with everything stripped and a thorough washing. This is way out of chronological sequence but a good photo of what I started with.
I have removed the undesirearble piece of the dash.
Here are the old and new (replacement) pieces.
Here is a shot of the final test fit.
I put a few tacks at each splice and plug welded at each of the old spot welds and I was able to remove the clamps.
And the Ashtray fits too!
The last four months have gone by quickly with very little work happening to the wagon except for the rims and tires as you see here! These are the original rims with a media blasting, DP90, red vinyl stripe and matte finish clear. I'm making a custom set of dogdish hubcaps that should look great on these rims. For the price of these Goodyears I thought I would try the whitewall thing for a while. It is kinda growing on me. Should compliment the red body with the white top well. I have managed to compelety dismantle the tailgate and all of the rear window trim and seals which all proved to be ...challenging!!! Any way, expect some more posting to come soon.
