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9/29 and 9/30/03

I've had a ton of questions about the welder I'm using.  This is the mig welder I borrowed from my brother Dan.  It's worked flawlessly.  I've had no problems welding sheet metal or the heavier stuff.

Remember the B pillar support?

I got to a point where I wanted to tackle that modification since I had the floors in and I wanted to get the rear seat risers and mounts lined up.

The support is welded to the rear seat riser when installed in the car.

Here is the old support laying on top of the new convertible support.

This view is from the bottom, the part that attaches to the floor.

As you can see the convertible brace is not bent as sharply as the hardtop.  this is for both added support and to clear the actuators for the convertible top.

You have to look closely here.  There is a black mark running the length of the new support.

This is the area that is more sharply bent on the hardtop brace.

I'm going to cut the mount from top to bottom along this line.

Just like that a $125.00 part is in two pieces! 

I hope this works.

Here it is set into place, it looks like it was made for it!

I need to weld it back together after I'm sure about the placement.

Pay special note to the area behind it that has been cut out, I've been avoiding this repair, but it's next....ughhhh

This took several hours.

What you are looking at is the area right behind the drivers door.  The outer quarter has obviously been cut away.

The five screws across the bottom are securing it to the very straight edge of the floor pan. 

At the top of the piece is the lower inner quarter, it's not straight and has some very fluid bends in it.  A hammer, dolly, 2x4, pliers and vice grips got the sheet metal close.

Here is the same piece from the inside.

It's not pretty but it should work.

Before I fully weld it all in I did a couple more body adjustments to finally make sure it all measure out OK.

All cross measurements were within a 1/4 inch, most were dead on.

This is really critical as I found the frame is pretty badly bent in the rear, I had to use 2 inches of spacers at the drivers body mount behind the rear seat to bring everything level.

There was so much rust the poor old girl just kind of collapsed on itself.  I'm confident I have it all straight now.  My measuring tape has been my most valuable tool.

What a terrible mess!

The first job tomorrow is a major cleanup.

The reason for the last couple images being smoky is because of a little bit of welding I did.

After the cleanup it's back to work.  More welding and cussing!

10/10/03

An update on the steering wheel I put on E-bay.

It sold for $776.50!!!!!  WOW!

As I stated earlier I was planning on throwing it out in the trash!

Not much has gone on worth photographing in the last week or so, I've welded up several seams and did a little comparison shopping for all the trunk sheet metal I'll need.

Below is a comparison of the thre three major parts suppliers and Ralph Roberts.  It has once again reinforced my loyalty to Ralph.  Keep in mind all these components are built by the same manufacture to the best of my knowledge.

Should be some work done this weekend.  Check back again Sunday night.

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