Floor Score and Seven Days Ago...

Sanding the floors was a rough task on my knees. It would have been nice to lay on carpet, but I guess I'm working towards that. I sandblasted the rough areas of the floor and wiped some cancer spots off. What was left was just surface rust. After the sand again penetrated my ears, I slapped some black paint on the floor. I'm not done with the paint but the first coat is there.

Those darn side windows

From the first moment my dad seen the car he wanted to stay clear of those side windows. There are a couple slants and angles that would be challenging. As I was welding around the floors I noticed that my dad was banging on metal, measuring, and of course cutting himself yet again. He made a mold from the original to replace the cancer spots on the driver's side. We spot welded and bent the metal more to fit our needs. "It is the best we can do with the tools we have." The plan is to smooth out the little imperfections with filler in the spring along with the rest of the car.
The passenger window is next. As you can see it might be a little harder to make a mold of of that one...

Floor weld

It sure is nice looking into the car and not seeing the ground beneath the car. On the driver side a 3/4 floor panel cost triple digits. If you look at the picture you can see they left me about 6 inches short as well. That extra 6 inhces cost around $90.00. To save a couple pennies my dad fabricated a piece that fit very very nicely. Looks good..
The whole focus today was just getting the floor welded into place. We first put some screw lockers into the floor to hold them into place. This was a real treat as every other screw would slip as we hit the juice, BUT the job got done. After this I began the journey of welding around the perimeter. Hammer, weld, hammer, weld... It took it while but we got the tight fit and puzzle placement we were looking for. I still have to weld under the floor to attach it to the frame, but I was facing time AND frigid temperatures. Next time I'll finish it up.

And we're in.... side

My son Luke joined us for about 10 minutes. He insisted he wasn't cold, but I told him to put his hands in his pockets just in case. He got down and jumped his monster trucks before great grandma came and got him. He liked watching the cutting and sparks, even though in the pic he doesn't look like he wanted to be there.
Running out of things to do on the outside of the car has now directed us to the inside floor pans. They really need a cleaning. (Yes we are still avoiding that side window repair... It'll happen.. We hope :) First thing, map out were the floor support rails and frame is located and then get that cancer out!!! We cut away the metal that needed to go. Took the air hose and blew out the junk that filled the frame. The frame were solid on the driver's side thank goodness and didn't require any additional work. After a little sandblasting action all around, we undercoated that side and painted it black.

The passenger side only needed the front section replaced. We were going to leave it at that but decided last moment to cut over the frame rails to make sure nothing found its way in there like the driver's side. It turned out to be a smart decision because the passenger side was filled with more junk than the exposed driver's side. There was a small hole that needed attention, but was repaired nicely and quickly. I gave this side more sandblasting attention, filled the rails with undercoat, painted it black and called it a day.

"Strong like bull"

The new trunk was placed in, taken out, placed in, taken out, over and over again. A cut here, bend there, try the fit again. Once we looked everything over twice, maybe three times I spotted her in there. Making little spot welds held the trunk in place and I went back to weld the necessary places to cement the pieces.

Once I grinded the spots down smooth we cleaned them off and threw some primer on there. I came back the next day and found a couple other places around the butt that needed more welding that I never finished before. I'm very happy that this section of the car seems to be complete for now and we can move on from here.

Hmmm Hot Chocolate... and the final frame weld

It's cold, and there isn't any way to change that... Sooooo, a little hot chocolate down the tube and everything gets a little warmer... for a minute. Mission trunk completion is nearing the end. The frame is supported, welded, grinded, undercoated, and set for the actual trunk. The hours spent on this section is a mountain tall if stacked, but the ending result will make it worth the hassle we encountered.

I'd like to take a moment to remember my beloved contact that was destroyed during the weld. Just collateral damage I guess, but it sure made it difficult to weld straight the next hour +!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple hours closer

Over everything we have done to Rusty up to this point, I wouldn't have thought the trunk would take so long to work on. Of course I am a rookie body guy, and that's my excuse. The frame rails definitely needed some work. So for the past month (remember I only work on her every other week, family first :) I've been trying to get motivated to work through the blistering cold that enters Michigan. Yesterday it was around 26 degrees when we started. Needing ventilation from the weld and fumes, the garage was wide open. I'd have to say that except for my toes I wasn't too cold.
I completed the weld around the support rails near the tire. I grinded a bit to enhance the look. Heating the metal and bending it, along with filling a half an inch gap between the metal in some spots where it couldn't be bent took time. We also put a steel re-inforcement plate to strengthen where my leaf springs are held. We also decided to cut off some patch steel on the rails and go with a longer one piece from the butt to the tire. This will add much more strength than just a simple patch. It took time to grind off the old patches, cut new space out. By the time we were ready to fabricate another steel piece we ran out of oxygen for the torch... Everything around here is closed on Sundays, so we closed shop too.