Radiator Duct Panel and Related Pains

This is the radiator duct panel, it's bent.

 

This is the front of the car without a radiator duct panel, and a bunch of other things, well pretty much everything!

The fenders are back on to help align everything.

A new tool! After making some jig fixtures, I used the new hydraulic puller to help fit the fenders and get the correct gap for the hood, things are starting to come together.

Duct panel getting fitted.

Hood aligned. If a hover craft were a thing, I would leave it just like this.

Here is the bonnet lock platform in place after welding, it is maintaining the hood width gap.

Now the duct panel gets welded in. The end. This may look simple, but it was much more complicated than even the sill panels because there were so many critical panels to align. The platform brace still needs to be installed, but that can wait.

 

Side Marker Delete

After removing the side marker light and the fender from the car,  I cut out a quarter size plug and welded it in from the back of the fender.

Then I filled in the screw holes with the MIG welder.

Finally a little grinding and the panel is smooth again. I still have to do the rear lights as well.

 

Driver Side Door Sill Repairs

 

This isn't looking too bad...

While there was rust in the castle rail box section, it was only at the very front of the panel.   

So maybe there is a little more rust in here.

 

More rust to cut out then new metal going back in, this is an extension of the floorboard inside the car.

I had to make the the front section of the castle rail. I didn't feel like buying a whole one just to use six inches of it.

Same with the membrane, a small sheet of 16 gauge steel is $10, the whole panel is $87. I added the stiffening triangles with weld beads, probably overkill. 

Membrane primed with weld through primer, new sill trimmed.

Panels installed.

Welds ground down, all good, will finish off with some POR-15 and then put the new splash panel on. The fender was not rusted through on this side making my life much easier. The driver side repair took about three days, but some of that was waiting for 16 gauge steel. The passenger side repair took three weeks!

Front Valance Panel

So, the front valance panel was all bent up and was brazed to the radiator base panel, there was a lot of bondo to boot.

Step one, cut off the offending portions...

Step two cut new steel to fit.

And tack weld it on.

Connect the dots.

Grind it smooth. There is still a lot of shaping that needs to be done with this, but I will get to that when I start the body work.

 

Fender Repair

HOLY FENDER!

 

Fender removed for repair.

 

Holiness removed.

New fender section being shaped for fit. Needs some more bend.

Sized and shaped section clamped to welding table for flush fit and welded from back side.

Now with fender securely mounted on the car, the repair section is welded from front to fill in the small seam and allows it to be ground smooth so less filler is needed before painting.

 

Suck, that was a lot of grinding! But the panel is pretty smooth. Also note, the bend at the front wheel well opening, that was hammered in once the welding was solid and then welded and ground smooth. the bottom flange just needs to be drilled and secured with bolts so the whole fender is easily removable.

Dogleg Panel Installation

Dogleg panel prepped and ready to go on.

Tack welded in place.

The trailing edge is straightened since the panel did not fit with the rounded end, I just pounded it flat on an anvil.

The wheel well was reinforced to withstand pounding the trailing edge around to fit the contour.

After finishing all the welding, the welds are ground smooth. Job done. It took a couple of hours to fit the dogleg panel to the car, but the attention to detail was worth it as it made butt welding the panel very easy since there were no gaps.

 

Floor Repair

I was able to cut out the two large rust holes in the floor pan on the passenger side.

I traced out and cut two patches.

With welding magnets holding both patches in place I was able to weld the bottom patch in.

Finally I was able to weld in the top patch and fill in the cut marks. The floor is is in pretty solid shape  now.

Splash Panel and Upper Bracket Installation

The splash panel upper bracket looked like Swiss cheese, now it it is removed.

 

And now it looks like this, all better.

By bolting on the splash panel proper alignment of the upper bracket was made easy.

The nuts needed to be welded in place to hold the lower part of the panel. The originals were rusted beyond reuse-ability.

Outer Sill Panel Installation

The aft end of the outer sill clamped for welding.

To get the sill lined up at the bottom and with the door, it need to be jacked up.

Sill tacked in place.

The outer sill panel did not wan to fit the car properly, so by separating the the forward curved section of the panel allowed the rest of it to bend into position. The forward part is not visible with the fender attached so alignment is less critical.

Forward sill ready to be tacked in place.

Strangely, the forward section lines up almost perfectly when installed separately. Cutting the panel removed about 1/16 inch from the length allowing proper fit.