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WOW! Trip your doing a great job and you have as much body work as I do but I wanted to ask you about your rotisserie it looks very sturdy and I was wondering where you purchased it and what brand it is? I am just getting to that point now the body is on a rolling wooden dolly and ready to be mounted on a rotisserie. I am hopeful to find a very good one and reasonable. Thanks in advance for any information and keep up the super work on your car. PS I have a mig gas welder and I bought a MIG gasless welder and the latter is terrible the spatter and mess is crazy I found I need a tig that's the only way for me to get mine back in shape. Looking forward to your progress reports.
Man that is a deal and it looks heavy duty! I went to the Olds Nationals last year with my very best friend of almost 50 years we both have been Oldsmobile nuts ..what my wife calls us since we were15 years old and we raced and had more Oldsmobiles than we could count, anyway we had the best week ever had had a ton of fun but then his leg started hurting and swelled up and I was very worried about it and he said it was his meniscus and I told him that his leg was too swollen for that. anyway I drove him 1228 milles home and a few days later even after I was all over him to go to the DR. which he did twice in 3 days he still died from a blood clot. It has taken me over 6 months to work thru losing the best friend I ever had in this world and now I have devoted all my effort to finishing my car for him. He found many parts for my car and helped me so much just like he has all his life and me him. I think I will go to the Olds Nationals this year also and probably ever year till I die. In the Oldsmobile world he was one of the most knowledgeable people I know he used to own Specialty Oldsmobile and his name was Ken Reese. Thanks Trip for the information and all that you do you inspire me! Dave
Took a pic to illustrate what I'm up against. many holes. It's all in the low spots as you might imagine. Not a big deal just time consuming. I'll be done next week for sure though.
Most of the holes are welded up and ground down. I shifted focus to the lower windshield piece. I realized I couldn't center this without the A pillar fascia pieces so I cleaned those up yesterday and primed them for the mock up. Three layers of paint was a bear.
Cleaned up the backside of the lower window channel and made some plug weld holes. Also cleaned up where it's going to be weld in. Instead of a butt weld I'll overlap the new over the old and do a corner or fillet weld on it. I'm also going to plug weld it in the channel to the front cowl piece. After taking a careful look at the underside of the old piece it was evident that the panel bond or seam sealer wasn't cutting it. I don't trust glues so I'll weld it in and use the sealer as a water barrier rather than a structural bond.
While filling in the multitude of small pins holes around the body I ran into this on the trunk floor pan. It's the word OLDS stamped into the sheet metal. I found that interesting. It seems trunk floor pans are different depending on the car from GM.
Finished up on the body work today, pinholes and dents and removed a few emblems and filled in the holes. Could only beat out part of this massive dent on the rear quarter so I had to pin it and pull the rest out. I'm within a 1/16 inch so I'm calling it gtg. It was oil canning from the previous fix so I had to heat and quench it to eliminate that flex. The part of the dent above the trunk floor was easy to get to but below the trunk floor pan there was no way except to pin and pull.
Just my two cents if anyone goes this route on your project, heat and quench first to remove the oil canning then pin and pull. I say this because sometimes heating the panel will cause it to shrink back into the dent rather than pushing it out. It works both ways unfortunately.
The other pics are just all the pinholes I found and filled in with weld, she is hole free. Next will be the skim coat.
The pics of the firewall is where I scraped out the factory seam sealer. Interesting to see how the firewall is made of several pieces, three here, and is all spot welded together into a box for strength and rigidity.
Last edited by TripDeuces; July 3rd, 2019 at 11:28 AM.
Stainless gas tank came today. Put the Holley fuel pump assembly with it to show the set up I'll be going with. It's a little too shiny for my tastes so I may make it look like more of a brushed look.
Installed the new vent and fuel return bung to the tank today. Also welded closed the connections I wasn't going to use on the front of the tank. Used a 8AN tubing fitting for the feed. New TIG machine worked great once we figured it out.
Finished the major body work today. My rear quarters came out better than expected for my level of competence in body work. Made me breathe easier. Little things are left on the main body but the doors, fenders, hood and trunk still need work.
Took some rust out of the doors today. I think that gob of stuff is two part epoxy and not body filler. It looked like toothpaste on the back side. Sending the doors, hood, trunk and front fenders to the blaster soon so I'm just getting them prepped.
Listen Trip, 10 months between posts is just not acceptable!! I really enjoy your updates on your progress. (that being said, wouldn't it be easier to just get a new door?)
I actually look forward to repairing things like this. Makes me feel like I did something. The project was on hold for a bit, 'Real Life' took over. Let's just say 2020 hasn't been kind. I had to remove all the seam sealer from the body. Found lots/some rust under it wherever it was.
Finally back into the swing of things lately. Finished probate last month and feeling a renewed vigor. Made a bump shifter out of a stock shifter to operate things. A few pics of my madness. It's not completed just yet. I know the bolts are loose
Finished the revamped transmission cross member. Was never happy with the trans mount being so far behind the frame mounts so I added additional mounts and reinforced everything in the process. Re-welded the frame mounts that I raised up because my MIG welds looked cold and I wasn't happy with that so I TIG welded them and re-consumed the cold MIG welds. Replaced all the 3/8 bolts with grade 8 1/2 inch bolts. Added tabs, gussets etc. to everything. More to come. Transmission rebuild is next. Body work mostly done.
Needed access to the former wiper motor hole so I couldn't weld in this panel. Used Nut-serts and stainless button head screws to secure it. After the skim coat it will look even better.
April 16th, 2019, 08:40 PM
I really enjoy your updates on your progress. (that being said, wouldn't it be easier to just get a new door?)
