therobski

You are doing great, keep pecking at it! My 64 post car needed floors, trunk, floor and trunk braces, two doors, a left front fender and the section between the tail lights! A lot of work, a huge learning curve and help from this Club. Run to Rund brought the doors, fender, and rear section out of a yard in New Mexico, he was attending our Zone meeting in Dallas.

therobski

Oh hang on to this link: http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/interior/1404-how-to-install-amd-1966-1972-chevelle-bucket-seat-brackets/#ixzz3ANCV2TFF

seanm12

Thanks Rob (the-ski) I appreciate the encouragement. This trunk filler part was a bugger. I'm glad to have that knocked out and am able to pick up trunk repair work I started before. Thanks for the link on the seat brackets. I've got that bookmarked and will certainly need that at a later point in this project.

Sean

therobski

Sean, I maybe getting to the point next month or sooner to weld mine in. My only concern is the underside has been coated with Lizard Skin, I hope it does not catch fire while I weld. I was told it won't but? If I do I will update my thread "update progress 64 Post" in Major builds.

seanm12

Hey Rob. I found your post. It's a long one and I haven't looked at all of it and could be missing something. I'm not clear on what you're going to weld in about a month. I hope you plan to wire brush or grind off some of the lizard skin coating if it's at or close where you're going to weld. It might not burn but it won't weld well and will probably stink a bunch.

therobski

seanm12 the lizard skin is serving as my undercoating. I need to weld in new seat brackets. I think I will be okay if I go slow and easy. I will keep a few wet rags around.

seanm12

28 pictures here. A few before, a few after, and the ones after that are from in between.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/seans-bucket...air/index.html

• There was air duct sheet metal riveted in on the passenger side.
• I removed what was riveted and fixed the gas tank brace earlier in this thread.
• The patch was trimmed to fit.
• Additional metal was added to the patch.
• Drilled holes for plug welds.
• Welded the patch in. Those little sheet metal clamps sure did come in handy!

Now that this is done I'm moving on to other parts. I've got the body higher up on cinder blocks and 2x2s under the rocker panels. I've also got some wood supporting the trunk since she's heavy in the ****. What's up next is fixing some rust on the frame.

DewChugr

Just today we drilled small holes over the nuts to soak them in Kroil for a week or two before we try to get the bolts out. We did the rear trunk ones a bit differently. Since we couldn't figure out exactly where they were in the trunk we drilled the hole from the rear of the car just above where the nut would be. I hope the Kroil works, but if not it won't be the first hassle on this car.

seanm12

DewChugr, that sounds like a good idea, drill from the back.I tried using a plumb bob, drawing a cross on the floor, referencing that going around and above, and drilling a hole with a hole saw above. For the 2 trunk spots one was sort of close, and the other less close, but with a flashlight I could see the bolt enough to spray it with oil. Your idea of driling from the back sounds like a much better approach. I hope someone else picks up that idea from your posting.

For the trunk mount bolts on my car, one came out, and the other snapped the head. I welded on a nut, using way too much heat intentionally using TIG getting it red, and between the heat and spraying more oil on got the other one out. I do have one caged nut spinning at the firewall but I have floor work to do so I'll get to it on the other side when I get to that point. After you let things soak for a week or so, go slow and gentle, and if it doesn't want to come out try some heat. The oil already there will smell and smoke a bunch, and if there's any rubber left on the mount that'll sure stink, but that beats the additional work to fix a spinning captured nut. Good luck.

Sean

DewChugr

I'm hoping for the best. The holes we drilled were probably no more than about 1/8". We were trying to figure out where to drill the holes for those two and I was looking at the mounts from the back and thought why not drill from the side. I hop the kroil works as well as everyone says.

RetroRanger

I use kroil, i would say it works as well as anything else ive tried maybe better but thats hard to quantify, but technique, heat and probably other variables can help as well.

If i can when i have something i want to dismantle in the future i will soak w kroil, then soak w clean motor oil (thicker and helps keep the kroil from evaporating, and reapply every couple days till im ready to go after the fasteners....the only fastener i couldnt get aprt w this method (and heat)was the center ex manifold bolt on a 70 455.....i was able to work one side out cleanly but the other side snapped.....so 50% of the time it works every time LOL

seanm12

Hooray, progress!
Link to the slideshow - http://s3.amazonaws.com/seans-bucket...ame/index.html

• Outer body to frame hole in front - driver and passenger sides.
• Repaired a big mess under the driver side door, both sides. An extra layer was patched for more strength.
• Middle body to frame mount holes repaired on both sides.
• The rear frame to body bracket was replaced on the drivers side.
• www.autorust.com sells this bracket
• https://www.autorust.com/product/fra...-body-art-063/

seanm12

The idea to weld a piece behind the top or flush layer came from coppercutlass. Big thanks to him!

don71

Nice progress, liked your slideshow.

coppercutlass

It looks great. Im glad its coming along.

steverw

Very nice work, keep plugging away at it and before you know it you will be driving it.

seanm12

Thanks for the replies. It's good to share this and hear from others to keep on keepin on. Next on what to work on this is the most forward part where the rockers meet, drivers side and then passenger sides, and then after that the floors. The seats and carpet are out, and the doors are off. The convertible top is still on, the dash is still in, and so is the front windshield. There will be plenty of cutting and grinding and I want to protect things. Common sense is to mask things, but I'm brainstorming a bit, thinking about putting cardboard in places and wrapping plastic wrap over that to provide something thicker than what I'd do when masking for paint, and it might be easier to roll plastic wrap than apply masking tape for larger areas such as inside windshield and the roof/top. 3M makes some welding paper but that stuff is like $150 a roll which is beyond my budget. I'd appreciate hearing suggestions. Thanks everyone!

Sean

coppercutlass

Welding blankets and vice grips.

seanm12

I looked into sizes of welding blankets and total area I'd need to cover, and also Googled a bit on welding blankets, and at least for 1 Harbor Freight one it didn't hold up too well when close to grinding sparks, or MIG spatter. I looked into other things and am trying out insulation which is essentially foil covered bubble wrap. I threw some grinding sparks at close range and didn't see any change, and have covered the inside of the car. $43 for a 100 square feet roll and I got a grommet set, and put grommets in and tied the ends for the overhead parts. I don't expect duct tape to stand up to a lot of grinding sparks but hope they just bounce. I'll keep an eye on things when I get to the grinding, and do have a fire extinguisher handy
I think for a body shop that does this sort of work repeatedly welding blankets make sense, but I'm hoping for doing 1 car I can get by with this instead of buying a bunch of welding blankets.

coppercutlass

I think you should still invest in one of these. but thats pretty creative thinking let us know how it works it might be a cheap alternative for welding paper or atleast grinding sparks.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...FQaJaQoddLQBvA

seanm12

Yeah, I'll pick up a welding blanket to supplement what I've already done. I'll have to be creative on how to set up the welding blanket working in different places of the car. FYI, here's the video review of the Harbor Freight blanket that drove me to explore other options -
Note - he sets it on fire with a cigarette lighter around the 5 minute mark

In case someone is interested in other welding blankets after watching that video here's some options as well as good general information on welding blankets - http://welding-blankets.com/ . Copper, you work in a body shop and have real experience welding and using a welding blanket to protect the interior. What's your experience compared to what the guy did in the video?

When I get to welding at this next point, I want to point out 've got a TIG machine, so no sparks from welding unless something is really wrong. I'll share my results, but include the disclaimer that I'm not protecting against normal MIG welding sparks. I figure there's more total heat at close contact from welding sparks than grinding sparks.

seanm12

I found a video for a Northern Tool welding blanket -
The Northern Tool blanket looks like a much better tighter/closer weave than the Harbor Freight one.

seanm12

Done with the frame, on to floor & rocker work. A blue piece of metal was riveted in on the driver side. There was plenty of rust underneath.

seanm12

I'm going to cut out the floor where the blue patch was in the previous post to get the needed access to work on the rust visible in the 2nd picture here. This link has a bunch of good detail on what this repair entails - http://www.squidsfabshop.com/bodyw2/GTObody2.php . After this stuff gets fixed I'll do the driver side floor. After that rinse and repeat on the passenger side.

From what I've seen on that link this seems pretty straightforward. If anyone else has tackled this sort of repair I'd appreciate hearing tips.

seanm12

I cut out the floor, drivers side, then worked on the area forward of the door opening. Toe board, front pillar, rocker panels? I guess I'll call this front of rocker panels unless someone tells me something better. I looked through the factory manuals but didn't find anything. I cut off the bits of floor and the swiss cheese part of the inner rocker panel. In the past picture there should actually be one whole piece of metal from the top of the picture to the bottom of the rocker arm. Behind it is a galvanized piece which is what isn't rust colored. I'm trying to get out what's still there as intact as possible so I can use that as a template, and also to best understand how this was originally assembled.
I think I'll be taking off the torque box (thing on the firewall side with the frame to body mounts, is that the correct name?) to get access to the rust on the right side of this picture.

seanm12

Peeling back a rotten onion. I'm almost to the end of the teardown for this area.

seanm12

Got some more accomplished. Here's the slideshow - http://s3.amazonaws.com/seans-bucket...lar/index.html

I mentioned this site a while back but it's worth another mention.
- BIG THANKS to Squid for posting pics of the same repair on a GTO!!! http://www.squidsfabshop.com/bodyw2/GTObody2.php
- 28 pics this time. 5 before, 3 after, and the rest are in between.
- This is the driver side hinge pillar. There's a few layers sandwiched together in this section.
- The grey paint is MasterCoat Permanent rust sealer.
- I thought I would paint most of the parts and leave an area unpainted for the plug welds. That wasn't the best idea.

Next up - floor braces, then the driver side floor. Then repeat this stuff on the other side.

seanm12

Finally back on the car. I'm wire wheeling the frame prepping to put Mastercoat coating on it. The coin in the first 2 pictures is a dime to give a size frame of reference. I found the little hole from wire wheeling, dug at it with a screwdriver, and went about 1 inch beyond the 'expanded' hole. As others have said, if you see rust it's usually the tip of the iceberg.

Most of the floor is cut out. I did the middle floor brace, and then it dawned on me it's a lot easier to get to a bunch of the frame with the floor cut out. I'll post some pics in a while when I can put something coherent together.

seanm12

I was out of action, got back on the project, but haven't posted anything here in a while. Here's the slideshow - http://s3.amazonaws.com/seans-bucket...oor/index.html

Here's what's in this bunch:

• I cut out some floor sections to assess the front and middle braces.
• I thought only 1 side would need to be replaced on each brace and cut out the driver side floor.
• As I removed more undercoating I determined the entire front and middle brace would need to be replaced.
• The inner rocker rusted out where the braces are attached so that part got repaired.
• All 4 sections where the front and middle floor braces are attached to the inner rocker needed repair.
• While the braces were out it occurred it's easier to access some of the frame.
• The frame got wire wheeled, some rust repair, and treated with MasterCoat.
• The braces got put in.
• The driver side floor was trimmed to fit, then added some back on when too much was trimmed.
• Gaps were still too big in some places but I've got to get this thing in!
• I painted the bottom and put undercoating on the floor before welding it in.
• The floor edges got butt welded in and then plug welded to braces and the rockers.

In case you're assessing the state of your floor braces, if you think only 1 side needs repair take off undercoating or whatever to get a good assessment. I bought 1 end for the front and 1 end for the middle, only to later figure out I needed to return those and get the entire brace.

With this done I'm tearing into the passenger side rust at the end of the outer rocker and underneath. Stay tuned

therobski

Your welds look great!

seanm12

Thanks for the compliment therobski. Here's a slideshow from cutting out rust on the passenger side around the lower hinge and rockers. There's 36 pictures in this one. I tried to put enough in this to see how these parts connect together.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/seans-bucket...own/index.html

• Cut out the inner rocker rust towards the front.
• Cut out the cowl side hinge panel lower reinforcement.
• Some pictures of rust on the outside lower hinge and outer rocker area.
• Back inside cut out the next panel.
• Rust in the door frame and more outside around the lower hinge with cut marks from a red Sharpie.
• A bunch of rust was cut out.

therobski

LOOKING BETTER all the time. Same thing on my 64

cjsdad

I haven't peeled back enough layers of my '67 yet to see if I need to do as much surgery as you have, but probably. I know I need to replace both front corners of the trunk, the passenger side floor pan and brace, and both rear wheel openings. I will be visiting your slide shows many, many times again to see how you did your repairs. Thanks for braving the repairs and documenting them so well!

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therobski

You Betcha. I will updating my thread in the near future getting little things done getting ready to start the 400E.

seanm12

Cjsdad - I'm not sure if your last post here was for me or therobski . If it was for me:
1. Glad to hear you like the slide shows. I am trying to post interesting things that can help someone else.
2. I take way more more pictures than what goes into the slideshow. Later when you dig into your car feel free to ask if I've got more detail on something.
3. Check this site out - http://www.squidsfabshop.com/bodyw/GTObody.php . There's a lot of detail for repairs done on a 67 GTO, and there's plenty in common between the GTO and Cutlass . The info there was a big help for me.

If your last post was for therobski then feel free to ignore any or all of the above and no offense to therobski
(Except for the link, that's still good info)

cjsdad

It's your thread innit? I have read therobski's threads and there is a lot of information in his too, but I was specifically responding to your work with my comment this time. I appreciate the link as well. I am reading as much as I can before I tackle the body work on my '67. It is never enough and until I actually begin it is all academic but your work is inspirational.

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seanm12

I have been nibbling away at the project but haven't had time to turn the pictures into something folks can follow. Here's some stuff.

FYI - My hosting provider changed so some links posted earlier may not work. I have good links for everything posted before here - http://mcewan.rocks/Cutlass_stuff.html

Here's a slideshow posted today - http://mcewan.rocks/cutlass_stuff/20...ocker_rebuild/

seanm12

I had some technical issues and had to move some stuff. If the links posted earlier don't work this has the links to everything in this project posted earlier in this thread - http://www.mcewan.rocks/cutlass_stuff.html

cjsdad

Thanks, I refer to this thread regularly.