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Old 01-02-2014, 08:48 AM
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SSLance SSLance is offline
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So even though I was feeling less than 100% yesterday, I headed out to the shop about 1 pm and settled in to repair my #2R body bushing frame hole. I was lucky that there was still enough of the existing hole left to let me use the bushing to mark where the repair washer was going to go.





Cutting the frame parts out was a challenge. There just isn't enough room to get the proper tools in there. I used a carbide bit on a right angle die grinder first then a light duty plasma cutter that I borrowed. Both were a bit under sized to do a good job once I got into the good steel of the frame. I then decided to start whittling down on the washer to fine tune the fit. Plus this way I could bevel the edge of the washer with the grinder to get it to fit down inside the frame without falling through the hole. Here's as good as I could get it.





Time to break out the new MillerMatic 211 and get to welding. I used the gauge to determine that the washer thickness was in between 14 gauge and 1/8" thick so I set the wire speed and voltage settings halfway between those two based on the chart, clamped the ground on the frame ans tried to tack the washer in...no spark. Spent about 5 minutes chasing it down, even hit a quick bead on a piece of scrap steel which worked...finally figured out it wasn't getting a good ground. I ended up putting a C clamp on the frame close to the repair site, clamping it down tight and then clamping the welder ground on it. The tack welds went pretty good, so I started laying down a bead around the back side of the washer. That went pretty well, then as I got to the engine side...I started burning through the frame. I tried again on the fender side and after a bit started burning through as well. The welds were plenty hot and laying down nicely but I was blowing away the frame as I went along. I ended up turning the volts down just a bit and moved slower which filled the void but also built up the welds higher than I would have liked.

This was after a wire wheel and a little bit of dressing.




Had it been out in the open it wouldn't have been a big deal, hit them with a flap wheel to dress them up and call it good. Bit of a different story here though, I cleaned them up the best I could while test fitting the bushing. I finally got it where it sat pretty well and called it good. Most of the high welds are just outside the bushing and I'm sure the Poly Graphite bushing will pull down around the humps and bumps left. If I decide to go with a solid aluminum or delrin bushing I'll have to clean them up a bit better though.



I also had to clean up the underside where the welds blew through so the bottom bushing would sit flat. Thankfully I could get a die grinder up in there with a cut off wheel on it to dress them up.





I then hit all of the areas of the frame and body I could get to with a coat of Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator and after it setup two coats of Extreme Chassis Black.









This is #6R which is still in real good shape thankfully.



I left the body suspended on the lift to let the paint set up. Next time out in the shop I'll set the passenger side back down on the bushings and lift the driver side to start the repair on #6L. Hopefully it'll go a bit smoother (and I won't be nearly as hungover).
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1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
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