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Test fit the quarters......
We test fit the quarters for the first time tonight. They are from AMD. They are nice and thick metal. First impressions are that they fit pretty well.
Stupid Facebook creates it's own link again for the first pictures and won't work right on here because it doesn't end in in the actual file extension. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-V...44223715_n.jpg The doors are still on and adjusted to fit the rockers and stock quarters (prior to cutting them off). We put the decklid on and it fit pretty well, but the driver's side gap was too wide. It was being held out by the tail panel. So out comes the spot weld drill to take apart that side of the tail panel. At the end of the night everything was sheet metal screwed together and fitting fairly well (for a test fitting!) https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...74570551_n.jpg Seeing the quarters on gives me a bit of a false sense of progress, but it's a step in the right direction. Off to bed - it's late and I have to get up early for work! |
Love seeing you save this nova, keep up the great work.
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Looking good Brandon!! Just remember any progress is good progress!
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Brandon glad to hear that the aftermarket parts fit good,gone to be a very nice car:thumbsup:
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Awesome job Brandon. Glad to see you are saving it. How is the firewall, cowl, rust wise?
I love the frame table. I wish I had one of those. I got a big laugh out of your daughter recognizing one side had 12 spot welds and the other side didn't. Makes you wonder what the guy at the factory was thinking/doing when he installed it. I wonder if was an early Monday morning or late Friday car? |
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Great work. Glad to hear the parts are fitting well.
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I got the tail panel welded back together and fit up. Then I blew it all back apart so that could prepare the inner structure for final assembly of the back of the car.
I rolled it outside, blasted the rear inner structure. While I was at it I blasted some other parts that I know are staying - dash and inner roof structure. After getting it all cleaned up, I sprayed it with Southern Polyurethane Epoxy primer. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...79882554_n.jpg https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...34114313_n.jpg |
It will be a nice feeling knowing all the metal is new or sealed up, I can't say the same about mine. Progress is looking great!
What blaster did you use? |
My Dad has a pressure pot blaster that he's had for longer than I've been alive.
It's a Lindsay brand and looks about like this only much more worn looking! http://www.eqrents.com/itemimages/2971.jpg |
Nice progress Brandon, did you buy the frame table from Billy?? If so do mind sharing how much? I will have a need for one very soon. :lostmarbles:
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Thanks - I did get the frame table from Billy. I honestly don't remember exactly how much. He was making another 1 or 2 of them at the same time and cut me pretty good deal. You'd have to shoot him a message to see if he's going to be building any more and what the price would be. I know he's really busy, so not sure when he'd pull away from customer projects in the shop to build more. I think I may have gotten lucky and caught him at just the right time.
Once I get my car far enough along, maybe I'll rent you mine! ;) |
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I think what happened on that quarter was that the inner structure for the latch was placed incorrectly and they flexed it into place and then spot-welded the hell out of the quarter to hold it where it belonged. |
Well - -it appears that Facebook changed all of the image URL's so none of my pictures show up. I'll try to get them back up using Google + and add some of the new ones.... Damn Facebook - - arghhhhh!
Not sure if anyone can see these, but here is a link to the album on FB. https://www.facebook.com/brandon.wie...1&l=4a9540cda1 |
Here is a public album that I'll be putting all of the pictures in. They are out of order right now, but I'll try to reorder them as I have time.
https://plus.google.com/photos/11703...24170374870753 I will try to update with the latest progress this week as I have time. The Rear DSE Quadralink and mini-tubs are pretty much tack welded and/or screwed into place along with the quarters and tail panel. I've had a few "learning" along the way that I'll try to pass along to anyone else that may be dumb enough to save a car that is this far gone. |
Looks great Bradon, I can see the pictures!! This is going to be a kick AZZ car, nice parts selection :relax:
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I have a few minutes at lunch so I figured I'd post a few updates. I'll try to catch the thread up over the course of the next week or so.
Framerails located https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-g...12791801_n.jpg Trunk Pan Test Fitting https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U...78310612_n.jpg Disassembly, repair and reconstruction of the rear set drop-off and stock shock x-member. I think at some point this car tossed a driveshaft - - looked like someone went nuts with a sledgehammer! https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-g...61247836_n.jpg |
More test fitting. I may just start tossing pictures in without a ton of commentary to get caught up more quickly. If you have questions, let me know. I'm trying to keep them in close to chronological order.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...79068176_n.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-e...43463781_n.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...38270608_n.jpg |
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I'll just skip ahead. The majority of the DSE Quadra-link is welded in place. The inner and outer wheelhouses, quarters, tail panel etc. is all screwed into place and fit up. A few more things to check and then I'll blow is back apart for the last time, button up some welds and then put everything back permanently.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S...44633551_n.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4...25615053_n.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4...96808304_n.jpg https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-t...22940428_n.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...45993259_n.jpg |
Looks great, Brandon. Did you do anything to treat the metal that's hidden, like the inside of the frame rails, since you had access to some of it?
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The Dynacorn parts either come coated with their weld-thru or the standard new part black (probably crappy - primer). Where I was going to weld or had ground, I either used weld-thru primer or in some cases used epoxy primer.
Could I have coated it more uniformly and thoroughly, probably yes........ Much of the framerails gets welded on to install the DSE stuff and what I had sprayed on the inside of the rails was burning back off in those areas. I may coat the inside of them with http://www.amazon.com/Transtar-4423-.../dp/B00H2W3YZW We've used it with some success in the past. I would do this once it is on the rotisserie so that I can spray it from multiple angles etc.. |
Wow, Loads of progress! Your work is looking great, almost looks like a car again. Did you get the lower link mounts welded in yet? The directions are kind of odd there. I had to call and double check a few measurements with dse.
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I haven't welded those on yet. I read the directions and thought I had it figured out, but just to double check I took some measurements off of their display when I was at Charlotte Goodguys. I wanted to be able to verify their location by taking diagonal measurement from the upper links.
The things that I've ran into so far that - -aren't a big deal, but were little speed bumps along the way are: - Dynacorn rails seem to be slightly taller than the factory rails, which left a little bit of a gap between the inner stiffeners (from DSE) and the top of the rails. It just left more of a gap to fill with weld than I would have preferred, but not a big deal. - I cut out the trunk pan using the DSE templates, but I didn't have any wheelwells to reference. If I had them, I believe I would have positioned the template against the wheelwell and not the edge of the trunk pan. This resulted in me notching too much away on the trunk pan. Again, not a big deal, I'll just remake that part of the trunk pan and it'll look like I never did it. - Both quarter panels fit really well - the tail panel was too wide so we drilled it apart and repositioned it - the outer wheelhouse and trunk drop-off on the passenger's side fit pretty poorly and had to be split and pulled to make fit. - The rear seat pan drop-off (the piece that the upper DSE mount welds into) was in pretty bad shape on my car from a chunked driveshaft and some rust. I tried to buy a replacement, but nobody had it. I took mine all apart and fixed it. I have everything tacked into place, but in order to weld all of this more easily, I will probably finish the welding on the rotisserie. |
I noticed you notched the rails for the torque boxes, I wasn't sure why but I didn't know the rails where taller. That makes since now, My driver side mini tub cut was off some too, I didn't catch it until after I had already boxed the rail back together so that tub was a pain to get in but with some clamps and vise grips I was able to over come the poor fitment.
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I notched that rail because it wasn't trimmed properly. The rails aren't much taller, but are a little different. I need to measure to verify. The tolerences on these cars weren't good from GM, as I'm sure you've seen
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Yeah I figured out the poor tolerances pretty quick, seeing how nice your work is and the care you're taking to make it just right makes me wish I had a nice table to keep everything true and square, oh and more patience. Can't wait to see some more progress. Did you decide of wheels yet??
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I was pretty happy with how we had everything fitted up with sheet metal screws so I took it all back apart to finish welding the frame close-outs and made the front and rear flanges (I guess that's what I'll call them) for the inner wheelhouses.
I decided to tig these in since it'll be easier to grind. I made the pieces on the Shrinker/Stretcher. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...-no/14%2B-%2B2 https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-E...-no/14%2B-%2B3 Front of wheeltub area https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z...-no/14%2B-%2B4 I'm hoping to wrap up the other side tomorrow and then start welding it all together for good |
Fit looks nice and neat. Good work, check out my last pictures if you want to see the church boys headers in the dse clip.
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Uncomfortable Welding!!!!
Welding in the DSE tubs for good. We wanted to have the quarters fitted while doing it...... Makes for some uncomfortable welding though.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...-no/14%2B-%2B1 |
Add bifocals to that and try it!! LOL
Looking good Brandon! |
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I got most of them welded pretty good, but there are a few that aren't stellar.
We ended the night with the inner and outer wheelhouses welded in, the rear bumper supports welded on and the quarter fitted (again! -- I think this is the 5th time they've been off and back on). Dad noticed a bit of a wave in the passenger's side quarter last night, so we may have to do a little pushing and pulling to get it fitted a little better. We are thinking that a Porta-Power between the framerail and the outer wheelhouse, putting a little outward pressure should line it all back up nicely. |
Great project Brandon.
Im in for updates! Andrew |
I was doing my minitub install on a finished paint car. Here's a tip, If you are tapping down the flanges as you weld with a body hammer.... don't let it glance off and smack the inside of the quarter... I just put everything down, climbed out of the trunk, turned off the lights, didn't go back for two days.
Jeff- |
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