Everyone deserves an awesome neighbor. I'm lucky to have one myself- Brett. The pics below are the results of him welding up my subframe. Unfortunately for me and my car, while welding the subframe connectors we discovered the rear frame rails are rusted enough that a good weld was not able to be achieved, so I'll be needing either new frame rails, or, at the least reinforcing them with more material. I'll probably go for the latter, as this way I can build exactly what I need and use any thickness gauge of material I choose.
The pics attached are mostly of the underside of the subframe, including a reinforcement gusset added to the DSE frame bracket. This should help provide more stability for this part (instead of just relying on welding it to the sheet metal) One pic you can see the side profile of it, but it is only tack welded in that view. DSE provides a triangular bracket to act as a gusset for the top side, but that has not been added yet.
My next post will show pics of the subframe connectors in place.
Today I worked on chopping my old floor pans out getting the car ready to accept the replacement floor pans. MY subframe connectors are tacked in on the rear rails, but there isn't enough metal left in them to accept a continuos weld. They will need reinforcing, but I'll deal with that when my rear axle/ suspension shows up.
I removed the seat braces and was able to clean up the sides of the rocker panels. looks like my passenger panel may need more patches. I have also rough trimmed the floor pans to fit. They are close enough that I can start welding them in and final trim as needed.
I'll have the tops of the subframe connectors welded before install, as well as painting the bare metal with rust encapsulator.
Thank you. There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages to both routes, I guess it depends on what's more important to you. Time, money, being able to say you built it, space and tools handy, etc..
In my case, I don't have a lot of money, so it's easier for me to cough up the time. Plus, I like being able to say I built it.
OK, it's been a few weeks since I posted. Usual summer stuff. Weddings to go to, friends to get together with, next thing you know, it's August, and there are more weddings to go to. I have slowly but surely been working on the floor pans. Below are pics of some gussets made for the subframe connectors to have them attach to the car body better, as well as some plates for the underside of the subframe itself (something cleaner than the hacked up mess it had become). I've installed the replacement pans and worked on the seat braces, too. Almost done with that, but I need to do a little more hammering and welding for the passenger side. I located them slightly rearward to provide more foot room for me. This helps to offset the anticipated firewall relocation I plan on having to make, plus I will not be installing a back seat. All is good. It's nice to see the car heading toward a direction of assembly for once.
Got a few small things done this weekend. Not much extra time lately, so I'm doing what I can when I can. I got my new welder up and running- I went with the Eastwood 135 mig. The price was right and so far so good. I finished up the passenger side seat brace and have it ground down, just needs to be painted. I also built the plugs for the floor pans and have those welded in. Now that I'm a little more comfortable and confident with welding, I went back and added more metal to the rear window frame, and replaced a strip of metal on the driver's side. I only have pics of it in process. I must have forgot to shoot one after I trimmed the metal. I intentionally left the large piece of metal on there to start for 3 reasons. 1- more metal to soak up the heat (less warpage). 2- I can trim after it's welded and worry less about cutting too much metal off beforehand. 3- larger handle to hold while tacking. I also started to prepare my cowl panel. I welded in the brackets for the fenders, as well as filled in some extra holes. I used some washers to help fill in the larger holes. It worked quite well. Enjoy.
Quick progress update- Today I was able to start welding on my inner cowl panel. I only had a few hours so it's not finished yet. Below are pics of the progress I made.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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friendly neighborhood weldor man
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