1967 Firebird Convertible - Project "LEGACY" - Page 9 - Lateral-g Forums

Firebird-Geek · #81 05-13-2013, 12:59 PM

Now to make the curve...

Felt like a true blacksmith on this one...

Firebird-Geek · #82 05-13-2013, 01:02 PM

It took a TON of fitting to get everything to match up nice and tight and get everything true. (there is alot of layers to deal with in this area)

This was a bit tricky to weld in... for I wanted to use enough heat to penetrate
the 1/8" plate, but not burn through the floor. Not the prettiest... but it should be STRONG...

Got good penetration through the plate...

When I was welding... I would concentrate my welding pool onto of the 1/8" steel plate area... then swing down and connect to the thin floor sheetmetal. This way I would get the penetration needed for the thick metal and not burn through the thin stuff.

Firebird-Geek · #83 05-13-2013, 01:07 PM

Now to close up the hole here...

Started by taping off the section to create the fill in piece.

Transfering it to 1/8" plate...

Using my trusty plasma

Firebird-Geek · #84 05-13-2013, 01:09 PM

Kind of a cool action shot of me tacking in the fill plate.

YES, I know I should be wearing a long sleeve shirt... but I wasn't welding long.

Firebird-Geek · #85 05-13-2013, 01:11 PM

All cleaned up...

Firebird-Geek · #86 05-13-2013, 01:13 PM

So I was very pleased with how it turned out... I know there is WAY more structure and strength in the area now than when it rolled out of GM back in 67.

Here you can see in the "Before" photo the surface area that would be making connection to the wheelhouse...

VS after...

Then epoxy primed it...

Firebird-Geek · #87 05-13-2013, 01:14 PM

Here is another BEFORE and AFTER....

Firebird-Geek · #88 05-13-2013, 01:23 PM

Put inner wheelhouse in place to mark off for drilling the plug weld holes. Here you can see how much more "contact" I am making with the wheelhouse.

Marked off... ready to be drilled...

Yes, it looks like I turned the wheelhouse into swiss cheese

... but once all welded up, this should result in MUCH more strength in this area.

Primed backside of the wheelhouse, then started to fit for final placement.

Once I was happy with the placement... I used screws to hold the wheelhouse in place. I will not weld this area up until I know that the quarter panels are where they need to be. This way I can still tweak this area a bit if need be.

Firebird-Geek · #89 05-13-2013, 01:25 PM

Rinse and repeat on the other side...

**waynieZ** · #90 05-13-2013, 02:06 PM

Nice work it looks good.