Vinnie

Small update: The patch is in. Welding took me 7-7.5 hours in 2 days alltogether I reckon. Checked for pinholes a 100 times, there are none left. Made sure water will run sideways, no vent hole anymore as the new heater won't require one. Also don't want any moist outside air to come into this car anymore, want it to be dry inside.

Alternatively you could play around with a hammer and dolly to see if you can get an acceptable shape again?

Butt welding is all I have done with my trunk floor patches, quarter patch, drop off, wheel well and LH cowl. Those clamps are a MUST have, they help getting things spaced and level perfectly. On my LH side I really only need to replace a patch (lap welded...) in the rear but the RH side has holes in the front and another lap-welded patch in the rear. Having both complete sides replaced will look great but why remove metal that is still good? I'll decide when I get to it in a month I think...

Thanks! Some nice reading there. I'm still not sure how to do it since one side is still pretty good. Might replace one hole side and patch the other... We'll see :-)

So there's a bit of progress. Before cutting away the crap there was one thing to measure, I just didn't know how. In the end I did it like this: The heater bolts on to this and since I want to put one back I am going to need this piece of metal back at the same spot... Now the cutting can continue! See: Time to start making a patch: There are a few clear and straight folds that are easy to create: 3 to be exact: Worked on the front of the patch first, lots of little flat surfaces there: Then the rear where it goes up in a curve: This is our cat, he's fantastic: Then finally I started to make it fit which involved walking back and forth from my car to the workbench 1000 times, each time measuring, comparing, bending, hammering, cutting or shaving to make it fit better. In the end it fits perfectly and I've made sure to have enough gap around it so that welding will be easy: Next up will be welding it in!

Hey folks, When removing the RH top of my cowl I noticed glue in between at the top. The spot welds were made through the glue. What kind of magical glue is this? Cheers, Vincent.

I made a bigger hole around the other hole(s): Gotta make a patch now:

Very sorry to read about your loss... The car looks great :-)

Probably not since I already have one. I'd rather get something different like a 73 C3 or F150 or ....

Cheers, the grinding of spot welds doesn't sound like a bad idea, specially coz you have to grind them down after drilling as well.

The car is completely stripped, I can splatter away without worries :-) I believe the only butt welds are against the tunnel and under the back seats. The front, outsides, seat riser and frame rails etc have spot welds?

Hey guys, I bought 2 half floors to cut out patches for my floor but I'm thinking about putting both halves in completely. Are there any specifics I should be aware of when replacing half a floor at a time? And is it doable with the car on its wheels? The engine is also still in, should I put any form of support anywhere? Thanks for any pointers you may have. Vincent.

Oh, you just taught me a new word: lap joint! Thank you :-)

A control piece that is not dipped? It will remain rusty. What would it show? There is no other way the rust could've gone away apart from the acid...

I'm using 3M weld thru on the car. But the first of the 3 dips my car will get is one that strips paint etc so maybe also the weld thru primer... Nevertheless, I am currently using that. It gets burned away close to the weld though.