Slowest resto ever - Project AmsterFoose / Current subject: The rear window edge

[c9zx]

Yeah baby! It's done! And this was the LAST (planned) panel replacement, a milestone for me!

Because I had forgotten to take measurements before I removed the panel I had to take a load of measurements to figure out the best position for my replacement:

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In the end I had it positioned just fine:

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My stacked-hole plug welding technique also proved to work quite well:

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I won't show every one of the 60 plug welds I had to make but the result is a very well fitting and well positioned new battery tray apron:

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This job concludes a three year proces of replacing large body panels: taillight panel, trunk corners, trunk drop-offs, quarters and wheel well edges, 2 half floors, corners of the lower cowl panel and finally the battery tray apron. In between there were some other odd jobs, the biggest one was building (from scratch) and adding the subframe connectors.

Now it's time to get all the holes I won't be using anymore filled up and maybe see if I can tuck the rear bumper. After that the car will need to be made ready for the dipper!

Stay tuned....

Excellent work and determination, well done! Chuck

 

[California 72]

Saw your post in my topic and had a look see with what you're talking about. I'm looking at a more isolated repair on the lower part of the apron 'cause I didn't want to mess with the upper alignment, structural and hole fabricating. It's also all original with no wreck damage and no rust other than what the battery mount area caused through the past owner's neglect. I'd still have the original factory inspection stickers if I hadn't lost my mind while cleaning off dirt and grime. It's really that lower area under the batter that had been damage from acid and time-related rust.
From the looks of things with your project, you're making some great headway and things are looking really sharp.

 

[Vinnie]

Saw your post in my topic and had a look see with what you're talking about. I'm looking at a more isolated repair on the lower part of the apron 'cause I didn't want to mess with the upper alignment, structural and hole fabricating. It's also all original with no wreck damage and no rust other than what the battery mount area caused through the past owner's neglect. I'd still have the original factory inspection stickers if I hadn't lost my mind while cleaning off dirt and grime. It's really that lower area under the batter that had been damage from acid and time-related rust.
From the looks of things with your project, you're making some great headway and things are looking really sharp.

Fair points! I think I’d do the same in your case. Just be careful with that support part underneath. Look for the spot welds and grind them out first and don’t cut into it

 

[California 72]

Fair points! I think I’d do the same in your case. Just be careful with that support part underneath. Look for the spot welds and grind them out first and don’t cut into it

Will do. Actually, the support bracket you cleaned was as acid burned as the apron. I believe it was maybe here, earlier on in the thread or maybe another thread entirely, things kind've run together at times. Anyhow, there was a guy someone named that makes them new. Jumped on that quicker than I bought the dang car itself! It arrived last week and now I'm wishing he made the aprons too. While I'm still trying to line up all the supplies needed for the job and I haven't test fit the apron in the car due to space but the new support bracket fits as dang near perfect as the day it was made in the late weeks of August 1971. At least that's the timeframe the date stamp on my apron explains.
Really spooky thing, I can almost remember what I was doing back then, you know, the days on the stamps. Maybe a little fuzzy but almost. Kinda sends a shiver down your spine when uncovering these things.

 

[Vinnie]

So after a few months of doing other things (construction in my garage and at home) I now have time again to work on the car. This means continuing with the boring welding job on the roof....

So turned crap into less crap:



And some more:



Isn't it great to see all those holes disappear?

 

[California 72]

Nice job! You rent out your time? There's only a little bit of water between our homes.

 

[Vinnie]

BIG job done!

Last weekend I finally managed to finish patching all the crap left behind on the edge of the vinyl roof. A very long time ago I started cutting away rust holes and replacing them with fresh metal. It doesn't look like on Discovery channel but it will do the job and in the end it will be invisible so it's fine with me!

The last stretch looked like this:



And I made it look like this:



All the sides have needed extensive work:



I think there are about 25 actual patches and several more spot welds.

But the worst job is yet to come: the rear window :-(

 

[Vinnie]

So today I'd like to talk to you about the inner lips and the outer lips. Together, they make up the edge that the rear window leans against

Respectively they are the edges of the inner and outer body of the car, spot welded together. At least 80% of the outer edge is totally wasted, I might be able to save some of the inner edge. And as crap as a job this seems, it gets worse! Because after I loosened the small bit in the red circle (which is actually an ellipse), the trunk panel that sits right under the rear window (you know, the panel that's very hard to make yourself and is not reproduced) started loosing its strength and got softer when pressed on.

More fun guaranteed!

 

[Vinnie]

Alright, time to dig in!

I'm gonna tackle the worst spot first, the rotted out driver's side bottom:



Doesn't that just look great?

Before anything I took loads of pics and also some measurements:



Then I made a template out of cardboard. Funnily enough it matches the other corner like sh*t:



So finally it was time to put ye olde shrinker to work! The result:



Time to see if it kinda fits:



And.... it does!

Next I carefully removed the outer skin. I had no clue what it looked like underneath so I proceeded with caution. The roof is welded onto the quarter here so in order to later weld in a patch on the quarter a bit more of the roof needs to be removed. Lets see if a picture makes this clear:



So here we see the corner piece to be replaced and a test fit:



So far so good! Next time I can grind out the old part and hopefully the inner flanges will not be totally rotted away and leave me enough room for welding in the new corner. Stay tuned!

 

[Paul Schmidt]

I'm thinking I might just hire Vinnie out to help with my hot mess of a back window. Ugh. I wish I had those fabricating / welding skills.

 

[Vinnie]

Haha, I have plenty work of my own thank you! ;-)

 

[Cleveland Crush]

I'm thinking I might just hire Vinnie out to help with my hot mess of a back window. Ugh. I wish I had those fabricating / welding skills.

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PBR, since @Vinnie is all booked up, perhaps forum member @Fabrice will come over "states side" and take care of your rear window channel fabrication. Fabrice could handle it with one hand!!!

 

[Fabrice]

@Cleveland Crush and it would be tight in the back!! ;D

@Paul Schmidt I wish I could help but unfortunately, just like @Vinnie I'm a tad too far...
Why not give it a try? I mean, Vincent shows here for his roof, channels etc... that it's a piece of cake!!
The key is to spit in your hands and get it done! And If it's rotten, well, you can't really make it worse can you?

 

[Paul Schmidt]

@Cleveland Crush and it would be tight in the back!! ;D

@Paul Schmidt I wish I could help but unfortunately, just like @Vinnie I'm a tad too far...
Why not give it a try? I mean, Vincent shows here for his roof, channels etc... that it's a piece of cake!!
The key is to spit in your hands and get it done! And If it's rotten, well, you can't really make it worse can you?

lol...solid point Fabrice. I may just do that.

 

[The Heff]

Nice work, been there and done that, now for the filler or bondo, which I hated doing. That job sucks.

 

[Vinnie]

I had a great time in my garage this past weekend!

Saturday I worked on the new corner a bit more, making it fit:



Time to rip out the old corner! But there was a hidden weld that I could not get to:



There seems to be a large part you don't get to see, I decided to just cut it off and weld it back onto the remaining bit:



Time to prep for welding:



Bzzzzt bzzzzt bzzzzzt (sound of frying bacon) ...



And voila, new corner done! It's just 3/4 inch too short but that's easy to add.

Now I need to choose.... bottom first? Maybe other corner while I'm at it? Or going up?

Either way I'm very happy and also a little proud of myself for delivering this work. The metal shaping was really cool to do.

Neeeeeeext!