Partial restoration of my 1968 1600

[PBJ]

I took a couple hours this evening and patched up a few rust spots and start welding in the replacement panels.

The passenger footwell has four parts, the small triangle is the first to go in. And I got that painted up with weldable primer then spot welded in. I'm using a MIG for the spot welds.

Once in I refitted the kick panel. I'll get that welded in then permatex all the seams. Once that is all in I still need to fab the two support pieces that fit on the outside of this panel.

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[PBJ]

I didn't do much with the car this weekend. At least not directly. I did however start working with the English wheel. I'm trying to learn so it will be an effective tool to help build this car.

I was working with it and noticing that it was basically acting like a big spring and not actually putting much pressure on the metal. After a little research I added some stiffness. This is very small and very cheap so I expected some modifications. I't works much better now, but I am guessing I will need to do similar modifications to the bottom as well.

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I will start working on some rocker cap replacements soon when I have a little time

[PBJ]

I have been so busy lately it's been tough to make time to get working on the little car. But today I had a 6 hours to use and I was determined to make progress. On the front and back of the rear inner fender there are two pieces that make up the bottom of the inner fender. Both of these are pretty rusty on the passenger side, so I am replacing them. Today I though I would basically get that done ,but I forgot about a small mess that someone made using bondo, galvanized metal, rivets, chicken wire, fiberglass and anything else lose they could find around that they could mix in there.

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Seems like a lot of work when you could just put a single bend in a piece of sheet metal... Anyhow I decided to cut the whole panel out and remake it. I make a quick couple of bends in order to get the shape, but decided to make it as original as possible so I pulled out the bead roller and put two beads in it for stiffness.

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With that clamped in place I started working on the rear fender part. Once I had the rusty remains of the original out I started measuring the other side of the car to make a replacement. It is pretty much incredible how little of the original part was actually left, you can see the remains of the original vs the new part. I even had a chance to try out my new shrinker!

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I have been painting any parts that will sandwich together with weldable primer first, so that is why there is some primer on these parts.

I started welding and got the fender piece and the new part installed, primed and painted!

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Once this was done I started pulling the front part of the fender apart to make new parts, but I looked at the clock and decided that project might be too involved for today. Since I still had some time left I started looking at the rusty metal braces that I needed to remake. There are two parts that I need to make, both fit on the outside of the passenger footwell that my girlfriend made. The top piece seems the most straightforward so I decided to tackle it. I started with a paper template, once made I cut it down to the shape that I hoped would make the part most efficiently and traced it on some steel.

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I cut it out and was able to make two of the initial bends on my small harbor freight brake, but I couldn't figure out a way to make the remaining bends with the brake, so I clamped the part to my welding table and bent it by hand. Surprisingly it went better than expected and the part looks pretty good.

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Somehow I still had a few minutes left so I primed and painted the entire inside of the fender so it will have plenty of protection in the future. A few weeks ago I painted all of this with rust stop also, so hopefully this thing won't have any surprises.

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And with my final minutes clicking off the clock I got some good primer on the front as well.

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Today was pretty productive and I am glad to have gotten through a bunch of this work. The passenger side has only a few parts left before it is rust "free" I'm looking forward to getting the rocker dealt with and making the second brace for the passenger footwell.

[mraitch]

"so i pulled out the bead roller" - hats off to youse guys that have that kind of equiment and know how to use it.

pete

[PBJ]

"so i pulled out the bead roller" - hats off to youse guys that have that kind of equiment and know how to use it.

pete

Thanks Pete! I bought a bead roller from Eastwood when they had it on sale and it really was pretty intuitive to figure out. It makes things look a lot more "factory" too.

[C.Costine]

I had to make a new floor and front piece for that rear passenger side fender too. It took a lot of time going back and forth to the other side after taking measurements from the remains of the original parts. I did a lot of checking back and forth before finally nailing it, and it came out pretty good.

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[msampsel]

This work amazes me! I cannot even imagine doing this sort of thing. I'd be
all thumbs. But I love watching you guys do this.

[Mainer311]

Yeah, this thread is inspiring me to finally do some body work. Did I say that out loud?

[PBJ]

I had to make a new floor and front piece for that rear passenger side fender too. It took a lot of time going back and forth to the other side after taking measurements from the remains of the original parts. I did a lot of checking back and forth before finally nailing it, and it came out pretty good.clamps rt rear qtr..JPG

I have my fingers crossed that I nailed it as well. There was so little left that it was hard to have solid numbers to go from. The other side is also not great, but gave me enough info that I am hoping the quarter will go on smoothly. It was a bit of s chicken and egg situation. I need to cut the quarter to fit so I can see exactly where this piece goes, but I need this piece to fit the quarter

[PBJ]

This work amazes me! I cannot even imagine doing this sort of thing. I'd be
all thumbs. But I love watching you guys do this.

Thanks, but I have confidence you can do it! I'm really just trying things out to see what works. There is certainly some throw away pieces that I won't be posting on the internet

[Gregs672000]

Awesome work. One of the earlier posts made me think of one of my favorite shows... "Chopped" (not cars, food competition!). All the work you did while counting down the time you had left... "3,2,1 step back!"

[PBJ]

Awesome work. One of the earlier posts made me think of one of my favorite shows... "Chopped" (not cars, food competition!). All the work you did while counting down the time you had left... "3,2,1 step back!"

Yes, I haven't seen it, but I often go to the shop and say "you have 4 hours" and then start working. It seems like I get more done when I make myself realize that the time is not infinite!

[C.Costine]

Yeah, this thread is inspiring me to finally do some body work. Did I say that out loud?

Will you be cutting rust out and welding new metal in?

[pebbles]

There is certainly some throw away pieces that I won't be posting on the internet

Thems the ones I use

[PBJ]

There is certainly some throw away pieces that I won't be posting on the internet

Thems the ones I use

Shoot me your address, I'll save you some time!