CFD's Build Thread

[CFD]

Originally Posted by mlee

Moving right along... will be well worth it next Spring.

It has been moving right along, hoping to have the body back on the chassis by the week end.

Spring should be interesting, I'm wondering if it will sound similar to the way it did in the Camaro, that will blow peoples minds because everyone around here knew the sound of the Camaro, it was quite distinctive.

[CFD]

Got a lot done today and most importantly had a chance to take a good look and came up with a plan on where and what to do first. Also got the body back on the frame. I'm going ahead with the wheel tubs except instead of maintaining the outer half of the oem fender well I am cutting it all out to the inside of the fender nuts. There is solid metal there and it allows me to maintain a small flange for strength. Because they will be full tubs the pieces I already made won't be wide enough so I cut a couple of pieces for the new ones, tomorrow I will roll them and form the outer edge to weld to the inners I already made. Once I do the tubs I'll move onto the back half of the fender wells, again I'm cutting it all out and starting from scratch.

[CFD]

It seems the more I cut out the better it looks. lol. Cut out the wheel wells to the inside of the fender nuts, along with the metal went most of the rust holes. Now I will have a nice solid edge to weld to. I finished forming the tubs and dummied them up. I've got to trim the cut edge on the wheel openings then I can scribe and trim the tubs. Once they are positioned I'll mark out the pattern for the bead rolling then I can weld them together and final fit them to the car.

[CFD]

Had a chance to do a little more to the tubs. Finished the hammer and dolly work and laid out the pattern for the bead rolling. Tomorrow I should be able to bead it and tack weld the two halves together, then I can do the final trimming and fitting to the car. I played around with the tubs to get them positioned that in the event that some time in the future the car gets lowered the wheels will sit centered in the tubs. I'm not planning on it but who knows what the future holds. lol

[davesnever]

Hmmm, I'm thinking by the time you're done there won't be much original steel left lol. But it looks awesome so far and can't wait to see the final outcome.

[CFD]

Originally Posted by davesnever

Hmmm, I'm thinking by the time you're done there won't be much original steel left lol. But it looks awesome so far and can't wait to see the final outcome.

The body itself and doors, fenders, trunk lid , hood, grille and all that stuff is in really good shape so pretty much the floors trunk and firewall will be replaced.

Finished off the tubs but held off on welding them until tomorrow. I want to clean up the fenders edge and possibly do a small flange on the tubs to strengthen the seam.

[davesnever]

Looks awesome, some well thought out planning for sure. Wish I had that sort of talent.

[CFD]

Originally Posted by davesnever

Looks awesome, some well thought out planning for sure. Wish I had that sort of talent.

Talent or many, many years of practice. lol.

Got the tubs tac welded together, I would have finished the welding but I ran out of Argon, figures. Tomorrow I will trim and clean up the inner edge of the fender for welding, then I can also trim the outer edge of the tubs to match the body line . The next step will to be weld them in and move on to the rear inner fenders and trunk floor.

[CFD]

Got to love it when things work out right. Finished trimming the inner edge of the body to weld the tubs to. Doing it this way got rid of all the rusted metal so I now have a nice solid 1/2 lip to work with. Went ahead and trimmed the tubs to match the body line, and have them fitted but decided not to weld them in yet. I'm going to fabricate the pieces to deal with the back half of the fender wells. It will be easier to work there without the tubs in the way so I will weld it after all the pieces are fitted. I'm going to make a new flange for the fender to bolt to because of the shabby repairs previously done and the rot around some of the nuts. I'm undecided on how to finish the back half, I could do it similar to what the factory had or I could do a flat panel and have two large areas that would easily house the battery and all electronics. Tomorrow I'm going to play around with a few ideas and keep moving.

[CFD]

Cut out more of the previous butchery. Decided to go with a flat panel to finish off the tubs. If I retain the factory shape it gives me about 3.5 inches of space outside the frame rails and leaving the big cavity behind the tubs. With a flat panel I get about 8 more inches of space inside the trunk, this gives me tons of room for the battery, amp and all the electrical components rather than clutter up under the dash. I cut out one side and roughed out the new panels. Tomorrow I will trim them up, lay out the pattern for the bead rolling and start on the flanges to fit all the pieces. I decided to do flanges on all panels, welding the outside seam completely sealing the body from outside elements, the inside will get spot welded and seam sealed to prevent any moisture from starting rust from the inside out and giving me the strongest seams rather then butt welding them.

[Yellow Bullet]

I DONT CARE WHAT YOU BUILD! Its always so fascinating and detail oriented and I LOVE it! Thank you for all the enjoyment and I am glad a subscribed, gl

Derrian

[CFD]

Originally Posted by Yellow Bullet

I DONT CARE WHAT YOU BUILD! Its always so fascinating and detail oriented and I LOVE it! Thank you for all the enjoyment and I am glad a subscribed, gl

Derrian

I'm glad you enjoy it.

Didn't get that much done but I am all set up to tear into it tomorrow. I did cut out the left side inner fender. It's amazing what some people do, through the years there have been five repairs to the rear corner. Each time they welded a new piece over the damaged piece so all the layers are evident. I then fitted the new left side inner fender panel. Where I decided to do flanges I didn't want to corner weld the flat panel to the tubs. To make a 90 deg bend on a compound curve by hand is a lot of work so I decided to do it with the bead roller, problem is I didn't have tipping dies and couldn't get a set here by tomorrow so I grabbed a couple of hunks of steel I had kicking around and made a set on the lathe. I then cut a test piece with the same curve as the panel. Much easier than doing it by hand. Now it will have a nice corner with a smooth radius. I'm going to try to flange the piece as well, it's a small lip so I'm not sure if it will work but if it does it will also be seamless.

[CFD]

Spent some time on the wheel tubs. Figured I might as well finish welding and doing the final hammer and dolly work on them. It needed to be done before they can be welded in so got it out of the way. I tig welded them, that way I have the most control over the welding. By welding the outside curve I can control the weld and keep the beads flat to minimize grinding while getting maximum penetration, it almost looks like it was welded from both sides . I then slightly grind the welds to get rid of any high spots that will make it more difficult to hammer. I don't concentrate on grinding the welds smooth because the hammer and dolly will smoothen them out and I can also get the profile of the curve almost perfect with no filler. There are a few side by photos of the tubs after the grinding, then a couple of side by sides of one after the dolly work, you can see how the welds almost disappear and the profile of the radius is very accurate. Once I finish the other side I will hit them with a sanding disc to get the finish uniform.

[CFD]

Finished the dolly work on the other tub then started getting everything ready to start assembly. Spent some time on the trimmed edges, got there sizes consistent and smoothened the edges. Now when I fit the tubs I will have a clean edge to transfer a mark from so I can bead roll the flanges for welding. This is important to get right because typically if it's not right there's no fixing it. I would not be happy if I had to build a new tub. Looking around in the fender/trunk area I realized there's nothing left, lol, one way to deal with rot, cut the shit out. Now the car is well on it's way to being rust free.