[tp_smith]

So, pulled the car and jig outside to test the pot blaster I bought at an auction years ago to see how it works. Looks like it will do the job. I blasted the areas of the hidden vin's. The stampings are light near the heater box. Stamping on the cowl had some rust around it making it a little hard to read. Both are hard to pick up with a camera.

View attachment 322493

This is the stamping by the heater box. The last 3 digits of the vin "128" upside down.

View attachment 322495

I used some baking soda to try and highlight the characters on the cowl. "9N109128" are the last 8 of the VIN.

So, you blasted the VINs with baking soda, not coal slag? I never used baking soda. How do you like it? It is supposed to be very mild abrasive. My little sand blaster requires a special attachment for my machine to work with soda. The bad thing about soda is that it will kill plants. I have to keep peace with my neighbors and wife.

Here is an example of Northern Tool coal slag. This is the first pass. There were many more.

Are you planning to sand blast the whole car or just areas where you are replacing the sheet metal? I did little areas. Are you planning to remove the EDP coating off of the new sheet metal or paint over the Tawain coating? They say that if lacquer thinner does not remove the EDP coating, then it is alright to paint over it. I removed my EDP coating with a sand blaster. I am hinting that a paint gun purchase is about to occur in your life.

 

[RTCat]

So, you blasted the VINs with baking soda, not coal slag? I never used baking soda. How do you like it? It is supposed to be very mild abrasive. My little sand blaster requires a special attachment for my machine to work with soda. The bad thing about soda is that it will kill plants. I have to keep peace with my neighbors and wife.

Here is an example of Northern Tool coal slag. This is the first pass. There were many more.



View attachment 322552


Are you planning to sand blast the whole car or just areas where you are replacing the sheet metal? I did little areas. Are you planning to remove the EDP coating off of the new sheet metal or paint over the Tawain coating? They say that if lacquer thinner does not remove the EDP coating, then it is alright to paint over it. I removed my EDP coating with a sand blaster. I am hinting that a paint gun purchase is about to occur in your life.

I tried the soda blast first on the hidden vins. Where there was more rust on the cowl vin, it did not remove all the rust. On the location by the heater box it worked good, where there was no rust. I then pulled the car outside and hit the vins with the post blaster. I think i'll use the pot blaster from here on out. My feeling is it gets the metal cleaner, but i have no scientific proof.

My thought is to just blast the areas where I'm doing sheet metal work with the pot blaster outside. Put down a blue tarp to maybe reclaim some of the media and sift it back into use. I'll then see what original metal I have left and what EDP coating is like on the replacement panels as to if I blast everything and then epoxy.

I plan on purchasing this airmax 2.0 gun to paint epoxy after final blasting and paint the subframe and rearend in some kind of chassis black color. Probably use the same gun for painting pullys, brackets and other small parts.
maxair 2.0 gun

I've got a couple good guns I've previously acquired for whenever I get to final paint and clear.

 

[tp_smith]

You should read this build thread. It is interesting and informative. Todd calls himself the Master Blaster.

https://www.camaros.net/threads/69-coupe-ground-up-rotisserie-resto-nows-the-time.146455/#replies

 

[dhutton]

2.0 is pretty big for epoxy. I use a 1.4 for the black SPI epoxy I use. I use it without a top coat on the subframe etc. It has plenty of UV protection additives unlike most epoxies.

Don

 

[RTCat]

So, planning out my first metal replacement.
On the drivers side, the body mount box is toast on the bottom side, as is the toe board area of the original fire wall. Have new replacements for both. Figured I'd replace these areas before replacing the inner and outer rockers on the same side (drivers).

Here is the current status of the body mount box

Toe board area that needs attention

Here's the new stuff (old hat to you guys I'm sure)

I'm going to replace the whole body mount box. My main question is what is the best place to weld in the new toe board section? The green line below is where I'm thinking. I should be able to cut down the new toe board to approximately an inch beyond my green line, lay it in and then cut through the old and new with a 1/32 cut off wheel and then butt weld the new toe board to the old firewall section. Thoughts?

 

[dhutton]

.

 

[tp_smith]

That is going to be a long buttweld.

Try to cut out as little as possible. Cut where the metal is flat. It will be easier to line up the reproduction piece metal flat areas to the original flat metal areas. The reproduction curves might be different compared to the original. They will not be in alignment.


You could try these little clamps to help keep the panels in alignment during welding. I found them frustrating to use.

Butt Welding Clamps, 8-Piece

 

[RTCat]

Did some blasting on the front end of the car today where replacement metal needs to happen. Ordered all the replacement panels this past week. Will be picking them up next month at a swap meet 45 minutes away.

 

[Sauron67MM]

That is going to be a long buttweld.

Try to cut out as little as possible. Cut where the metal is flat. It will be easier to line up the reproduction piece metal flat areas to the original flat metal areas. The reproduction curves might be different compared to the original. They will not be in alignment.


You could try these little clamps to help keep the panels in alignment during welding. I found them frustrating to use.

Butt Welding Clamps, 8-Piece

View attachment 322626

Those clamps leave too large a gap for buttwelding. I don't use them but some people make notches so the rest of the panel will have zero gap. Buttwelds are accomplished easier and produce superior results with zero gap. Panel repair procedure depends on the job. Often you can lay the replacement panel over the existing panel and scribe a line. Cut the panel(s) on the line leaving extra. If small temporary backers are in place then the patch can be laid on those and the panel shaved/trimmed to achieve zero gap. Fit and manipulate to match contours from new to old. Tack, then fully weld and done.
Most get the hang of it after a very small amount of time on their first job. After a few decades of repairs you won't have to think about it anymore.

 

[RTCat]

So I thought I'd test/learn the couple different spot weld removal tools I bought on the removal of the seat pan before using them in places where I'm saving good metal. I thought I had identified all the spot welds to remove, but the pan is showing no signs of release so far. Is the seat pan welded to the floor in places other then the outside edge? (Ignore the bolt in the sub frame hole, it was used for a measurement and has been removed with no effect on the seat base letting loose)

 

[tp_smith]

I think it is only welded around the perimeter. Here are some photos of the underside of the reproduction part.

You can see there are not any other places where the pan can be welded other than around the perimeter.

You could cut an access hole in the floor pan that is under the seat pan. Then you will be able to see if there is something holding the seat pan that you missed.

An air hammer with a chisel that is ground flat will move the bent metal to the correct place when you reinstall the seat pans.

A hole punch / flange tool is nice for auto body work.

 

[67CruiseMasterCamaro]

There are a series of spot welds that attach the seat pan to the bracket to the floor. See pic below

 

[RTCat]

Ready to weld in the torque box. What is the correct method, drill out the spot weld like the green circle in the upper right or drill a hole next to the spot welds (black circles)? The torque box is thicker than the fire wall so i'll be plugging from the inside. (thats the reflection of my orange tee shirt in the pic...not rust )

 

[67CruiseMasterCamaro]

I'd plug weld to the thicker part. Where your sharpie marks drill holes in it then weld to torque box.

 

[tp_smith]

I would paint the surface you are about to cover up. Like Mr. Scott said, drill out thinner firewall black circles. Clamp the new piece to the old. Then clean the paint that is inside the holes you are about to weld.

I use a drill that I ground down the tip to make it flat. It removes the paint inside the hole. The paint will contaminate the weld.

Paint inside the hole.

No more paint after the drill treatment. Notice there is no paint near the hole on the outer panel. Weld and paint don't mix.

 

[RTCat]

Ok, I've got the whole inner rocker removed from the pass side. I'm now working on removing the whole outer rocker. I have a how to question.

It appears the areas I've circled in red have spot welds I'll need to break loose in order to remove the outer rocker. While I haven't tried yet, it looks like it will be a tight fit to get a drill bit/spot weld remover bit into the red circled area from the top. Is that the path i should go down? Do I cut out the piece below the door hinge I'm going to replace and cut out part of the outer rocker to get to the red circled areas from the bottom? What is the correct way to loosen the front of the outer rocker?

 

[tp_smith]

I was wondering what happened to you. Good to see you are back!

The red oval in your photo are the spot welds that fasten the bottom door hinge bracket to the rocker. You will have to break them loose. You could cut them away from the bottom.

I removed my door hinge brackets, sandblasted, and painted them.

Here is a side view of the passenger hinge bracket. This view is with the tulip panel (shoulder cowl panel) removed and looking toward the rear of the car. You can see the bottom curved piece that is touching my rocker.
The hinge bracket has to be welded to the rocker. It is also welded where the clamping plier is holding the bracket in the photo.

The hinge bracket is also welded to the tulip panel (shoulder cowl panel). The small area of welds in the lower, left portion of the photo below.

It is also welded to the A pillar.

As far as the red circle, I don't know. I might be part of the tulip panel. My reproduction tulip panel did not have a tab to weld to the rocker like what you are showing. It was just a flat, vertical piece in this area.

 

[RTCat]

I was wondering what happened to you. Good to see you are back!

The red oval in your photo are the spot welds that fasten the bottom door hinge bracket to the rocker. You will have to break them loose. You could cut them away from the bottom.

I removed my door hinge brackets, sandblasted, and painted them.

View attachment 328434


Here is a side view of the passenger hinge bracket. This view is with the tulip panel (shoulder cowl panel) removed and looking toward the rear of the car. You can see the bottom curved piece that is touching my rocker.
The hinge bracket has to be welded to the rocker. It is also welded where the clamping plier is holding the bracket in the photo.


View attachment 328435

The hinge bracket is also welded to the tulip panel (shoulder cowl panel). The small area of welds in the lower, left portion of the photo below.


View attachment 328436

It is also welded to the A pillar.
View attachment 328437



As far as the red circle, I don't know. I might be part of the tulip panel. My reproduction tulip panel did not have a tab to weld to the rocker like what you are showing. It was just a flat, vertical piece in this area.
View attachment 328439

All good here. Just a lot of irons in the fire...

I still need to whittle away some of the inner rocker from the top of the hinge bracket. GM must have had the spot welder set to X-large when they welded the top of the inner rocker, I couldn't get it to break loose after this amount of drilling...

 

[RTCat]

OK, so test fitting the inner and outer rockers on the pass side. Things just aren't quite fitting.

The inner is locked in based on the template I made of the original.

When I try to fit the outer up with the inner, this lip on the outer you see below binds with the inner

So I took some measurements off the original outer rocker from the rear of the rocker to the front and compared them to the replacement rocker. I found that in a couple places, there is a 1/4 to 1/2 inch difference between the original and the replacement. Marked below is the largest difference at 1/2". This is also the location of the binding above. If I cut this lip back a 1/2" it looks like things should line up much better.

I assume i would not be the first person that needs to cut/trim a little on a new replacement panel to make it fit / replicate the original? Have you guys ever needed to trim/cut a replacement panel?

 

[tp_smith]

I have read other coupe style build threads, and they had the same issues. Here is one that is very similar to your predicament.

https://www.camaros.net/threads/zbo...rrection-the-turbocharged-after-life.269761/page-5?post_id=2371962#post-2371962

I would make the outer rocker fit like it should. This is the part that everyone sees.
The outer rocker part that sticks out should be 4 inches away from the tulip flange.

The back of the rocker should line up with front wheelhouse quarter panel.

The part that sticks up should line up with the A pillar door section.

My original one was not perfectly aligned.

The inner rockers alignment is not as important as the outer ones. Cut them to make them fit. Just make sure the thin metal carpet shield that fits over the inner rocker, still fits before final welding.