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Getting Down to Bare Metal

These pictures represent 8 hours of work. This included removing all the exterior trim, bumpers, door handles, headlights, taillights, etc. The more trim and paint that were removed the worse the body looked. As you can see there has been a ton of work done on this car before and a ton to be done on it now. It appears that every panel has been worked on or replaced before. So far it will be necessary to replace both front fenders at the rear, left rocker panel, both quarters at the front back to over the wheel wells, and the gutters in the engine compartment as well as the trunk. Also the trunk bottom, and battery box needs to be replaced. There is also rust thru in the engine compartment at the front on both sides. I haven't looked at the floor yet but it seems to be solid.

 

The following three pictures represent the second and third day of work. All of the bare metal was sealed on day two and thus hides a lot of the work that was done. The front end was straightened and filled, the left headlight opening was repaired with a custom made piece for the center and park light area. The front of the fender was repaired and also a piece was made for the trunk gutter at the front. Day three consisted of removing the paint from the hood and right fender and finishing the left door. The right fender front on the nose and the gutter area was also repaired. All of this work was sealed after these pictures were taken.

 

The following pictures show day four and as you can see there is more bondo and patches uncovered. The right rear wheel opening is especially rough. Those are old patches and the entire panel will be replaced this time around. When we got to the engine lid we thought that we would finally find a panel that did not have bondo or other work done to it. Wrong again.

 

Day five and the work continues. More unpleasant, but not unexpected anymore, surprises await. It would now appear that the only areas that have not seen previous damage are the panel above the engine compartment and the tulip panel. The last picture shows the lower fender patch panel on the right side being welded in.

 

 

Day six and I think that we have found just about all of the cancer and other things that need to be taken care of. These pictures show the left quarter wheelwell opening and the old patch that will be replaced, left quarter rocker area inner. The outer rocker is being replaced along its complete length as well as the inner rocker needed a reinforcement welded in. The last picture shows the lower fender area removed waiting for it new patch. The rocker had not been removed at this point.

 

We took a few days off for a little rest and relaxation but the work continued on the Spyder. These pictures represent days seven thru ten. While it doesn't look like much was done, there was really a lot of work done that is now covered up. The right quarter panel in front of the wheel was replaced with a panel from Clark's. Actually 2 panels were purchased for both sides and the second one was cut up and used for the inner panel. It gives a very factory finished look. I didn't get pictures of the left front fender and rocker after being repaired. I think that the quarter panel looks great. More work was done on the tail panel also. More to be done there. The pop rivets were drilled out on the tail panel in the air grille area and this will be spot welded tomorrow. Left quarter is ready to be completely cut out and replaced.

 

Day eleven and we are now working on the left quarter. This side is worse than the right side but it will look as good when we are finished. The portion in front of the wheel well opening was done the same as on the right side except we also had to weld a patch to the inner portion at the bottom. In addition we bought a four door rear quarter section and used what we could. We then took the rest of the wheel well opening and reworked it so that it fit. The quarter still looks rough in these pictures but final grinding and a little filler and it will be looking great.

 

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