Stage 2, "The Body Tub"
Once the rolling frame was finished I started on the tough part of the project. I thought about sand or plastic media blasting but decided that dipping was the best way to go. The outer panels were very thin in places and blasting would have given me a lot more bodywork to do than I wanted. March99 I found a sorry looking hard top. It came with a new fitting kit and a rear window which needed, the scratches polishing out.
The previous owner left it at the
where they kept it for me until I could collect it. During the next few cold months I worked on and off in the basement on the windscreen, heater assy, and dash.
After bolting in a couple of black gas lines for additional strength I delivered the Tub with the Doors on to "Auto-Metal Paint Strippers" in Bedford Hts, Ohio.
My next quest was to find a good used left front fender, not an easy task. But Lady Luck was with me one day (so I thought!) when I stumbled on one, which had been bought new 20 years ago for a repair but never used, it still had the stickers on it.
The body tub was ready after five weeks. That was because I made to mistake of saying, "I'm in no rush!" but it was well worth the wait.
As you can see from these photos it was the right way to go and it actually came back still in one piece! Expensive at $700 but I think I would have had to spend that to have it blasted and it wouldn't have been as good.
I soon realized the amount of work needed and not wanting to mess up my running frame with weld splatter, I used the frame from the second car I bought in Oct98. Adapting it with roll-a-round casters 30" off the ground made replacing panels much easier. I have this frame available if anyone wants it. I've removed the castors and legs and it only needs a little work before it can be used.
The floor pans looked quite good but with the garage lights off and an inspection lamp under the body tub you couldn't have started to count all the pin holes.
Before I could start cutting pieces out I assembled the tub with the Hardtop, Windscreen and Doors to see how it all lined up before I bolted it to the roll-a-round. With these parts still in place I tried to remove the right side floor pan and rocker panel. That idea didn't last long, the hard top just got in the way.
Stage 3 "Repairing the Body Tub"
In hindsight, I would say replacing the floor pans and rockers would be much easier if they are done both together with the car starting off in two pieces. The alignment of the doors and front fenders are so critical to a good restoration. I really didn't think I would have to spend so many hours on this section. (The doors have now been on and off the car so many times now, I think they know their own way.)As I said, I went around this the wrong way. The inner and outer rockers were replaced with the majority of the original floor pan in place. I would strongly recommend the replacement of the rockers on a restoration even if the floor pans look ok and the rockers like wise. You wouldn't believe the build up of rust inside both the inner and outer panels.
After I was satisfied with the positioning of the right side door and the rocker panel the floor pan was removed. Getting the new floor pan in was difficult. I ended up removing the lip that the rear of the floor pan attaches to. This then gave me another job to do, making another lip. Do you see why a suggest cutting the car in half? Once positioned and tack welded in place you couldn't see my mistake. I would also suggest bolting in the Transmission cover prior to welding anything.
I did much the same with the other floor pan and the second time around went much smoother. At this stage I bolted and sealed the Transmission cover in place from the inside. I think poor sealing around the transmission cover is the main reason why the floor pans rot out in the first place.
Both sides of the car in the area of the foot well needed repair panels welding in after the floor panels had been fitted.
Each dogleg was a challenge because of nothing to weld to. If your thinking of bypassing this process the lower dogleg has to be removed before the inner rocker can be removed because of a single bolt.
I rebuilt each area with card from a Cornflakes packet. "It has to be a Cornflakes packet, nothing else will do!" Using the card as a template I cut metal and positioned the pieces including the captive nuts. I found later that this whole process was well worth it because it made the fitting of the rear fenders a breeze.
The red line drawn on the photo shows the edges of panel I used from the second car. The original panel was badly damaged due to a previous owner thinking he could braze. The heat distortion left me no option to cut the mess out.
The repair piece was bigger than I really needed but by making the join up the center of the raised hinge platform, and once the screen is fitted there will be less than a 2" join to hide. When the new section was fitted I found I had a much better alignment of the surrounding panels. Some areas around the rear wheel wells had also been repaired by brazing in sections and were good enough to leave alone. However, most of the repairs I cut out and welded in new metal with captive nuts.
Just about the worst area was the trunk floor, or I should say the lack of it! Being too far-gone to do anything with it other than to use it as a template. Now I know these can be bought but they are for the early cars and have to have pieces added. So why bother.
Made in two main sections from 18-gauge steel with formed interlocking lips the pieces dropped into place. The Yellow line shows the main section dropped in first and hooked under the spare tire lip. The Red line shows the second part, which is welded along its length, both to the original metal and the first "Yellow" repair section. On inside of each wheel arch I welded the pieces indicated by the green line to lock the others in place and to repair the wheel well.
The floor pans and transmission cover are now fitted together with a new battery box.
This battery box was probably the worst made component I purchased on this project.
I had to drill out welds and reform it to represent a somewhat rectangular box.
Since doing this I've spoken with a number of individuals concerning poor fitting replacement panels both or recent and Old New Stock origin.
Because my welding only works in one direction I found this was much easier to do. I was surprised how much welding I did while the car was in this position. All around the edge of the spare wheel well on to the underside of the trunk floor and just about any suspect join I could find.
I also manufactured a couple of braces, which now support the floor above the axle. These can be seen in the next photo
I then I sealed around the transmission cover and put brush on seam sealer on every seam I could find.
The underside was painted with three coats of miracle paint followed by a Blue/Green, then a lighter Green and finally when I got the color how I wanted it, the right Green. Needless to say it has plenty of paint where it counts. The transmission cover was then undercoated.
There is a closed box section along the rear of the car lower than the spare wheel well. This area generally rots out. I opened up each end and painted the now bare metal with several coats of miracle paint. Then I sealed the ends with new metal and captive nuts.
