De-Rusting: Part 2 (Picture Heavy)

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 05/27/2019 at 21:30 • Filed to: '71Chevelle

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I made more progress on repairing the rust on the Chevelle today. When we left off, the fender had been trimmed and a patch panel cut to “too big.”

First approximate fit

After some more cutting and a whole bunch of trimming, the patch fit! And after even more trimming and generally-messing-with, it fit properly - or so it seems at a glance:

It may look the same as the last picture, but it’s a solid hour of fine-tuning the fit later.

Upon closer inspection however, there is an issue. The patch panel, being a patch panel and not, say, a cutoff from an original fender, isn’t quite right.

Sharpie marks unrelated, left over from initial “how much more do I have to take off to make this fit”

With the wheel opening edge aligned properly, the door gap edge came up short; likewise moving it to align this left the wheel opening wonky. This wasn’t entirely a surprise; I noticed this being an issue while still making the panel fit in the first place and had time to contemplate how it fix it before it needed done.

The correct solution, of course, is a hacksaw.

I was originally going to go the whole way to that silver mark, but decided at this point that it was adequate. After some careful application of force...

Imagine like 5 iterations of “bend a little, test fit” before this point.

Any remaining unevenness there is well within the thickness of the steel to be able to smooth out post-weld. The lighting (and tape-edge) of the above picture makes it look like it has a serious “<” but it’s not bad.

This leaves us where I left off for today, ready for a final cleaning, clamping in place with the gaps just right, and the first handful of welds to hold it in place. With any luck, that will happen tomorrow evening.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > MM54 05/27/2019 at 22:00

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“Grinder and paint, make the welder I ain’t”

This is better then my attempts

shop-teacher > MM54 05/27/2019 at 22:02

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Not too shabby!

MM54 > shop-teacher 05/27/2019 at 22:05

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Thanks! It’s coming along. Once I get a bit further, I get to do it all again on the other side, woohoo!

MM54 > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 05/27/2019 at 22:06

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Trust me, “the welder I ain’t” will be showing soon! As long as I don’t warp the crap out of the panels, I will consider it a success (even if I have to grind and add more weld a dozen times to get a good seam).

shop-teacher > MM54 05/27/2019 at 22:17

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Par-tay!

Urambo Tauro > MM54 05/27/2019 at 22:59

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I’m still a bit of a noob when it comes to bodywork, and I gotta  admit that trick just blew my mind.

MM54 > shop-teacher 05/27/2019 at 23:02

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The real party is when I get to doing the rear wheel wells, for which there is very limited sections of patch panels in existe nce (because sedan). I can get them for above and behind, but not in front of and all of those sections need help - making my own patches will be an interesting additional step.

MM54 > Urambo Tauro 05/27/2019 at 23:04

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Thanks, I’m pleased with how it went. As long as I’m careful, it should disappear once welded up.

ApolloX75 > MM54 05/27/2019 at 23:45

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I’m in much the same boat with my Apollo, I feel your pain.

Old-Busted-Hotness > MM54 05/28/2019 at 07:10

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Been there, done that, so learn from my mistakes:

Once you get it tacked in place, let the welds cool naturally. Don’t get in a hurry and keep blasting metal in there. That’s how you warp panels.

If you have one of those copper backing plates, use it. They’re great for preventing blowouts.

An d when you’re done, take the fender off and clean up the backside and paint it with a good 2K primer. Don’t give rust a chance to start up again. Rust won’t give YOU a break...

MM54 > Old-Busted-Hotness 05/28/2019 at 17:31

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All good tips! I fully expect for it to take a couple days of working-after-work to get it stitched in, since everything needs to cool down. Warping stuff is a serious paranoia, only have to do it once to develop a phobia of too-much-heat.

As for the back, I intend to seam-seal the back of the weld where I can access it , and prime the rest / all of it, as well as a top coat. After final paint I’ll get fluid film into all the weird cavities and such as well. I don’t intend to do this again!