Rust and damage everywhere, what to do and in what order?

[wilbur-bud]

After many months of weekends of taking things off the car, plus cleaning off all the accumulated dirt and undercoating, I think I can finally see enough of the structure itself to begin to make a list of what to repair and what to replace, but would like to hear your practical advice about what should be done first. For example, do you replace a floor panel before or after replacing the sills? At the rate I work, probably my next post will be in a couple years.

For those that have the time and interest to review in detail (and I would very much appreciate remarks and advice from folks with rust repair experience), I’ve taken a series of 32 photos of the underside and labeled them according to the below index image, all of them here: http://s118.photobucket.com/user/Wilbur … 2014_April . After that, I’ve posted below a couple oddities.

Have a look at driver’s side transmission tunnel, what sort of roadside or trackside repair would cause someone to zigzag through there with a torch, then pop-rivet some hammered up panels on both sides to make a sandwich??? Not sure it’s worth trying to sew all that up, probably cut out most of it and put in a new piece. Imagine tunnel pieces are rare or else it might make sense to try and find one as there are other holes and damage farther back.

Had some old traction bars on there and a couple heavy plates welded in, assume I need to cut all those off, then repair the frame and forward spring mount, and then also add one of the strengthening kits out there as well.

Lastly, some hacking on the radiator shroud area, probably need to trim the edges, straighten out things, and then make a patch piece to fit in there.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Joel & Karen Griffin]

Looks like you’ll be a pretty good metalman/fabricator before its over, we did all our own panels, not quite as bad as I see here but enough to keep busy for a few months.

[Eric and Bonnie and Bonnie Gibeaut]

Do you plan on blasting the floors and underside of the body? It looks like the X member under the floor pans is in pretty good shape-that is a good sign. Did the doors line up well when it was together? I would mount the doors and insure door gaps are correct and then replace the rocker panels while the doors are latched in place to line up all the gaps before welding. That way your doors will open and close when you are done! Don’t ask me how I learned that lesson….. Unless the floor pans are really bad, I would do partial panel replacement-but that is your call.
I think you have a pretty good shell there compared to many out there. Hope you took many photos so you can put it all back together. Was the Tiger TAC’d previously? Don’t remove the serial number plate or the original rivets holding it on the shell. Good luck and keep us posted as to your progress. Eric

[Roger Nyberg]

GO to Eastwood Co. web site, they have all the do it yourself stuff you’ll need. For the floors make cardboard patches then transfer to metal. Use Eastwood’s flanging tool either pneumatic or manual, then use Eastwood or 3m panel adhesive to glue things together. On the internet, 3m has a video showing that a joint with their adhesive is stronger than a welded joint. Many panels on OEM cars are now bonded with panel adhesive instead of welding. Welding unfortunately burns off the anti-corrosion coating on the inside of blind panels, and will promote rust through from the inside. (eg. my daughter’s Grand Prix with a Mr Goodwrench repaired, seamed quarter panel three years ago) About the only things that should get welded are those that involve structure or where factory welds have failed. The heavier gauge metal parts.

[Joel & Karen Griffin]

I disagree to bond instead of weld, use a weld thru primer before and maybe some phospate after lots of coatings available to use once your finished
with the metal work.

[wilbur-bud]

Yes, doors are on, although you can see I put a little bracing in before hoisting it up (sort of an I-brace across the door openings, but in a way where I can leave the doors on and open and close while working). Passenger door fit was OK but driver’s side had a twist out at the back bottom so will probably re-align that before cutting and pasting in the sills. I’m probably more of a welder than a bonder but would agree its important to use the weld-through (like SEM copperweld) — nothign against bonding, just more of a period choice for me. The VIN tag appears to be in place with original rivets, so I’ll be leaving it alone but by it’s nature that precludes a dip and phosphate for the whole mess as the VIN plate would then self-destruct – so probably as much blasting as I can manage once repairs are done. One other anomaly is that the prior owner burned or punched hood pin holes and one of those is precariously close to the VIN plate, so will think on how to weld that up without creating a worse problem. Not TAC’d. X-member seems solid except for the exhaust pass-throughs. Biggest question in my mind now is do I need to remove wings or not to repair inner fenders, as I hadn’t really planned to pull the wings off. I’m not so worried about sills and outer wing patches as I am the shroud or other areas where I have no idea what a correct one would look like. I’d be happier to buy replacement panels than to make them, but sources seem few and incomplete. Anyhow, ought to be worth an hour or two as the days pass by.

[Joel & Karen Griffin]

I think I,d drill the VIN Tag off and dip the beast, I’ve seen Vin Tags Reproduced, there has been a lot of discussion to drill or not to drill personally I just drilled my off and really don’t give a shit as to who cares regarding this!

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