Projext X 1967 Fastback

[nassi]

Well Well,
you made me think back a long way.

Learnt to Drive in 1943 Ford GPW, and also spent a lot of time in a '45 GPA....and we used to take it swimming once a year.

Cool AS!

and still the best tinney you can get.

[rkmiller73]

OK, so there were over 80 spot welds on each rocker.

I worked yesterday to take out the inner rocker panels - about 2.5 hours per side, plus a little time grinding/cleaning up then sprayed corrosion resistant zinc weld thru primer. A good solid 6 hours or so.

The inside of the rockers was clean bare metal. The driver side had no corrosion evidence, the passenger side has a couple of spots with some mild surface corrosion pitting.

the dipping process cleaned all the rust up inside and out.

Today, I worked on filling a few spot weld drill holes and then got the car lift up on an extra set of blocks. On retrospect I should not have had the car left up almost all the way when I set the jig. I wanted to have plenty of room to work above and below at the time.


I have blocked up the engine/car lift a little more.

Now I need to drill a few spot weld holes in the new floor pan to plug weld and try to fit this large floor pan assembly.

[soc123_au]

Ripping along Ryan, good stuff. I reckon you should convert it to RHD while you are going

[ozbilt]

Ripping along Ryan, good stuff. I reckon you should convert it to RHD while you are going

I can send Ryan a converted dash as I have one ready to go here .....

[ozbilt]

There is a RHD 65 convertible in Oregon & I believe a 68 in the Washington DC area. We bought our converted 69 Mach back to Australia, so the 67 in RHD would be quite the vehicle .....

[rkmiller73]

This afternoon I worked on cleaning up a few areas and finding a couple of friends to help me lift/move the floor pan out of the crate and onto the jig.

I think I will mount the floor pan onto the jig and then slide everything under the car and then lower the car back down.

The rear of the floor pan has the brackets that attach to the rear panel and they stick out past the pan by about 1/2 - 1 inch.

Needless to say it will most likely require some manuvering and cursing.

I am a bit nervous. We will see this weekend...

[ozbilt]

The rear of the floor pan has the brackets that attach to the rear panel and they stick out past the pan by about 1/2 - 1 inch.

Those are the rear bumper reinforcements, slice through the welds & remove them until you have the 2 halves of the car together, then you will have the marks where they go to weld them back in.

[rkmiller73]

Kerry,

I was thinking the same thing. When the old panel came out, I had drilled the bracket spot welds and one bracket came off clean, the other stayed on - must have missed one spot weld.

Anyway, the floor pan wanted and did come off at the front first so I am thinking maybe I will go butt end first and then left up the front.

Either way it will be a new experience for me getting this large assembly into the car.

Also, I use 3/8 inch holes for the plug welds. I have thought about going back up to Kansas and see if I can borrow a small spot welder from one of the shops I used to work at. OR I could buy a small spot welder at Harbor freight or Northern Tool - I don't know about their quality, but I am sure I would have to let it cool down after a few spot welds and do a little at a time.

[ozbilt]

Yes good ol Northern Tool & Harbor Freight .....

I have looked at the resistance spot welders there & they would not do the job. As for drilling holes for spot MIG welding, 1/4" is all you need, 3/8" is way too big.

Set up some practice pieces & then play with the MIG until you get the nice crisp sound along with good burn. The penetration should look the same as the weld buildup on top.

[rkmiller73]

Thanks Kerry,

I ask because most of the time I am plug welding the spot weld hole I cut. I saw on Eastwood.com that they have a good flanged vise grip with a u shape cut out of it and they have a kit you can get with it that includes a 3/16 inch drill bit and a new sheild tip for your mig with legs to keep the proper distance. There is a video and they show that a 3/16 inch hole welded properly holds as well as a spot weld.

I ordered the vise grip and the legged shield - $40 total and figured I would give it a try.

I did not get much done this weekend - had to do some family stuff with the kids and wife.

I did get the floor pan out of the crate and onto the jig and then I drilled 1/4 inch holes across the top of the new inner rocker on the floor pan.

On the bottom of the inner rocker I left it alone, it seems that it would be difficult to get to from the inside with the floor pan just above.

I instead drilled the 3/16 holes on the bottom of the outer rocker on the car.

I plan to practice some with the Eastwood setup and if it goes well I will do that across the bottom of the rocker - otherwise I will go back to 1/4 inch.

The strap is to keep the floor pan in place while fitting and it was very windy in Texas today.

[ozbilt]

Ryan, the flanged vice grips work well. The best thing you ordered was the legged shield for the MIG. Just about all MIG welders came with that extra when they were released back in the late 60's ( those MIG welders had a "spot weld" setting ) but you never see them now days. They work well.

I assume this is it ? .....

[rkmiller73]

Kerry,

Yes that is it, but without the dent puller application.

I like that dent puller app - was that on eastwood?

I will have to look now.

I am off work on Tuesday and I have a friend coming by Tuesday morning to help me start the fitting process.

LET THE FUN BEGIN! :rotfl:

I will report on how many cuss words it takes and the correct order for the magic to work.

[ozbilt]

Kerry,

Yes that is it, but without the dent puller application.

I like that dent puller app - was that on eastwood?

I will have to look now.

I am off work on Tuesday and I have a friend coming by Tuesday morning to help me start the fitting process.

LET THE FUN BEGIN! :rotfl:

I will report on how many cuss words it takes and the correct order for the magic to work.

I can give you a hand with the cuss words as I have been told I am fairly good at them ( I can yell too ) ......

[ozbilt]

I now assume that you were thinking of this one ?

http://www.eastwood.com/mig-spot-weld-kit-eastwood.html

This is the one I posted .....

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-master ... y-kit.html

[jas24zzk]

Dang shame I am so freaking busy........got a run of muzzy floors in.

Would love to do a short how to video for you all.

Mig plug spot welds can be a lil bit of an art. Take kerry's advice and spend some time practising on waste material.

A couple of tips tho:

1: I use a fairly hot power setting. This makes me have to move fast, but ensures penetration.

2. I use a fairly low wire speed. This combined with the above, ensures I do not overfill the plug, and saves hours of grinding time. If all you need is a quick lick with am 80 grit roloc disc, then you are doing it right.

3. Cleanliness. After you drill your plugs, lick off any daggy bits of swarf with the roloc, and also clean the edp/paint off the side of the hole you are going to be welding from. The shielding gas can, but often does fail to stop these things from being included in the weld, which leads to bubbling and porousness of the weld.

4. Mig choice. If you are planning on doing this with a gasless mig, then you might as well stop, go eat popcorn or play with your swizzle stick.

Enjoy

Jas