63 Pinner Hightop

Finished up on the handle pocket today. Added a strap to where the handle bolts on to make it a little stronger. There, it was puckered when I removed the handle. After we got done, I bolted the handle back on to check out the contour. Looks good. We get the rest of the bottom, and we can sling some mud. I ran around the edges on the inside. If water gets in, now it will have no place to hide. This would not have happened if they hadn't boxed things in.




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Had a couple fun days here. The good news is we finally got some rain. My adopted Daughter drop off her car monday to have me put a drivers seat in it. I have not worked harder taking a seat out of a car before. It's put in with two bolts in the rear and hooks in front. The drive gear is broken so it won't move and the track is over the bolts. I had to take it apart from the top down one piece at a time still in the car. Just to get at the warm gear and twist it with the vice grip till the bolts were clear. Took all afternoon to get it out and help my neighbor weld up the tongue on the lion. Took 5 minutes to put the replacement one it. Had to take the car up to Rapid to day and get the front bearings changed. They were loose and activating the ABS system. Got home in time to finish cleaning up the back door and get the first layer of filler on it. Use the fibreglass stranded for the first layer for a stronger base. Hope the rest of the week is more productive.



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Well it had to happen. We finished up the trailer this morning just before the rain hit. It cooled down into the 50s and the heaters in the garage came on. Nice to finaly get some rain though. Suppose to be all week on and off. Time of the year to be glad for inside work. Got the bumper off the rear only 4 bolts had to use heat on 3 of them. Dumped the hardware into the rust dissolver let it soak there. We will need to sand blast the panel under it. Its still solid but pitted badly. Found a little more rust on the right quarter down under the rear surround trim. Knocked down that first layer we put on found a big low spot marked it with a piece of tape so i could find it inside and used the crow bar to bump it out little. The crow bar is the neatest thing to reach in and move a little metal with. Sharp corners and a chisel tip and enough weight to move things. Here is the low spot after we bumped it out some. Then one more layer on. Nice to be able to move that lion. It broke down on the 4th of July.



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Let's see if I can make the work tonight. Got the lower backside sandblasted off. Then, I blocked off the rear door. Used the short board to cut things down and round things out a little more. The gray spots in the second picture are, in truth, flat spots. The dark spots in the last layer were where we cut down to the fiberglass mix in the first layers.

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Put some more primer on the back door. Then got to looking at what we needed to do to finish cleaning things up. The door has to come off. I need to clean up the jam to replace the deal on both the door and the body so off it is. As long as it's off might as will run the hinges threw the bead blasted and paint them to. I have a big baby of roll locks that will clean up the jam will. I see we missed a pin hole of two in the lower frame. Notice the drain holes in the door are inside the seal? This is why the wood in the sill is rotted out and the flooring is damaged. I'll give it some thought but don't think there is room to move the drain holes mean time we need to order some paint.

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Ok think we have pictures under control again. Had to reset the kindle to get why of a bug. So today was a little more exploring. Got the rear tires off send looking for were threatening in on the right side. Found a split on the ground lol on the inner fender and quarter. Everybody gross is tight. Both rear quarters are threw in the rear the right worse then the left. The left endlessly is a old repair. They put a patch on the top of the arch but did not repair the inner fender so it came back threw. There is a large hole in the front going into the rocker. This car is a Unibody car so rockers are the strong point. A surface rust on the left extension right is better. Got the left side striped and we will start the repair tomorrow.





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Will it was in New York the first part of its life. The heavy I undercoating help at first but as it dries out and cracks it becomes a trap for water. The big mistake I see here was they coated inside the panels also. Condensation form inside from the heat and thaw cycle crept underneath the coating and rust follows. It didn't take anything to knock it off in a pile. took longer to clean it out then it did to strip it off. Got a lot of loose rust out of the bottom of the panel on the right. The mudder didn't do it any favors with the the quick fix of fill.it in and paint eather. So after we took care of the loose coating we used the siphon sprayer to get the rust mort into places we could not reach into. I was able the get the most out of all the molding holes in the rockers I got them as good as they can be. . We'll let it work on converting the rust the get to the patches on the holes. Mean time we were able to get all the places On the body that needed it. And are letting it cook off.




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If you do this be sure to wet down the floor first. The rust mort is a mix of phosphoric acid and water. It will eat into the cement fast. Put on a mask if your spraying it. You don't want to suck any of this down. Coke is a lot cheaper and will work just as good but cleaning up the mess it leaves is not fun without a power washer.
 
Had a decent afternoon today got the left wheel opening ready for filler. The pictures will take 3 posts. Cleaned the spots in the lead filler dog leg and filled them with a product called all metal. It's aluminium poster in a dozen of all your going to do is wad filler in the rust holes this is the product to use. It doesn't absorb water like filler does so it will last longer. We are looking for the converter and sealing it up the body to get it to last here rather then melt out the lead trying to weld a patch over the hole with a tinted panel. First we needed to form a lip on the patch panel they welded in the center rather then make it out of mud. We can do that with the duck bill dolly and the light hammer. Then it's braze down the inner fender to the patch to seal it up. Not a fun thing to do crawling up in there with hot far and molten metal with a torch in one hand and a shot for in the other. Got lucky but it is surprising how not one small ball of brass can be.



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So here we are working in the wheel well. Then the outer lip. The holes are just to not to try to fill in with out support. So we'll use a piece of steel cut out from the panel cutter. Just a matter of tacking it in then filling around it. You put a patch over and you have a raise spot you have to build up around you can't practice cut out here and form a patch. So we'll do it like this keeping our filler low and enough brass to keep rust a bay here at least.

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Now for the damage on the other side not near as big as the left. Just some pin holes the split and a three spot center top. The little ball of brass dropped down on my shoulder then rolled into my shirt pocket. Wish you could buy 100% cotton shirts still these nylon one just don't hold up.


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I may never work my way out of this wheel well. The more you do the more you find. Got the holes in the front patched. Always a question on the access hole. Fill it in or not. Decided to keep it. The last man worked this dog leg and put a plug on the inside. But only tacked it with a wire feed and coated it with undercoating. Why they didn't under coat the upper part I don't know. Just working around what they did and didn't do. The way I think is best. got the lip in the correct shape we will have to build it up in front as it's boxed in and I can't get behind it to form it. made the mistake of cleaning out the melted undercoating on the back side. The inner fender is rusted off back there too. Noticed it look like they had replace the lower corner then. This hole is big enough to stick my finger in. But no sense in second guessing things you didn't do. I did find the reason the electric fuel pump is not coming on. Never trusted these type of splices. I have mixed feelings running an electric pump ,and a mechanic one together. So I'll wire it with a On / Off switch so if it sits you can kick it on, let it build up pressure and shut it off when you get it started.


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Relearn an old lesson again today. Just because it's not red doesn't mean it's not still hot. Stumbled getting back into the wheel well and grabbed the lip for support. I didn't need it long; it was just too hot to hang on to. But we got it sealed up and the first layers of filler in place. So, proceed forward next to the small hole in the rear and onto the other side while we work on the filler on this one. Since we bought the metal-to-metal filler, we'll use it on the first layer. This product is good, but if it's too thick, it won't withstand freezing and thawing. Learned that session on a 73 S&S. one -12 degree winter. Apply a thin layer to seal any pinholes, then use Bondo to level the surface. If there is any doubt that the dark red is lacquer, check out the melted paint on the disk.



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Finished the rust on the left side. Had to dig out some more big chunks of undercoating out of the back corner. A little heat had them loose. With a spot like this, don't be afraid to beat a big spot cherry red; that way, you can expose any thin spots to get all the problems taken care of this time. I only had to make one bridge on the long hole on this one. Then we knocked off the high spots on the wheel well and added one more layer. I'm going to remove the layer of darker red. This allows us to keep the film thickness down. This patch did well, didn't even burn myself once. It will only take a thin layer of filler to smooth it out. The only confusion was whether I saved the right hole. A test fit of the molding says yes.


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