to rusty to fix

[John ED Renstrom]

the words we dread to hear. but what is to rusty to fix. that is the question. the answer of course gets a lot wider as the desire for the car gets greater. a Better statement would be to rusty for me to mess with. or the cost of repair is not worth the value of the car. but nothing is to rusty to fix. then some times there are surprises along the way. the right taillight did not look to bad when we first looked at it but it was full of surprises. surprises the owner before did not know about under what look like a Farly solid car. found screen wire and bondo for rust repair and inner and outer panes gone but we are now back together ready to move on . nothing is to rusty to fix if you want to.

 

[Attila Bethlenfalvy]

Would have been far less effort grafting in another taillight pod section. That's like running all the way around the block to arrive at your immediate neighbors. Any common '58 sedan could have donated a cut.

 

[Don Lagerstrom]

Still brazing in 2013, what wrong with mig welding?

 

[John Royark JR]

Too much rust to fix is all in the eye of the beholder. It depends if you can do the work yourself, and if you take it as a personal challenge to out do what you have previously tackled etc. Me I cant fix it, and I will usually pass on cars with the smallest holes. (Ed, you have seen my 49 that many people think its nice, and I think is pretty rough), but I have lots of respect and some envy to the people that can fix things like this.
One mans rough is another mans vision of the beauty it can become again. You do amazing work, and have a great talent to bring these cars back from the dead.

 

[David Martin]

One of the currently running Fix-em, sell-em shows recently had a '57 chevy they were fixing for their showroom centerpiece.

The "clean" body turned out pretty bad after a blast job and they had to swap both the rear fins with donor parts.

They ended up clearing the whole car after the paint was all gone and I like the result.

I agree some stuff is just bad it's at the mercy of a craftsman, or not.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

Would have been far less effort grafting in another taillight pod section. That's like running all the way around the block to arrive at your immediate neighbors. Any common '58 sedan could have donated a cut.

all most true. but not a lot of 58 Eurek's for the rest we needed. and not a lot of rust free droner 58's either they would allow me to cut up. if we have to fix rust lets fix our rust and not pay for other peoples. were we could maybe get the outer section I could not get the inner section eureka built. which was the problem to begin with. as one looks in you can see were the wire feed was used for most of the repair and any place I felt needed strength. there are about 15 pieces patched together inside to make up eurekas inter structurer before you get to the out skin you can see. but as brass was good enough for eureka and it held for them for 58 years I guess we can glue a few places also. besides we need to find any weak spots so it doesn't pop threw out on the tip in a place that looked good when we painted it.
when your retired and not out to make a buck, going around the block to visit the neighbors just lowers your blood presser and makes you feel good. I braze because I can and I enjoy doing it. that's the way they built them in 58. so why not, if you can do it in 2013. our goal here is to get a solid 58 eureka out of it. were the screen wire and bondo rust repair held up on the pod for all this time. it did not last as long down lower on the quarters. so though we could do better.

but if these parts are just laying around down here I really need a center hinge for the rear door, a backing for this right taillight and a 58 hood. maybe around 700 bucks for a decent wire feed and a little ambition. no wait thats the one thing I guess I have to much of. so strike the ambition. rust fee hood would be good though I can fix the hinge and maybe the housing if I need to.

 

[Thomas E Westfall - Deceased 1970 - 2017]

I always loved puzzle patching just because of the feeling of accomplishment when I took flat steel and turned it into a repair panel. I miss having a body shop and the English wheel I had.

 

[Rocky Fluegge]

You got to love some of those surprises that poke their head out.

Like I always say there is more then one way to skin a cat on the repairs. One of my guys in my car club is crazy about tig welding every thing. I always say its great pretty boy stuff, But I will take my mig over tig a lot of times.

Its looking great ed, like you have said when its done the repair will probably out live most of us all. Especially when you are done with it, no doubt it will live a pampered life.

Keep up with the progress shots I love seeing how its all coming along.

 

[Darren Bedford]

If you find a totally rusted piece of metal that may have been laying somewhere outside for 50 years... put it in a sandblaster... blast it...
you now have a brand new piece of metal that can be used once again
as it was initially intended.

Rusty to new in minutes.

Metal laundry I say, clean and ready to paint or powder coat and reuse.

Loving sand blasters for 30 years,
Darren

 

[John ED Renstrom]

moving forward in between other events in my life. it looks like a 58 now with a little filler in place. we are ready to prime now but others things around it are not. here is the back side from the top this time. I did discover that the miracle paint can be put in a throw away pump sprayer to apply it in those hard to reach places a brush won't get to. you do toss it after though as it will lock up the pump. Eurekas had the cracks you see packed full of the rope caulk 3 inches deep of that stuff makes for a quite car.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

got to work on it again today so here is how it looks now

 

[Daniel Scully]

58

Wow looks great. :cheers:

 

[Rocky Fluegge]

Im looking forward to the day when I get to do some of my body work on mine. For now it will all be about just getting it to run and drive under its own power again. Thanks for posting the progress pics. What primer are you using?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

a mix of the red and gray Dupont Nason. it's laquar base, old school but still new enough that it's not a sponge. I have found by mixing them I can get a high fill that you can sand. one that you can mix up and let sit in the cup a month and still used. we have broke down and are layering on a coat of self etch spray bomb first. sure beats all the other metal etching they have had out. turns out that pretty much the lower foot of this one all the way around is gone. and me with out a hoist