ent72olds

Working on the rear cargo pan....started by having my bro prep the flange for welding, then I cut out and filed the plugs in the new pan....this was also the optimum time to wire wheel everything we could get to with the pan out! Inside frame rails etc....also coated those with POR-15....Did some test fitting, and it fit well on three sides! The front of the pan wasn't close as evidenced by the pics! About 1 inch short....I will have to make pie cuts in the corners, and carefully bend the pan to reach the crossmember that the seatbelts for the third seat bolt to! Also coated everything with weld through/corrosion protection primer as it was much easier with the pan out of the car.....

ent72olds

As you can also see, I "discovered" some more rot! It went through both panels, so I did the usual ritual of making up some patches and welding and grinding....., sorry, those pics are in next set of photos!

ent72olds

Here they are!

ent72olds

More pics!

OLD SKL 69

Lookin' good Erik, hope to see it in person soon.

Bluevista

I narc'd you out and called the shopping cart theft division police on you Erik.

Maybe you should stop looking for rust holes to fix?
That looks really good, sure nice that they repo that compartment floor deal. I think Einstyn had the tooling done for those originally?
It looks like my car may be done before your bro's, I know you could whip that paint job out in a few days to beat me but that's okay.
When I was taking my car to the shop a green jeep was heading towards me and I envisioned that color on my Vista's hood as I gazed at it's visage, is your brother totally sure???

ent72olds

Took some doing, but I did finally get the rear pan welded in. I had to make a couple of pie cuts in the corners to make it work, then made some triangle patches to clean it up! Tomorrow will be the fun part....grinding....

I also made up the two brackets that the cardboard partition screws to as the originals were rough!

squirell

Damn !!
You are going to town on that baby.
Looking good !
Will it be ready for Bellmore next week ?

ent72olds

Is it starting next week? I'm just hoping to have it ready by the Nats! And it doesn't look promising for the second year in a row!

squirell

There is no offical start date for Bellmore,
I'm sure people were probably there already tonight.... shivering.

ent72olds

OK, maybe not! But I did continue working this weekend, and got a bit done....first, I completed all the bodywork inside the new rear pan, and got that masked and primed! Then I went ahead, and repaired and primed the rear gate inner panel....came out nice.....

ent72olds

To do the inner gate panel, there was no way to save what was there, as it was rotted pretty good! I cut the bad off, used it as a template on a sheet of 18 gauge steel, cut that out, flanged the remaining good part and spot welded it together.....

ent72olds

...and the finished product! I also primed this and it will be painted to match everything else! The seam will become invisible once the new carpet is installed over it!

Bluevista

"Ha! You'll never catch me!", said the hare to the turtle.

Expert craftmanship again, I envy you Erik, but let me see some of your trim carpenter work.
Probably really good, you got the eye, usually you don't use bathtub clips to hold it on and use metallic base/clear paint to finish it but no problem.

It's all finish work, just have to know what it's supposed to look like when you're finished.

Now you have to drill a bunch of holes in that panel for the stainless tailgate strips.
They really should have primed or painted that bottom part originally, mine was even funky.

Today I polished the chrome on my Vista script and painted the black details , counted my molding clips again. I noticed one stainless roof strip on my roof rack was 3/16" shorter than the rest and it bugged me so I found a longer one in my parts pile and and replaced it after buffing and polishing.
I think I'm running out of stuff to do until she comes home.

ent72olds

Allan, you can come out and help me if you're running out of things to do! This doesn't have the stainless strips...we wish we could find a set! It waS ORIGINALLY ( sorry, I'm not yelling, just trying to talk over the kids ) vinyl , but we decided to change it to carpet! My brother said to me today that if I wasn't sure about green, he may be open to the original color, as long as I could jazz it up a little...maybe give it a greener "flop".....

Bluevista

It ain't easy being floppy green.
That Jeep green isn't that bad.

Wasn't the car gold to begin with though?
Gold has a lot of green in it, Poncho Tiger Gold does look green at certain angles. That along with a tigerskin interior would be the hot ticket.

You pay for transportation and room and board and I'll be there. Hire a guy to cut my grass and nobody would miss me.

Hmmm, have to find those strips.
I'll keep a lookout, did you see if John/ 2Blu442 has any around?
I would have still been looking for a lot of stuff if it weren't for John.
I never knew cars stayed so nice up in the Great Northleft.
Bigfoots and clean cars are always in the same area, coincidence???...
I think not!!

Remember this hood tampering incident in John's yard??
The Sasquatchians rip-off the parts and sell them on evilbay.

Sep01#04a.JPG

ent72olds

OK....got the rear portion of the car sanded, seam sealed, and painted....finally! Now I can move on to the front of the car.....

ent72olds

I matched the seam seal as best as possible...it would have been much easier, had the factory not put it on so messy!!! You can see it in some of the pics...was white before it was painted.......

Next project, pulling engine and trans, sending those out for rebuilds, meanwhile, I can get the fenders done!!!

squirell

: )

ent72olds

Shop looks different with the car turned around! Pulled off the nose, in preparation to pull the engine and trans on Sat. I finally got a break to go my way.....obviously, the bottom of the fenders are gone, but the cowl is spotless! No rust at all at the bottom....

squirell

Erik,
Weather looks good for Merrick !!!
Will you done by then ?

ent72olds

I won't be making it! Having a "dual" B-Day party for my 2 girls.....

Bluevista

Practically finished now Erik.
Restoring the suspension too?
It looks more familiar everyday, I miss my primer gray color beast in the garage.
Start on the stainless yet? That will take longer than the bodywork.
I've got about a week in putting that stuff back on and I'm still not anywhere near finished.
I wrapped each piece individually in masking paper after I finished them years ago and and I have a garbage can packed full of the stuff now.
I take my time though, the hood was an eighth forward on the left side and it took me a day just to adjust that.

squirell

They can have their party after 3pm can they ?
Or perhaps have the party on the showfield..LOL
I was looking foward to seeing you.

jeffreyalman

a car show theme party with live cars!

OLD SKL 69

Sorry I won't see you at the show Erik. Maybe you could come by early, tell your wife you have an important meeting to go to in the morning!

jeffreyalman

a meeting for the party!

ent72olds

OK...today was just a dirty, greasy day! Pulled out engine and tranny...wish I had a lift! Felt like a teenager all over again...without the hormones of course! Now I have a bunch of "stuff" that needs to be delivered etc...gas tank and radiator to one guy, trans (plus a trans I picked up for my Vista) to another guy, engine to another guy, order up brake and fuel lines, new wiring harnesses.....

squirell

Go Bro !!

Bluevista

I never see pics of your Vista Erik? Is your brother out cruising in yours while you're working on his?
Still wish I had a bro' that would work on my car, knowing what they're doing would be too much to ask. I have three brothers and they're all useless, but so am I so it all works out.

Why isn't the pan painted on the engine?
They do have a bottom too.
Sandy's pan is painted, was a real "painted
" ITA to do.

I put the woodgrain vinyl stripes on my roof rack parts yesterday, tough job but somebody has to do it..
I started the car and found out that I broke my copper gauge line at the fitting when I was goofing around cleaning the engine, thought it bent back okay?? Did you you know that a quart of oil can pump out of that little hole in about 15 seconds?
Put on my new from John AC compressor belt shield, I see now that it's either to protect the AC line in case of a belt break or to keep the lines from rubbing the pulley maybe. That five minute job took an hour, I must have dropped that fine thread bolt ten times, right into the quart of oil still on the floor under the car.

ent72olds

Since you asked Allan, I figure if I keep doing him big favors like this, (yes, I am not getting paid!), I'll have babysitting and someone to help me finish restoring my 105 yr old house when the car is done! Plus I do enjoy this crap!!!

Also, since you asked, next time I take MY VISTA out, I'll snap some shots, and post them!

And the only reason the pan isn't painted yet, is because it was covered in grease...after the rebuild, it will be correct!

Bluevista

My old old house was an 1830 model.
I'd rather work on cars any day.
A chrome pan would be cool.
Juat paint it gold if you want it to be correct.

You know for what all that is going to cost you could buy a finished Vista Cruiser?.

ent72olds

Correct...and have enough money for gas for a couple of years!
Only problem I would have is I'd be up at night wondering what is under the beautiful new paint, and how long 'till it starts bubbling, peeling and rusting!

marcar1993

So, no new updates in a month and a half? Working straight through without time to post I suppose?

ent72olds

I wish...haven't touched it! Since the weather became nice, been doing projects around the house. I think after the Nats, I'll probably start up again!

Bluevista

I'm a carpenter, I work on cars and my house needs work.
You're a bodyman Erik, you work on the house and the car needs work.
What's wrong with you??

ent72olds

Weather finally dropped into the low 80's and the 60% humidity disappeared so I thought it would be a good day to go to the shop! It's only been 2 1/2 months so......

I only have bodywork left on the front fenders, so let's get started...

I took the fenders off the rad support, and reinstalled the support on the frame rails for fitament of fenders as the lower patches are made. Here are shots of the damage and a shot of the patch panel provided by John(2blu442)...

ent72olds

I marked where I wanted to make my cut, and removed the damage...the reason I wanted a complete fender bottom was because the inner brace was also swiss cheese! The outer skin didn't mean as much because I was going to remove it anyway to access the brace from both sides for proper welding and corrosion protection. The original panel I cut off was transferred to the patch panel and marked for a cut ensuring a perfect fit....

ent72olds

I cut the skin of the patch higher than the brace for easy access...then attached the patch to the bottom of the fender and tested fitted on car! Looks excellent! Now I'll remove the rusted outer skin of the patch(hey, they were cheap and the patch panels sold aftermarket that we originally bought were not even in the ballpark as far as shape, especially at the wheel lip), media blast, corroision prime, and final weld to bottom of fender!

squirell

Go.go.go
Good to see you the other night..too bad we didn't hook up earlier