1972 Satellite / GTX RestoMod

[chgr1]

Hello from Bastrop Texas. We are doing a lot of body metal work on this project. Replacing floor pans, right rear fender, left rear wheel housing, both front fenders getting repair and so forth. I have a lot of pictures of the work we are doing.

Replacing the left and right front floor pans. I wrote up a 5 part presentation for the local Mopar club and a local mixed car club.
Part 1 Getting Started.
This is a 72 Plymouth Satellite / Road Runner that will end up as a GTX clone.

This car is stripped getting a full restoration, no engine, trans, interior, doors, glass and dash have all been removed. This will make it easier to replace the floor pans. It is more difficult if car is still in one piece because there are more obstacles in the way and more things to be concerned about when cutting out the old floor pan, but the process is still the same.

If the dash is still in the car you will have to work underneath it. Protect it or other things not removed from cutting sparks and welding sparks by using a welding blanket. Protect wiring.

Replacing floor pans is a huge and labor intensive task, so be prepared. Some tools you’ll need, cut off tool air or electric, chisel air or manual, drill & bits, spot weld cutter is great to have, gloves, face shield and a breathing mask. A good mig wire feed welder with appropriate welding helmet and welding gloves.

Your first action is to determine how much of the floor pan needs to be replaced. Usually they rot out in the foot well area because of water leaks. You can use a pick body hammer for this purpose.

Your second concern is maintaining structural integrity of the car while you are replacing the pan. The floor pans help tie a unibody vehicle together, you cut out too much of the floor pans all at once and things like sub-frames and rocker panels will start to move. The car will start to sag in the middle. In Mopar torsion bar vehicles, the bars are under heavy torque especially if the engine and trans are still in the car. You cut out too much of the floor pan at one time and the torsion bar cross member will flex and move.

Also if you have to cut away and remove any outside body panels DO NOT leave them off and try to replace the floor pans at the same time. You are guaranteed to get body, frame and sub-frame flex. Replace panels one at a time.

If you have to replace the complete floor pan, side to side and front to back you will have to keep the car level and support the vehicle frame and sub-frame to keep it from flexing and moving. However, Most often you can get by with using a sectional replacement pan. Flexing and moving of sub-frame parts with a sectional pan replacement is minimal because the rest of the original floor pan will hold things together. That is what this presentation will deal with, a sectional pan replacement.

It is my recommendation to never, ever cut out the old floor board until you have the new replacement panel in hand.

As you see in the second attached picture, this panel is a driver’s side sectional replacement from AMD (Auto Metal Direct) and comes coated with a protectant coating. When you get the replacement pan make sure it is the correct pan for your application. Compare the replacement with your original floor pan to make sure. If its correct go for it.

If the new replacement pan is bare metal you will want to paint it using an epoxy or self-etching type of paint before you start installing it. Paint it and it can be drying while you cut out the old pan.

Next print out a picture of the replacement pan, usually you can get this from the web site where you bought the pan, blow it up to nearly an 8x10 size or there abouts. Set the replacement pan into place, note on your picture where the factory seams are. Scope out how well and where the replacement pan will fit and where the factory seams are. Ideally you want to replace the pan at the factory seams. Replacement pans won’t just drop into place and fit like a glove, expect to have to do some trimming and fitting to make it mate up nicely, make notes on your picture.

Next get under the car and draw on your picture what is going to be in the way of cutting out and welding in the new pan. Things like sub-frames, brake lines, brake cables, fuel lines, brackets, linkage and so forth. Draw them on your picture for future reference. If it is easy to remove these items and get them out of the way, so much the better. Also make notes on your picture or the replacement pan itself, holes in the pan that will have to line up with holes on the frame and sub-frame. Things like seat bracket mounting bolt holes.

With the replacement pan set in place over the top of the old floor board, use a brightly colored marker and trace around the parameter. In the attached picture you can see I have started to do this with a black marker across the trans tunnel. This will be your cut reference line.

Now I use a pan overlap method. That means the replacement pan will overlap underneath or below the cut reference line by at least 1 inch or more. I do not start on the cut reference line. Once I have the reference line established I measure in or below this line an inch or 1.5 inches or more. You can always cut off more if you need to. Once you have cut out the old floor board, the new replacement will set lower so don’t cut yourself too short.

If you cut out the old floor board right on the cut reference line you will have to butt weld a lot of the parameter of the panel. Nobody is that good of a butt welder and you will wind up burning holes at the butt joint.

Using an overlap method you will be plug welding every inch or 1.5 inches instead of butt welding the entire length of the panel. However, Use whatever welding method you want.

Next part cutting out the old floor pan.

 

[chgr1]

Part 2 Cutting out the old pan.
Removal of the old floor board takes time and patience. Do not go in and just start hacking and destroying the old floor board. If you start the removal process with this mentality you will most certainly cut into something you shouldn’t. Remove the old floor board in several pieces. Take your time, you are in no hurry. The more smaller pieces you remove the more you expose the underneath side of things to keep you grounded of where not to cut.

First pic, mark your original floor pan and identify areas where you will have to be careful when cutting. You can see I’ve marked the underneath support frames, brake lines and fuel lines.

Do not use a sawzall or plasma cutter or any cutting tool that will provide a deep cut. Again you will cut into things you shouldn’t. Use an air cut off tool and keep your cuts shallow!

Do not plunge deep into the cut.
Now put your gloves, face shield and breathing mask on!!! This is a dirty, smelly and dusty job. Rust dust is not good to breath in. Keep cutting debris (slag and metal pieces) away from you cutting tool.


CAUTION !!!!!!!

Use wooden blocks (2x4) wedged between an object and the floor to keep brake lines and brakes cables away from the cutting tool. Remove them if practical. Be extremely careful around fuel lines or fuel vent lines!!! Know where they are at all times!!!! Old fuel lines, even ones that have been disconnected for a long time will still flair up and burn!!!

If you are going to be cutting near one, wrap it in multiple layers of water soaked towels or rags and keep spraying them down with water.

It should be noted that under the car on the bottom side of the floor board there is probably a buildup of oil, grease, paint, undercoating, tar and anything else you might think of. Sparks from your cut off tool will build up and it is possible you could start a fire. Keep an eye out for smoke. Keep a spray bottle of water by your side to put out flames. Been There! Done That! You may even want to get underneath and clean off some of the crud with a putty knife. Keep electrical cords away from your cut lines!!!

The fastest way to separate the old floor pan from frames and support structures is with an air chisel. See second pic. Keep the chisel flat against the frame and go slowly. Don’t chisel into the frame!! Peel the metal back as you go to clear you’re visibility. You only want to separate the two pieces. Your cutting the factory spot weld off.


Continue cutting the floor board on your cut line. Stop and check your references often. Don’t confuse your original reference line with your cut line. In my case my cut line is below my initial reference line by an inch or so because I am using a panel overlap method. Remove the old floor in several pieces. See 3rd attached picture. I took the old floor out in 9 or 10 pieces.

In some areas you may want to use a spot weld cutter. This is a special drill bit that cuts a circle around the factory spot weld and releases the floor panel.

Now you’re ready for frame and parameter clean-up, anti-rust treatment and preparation to install the new floor panel.

 

[chgr1]

part 3 Clean up and fitment.
After you have all the old floor pan removed, Inspect the frame and sub-frame structures to ensure they have not been compromised by rust.
Once you are satisfied everything is still in good shape get out your wire brush and clean all the frame and sub-frame structures. Get all the mud, dirt and road grime removed. Use your grinder with a 60 or 80 grit flap disc and remove any leftover floor pan still stuck to spot welds. Especially sand off the flats where the new floor pan will set and be welded to. Also use your flap disc grinder to sand off the edges of your cut line.

Once you have everything cleaned up, treat the frame and sub-frame with a rust encapsulator / inhibitor and let dry. You will never have a better opportunity to inspect internal frame and sub-frame components and protect them from further rust attack and damage. You may have to apply multiple coats.

Do not coat weld areas with any product that will prevent your weld from penetrating. Picture 1 is an example of products you might use. The Eastwood Rust Encapsulator is a product similar to POR-15 but much cheaper. The seam sealer product you will use at the very end of your installation. In picture 2 you can see I have started to apply a rust encapsulator to the areas. A telling example of using this type of product is that it turns black or purple when coated.
On areas where you will be welding the new floor panel to the frame or sub-frame, coat them with a weld through primer. The primer will melt when welding and help protect it from new rust forming. Do not coat this area with a product like POR-15. This will insulate these points and prevent a weld from penetrating.

Once everything is dry, trial fit your new panel. Line up your new floor panel with any pre-drilled holes , like for seat brackets. You will no doubt have areas where the new panel will not fit flat. Picture 3 is an area where this new panel is not molded properly from the after-market supplier and it will not set flat onto the existing floor. To fix this I will make a relief cut in the new panel and reshape it to allow it to set flat. Ensure that your new floor pan will set flat all around the parameter and also set flat onto existing sub-frames or frame cross overs. This will take multiple trial fittings and trimmings. You want to make sure you have NO panel gaps.

At this point you may want to mark your new panel where the weld points will be, especially in the middle where it will set down on sub-frames and cross over sub-frames. Once you are satisfied with the fitment, proceed on to Part 4 Installation, Securing & Welding the new floor panel to the frame, sub-frame and parameter.

 

[chgr1]

Part 4 Installation Securing & Welding
Now you have the replacement pan setting flat with NO panel gaps. First start securing the new replacement pan in the middle to the torsion bar crossover frame and toe board sub-frame. You do this first to suck the new panel down tight flat against the middle frames. If you screw down the outside parameter first you will get panel gaps in the middle over the crossover frames.

I use #10 hex head sheet metal screws in ¼ and ½ inch length. That way I can put them in with a drill using a 5/16 socket. I drill a 1/8 pilot hole first, then insert the screw and allow the drill to torque the screw pulling the two panels together tight. Do not get too much torque on the screw or you will strip it out or break it off. Initially securing the new replacement panel with screws holds everything tight together. Your replacement pan will be rock solid with the existing floor and frame even before welding.

Putting the screws in around the new pan in sequence , starting in the middle, pulls things together in sequence and eliminates panel gaps. Panel gaps cause squeaks, rattling and poor panel fitment, loss of structural integrity and causes rust to take hold in the gaps.

Now you can space the screws apart as you wish but I try to keep them 1.5 to 2 inches apart. Some places around the new pan you may have to space them close together to eliminate panel gaps or further apart to miss narrow frame areas. Mark your replacement panel to know where you will place the screws so you won’t miss the frame underneath when you drill your pilot hole. When you drill the 1/8 pilot hole you want to see no gap between the two panels. See the plug welding picture for reference.
The second attached picture shows the replacement panel with nearly all the screws inserted. The new replacement panel is now rock solid with the existing floor and frames and there are no panel gaps. There is weld through primer where the screws are so you eliminate possible rust corrosion at the weld.

Why use #10 screws? You want your securing screws to make only a very small hole in the frames, sub-frames and existing floor panels because this will make it easier to plug weld the hole closed. The larger the hole you have in the bottom or inner existing panel or frame, the harder it is to plug weld the hold closed.

The hole in your outer new replacement panel you want to be at least ¼ inch to provide a good plug weld with good penetration. See example in plug welding picture.

If you do not have a lot of practice plug welding I suggest you practice on scrap metal first. This will also get your welder heat range set right and your wire feed set up properly. These panels are 20 – 22 gauge and will burn through easily. Frames are thicker making for easier welding without burning holes through them.

Now before you start welding your panels, know where the gas lines, brake lines and brake cables are. Have a spray bottle of water at your side to put out possible fires. Keep any electrical cords away from the welding area. Cover exposed car wiring or other items to protect them against welding pops, sparks and slag. Practice safe welding techniques. Wear long sleeve shirts and pants. DO NOT put your body in between the welder ground lead and the welding tip. Have a fan at your back to keep welding fumes blown away from you.


Now start in the middle at the center, remove one screw and plug weld the hole closed. Skip a few screws, move down about 4 or 5 inches and remove the second screw and plug weld the hole closed. Now go back to where you welded the first hole, take the next screw out and weld. You keep skipping back and forth to cut down on heating up the panel too much and creating warpage. Each weld should only last 3 seconds. If you make a mistake and do a bad job welding the hole, STOP. Do not keep welding on it, you will wind up way over heating the panel and end up with the weld looking like a bunch of bird droppings. Skip to another hole and start over. Once the bad weld cools off, grind it down with a flap disk and re-weld it.

Next part grinding down your welds, painting over the weld points and applying seam sealer inside and underneath.

 

[chgr1]

Quick review on what I mean by plug welding.

See the first pic, I have secured these 2 pieces of metal together using a #10 hex screw.
I drew a tight spiral on the pic to indicate how to move your welding tip. Start welding on the inside panel first then in a tight circular motion move to the outside panel.
Then grind down your plug weld with a 60 / 80 grit flap disc. your weld should only last about 3 seconds.

The last pic is using a piece of brass to back up the hole and special vice grips.

 

[chgr1]

Part 5 Grind Painting & Sealing
Final Part, Now you have your new replacement pan installed and welded in. Use your grinder flap disc 60 – 80 grit and grind down your welds. If you have done a good job plug welding there should be a minimal amount of grinding. I have additional pictures of plug welding techniques if you want to see them.

Do not just grind away on the welds, you still can over heat the panel and cause warpage. This isn’t so much a noticeable problem on floor pans but on outside fenders and quarter panels it is very noticeable.

Once you have your welds cleaned up, apply a rust inhibitor type of primer usually flat black to cover your weld & grinding points. You may want to use a brush on application of primer if your interior is still somewhat intact. Next apply a seam sealer to the panel parameter to seal out any moisture or water getting in the seam. Seam sealers are available from automotive catalog supply and locally through retail auto part stores. Either in a can form where you will need to brush it on or in a caulking gun tube form. I would avoid using a home improvement type of caulk product from Home Depot, Lowes and other retail stores. They may not provide a good seal in an automotive atmosphere and sometimes these products will leave a lasting smell in your interior.

Once you have the inside taken care of, get underneath and apply seam sealer to the panel overlap and welding points and then you can apply an undercoating type of product. You want to seal the bottom side to prevent moisture and water getting in your welding points and seams. As you can see in the 3rd attached picture I have started to apply these products to the underside.

Now is the time to cover the inside floor pans with an automotive insulation sound deadener / heat barrier product like Dynomat. These products can be expensive so shop around. Most come with a sticky backing and a foil type of heat insulation that helps eliminate interior heat and the sticky backing helps in application and to hold them in place. Others you will have to use a separate spray on glue product. You want to put this product down first on the bare floorboard before any carpet pad. All of these automotive products are manufactured so as to not leave a lasting smell inside the car. Again I would avoid some home improvement products that have a tar like substance in them. They can cause a lasting tar like smell in the interior.

However I have found a home improvement foil heat insulation type of product at Home Depot that contains a foam core and not a tar type of core. It comes in 12 inch wide rolls and is very inexpensive. It does not however come with a sticky backing so you would have to use a spray on glue product to hold it in place. I like a permetex or 3M spray on glue product and these are available from most auto retail outlets.

If you’re lucky, when you peel back your carpet you will find good, intact floor boards or minimal problems. Trunk interior pans are also problem spots. For minimal problems without rust holes you can apply a Por-15 type of product to preserve them. If you have water leaks that caused the problem in the first place, find them and fix them before it becomes a problem.

I hope this presentation has been of value to you and gives you an idea of how to go about replacing rusted out floor pans.

Next replacing the right rear fender

 

[chgr1]

Replacing the right rear fender or quarter panel is a big job. Try to obtain the best quality panel you can get or afford. I know they are expensive but this will go a long way when you start installing the panel. Cheap bad quality panels are a pain. They wont fit right, they wont look right and you will have to do a lot of fabrication to get them to fit. If the panel isn't paint coated when you get it, use an epoxy primer before installing it.

First we are going to size up the new panel fitment, then start the cutting removal process, then cleanup and rust prevention, then fitting the new panel (this will take a lot of time) and start to secure it in place to prepare for welding. We are going to weld it on but you can use a 2 part body adhesive.

Lets get started - The original is in sad shape and it needs the complete panel. We are going to size up the new AMD panel, mark body solder seams for removal, identify critical areas for cutting and mark sub-frame areas like on the lower rocker panel and wheel well opening so we don't cut into things we shouldn't.

In some areas we are going to start cutting out factory spot welds with a spot weld cutter being careful not to cut to deeply. See the pics on the door jam and around the rear window. In some areas we are going to make shallow cuts to get the old panel off then remove the leftover bits of metal. this makes the removal of the old panel faster.

To help you identify where the spot welds are use a grinder with a flap disc or roll lock course grit disc and remove the paint, the spot welds should show up nicely

 

[chgr1]

Continue to work around the fender cutting out the spot welds. Its time consuming but it is the correct way to do it. Use a screw driver or a very small right angle ply driver to peel back and separate the fender from the body. Spot weld cutters come in different forms. You can get them from Eastwood or Summit and places like that. The spot weld cutter I use is double ended and has a center pin to keep the cutter centered around the spot weld so it wont walk on you. Sometimes you might want to drill a 1/8 shallow hole to help the centering pin or use a center punch.

Next removing the body solder seams across the top and down on the rocker panel.

 

[flypaper]

nice work
i'm doing similar stuff to a 71 rr

 

[chgr1]

Removing body solder is not that difficult. Just use a small hand held propane torch and a wire brush. You don't need to really heat it up, you'll just warp panels. Go back and forth on the solder and it will melt easy. Take it out a little bit at a time.
When I was sizing up the panel I used a marker to identify the location of the seam on the top. I found some pretty crummy welds from the factory. Removing some of the glob welds from the factory is going to be difficult. You cant use a spot weld cutter on glob welds. I'll use a cut off tool with a very small diameter disc to cut the weld out without damaging the top panel.

Another place you need to remove the body solder is down on the rocker where the rear panel meets with the rocker under the door.

 

[gastona]

Awesome description and detail! I'm feeling more confident to do some of the same type of work to my Road Runner.

 

[chgr1]

Next I am going to make some very shallow cuts around the wheel well, down on the rear lower quarter and down on the lower rocker panel. I'm going to do this to get the old fender off faster. Now this requires some skill not to cut too deeply and cut into the support structures underneath. I'm use to doing this but for someone for the first time be very careful not to cut in too deep. After I get the fender off I'll remove the left over panel metal, you can get at the pinch welds faster and easier then cutting out the spot welds.

Now when you make lower cuts expect all sorts of stuff to come falling out, dirt, screw drivers, nails, paper, all sorts of stuff.

 

[chgr1]

After I made a few cuts the fender started to fall off by itself on the bottom.
Oh Know Too Late now!!!

Just kidding!

Now you get a good look at the inside. Start taking notes of the additional problem areas you will have to address. Go through a detailed inspection of the internal areas.

Notice all the factory globed in seam sealer in the rear. This all has to come out. The fenders never fit well from the factory, this is how they filled in the gaps.

I had to end up cutting around the C pillar area to get the fender off, the factory had walked the spot welder in some places. So instead of a single 1/4 spot weld, the weld was actually 2 inches long. I'll have to work to get this piece off.

Also up on the top, I had to make an additional cut. There were welds up under the inner fender panel to the sub-frame. Additional work is needed to get his piece out. I'll slip a chisel up underneath and free it up. You need to get all the metal bits and pieces out, if you don't it will hang up the new fender when you try to slip it in.

Also notice in the second pic there is a strip of sealer right in the middle on one of the frame pieces. I suspect this was to cut down on rattles, you need to make sure you replace these.

The trunk gutter will need replaced. The inner rocker frame is not in terrible shape it can be cleaned and treated but caught just in time.
This car at one time had a vinyl top, I expected more problems up on top but not too bad. The door jam area looks to be in good shape.

Stay tuned more to come

 

[chgr1]

I used my flap disc grinder and sanded down all the remnants of the spot welds I removed. Also removed any left over metal from the old panel where I made cuts.

I got out my wire brush and went to town scraping and brushing down the internal skeleton. In some cases I used a small portable hand held media blaster to get in the cracks, Blew everything out and wiped it down. coated it with a rust encapsulator, let dry and top coated it with a rust inhibitor primer. On areas where I will weld the new panel I used weld through primer after cleaning it.


Now I'm ready to start trial fitting the new panel I have marked areas I need to watch for correct new panel alignment. Also I will make some modifications to the internal frame around the quarter window area, see pic.

 

[chgr1]

Trial fitting a new panel this large is time consuming. None of these aftermarket panels fit like a glove. You have to do a lot of fitting, aligning and trimming. At each fitting you have to keep checking your panel gaps to make sure you get it aligned correctly. In some cases you will have to bend out new panel overlap areas to get it to fit over existing body pieces, like over the trunk side gutter and around the wheel well lip.
Added: Don't just bend the crap out of the panel overlaps, go about it methodically, support the panel as you bend the lap out and only bend it as much as you need to get it to fit over the existing body. You can use a body dolly and hammer to smooth out the bends when you finally secure.

I must of had this panel on and off 20 times before I started to get it to fit just right around the whole panel. Be careful, take your time no matter how frustrating it gets. Don't force it into place keep working with it until it goes together naturally with the existing body. Remember if you push in here, it might pooch out there. Keep looking at the side profile of the panel and look for areas where it will cave in or push out, warping the panel.

Use several vice grips to clamp the panel for trial alignment. If you see the panel cave or pooch in a specific area, try clamping in a different place. The sequence going around the panel in which you clamp the panel may eliminate caving and pooching. Added: this will also tell you the sequence you will have to use when inserting your securing screws to eliminate caving of the panel. The better job you do now will directly effect the amount of final body block sanding you'll have to do later.

Now I am fitting the new panel and inserting securing screws even though I will have to take the panel back off when I replace the truck gutter. I am not putting in all the screws needed, just some of them to hold the panel correctly aligned. But I know at this point the new panel fits correctly and what I am doing by inserting screws is making aligning points. After I take the panel off, replace the truck gutter, and put the new panel back on, the screw holes will have to line up to get the panel correctly aligned again.

Also I don't like to have this much panel off too long, things can move, at least with it partially attached, it holds things together.

View attachment 349176 View attachment 349180

 

[rrTor-Red]

Keep it up!

 

[chgr1]

Thanks for the likes and encouragement to keep posting the work being done, to us that means we are helping provide good information.
Eventually the exterior of the car will be media stripped and then covered with an epoxy primer to form a good paint foundation. At this point we are just repairing some problem areas.
While we are waiting for the new trunk gutter to arrive to finish installing the right rear quarter ( sounds stupid doesn't it, like we are only replacing a quarter of the rear panel, oh well that's what its called) we are making repairs to other areas.

In the initial inspection we noticed a bad stress crack on the right front inner fender.
Investigating further we found the factory spot welds were all pulled loose inside the wheel well for the support arch. Also the support bracket from the inner fender going back to the firewall was cracked and bent.
We secured the support arch to the inner fender and put the support bracket back in place. Then welded all the supports up.
Once the inner fender support was back in place we welded up the stress crack and coated with a temporary rust inhibitor primer.

You'll have to butt weld the crack , just go slow when welding and skip around when welding so that you don't over heat everything. Its tricky to get this welded back together without just burning holes at the crack.

We inspected the left inner fender for the same problem but only found the support bracket going back to the firewall was broken in one place right where it attaches to the firewall. Simple repair there.

 

[chgr1]

Starting to work on the doors also. This model / generation has some limitations on new metal replacement panels as owners of these vintage cars know too well. Among these limitations are new door metal or door skins, so that means you have to find existing better replacements (getting harder) or fix what you have.
The drivers door on this car needs some attention as you can see in the pics, we did some investigation to see if the door is salvageable. In addition to the rotting bottom there is a very bad crease going up the side, see those pics later.

Some of the corners had already been cut out and body filler inserted by someone but the underlying problem still remained so the metal was still rotting away.
You all have seen this before, water gets down in the bottom of the door, seeps into the joints and rots the metal. The rusting and rotting of the metal has to be stopped or it will keep eating up the metal. Working on the forward corner we cut out the rotting metal and you can clearly see what is taking place. Also looking at the back side of the door you can see the door skin on the overlap to the inside is also being attacked by rust and corrosion. You know what is going on, the bottom of the door is rotting out. This has to be fixed, if you don't fix the problem and just and paint over it, eventually rust bubbles will start to form.
So now its decision time, how much of the door do we take apart or replace to fix this problem knowing that replacement skins are not available.

We decided to fix this one so we started to open up the door edge overlap to see just how bad it is. A lot of rust and crap falling out but except for the corners we found it pretty sound along the bottom. We will open up the bottom overlap, clean, treat, reattach and fabrication patches for the corners.

There is a specific door skin removal tool you can get to do this but we have fabricated some tools of our own. You have to remove a few door skin spot welds to start, then get between the two pieces of metal and slowly separate them bending the overlap out.

Once we got the over lap opened up and blew out all the crap we used small block wedges to keep it opened up but we were careful not to bend the outside panel. Next we are going to media blast the edge, corners and up the sides about 3 to 5 inches. Once the metal is cleaned of rust we will treat with a rust encapsulator like POR-15, inside and out, reattach the bottom door skin and patch the corners.

 

[chgr1]

media blasting completed and fabing patches

View attachment 349703 View attachment 349704 View attachment 349706 View attachment 349707 View attachment 349708

 

[chgr1]

We did receive the right side trunk gutter that has to be replaced before the right quarter is secured and then welded on. We sized up the replacement gutter and proceeded to remove the old piece. As you can see once we had the old gutter removed we found more rust and corrosion we had to deal with before we could add on the gutter. We will also have to deal with fabricating something for the forward round corner. This forward piece is not available from the aftermarket and the new replacement gutter doesn't go far enough to fix, so we have to fabricate new metal to cover the corner.

We cleaned up the area where the gutter and quarter attach, removed the rust, treated the area and painted with a rust preventative primer. Now we have to fit the new gutter, get it aligned with the rest of the trunk and then add on the quarter to check its alignment with the gutter. We will use the quarter alignment points already established when we fit the quarter on.

Once you get everything aligned and attached and finally welded on don't forget to go back and re-apply seam sealer to all the areas around the quarter, gutter and around the rear tail panel.