My 1967 Belvedere Convertible Plans and Restoration (aka - Mad Scientist Build)

[conv67bdere]

Door work continues on the passenger door . . . Just when I thought I was done with the undercoating removal - I looked in the door . . . UGH ! ! !

Miserable hot down here, but the window A/C unit helped a bit to keep it bearable - I was able to get some work done, so that's a good thing. First things first - I went around all the metal edges in the door with a deburring tool and a file and removed all the sharp edges ( note to self - do that BEFORE you stick your arms in the doors and get all cut up . . . ) - That made a world of difference on working on the interior of the door.

Had a couple areas on the door that were bumped - and the undercoating in the door had begun to peel off - some of it I could remove with my hands very easily - the undercoating did a great job protecting the metal for 45 years, but if it can chip off after any little bump, the stuff is not going to left on the door ( uh - make that IN the doors - oh great . . . ) So I grabbed the ole trusty needle scaler and got to work on the project . . .

Yes - I'm up to my eyeballs in undercoating again ( thought I was long past doing this crap anymore . . . sorry ! ! !)

This is the cleaned rear part of the door - not a bit of undercoating on in the door anymore . . .

And a view trying to look at the front part of the door - also cleared of any undercoating . . .

That needle scaler was surely the right way to get this done . . . in those tight confines I was still able to get it all cleared from the metal . . . I highly recommend that you check out a needle scaler if you haven't tried one yet - it'll save you a lot of time, and no hot tar dripping on you . . .

 

[Paul Boucher]

Great progress! I feel you on the AC unit. I need one for my garage as well. Worked doing some polishing today and was sweating buckets within minutes! Just too humid and nasty to get anything good done.

 

[Brandy]

Ahhh.....the blessings of Vermont.....72* and little humidity.

 

[conv67bdere]

Spent the day watching, actually experiencing, the total darkness of the Eclipse yesterday . . . it was very eerie, very cool, and very interesting. On the other hand, the 2 1/2 hour trip ( 150 miles ) ended up taking me 7 hours for an average of 21 MPH on the trip home ( gawd, people just don't know how to drive )

Back in the shop working on the passenger door - again - and sweating like crazy . . .

Inside the door, where they didn't put any undercoating, the metal was left bare . . . and now, after 45 years, it looks like this . . .

And like this . . . really surprised that no effort was place on protecting the metal . . .

Plans are to get in the with a wire wheel and get the the scaling knocked down . . . here's a sample . . . before it gets shot with epoxy primer . . .

And this lower front corner of the door is going to need a little TLC to get it cleaned up - it's looking like Swiss cheese . . .

Ahhh.....the blessings of Vermont.....72* and little humidity.

Hee hee . . . I'll talk to you again in January and February . . . trade offs . . .
In a couple weeks the temps "should" fall off and it'll be clear sailing . . .

 

[5.7 hemi]

Could you braze those holes? Or are you going to cut out a section and use new meta?

 

[conv67bdere]

Could you braze those holes? Or are you going to cut out a section and use new meta?

Quite possible, the front skin is already cut off down there - and needs to be replaced - I'll probably cut and splice new metal in place.
Or get some practice with my TIG welder . . .
I don't know what I'm doing, I just fly by the seat of my pants, day by day, and learn new stuff as I plod along . . . LMAO

The plan is to get a real coating of epoxy primer on all of the surfaces inside the doors . . . after I do my MAG technolgy
( MIG and Grind - or - TIG and Grind ? TAG ? ? )

 

[Brandy]

Quite possible, the front skin is already cut off down there - and needs to be replace - I'll probably cut and splice new metal in place.
Or get some practice with my TIG welder . . .
I don't know what I'm doing, I just fly by the seat of my pants, day by day, and learn new stuff as I plod along . . . LMAO

The plan is to get a real coating of epoxy primer on all of the surfaces inside the doors . . . after I do my MAG technolgy
( MIG and Grind - or - TIG and Grind ? TAG ? ? )

I'm right there with ya Larry! Just plodding along with few, if any clues as to what the hell i'm doing...lol.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Silica bronze tig rod would work great in that door area, as it has a lower melting point and would flow out nicely.

 

[747mopar]

Silica bronze tig rod would work great in that door area, as it has a lower melting point and would flow out nicely.

I'd be hesitant to do that, if it's had enough moisture in it to rust threw.. those holes are only the worst of it. I'd open it up and replace it and be sure to check the thickness of the lip across the bottom, thick spots mean rust build up. I'd also consider something more for sealing rust in those areas, I love epoxy primer but in places where you want to preserve and aren't worried about appearance I'd use POR15 or Rust Bullet. It's runny enough to flow into the bottom sealing it up nicely for any minor rust you can't get to without cutting the whole lip open. Just my thought.... I hate going back and fixing something twice.

Also you'll likely want to either spray some heavy insulation coating in there or apply a sound deadening mat anyways...

 

[Brandy]

Well, the wait is over! The strut rods just arrived. No sign yet of the bushings......thanks guys!! Also my new Dura Block 7 piece sanding block kit came too.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Ooohhh, your forearms are gonna look like Popeyes!!

 

[Brandy]

I'm really looking forward...NOT!

 

[conv67bdere]

With the bad news that I received about my friend USARR today, and this "nagging" voice in the back of my head that is telling me that I need to get out the TIG and see how it works . . . I needed to bury my mead into some car work help with keeping my mind "busy" for a while . . . so out to the Belvedere I headed to accomplish this . . .

It was a good session . . . but my thoughts were still on USARR . . . having not used a TIG for a LONG time, I had no idea how this was going to go . . . and I've already learned that I've got to do a much better job of NOT hitting the electrode into the puddle . . . SHEEESH . . . I need a lot of work on that . . .

But the results were pretty promising . . . at least I think so . . .

Filling in all the body molding holes on the passenger door . . .

Then I had a little "brainstorm" ( yeah, it happens once in a great while ) how about the rust holes in the bottom front of the door . . . I tested it first before getting a pic, but look at the hole just above the bead of metal on the left side of the picture . . .

And after . . . with the ability to control the heat, it doesn't blow through like the MIG, and it filled in the holes pretty nicely . . .

Another hole that I was working on at the bottom front of the door . . .

And the hole completely filled in . . . ready to be ground down a bit . . . ( TAG - TIG and Grind Technology ? ? ? )

All of the body molding holes filled - next is the door handle and lock, so I can go back and cut out the holes for the door handles . . .

The back side after a little grinding - had one hole that I did not burn in very well and it literally fell out when I hit it with the grinder . . . I'll go back and fix it later . . .

I'm pleasantly surprised with my results today . . . and got some good TIG time to work on getting some skills with the TIG back under my belt for use in the future. I'm thinking of putting a hole in the front most part of this area to assist with water drainage - even though the inside will be epoxy primered, every little bit can help if I can get the water out of the inside of the door . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Keeping my momentum going on my doors and got back out there and stripped off all the paint ( so I can see what the PO did to the door . . . )

All in all, not too bad, got a couple spots that are going to need a little dolly work . . .

This is the worse spot, a couple nice creases, but I'm sure they can be made a whole lot better than they are now with a little effort . . .

This is a small spot - and it's not very deep either . . . that's good . . .

Another little spot . . .

This is on the bottom of the door and it might be a little fun to get to . . . but we'll get it cleaned up . . .

And my rust bottom front corner that needs some metal welded in . . .

I think they call these B-bodies because working on them is like working on a BOAT . . . everything goes from here to forever . . . Really ? ! ? ! ? !

Dolly work tomorrow, and some TIGing . . . got to fill the door handle holes, so I can come back and cut out the new door handle holes ( custom handles )

 

[5.7 hemi]

Bust Out Another Thousand!

 

[conv67bdere]

Bust Out Another Thousand!

LMAO . . . I do the work myself, so It's Bust Out Another Three-hours ( to strip the dang door ) . . . LMAO . . .

 

[5.7 hemi]

Lol!!

 

[conv67bdere]

Pulled out the hammer and dolly this morning and started on the dent repairs . . .

This is the worse part of the door . . . this is how it started out . . . this shows the dent quite nicely . . .

And this is the close up of the dent . . . ( soon to hopefully be a non-dent )

And this is where I've got it so far . . . even the DA sander is touching most of the metal on the door now . . .

And here's what the side view of the panel now looks like . . . still got a little "gentle persuasion" left to get done . . .

And the spot on the bottom of the door is for the most part . . . gone now too . . . helps if you can get to it from the back . . .

More later . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Got some more afternoon work done on the passenger door . . .

Started my work on the bad bottom front corner until I ran out of gas . . . NO, not motivation, welding gas ( I hate when that happens )
First I got a piece of scrap Belvedere ( yes, this is a leftover piece from the car ) so the metal thickness is the same . . .

A little fine tuning and fitment on the metal patch . . . and we' ready to give it a go . . . going to try this with TIG again . . .

ON the inside - I've filled some of the holes and the thin spots - to hopefully help with longevity . . .

Another holey thin spot that was given dome additional attention too . . .

Tack TIG the new piece of metal into place . . .

The screwdriver through the bottom vent hole is aiding in holding the top part of the replacement metal to the correct height . . .

Before running out of gas ( welding ) I was able to get 3 of the sides completed . . . ground, and sanded - turning out pretty good so far . . .

Continued with working on the cleanup of the door and continued removing additional paint . . . oh the fun just KEEPS rolling in . . . ( SMILE )

After that, I finally bit the bullet and spent some time getting measurements so that I can talk to my contact and order my new axles for the car.

He told me that he can get me Moser or Strange . . .
I think he' leaning to Moser because they will be in my hands in a couple days vs. Stange which could be a couple weeks.

Recommendations ? Preferences ? Thoughts ? ? ( this is all new to me and I'm not really sure if there is a "better" axle than Moser or Strange )

 

[Budnicks]

Damn getten' at it