As I said earlier, as soon as we started disassembly, it became readily apparent that I may have been taken. As soon as the front clips (fenders, hoods, inner wheels, etc.) came off it was VERY glaringly apparent that there was MAJOR rust damage to what is called the A post base on both sides of the "good car". As nearly as I can describe it, the A post is the lowest most forward section of the body extending up to the roof. It is usually a boxed section where doors, rocker panels, floor, any body mounts, firewall, and windshield connect. Due to it's complex connections, and location it was practically impossible to see the base and damage. The fenders wrapped down and around the "foot" or base of the column and the rocker panels extended forward partially hiding it too. It was very disheartening to see.
Trying to be positive, that's why we tackled the previously described repair and replacement work. All that work took several work "seasons" as told in Y ZZt TAKEN SO LONG? We were also salvaging the parts car, keeping what we might need and trying to keep the neighbors happy. Each time the season ended the car was rolled out of the garage and tarped for the winter. As fate would have it, the passenger side base of the A post sat right in front of the laundry area basement window. That meant every time I was near the sink, or helping with laundry, my eyes were drawn to and LOOKIN' UP with disgust at the damage.
I finally resolved that it was time to work on the A post situation. If I couldn't make the repairs the project was doomed. If I could, it was viable. I very carefully laid out the cuts on what remained of the parts car and salvaged the sections including the floors, frame braces, body braces and rocker panels. A picture of the remainder will appear under FRAMED. After removing them, and given the season, I decided to work on them all winter in the basement. It meant countless hours of careful disassembly, sketching and measuring of the part making up the base of the A post. And remember there two (2) sides, in mirror image ( reverse position and angles).
The base of the post had multiple layers or pieces of metal. Remember what I said about metal flanges, overlaps and moisture? I could identify the interior floor, floor of the A post, flange of the rocker panel, one body mount structural member and one piece that served some kind of structural purpose.
The original body mount has flats at both ends with raised center somewhat like a small w about 2 inches wide with a 3/8 inch raised sides. It narrows from its base at the rocker to the frame mount. It acted like a trough holding and feeding water to the entire joint. I added a small drain hole on each side of the channel at its base.To duplicate the body mount structural member required me to make thirteen (13) separate pieces and edge and butt weld them together to get the necessary shape and fit. That was for each side! I was going in and outside all winter to cut and weld the little pieces. Of course I couldn't always go due to snow and cold etc.
Picture a large tube. Then cut it into quarters. That yields an odd shaped "D". Then notch the edges and bend a 1 inch flange. Add to that a back section and you have the unseen section of rocker panel. I made several paper and art board patterns to make a one piece "D " shaped tube. Since the rocker panel had no end cap . I added a slide in end cap with vent to reduce water intake into the rocker panel.
For the floor I cheated. I thought replacement floor sections for a chevy truck might fit so I ordered a pair from LMC. When they came, I test fitted them and they were about perfect. I put them upside down (bend up) gave them a light "stomp" and they were perfect! They do have grooves and steps which caused minor problems when it came time for carpet. I set them aside until the A posts were ready to be installed.
The left and right floor
pieces from LMC. Note
I have already punched
the holes for spot
welding.
Come spring and summer the hard part started. I had to very precisely lay out the cuts for "good car."
But before that, I had to reinforce the body of the car to made sure that it did not bend or collapse when the A post was removed. We had a damaged heavy duty bed frame made of 1 1/2" angle iron. I measured for length, welded on feet or ends, drilled them for bolts and bolted them to the door hinge locations and door latch bolt holes. I added a swivel leg with foot extending to the floor. That gave me angled and vertical body support. Then the old rule, with extra caution, Measure 3 times cut once!!!!!!!!!!
With me in the background working on the bracing. The passenger side brace is visible in the fore ground with the vertical brace not yet deployed.
The passenger side floor rot and the masking tape layout for the cut.
The passenger side A post and floor removed.
The underside of the passenger side A frame shows the rot of the brackets, rocker and floor.
The passenger side fully welded in and welds ground out. I intentionally left a little weld showing to show the "scars" of the repair.
Clearly visible is the vertical and horizontal body
supports and how they meet the frame "ear".
When the A frames were cut out it exposed more lies about the repairs of the rocker panels. The first picture of this page shows a little of the backside of the rocker. It is loose at the top. The back side of the panels were laid in loose and tarred in place. None of the structural floor supports were welded in to the vertical back side of the rockers. I had to fabricate new back sides for the rocker panels and top of the sill plate, then slit the top of the rockers open across the door sills, remove part of the door sills and drop in modified T's. The top of the T was offset so that the vertical backside replacement met the lower flange on the rocker panel and the structural floor supports.
I had to spot weld the rocker panel flange and the T and the structural supports in place. While I was at it, I added an angled drain hole in he rockers as they are known to rust due to lack of drainage. Then I had to continuous weld the top sill of the rocker.
Further compounding the situation, my sheet metal bender is to short to accommodate the length of the pieces required so I had to butt weld them into a single unit. You can see the welded seams.
One complete T is seen along with the pieces necessary for the other.
At the end of the summer I knew we had a shot at a viable car for a complete restoration!
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