Another 3rd gen build

[zeeman]

Its not going to be great at first but it'll be functional. Its just going to take longer than I had planned.

[C2YT]

Don't they always? Anyways, Goodluck. Don't hesitate to post updates!

[TylerT/AZ28]

it always takes longer, and the internet is the devil first it starts out i need to replace floors and then in the 6 months it takes to do that youve added 40 other things to just the interior that costs another grand and then firmly decide to pull the motor so thats out and so on. basic car lover problems, its literally quite ratchet.

[zeeman]

OScored a torque arm bracket on ebay. Still need a dipstick and tube for the transmission.
Tomorrow , being saturday, I am going to finish prepping the donor floor pan. Depending on how that goes I may begin removing the floor from the car.
I cant believe how crappy the seam sealer on this
car is. GM should be ashamed of itself. Its either petrified, or crumbly like old peanut butter. Its a miracle any of these cars survived this long.
On the floor, there are 4 holes. Theye have a 2 tab sheet metal plugs on each. They were covered with a 6x6 square of a tar like substance. Anybody know what these holes are or were for? If they were drains, why were they sealed up? Weird.

[TylerT/AZ28]

they all have them, first place to typically start rusting, i had my old ones welded.

[zeeman]

Well. ladies and Gentlemen. We have some forward progress! I spent the entire day chopping up the floor I received from Pennsylvania, into two almost usable pans. the drivers side will need a bunch of sheet metal work, and I will need to fabricate an inside rocker panel but I can do that. If you look at the drivers side outer edge you will see that I already had to replace 1 3/4" and the flange. Its still all factory though, I used the door jamb sill , lol. so it begins!


20150411_184630.jpg20150411_184624.jpg20150411_185038.jpg

[C2YT]

Woohooo! Progress!!


and pictures

[DynoDave]

Digging right in...I like it!

[zeeman]

yeah, Its not like its going to get less rusty.....

[TylerT/AZ28]

it only gets better from here, keep your head up you got this. by the time your done youll be attached at the hip with this car with that much work.

[zeeman]

ok I have spent a few nights and most of this last weekend fabricating a drivers side foot well to replace the rusted out donor piece. I spent most of today welding that part into the drivers side pan. long day.

nerw foot well.jpg


Tada! foot well. This side is just about done. I have a little bit of touchup grinding to do, then phosphoric acid bath. Possibly some epoxy primer on the bare metal. then install.....What could go wrong?lol

[zeeman]

One thing about using this flux core welder. It sucks. The welds are dirty, There isn't any real heat control. But. Its better than no welder at all. Im not getting all anal about the welds or finish work on the pans. Its a floor pan, the carpet will cover the blemishes. I just want a complete floor with as little to no rust as possible.
Some day I will buy a nice Mig with gas. Then I wont have any excuses... Anyway, using this flux core welder is very labor intense. You need to stop and clean things every so often. or you get dirty, crappy welds, with lots of junk in them. then when you grind the welds smooth you get pin holes. So you have to go back and weld up the holes and then regrind everything. its a pain in the ass. Takes forever. but its better than screws and pop rivets.

[C2YT]

I have a flux welder from harbor freight and I was actually pulling off some very nice welds. They closely resembled my mig welds from a class I took over the summer. I'm not sure how much experience you have welding, but the only way you get better is by doing it.

Also agree that flux core is hella dirty. Plus the stupid thing splatters everywhere.

[DynoDave]

Rust free floors!

[zeeman]

Im.better @ thicker material but its doing the job.
One thing I was impressed with was the phosphoric acid I used to kill the rust and prep the metal. I used krud kutter from Lowe's, cut 50/50 with water. Looks just like I used marine clean on it.