1990 country squire resto/lowrider in UK

[andyfanshawe]

Finally got the inner sills/rockers welded in, but not before I painted the sides that will not be accessible when they are in



Heres a few views of the welded in panels-ready for grinding, sealing and painting







The white streaks are paint trails when attempting to get paint inbetween the joints - successfully!

Heres an imortant step. Rustproofer poured into the panels and heated up till it flows out of all the joints and drips onto the floor



You can see the brown fluid on the bottom of the welded seam



You can also see a nasty rust spot under the passenger door! Thats on my list!

Heres a photo of one of the new poly body to frame mounts that arrived yesterday



Andy.

[johnunit]

Beautiful work.


I missed it: where did you get the poly mounts?

[andyfanshawe]

Beautiful work.


I missed it: where did you get the poly mounts?

Thank you

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9.4102#

Andy.

[andyfanshawe]

Forecast is not good for the next few days, but I don't care! I need to get the frame back as soon as possible so I can get this car to the bodyshop.
So its finish off a little bit of welding and prep the underside for its new silver paint!

This involved removing all seam sealant to check underneath for rust and wire brushing and surface rust removal-all on the passenger side.

Heres a few photos going along the rockers and towards the back. i feel quite proud of this. The view before it all started was horrendous. The view now is fantastic.
Apart from the brown surface rust, it is now clear and green! Or is it..............

Front



Going further back








Heres the rear seat belt reinforcing plate that is concealed above the frame when it is in



Only surface rust which will disappear under the media blasting! I will pour rustproofer in behind it before I seal it off.

This is directly above the rear wheelarch



and just a bit further back



This is where it gets interesting!
Heres the frame mounting point just behind the rear wheels. The black lines are metal fatigue cracks. It is not down to corossion. It is exactly the same on the otherside. Hmm, design flaw?



Heres 1 more views of the back



Still some rust removal to do, but we are almost there.

Andy.

[andyfanshawe]

Thought i would try out this rustremoving gel



Here it is applied where the middle seatbelt reinforcing plate was (and will be again!)



I will post another photo up tomorrow after it has done its work!

Some nice little jobs to do here.....
All the seat belt bolt reinforcing plates and the seat bolts reinforcing plates are rusting and so is the steel underneath. Like this one



Very simple to remove - 4 spot welds drilled, chuck plate in acid bath for a few days, media blast and paint rusty steel on car, weld panel back and repaint everything.

Its all in the details!
Andy.

[Grand Marquis GT]

You're making me look forward to the body resto on my truck

[andyfanshawe]

You're making me look forward to the body resto on my truck

Fantastic! I am finding this really good fun to do (even though its outside in the wind and rain and a UK winter!). Certainly hard work though, but the results are very motivating at this stage when most of the welding is done now.
Can't wait for the paint to go on!

Will you start a build thread on here when you do yours?

Andy.

[Grand_Marquis_LSS]

Wow looks like you do some good work.

[andyfanshawe]

Wow looks like you do some good work.

Thank you sir

Media blasted and seam sealed loads of welded joins today. That stuff is smelly and "harmful" so it was out with the air fed mask and get stuck in.

I got everything set up to go underneath, set myself up underneath and got comfy and......... forgot my masking tape to get a smooth edge! "Sod it" said I so I just put it all on and I will clean up the edges tomorrow. It will also give me a chance to see how well it has stuck.





Just got to weld up the metal fatigue cracks and we can start painting the passenger side.



But something is not quite right. The capive nut is spinning and the metal seems thin and weak. But it welded up okay with no burning through so it can't be thin due to rusting.

Theres no alternative but to open up the panel and have a look inside.

Where to drill though? Difficult to assess where the hole needs to be on the inside of the cargo area. So lets take a guess................here (black spot)



Here we go then



Heres the view .........



Just can't see what is happening apart from rust!

So another hole drilled and here we are



The captive nut cage has broken free on one side and the nut has slipped out under it.

It looks as if I have no option but to remove the panel that I have drilled completely and replace the panel where the captive nut is. And all other panels that need patching around it! Then weld a new inner panel in.
This will put me a few days behind, but needs to be done. And I am assuming the other side will need doing also.

Andy.

[andyfanshawe]

Digging deeper then.............
Heres the dodgy frame mount revealed after i cut out the panel in front of it



Heres a closer view. You can just see where I welded the cracks up from underneath



So my decision to remove was correct. There is a bit of rust there that needs stopping.

Right. Lets media blast and see what happens



The corner looks very rusted and in fact went through when I prodded it! The lap joint under it will need cutting out and replacing too.

Heres the panel I cut out with the cage on it



Underside of it



Lets get welding then and reinforce that area better........

Andy.

[packman]

Holey crap you're meticulous!!! If I have my mom's car Crown Vic down for more than 3 days I'm in trouble.



Packman

[jayh]

what exact color is your camaro? I like that red alot

[andyfanshawe]

what exact color is your camaro? I like that red alot

Its PPG bright red, code D717. 2k not water based.

Warning: This colour is BRIGHT!!

Andy.

[1990LTD]

You wanna come over and take care of the rust on mine when you're done?

[andyfanshawe]

Here's the corner cut out where the rust is





Here's a panel fabricated with a Step (or joddle) in it that you can just see



In place



This is a close up view of the underside of the captive nut for the frame bolt. You can just see cracks all over. This is very weak and contributed to the metal fatigue cracks on the hatch floor that I welded up. So my decision to remove a perfectly good outer panel was well and truly justified.



I am going to strengthen up the area to prevent further cracks and weld back the exterior panel. Thats tomorrows job.

Andy.