Rust revival

[Rustbin]

12 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Isn't there a cowl drain down the front of the fire wall behind the head? It always gets rusty and crushed when removing the engine. 

 

Yes, there is a center drain, the kind of V shaped bulge, but there are also drains on each side with short down spouts that flow through plastic pipes out the round holes to behind the front wheels. Organic matter that collects becomes acidic when decomposing accelerating the rusting process. 

 

[Rustbin]

I got to use one of my new tools, using it as a dolly I was able to flatten out the flange before I get to welding it in. After spaying a little paint, I used the center lines I marked on my pattern to position the down spout then clamped it before doing the plug welds, I just run a drill where the weld will go to remove the paint then put a glob of weld in the center of hole till its filled then grind off the excess. I copied the factory and put a thick layer of seam seal around the spout then later when cleaning it off my hands with paint thinner I figured that you could probably smooth it out with a rag soaked in thinner, I might try it next time. While waiting for paint to dry or maybe it was seam seal to set, I started drilling out the spot welds on the hood hinge bracket, it came apart fairly easily with the help of a little flat bar with sharpened edges. Back to welding in the cowl piece, I tacked it along starting at the A pillar and followed around to the underside then went outside and tacked along till I got to the raised lip, then went back and started alternating filling in the spaces between except for the underside because it was more difficult, till I had the rest done. I went along a couple more rounds till I got all the pin holes filled then remembered to take pictures.

 

     

 

    

 

     

 

The next step was to cut out the rusty side to get in behind and clean up the backside of the welds. I rubbed the rust I could get to with sandpaper, used rust converter, then blasted some rust paint in there before welding in my patch piece. I had one area the I guess was a little more rusty than I thought and my welds blew through so it ended up being a lot of grinding in a awkward space. I ended up using my smallest grinding disc on the air tool to grind in close then switching to a 4 1/2" cut off wheel to crisp up the edges to finish it off. 

 

    

 

    

 

      

 

I then went back to cutting a piece to fit the hinge bracket, made a paper template, folded it on my cut line, cut, drilled and folded some 18 gauge, measured and marked the bracket then cut  it. I spent a little bit of time making sure the fitment was accurate, then welded it together. I installed the strut brace with the new hinge mount locator attachment and went about setting my last piece of the cowl puzzle in place, I had taken a couple pictures with a ruler in place to know the height by the hinge mount, with that and the locator holes I had drilled while disassembling I was able to get things in the right position. It also made me realize I had gotten the outside corner by the A pillar a good 1/8" to high, not worth fixing and it will be unnoticeable when it's done, so I'm not as perfect as I would like to be. I have it almost ready to weld in but I'm going to make the hood support ledge and reinforcement first.

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

It feels like I'm getting close to having the front end finished. 

 

 

[Rustbin]

OK, finally onto the left hood ledge, I posted doing the right side on June 20 2025, my how time flies or damn it took so long to get here but then again shit happened. I had premade some bits but wanted to wait to use the original hood ledge reinforcement for reference. This side is not as bent but way more rusty than the right thus I needed to get the cowl and hood hinge mount done first so that I have a front and rear point to work from. Starting with positioning the remnants of the old piece and then using my fist cars part I got a basic idea of how the aft end needed to be trimmed to shape, I started on the front end using the parts car for measurements and a template. After spending some time getting the front to fit I started looking at where the panel would get welded to the existing metal and I realized that I could not get it to roll under to fit the strut tower so I would have to make a small bit to fit then run a seam front to back. I found a off-cut bent the curve then cut the radius and bent the lip with the pliers then finished it with the round faced hammer. Welding it in went well except for the most inaccessible corner where I blew through, tried to fill it with weld, then ground another hole when grinding it then had to fill it again with weld and grind again making sure I didn't F*CK it up again. I was starting to think I was getting good at welding, oh well.

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

Spent a lot of time fitting, trimming and adjusting the shape as I worked from back to front then toward the middle till I got it to fit good enough to weld in. Now I can measure for the access holes using every bit of rust metal for getting them in the right spots. Drilled a big starter hole, cut as carefully as possible with the snips, smooth with a stone on the air tool, then bent the lip with first pliers then hammered over a piece of pipe to get a smooth radius and filed and sanded to make it smooth.

 

    

 

      

 

    

 

Clamped it in place and mmm, do I fit the flange that mounts the fender then weld it in, or weld it in then fit the flange? I clamped the flange in place then went in for dinner.

 

After sleeping on it and having the nightmare about finding more pinholes I went with welding it in cause I think there will be less warping. It seemed to have worked, I have run my hand over the panel and I can't feel high's or lows along the weld, but there are still pinholes. A lot of grinding later, I found and filled the pinholes I moved onto getting the hood hinge bracket welded in, it went easier because it was all plug welds, and I left the butt welding part to the next day. There were some wider parts to the gap between the panels so I clamped my piece of flattened copper pipe to align the two edges which went really well, leaving only patching a little section. I made a paper pattern, cut a scrap with the tin snips, fine tuned it with the grinder and welded it in. A bit (lot) of grinding later and it was done. Except I found some of my old weld needed some fixing and touch up, so I figured since I had a few minutes to spare, set to fixing them. Man where did the hour go? 

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

So it's done, well that part anyway, now to move back on to the flange.

 

[Draker]

Nice work!

[Rustbin]

For the flange I took a lot of measurements off the parts car, when I measured the ledge in front of the strut tower I got about 30 mm then I measured my flange and got 35mm, then realized the gusset piece wasn't on my ledge yes and I was measuring in the wrong spot. Things went fairly well with scribing and trimming so there was also no problems with welding it in, except for the front end where I was welding the underside because I had the rad support corner gusset still in place. I was thankful that I had made the strut top gussets ages ago so all that was needed was to trim and finish shaping it to be ready to weld in, the second one is always easier. 

 

    

 

    

 

  

 

      

 

 

 

Now onto the reinforcement. 

[Rustbin]

I had to search out the templates and reverse the jig to begin making the left hood ledge reinforcement, and had to dig through a pile of angle irons to find the ones I had used on the right side. It took a couple tries to get the first bend in the right spot but then bending the edge was easy. Then came the forming the part that sits under the cowl top, seemed like no matter what I did I couldn't get it to sit right so I left it till later.

 

    

 

    

 

 On to the bottom, just a flange on one edge and curves, then a bit of twist near the A pillar, a shrinker stretcher would have been nice but I don't have one so it was make tucks and hammer them closed, repeat where necessary.

 

    

 

I did multiple test fits on the parts car then placed both pieces on the jig and started fitting them together, then I got an idea, a couple tack welds and I can test fit it on the car. That went better because now I have reference to where the ends sit and can set the actual position. I marked out where I needed to trim, cut the tack welds, trimmed and shaped the tacked it again, working my way along till I had it ready to weld.  I used a series of tacks along the whole thing then took it off and welded it inside, then went to the outside to fill pinholes and places that didn't get good enough penetration.  I tested it one more time and adjusted the part that sits under the cowl top the welded in the reinforcement for the ledge reinforcement, drilled all the holes for the plug welds then spayed on some black rust paint.

 

    

 

      

 

    

 

  

 

The next day I clamped it in place and welded it on, then to grinding, and thinking about grinding and sanding, and wondering about how much time I've spent sanding and grinding. I wonder when I've passed if someone were to add up all the time I've spent sanding and grinding, they could say at my eulogy "He spent x years of his life dedicated to grinding and sanding". What a honor that would be.

[Draker]

Impressive work!

[Rustbin]

21 minutes ago, Draker said:

Impressive work!

 

Thank you very much. My boss told me I needed to use my vacation time cause they won't carry it over to the next fiscal year and I don't have enough funds to go somewhere so I spent a lot of time in the shop. I found it easier to get a flow when not having to go away from it for anything other than food sleep and pee breaks.

[Draker]

2 hours ago, Rustbin said:

 

Thank you very much. My boss told me I needed to use my vacation time cause they won't carry it over to the next fiscal year and I don't have enough funds to go somewhere so I spent a lot of time in the shop. I found it easier to get a flow when not having to go away from it for anything other than food sleep and pee breaks.

perfect use of time! I sometimes consider doing a staycation and just catching up on stuff around the house and shop.

[UnderControl]

Crazy how much more can get done in a single long day vs several short ones.

[Rustbin]

Now onto the rad support! I drilled out the last 10 spot welds then removed the 10 sheet metal screws I had used to hold things in place, and a few taps with the hammer, then off it came accompanied by the usual rust dust. Oh right, now that I can get to it, I have to finish off the front point of the hood ledge and fix the flange that the rad support is welded to, and I have to form the headlight surround area on the right side too. Maybe not onto the rad support quite yet. I made a little paper template for the flange, the tweaked and adjusted the area behind the headlights, then cut fit, and welded the little piece, yes left side done. Looked at the right side, made a finger smudge template of the left side, determined the size of metal needed and laid it out. I found a scrap of plywood sign and traced the curvature of the bottom portion, cut it then attached the falloff vertically and scribed the rest to make a solid template for the other side and possibly the other car.

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

Looked back at the right side, then started forming the panel I had cut, put it in place. But first I needed to cut out the messed up part and finish the work that I had started last year. I cut out the beat up bit, zip cut off the overlapping metal, shaped the edge of the piece I had made to mate with the original metal, then prepared to weld. There were some wide portions that I laid a piece of wire into while welding, that worked well, but I blew through the bottom corner which made me wish I had looked a little bit closer at the rust before I cut. I started grinding and of coarse there were pinholes that I had to go back and weld then grind to find other pinholes. Now I can go back to shaping my panel. 

 

    

 

    

 

The plywood template told me the lower portion needed to be flat and brought up on more of an angle, solution bottle jack and 3/4" this bar then hammer and dolly to reshape the horn mount a little to make it work.  

 

   

 

Measurements weren't quite lining up, all seemed good when measuring to the rad support but without it I used the fender mounting hole on the A pillar and it said I was about 1/4" off so by setting my template that much forward the diagonal measures worked and sighting across left and right lined up. Now that I know where I'm going, it's a lot easier getting there. I used the parts car for reference again to get it to the right shape then trimmed and formed it till it was almost right but I couldn't clamp it in place very well so I put a screw through the overlap on the bottom edge and finished the trimming all except for a tab for the screw. I started welding with a tack on the bottom near the screw then worked back to the corner then up the vertical seam then forward on the top then bottom, lining things up as I went. Then after grinding of the tops of the tack I hammered and dollied the area to get the shape of the panel right before finishing the welding. My cardboard template said It was close enough. 

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

Just the flange where the rad support attaches to is left. Oh ya, the soup tastes pretty good too.

 

 

[Rustbin]

I drilled out the spot welds and removed the frame rail from the bottom of the rad support, measured the thickness of the steel, 14 gauge, found a piece and laid it out in pencil. Several days later I finally got to cutting the 14 gauge, and am thinking I will want to make 2 of these as well. After doing other stuff I got back to this and cut the pieces out, just going to build one at this time. The first bend was the hardest, I used the 4lb sledge and worked across back and forth till I got it to lay over at 90. I trimmed the ends then bent the flange in the vice using various hammers because the flange bent more easily and at access was more difficult for the BFH. I drilled the holes for the captured nuts that attach the pan but am not sure if I will use them, It's kind of hard to put them in afterwards. For the top side I cut out the flange areas that are curved then bent up the straight sections, then made little pieces that were the shape and welded them in, it was a lot easier then trying to stretch and shrink the 14 gauge, but I forgot to take a picture of them in.

 

    

 

    

 

  

 

 Next I made a jig to clamp the parts to for welding based on the original, clamped things in place, and tacked welded along the outside, took it of the jig then fully welded the inside. I ground the tacks and excess metal off the outside and gave it a little radius then rewelded the voids to grind them off and redo the radius so it would look good for the picture. I also folded the end tabs then drilled for the plug welds, painted inside the front of the frame rails and measures it for center before welding it in.

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

I still have to do a bit of grinding to do (what's new) but that's another thing done. I'm not even going to try to count what's left, just going to focus on the next thing.

[Rustbin]

The flange is all that's left so I found a piece of 6ml poly and stretched it across the left side flange holding it with pinch clamps and magnets, traced the outline but forgot to take a picture. After I cut it out and traced it onto my piece of metal did I remember so I laid it back on for that. I cut out the flange leaving extra on the inside for rolling an edge, creased my bend line then trimmed the extra back to 1/4", then finished rolling the 90 degree bend. I used a magnet to hold it in place for the picture.

 

     

 

I formed 2 pair of gussets the secure the top of the rad support to the hood ledge, I'm going to need a set for the '69 as well. I spent a bit of time checking the various ones I have on the rad supports as well as on the parts car. It took me about 4 hours to cut out, bend the radius edge, fold up the flange and drill the holes, and as I was doing this I was thinking about the patch panels guys make and try to sell. How much time can someone viably put into making them to be able to sell them at a reasonable price, including overhead, materials and such when there is a limited market for Datsun stuff.  

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

I drilled out the spot welds where applicable and removed the old gussets and laid them against the ones I had made and they were different. I flattened out the flange I had bent then rebent  it at the slightly different angle then adjusted the inner rolled edge. Tried it out and it worked so I rebent the flanges on the other pieces but left the rolled edge for when I go to install the pieces. So if you buy small scale patch panels expect to have to tweak and adjust to make it fit. 

 

    

 

     

 

  

 

I have been bouncing around on what I'm working on so I'm not posting in chronological order, but figured it would make more sense if I kept them arranged by subject.

 

 

[Rustbin]

For this next bit I made a paper pattern from the rad opening to the outside edge, then made a smaller one of just the headlight opening. I cut a piece of metal for the worst side of the rad support for the '69 since it would be the largest, then will work to the smallest. Using the patterns and the best side for reference I laid out the contours, marked them with the chisel then hammered in the step for the headlight area then tipped the outer rolled edge ready to lay on the rad support to figure out my cut lines then I realized I had made it backwards, the step and the roll went the wrong way. I guess I'll just have to use it on the other side even though it doesn't have to be this big. Back to cutting out another piece and made sure I made it the correct way. I almost got it wrong with the first chisel crease but it was easy to reverse and the rest went well. I went to figure out my cut lines and saw that I will need to fix the rust holes first, found an appropriately sized off-cut made a couple bends now it's ready to cut and fit in. Welding went fine, didn't get much blow through but it was a little tight for grinding in a couple spots.

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

Time to hack off the rusty side, after measuring and marking I cut as far as I could, then snips, and for the inside corner, I resorted to the cold chisel, kind of rough but it worked. Then back to measuring, fitting, panel straightening, then measuring again, a little more fitting then ready to weld in. Um, dinnertime, OK I'll be right in dear, I'll weld it in tomorrow.

Next day I welded it up, then with welder out I tried the trick of just using a cutting with a hole drilled in it, centered over the broken bolt then laying a blob of weld tacking them together, sprayed on some penetrating oil, and started twisting it back and forth slowly loosening it till it came out. It worked so well I did it again a half a dozen more times. Now onto fixing the other side. 

 

    

 

    

 

    

 

I figured out my cut lines and trimmed my piece to match up then scribed and cut with the snips to be as accurate as possible, then with angle iron clamped to keep things straight, I welded it on, ginded off the lumps the smoothed it off with the flap disc. I went back to my patterns and laid out the holes, then searched through my random bits and drill index to get the closest sized bit to drill the holes, then did it.

 

    

 

    

 

Yay one done, one to go.   Oh the raggedy bit on the bottom? I'll deal with it later.

[Legoman27]

On 3/23/2026 at 11:29 PM, Rustbin said:

  

 Is that dip in the lower rad support a 68 thing? or maybe wagon v sedan? it was flat the whole way across on my wagon

Very nice work btw, makes a great reference

[Rustbin]

The dip is the stock '72 rad support brace shape, I seem to remember my '69 being flat but that was replaced with 1" by 2" box tubing because my brother munched the front end when he borrowed my car in about 1984. Glad you find it helpful @Legoman27, I to have looked all over the internet to learn details. 

[Rustbin]

Amongst doing other things  I was able to do the outside ends of the '72 rad support. It was the same as the first except easier because of the experience of doing the first one and because the patch pieces were smaller. 

 

    

 

      

 

    

 

I found the rad support was bent inward about 1/4 inch so I whent through and adjusted every little wrinkle with a hammer and dolly then clamped together a jig from angle irons, securing the rad support to it with more clamps before welding, and it cam out fairly flat. Then forgot to take the after picture.

 

    

 

    

 

  

 

I also welded on the nuts to attach the fenders. I still have the raggedy bit on the bottom to deal with.

[Rustbin]

Through a warp in the time space continuum, and the fact that my wife didn't need me for anything, later happened. The bottom edge was easily done by measurements, with a template just for the radius of the rad opening lip. Because I couldn't trust the edges to be perfectly straight I made a reference line where the lip bends out and for the center, working from those lines to make the points for all the bends. I cut little notches out, to add fill in pieces later, bent the lip out then bent the little angle bits on the sides. I clamped the patch panel over the rad support to bend and mark the edges for trimming, once everything was trimmed to fit I stuck some masking tape under the little gap, clamped my patch panel down and drew the shape with pencil, unclamped everything and placed the tape onto a off cut so I could cut a perfect filler wedge that I welded in after clamping everything back onto the rad support. I took my time welding to keep things cool then repeated the process three more times to do the grinding and pinhole filling which ended up taking most of the day. The patch for the '72 could be cut below the folded edge of the lip, but the rad support I'll be using on the '69 is rusted inside the lip so I made the patch to include the lip.

 

    

 

  

 

  

 

Before fitting the patch panel onto the rad support I cleaned as much paint and rust off as I could with the wire wheel so I could see the best line to cut and attach the panel, I didn't want to cut out the lip and have the two side flopping while I try to weld so I got this idea to leave the top of the lip and as much as I could in place till after I welded the two sides solidly so I did some creative trimming to get it to work. The patch fit almost perfectly, just one tiny massage was all it needed so welding it went easy but slow so I didn't have to deal with warpage. After grinding and rewelding pinholes I was very impressed with myself. 

 

  

 

     

 

On to the next one, I again cleaned off the paint to see the best line, trimmed my patch panel, clamped everything in place then scribed my line on the black sharpy so I could see it better this time. After cutting off the rusted bit and carefully grinding just to the line I put my patch in place and things looked way out so I clamped some straight angle iron to see that it lined up much better, I guess because this support had been bent there is some tension in the metal. I will be clamping supports onto this one when I weld it so I don't end up with a twisted mess. I was impressed with how well it lined up with the angle iron clamped on so I tacked it in a few places, then clamped and tacked across the whole thing, then remembered to take a picture. In a effort to keep the front lip straight I clamped an angle to it while I welded it then moved the clamps and did another section. After that I took on the grinding in intervals and gave myself a break between to rest or check for pin holes then back at it.

 

  

 

    

 

  

 

I didn't call it done till I had the nut for the center support welded in both of them. Still some details to deal with though.