Rust revival

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Yes, keep at it. One way or another, that will be a car again.

[Rustbin]

I got a bit done this weekend, including picking cherries, pitting them and making them ready for my wife to make amazing pies. I started by finishing the welding and grinding a bit then I made a comment about needing a dust mask and my wife says she has one in her studio so I take it. I start working on the car again, snap the elastic strap breaks then a moment later the other one goes, must be old stock, I don't have time to go out and get new masks so I take the ones off my old melted mask and sewed them on in place of the rotten yellow things and I'm back at the car. Next I laid out a line around the rust and cut out the part I wanted to replace so I can use it as a template for the new panel. Getting around the corners was going to be too awkward for the cut off disc. I needed a jigsaw but the only metal blade I have doesn't fit my saw so back to my wife to ask her if the blade will fit hers, she says sure it will. Her jigsaw was smuggled from the east coast in her dads suitcase when he came to visit and he showed her how to use it to make craft things like clocks which he had made quite a few. He then gifted it to her and that was what she used exclusively till I showed her how to use a bandsaw. After fitting the only metal jigsaw blade that we have into her heirloom jigsaw I was very careful about using it to cut out the corners.

 

  

 

I had to trim my panel to the basic size and shape the edges then position it to start fitting for a tight gap for welding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did kind of mess up my lovely paint job, I guess I got ahead of myself on that. One side done so onto the next. With knowing what I'm doing it should go fairly quickly but NO it still took me over three hours to fit the panel.

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

It still needs to be welded in but this one fits better than the first. It seems I need a day between Saturday and Sunday but even then I probably would still not have enough time.

 

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I may have said this before, but you need to check for pinholes in the finished welds. Use an LED light and shine it from the other side. It helps to do this when it's dark out. If there are pinholes that go unnoticed, they could cause rust issues in the future.

 

I skim difficult areas with two part epoxy and sand it smooth.

[Rustbin]

Thanks Stoffregen, I went through the whole thread to find out if you had already said to use a light to check for pinholes because I did use a led work light last year when I welded the floor panels to the tunnel but you did not repeat yourself and the epoxy idea is great. I have just been using the daylight to check thus far because when the car is on it's side the sun will shine through.

 

I got the inside of the channel cleaned primed and painted as well as the corresponding portion of my patch panel then proceeded to weld it in, the better fitment made it a bit easier to weld in but it still took close to the same amount of time because I gave it time to cool. 

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

Next I did a lot of wire brushing the rust off the underside in search of metal. I think I found some but the rust was so heavy it didn't come shiny. Using my awl I poked around to find how much I needed to replace adjacent to the panel I had just welded in.

 

   

 

Then onto the other side.

 

   

 

Of course the holes got a little bigger once I started cutting but didn't get out of hand.

 

   

 

I painted it over with rust neutralizer then dragged my old stump out and pounded a cup shape into a scrap from the old shelving. I made an approximate pattern as a start the snipped and hammered till I got it to the right size and shape then welded them in.

 

   

 

 

 

 

   

 

To make the shock towers strong enough for me to bottom out hard and not bend them or pop a seam, I was thinking I would tie them to the C channel the runs across behind the mustache bar mounts as it's in line with them with a strap welded onto the cap piece then through the pinch seam between the wheel tub and trunk floor.  Above I could add a gusset to resist side forces ie drifting into a curb or getting T boned. I looked and could not find any info about people having problems with rear coil overs but most don't have as much rust either.

   

   

 

While I was looking at the wheel tubs pondering what I'm going to do next I noticed something that wasn't factory undercoating, it was kind of soft and crumbled easily, then the light bulb went on, oh ya, that's where the tire tread ended up.

 

 

 

 

 

[six2ohyea]

The title to this thread is spot on! Great work 

[Rustbin]

Progress has been slow lately, spent a lot of time dealing with the new driveway access and yard stuff when not at work. I've been searching for a safe place for the last few weeks because that's where I put the seat belt nuts that I had removed from the wagons inner rockers but I did not find it, or them so I went back and cut out the tunnel for the inner belt nuts. I spent time on fitting the seat belt reinforcement brackets, just need to weld the holes and nuts then they can be installed. 

 

       

 

 

Did anybody know the rear parcel trays are different heights between the 69 and 72, about 2 -2.5 cm taller in the 72.

 

 

 

 

 

Also I'm thinking about which is the best way to go about reinforcing and repairing the shock mounts for coil overs. I added a brace across the tank mounts to start.

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

This part of the car seems very sturdy with the reinforcing piece across the front edge of the parcel shelf. I made some paper templates for what I think is a good way to approach it. If anyone has ideas and feedback it would be appreciated.

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

I would like to get at least one upper bracket in before cutting the out for the bottom because I might be removing the only strength left in that spot.

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Lots of guys run coilovers with no additional bracing, but I can attest to the fact that that is less than optimal. Since having the weight of the car suspended by the shock mounting locations, the upper pin mount is the spot to brace, as it will push inward as the suspension compresses. Tying the two shock towers together is the strongest, but I have also seen guys make diagonal brackets to the trunk floor.

[DARIN 510]

On 7/30/2023 at 9:05 PM, Rustbin said:

Did anybody know the rear parcel trays are different heights between the 69 and 72, about 2 -2.5 cm taller in the 72

Yes I do. I found this out when I used a repair section for mine. Not sure why that is

[Rustbin]

The driveway relocation project is done, hopefully now I can spend more time working on the car.

 

 

I think I know why most rear coil over conversions don't create noticeable problems on the 510's, there is a rib in the parcel tray almost right above the shock towers and next to the rear seat support which basically braces them and the wheel tubs. I'm going to go ahead with my little gusset then cut the rust out and brace the lower tower via the wheel tub.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Driveway relocation? Did you move?

[Rustbin]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:34 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Driveway relocation? Did you move?

 

Just the driveway access, from a hidden driveway on the busy highway on the west to a laneway through a quiet subdivision that connects to the highway at a proper intersection on the east side of my property, I'm still in the same 840 sq ft house I bought 28 years ago. About six months ago they added a bus stop just to the right of my old drive then this June they did a new highway paving project starting right at my access so I don't know how many times I couldn't get out till the flagger noticed me and let me out. This driveway change is at least a year overdue.

 

So to get some momentum on the car I did some easy things, starting with the seat belt braces that I've been working on intermittently. I finished them up and welded  them to the tunnel mimicking the factory spot weld locations. I primed them then used seam putty to stop moisture from getting in, no point in inviting more rust, I have more than enough already.

 

   

 

   

 

Encouraged by that, I sanded and cleaned the under seat area primed it and painted it with a can that promised 25% more but the nozzle crapped out before the can was half gone. I rummaged through the pile of empty spay cans, found another of the same type and got it working again. Going cheap doesn't make things easy.

 

   

 

Ah that looks better. The forecast calls for rain for the next two days and I'm working so there it is till next weekend.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Nice.

[Rustbin]

I started making the  shock tower brackets to tie in to the rib in the parcel tray then decided to make a rolled flange because it looked like it'd stronger, so I used a small diameter pipe to roll it. I first bent the ninety with the vice then clamped the edge and the pipe in and rolled it using my hands and body hammer. Then turned it around and bent the ninety flange on the other edge. I then spent some time fitting the shock tower, not being able to see where the bottom flange was contacting made it hard to trim to fit. 

 

   

 

   

 

I saw this technique on Youtube where you use a chisel on a rubber mudflap to make the line of the flange you want to bend then use pliers, hammer and dolly to make the curved flange, it works well but I went to far and had to bend it back to fit.

 

   

 

 

   

 

Making the second off the first was easy.

 

   

 

I figured it was time to pull the back window before welding as to not mess it with welding splatter. The rubber is hard and wouldn't flex so I cut the inside flap and carefully pushed it outward all around the perimeter. It hung up on one spot and when I pushed there it started to slide, my heart jumped but it stopped and I was able to get out and grab it placing it safely against a tire. Wow a lot more access, I should have done it sooner but I still don't have a good place to store the glass.

 

   

 

I welded the brackets up adding a little saddle to fit the parcel tray rib painted the back sides and clamped them in ready to weld.

 

   

 

   

 

Over the last few weeks my wife has been making comments about the stuff I've been dragging home from work. When things get broken parts that we don't have in stock, too worn out or just too old, they have to be written off. I often think "I could use that!" so I bring it home. One of the things I brought home was a bariatric transfer wheelchair that was rated to hold 450lbs. Added to it some metal from the old washing machine the former owner of this house used as a burn barrel, a piece of the store shelving and a little piece of the side burner from the old barbecue and I got myself a new welding cart. It still needs some hooks to hold the wire feed and ground cables and a drawer from a old file cabinet (yet to be acquired) but it works better than the liquor store shopping cart, and it has brakes.

 

   

 

With the extreme difference in the thickness of the two metals I found I needed to use a lot of heat on the shock tower but that burned the bracket so I welded a bead just beside the edge then welded the edge to it at a lower heat, everything else went well.

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

One evening this past week I started prying the plastic vent escutcheons, they are so brittle, but I did get them out and only one broke. I do have some others around somewhere but would rather have those billet ones from Futofab, if I have any money when I'm finishing up the interior maybe. I think I mentioned pondering, I do a lot of it sitting on the four wheeled walker that I drag around. While sitting I came up with the idea of bracing the underside like so.

 

   

 

 

 

   

 

   

 

 

I went for it and cut the wheel tub, nothing moved or even flexed. I did find a little rust though. I dug out the piece of 16 gauge steel I bought last year from the scrap bin of a local fabricating business.

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

I cut the 16 gauge and realized I needed fix some rust before I could weld it in so make a patch I did and fussed around a lot because the space was a little to small for effective use of the grinder and too awkward for the tin snips, "Honey can I borrow your jigsaw again?" Then I got back to the shock tower support.

 

   

 

     

 

   

 

With the 16 gauge support in I just need to replace the piece I took out. I got it to fit so well that it stayed without clamps or anything.

 

   

 

I left bending the flange till last because I didn't want to alter the perfect shape and it turned out to much easier doing it that way. I put the old piece in front to check and was impressed with myself.

 

   

 

Inside the trunk I couldn't get the grinder in to clean up the welds but they look pretty good so I'll just smear them with seam seal and call it good enough.

 

   

 

More rust to repair then onto the other side and repeat.

 

[DARIN 510]

Amazing fab work. Keep up the good work. 

[Rustbin]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:51 PM, DARIN 510 said:

Amazing fab work. Keep up the good work. 

Thanks Darin.  Attending a wedding instead of working on the Datsun this weekend l left me with little to post but I may have a lead on a SR20 core. A friend of my stepson who attended the ceremony may have one, I will have to follow up because there was an open bar at the reception. I did get a couple pieces welded in, I tried using the masking tape template method for the second one because the scraps I had didn't offer much extra material.

 

     

 

     

 

I may do the last bit in two pieces to keep everything stable and the fabrication easy.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

My wife was out busy helping a friend and the kids(Honey Mooner's?) were out doing romantic things so I got into working on the car and missed taking  pics of some of the steps. I tried to fill in the gaps when doing the second side but may have missed them then too. After making a pattern of the last bit I went for doing it in one piece which proved to be no problem. It was nice to see the tiny little bit of shiny original metal, maybe the first I've seen on this car. First step was the stump, then creasing with the mudflap, hammering and trimming adjusting the shape till it fit then drill for plug welds screw it in place then weld. It only took three days to do both sides, easy (not).

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

I turned the car over on the rotisserie and sprayed copious amounts of rust pain into the shock tower to get in around the plug welds and found a pin hole in my welding, I'm going to have to do the epoxy trick Stoffregen mentioned. Then onto the other side.

 

       

 

The rust is just as bad on this side but just hadn't popped through yet. I kind of oopsed when cutting and sliced into the tank mount but it's an easy fix with the welder.

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

       

 

    

 

While trying to be quiet one morning I pulled off the edges of the headliner and used a trick I'd seen done once back when I worked at the first upholstery shop, the customer had taken spray paint and painted the ends of the bows each a different color to show which end went in which hole. On the 510 each bow is symmetrical, I only used 5 colors but in older cars (30's and such) they sometimes fit only one way (fore aft curvature), so when I make the new headliner it should fit just like original.

 

     

 

Cleaning up after welding today I felt the cool chill of autumn in the air, the chance of rain is in the forecast, so I pulled the tarp over the car again. I'll have to get on the yard work and fire wood stacking in preparation for winter. Summers are always too short for my liking even when they are too freaking hot.

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

With the weather changing I had to find a place for the glass from the 510 so moved everything out from the center area of my shed (the stuff on the shelves were fine where they were) because I knew I had some car windows stashed in back and could add two more pieces. In the stash I found two pieces of door glass and a windshield that I don't remember having, they look like they might fit a 67 to 72 GMC truck. I once had a 69 that needed glass but it went to my brother years ago. There are back windows from a 79 Honda accord and the white package contains an aftermarket pop out sunroof from the 80's. The bummer is I had to put the stuff back in and cluttered up the center so I can't get at things again.

 

   

 

The factory put something like duct tape on the flange, probably to stop it from cutting into the rubber, so I'm going to have to remember to do the same when I put the windshield back in.

 

   

 

With the glass out I can finally remove those effin screws and remove the dash. I thought I had all bolts removed and everything disconnected but it hung up on the left side, OOPS, the side vent was still attached. Then it came out and I could get to the heater control cables. Oh Look the brass has a lovely teal powdery coating, I might need a new valve. I found a brake master cylinder in the shed, I read B/16, then brushed the dirt away and realized it was 13/16. The one on the car it 7/8 but it should work fine right?

 

   

 

   

 

Looking up with the dash removed showed what looked to be two little stars shining through the cowl. That could be why the floors had rusted out. I took pictures of the rest of the cowl to find if there are more leaks but none were apparent.

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

The hole for the brake master was mess up by someone at some point and the firewall is extremely rusty, I had trouble welding the toeboard beneath this area because of it.

They also hacked the bracket so I'll have to fix that as well. I laid out and took a picture of the pads from behind the heater for reference.

 

 

 

I decided to finish up one little bit that had been put off from last year because using the rotisserie make things like this so much easier. The lap seam between the tunnel and the rear seat pan had rust in between so I grabbed a strip of off cut shelving and stared cutting the lap seam out but it did not come quietly. The factory spot welder couldn't get in there so they welded beads along the edge that had to be ground out. Between the grinder noise, the hammering and my swearing my wife was becoming concerned but I succeeded despite the confined space. I rolled the edge then welded both outside and in, but because of the corners I couldn't grind them smooth. Oh well, it gets seam seal anyway.

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

The weather has turned but hopefully I can still get some more things done this year.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

You're so far in that you may as well keep going, but I keep thinking, how much of this car is going to be left once all the rusty metal is replaced?

[Rustbin]

I intend to take this all the way. As far as I can tell right now the roof, the rear parcel tray and the floor under the fuel tank will be original. At the wedding a couple weeks ago my wife's nephew asked me with all the parts I'm changing, when is it not the same car anymore, my reply was "as long as the registration is the same it's the same car". Presently I'm trying to decide if I should leave the knobs that centered the springs or modify them so the car will sit lower with new bump stops.  I have a little bit of rust repair left to do on the floor and the inner wheel tubs and need to address it at the same time.

 

 

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

We ran our cars pretty low and we never had to mod the upper bump stop.

 

Wen is it not the same car anymore? Ever heard the story of grandpa's axe? The handle has been replaced a dozen times and the head has been replaced a few times too, but it's still grandpa's axe.

[Rustbin]

After pulling the dash and brake peddle box, then seeing how rusted and hacked the firewall is there, I started looking at how I was going to fix it. First thing I did was to check  out the '80 wagons firewall but whoa it's way to different so I kept searching and pulled the remnants of my first 510 into the shop. It's too rusty as well but I can use it to make a pattern, grabbed the poly' some magnets and sharpy then drew one out. The shelf that donated a corner to the rear shock tower was handy so away I went laying it out. The square and straight edge didn't work out because of the different levels and the top flange was a slight angle, so I reworked the pattern, sanded off the paint and laid it out again. Starting with the curviest part I used a rounded edge chisel to start the bend then flipped and marked the other side then repeated with the corresponding bend. I hammered it over the edge of my railroad anvil, bed irons and even a socket or two to get the metal over to the correct angle which I measured with my 7.97 cardboard angle gauge. I then measured off of that ridge to make the next one, which was easier because the lines where straighter, then on again. I used my butane cook stove fuel to heat up the ridges where they met the top fold' to help compress the metal at those points but it took a while and barely got red. When that's finally used up I be happy to get some propane for future jobs.

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

After getting it all bent into shape I laid it onto the old firewall positioned, clamped it and traced out the holes from the inside. I figured I would have to build a plate to mount the master cylinder to the firewall instead of using the Swiss cheese piece of aluminum the was on there. I tried to put the pedal box onto the old firewall but the studs had been offset and it wouldn't fit. Now I know I have to rebuild it because I don't think I have another in the shed, but I'll look anyway, no luck but I did find a Datsun radio. After sleeping on it I remembered having the plate that the master cylinder bolts to so this time I took things out to look in all the bins and found some peddles sticking out of a box. I brought it into the shop and found stuff. The clutch peddle for the '69, I had wondered where that had went, a couple brake peddles, the booster from my '73 610 and the master cylinder mounting plate. Yay one thing I won't have to make!

 

   

 

 

 

   

 

Next figuring out the steering column brace.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Wow.

[Diabolic kustoms]

Damn.. gives me hope on my bucket..lol that's a lot of rust to fix. Looking good.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

29 minutes ago, Diabolic kustoms said:

Damn.. gives me hope on my bucket..lol that's a lot of rust to fix. Looking good.

I was born in Duluth, so I know what MN winters can do to any car or truck.