Build Thread '83 T-top Coupe - Welding Holes in My Rear

[Davedacarpainter]

So I dressed the old spot welds tonight and just laid there for awhile looking at what will be next and how it might overlap what i’m doing now. Here’s the big shot of the spot welds cleaned up, they don’t look very smooth, but they don’t catch my finger.

I‘ll stitch weld along the backing plate and the frame rail.

I will also remove the bump stops and probably weld the shock mount a bit more thoroughly than the few spot welds from the factory. Maybe even stitch weld along the spring perch too. It’s staying for the frame rail support it provides.

I need to bring home some sand from work to do a little sand blasting in the more difficult to clean areas that I’ll weld.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Some metal prepping pads.

I got the bag of sand in the truck already.

I need to remove the old bump stop brackets first thing tonight. Then clean up with this stuff.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Whew! I got the right bump stop off. These brackets are wearing me out!

Only one left, it’ll be a little tougher to remove since that side is about 1/8” from the wall of the garage. I’m beginning to believe I’ll have to finally build my little Booger cart soon to make life easier. Anyhow, heres the right side stop.

Here‘s a before and after picture just to show the room this opens up. It’ll be easy to stitch weld around the shock tower bracket with that out of the way. Before:

After:

One more after picture at a little different angle.

Anywho, tomorrow night I go after the left bracket.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Alright, this bracket was going to be a pita. I knew that going in and I was determined I was going to win.........

This was by far the easiest of the four. I borrowed my friends cordless 1/2” belt sander again and crawled under Booger’s rear end ready to have a long haul.

This was the tightest area i’ve worked in so far. My head was off my creeper and leaning against the wall so I could see the spot welds I needed to cut. It was almost too easy, lol. I was worried a bit when it fell off.

Enough chit chat, the bracket off.

Where it was cleaned up a little. I’ll stitch weld all around the shock brace bracket, maybe even around the old spring perch (though I’m not sure if I’ll do that or not).

That went so quick I cleaned up around the left uca mount area a little. I show this picture because I’ll stitch weld all along where the backing plate meets the subframe.

Here’s the fantastic four dingleberries picked off Booger’s butt.

Tomorrow night begins the clean up for welding. I’ll need to use a scraper to clean the various areas that got coated with the undercoating from the wheel tub at the factory. Then sand blasting and I might even break out the dremel tool to clean up some of those tough areas.

Hopefully I’ll get the welding done by this weekend.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I started tonight by using a screw driver to scrape out the bigger globs of undercoating that were around the areas I want to weld. Then I went to town with my little sand blaster. Fact is, I made a nice little mess that probably took longer to clean up than it did to sand blast. I love this little blaster, as long as you allow your air pressure to build up sufficiently, you’re golden for cleaning metal.

Heres the right side around the shock tower bracket. I intend to weld all around the tabs.

This one is looking up into the brace where it attaches to the subframe, I’ll weld all that too.

Here’s on the other side of the frame rails. Nice and clean down deep, perfect for welding.

Big lesson for tonight? When you’re underneath a vehicle, it’s better to wait until you’re not before trying to sit up. It can really hurt and you can bleed a lot from a small cut to the forehead. Not that I did this of course.........I just thought it would be an important reminder to y’all......Oh, and sand blasting media stops bleeding pretty quick.......I’m just guessing here because how would I factually know......of course........

 

[02 281 GT]

I started tonight by using a screw driver to scrape out the bigger globs of undercoating that were around the areas I want to weld. Then I went to town with my little sand blaster. Fact is, I made a nice little mess that probably took longer to clean up than it did to sand blast. I love this little blaster, as long as you allow your air pressure to build up sufficiently, you’re golden for cleaning metal.

Heres the right side around the shock tower bracket. I intend to weld all around the tabs.

This one is looking up into the brace where it attaches to the subframe, I’ll weld all that too.

Here’s on the other side of the frame rails. Nice and clean down deep, perfect for welding.

Big lesson for tonight? When you’re underneath a vehicle, it’s better to wait until you’re not before trying to sit up. It can really hurt and you can bleed a lot from a small cut to the forehead. Not that I did this of course.........I just thought it would be an important reminder to y’all......Oh, and sand blasting media stops bleeding pretty quick.......I’m just guessing here because how would I factually know......of course........

I’ve considered getting one of those blasters for small jobs. What kind of media did you use?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I’ve considered getting one of those blasters for small jobs. What kind of media did you use?

Coal slag from Black Diamond. I forgot the size I got. Though any medium coarse material would work. Though to stop bleeding I really do recommend the coal......

For little things like this, it’s a great little blaster. Plus it was only $25 or so at harbor freight.

 

[droopie85gt]

Is there anyway you don't have blast media in every orifice of your body?

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Is there anyway you don't have blast media in every orifice of your body?

Lol, drew, the only place that wasn’t covered up was the top of my head. Ironically........

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Here it is, Saturday.

It‘s absolutely beautiful out side. Sunshine, about 70*. Just perfect for getting out and doing the welding I need to get done. Heck! I’m thinking:

One itty bitty problem, there are 40 mile an hour winds .

They won’t go away till late tonight, so, “Hey Dave, it doesn’t matter WHAT you want to do”.

Tomorrow looks good though. I’ll finish welding this area tomorrow and then get onto the hard tail for the IRS.

I’ve got a little extra cash, I should go ahead and build the Booger Cart this week too. It’ll make the hard tail mod much easier to do.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Here it is, Saturday.

It‘s absolutely beautiful out side. Sunshine, about 70*. Just perfect for getting out and doing the welding I need to get done. Heck! I’m thinking:

One itty bitty problem, there are 40 mile an hour winds .

They won’t go away till late tonight, so, “Hey Dave, it doesn’t matter WHAT you want to do”.

Tomorrow looks good though. I’ll finish welding this area tomorrow and then get onto the hard tail for the IRS.

I’ve got a little extra cash, I should go ahead and build the Booger Cart this week too. It’ll make the hard tail mod much easier to do.

Whe the wind is blowing outside, I just close the garage door.
Poof! No more wind.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Whe the wind is blowing outside, I just close the garage door.
Poof! No more wind.

Ha! Maybe I should rename the garage Booger’s Closet. I wouldn’t be able to crawl up under there with the garage door closed.

 

[Deleted member 215073]

40mph...that's cute. We are experiencing winds past 70mph here in Cheyenne. It's been like that for a week now.

Good to see some progress again on your car. Mine STILL isn't done. Supposedly it's close to done though. I haven't been down to Colorado to check in over a month.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

40mph...that's cute. We are experiencing winds past 70mph here in Cheyenne. It's been like that for a week now.

Good to see some progress again on your car. Mine STILL isn't done. Supposedly it's close to done though. I haven't been down to Colorado to check in over a month.

And your 70mph winds are adorable.

Point being that I can’t weld when the shielding gas is whipped away by breezes.

I wish I were able to help you with your car, body shops can really suck. It’s too bad, gives all of us a bad name when like that happens.

 

[02 281 GT]

40mph...that's cute. We are experiencing winds past 70mph here in Cheyenne. It's been like that for a week now.

Good to see some progress again on your car. Mine STILL isn't done. Supposedly it's close to done though. I haven't been down to Colorado to check in over a month.

I had a horrible experience with a body shop in Delaware when I had my '95 repaired and repainted after an accident. My car would just sit for weeks on end unless I went and bugged them once a week. I got taken for a ride on that paint job. Hope yours is better!

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Okie dokie, mild wind today, time to get the welding done.

I started with the right side shock bracket (the easiest to get to). I welded the front tab, not too bad so far.

Then I got the back. The inner area was important for me to weld, it had a rather large gap that required me to put a root weld down deep and then cover with another bead. Started to get a little ugly here. I also got the upper part of the bracket.

THEN came the uca backing plate. It needed a root weld all the way down. Then I tried to do two neat passes over the root to finish up, you can see just how neat I was. Right, then left side.

The left side upper needed a bit more attention than the right. I ground pretty deep into the subframe there when I removed the uca bracket.

Then came the real fun part, the right side shock brace......I was welding somewhat blind here and it shows. All of this was with the torch directly over my face. I draped a welding blanket over my body to save myself some pain.

Now you can see why my name isn’t davedametalwelder. Dave is a car painter. The welds are solid and are really frustrating to me. Oh well, a couple days grinding ahead.

Then? Hard tail for the IRS. I believe I’ll actually be able to use my tig for that.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

This week I’ll build the Booger cart too. Getting the left side hard tail conversion will require me to spend a good amount of time over there.

 

[02 281 GT]

Good progress! Everything looks solid to me.

 

[lemosley1973]

That looks better than my welding job. What's your secret

 

[Mustang5L5]

That looks better than my welding job. What's your secret

beer