Ask him about installing flex fans,...he's our go to for that department.I like following build ups, and possibly missed it the first go round. I'll chime in when I can with some atta boys, so long as you are cool with me not knowing the answers to your body work questions, lol.
Ask him about installing flex fans,...he's our go to for that department.
I'm glad it looks like I know what I'm doing, because I'm in way over my head! I bought a set of spot weld cutters on Amazon and dove in. I don't have a welder but I have a welder friend. He's a welder/fabricator at Joe Gibbs Racing, so he's legit. He told me to take too many pics and measurements and he'll stitch me back up. As far as my fabricating skills, I was a metal framer/drywaller so I can work a pair of snips but I don't have any real experience on cars or any fabrication tools. I think I can handle this but I don't really know, lol.Do you have the option of having the a pillar sandblasted? The outer a pillar is wasted, obviously. get it cut out and out of the way before sandblasting.
That's about right, I'd go maybe an inch higher on the top area. I assume you have a good cut off wheel?Do you think I need to cut away the whole outer panel? I was thinking about cutting at the lines to start and see how it looks.
That's about right, I'd go maybe an inch higher on the top area. I assume you have a good cut off wheel?
I bet you'll find a bit of rust lower in the pillar. But what you marked is a decent starting place to see how it looks.
Just do like you did on the inner fender and cut out the spotwelds for the outer a-pillar.
A welder/fabricator friend is a good friend to have right about now!
Keep posting pictures as you go. Be sure to measure locations of the upper hinge bolt holes to make sure you put the patch Panel back in the correct spot.
Just to simple reference points like the lower hinge bolts (though be careful of using them, I would suspect the rust might go a little farther down than the outside visual shows) and maybe the distance to the striker on the b-pillar. Anyplace that you can make notations of the original distance of the original part so when you're lining up the replacement part you'll be pretty darn close to where the old one was. It doesn't have to be ultra perfect, you have a little adjustment to play with. Not much though.What should I reference when measuring the hinge locations? The first thing I'm going to take off is the locating tab for the fender. Then I can get to the rest of the spot welds for the outer hinge metal. Do I need really accurate measurements to put the tab back in place? Drilling out spot welds is one thing, I'm freaking out about actually cutting my car open. I have a couple of air cut off wheels and an electric one so I think I'll be good.
Just to simple reference points like the lower hinge bolts (though be careful of using them, I would suspect the rust might go a little farther down than the outside visual shows) and maybe the distance to the striker on the b-pillar. Anyplace that you can make notations of the original distance of the original part so when you're lining up the replacement part you'll be pretty darn close to where the old one was. It doesn't have to be ultra perfect, you have a little adjustment to play with. Not much though.
Cutting it out is the most fun part of doing this! You'll get rid of the cancer.
Your pretty funny.
Obviously you started correctly, open a beer and drink it first.
This will be very similar to what you've already done on the inner fender panel, you're just removing less than the whole panel. Think of how you pulled that panel off already, then think of just going halvsies on it. That's all you're doing. Easy peasy, really. You are just removing the outer skin of the a-pillar.
Do practice with the donor. This will give you confidence on your car. Cut just as deep as you need to get through the outer panel where the panels meet together. It's not that hard, really! You'll see. And so what if you need to go down to the rocker?
Which brings up a point. cut the donor car panel quite a bit larger than you'll need for your car. It's easier to trim off excess than to add back more.
Great idea! Thanks man. I'm definitely not a body guy, got to learn to think like one, lol.If the passenger side is good on the donor car cut a section out of that side, both the door hinge areas are similar so it will give you an idea of what you will be faced with on your car. Then you can cut your car knowing what to expect, and if you need to go larger your donor car will still be uncut on the drivers side so you can cut a section out as large as needed.
Looking down into the rocker panel from the car:Use your cutoff wheel to cut out a rotten chunk and look inside the pillar to see what it looks like, especially going toward the ground.
Do me a favor and post a couple pictures of the rocker area below the hinge pillar.
I was able to get the passenger inner fender off last night. It's looking a lot better on that side. A couple tips for spot weld cutting: don't spin the bit too fast and always use some type of lubricant. I was trying to be a hero and make the bit last as long as humanly possible, but it was starting to walk really bad every time I would touch it to the car even with a center punch. I changed it out for a new one for the last 8 or so and breezed right through them. You can buy more tools, just use them up!
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