[BillC]

Originally Posted by trytryagain

Any issues when welding galvanized metal? I seem to recall something about toxic fumes?

There really aren't any issues welding galvanized steel, beyond having good ventilation and making sure to wear a good respirator. The vaporized zinc can be harmful if it is allowed to condense inside the lungs, but that's easy to avoid with simple precautions.

[BillC]

The new sanding belts came in and I got back to work on the car this morning.

Here's what the remains of the jackpoint reinforcement looked like from inside the quarter panel:


About a half-hour later, this is what that space looked like:

I am really liking this little belt sander. However, the generic 36-grit belts were disappointing -- the grit was caked on so thick, most of it cracked off pretty quickly. Fortunately, I also ordered some 3m cubitron 60+ grit belts that did a great job on the old sheet metal and rust.

Once I got the rest of the old reinforcement out, including cleaning the remnants off the jack post, I tried dry-fitting the new piece. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I can get the panel in place with just some wiggling; I was afraid I'd have to cut it in half, but no need.


After that, I soaked the whole area down with Ospho. The plan is to use some Eastwood internal-chassis paint inside that area once everything is welded back in place.

Also, since I had the welder out, I decided to weld up the hole in the sheet metal under the door opening. You can see the hole in the above pics.

[BillC]

And . . . done!


It even works!


I need to finish cleaning up and painting this side, then it's on to the other side (joy. )

[BillC]

And, now for the moment you've all have been waiting for!

Okay, well, maybe not all of you. Errr, well, maybe not any of you.... But it's the moment I've been waiting for, for far too long -- time to reinstall the passenger door!

It took a while to clean up the rust and old primer on the sill. It was all sanded down, treated with Ospho, re-primed and repainted. Here's what it looked like, just waiting for the door:


One little trick I figured out a long time ago, on a project far far away, is using studs to help with bolting on the hinges. Put one stud in the body plate for each hinge (one top and one bottom). This makes it much easier to line up and install the first two bolts. Once they're in, unscrew the stud and install the last bolt. Here's the idea:

The doors mount with 8-1.25mm bolts, which are the same size as the exhaust studs. So, most of you probably already have a few lying around somewhere.

And, now the moment .... yeah, you know what's coming. The door installed!

This was a two-person job. I held the door in place, while my oldest son (who's home from grad school) installed the bolts. Then, he helped me adjust the door. It's lined up much better than when it arrived.

While I was at it, I also installed the passenger-side mirror. It's just a normal driver-side mirror, flipped over. Someday I may get a piece of convex mirror glass for it, but for now it'll work, and it just looks so much better than those aftermarket mirrors that were on my previous 914.

[trytryagain]

Looks really good!

[racer]

Nice work there Bill.. Looking good!

[Patrick3000]

Nice job, looks really good.

[cmartin]

Nice work, thanks for sharing

[BillC]

It may look like not much has happened since the last update, but most of that time was waiting for two little rubber bumpers. First place was back-ordered, but didn't bother to tell me before they shipped the rest of the order, which ended up taking nearly three weeks to be delivered (thanks again, usps. ). I then asked if anyone on the forum had a pair, finally found a pair on 914World, but now that shipment is lost in usps hell. So, ended up getting a pair from Stoddard, which was the same price as the original vendor.

So, this is what the decklid looked like when I removed it from the car. The PO had primed a lot of area, trying to minimize the spread of rust, but didn't actually do any rust removal.


I took the grill and springs off, removed the extra primer, cleaned up the drip tray and repainted the decklid. Here's what it looks like back on the car:

I thought I had taken a few pics after it was all painted and reassembled, but I guess I didn't (sorry).

While it was apart, I decided to add a third brake light. av8bpilot sent me a string of LED lights. Thanks, Matt! Here's what the new light looks like:

I will end up wiring it to the brake circuit, so it will light with the regular brake lights (already replaced with a set of Spokewerks LED tail lights).

And, in case anyone was wondering, here's what one of those long-delayed bumpers looks like installed:

[JmuRiz]

Oooo I like that brake light solution, better than my 10 year old the shelf and yet to install LED planned.