I finally gave up on the two doors on the driver's side. The damage was pretty bad, and I was constantly struggling with trying to true up the doors. So, I purchased a couple of replacements. But, they came from a sedan, so I had to remove the window frame from the original door ans swap it onto the new one. Sorry, no pics on this process, but I do have some of the rust repair on the corner of one of the passenger's side doors.
Like many cars from this era, the dew wipes gave up years (decades?) ago, and contaminants and water made their way into the door. They formed a mud at the bottom, blocking the drains and eventually rotting the corner of the door from the inside out.
I don't have a picture showing the rust, but I did get one right after cutting away the rust.
I tried to keep away from the edge of the door and out of the body line. I also tried to keep it as small as possible. Once the hole was cut and everything cleaned up, I cut a patch to weld in place. It got a pretty nice fit.
I have a copper bar with magnets in it that I used to help hold the patch in place from the backside.
My welding could be better, but it got the job done.
A minute or two with the grinder, and it is ready for a little filler to clean it up. I'm giving the Eastwood filler a try, but so far, I'm not thrilled. It's green with a blue hardener making mixing by color almost impossible relative to Bondo. It also doesn't sand as easily.
Sand, and one more coat and it should be just about ready for primer!
A wise man once said, "you don't have to be a great welder, just a great grinder". Haha, good luck with it mate, I follow your blog with interest from over here in Australia. Always look forward to new installments
ReplyDeleteThanks! With all of the shows in the U.S. showing perfect restorations done in 10 days, I thought a little perspective might be in order. I also try to talk a bit about the tools and products I use (without compensation) so others can avoid some of the mistakes I make, get a real-world review, and do it all on a working-mans budget.
ReplyDeleteI checked out your blog, by the way. Great looking "more door" Valiant!
Thanks mate. Yes she's my 48 year old baby. Thanks for having a look, I'm writing the blog more as a personal record but I get a kick out of people stumbling across it and having a read. Totally understand that in the real world these things tend to take a bit longer than 10 days. I'm a year in and still no where near having it complete. I take it you are using a mig for these patch repairs? Gas shielded?
ReplyDeleteAlso have you considered using an epoxy sealer over the patch welds? I think that's the way I'll go, like a POR-15 coat to keep the rust from coming back
That was why I started my blog as well, but I've had a couple dozen people comment, or send me a note, and with more than 11,000 views at this point, I decided to explain what I was doing for others as well. As for the welds, they are MIG, and I'm using 75/25 gas. I probably won't epoxy seal this. I live in Michigan which gets about 3-4 months of snow, and we use salt to clear the roads after plowing. Hit one puddle of melted snow with the salt, and it will be into everything. So, I will button it up tight as I can, but if I drive this in the off-season (which I plan to do as often as I can) rust is an eventuality. I'm restoring it to enjoy it, drive it, and use it. It won't be for posterity.
ReplyDelete