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  #71  
Old 12-26-2019, 09:43 AM
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MP&C MP&C is offline
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The gap you show at the red arrows should be tight. The area of the joggle had a gap from factory but the flat area should be pulled up tight. This leads me to believe either the floor has settled or the outer flange portion of the cross brace needs to slide uphill on the inner rocker. On your repair piece, you are adding quite a bit of sail over the original. The wheel well (inside part) only hangs down even with floor flange. So this is actually tucked in behind the cross member. I would be worried this extra hanging down might create more wind noise. The outer wheel well hangs down straight from that seam I showed earlier.
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  #72  
Old 12-26-2019, 10:06 AM
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Excuse the Line-x, makes it harder to see, but I just took these close ups of what's on the 55...


Passenger side:


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Note the portion above that hangs down is only at the outer wheel well. This also corresponds to be flush with the rear flange of the inner rocker.


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Note repair end of crossmember is up tight to the floor, only gap is at the joggle.


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Again, this shows the rear flange of inner rocker and the part of the outer wheel well that hangs down is flush with that edge..


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…..as well as flush with the flange hanging down from the floor pan..


Driver's side shows same....

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Hope this helps
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  #73  
Old 12-26-2019, 10:22 AM
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MP&C MP&C is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astroracer View Post


Mark, note where your crossmember's flange against the inner rocker is flush at the bottom. At the top, you have a gap between the crossmember and the top folded flange of the inner rocker. These should be tight together at the top with NO GAP, so your crossmember is not up high enough. It needs to be pushed upwards until the inner rocker top flange stops it from going any more. I'd pull the repair end back out, weld up the slit, and trim until it fits tight to that flange, as seen here....




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Last edited by MP&C; 12-26-2019 at 10:27 AM.
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  #74  
Old 12-26-2019, 10:41 AM
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Steve Hamilton Steve Hamilton is offline
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Hi Mark
Picture size is just right!
Thanks for posting.
Good progress, seems a The after market stuff is only a close fit, always need to make corrections.


Steve
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  #75  
Old 12-26-2019, 05:55 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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Okay, I will revisit the brace splice tomorrow. I never paid attention to the fit at the floor, I just figured it would be "loose" and the flange would weld at the bottom of the rocker seam...
Big day today! I started welding!
The new rocker weld flange is part of the rocker now and the door jamb repair is welded in.


The jamb patch as welded. This is ugly but there is enough weld there to grind it down for a smooth transition.

After some clean up with a cut off wheel.

A little work with a sanding disc and this will be ready to prime.
I also got the new J channel fit in and trimmed.

I drilled the rest of the rivet holes in the side wall and finished cleaning that up. A heavy coat of rust converter and some primer and this will be ready to go together.

I got the top of the center brace cleaned up and the whole thing buried in rust converter.

I will have to install the floor one more time to mark the edges of the floor braces so I can drill plug welding holes.
I will trim off the excess tunnel material tomorrow and get that and the foot well cleaned up for welding. The seat riser is ready to go so getting the tunnel and foot well ready is the last step for prep.

This should come together pretty quickly once the new J channel is installed.
Thanks for all of the help guys! It really does make more sense when you can see what it's supposed to look like.
Mark
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  #76  
Old 12-27-2019, 07:23 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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One day closer!
The new floor channel is in.


The old floor is trimmed, cleaned and prepped for welding.


The new floor is "just about" ready to weld in. All of the plug welding holes are punched or drilled and I am working on getting the seat braces installed.


I have a bit of work to do on the inner rocker but that won't take long at all, I should be welding this thing in tomorrow!
Thanks for watching and for the help!
Mark
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  #77  
Old 12-30-2019, 06:51 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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The floor is in, the rockers are in and the door still opens and closes!

The outer rocker is welded on. It's not pretty but it will do the job with a little bit of filler. Trying to weld to the old thin fender was a real B*tch...

The floor is so solid now it's like a new car!


I will knock down the welds a bit tomorrow and get some primer on them. The rear fender patch and front floor brace still need to go in but these are cake now that the big piece is permanent.
Thanks to everyone who helped with pictures and advice!
NOW... On to the driver side...
Mark
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  #78  
Old 01-05-2020, 07:32 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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It isn't easy but it's nothing that can't be done with some home brewed tools and a little bit of ingenuity. I've actually had a good time getting this done, other then bruising a rib and getting some hot weld bb's done my glove... Thanks for the compliments Dave! This will definetly make this into a nice cruiser. Especially after the paint is done.
Getting closer to wrapping up the passenger side. Both floor braces are in and I have the inner fender patch and some rocker "finishing" pieces fabbed up.
Lots of work to get the braces to fit right. Snuggling up to the floor and inner rocker required two cuts on the rear brace and one on the front seat brace. Spent all day saturday getting those done and the front brace welded in. This morning I got the rear brace finished up and welded in as well.



Rear brace work.



This is the inner fender patch. It is two pieces right now just because I changed my mind on how I trimmed out the old tin. I am debating remaking this in one piece but I don't know what that will really gain me... Thoughts? Other then less welding? As it is this will get welded together before it goes in...

Thanks for watching!
Mark
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  #79  
Old 01-07-2020, 08:47 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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I didn't get out to the shop Monday night, running errands and getting the wife's car serviced used up my afternoon/evening but I hit it hard tonight.
I welded the two pieces of the inner fender patch together and got all of the plug welding holes punched and drilled.
The visible side.

The inside.

The drilled holes. I opened these up to 1/4" after I took the pic. I also drilled holes in the two flanges to weld from behind.

After a bit of cleanup with a wire wheel the welding went fairly well except for two spots at the top of the patch. I quit chasing the holes as all they were doing was getting bigger.

I may work on these tomorrow. I need to get a copper backup spoon on the inside but that takes two... I am only one. I'll probably just paint and seam seal them up...
Once this is painted and sealed up I think it will look great!
Thanks for watching!
Mark
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BadAst. A Pro Touring style 1988 Astro with a full custom chassis, 509 BBC, TH400 w/ a gear vendors and a 9" w/ 3.75's.
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  #80  
Old 01-18-2020, 08:10 PM
astroracer astroracer is offline
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Okay, I missed updating this thread for a few days. Bear with me. I am just going to add posts from another site where I am also documenting the repairs.

Starting with this one which is where I start getting into the driver side messes...
I have the passenger side complete other then smoothing down some of the welds and getting the worked areas prepped, painted and sealed up. I won't do any of that until the drivers side is in.
I started looking at the drivers side last night to start cutting it out but I decided to do some A pillar work before I remove the floor. I think it's a good idea to get this area rebuilt 1st.

I started cleaning it up last night looking for the spot welds. I'll get some pics tonight as I start digging into it.
Most of the wiring channel on this side is pretty good and the area in front of the rear wheel well is still solid so I don't think there will be as much work replacing metal as there was on the other side.

Looking back at the passenger side... There just wasn't much left.

Thanks for watching guys!
If there are any suggestions or guidance concerning rebuilding the lower A pillar, I am all ears!
Mark
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