GrandWillys Project

[skintkarter]

Nicely done Marcus!

[Gojeep]

Thanks Dennis and Richard.

[RockHillWill]

WOW! Very impressive stuff. I really like checking out your progress.

[Babych44]

Originally Posted by Gojeep

Really enjoyed this week as was good to see it taking more shape.


Time to try out the upper part of the wall to make sure they are exactly at the same height as each other. Had to take nearly 2 millimeters out of the right side to get it sitting perfectly level across the top of the window.


Strangely both sides of the lower part of the window angled up in the middle? To get it parallel with the top, I shrunk both sides at the corner of the bottom edge to pull it down. Then had to retrim the bottom edge.


I have the level hard against the edge of the door to make sure the door opening stays square to the door pillar. The back of the door is perfectly straight so can do this.


Tacked and ready to grind down the tack welds flush, inside and out, so I can run over them as I tig weld. If I don't do that I can feel the hard spots left during planishing, leaving uneven stretch.


The tig weld pulled hard when shrinking during cooling, but easily fixed by plashing to stretch the weld back out again.


Had a section marked in chalk where it was still pulled in a bit.


Hammering from the inside out against this steel block got all but a section above the weld area flush.


Used the shrinking disc on the inside along with compressed air to cool it to push the low spot outwards.


Nice and flat right across now.


As I was tacking the other side, this end lifted even after plashing the tacks as I went along. So stopped to rectify it.


Fully tig welded the section tacked and then planished only the area around the side to raise that part which brought this end down back to perfect.

Whats your method in grinding the welds down? Looks super job compared to many others (like myself). Sorry if someone has already asked the same question

[Gojeep]

Jani, I start with a air powered cutoff grinder with worn down discs from my 9" cutoff grinder.

I make sure none of the parent metal either side gets touched and stop just short of flush. Keeping the grinder at around 30-45* to the weld line seems to work best for me as I move along in the direction of the weld.
At that point I already start planishing to get it all nice and flat so I don't lose metal thickness to less than the parent metal in the hammering or the next stage.
The next stage is taking just the weld down to flush with a 5" flap disc. More correction made to have it all flat again and then finally hit it with a 7" sanding disc. Often after that a strip it disc just for texture. If your metal is not flat you wont end up with a nice finish in the end. Never grind down high spots that include the parent metal as will just thin the whole area.

[Babych44]

Originally Posted by Gojeep

Jani, I start with a air powered cutoff grinder with worn down discs from my 9" cutoff grinder.

I make sure none of the parent metal either side gets touched and stop just short of flush. Keeping the grinder at around 30-45* to the weld line seems to work best for me as I move along in the direction of the weld.
At that point I already start planishing to get it all nice and flat so I don't lose metal thickness to less than the parent metal in the hammering or the next stage.
The next stage is taking just the weld down to flush with a 5" flap disc. More correction made to have it all flat again and then finally hit it with a 7" sanding disc. Often after that a strip it disc just for texture. If your metal is not flat you wont end up with a nice finish in the end. Never grind down high spots that include the parent metal as will just thin the whole area.

Thanks Marcus for a great answer

[Babych44]

Originally Posted by Gojeep

Jani, I start with a air powered cutoff grinder with worn down discs from my 9" cutoff grinder.

I make sure none of the parent metal either side gets touched and stop just short of flush. Keeping the grinder at around 30-45* to the weld line seems to work best for me as I move along in the direction of the weld.
At that point I already start planishing to get it all nice and flat so I don't lose metal thickness to less than the parent metal in the hammering or the next stage.
The next stage is taking just the weld down to flush with a 5" flap disc. More correction made to have it all flat again and then finally hit it with a 7" sanding disc. Often after that a strip it disc just for texture. If your metal is not flat you wont end up with a nice finish in the end. Never grind down high spots that include the parent metal as will just thin the whole area.

Thanks Marcus for the great answer I guess my problem is trying to grind the whole weld flush with the grinding disc

[Gojeep]

Finished the other side off so getting there.


Have to make the pieces in between now. The curves outside the window frame are different to the ones on the inside. Two pieces make up the bottom and four pieces for the top.


One of the stake dollies I made fits quite well so will use this to form the outer window curve.


Just marked where I wanted the curve to start and used a lead working bat to quickly form the bend. Leaves no hammer marks and less than 2 minutes work. I picked this one up last year in England at an old hardware store that was closing down.


Quick fold at the top and tacked into place. Will trim the excess later at the top once the inside flange is attached.


Tig welded into place.


Inside window flange taking shape. Bottom flange just needs to be trimmed off to length.


My wife bought me this old Australian made spot welder as a gift. Thinks I will get plenty of use out of it when I build her a custom car next! Thing weigh a ton but works really well. Came from a business that was closing down making stretched funeral cars!


Feels like cheating as does it so quick and easy. No timer so have to keep a close eye on it as will burn holes right through both layers otherwise!

[Jack 1957]

Hey Marcus, in that one picture of the back of the cab you can see the Jeep grille hanging on the wall perfectly positioned. It looks like a bed light like the newer trucks have. What do you think?

[Gojeep]

Originally Posted by Jack 1957

Hey Marcus, in that one picture of the back of the cab you can see the Jeep grille hanging on the wall perfectly positioned. It looks like a bed light like the newer trucks have. What do you think?

Might have to make something like that for there.