Rusty GTV floorboards

[Super1600]

Dave looking good, don't forget to get as much rust protection that you can into those cills while in that open heart surgery condition. Best oportunity you will have to same them into the future, but also try to get some more in once the sections are all welded in. Dave

[daveydog]

Yes, a very good idea! At least with the front and rear left hand sill opened up I had access to the middle rocker with those oval holes in them. I have one of those cheapie magnetic pick-up tools on a flexible 2 foot stick that I shoved back and forth in the holes and I picked up quite a bit of rusty debris and powdered metal. I crawled under the car and cleaned out the drain holes on that side and then pounded the whole outer panel with a rubber mallet. Lots more little bits came out and then after another few rounds of the magnetic pickup and pounding, I found that there was no more tin worm excrement forthcoming . And now, all the drains are open as well. Two of them at the front had been clogged with sand and rusty bits of Alfa but they're all good to go now!
I also managed to get a 1/2" rubber hose in there and literally blew the remainder out the front of the rocker. That side is clean!

[daveydog]

Got the sheet metal patches cut, ground, and fitted today. It's amazing what you can do with a pair of shears, a file, a Dremmel type rotary tool and a grinding wheel! I wish the rest of the car would be this easy.



I know I've said it before, but cutting and trimming sheet metal is fun. It's too bad my day job takes up so much time and when I get back home I have maybe an hour to work in the garage before Happy Hour with the missus. Oh well, all those hours add up and the work on the car progresses...

[gigem75]

Davey, what guage sheet metal are you using? Looks great! I wish my car was that clean.

[PSk]

"Happy hour with the missus" ...

Damn have to talk to my missus and see if we can implement a new arrangement ...

Are those patches welded in yet? ... nice job.
Pete

[Super1600]

Hey Pete

A good friend of mine who used to work with us used to issue "coupons" to her hubby to be redeemed when suitable, on the basis of a reward for doing some work around the home, and time needed to work/play with his bike and Porsche 944 Turbo. Perhaps an alternative to Happy Hour.

Must see if I can work something out like this with my missus, since of late I have been doing a lot of work around the home, and not enough with the cars.

Definitely impressed by the effort Daveydog is putting into his GTV, especially when is wifey doesn't get it. Dave

[daveydog]

You know, this might be funny to you gigem seeing your problem, but I think I bought the same type of rocker panel as you, but this happened in about 1990. The sticker on the back of the panels said "Made in Belgium". At the time I knew that someday I'd get the time and money to get back to work on mi bella. But as usual, the panels were meant for a cheapie quick fix at some two bit auto body shop. Screw that! Why can't they just sell us the correct stuff to begin with? But at least the metal was European, not Russkie sheet metal.
I've been going around my car all year chopping out bits of rusty Russkie and replacing it with the bella Belgium equivalent. Oh yeah, it's 20 guage sheet, pretty thin. My welder though is not bad. It's a low power unit which probably is a blessing because it's so forgiving on the thin stuff I'm dealing with. I'm learning as I go and really enjoying the education as I get to new projects.

Pete, probably the best part of the day is Happy Hour... It gets Wifey off my back so I can get back to the man cave for more time with what really matters heh heh heh. Maybe I'll take her out for dinner on Friday night and that'll buy me a bit more time out there. Or maybe sometime after 10pm, when the kids are asleep heh heh heh... it'll be the best two minutes of her day...

Hey Dave, remember the old Confusius saying:
"Wife who put husband in doghouse, soon find him in cathouse". Impress upon her the fact that at least she knows where you are.

[gigem75]

Yeah, I'm working with 20 guage as well. I requires a delicate touch. I'm running at a wire speed between 20 and 30 and the heat (voltage) at one and two. Cutting the slit in the sill allowed me to bent out the rocker and get the correct profile, it actually worked out pretty well considering where I started from. Keep up the good work, keep us posted on how your rear wing repair goes.

[daveydog]

I managed to get some time after work to get the four patches welded in. I'll grind them down tomorrow and see if there's any spots that need a touch of re-welding. That mig welding machine is awesome!. The more practice I get the better my welds get although today at one point I forgot I didn't have the welder's helmet on and I had my face right down there into the work and ZAPP!, instant arc flash into my left eye. Now everything has that beautiful aura around it. Far out man!

[gigem75]

Those auto darkening helemts will fool you, same thing happened to me the other day!
yep, the mig welder was the best tool I've ever bought, most fun for sure!

[daveydog]

Yes, gigem, it's like a glue gun for metal. I really like the experience of seeing molten metal (most of the time through the dark green welder's helmet) melting into the adjoining piece! I never get tired of that. Even though it's for only a short zap and pull because the metal is so thin, and for some of the sections of my car it is even thinner due to a bit of rust. The thing about mig welding that isn't so great though is that it requires fairly clean metal on both sides of the weld. And on my car at least, the back side is often coated with undercoating or some type of crap which makes for a kind of smokey looking weld. I'm thinking that the flux core wire without gas is probably a better idea on those parts. Plus it's so much easier to weld when you're lying on your back .

[daveydog]

I got the welds ground down today. There were a couple of spots that needed re-welding but no big deal.



Here's a couple of shots of the upper rocker panel after grinding. The trick here is to have a light touch to get the seams smooth.





And as a bonus, all the little holes that were buggered up and made too big from the rusted screws which held down the stainless steel sill plate are now gone! I'll drill holes in the new metal and this time I'm going to use stainless screws.
I'm starting to like grinding metal just as much as welding it.

[daveydog]

From this:



To this:





Ahhh, another job done.
My sheet metal skills are getting better with every job although welding, for me anyways, is still the most difficult to master. Now it's time to repair the left rear quarter panel.

[PSk]

Impressed.

Pete

[daveydog]

Thanks Pete! Coming from you that's a real compliment. Compared to all the work you've done I'm just scratching the surface (and there's rust underneath that too!)
Here's the rear quarter. Uggh, now I'm starting to dream about RUST .