AFrench Blue '69 GTV Restoration

[mubezzi]

This project is looking really good Rossano! Nice work...

[1750GT]

...thanks mubezzi, I'll be dropping by Daron's shop next week and hope that you car will be painted by then. I can't wait to see how the French Blue colour will look freshly painted.

[GTV4EVR]

When your schedule permits, you should have the club over for a show and tell!!!

[PSk]

Excellent stuff!

Pete

[Peter]

that looks like a great job that you're doing

[mfroble]

Yip real nice rossano, what tool are you using to drill out the spot welds?

B

[rafael]

Rossano,

I also experenced that using too small holes for spotwelding results in too less penetration. I use 8mm drills, which is almost the same size you use!

[1750GT]

Bruce...

I tried using those special "spot weld cutters" but found that although they do produce a nice clean circular cut (allowing easy separation of the top panel) , they are rather fragile. I was only able to cut 10 spot welds at a time before the teeth broke off. Now I simply use a regular 3/8 inch drill bit and either drill right through everything or carefully drill through the top piece only and part way through the underlying piece. Of course this takes more patience and sometimes I had to pry the pieces carefully apart with a thick gauge painters spatula and a gentle hammer tap now and again.

[mfroble]

I see, when removing the sill on mine, I ground back the top sheet with a grinder, then chiseled off the rest, hell of a job, but leaves the bottom in tact. I am not sure if this will be beneficial in the long run. However some are impossible to do like this, so I recon I might try the 3'8ths drill on the other side. Also I guess the benifit of making the hole is that you can then weld the new piece on using that hole. mmmm food for thought.

looking good though mate.

[akitaman]

Rossano, I made that piece you asked for. In the picture it's hard to see but it has the proper 90 degree lip. This was modeled after the car in the picture. So as long as your trunk lip is dimensionally the same this, it should work perfectly. I also made it a little wider then stock so you can cut it to the exact shape you want. I'll get it in the mail in the morning. Good luck!

[1750GT]

Thanks Daron....you've saved me a lot of time with this piece...plus I'm not sure that I would have been able to shrink that flange without a shrinking tool.

[AndyW]

keep up the good work, i've been there and done it and boy the end result is worth the hard work you put in.

[1750GT]

Hi Andy...yes it hopefully will and I hope it comes out as good as yours did...

...cheers.

[1750GT]

The right side radiator shroud panel (left in photo) I obtained was from a 2000 GTV and has the opening for the air intake scoop. Although it's hard to tell from the photo...it had much heavier corrosion on the bottom edge than the original piece (right in photo). It was too different to the original to be useable...the original will be repaired.

..the angle/support for the radiator surround seal needed to come off so that I could correct the joggle on the upper edge... I drilled through the spot welds with a 3/8 inch bit and carefully nudged the pieces apart. I fabricated a new piece from scratch with a homemade former....

[1750GT]

..the former I made from bar stock Aluminium I bought at the local Big Box Renovation store. I radiused the corners with a hand file (it's nice working with soft Aluminum when filing). When doing bodywork...you need to keep sheet stock steel on hand at all times but don't keep bare sheet around..it'll surface rust very quickly (this is not super critical mind you but saves on having to clean off the rust later on.....plus with what steel costs now a days you gotta take care of it ). I cleaned and etch primered it a while back.



...never underestimate the value of simple big old tools like C-clamps, heavy hammers, big old sheet metal shears (which last a lifetime and are a heck of a lot easier to use than those small snip plyers on sheet metal. Thick plate steel stock is also always handy to have around. I was able to bend the flanges over very easily with this set-up...



...green tape is to keep the pieces from sliding around prior to clamping...and no a 3 lb hammer is not reequired but has a large surface area and doesn't need much swing action to bend thin material like this. I used a little bit heavier gauge steel than the original.........just because.