Archive: August 2008

Some more cutting.

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
28th August 2008
Decided to cut away the strip of the boot pan I had previously left on top of the box section. I would not be able to weld to it, like I had originally planned, it is of too bad a condition. I had concerns about it providing structure to the box section, but now think it is strong enough and is supported at either end to under the body and…
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Something’s missing…

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
26th August 2008
Cut out the trunk pan. Before:   The cut out trunk pan: Note the the upper corners. I had to cut slightly differently than what I planned, as underneath there is part of another panel that overlaps right in the corner, so I had to avoid cutting this.   To maintain structural integrity, a strip of the trunk pan which is spot-welded on top of the box section was not…
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Removed right hand wheelhouse and filler panel.

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
22nd August 2008
Cut away some more of the quarter panel and proceeded to drill out the spots welds holding the inner and outer wheelhouses to the body shell (to the rear seat pan, trunk pan, rear seat back rest, filler panel, inner side panel, trunk hinge supports and sail pillar support). An area down near the rocker panel is causing problems as to how to remove the wheelhouse spot welds from there,…
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Drilling out the trunk support straps.

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
20th August 2008
Drilled out all the spot welds between the trunk pan and the support straps in preparation for removing a large section of the pan.   I started by dot-punching and drilling a 2mm pilot hole (with a Cobalt drill bit) from underneath, then from above drilled the hole to 10mm (with another Cobalt drill bit). I didn’t worry about putting a hole in the strap, as I’ll be welding them…
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Temporary structural support for the rear.

Tagged: Body
18th August 2008
Quickly knocked together some tubing to try and give structural support to the rear end. It should at least stop the back from crabbing when the entire trunk pan is removed. It may not even be necessary with the frame rails, tail panel and remainders of the quarter panels, but it won’t hurt anything, is easy to remove and doesn’t get in the way (too much).   The bars stretch…
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Current state of things.

Tagged: 1967 Pontiac Firebird
17th August 2008
Progress hasn’t exactly been in the forward direction.   The subframe isn’t complete for the following reasons. The upper control arm shafts need replacing, the threads inside each of them are not good, and when one bushing end cap was torqued to spec, the bolt sheared. These will be replaced with the better design “nut-ends” where the control arm shaft end is threaded on the outside and a nut hold…
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Where to cut?…

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
17th August 2008
Been working out where to cut, how much to keep, what to replace et cetera.   I plan on cutting the whole pan out along the blue lines (apart from to the right side, I’ll cut along the white line – this is the frame rail). Then cut out the filler panels on the red line (but not over the white line). Then the new boot pan will take the…
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Removed filler panel.

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
16th August 2008
Removed filler panel through drilling out spot welds to the top of the trunk pan, the bottom of the remaining quarter and also, unnecessarily (causing me more problems by doing so) to the tail panel.   Before:   After:…
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Removed wheelhouse.

Tagged: Body, Disassembly
15th August 2008
Removed left side wheelhouse by drilling out all the spot welds, and a little bit of cutting.   Before: Rust damage:   After:…
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Rebuilding brakes.

Tagged: Assembly, Brakes
7th August 2008
Front brakes The backing plate (the flattened edge and the self-adjuster screw slot point towards the rear, so this plate is for the right-hand side), assorted hardware and the self-adjuster screw (thick grooves for the front, thin for the back). The brake cylinder installed, the bolts holes only align one way with the holes on the backing plates, so it’s not possible to install a right-hand cylinder on a left-hand…
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