December 20, 2004
7: Early Body Work
With so much body work to be done, just about anywhere on the car would be a good place to start. The decision is made to start removing paint and rust along the passenger side heater channel to see what parts of it, if any, may be salvagable.
Wirebrushing is brainless work which allows me to think about how repairs would be made. The need for better tooling is apparent, not the least of which is a better way to remove and support the body.
Most of the inside of the passenger wheel well and rear of the firewall look good. The heater channel is a different story...
There are some rust pinholes around the vent and along the bottom of the heater channel. Some more pitting can be seen where the inner wheel well joins the heater channel.
I wonder how bad it looks inside the heater channel...
Oh.
This is not a good sign.
On the bright side, there are bottom plates available. If the remaining parts of this bottom plate were removed, that might give me enough access to repair the other rust issues on this heater channel.
The passenger side front inner wheel well has one spot where it has rusted through around the upper spot welds to the heater channel. Other than that, it looks good for a part of the car that must take everything that flies off the wheel.
The firewall needs a little help where it joins with the heater channel. This area is even more important because body mounts are housed inside.
There is some more rust along the napoleon hat section of the firewall that mus be addressed.
While there have been no illusions about the large amount of body work to be done, some of the details are starting to materialize. One thing is clear; working around and under the body while it is propped up on concrete blocks and landscape timbers is not a good idea.
Now that I have gotten a taste of the body work, it is time to get properly equipped.