I finally got one frame rail notched, bent, and set up pretty close. It needs a little more notching and cleanup before I tack it on.
The tunnel and crossmember need more trimming.
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I finally got one frame rail notched, bent, and set up pretty close. It needs a little more notching and cleanup before I tack it on.
The tunnel and crossmember need more trimming.
Some better photographs of the notching where I am joining these frame channels into a tube, and wrapping them around a steel angle crossmember.
(As photographed, this is all still inverted on the jig.)
Bottom view
Side view
Top view:
Where the fit-up is crooked, it will get cut open even more before welding, as I want to first catch the concealed flanges to the crossmember and each other with full penetration welds.
Here you can see the backside of the notch where I have cut away 1.4” of the 3.5” channel. I will weld the notched metal back into place to fill this hole.
Because I am welding across the bottom of the tube here at a critical juncture, I will put a strap across this joint.
That will make me feel more secure about cutting through the extreme fiber at the bottom of the frame.
Same thing here where I have notched through both channels to make this bend.
There will also be a fish plate to tie the side seam together, and I’ll angle gusset to the crossmember.
(As photographed, this is all still inverted on the jig.)
Bottom view
Side view
Top view:
Where the fit-up is crooked, it will get cut open even more before welding, as I want to first catch the concealed flanges to the crossmember and each other with full penetration welds.
Here you can see the backside of the notch where I have cut away 1.4” of the 3.5” channel. I will weld the notched metal back into place to fill this hole.
Because I am welding across the bottom of the tube here at a critical juncture, I will put a strap across this joint.
That will make me feel more secure about cutting through the extreme fiber at the bottom of the frame.
Same thing here where I have notched through both channels to make this bend.
There will also be a fish plate to tie the side seam together, and I’ll angle gusset to the crossmember.
Today I got the second rail cut, notched, bent, and assembled.
So this is till just clamped together. It needs some more cleaning up before I start welding.
So this is till just clamped together. It needs some more cleaning up before I start welding.
if I squint, I can see a car. 
I can see it until I open my eyes. ;-)
But today is so dim I can’t weld or photograph.
But today is so dim I can’t weld or photograph.
Today should be dry enough to weld in the boatyard. I have been hiding out in the garage, trying to turn some junk into a rocket stove.
I gave this it’s own thread here in Other Talk.
I was going to o/a torch weld this (the puddles be damnned!) but it is drying up enough for tig welding today.
All last week, my pedal would have been in a puddle!
I gave this it’s own thread here in Other Talk.
I was going to o/a torch weld this (the puddles be damnned!) but it is drying up enough for tig welding today.
All last week, my pedal would have been in a puddle!
I haven’t given up yet, guys.
The rains keep coming and going, and so I haven’t been working on the car much at all.
Also everything has been crashing here in one month. The ice maker died, the water heater leaked, and the sewer cracked and it had to be dug up and patched.
I discovered a bad grounding situation, when the water heater was being changed. An aluminum ground cable runs from the main box to an aluminum clamp to a pipe above the water heater.
There has never been a real copper earth grounding rod on the system. That sux.
Grounding to the pipes puts a small charge on them. About 1/2 volt here by my measurement but it can be much more. If it isn’t zero, action from ions in the water will be energized, rusting iron pipes from the inside out.
Also, who let them put an aluminum cable, in an otherwise copper-wired house, for the safety ground?
There’s nothing safe about aluminum wiring done how house wiring is done. Houses were burning from self-loosening wire connections.
See, aluminum moves/grows about 3x as fast as copper when it gets hot. It heats up faster as well. Melts at half the temp. It was outlawed here in the 1970s.
But was it?
My house was built in 1984, so now 40 years old. In my estimation it should not have any aluminum wiring, and after tomorrow it will not.
Today I put an 8’ ground rod in by the main breaker box, carefully snaking it between sprinkler pipes, gas pipe, phone cable, TV cable, and the AC power mains, all buried right there.
There were over six layers of hard pan, between layers of compact sand. We live on the margin of a long risen seabed. It took 2 hours to make an 8’ hole with a steel conduit and water, drilling it in with vicegrips and elbow grease.
But power runs 125’ out to my sheds, and next I will put another rod at the sub-panel there, so there is grounding at the extremes of the system.
This becomes important if the voltage potential from the neutral leg is different from the dirt under you. You might get a shock from the “neutral” leg.
I have, in fact. I measured a 31 volt potential when an electrically “leaky” device was plugged into my aquarium, That’s enough to really feel a shock if you are barefoot.
The rains keep coming and going, and so I haven’t been working on the car much at all.
Also everything has been crashing here in one month. The ice maker died, the water heater leaked, and the sewer cracked and it had to be dug up and patched.
I discovered a bad grounding situation, when the water heater was being changed. An aluminum ground cable runs from the main box to an aluminum clamp to a pipe above the water heater.
There has never been a real copper earth grounding rod on the system. That sux.
Grounding to the pipes puts a small charge on them. About 1/2 volt here by my measurement but it can be much more. If it isn’t zero, action from ions in the water will be energized, rusting iron pipes from the inside out.
Also, who let them put an aluminum cable, in an otherwise copper-wired house, for the safety ground?
There’s nothing safe about aluminum wiring done how house wiring is done. Houses were burning from self-loosening wire connections.
See, aluminum moves/grows about 3x as fast as copper when it gets hot. It heats up faster as well. Melts at half the temp. It was outlawed here in the 1970s.
But was it?
My house was built in 1984, so now 40 years old. In my estimation it should not have any aluminum wiring, and after tomorrow it will not.
Today I put an 8’ ground rod in by the main breaker box, carefully snaking it between sprinkler pipes, gas pipe, phone cable, TV cable, and the AC power mains, all buried right there.
There were over six layers of hard pan, between layers of compact sand. We live on the margin of a long risen seabed. It took 2 hours to make an 8’ hole with a steel conduit and water, drilling it in with vicegrips and elbow grease.
But power runs 125’ out to my sheds, and next I will put another rod at the sub-panel there, so there is grounding at the extremes of the system.
This becomes important if the voltage potential from the neutral leg is different from the dirt under you. You might get a shock from the “neutral” leg.
I have, in fact. I measured a 31 volt potential when an electrically “leaky” device was plugged into my aquarium, That’s enough to really feel a shock if you are barefoot.
1977, the Beverly Hills Supper Club. One of the deadliest fires in US history. Suspected cause was faulty aluminum wiring.
Beverly Hills Fire
Beverly Hills Fire
Yikes! We don’t need faulty wires!
Today I got the second rod in at my welder subpanel. Now I am well grounded at both extremes of the house.
This one had to go through the patio concrete, but it actually went in easier than the first one.
Today I got the second rod in at my welder subpanel. Now I am well grounded at both extremes of the house.
This one had to go through the patio concrete, but it actually went in easier than the first one.
After taking some time off to build battery chargers and welders and do various important repairs on my house and maintain my other vehicles, Today I went back to work on the SS100.
First I had to take one of my rail mock-ups completely apart and pile the crossmember and parts on the chassis.
That is so I could get into the end of the tunnel and finish working on it.
Also these parts have sat around for three months now and during that time it has rained and I have grown a bit of rust that needs to be addressed.
Of course I still have to clean rust and paint but there’s also an issue of reinforcement. This tunnel was repaired previously where it had rusted out at the seam and what connects the top and bottom pieces (after removal of all the cancer) is this piece of 20 Ga.
That will never do. I drug out some cut off frame and prepared it to become useful again. I will need about a 3 inch strap from this.
It has been sitting in my garden and it’s full of leaves and spiders. All of that departed when I took the sawzall to it.
Now I have a piece of metal suitable to join things back together solidly.
That’s going to require some trimming and some blacksmithing but I am well and truly back to work on the car now.
First I had to take one of my rail mock-ups completely apart and pile the crossmember and parts on the chassis.
That is so I could get into the end of the tunnel and finish working on it.
Also these parts have sat around for three months now and during that time it has rained and I have grown a bit of rust that needs to be addressed.
Of course I still have to clean rust and paint but there’s also an issue of reinforcement. This tunnel was repaired previously where it had rusted out at the seam and what connects the top and bottom pieces (after removal of all the cancer) is this piece of 20 Ga.
That will never do. I drug out some cut off frame and prepared it to become useful again. I will need about a 3 inch strap from this.
It has been sitting in my garden and it’s full of leaves and spiders. All of that departed when I took the sawzall to it.
Now I have a piece of metal suitable to join things back together solidly.
That’s going to require some trimming and some blacksmithing but I am well and truly back to work on the car now.
After some beating on the anvil, the patch is starting to take shape. I test fit it in the tunnel.
There’s my frame patch, after shaping on the anvil and trimming with saw & grinder.
I circled a hole in the bottom, and next to it, the tiny remains of a long tube that was welded inside the frame there.
There are 4 of these tubes, from the old control cables, inside the tunnel. They are all in my way and must be removed. This turned out to be a slow and tedious process.
I got two more cut loose on the forward end. More tomorrow . . .
I circled a hole in the bottom, and next to it, the tiny remains of a long tube that was welded inside the frame there.
There are 4 of these tubes, from the old control cables, inside the tunnel. They are all in my way and must be removed. This turned out to be a slow and tedious process.
I got two more cut loose on the forward end. More tomorrow . . .
Getting the control tubes cut out turned out to be a day’s work. I gave up after half a day. Much less, actually. There was much drilling, prying and chiseling. I had to work around this tube as well. Not helpful.
I snapped drill bits and resharpened them. Aye laddie ye wherr onc’t long and proud… 
(I broke that one twice.) I sharpened up a long chisel and couldn’t cut the welds without . . . Unmm . . . Accidentaly altering my jig. I eventually broke the forward tubes loose. I shoved a pipe over the one welded to the frame, hammered it on, and wiggled it until the weld broke out of the tube. 
There were still cable scraps inside. 
The rear tubes are going to have to wait until I roll the frame back over, as I will access them through the top frame opening. |
I made some long tools to sand and grind inside the tunnel. I got a lot of metal cleaned up inside, but it’s not nearly ready for welding yet.
This is an aluminum driver extension, I cut off the magnetic bit holder & split it with a hacksaw, to hold scraps of sandpaper.
That bit was 2”x4”, doubled, 80 grit.
There is some very rough welding inside that tunnel and it really eats up the paper; but this is very effective!
High-speed sanding (one-handed !)
This is an aluminum driver extension, I cut off the magnetic bit holder & split it with a hacksaw, to hold scraps of sandpaper.
That bit was 2”x4”, doubled, 80 grit.
There is some very rough welding inside that tunnel and it really eats up the paper; but this is very effective!
High-speed sanding (one-handed !)
After some chiseling, and some grinding, and much flap-sanding, this is already looking much cleaner inside.
I finally decided to try Evaporust. It’s not cheap, but I expect great things.
I finally decided to try Evaporust. It’s not cheap, but I expect great things.
I thought I could live with this old repair, but then I brushed out all the dirt and scale inside and out: Pinholes!
Blobby welding and stray mig wire on the backup nuts is ugly. It will clean up, but there isn’t enough metal left here on the floor of the tunnel.
I think I have enough scrap to let in a new plate here where there is heavy rust scarring.
Blobby welding and stray mig wire on the backup nuts is ugly. It will clean up, but there isn’t enough metal left here on the floor of the tunnel.
I think I have enough scrap to let in a new plate here where there is heavy rust scarring.
As it turns out my scrap is not nearly big enough to make a patch that will cover this mess and make it look stock again.
I decided that it was going to be more work than it was worth, plus there was another way forward that had an advantage.
I decided that by taking out the worst metal, I could make an access hole in the bottom of the frame. I will have to reinforce around it, but some of that is already done.
This hole will give me a way to do some important structural welding in the tunnel plus provide easy access to change or lube the clutch cable.
I did have enough metal from the good side of my scrap to make this door. It will cover over the new hole, and seal up the tunnel.
It will not have a hinge. Just some screws to remove it, and maybe I will safety wire them so they don’t get lost.
Here’s the bad side of that scrap metal. How many times did they go over this with the Mig welder?
I decided that it was going to be more work than it was worth, plus there was another way forward that had an advantage.
I decided that by taking out the worst metal, I could make an access hole in the bottom of the frame. I will have to reinforce around it, but some of that is already done.
This hole will give me a way to do some important structural welding in the tunnel plus provide easy access to change or lube the clutch cable.
I did have enough metal from the good side of my scrap to make this door. It will cover over the new hole, and seal up the tunnel.
It will not have a hinge. Just some screws to remove it, and maybe I will safety wire them so they don’t get lost.
Here’s the bad side of that scrap metal. How many times did they go over this with the Mig welder?
Ulu, this brings back bad memories of changing the carrier bearing on a 63 Impala two piece drive shaft. You had to get it all lined up just right to get the holes on the pillow block housing to line up in the enclosed drive shaft tunnel. It could be a battle.
Good thing the iconic VWs didn't have a driveshaft going through that tunnel. Long live rear engines!
Good thing the iconic VWs didn't have a driveshaft going through that tunnel. Long live rear engines!
I looked at one of those on a lift, about 1973, and it sure looked like a pain to service that driveshaft.
I owned a Cadillac and two Chevrolets in my lifetime but I never worked on many GM products except construction equipment.
Today I started cutting the new access hole.
I put my access hole cover in Evaporust. This is my first trial of Evaporust ever. I also show the rusty part it came from, so we will see by comparison (at the part line) the real effect.
It was sure rusty! This was after 2 hours in @ 100F in the boatyard. I’m starting to see some silver metal. I did not wirebrush this rust. I just scraped it with a stick. Gently.
I owned a Cadillac and two Chevrolets in my lifetime but I never worked on many GM products except construction equipment.
Today I started cutting the new access hole.
I put my access hole cover in Evaporust. This is my first trial of Evaporust ever. I also show the rusty part it came from, so we will see by comparison (at the part line) the real effect.
It was sure rusty! This was after 2 hours in @ 100F in the boatyard. I’m starting to see some silver metal. I did not wirebrush this rust. I just scraped it with a stick. Gently.
The hole, roughed out.
The new “horseshoe” can just be seen here.
Also the ragged metal and blobby nutwelds. This is where the pedal assembly mounts.
This needs some love.
The new “horseshoe” can just be seen here.
Also the ragged metal and blobby nutwelds. This is where the pedal assembly mounts.
This needs some love.
