What in the world happened to April? Let's see...there was the week after Easter when my wife and I went to Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky, rented an eco-cabin for a couple of days and hiked through the gorge. Then there was a week of "vacation" (LOL) in Michigan opening up the family cabin near Baldwin and doing a rather major kitchen remodel. Then there was a funeral. Then there was the winter/summer power equipment swap. Then there was the joy of cutting grass every 4 days between all the rain. And then there was finishing up my instrument proficiency check so I can fly out to Omaha next month for my grandson's 1st birthday. And then there was getting ready for a church rummage sale...a HUGE rummage sale next Saturday. And then it was May.
It was hard to believe that I only posted twice in April and both of them really weren't updates on any work on the fastback. I needed to get something done, even if it was just a few hours. So after getting home this past Saturday afternoon, I "reclaimed" the garage that was a disaster area--most of it from tools and equipment that were basically dumped out of the back of my truck after the Michigan trip. The fastback was pushed out into the driveway to soak up some rare sun. The tools and crap (for lack of better words) were picked up and put away. The garage was swept out, junk thrown out, and the Mustang put back inside. Then it was time to actually get some more work done. What a novel idea!
The work on the right side rear quarter panel had reached what I thought was a critical step. There is a slight change in contour about 6 inches above the bottom. With all the dents and dimples to remove, I needed to not only remove them, but return the panel to the proper contour as well.
The left side profile view looks like this...
It's not real pretty since I discovered that sometime in the car's life, the left-rear quarter panel had been replaced. I'll be dealing with what could be a major problem later. But the change in contour can be seen at the lower end. The right side looks like this...
I had been giving lots of thought about how to "transfer" the profile on the left side to the right side. Making templates would work, but would be time consuming since it would be trial and error. Then I had an epiphany. A profile gauge. I got on line and found this one on eBay. It's a 10 inch long profile gauge that I figured was worth a shot.
The next part of the process was laying out each quarter panel with datum points that match each side. I leveled the car on the rotisserie. Then I used my carpenter level and drew a line at the lip of the side marker light indentation. After that, I used the level again to draw vertical lines that are 3 inches apart.
After doing this, I took the profile gauge and lined it up on the vertical line starting with the top horizontal line to get the profile of the quarter panel at that point....
It's a little more visible from this angle...
The difficulty was that it's almost impossible to get a hammer in that area. So out came the good ol' stud gun. I swapped out the head for the medium size so I could use a smaller diameter stud in this tight area. This was round 1 with three studs...
After cutting off the studs and grinding the area smooth, there was still some concavity to the area. So on to round #2. Three more studs slightly to the left of round #1...
That should do it....or not. I moved up to try and pull some of the metal away from the dent. This was turning into a major project.
There was actually a round #4 and #5 after this--#4 was with 2 studs and #5 was with one. After some grinding and a little light pick hammering, the area looked like this...
Much better now. I sprayed on a few coats of high build rattle can primer to check the level. I'll sand that off later, but I'm satisfied that it's where it needs to be for the profile transfer. So I started at the first datum line on the left side with the profile gauge....
Then it's off to the right side to determine how much messaging of the panel would need to take place....
It was at this point that I starting working the high spot and pushing out the low spot. But something still wasn't right. The metal was not moving in the intended direction. Then I saw that there was a small but significant dent in the bottom compound curve of the rear quarter panel. The picture above shows the "before". I got involved with stud welds and using a steel 1/2" diameter rod on the inside to move the metal back into position. This was a challenge since it took a lot of persuading to get the contour back. Here's the "after" with it all fixed like it should be....
I ended up taking time out to remove the rest of the paint, surface rust, etc. and then redo the datum lines on bare metal. I can't use the shrinking disc on anything but bare metal. So this was a necessary step...
At this point the Kentucky Derby was about ready to start and I always watch the Derby with an authentic Mint Julip in hand, normally made with Woodford Reserve...the finest of Kentucky Bourbons in my humble opinion.
I'll be using the profile gauge to make templates out of micro-corrugated cardboard since it doesn't take much pressure to move the fingers in the profile gauge. Then I'll start the fun metal shaping that looks like it will be a few hours. Once in position, I'll fix the 2" x 3" rusted out area that you can see in the bottom front third of the quarter panel.
Until the next time.....
It was hard to believe that I only posted twice in April and both of them really weren't updates on any work on the fastback. I needed to get something done, even if it was just a few hours. So after getting home this past Saturday afternoon, I "reclaimed" the garage that was a disaster area--most of it from tools and equipment that were basically dumped out of the back of my truck after the Michigan trip. The fastback was pushed out into the driveway to soak up some rare sun. The tools and crap (for lack of better words) were picked up and put away. The garage was swept out, junk thrown out, and the Mustang put back inside. Then it was time to actually get some more work done. What a novel idea!
The work on the right side rear quarter panel had reached what I thought was a critical step. There is a slight change in contour about 6 inches above the bottom. With all the dents and dimples to remove, I needed to not only remove them, but return the panel to the proper contour as well.
The left side profile view looks like this...
It's not real pretty since I discovered that sometime in the car's life, the left-rear quarter panel had been replaced. I'll be dealing with what could be a major problem later. But the change in contour can be seen at the lower end. The right side looks like this...
I had been giving lots of thought about how to "transfer" the profile on the left side to the right side. Making templates would work, but would be time consuming since it would be trial and error. Then I had an epiphany. A profile gauge. I got on line and found this one on eBay. It's a 10 inch long profile gauge that I figured was worth a shot.
The next part of the process was laying out each quarter panel with datum points that match each side. I leveled the car on the rotisserie. Then I used my carpenter level and drew a line at the lip of the side marker light indentation. After that, I used the level again to draw vertical lines that are 3 inches apart.
I did the same thing on the right side...
After doing this, I took the profile gauge and lined it up on the vertical line starting with the top horizontal line to get the profile of the quarter panel at that point....
You can see the ever so slight change in the profile. I think this will work. But then I noticed something that I knew was there, but had forgotten about--a small dent in the left-rear quarter panel. I wanted to fix it since it might throw off the profile, even a little...
It's a little more visible from this angle...
The difficulty was that it's almost impossible to get a hammer in that area. So out came the good ol' stud gun. I swapped out the head for the medium size so I could use a smaller diameter stud in this tight area. This was round 1 with three studs...
After cutting off the studs and grinding the area smooth, there was still some concavity to the area. So on to round #2. Three more studs slightly to the left of round #1...
That should do it....or not. I moved up to try and pull some of the metal away from the dent. This was turning into a major project.
There was actually a round #4 and #5 after this--#4 was with 2 studs and #5 was with one. After some grinding and a little light pick hammering, the area looked like this...
Much better now. I sprayed on a few coats of high build rattle can primer to check the level. I'll sand that off later, but I'm satisfied that it's where it needs to be for the profile transfer. So I started at the first datum line on the left side with the profile gauge....
Then it's off to the right side to determine how much messaging of the panel would need to take place....
It was at this point that I starting working the high spot and pushing out the low spot. But something still wasn't right. The metal was not moving in the intended direction. Then I saw that there was a small but significant dent in the bottom compound curve of the rear quarter panel. The picture above shows the "before". I got involved with stud welds and using a steel 1/2" diameter rod on the inside to move the metal back into position. This was a challenge since it took a lot of persuading to get the contour back. Here's the "after" with it all fixed like it should be....
I ended up taking time out to remove the rest of the paint, surface rust, etc. and then redo the datum lines on bare metal. I can't use the shrinking disc on anything but bare metal. So this was a necessary step...
I'll be using the profile gauge to make templates out of micro-corrugated cardboard since it doesn't take much pressure to move the fingers in the profile gauge. Then I'll start the fun metal shaping that looks like it will be a few hours. Once in position, I'll fix the 2" x 3" rusted out area that you can see in the bottom front third of the quarter panel.
Until the next time.....
Nice idea to use a profile gauge. I can think of a few patches it would have helped make templates for if I had had one at the time. I think I'll get one too for future projects. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alex. It really helps to see the subtle shape of the panel. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it close to original.
DeleteI can totally understand the whole 'where did the time go' thing. Good work on the troubleshooting. Need I say it? How do you eat an elephant? :P
ReplyDeleteLOLon the elephant. I feel like I've eaten a half dozen of them. Hopefully I can turn troubleshooting into tangible results on the next round.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice, concise write-up Dennis!!! In the words of Forrest Gump - 'You know...one less thing' :)
ReplyDeleterj
Yup...one less thing. I'm glad I haven't made a list of them. Hopefully the next round will have that rear quarter ready for some rust repair. Thanks for the kind words RJ.
Delete