Jake's Story

We have got around to taking a better look to the RH Dog log panel. When we checked the car over as we bought it, we did a see a couple of rust bubbles, and new what to expect. The rust we've found when stripping the car has been pretty insignificant, especially considering some of the things we've seen posted here.

I've dug into the rust bubbles on the RH dogleg, then used little tin snips to open the hole up. The dirt & dust that came out once opened up was impressive. If that crud sat in there wet, the panels don't stand a prayer.

Once uncovered, the outer edge of the rocker is rusted but not rotten. We may be able to get away with treating it. I'll see what the panel beater says

On the LH side there was no rusty holes/bubbles, but there were strange thread like lines under the paint. I've attacked the area with some paint stripper, the got the paint out of the way. Take a look at the photo, little bown rusty lines on the surface of the panel. really odd. I've cleaned the area up, and most of the rusty marks have cleaned off.

BUT, i'm probably going to gut into the LH side just to satisfy ourselves that the rust isn't waiting to burst out. If nothing else will give us a chance to clean out the dirt & crud that is probably jammed up in there

I flicked a question up on the forum last night looking for opinions/what other people have done in the same situation. Thanks to those that replied, your opinions are much appreciated

So things got started tonight. I've seen a couple of little perforations in the RH Dogleg, so have had a dig, poke & chop. the gap between the dogleg & sill was jammed with dry caked dust/rust/debris.
I've opened up a small hole around the rusted spots. The inner sill doesn't look tooo bad?

Hopefully can be cleaned up, treated & a dogleg repair panel used to make good. Not sure how far to open the thing up yet

Really Not sure what do do on the other side. 1 tiny rust spot that could just be from a stonechip.
How to check there's nothing grim hiding?
How to clean any debris sitting between the dogleg & sill ???

We've been on a mission to strip off the old (factory) underseal, mainly to reassure ourselves there are no hidden dramas about to jump out & suprise us.
I've tried a few different methods, but probably 70% chipped of with a selection of old dull wood chisels. We did some with a heat gun & scraper, but found the sticky residue even harder to deal with. After weeks & weeks of chipping (!!) away, i would guess 90% of the underseal is off.

Next is to figure how best to tackle the rusty spots we've found.
A little rust on top of the drivers side sill (rocker). Not rusted through, but needs tidying
A spot on the floor adjacent, through the floor but not through the sill
Some rust where the front guards fasten below the windscreen
1 small hole on the top seam of the RH rear guard
First signs of rust through the sill at the bottom of the RH dog leg

Compared with some other examples we're delighted with how good things look so far.
We'll be digging in to the dog leg a bit further soon

If anyone is keen to lift the ride height of a chrome bumper B up to Rubber bumper height?
Amongst other things, you would be needing to move the position of the rear bump stops by adding the chassis spacers.
As luck would have it, i can offer you these spacers, as removed from our project.

Warning, some minor assembly may be required, and contains small parts!

Sorry, couldn't help having a giggle. So glad i've eventually got these little blighters out of the way, just some tidying up of the old spot welds to go

Slow progress, but definite progress. The LH rear bump stop mount extension has been consigned to the scrap bin, ready to weld the bump stop mount back in it original position. I'm sure there must be an easier way, but this turned into a marathon of drilling out spot welds, chiseling/grinding/prying/sawing bit by tiny bty until I got back to the original chassis.
As a break from the frustrating job of dealing with the spot welds on the vertical chassis flange, i kept chipping away at the underseal. Probably 80% of the underseal on the LH floor is dealt with. No horror stories uncovered so far. Still not sure what method is the most effective, but an old wood chisel seems like the favorite. Chipping away at cold, brittle underseal takes a bit of effort, but leaves a clean surface. warming the panel with a hot air gun softens the sealant, is easier scraping, but leaves a sticky fil on the panel. easy to wipe down with petrol/kero, but REALLY messy all the same

After months of 'thinking', and a little fabrication, then more pondering, i managed to come up with a plan to get the shell up on its rotisserie. The hack engine & box came out, then some tinkering with jacks, stands & hoists got the virtually bare shell up to the right height. With a little trepidation, eventually all the weight was on the 2 stands.
Initially a bit confused, the shell seemed heavy on the right side. Couldn't understand, maybe my brackets weren't on the centre line? Then remembered the RH door is still mounted! So far so good, the shell seems fairly well balanced (Given the odd number of doors) and is easy to flip on its side with one hand.
Hopefully next couple of days can give me a fresh perspective on the understand. One of the jobs to start with is to get rid of the rubber bumper rear axle bump stop 'extensions' - something I'd started earlier, but got a little weary of grinding/cutting lying on my back. Got to be easier with the car on its side!