67/68/69 cuda dilemma
Well I got the LH inner fender welded in tuesday night. Ground most of the welds smooth, and melted out the lead in the corners of the upper cowl panel. Plans are to remove it, and sandblast the entire front end, including inside the cowl plenum, and door jambs, remove any rust in the plenum, re seal the stand pipes, then install a new AMD upper cowl panel. The best part is the temporary support rods I made out of 3/4" electrical conduit, and have kept bolted in to keep the radiator support square with the firewall with the fenderwell are finally unbolted and out for good. They are stashed in the corner of the shop in case they are ever needed again. I cant wait to blast the old paint and surface rust off all this and get a nice coat of epoxy primer on all of it. Of course being it is the end of july we are in 100° temps now. I work on this stuff early in the morning till about noon, then back on it in the evening around 8pm when the sun goes down.
Yesterday and todays jobs were not cuda work though. My DD 2008 chevy HHR was in need of some serious attention. Front & rear brakes, struts, and shocks. Calling it a Lego car now. Everything was straight bolt up with round holes. No eccentric bolts for strut adjustment or anything. Just bolt together and go. Car drives straight though. Clamped and welded by robots must have waaay tighter tolerances than them 1980s FWD MoPars I used to work on lol. The drums in the back were kinda strange the way the shoes are held on, but everything else went very quickly. Buying loaded struts with springs already attached helped a lot too. Kudos to rock auto, I spent about $200 shipped for all of it. Amazing what new front struts and rear shocks will do. This thing rides like a new car.
Well I got the LH inner fender welded in tuesday night. Ground most of the welds smooth, and melted out the lead in the corners of the upper cowl panel. Plans are to remove it, and sandblast the entire front end, including inside the cowl plenum, and door jambs, remove any rust in the plenum, re seal the stand pipes, then install a new AMD upper cowl panel. The best part is the temporary support rods I made out of 3/4" electrical conduit, and have kept bolted in to keep the radiator support square with the firewall with the fenderwell are finally unbolted and out for good. They are stashed in the corner of the shop in case they are ever needed again. I cant wait to blast the old paint and surface rust off all this and get a nice coat of epoxy primer on all of it. Of course being it is the end of july we are in 100° temps now. I work on this stuff early in the morning till about noon, then back on it in the evening around 8pm when the sun goes down.
Yesterday and todays jobs were not cuda work though. My DD 2008 chevy HHR was in need of some serious attention. Front & rear brakes, struts, and shocks. Calling it a Lego car now. Everything was straight bolt up with round holes. No eccentric bolts for strut adjustment or anything. Just bolt together and go. Car drives straight though. Clamped and welded by robots must have waaay tighter tolerances than them 1980s FWD MoPars I used to work on lol. The drums in the back were kinda strange the way the shoes are held on, but everything else went very quickly. Buying loaded struts with springs already attached helped a lot too. Kudos to rock auto, I spent about $200 shipped for all of it. Amazing what new front struts and rear shocks will do. This thing rides like a new car.