Nose Patch #1

I have an area on both side of the nose that needs to be patched. It's the area where the inner fender gaskets touch the insides of the nose. I spent about an hour tonight cutting, fitting, welding and grinding the patch on the right side of the nose. Hopefully I'll have an hour or so tomorrow night to get the left side done.Before. The PO spread filler over the area to "fix" this set of holes.

Panel clamped into place with my HF panel clamps

Patch ground down

Right Front Lower Headlight Area - Part 2

My plan to section up the panel below the PS headlight worked like a charm. It actually made me feel like I sort of know what I am doing! I spent about 15 minutes fitting up the second piece of the patch. I welded the two pieces together while they were clamped to the car so I would know if they warped out of the desired shape.

After I stitched them together, I traced the edges and cut out the bad section. About 20 minutes of cutting and fitting and I was ready to weld in the new patch. Once again I used my Harbor Freight panel clamps to hold everything in place. I now think those might be my best $10 purchase in the past decade. 10x better than any vice grip. When I use my big 10" or 12" vice grips, the weight of the clamp often pulls the panel out of place. The HF clamps are small and light and have no limitations where they can sit. I have been scalloping a bit of extra metal out where they sit so the joints are a bit tighter than if there were no scallops. I LOVE those clamps.

I will get this patch and the apron ground down and finished off later in the week.

Two patches clamped in place

Panels welded together

Bad section removed, good section welded in

Lower Headlight Patch

I worked on a patch for the lower section of the headlight panel on the right side of the car the other day... I didn't get the fit I wanted (I'm not a wheeling expert yet). I remember reading a section of a book on sheet metal fabrication that said if the panel gets too complicated cut it in half and make two simpler pieces... I am much better at welding than wheeling, so it was time to cut this one in half (even though it's pretty small to begin with.) The hem on the back side of the panel made it that much more difficult.

I spent about 15 minutes cutting this down, hammering it and wheeling it to the correct contour, then I drew the line for the hem and hammered it into the panel. The curve at the bottom made the hem somewhat difficult. Later in the week I'll make the part to the left of this one and weld them together.

Too many marks! The thin line is the final mark.

Patch clamped on. The ill fit at the bottom right is the hem sitting on the existing panel face, not bad fabrication!

Front Apron Goes In

The Ghia received it's new front apron today. I started by marking the center of the panel and the center of the horn opening so everything would line up correctly later in the day. To fit up the new panel, I first cut out the old tire bubble so the new panel could fit tight to the body. Then I marked the top edge with a sharpie. From there I decided that I wanted to trim the new panel's width. I marked on the car where I wanted the new panel to stop. I then cut out the old (leaving about 1/2" where the panel met the lower inner front panel). Where the apron attached to the lower front panel, I ground down the whole strip rather than drill out the spot welds.

After I removed the panel, I took a wire brush to the mating surface of the horn bracket and the lower front panel. I also ground off what the wheel couldn't remove.

Then I used my HF panel clamps and fit everthing up. I had to touch up a few areas, but for the most part everything fit tight. Once everything fit, I spent about 2 hours tacking and welding everything together (4 hours total fitting, cutting, welding). I still have to weld the back edge to the lower front panel, fill pin holes and grind but I am 90% on this panel.

Before
Panel cut out (notice the horn bracket is still in place.)

Panel clamped up for fitting

Panel welded in

Removing Right Front Bumper Mount

I'm hoping to get the front apron cut out and fit tomorrow, so I needed to make a few last minute preps this evening. I spent about an hour cutting out the PS front bumper mount. Notice this time I cut BELOW the wrinkle where the tire sits! That will save me a bit of time when I fab up the new patch panel.

When I removed the little triangle that ties the inner front lower panel to the inner fender I found a small rust hole (you can see it in the second pic below). I ground it out to good metal and welded it shut. Hopefully the apron section will go smooth. I am not planning to use the entire width of the new apron, just enough to catch all the rusty bits. The patch does not have enough material to make the hem folds on either sides of the lower front panel, so I'll leave the original in place there.

bumper mount marked to cut
Mount cut out and small rust hole off to the right is ready for welding

Hole welded up just to the right of the grinder.

I received my front apron from Mike at HOG this week, so I am prepping to install it (hopefully this weekend. When I was blasting the trunk it was evident that the DS lower corner of the "inner front panel" had given up the ghost. I figured I better repair it with the old apron in place so it would align correctly. I worked in two sessions. About 1/2 an hour to fab up the patch. I got the pleasure of making it twice since I forgot to add the bottom flange the first time... And then I spent about an hour after we got back from diner cutting out the old, welding in the new and grinding everything down. I had a 1/4" error at the left side of the patch, so the welding was heavy in that area.

I am going to check out the PS tomorrow night to see if it needs to be repaired as well. The little triangular horizontal piece is still there, so I can't see what's going on below it until I remove that piece.

Looking through the fresh air grill opening to the lower inner panel
Patch welded in

Welds ground down

Luggage Compartment Gets Paint

I got started early this morning (7:30) and drug the car outside since the humidity was low and the air was really still. I forgot to remove the fuel filler neck before blasting, so I removed it before the paint went on. It took about 15 minutes to figure out how to remove it and about 30 minutes to get it out and clean up the sand that spilled out of it. For those taking notes, I cut the rubber grommet that sits just below the gas cap. Once I cut it off from below, I was able to push the filler neck about 1" into the luggage compartement of the Ghia and then twist it so the filler neck was horizontal instead of vertical. With that done, it slid right out into the front fender well. I then popped out the gromment from the inner fender wall and was home free.

I blew the dust off and started squirting paint. I used DP-90 epoxy with PPG's thinner so it would act like a sealer. I was able to paint the luggage area, hood and headlight buckets. I need to hit a few spots again (I'm not the world's greatest painter). I'll do that the next time I am painting up parts.

Luggage area blasted and painted
Hood painted. Can you tell where I painted the headlight buckets?

Headlight buckets painted up