Welded at Last

Before we get to the E9 I want to share a funny story. On my ride to work last week I came across a sad yet funny situation. Seeing a rode sign flattened is not so special. What makes it ironically funny is what the sign says, and what was secured to the sign pole.



That's my beautiful Merlin leaning against the bridge. While I was taking this picture I was all decked out in cycling gear, and three people stopped to ask if I was OK. Just goes to show you that most Honolulu drivers are good folk.

My goal for Sunday was to get the rear panel patch welded on. I have been working on this for way too long! And I made it, too.

Last week I determined that the rust hole I wanted to use for the first bolt was too low, so I began by grinding it larger. That required me to use a washer to prevent the nut from pulling through, and even then bolting it in place was tricky. I marked the places where I wanted to drill for bolts and used a center punch to make drilling in the right place easier. With the patch held firmly in place by the first bolt I drilled through both layers with a 1/8" bit, then through the patch with a 9/32" bit. The bolts have 1/4" shanks but I wanted a little slop. With the patch removed I finished drilling through the original panel. The last step was to use my pnumatic punch to punch spot-weld holes al around the edge.

Due to Hawaii's demanding weather I hate to put things together without moisture protection, so before proceding I wanted to paint the patch with weld-thru primer. Especially the inside. First I cleaned it with POR-15 Marine Clean and roughened the surface with clean 180# sandpaper, to give the primer something to hold on to.



When the primer was dry I bolted the patch into place one last time. A couple of spots at each end needed help to lay flat, so I used some Vise-Grips to hold the edges tightly in place. This patch is different than the previous patches because the holes for welding are on the outside. This will require a lot of grinding, and some filler. After the patch was tacked in place I removed the clamps and bolts, then went back and finished the places that had been covered. I thought I would weld up the bolt holes until I realized that the welds would go right through to the inside, which would make more of a mess than the strength they would provide. I will use either epoxy putty or fiberglass and POR-15; probably the putty.





As I was setting up to weld my friend Tom offered to help me pick out some better tires from the junk tire pile and mount them, so that the car would not look quite so destitute. So next Sunday will be Super Bowl Sunday for most folks, and Tire Sunday for me. Who cares about the Steelers and the Cardinals, anyway?

Nowhere to Clamp

Ever tried climbing a cliff, or a tree, and reaching a point where you had nothing above you to hold on to? That's how I felt looking at my current patch. In order to get a good weld the two layers must be held tightly together. The panel has a slight curve, so the long, flat patch wants to pull away. The usual solution is a few Vise-Grips, but the position of this patch makes clamping with those impossible. Some really big Jorgensen clamps might work, if they don't get set on fire by the welder. Maybe the Adjustable Clamp Company has what I need, but Chicago is a long way from Honolulu.

The solution I chose was one I had used before, bolts to hold the patch in place which are removed after the patch is tacked in place. In this case the holes need to line up just right, so I want to drill through both layers at the same time. Only I can't clamp the patch in place to drill the holes.

The solution to this problem came in the form of an irregularly shaped rust hole, right where a bolt belonged. This would allow me to slide the patch around and clamp it place, then drill the other holes exactly where I want them.

As I fiddled with the bolt thing I discovered a few places where the edge needed to be ground some more. Funny how long that takes.



It was at that point that I had to leave because my masseuse -- her name is Sonya -- was having a birthday party on the beach at Waikiki. Next Sunday I ought to have the patch welded in place. I feel like I am getting stuck too long on this one.

Back to the Rear End

Last week I never got around to posting because I was busy finishing up the photos I took during our annual New Year's celebration. Our activities are typical for Hawaii, a mix of American and Japanese customs including a seemingly endless stream of parties with family and friends. It's all on my Flickr account in a collection named New Year 2009.

What I did last week was review the patch design that I have been working on, apply a second coat of POR-15 to the fiberglass, and apply POR-15 to the outside areas concentrating on the places that the hole I am trying to cover provides access to. When I applied the glass I decided to use my tube of POR Patch because it really is POR-15 in a tube and I was worried it might dry up. This time I was going to be covering a lot more area so I opened my can. Surprise! It had set up solid. But wait. When I shook it I felt sloshing. Sure enough, after a bit of work with a screw driver and hammer I broke through the rock-hard skin and found plenty of liquid underneath. When I was done I re-sealed the can with plastic wrap, but I really should buy a new, smaller can the next time I paint.





Today began with grinding away the drips and runs from where the patch will go and cleaning the entire opening down to bare metal with my trusty wire brush in the die grinder. I really did plan on welding today. I guess I underestimated how much I had to grind the bottom edge to get the fit right, because that ended up consuming most of my time today. Grind and fit, grind and fit. I found myself wishing the car was on a lift, but this way I get more exercise.

When the perimeter was finally the shape I wanted, I realized it wasn't. All along the top edge is where the trunk floor is welded to the rear panel. The hole I am repairing was caused my moisture collecting in the area, exacerbated by previous collision damage which must have compromised the paint. Over at the top right corner a significant piece of the original rear panel extends down and is securely attached to to the floor piece. This sheet metal is at the same height as the patch I am making. If I left it the way it was the patch would stick out noticeably. Even though this area is obscured by the bumper, the lump would be as obvious as a day one pimple. I could grind away the old metal, but that would weaken the joint. I decided to cut away that corner of the new patch. I know this will make the joint messy, but that is easy to fix with Epoxy Putty. I ended up drawing the cut lines but not cutting, in case I get a better idea during the week.





Before leaving I shot the opening with Weld-Thru primer. I just don't like leaving metal bare in Hawaii, even for a week.

Marathon Sunday

Today was Honolulu Marathon. Once again my wife and I got up at 2:30 A.M. to help. We are members of the clock team. Our job is to start all of the clocks along the route. I manned the one mile clock, partnered with a newbie named Nick, and my wife had the two kilometer clock. About a dozen team members meet at Fort DeRussey in Waikiki at 3:30 for a final time check and last minute instructions, then we all ride our bikes to our station and wait for the 5:00 start. My wife and I ride all the way from home, and after watching the first few hundred runners go by head off in search of breakfast. Well, today it rained. Hard. By the time we got to Big City Diner in Kaimuki we were soaked to the bone, so we road on home, got cleaned up, and went back. After a leisurely breakfast we went home, and on the way we could still see runners headed out. The magnitude of these events never fails to amaze me.

A lack of sleep was not the only thing that interfered with working on the E9 today. Since Friday I have been struggling with a bout of vertigo. On Saturday I doubted I could ride a bike Sunday, but with the help of Dramamine I managed. I had Nick go up the ladder to start the clock, while I called out the time. The two things that trigger a dizzy spell are looking up and, even more so, looking down. Needless to say, working on the E9 was a challenge.

The first thing to do was to smooth out the putty I applied at the end of last week's session. I started with my pneumatic grinder, then switched to a sanding block. The tricky part was to sculpt the indentation where the panel changes height. I ended up with one low spot. After the next patch is welded in place I can add enough filler to even out the surface. I think I have reached the point where I need to sand down more of the rear end, so see why there is so much bondo.

When I got the sculpting as far as I wanted to take it I still had enough time to cut out the next patch. Next week will begin with grinding it down to fit, and preparing the opening.

First Time Using Fiberglass

When I discovered POR-15 I read about a particularly interesting application, patching holes with fiberglass cloth. Apparently POR-15 works like polyurethane resin. Sunday was my chance to try it out.

The area I selected was where the rear panel has a height change. The rust hole -- more like a slot -- is where the panel curves in and under, just above the joint with the trunk floor. I decided to put the glass cloth on the inside, and later-on fill in the low spot with epoxy filler.

The first order of business was to strip off the primer I had used in the area, as well as a bit more of the ridiculously thick layer of bondo that I find all over the rear-end. For that I used a small die grinder and a beefy looking wire brush I picked up at Redline. Unlike other wire brushes, this one seems indestructible. Next came the standard POR-15 prep, a wash and an application of rust converter. One thing I did not do but probably should have was to rough up the bare metal with my grinder or some #80 sandpaper, to give the patch something to hold on to.




I already had a tube of POR PATCH, the type of POR-15 that comes in a tube, and because it seems a little thicker I decided to use that. The first bit that came out was runny so I put the cap back on and kneaded the tube a bit ... not easy with a metal tube. I used a wood tongue depressor to spread the POR PATCH and work it into the cloth. The rounded end was perfect for the curve in the metal.



When that was done I still had a little time left so I applied some Epoxy Putty to some of last week's patch. I stayed away from the lower areas because I anticipate welding there. I was especially interested in the lower right corner of the tail light opening. I finally used the last of the first box I purchased to use on the rear windowsill.

New Rear End Patch

I need to come up with a better way of describing these patches. How many more "new" patches will I make before the job is done? Maybe I should number them.

This one is directly under the left tail light. Actually it is where the bumper attaches. There appears to be some previous repair work in this area, old enough to find lead filler.

Today I fabricated the patch. For this one I decided to use the flanger. The left, right, and bottom edges will get a small flange from my pneumatic flanging tool. The top needs a deeper flange for the bottom edge of the tail light. Next time I will try to curve it a bit, but even so I anticipate bringing the surface up to hight with filler.

I made the first right-angle bend for the top in the vise. I did not align the hardwood form just right, so the bend ended up a little higher than I wanted. I think there is enough along the bottom edge to compensate.

The send right-hand bend was tricky. I ended up champing the piece to the steel workbench and bending in over the thick steel plate you can see in the background. Came out pretty good. What I need is a break ...

Rear End Outer Layer

This week's work was completely straightforward because it continued the work done last week. The main order of business was to weld on the outer layer of the patch I started on last week But before getting to that I spent a few minutes mounting the E9 wall clock I picked up on EBay. Would you believe I did not get a picture of it? Maybe next time.

It was the E9 club badge I wrote about a few weeks ago that got me thinking about how my corner of the shop looks. Dreary, for sure. The bay is, well, just a bay. It would not be so bad if there was a beautiful car parked in it. Like beautiful women, a beautiful car can overcome a host of minor flaws. Likewise a plain car generates few expectations. A once beautiful car turned ugly, though, is depressing. This is why I bought the clock. To compensate, to cheer the place up. It's not as if I constantly need to know what time it is.

So the first real work was to drill a bunch of holes to spot weld the patch through. Good thing I bought that new set of drill bits! next I wiped down both mating surfaces with acetone and shot them with Weld-Thru Primer - a.k.a. Weld-Thru Coating. after that is was just a matter of welding it on.

More Work on Back

I just watched the Colts beat the Patriots. This was the first game in weeks worth watching. Not that I get to watch very many. The Colts especially looked like a Super Bowl team, far more so than the Titans in spite of the difference in their records.

Last week it was too wet to paint the window sill, but today was perfect. That was the last thing I did, so I wouldn't get muck in the wet paint.

The focus of the day was how to repair rusted areas on the rear end where it joins the trunk floor. The original design has a narrow "Z" fold running horizontally accross the entire rear panel, just below the tail lights. The area of the fold is rusted through in several places. I decided not to attempt to recreate the fold, given my lack of skill and the tools available.

Plan A is to recreate the effect by welding up pieces of sheet metal, overlapping at the edge, then smoothing the joint with Epoxy Filler.

I was about to implement plan A in the area below the left tail light when I started thinking like a dentist -- save as much as possible. I ended up reattaching the two sections still remaining after wire brushing away the rust. Next I'll have to add a backing plate, the bottom edge at the joint I worked on today. If that doesn't work it's back to plan A. Because I'll be doing more work in this area next week I skipped painting and instead treated the area with POR-15 cleaner and metal prep.

Left Tail Light Patch

For the first time in a long time it rained today. Long and hard, the kind of rain that replenishes the soil and turns the grass on the slopes of Diamond Head green. Just the kind of day that caused me to worry about primer rust-through. I actually wrote my previous post about painting over primer earlier in the week, but never managed to upload it from my Newton until just now.

My day began with a bit of shopping. The shopping that I was going to do yesterday, but it was my younger son's birthday and that involved a lot of shopping at places that don't sell automotive painting supplies. I picked up a new box of disposable latex gloves, and a spray can of white, general purpose automotive enamel. Even though I had the paint I decided it was too humid to use it. If I had I would have ended up locking in moisture rather than keeping it out.

My goal for the day was to attach the patch for the lower right corner of the left tail light opening. The previous patch around the fog light would anchor this one. The guy working next to me was replacing the headliner in his mini-van, and certainly seemed to know what he was doing. He reminded me that for bare metal the first thing to to use is acid etch primer. I should have used that on the window seal, but besides just flat out forgetting, that job required the application of Epoxy Putty over bare metal, so all is not lost.

The first thing to do was to cut away the part that will be the lower left corner of the fog light. To ensure I had it fit correctly I stuck the tail light assemble into place. With the recess I previously hammer formed just touching the rubber seal, I marked where the opening needed to be cut. The job of finishing the cut was made much easier by a new find, a rotary file for the shop's little die grinder. It made forming the corner much easier than when using a rat tail file. The last step was to punch a series of holes to weld through.

When the patch was fit I used the die grinder's wire brush to remove the Weld-Thru primer left over from last week, wiped the area with acetone, and shot the mating surfaces with Weld-Thru primer. The plan being to shoot the inside with Weld-Thru as temporary fix until I can do it all with POR-15, and to shoot the outside with acid etch primer.

The welding went fine. The pics show a before and after, from different views. The application of the acid etch primer did not fare as well. I managed to get one little fush from the can, then nothing. It wasn't the nozzle that was plugged, it was than can itself. Why? Because the can, still full, had a date of manufacture of 2004. So my only choice was to spray the outside with Weld-Thru primer, too. Next week I get to remove that and use some fresh acid etch primer.