derekf.com

3 March 2019
Rear Rust Repair, pt 2 of more

Continuing the unending saga of the car that will end up made entirely of weld bead. Start with the front of the wheelwell.

and weld it.

Cleaned up, and the bits in front also done. Hopefully this will properly approximate the correct shape in the long run.

Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action.

This is probably numbers three and four (4" cutoff wheels from HF). These kinda suck - they break off in chunks and get out of round. Didn't have that problem with the previous (probably Northern Tool) versions.

A reminder-to-self to not buy these again.

The perforations in the footwell have become a tear, or two tears as the case may be.

Bonus for the eagle-eyed: You can see the tunnel starting to tear as well, at the bottom.

Really only one thing to do about this:

This gets me partway there, but I don't want to try and manually bend a replacement for the tunnel-hump - I guarantee it won't be "right".

I Have Heard that the floorpans from 1st gen A bodies are correct for this generation El Camino.

Oddly enough, I have part of a passenger footwell from the Chevelle. Let's find out.

Yes, the hump is damn near identical. The seat belt mount (on the right here) is not quite the same - was smaller on the earlier pan.

So next up for this side of the footwell is seam sealer. Before we seal, we have to prime, so I mixed up some epoxy primer.

It's cold out - like 50F in the garage. Hopefully it'll cure overnight.

It did not cure overnight. No working on the footwell for me.

That's fine though; I've got other work to do.

There is rust on the quarter in front of the wheel.

Never thought I'd say it about this car, but the rust wasn't as bad as I anticipated here.

This is the rust in the wheelwell. This is exactly as bad as I anticipated.

If you look closely in the rocker you can see the wide variety of rust enhancing foam that the car has been treated with.

Here I've already removed quite a bit.

This is not the sum total of the foam I pulled out. Some of the dirt was still moist.

That's a more interesting statement if I point out that the car has been in a garage since 2006.

I've cut out the rust from the outer panel.

Also cut it out from the inner.

Used the aluminum tape to make templates.

This is the trimmed panel for the inner.

This is progress; still need to finish the package tray and the footwell, then it's just bed floor (and whatever I find after that).

Go back to the previous day (24 Feb 19)

	Continuing the unending saga of the car that will end up made entirely of weld bead. Start with the front of the wheelwell.
and weld it.
	Cleaned up, and the bits in front also done. Hopefully this will properly approximate the correct shape in the long run.
Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action. This is probably numbers three and four (4" cutoff wheels from HF). These kinda suck - they break off in chunks and get out of round. Didn't have that problem with the previous (probably Northern Tool) versions. A reminder-to-self to not buy these again.
	The perforations in the footwell have become a tear, or two tears as the case may be. Bonus for the eagle-eyed: You can see the tunnel starting to tear as well, at the bottom.
Really only one thing to do about this:
	This gets me partway there, but I don't want to try and manually bend a replacement for the tunnel-hump - I guarantee it won't be "right".
I Have Heard that the floorpans from 1st gen A bodies are correct for this generation El Camino. Oddly enough, I have part of a passenger footwell from the Chevelle. Let's find out.
	Yes, the hump is damn near identical. The seat belt mount (on the right here) is not quite the same - was smaller on the earlier pan.
So next up for this side of the footwell is seam sealer. Before we seal, we have to prime, so I mixed up some epoxy primer. It's cold out - like 50F in the garage. Hopefully it'll cure overnight.

	There is rust on the quarter in front of the wheel. Never thought I'd say it about this car, but the rust wasn't as bad as I anticipated here.
This is the rust in the wheelwell. This is exactly as bad as I anticipated.
	If you look closely in the rocker you can see the wide variety of rust enhancing foam that the car has been treated with. Here I've already removed quite a bit.
This is not the sum total of the foam I pulled out. Some of the dirt was still moist. That's a more interesting statement if I point out that the car has been in a garage since 2006.
	I've cut out the rust from the outer panel.
Also cut it out from the inner.
	Used the aluminum tape to make templates.
This is the trimmed panel for the inner.