Bodywork threads? Corvair repair

[viewmaster]

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=7507

Not a ton of explaination, but lots of rust and panel repair, and a good amount of pics.



-m

[Nonhog]

I'll try and figure out picture posting someday. For now I have a body question. How do I save the corner braces on the front end panel (LM)?
I bought a used replacement and they were cut. Do I need a right angle drill to access the spot welds? And best plan to remove old panel at the braze joints? Thanks!

[Nonhog]

This,

[terribleted]

They are spot welded in place. locate and remove the spot welds in the fender and or front panel as needed to allow replacing same, leaving the corner gusset intact. There are quite a few welds in these gussets. If you strip in the weatherstrip channel you may be able to see the top of most of them? They are mostly pretty visible from under the gussets (I just counted at least 6 on one gusset). The spot weld marks might be obscured by spatter paint as well. Using a small wire wheel does a good job of stripping these areas so you can see better. I buy wire wheels at Home Depot I think they are 3" and like 1.5" diameter. I chuck them in a cut off tool, but they could be used in a drill as well. WEAR EYE PROTECTION These disks work ok but they will throw bristles after a while. When removing welds like these I am usually not using one piece or the other, so, for instance I would carefully grind and cut away the front panel where it attaches to the gusset if I was using the gusset and replacing the front panel by the gusset. If I was replacing the fender by the gusset I would grind and cut away the existing fender leaving the gusset intact. If for some reason I needed to replace the gusset then I would grind the gusset away leaving the adjoining panels intact.

As far as what to remove of your old panel (fender or front panel?) it really depends on why you are changing any steel. The extent of repair needed will dictate how much to change. On these cars it is a whole lot easier to section the front of a fender than to change the entire fender. The welds in the front are fairly accessible and straight forward, but the rear of the fender gets pretty involved especially up near the base of the windshield. Front panel replacements are best as a whole panel or sectioning across the front behind the bumper using either the top or bottom of a replacement front panel.