On Mon, 27 Mar 1995, Allen Bachelder wrote:
> Among the Things That Porter Never Mentions are the problems of working
> around the rearword curvature of the door jam (base of the B post), and the
> problems of trimming old rotten pieces of castle section off the top of the
> cross member without distorting it. The guy I observed solved these
> problems (with a bit of good fortune) by salvaging a bit of the the castle
> section where it goes over the cross member, cutting up pieces of the new
> one to repair otherwise as needed. He also fudged a little to save the
> weld joint under the fuzzy door seal. There was enough of the inner
> membrane intact at the top so he could cut it - leaving a flange to which
> to weld (trimmed) the new one. He saved the horizontal part of the old
> outer sills from the A post all the way back (thus saving the impossible
> weld under that (albeit replaceable) curved section to the door jam and
> trimming the bottom flanges of the A post. This helps maintain alignment
> also (do keep the door on, brace the thing much better than possible, and
> keep checking the door seams over and over again as you work!). This
> method did result in a weld joint in the outer sill right under the door.
> I guess you pay your money and take your choice.
>
Ah, these sound like useful shortcuts. I replaced one side of my
bugeye's sills per the book, then had a devil of a time duplicating the
factory horizontal seam where the upper rear of the outer sill is
spotwelded to the lower front of the rear fender. Can't get in there to
duplicate the factory welds, and brazing the seam distorted the metal.
On the other side, I left the factory seam intact and cut the old rocker
an inch below it. Then I cut the new rocker to match, and butt welded it
in. Saved a huge amount of work. We live and learn.
Thanks,
Ray
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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