Colossus - the 1970 Concours frame replacement project

Excellant info , I have to do the same thing on my 71 when the time comes..which hopefully will be this winter....Beautiful job making fit and finish on the repair panels....))

 

Gawd, I love working on cars... Oh REALLY!! Could have fooled me!

This thread is a great lesson in dedication, patience and ingenuity and it will live as long as this forum exists!
I can't tell you how impressed I am, Tom. Just unbelievably great work. A true car guy for sure!

 

Wow! A 4 thumbs up from Fox! I forgot to mention again this thread scores a in the "Restoration Project" category! (There's the 5th thumb's up!)

 

Thank you all for the positive words, makes it worthwhile, as will the end result. Can't wait drive it again.

More this weekend, I hope.

 

Anyone interested in a "How I hung my gate" thread?

Also, why hasn't anyone ever mentioned how freakin heavy these tailgates are? Heaviest peice of removable sheet metal I have ever encountered!

Oh, yeah, bearings are packed and rotors are ready to hang.

Best,
Tom[/QUOTE]

Actually ...yes i am..))..I wasnt as fortunate to get a complete gate....i received a shell of a gate that was repaired but in very nice condition none the less....but....the task of changing them has been ongoing....the 3 bolts (or screws) that go into the body...only 1 of them has decided to be removed....the other two are border line head stripped...so i may be looking for a couple more of these screws very soon...lol....but love to see the thread on the change over when you can link it...

 

darn...im jealous....i wish i could find the time to work on all mine

nice stuff Tom

 

Kinda stalled on this, working on other home projects then need to buy paint to finish the rear quarter, then onto the rear load well, but have made some headway on one part and got a little done, ...

In the interest of not seeing me do something stupid while dealing with the <eventual> body drop on the wagon (like dropping the body on me!), my family bought me a new toy.







Pretty cool for doing some of the stuff I do, which is not limited to lifting heavy car parts! Gonna need it when I tackle my Vette, but will use sooner on this...

 

The family must love you....lol....nice gift.....I want one ))

 

(dunno how I missed adding this update after the previous, but here it is, and then the tale continues)

...to lift this!

This helped me with getting 4 tires and wheels installed on the chassis, and then getting it onto the ground.





My cheering section for the day.


Landed and rollable. Whoo-hoo!!!



"Hey, when are you gonna finish this thing up?!?"


Or they could be asking when I'm going to get rid of the damaged frame. Does it have a value to anyone as rustfree sections? I'm only going to scrap it, so if someone wants it, let me know.

Best regards,
Tom

 

OK, back up to date...

After 5-6 weeks of really hot weather (high heat usually doesn't bother me, but this time I was bothered; must be getting old!), and me aggravating a sciatic nerve in my lower back and left leg (don't DO THIS! really can ruin your fun) I was able to make some more progress on the wagon.

I toiled to get the parts all ready and the inner structure welding finalized for the repair of the left rear quarter, then time to prime the inside of the structure and weld it up.

Based on a recommendation of a coworker, I used TCP DTM Epoxy Primer. Mixed easily, sprayed well, and resulted in a nice surface.




Left a note for the next sucker who has to fix this area! Hope it isn’t me!


Using a CheapEasyUp, I clipped some extra cloth up to it to make a desert tent to weld under. Kept the sun off, but the stagnant hot air under the shade wasn’t fun. Welding was bearable though 'cuz I couldn't tell how miserable I really was...



I wanted to make sure that any heavy water buildup that gets past the tail light housing will not succeed in staying in the fender, so added 2 drain holes. Improvise a punch and die to create an outward flange that will (I hope) be conducive to outflow of water and debris but not allow too much inward flow. We’ll see…




Super cool flange flaring tooling of the gods, improvised from stuff I had laying around. You can copy if you don't use for profit.


Now for the big cover-up...

 

All welded up, need to have a buddy smooth the weld and fill it in.






Where I started:



Now, on to the rotten loadwell floor.

Best,
Tom

 

Wow. I will take mechanical issues over rust anyday. What a pain.

Keep up the good work.

 

Very nice repair. Thanks for the pics!

 

good to see your still at it brother !!

 

Over the last few weeks I have been working on the load well floor replacement. About the last thing I need to do before I can put the body back onto the rolling chassis.

What I knew I was getting when I bought the car, and therefore started with. Looks like part of the Titanic:



Cut out the rot:


The rot:


As nice load wells are very hard to come by, I had planned on trying to use a panel from a fuel tank as it has some of the same general bends and shapes as the load well floor panel, but you folks remember that wagon that was being derbied I spoke of months ago? After the event, the owner gave me the floor from the car. A little bent, but I was able to work around that and obtain a mostly rust free piece of steel for mine.



I will come back to fuel tank idea later.