Yes, like @chopolds said - cut from the inside. You need to have the patience of Mr. Miyagi with cutting the gasket but it can be done!
I had a chance to try and get a little but done today. I just got my shrinker/ stretcher so I wanted to see if I could fabricate the belt line patch panel around the sail panel. I started by making the belt line off of the same hammer form I used in the quarter windows.
Then I ran this through the shrinker stretcher to bend it to the contour of the sail and quarter panels.
This worked to a certain extent but I had difficulty twisting the belt line to confirm on all angles.
So I took a thin strip of metal the width of the belt line and ran that through the shrinker stretcher to see if his would work better. R This worked better but It didn't have a flange to weld to the quarter and sail panels.
This is as far as I got. I sprayed the belt line and cat walk panels with dykem to scribe where they need to be trimmed to fit together. I'm going to do my best to weld them together on my next day off I'm a little worries about effing them up during the welding process. It's going to be a bitch fringing the weld beads down. We'll see how it goes.
You guys weren't kidding when you said removing the rear window was a pain in the ass. Had to use a chisel and gamer to remove the dried up gasket from the inside.
I expected the whole window channel to be Swiss cheese and I've been looking for a parts car for a replacement channel. As it turns out, only the bottom corners are bad and the rest is pretty good much to my relief.
I bent up a strip of steel into a "Z" to fab a new corner. I ran this through the shrinker stretcher and made a couple relief cuts. Still needs more finessing but it's getting there. This is where I left off. I hope to finish it tomorrow.
Welded the belt line to the catwalk patch. I'm not a very good TIG welder but I gave it a shot. Some of the wider gaps I had to MIG because they were blowing holes. It's amazing how much easier the tug welds are to clean up.
Got a little bit of garage time in today. I got the patch just beginning to be tacked in before I had to pick up the kiddos. The gaps will need a bit of tweeting before I go further. I spent a lot of time trying to planishing the panel. It's ok but I need to get better at this.
You're doing a great job. The key is to take your time. It's just like anything else, the more you do it the better you'll get. I'm at the same point with making my floorpans, it's taking forever but I'm learning as I go.
what an inspiration i just got this 49 in my avatar and it is plain nothing what so ever ill keep in tune for sure.
Subscribed. You're doin a great job and I admire you're one piece at a time approach capability. I'd probably be just staring at those rocker panels and going catatonic about how would I solve those out. Keep us posted. There's a lot of info and very helpfull people at allmetalshaping.com and I believe you'll get prompt answers on any question that might pop up regarding fab. Regards.
Thanks all! All metalshaping is an awesome resource, it's helped me understand some if the fundamentals of how metal behaves. I screw a lot if stuff up but that's how you learn. The one piece at a time approach is dictated by my work / family schedule. If I can get an afternoon of work in a week I'm lucky. The car sat in my garage for a year after I gutted it. It was overwhelming looking at it until I actually started to do something.
Made the flange by clamping against an 1/8" piece of plate and using a chisel and socket to cork it in.
Trim, bend, weld. I didn't attach it to the sail panel or belt line as I will eventually be cutting it free anyways when I chop it.
Since u was already working on that area, I decided to cut the corner out of the quarter window in preparation for chopping. I took out 5" from the rear.
The Jalopy Journal
