http://12vtools.com/product-category/templates/flexiblearctemplates/ This is where I bought it from....
I don't know if I'd go that far... Last night we used the poster board template to check the fit of our pattern to the passenger side. Only a slight shave in the middle for a good snug fit. Then we test fit the repop front section of wheel well, which was horrendous. if we were to trim it to fit there wouldn't be enough step flange left over for the seal. So, Kyle added a 1/2" strip of 18 gauge cold rolled to the outside so we will have enough to trim for a proper fit. Still needs to add that corner on this side as well. While he was welding away, I trimmed the second panel for the passenger rear wheel well, used the Lennox with the tipping die to add the step flange for the seal, and got it prepped for the bead detail work, which we'll get to on Saturday.
Here's a test fit of the reproduction wheel well for the 55, this is the front section. Note the poor fit to the rear side of the quarter panel. I don't know if these are an EXACT reproduction of OEM, but have heard others having similar "gaping hole" issues with their original cars. This is the driver's side: video version.... This is the passenger side we modified Thursday, adding a 1/2" filler strip and then trimming to fit to the quarter panel.... .......and shown here with seal in place... Here Kyle is adding the 1/2" filler strip to the driver's side reproduction wheel well. With the rear section not available in reproduction (blessing in disguise), here is the final layout and trim of our version.. Flanges are tipped using the Fasti swaging machine.. Test fit of the driver's side wheel wells. The front reproduction piece has the filler strip added but still needs trimming, the rear section is a much better fit than what came out from the factory.. Video version: Once the front section has been trimmed for proper fit, we will butt weld the front and rear section together to eliminate another overlap rust trap.
Thanks! Finishing up on our drivers side wheel well today. The front "modified" reproduction is trimmed and fitted. A light is put behind it to check for gaps... The baffle that sits above the wheel well is made differently as well, this time using a piece of 16 ga cold rolled steel, and trimmed to fill the void. We left a slight gap that we plan on sealing with seam sealer. Shown here with bulb seal against the quarter.... The trouble with the factory version of sealing above the baffle is that the expanding foam encapsulates the surrounding area, to include surrounding the slot for trim hardware. It is here that water intrudes, and is held against the quarter causing rust. Our version will leave this hole unobstructed so that any water intrusion that may occur will pass on through. Now to fill in our screw holes that held together the "MDF Sandwich" that we used for beading the panel. A piece of 1/4" thick X 1" copper flat bar is used as a backer, I find it leaves the back side of the weld much cleaner than using flattened copper pipe. Video version: With the front and rear sections having been fitted and trimmed for a butt weld, next we tack the panels together with the TIG.. Now we have a one piece wheel well, no overlap joints to trap moisture and start rust, as the originals had done. One piece wheel well test fitted using the bulb seal.... Moving on to the passenger side, both front and back are trimmed and test fitted. Some minor tweaks and we will be ready to trim for a butt weld and TIG these together next time..
Thanks! Progress from this past week.. Kyle got started on media blasting the drivers side wheel well and I "assembled" the two components for the passenger side.. We plan on epoxy primer on these prior to installation, so the media blasted surface will give a good bite for the primer. Here's the test fit of the assembled passenger side wheel well... Next, the road trip on Friday.. To preface, a couple weeks ago someone had posted a link showing a Baileigh English wheel on eBay (the big one). In the background was one of the Baileigh power hammers. So I called the contact number in the ad, asked if the hammer was available, which he said yes. He gave me a price, asked for a deposit, and this past Friday was the pick up day. I left the house at 1:45 am, picked up my nephew Chris, and drove to CT. Got it loaded up, made it back to the house by 10 pm, quite a long day. Wait....it's supposed to rain tomorrow, let's unload! So we got it off the trailer and inside by 11. Saturday, after sleeping in, was spent locating a spot for the machine, hooking up power, and trying it out on some scrap metal.. Excited to have this additional capability in the shop.
Was working on finishing blocking roof and quarters Saturday when the high winds took out the power for a couple hours.. Not to be deterred, the Milwaukee flashlight comes to the rescue... Power came back on just after lunch and we got the next dose of Epoxy applied. These sure are some long quarters, I think I'll try a Yugo for the next project, shouldn't need anywhere near the paint prep... or the video version: .
Thanks for the kind words fellas. This is the first sprayout sample... we'll view these again tomorrow in the sunlight to see the true colors... Chrysler pewter over H/K organic green.
The lighter color is a 2004 (?) Chrysler pewter color, which the plan is to use that on the roof, Kandy green from bottom of drip rail down, and hopefully some lace on the roof using Kandy green. ....
Started the evening off with some TIG practice, here tacking two panels together.... Next, to use our fancy dancy paint rollers, getting epoxy inside the rocker panels and inner quarter in prep for installing the wheel wells... ...and used a brush to cover the bare metal that was above the quarter panel's baffle.. There was a bit of overflow, or dust control shall we say. One rocker down, one to go..
After all your hard work making it the best ever 1955 210 wagon what are the owners plans for it in the future when it is done?
As far as I know, drive the wheels off it. After we get the wheel wells in place and the brackets for seats in the floor it goes off for some Line-X on the bottom and in wheel wells. Some rock chip protection as well as sound deadening. They assured us they could apply it in a smooth finish instead of the wrinkled look, so that's what the owner wants..
Welded some more TIG coupons last night. I had some questions about weld placement, so I decided to do some samples that mimicked various body shape types. First, we have a flat version, this would simulate the flat area at the bottom of a door skin... The second panel has more crown, such as toward the top of a quarter/door skin.... Comparing the two... Next, we have a repair piece that is joined at the beltline bead... The flat area distorts quite a bit... Normally we would planish the weld after cooling to remove this distortion, but here it was left to better compare distortion amounts.. Looking at the three samples, the flat one moves/distorts the most. The crowned panel a bit less, the beltline bead even less.. This helps to show the benefit of weld seam locations, we should select anything but the low crown/flat areas if at all possible.. The crowned areas or those with beltline bead details will help to hold any distortion in check.
But, wouldn't it be easier to reshape the distortion out of the flat-ish panel, rather than reshape the distortion out of the beaded area? There's got to be some distortion in that beaded panel too. I'd always thought it best to do a panel replacement seam out in the open where you can move the metal around and get some hammers and dollies in there, instead of right on top of a bead.
As long as you have a dolly that matches the back of the panel, choose the area that gives you less problems to correct. A solid piece of round stock with a handle welded on (ie: T-dolly) would work wonders. The next thing is to choose the process that introduces less issues to fix. A non-stop weld pass in TIG or O/A won't have those stop and start areas where puckers show up. A fusion weld helps to limit the time you are doinking around adding filler, so it helps limit the HAZ. As shown above, weld seam location has a large effect on distortion. So it boils down to picking the methods/areas etc that all limit distortion and use that to your advantage. If it takes a bit longer to make the panel larger where you don't have perpendicular welds for those inside corner puckers, then do so. More than likely you will have less time in the metal bumping/straightening that will offset the extra time in fabrication. All food for thought, derived from welding on scraps..
The Jalopy Journal
