Pre restoration picture & question

Just thought I'd post a picture of my 1970 B before I start tearing her down for a complete restoration. I've had fun the last year keeping the car on the road and she's a lot of fun to drive but I think its time to tackle the rust before it gets out of hand.

<http://photos.yahoo.com/sdyck99>

The doglegs are starting to show some rust and there is rust along the chrome strip on the side. I'm guessing the latter is due to poor prep before the last paint job. It looks like the paint chipped off in this area and is showing surface rust. I'm hoping to be able to be able to clean this up and maybe fix any large problems with fiberglass as per JDW's recommendations.

If the rust I find along the way isn't too bad I plan on replacing the doglegs only. If it’s worse I’ll use the half panels.

My question is how can I assess how bad the internal rust is on the rear fenders without cutting them off? Will I be able to see up inside with just the dog legs cut off, and tail lights out?

Hi Steve...I just completed my 4th rebuild on my 72 with 327 +K on the clock. One thing to remember is that rust plays dirty....if dog legs are bad, so are rocker rails and castle sections...they come in about six peices per side and are important. So for your own peace of mind, I suggest that you get what you feel you need for the restoration, and here is the best part get those additional items that hang onto the needed parts, just incase you get it all apart and find a "surprise" underneath. My trip through this was complete rockers on both sides and front and rear fenders and inner rear fender panels. The floors really take a beating so a set of those and front spring hangers just in case. When I was all done, the stuff I did not use I took back for a credit adjustment (less shipping costs) and got other gee whiz stuff after to spruce up the car. I am sure you know that the strength of the car is based on the unitized theory, the rockers, floor, etc all weld together and form the frame. happy trails.

Hi Steve...I've got a 72 B project under way right now... the same colour as yours.I tried to avoid the work involved in removing the fenders to do the castles & rockers,but the only way to do a lastring job is to try & do it right from the get go. I found rust areas that were bad in areas I never thought of ,but its getting done now...... A good rule of thumb for projects like these that I try to apply is...."half measures avail nothing".Once I resigned myself to the idea of being without the car ,then I could plan the rebirth & get rid of the crappy mustard yellow on MY car .Good Luck....

C'mon, Steve, stop holding out on us - where ARE the table saw pictures??!! Inquiring minds (etc)....

Dan D (I wanna see your saw!)

Here is some pictures of my car before, during, and after the restoration.

<http://www.memphisbritishcars.org/memberscars/kiehna_2.htm>

Thanks for the input. The doglegs are showing some rust but nothing showing on the floor pans or sills/rocker panels, (YET), oh and no bondo in this area. If I plan on cutting out the back fenders to the trim line, will I be able to determine the condition of the sills/rocker panel or will that still be hidden?

The front fenders are not that bad to take off, and it will give you the peace of mind of knowing what is under there and it is fixed right. My doglegs were rusting, and fortunately all that needed replacement was the outer sill, but I got to it early.
Skye has a lot of good links on how to do the fix on his website.

Hi Steve,
I'm going through a similar process on my cars right now. While I was researching all this on the web, I found a nice little walk-through of the process here:

http://www.paneldoctor.com
(click on "Demos" in the left pane)

Interesting reading!

HTH!

Rob,
The pictures are great, but that's the shop that Skye used before. Read the front page to get a "feel" of how Skye feels about them.

BTW:that's him on stage 7.

Wow that car was a mess, Hard to beleive anyone would bother with all that work. It sure makes mine look like it will be a piece of cake. Except for the fact that I'm a total novice so every step will be a struggle. (But I'm looking forward to the challange and learning!)

Wow -- did not know that. Certainly not obvious from reading the front page vs. the paneldoctor page. In any case, I was not recommending the shop, just using it more as an example of an "exploded view" of the car's structure....

At least I know what Skye looks like now!

Wow, two major rebuilds in not many years. Now I know why you guys keep saying "do it right the first time".

I've looked at this before but a still amazed that Skye's car didn't jjst crack in half before he got this work done!

Dan D (with rusty '76 but no where near as bad as Skye's was!)

wow.. nice work on that 74. how long did that take you? well just wanted to say you did a great job.

Steve....with the doglegs removed, you can see the rear of the rockers...if rust is coming through the dogleg, the rear rocker is probably rusty also....

...usually, you can tell about the wheel wells from the outside bubbling or go underneath with a screwdriver & pick at them...

...the reason trim rusts is because people usually don't point high pressure water under them from on top when washing...junk gets caught under them, moisture is trapped &, if they weren't removed for the paint job, moisture goes down behind the paint below the trim...

...before I cut way up to the trim line, I'd make sure I needed to...cut the doglegs & look up inside, remove the trim & check metal's strength...

Thanks Tony, good advice and along the lines I was planning.

Once I remove the trim, how do I test the metals strength?

Steve

Evan,

My '74 was bought in July of 2001 and the paintjob was completed in December of the same year. Man did that car flex in the turns before the new rockers went in!

Everything else on the car has been a work in progress. All thats left is new seat covers and trim panels.

Steve, here are a few photos on mine, I have included some dog leg shots. As you can see mine wew shot, but no rust above the patch panel. I had more trouble with the upper front fenders and inner fenders being rotted away.

<http://community.webshots.com/user/jdterhune>

Thanks David.

I can't access the website from work (damn data cops). I'm looking forward to seeing them when I get home.

Did you find any problems with the sills? Jerry seemed to think that rotted doglegs = rotted sills. I can see why with them being so close together. Looking at the good condition of most of the car It looks to me like its had some good rust protection at some point, so I'm hoping I won't have to tackle this big job.

Steve

Rotted doglegs do not necessarily mean rotted sills but there's a pretty g..ood chance the rocker is rotted...you can usually tell if sills are rotted by looking at both ends from underneath & by removing sill covering up front by firewall inside cae......as for testing the strength of your metal at the trim, poke it with a screwdriver...if it doesn't break into hols, its solid! get an air grinder & take all the paint off to see what's behind it...or use aircraft chemical stripper on entire quarter panel..