Welded in the dogleg patch

I welded in the dogleg patch today. Didn't come out too bad, if I do say so myself. A few burn-through holes that I'll need to patch. I'll either weld them closed or use bondo. Sometimes you go to weld them and they just get bigger. Overall though I'm please with how it came out. I have some more grinding to do to smooth out the welds. Looking good though! Well at least I think so anyway.

So far, so good

Well it looks like this patch might turn out all right. I still have to put it all together with the rocker too. The rocker extends almost to the wheel well so some modification is probably going to be necessary. The question is do I modify the rocker or the dogleg? Hmmm...

Scary stuff today

I welded in the inner rocker panel. I left some leeway in case some adjustments are needed when I install the outer rocker. And I cut away the rusted dogleg. I then cut the dogleg off of the replacement quarter panel I have. Hopefully I will get it to fit nicely, or at least nice enough that a little bondo will finish it.

Floor brace brackets and inner rocker

Well, I got the two replacement floor brace brackets welded in and fit the inner rocker in place. I haven't welded it yet, I want to trim a little more off the part that slides in between the center post brace so it will fit more flush to the bottom of the floorboard. Overall I guess I'm pleased with how its shaping up though it could have been done a little cleaner. Oh well, its not going to be seen by anyone, though I'll know its there.

Okay, I'm better now sort of...

I should clarify that I didn't weld in the inner rocker. I just put it in place to see how things measured up. They didn't. I think what I'm going to have to do is, weld the inner a little closer to the outer edge so the outer rocker bottom edge will match up and contact the inner's bottom edge, where I will tack weld them together. I'll have to extend the floor brace brackets that the inner is attached to also. I will probably have to shorten the width of the inner also, it didn't seem to match up correctly, at least not for the whole lenght of the inner and outer panels. Its always something!

I don't know...

it's nights like tonight that sometimes make me think I'm in over my head. Thought I had the whole inner-outer rocker panel thing planned out, measured up and sized right but I guess I was wrong. I put in the inner where I thought it should be and when I put on the outer to see how things looked, it was way out of whack. Not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I think I'll just go have a beer. Or two.

Just a short update

Let's see, last week I installed a new fuel line. Figured it would be easier to install it now, while the rocker panel is off. It was a little easier not having to deal with the panel but, it was still a pain in the ass. The route of the line was from the tank, over the axle, over the rail, along the rail, through a floor brace, back over the rail, along the rail and then to the pump. I think it would have been a lot easier to install if the car was on a lift. Anyway, its in but I still have some work to do. There were clips along the rail that hold the fuel and brake lines in place. A few of these broke so I have to track some down some replacements. Also, the line that was removed, ended in a flare and the connected to a rubber hose which had a fitting to connect to the pump. The new fuel line had fittings on both ends. The fitting at the end to the pump was too big to connect to the pump. Besides that, its better to have a rubber hose to the pump so there is some play in the line while going over bumps and such. So, I cut the line but it needs a flare at the end. I bought a flaring tool from Harbor Freight but, like most of there stuff, it was cheap junk. So I need to get a better, more expensive tool somewhere down the line.

Last night, I worked on the inner rocker panel a little bit. I needed to cut out parts of it to allow it to fit. There are a few floor braces it needs to fit around. I should be able to attach it this weekend. We'll see though, something always seems to throw a wrench in my car work plans.

New parts

A local duct making company made inner rocker panels for me. I had to order floor braces from Mac's. Unfortunately they only make them for the 58's so I'll have to modify them. I don't think it will be a problem though. I had to order a set of eight so if I screw one up I have extras. Will be welding them in place hopefully this week!

September 29th and 30th

No work done. I had a softball game the night of the 29th and other crap to do on the 30th. Hope to get some work done tonight though there is a car show tomorrow and I have to get the Satellite prepped for that. I may do that in the morning though. We'll see how it goes. I don't know if anyone is reading my posts but, if you are and you know of a place in RI that can make a piece of sheetmetal for me (6 feet long, 5 inches wide with the first inch bent at a 90 degree angle), please let me know in a comment.

More grinding and more problems!

I finished grinding off the remnants of the driver's side inner rocker. I didn't grind where I will be welding the new one because I dont have the new one yet and it would just surface rust over. I did discover a mess at and behind the driver's door post. Its going to take some work to fix it. Take a look at the pictures. The scrap pieces with the teal letters are what were being used as the inner rocker by whoever worked on this car before.

September 27, more of the same

Just did some more grinding of the inner rocker remnants on the drivers side. I meant to take a photo of what I removed. Whoever worked on the rockers before, used scraps for the inner rocker. I've almost got all of it removed and ground (grinded?) away. My grinder shit the bed yesterday though. Its from Harbor Freight though so I guess I got my money's worth. I'll have to pick up another one today, hopefully.

Sunday Sept 26th

I spent a few hours grinding away at the remnants of the inner rocker panel. Some of which was original, while the rest was an attempt to shore up what was there. Whoever did it used metal cut from who-knows-what...it had some kind of printing on it like it was cut from a metal sign. Anyway, its almost all removed. There is one 20 inch section that is partially welded to a bracket on the frame. I'm not sure how I'm going to get that off...grind it a Iguess though it will be slow going.

Some new pics and some progress

Well the floor patches are welded in. I put primer on one of them to keep it from getting surface rust while I worked on the other side. I should have ground it down some more though so, I will have to do that and primer it again. The inner fender is done too. The patch came out okay for my first try at doing one. I still have to drill the hole in it to attach the battery tray. There is a rust hole visible (the round one) that I wasn't quite sure how to fix or if it was a drilled hole that rusted out. So I didn't want to patch it without knowing what it was for. So I just left it as is. I'm not going for concourse here, just something presentable.

After I finish with the other floor patch, I'll go back to removing the rest of the rusted rocker panels. A friend of mine is going to have inner rocker fenders fabricated for me so, I need to get going on getting the rusted crap out of there. Anyway, here are some photos.

Floor Bolt well patch and inner fender patch

Here is a photo of a patch I made for the indentation of the floor where the body-to-frame bolt goes. It had rotted out around the washer of the bolt. The patch came out pretty good but, upon doing some more cleaning of the rust, I discovered a small strip of metal has to be replaced too. I haven't made that patch yet, and this one isn't welded in yet either. I've also included a photo of the patch I made to the inner fender. It is welded in but there are still some pinholes that need to be fixed. The weld wire I was using was too thick so it was burning through. I'm going to switch to .023 or .025 wire to finish the job. I need to set up my welder with gas first though. 'Til next time, keep those cards and letters coming!

Some new pics

I've done some more work on the left rocker panel, or what's left of it. I've removed most of it, both the inner and outer. There's a little more to go on the inner but, its welded in pretty good. I also need to take measurements of it before I remove it so I can have a replacement made. My plan is to spot weld the inner fender to the floorboard and the supports that are there, though one or two of them will have to be remade. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do that though. The first photo (which I meant to be last) shows the replacement rocker in place though it isn't attached yet. I just wanted to see how it was going to look, and it looks pretty good I think!

Metal cutting and welding

Well I cut some of the rusted through area on the inner fender (top fender in the photo in last post). I cut a patch out of a piece of sheet metal purchased at HD. Then I attempted to weld it in. Its in but needs some cleaning up, hence the reason for no picture. Since the area I'm doing is an irregular shape, my plan was to do it in three parts. I'm rethinking that idea right now, its possible one piece would be better. I just wish it wasn't in such a hard spot. Oh well, where it is will be covered by the battery tray so, its not going to be seen anyway. I'll know its there though...

Wow its been awhile since I've posted

Haven't posted in a while, just too busy I guess. There has been some progress on the Edsel. I had both inner fenders blasted clean yesterday. Here are some before and after pictures. A friend of mine has loaned me his welder so, next on the agenda is to fix the rusted out parts of the inner fenders. Then the radiator shroud, then it'll be on to the rockers (which I have to order from Mac's). I have also ordered replacement rear quarters. The left quarter must have been hit at one time and whoever owned it at the time, used a hammer to beat out the dent. Needless to say, it is dimpled pretty badly. The right side is okay as is I believe, but I got a replacement anyway, just in case.

May 4

Well I finally got back to it and removed the right inner fender. I have a few parts (vent screens and brackets) left to remove. Once they are off, I'll start blasting and priming all the parts I've removed, except the chrome ones of course. I'm considering pulling the engine again so I can get to the frame rails to at least clean and paint them as far as I can up to the firewall. I'm not sure though.

April 28

Removed the right fender yesterday. The bottom corner near the door was all bondo and whoever had done it also riveted a piece of metal to the fender and to the underside of the chassis. I had to grind the rivets down so I could remove the fender. The part of the chassis under the fender is just like the other side, pretty rotted. So more work for me. I'll post some pictures tonight. After I remove the right inner fender, I'm going to spend some time blasting them and the other parts I've removed so I can repair what needs to be repaired (right inner fender has a rust spot) and get the parts in primer. I'll reinstall them too so as to keep from having a million parts all over the place.

April 27

Finally got back to working on the car. Removed the right grille and part of the front end. Also the two brackets that connect to the crossmember. They are the brackets that the horsecollar grille is attached to. Once again, I took out my hammer and chisel to work on that damn bumper nut and bolt. I figured out why it is so tough. When the nut was tightened down, the washer underneath it was bent inward so it is now concave, basically wedging the nut on tighter. Add some corrosion and that makes it even worse. Oh well, I could use the workout I guess. I should have the front end disassembled by the end of this week. I'll be sandblasting the parts after that, and then applying the primer. The radiator support has a rusted spot that will have to be cut out and a patch welded in. That will be my first test to see how much I learned in welding class. I'll post some pictures tonight.

carter wcfb

Need help identifying this carburetor.

April 21

Haven't done any work in a while. I've been waiting for some tools to be delivered. Also, I have some work to do on the Satellite to get it ready for the first cruise on the 26th. I hope to get back on the Edsel next week.

April 12

Well finally got the left inner fender off as well as the hood hinge. I'm going to stop removing pieces for now. I'm going to clean up, strip and prime the parts that are off. I don't want to get too far ahead with the dismantling. Could lead to confusion. Been known to happen with me.

April 8

Took the hood off today so I will be able to remove the inner fender, hood hinge and whatever else. Discussed the rot on the corner of the body that was under the fender. Decided on where to cut and also figured that since its under the fender and out of site, the fix doesn't have to be too pretty. I'll make it as good as I can but, I don't expect it to be perfect. Perhaps it will be but, NBD if its not.

April 4

Nothing new to report, still dealing with the water in the basement brought on by the storm last week. I did manage to go buy an air compressor this week though. Other than that, no car progress at all.

March 27/28

Well the fender is off finally. And with it off, I discovered a couple of things. One, there is some rot in the bottom corner of the body that was under the fender (see photo). This will probably be a difficult fix, with it being a rounded corner and all. We'll see how it goes. There was also a tag under the fender, which I think was a paint chip tag so they would know what color to paint the car. I hope so, because I would like to have someone match the color paint for me. There was also a mudwasp nest under the fender too. No wasps though. I also had a couple of incidents. I gave myself a fat lip on Saturday. I was lying under the car, using two wrenches to try and loosen a nut and bolt. While applying some force, the wrench slipped and my hand slipped off. The wrench fell straight down, round end first thankfully, and hit me right in the upper lip. The other incident again involved trying to loosen a nut with two wrenches. This time when I applied force, the bolt snapped and the head went flying off somewhere in the garage. I have no idea where. Anyway, the fender is off. Now what???

March 26

Started removing all the bolts securing the left fender. One of them was behind the kick panel. I found that by using my manual. I also found that my manual is misprinted. The fender removal section begins on page 15-13. The page following is 15-16, so I am missing a couple of pages that just happen to be the part of the car I'm working on now. I don't think it will be a problem unless there is something special I'm supposed to do before removing the fender. I should have the fender off tomorrow. I had to let a bolt/nut soak in blaster.

March 23

Okay, I picked up the seats yesterday and I think they came out great! Mark's Upholstery in Foxboro did them and they were reasonably priced. The only bad thing is that the carpet I ordered doesn't quite go. I always thought it was kind of on the green side and now I think it is fact. You can judge by the pictures. The front seat was originally configured like that with the driver's side seat back being all vinyl. I know it looks kind of funky but, that's the way it was so I kept it that way. Also, I added some pictures to the March 21st post.

March 22

I'm going to pick up the recovered Edsel seats this evening. Hopefully they came out okay. I'll post pictures of them tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to have to store them in the basement for now, I don't know when I'll be ready to reinstall them. Could be awhile. Just for fun, here is a photo of my 1966 Plymouth Satellite. I hope to drive it this summer a little more than I did last summer.

March 21

Okay, its finally off and so is the left bumper. Next is the right bumper and, guess what? the same frigging nut on that side is stuck too. Pictures to follow.

March 20

I bought a chisel today and using my 5 pound mallet, gave that nut a beating. Its still attached. Looks like crap but its still holding on. I'm kind of amazed.

March 18 contd

NOTHING WORKS! The nut splitter couldn't fit, I've broken all my dremel cutters, no wrench, no socket will fit.

March 18

Picked up a nut-splitter (ouch) today. Hope to try it out tonight. I'll post some more pictures tonight too. They need to come up with another name for that. Nut-buster? no that sounds painful too. Nutcracker? no then I 'd have to work on the car in tights.

March 16

No real progress to report. I'm still fighting with that rusted/stuck/impossible nut. I took my Dremel to it using the cutting wheel but, because it is in a hard to get to place, I just hacked it up. Tried using my drill with a titanium bit but, my drill is too big to reach it very well. I just drilled the start of a hole but no more. Soooo, I'm not quite sure what to try next. Sledge hammer? 357 Magnum? The sad part is that this is only the first of many, many bolts and/or nuts that are going to give me a problem.

Just did some searching on the web and I think I'll be purchasing a nut splitter. Sounds painful but, its got to be done!

March 14

Okay, I've changed the settings so anyone can post a comment to my blog. When you write a comment, click on preview and go from there.

March 13

Frustrating day today. My plan was to remove the front bumpers. Started on the left one. First thing to do is remove the parking light. It didn't want to come out. So I decided to leave it in. I disconnected all the wires so it would just go with the bumper. Next, tried to remove the nuts securing the bumper to the frame. First one came off fine, but it was all downhill from there. The next nut was already a little rounded and nothing I have on hand will get a grip on it. Tried the nut above that one. It was hard to reach and I couldn't get good leverage to budge it. Went to the next one and first thing I did was round it a little bit too. Decided to take a break. I might just let the WD soak in for the next 24 and give it another shot tomorrow. So, not much progress made today. On top of that my every day ride is acting up. And we might have a rabid skunk in the vicinty. We came home from grocery shopping and in the street was a skunk walking around. This was at about 1:30 pm. We didn't think they were supposed to be out in the day time. Anyway, that's it for now. Nice time at Mike's yesterday!

March 12

Nothing new to report, I didn't do any work on the Edsel. We had the cable guy coming to do a switch of our phone service and it took over two hours. After dinner and walking the dog, I took a look at the termite problem. Oh that's right, I forgot to mention that we discovered that termites were attacking my garage. I sprayed some junk and we'll be making a call to the exterminator.
Oh yeah, a friend told me that to post a comment to my blog, you have to sign up and go through a whole rigamarole so, rather than ask you to do that, just send your message to allizdog@cox.net and I'll post it here myself.
Don't know if I'll get any work done today (the 13th) either. I have a meeting to go to to discuss the positive attributes of beer.

March 11

Removed the left side grille and headlight door. Due to space limitations in my garage, I have to put the parts I remove in my basement. I'm thinking of reassembling the whole car down there. Not too many people have an Edsel. I would think that even fewer have one in their basement. I'll have to run it by my wife first though.