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.