Last post I am afraid I may have overreacted a little bit, I may not really need to do the whole rail. I am trying to listen to that voice of reason that keeps telling me to save as much as possible and not spend unnecessary money. That being said, I decided to start digging into the rail and truly finding out what needs to be replaced. I started out by trimming back the toe board for more access to the rail, pulled off the floor extension, and proceeded to remove what must have been half an inch of nasty rubberized undercoating.
What I found actually meant that I didn't need to do the whole rail. The plan at this point is to cut out the spots where it is obvious that there is rust problems and then patch it as best I can. I am also planning on treating as much of the interior as I can with ospho and painting it with Zero Rust. Hopefully this will be enough to make it last another 40+ years. In we go!
 |
| I can see the rust poking out from the extension, how far does it really go? |
 |
| Bulging seams, I'll have to cut some metal away and find out how much is still good. |
 |
| The ugly, yep it goes all the way through. |
 |
| Doesn't seem so bad on this side, we'll have to wait and see. |
 |
| After cutting the toe board back a little further, I can now a get a good look inside. It actually doesn't seem as bad as I originally thought. |
 |
| Undercoating removed. |
 |
| Extension off. That is really ugly. |
 |
| Yep, ugly here as well. |
 |
| Not as bad, but I will still replace this side as well. |
 |
| The rejects, may you rust in peace. |
 |
| Cleaned off a ton of undercoating. I think the previous owner was trying to see if it would bounce. I am happy to see that there is original red oxide primer under all that crud. |
 |
| Inner side cleaned up better. It still had the factory undercoating in place. |
 |
| Found a stamp on the outside of the rail. I'm thinking that I should try and save it. |
 |
| The remains of the undercoating. What a mess. |
 |
| On to the dessicated bumper mounting point. |
 |
| Removed the outer piece, what a disaster. The spot welds on the bottom were just about the only things not rusted through. |
 |
| Cleaned up and ready for several coats of phosphoric prep and etch. |
 |
| More rust for the junk pile. |
That's not so bad! They make a patch section for that area that commonly rots out between the floor support member and the back of the front frame rail at the bottom. I patched mine on both rails in exactly the same places you have damage (rear portion under the floor support rail and the front outside section where the bumper bolts on).
ReplyDeleteExamples:
http://68vert.blogspot.com/2008/05/left-front-outer-frame-rail-patch.html
http://68vert.blogspot.com/2008/07/right-front-frame-rail-extension-patch.html
When I got into it, your posts were actually the first thing I thought about. I even ordered those pieces, they should be here tomorrow. I still need to try and rust proof everything before I get them fitted though.
DeleteIt's better than you had first thought. That's great news. It will simplify the repair and leave more time and $$$ for other stuff. That had to be a yuckky (if that's a word) job removing all that undercoating. But it looks good underneath it all. Carry on my friend. You're progressing nicely.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was a real mess. I ended up covered in it from head to toe. Why people have to go overboard on stuff like that is mind boggling sometimes.
Delete