1980 Z28 Camaro Restoration

[yona]

Checked the link to make sure it worked !

[jonester123]

Thanks Yona, working on doing as complete of a restoration as i can. A friend is letting me use his big workshop to do my projects in, hopefully real soon it will be moved into the big workshop. Also doing a motor change plus transmission, thinking of putting in a 454 CI engine with a 700R4 transmission. Alot of work to do before i get that far along, i will be real happy to get all the bodywork done and in primer, ultimate performance car company is in canada and they have most parts for the 1980 Z28 Camaro restoration.

[jonester123]

Todays progress, fabricating patch pieces of sheetmetal to replace rotted sheetmetal. http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... 0_0378.jpg http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac13 ... 0_0379.jpg

[yona]

Checked your pics ..... if you round the corners on the patches, the welds will tend to not pull so much, do one spot at a time and keep them at least 1.5 inches a part, use a small hammer to tap each one while hot , with a dolly behind it. just a good solid tap, it will counter act the shrinkage. i use cutting disc, on edge to grind the welds, as only a small parts contacts the weld sea. Sanding discs contacts the metal on each side and heats it and removes more than you think. I then use the sanding disc at a slight angle to blend. I also have a small HF band sander that is good to get right on top of the weld. Never use any type of bondo on bare metal...it will rot out at a later date...use All-Metal and take your time. I use a metal to metal primer and then maybe a glazing putty. Buy small cans of any filler anfd an throw it away if you have left it open ...any moisture starts to curing process ...that is why they use an hydroxide as the harder ! 454 with 700R4 is okay if you just cruise..never seen anyone stick to that...lol...a good TH400, with a home installed shift kit and a 2000 stall converter, will tear up any rear that you can put in it. Also the gas situation is not going to get better any time soon...done build something that has to sit in the driveway....a good V-6, with the right heads, headers and a small Holley 4bl, and a built 700R4, will pull with the best of them till you hit OD... ; ))

[jonester123]

Thanks for the information yona, there are alot of ways to do sheetmetal work depending on situation. The doors have a body line on the top under door lock mechanism, and on bottom of door. So there is a slight curve needed to be put in the patch pieces in those areas, i use a spray bottle with water when i do sheetmetal welding to cool down the welds. I make my welds about an inch or so apart then come back and forth to fill it all in little by little, i here what you are saying about engine and transmission size. Still not sure, depends what i find for a good deal. Probably put in a 350 CI high performance motor and a Turbo 400 transmission. We will see how things progress along.

[railroad bob]

In one of Ron Covell's videos, he recommends NOT using water to cool welds.
Sudden cooling causes embrittlement of the metal.
Better to spread the welds farther apart, move the welding around to different areas more, allow to cool in ambient temps.
If it is a small patch, I would recommend doing part, then work on a different area or project while it cools.

[hansgoudzwaard]

Watched " c'hop, c'u't, r'e'b'u'ild" on the weekend. They replaced a rear quarterpanel, and were using wet rags to shrink the extra metal on the replacement panel . It worked very well. Now I wonder how advisable that was.

[jonester123]

Hi man, i kinda agree useing water to cool down welds can be too fast on the metal . Just gotta take your time to do it and keep welds spread out about one two one and a half inches apart to try not to get to much metal shrinkage etc. I watch chop cut rebuild all the time, lots of ideas and tips for doing stuff. Still need to get some more sheets of sheetmetal to do the rockers replacement and finish rear quarter panels, plus the other parts. Going to take some time with all the fabrication and bodywork, its all in the preparation work so you end up with a real good looking paint job without the bodywork showing any uneven panels etc.

[yona]

I use air as Ron showed us...just let air blow over the surface as you take a break...I cut the fingers off of my gloves so I can feel the heat...never let it get to the point trhat you can't touch it ! ....by starting your spots a little apart, you keep the heat down and by the time you get back around to the first, it is usually cool enough to make another and you should trey to overlap the welds. If you move all over the place, the weld tends to have a lot of pinholes and by laying the spot half on top of another, you have less blow thru... also you should wire brush and clean all of the welds, after each pass, bump the metal up or down and ping all the spots with a nice sound tap of the hammer, to control the shrinkage ( we all want to control shrinkage ) Those litte spot weld are hard as hell and tehy will dimple the face of your average body hammer...so tap while they are hot and you will not have so much warpage... I only do metal hood scopes and I have never warped a hood 1

[jonester123]

I always lightly grind down my welds, then i use some seem sealer on the joints to give extra protection. Most times i just use a cutt of disks to take the tops of the welds just a bit so they do not poke through the final bodywork, i am going to do this as perfect as i can, i only want to do this once. I really want to get the body in atleast primer this summer and maybe even painted. We will see how it goes.

[jonester123]

Well great news, moveing my camaro into buddys big workshop in a few days and i will post up some pictures soon.

[yona]

Well , i don't use filler on my work....only primer....filler attracts moisture (rust)....I do use All-Metal to replace the leaded seams, after I completely weld and finish the seams. factory seams cracked because they did not weld them solid...

[jonester123]

Hi Yona, i mainly only use duraglass body filler. It is waterproof so no moisture can affect the bodywork, then maybe a skim coat of evercoat bodyfiller depending on how well it looks. Seam sealer is always smart to use when welding in new panels, gives great protection. Thats just my preference.

[jonester123]

Hi guys and gals, been a long while. Been very busy working on my camaro restoration work, got it almost ready to remove engine and transmission plus exhaust system. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say.

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[Maxthegardener]

Looks like your have good weather to get that done in...Garage didn't work out?