Lowly Gentlemen : '74 Mini Build

Started by AndrewR, September 22, 2014, 12:15:58 PM

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AndrewR

Quote from: 94touring on October 20, 2014, 04:38:37 AM
Nicely done.  Did you have much trouble breaking the welds off your panel?

I figured the drilling and prying would've done more damage than good along the seat back so I cut the old panel out right along the flange.

94touring

If you have an air chisel you may be able to clean up what's left.  I had good luck removing it that way.

AndrewR

Quote from: 94touring on October 20, 2014, 09:57:55 AM
If you have an air chisel you may be able to clean up what's left.  I had good luck removing it that way.

I may have to add that to the tool collection because I still need to break free the last few stubborn spot welds on the rear valance

94touring

It's an invaluable tool for body work and panel removal.   Take your time with it cause it will tear metal to shreds too.

MtyMous

I use my air chisel to loosen up ball joints in a jiffy, too. Mine is a cheap-ish Kobalt with a decent set of tops. I love it.

AndrewR

Perhaps you guys will have some tips...what's the best way to strip the old paint off this panel so it's all clean when it gets welded in? Chemical paint stripper? Blasting? I figure it's best to get all the old paint off and primer it before it goes in.

94touring

With all the indents and it's size, if you can't find someone to blast it quick and cheap, strippers and/or wire wheel. 

MtyMous

#32
Blasting will give you the best result and is the easiest... if you have the equipment or money to pay someone.

Chemical strippers work well if there's no bondo or anything on the panel but will still leave some left overs and require a bit of manual removal. And you have to make sure the residue is cleaned off as well so it doesn't contaminate your paint job. No big deal really. That's what I used for the really big flat panels when I stripped Tink.

Wire wheel will do a great job, but can suck trying to get it into strange corners and stuff. I also used an angled die grinder with sanding discs for some portions.

I used a combo of all of the above on Tink.

AndrewR

My buddy is using our welder, so I prepared a few panels in the meantime.

The rear seat had some rust working its way through above the rear subframe.





Since the car will be getting a cage, I went ahead and removed the rear door bins and trimmed the rear seat bottom. There's still some final clean up that needs to be done on both.



And with plans to run a center exit exhaust, I figured I would shave the side exit while the valance was still off and sitting around the shop.