Thread: '56 hit by a deer this morning...

Tweet

Well, picked away at a few things this afternoon... I fabbed up that doubler plate for the floor to A pillar junction. This probably isn't needed but it will tie the floor and A pillars back together which is a good thing.

I won't weld this in until the floor is ready to go in.

I also dropped the floor back into place. Starting to fit the inner rocker to that and new outer. Running into an issue with the inner being a bit to short. The lower flange is not matching the new outer when it is fit up against the floor flange. You can see the mismatch in this pic.

You will ALSO notice the original front floor brace is in place. I guess my working with the jack and raising the front of the rocker has allowed the rocker and A pillar to come back up. The door still operates with a click so this is an unexpected happy moment!
Obviously I am going to have to do some tweaking to the brace to get it to snuggle up to the rocker but that is pretty standard fare with all of these braces...

I also came up with a Band-Aid to make the two rocker halves match up along the bottom. I will weld a strip to the bottom of the inner to extend it down to the outer flange. I made up those strips tonight and punched a bunch of holes for welding. This will work fine and it will make for a strong repair.

I made three pieces and will use most of them.

getting that brace in is a big deal! I was taking measurements to start fabbing the replacement brace but, when I realized the measurement was the same as the brace I slid it into place... Lots of saved time right here.
Thanks for following along!
Mark
On a side note:
I have been using that hand punch for a long time, 26 years or so. It was a gift from one of the best metal shapers in the business. Ron Fournier gave that to me back in '94 when I was doing some work for him. I was developing some photo etched pieces for him, grilles and suspension parts, for some large scale Indy Roadster models he was building. I hadn't talked to him since his wife, Sue, died in '03. I was looking to reach out to him tonight and I discovered he had passed in 2017.
It makes me sad to find this out but I am sure he is pounding and shaping away in a better place.
MAS