Seasons' Grindings and Happy New Gear!

Why do we love Christmas break?

Because we can work on the car of course!

Since my last post a gust of wind picked up the bonnet and flipped it over, breaking out a small chunk of fiberglass and creating yet another break to repair - this time right down the middle in front of the air scoop.

It was too depressing to keep working on that for the moment, so I pulled the doors out from under the blue tarp.  As usual they didn't look too bad until I started the disassembly process.  Upon removal of the door skins it became apparent that the internal steel frame on the drivers' side door had been smashed and patched (poorly).

Aside from several tears in the frame that were never repaired, two of the braces had been flattened, thus loosing their structural integrity.  The shorter one, an 'L' shaped section was easily straightened.  The diagonal brace, however required a little more work.

Diagonal brace (center) and Corner brace (foreground)

Compare to Passenger door

First I cut the brace loose from the frame and beat it flat.  Then I placed it over the bench vise with the jaws slightly opened and placed a wooden dowel over the plate.  By beating the dowel it formed the bar to a half-round shape.  Pinching the assembly between the jaws of the vice completed the process.

Next, after removing the dowel and raising the channel half way in the vice I was able to beat each side down flat to create the flanges.  The resulting cross section resembles the Greek letter omega.

Here's the frame after beating all the various sides flat, welding the tears, and re installing the diagonal brace:

I have since wire brushed all the parts and run them through a de-greaser solution.

I also received a welcome Christmas package in the post:

The Pistons are Here!

The oversize pistons have arrived.  I've conveyed them to the machine shop, and am told I will have the bored block and heads with newly set valve seats early this week!

Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year to all!