Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

With the engine bay all sealed up and a couple of coats of enamel on that, it was time to start the re-assembly process.  Step one: get those wheels back on.  That means axles, suspension, shocks, and steering.  The front assemblies went together pretty smoothly.

To complete the assembly, required the steering assembly.  More on that later.

Oddly enough, the rear suspension, which is much less complicated, took more work.  It wasn't exactly easy to fit the four washers, and align the main bushing bolt all whilst lifting the entire rear axle and drum brake assembly above my head.  Then the main bolt kept wanting to strip itself - until it finally occurred to me that I had cleaned the parts so well they were bone dry, without any lubrication.  That big old bolt and nut had enough surface area that the resulting friction was essentially acting to heat weld themselves together.  A little WD-40 and a new universal joint for the socket wrench for better access made a world of difference.

Then I had to figure out those pesky stop straps - how long are they really supposed to be, and how to adjust them?  The originals were both torn, but by fitting the pieces together and backing off the distance specified in my repair manual I had a reasonable guess at the optimum mounting length.  Because I could not find replacement straps for a Saab, I purchased a set designed for a Volvo of the same vintage.  These were slightly shorter and wider than stock, but worked out to have just the length required.  I think the originals deteriorated so badly in part because they were installed too tightly.  Anyway, the result looks pretty secure.

With the new shocks in place, it was time to move on to something new.  While I was focused on the wheels, I figured I'd complete the braking system.  The biggest challenge here was cutting, bending and flaring all the hard lines.  After struggling through half of the lines, my flaring tool broke.  The replacement was much better, and the remaining lines were a breeze (when I remembered to put the fittings on and in the right orientation).

Of course you can't have brakes without a pedal to push!

One of the first projects completed after the disassembly (last spring) was to rebuild the clutch and brake master cylinders, so both were bolted back to the firewall.  With my daughter pumping the pedal, the bleeding process was completed, and the few leaks found eventually sealed successfully.  The car may not go yet, but it can stop!

In the photo above, you can see the master cylinders at bottom right, the steering gears above, and some of the brake lines.

The emergency brakes went in without a hitch.

After several months upside down and up on blocks, it was actually a shock to see the car riding low and beginning to resemble a car again.  (And for my wife to be able to park in the garage again!)

Baby Steps

Well, I missed getting pictures of the seam sealer before the undercoating went on (or the undercoat itself for that matter).  Here's a sample of the finished product though.

All the joints sealed up tightly, a nice, consistent color and texture, and ready (almost) for some reassembly.

Part of the hold-up, once again, was waiting on optimal paint conditions.  I finally got wise, and installed a window AC unit in the garage, so the humidity issues are a thing of the past, and it is a LOT more comfortable in there now!  The special primer went on all the last few loose parts, and then (after a light sanding) a coat of enamel.

While I waited for parts to dry, I got the wheel hubs and rear brake drum assemblies back together.

So far, no major trauma, though the retainer clips for the front brake pistons had me scratching my head for an afternoon.  I also broke off a bolt in one of the rear hub assemblies and had to extract/replace it.  

Now the critical path is to complete the seam sealer work on the topside of the car so the topcoat of paint can go on in the engine bay and trunk.  The interior of the car will all be covered up with carpet, so no need to topcoat in there.  As you can see below, I've already gotten the seams sealed at both sides of the firewall, and am working my way back to the trunk.  The grills are masked off in the engine bay to keep the undercoat on the exterior only.

  

I am doing a little experiment with the rocker panels.  Because these historically trap moisture, which leads to corrosion, I have drilled a 1/2" hole at each end of the interior side of the rockers - inside the front door pillars, and behind the rear seat baffle.  I'm hoping that if the rockers can "breathe" a little, it will slow the corrosion process when the inevitable moisture gets in there.

Back to the future?

Now that things are not quite as crazy at the office, I have been making progress again on the car.  She is now bottoms-up again, and has gotten a nice thick coat of the primer on this side.  I have also done a little bondo work to ensure all the little pinholes are closed and it is ready for undercoating.

I have also been masking off around all of the panel seams in preparation for application of the seam sealer.  The original seam sealer seams to have been installed with a piece of old lumber and a broken fork, but I thought I'd tidy it up a bit this time.  The result reminds me a lot of the movie Tron, which has a sequel coming out soon.  Little known fact:  Frank Serafine, the sound effects guru for the movie, put a microphone inside a Saab Sonett engine bay and drove around the Hollywood hills and the resulting engine noises were used throughout the movie.

Oooooo Shiny!

After about 10 hours of sanding and 6 hours of painting with a 2" brush, this is the result:

The exterior side of the rear wheel wells and the floor bottom are still unpainted.  I will turn it bottoms-up this week to finish it off, but the bulk of the tricky work is done.  The rust encapsulation paint is brush-on only: hard to get into some of those tight spaces, but the finish is very hard and smooth.  This coat is only a primer, and there is a fair bit of body filler work to be done.  I have decided to only use filler where there are still pinholes in the metal or the finished chassis will be exposed to view, but to let her retain her "battle scars" under her clothing.

Rust-B-Gone

Work is definitely cutting into my car time lately!

Last weekend was 99* and 55% humidity, which works out to a heat index of something like 120.5*.  All the same, I was able to work in the shop: getting a little painting done on some interior components like seat rails, heater fan shroud, door hinges, emergency brake handle, etc.  Also finished painting most of the brake components with the high temp caliper paint.

Today was a few degrees cooler and the first clear day in a week, so I took the oportunity to wire brush the car and remove the last of the old seam sealer.  After a quick vacuum, the rust killer went on and -voila'- no more rust!

My son took the before photos, and helped with the wire brushing and rust treatment.  The frame had been out in the rain for a week, so it had picked up a light haze of rust everywhere.  However, the wire-brushing had to be done anyway to remove weld splatter, paint and other "bits" not removed by the sandblasting - so the exposure to the elements did not add any additional work to the process.

Everything is now a nice hard coat of grey or black.  A light sanding, and it will be ready for paint:

Rockin' and Rollin'

The welding is completed!  The new rocker went in without too much fuss.  I took a lot of measurements before tacking it in place so hopefully it is straight, true, and in relatively correct alignment.  I had to trim a little of the interior baffles to get a good fit.  This is another view depicting the extent of floor board that had to be replaced before the rocker could go on:

The rear wheel well repairs and end cap:

Down the length of the rocker:

And from the top.  I had to fabricate some new angles to re-secure the stiffener beam to the floor panels:

Sheet Metal Mayhem

I had to take a few days off due to a nasty sheet metal cut.  It is healing nicely, so I'm back to the 'ol grind(er).

The driver's side is in much worse shape than the rest of the car.  The car was in a collision on this side, which destroyed the rear door pillar  (which was replaced - poorly) and bent other portions of the body, primarily the rear wheel well.  When the pillar was replaced, the remaining bent sections were not straightened or reattached to it, so


in wet weather, the wheel would throw water through the gap.  The gap drained directly into the rocker panel, which held the water like a bathtub.  This not only destroyed the rocker, but because the gap also allowed water penetration to the interior of the cabin, the floor boards were frequently wet, with the carpet retaining that moisture for long                                                                                                     periods of time.

It took a lot of measuring, straining and persuasion, but I finally got the wheel well back to something close to the correct shape and reattached it to the door pillar.  Note that the flange at far right that closes to the fiberglass body was trimmed back because it was not fitted properly.  I still need to recreate the proper flange shape.  The remaining rust-holed areas have been removed in preparation for the outer rocker panel replacement.

The front wheel well, has similarly been prepped.

A strip of floor board the entire length of the rocker panel had to be replaced , as well as a larger portion at the confluence of the floor panels at the center of the car.  The old rocker assembly has been completely  removed (inner and outer panels and both end caps).

I received the replacement rocker pieces yesterday (Thanks RG!) and have installed the inner half.  I still need to do a little more patchwork at the front wheel well before I can install the outer half and end caps.