388 replies to this topic

[SmacT]

Bastard thing. Can you weld a washer on the top and use a slide hammer? Or a bearing puller tool?

[Bruiser]

I had a hassle getting a timing gear off a 202 crank a while back.
Wasn’t weeks, but it was 3 or 4 days at least
Did the wd40 every day like you, and heat ( just a 2000w heat gun) and still no joy
She cracked when I used the heat gun on the gear and compressed air on the crank snout
That compressed air is pretty cold
like it cooled and shrank the inner and expanded the outer.
Could have been the days of wd40 I suppose, but it may be worth a try

[4dabush]

Ohhh…as Bruiser says, you can also try a can of Freeze Spray, tool shops/Jaycar/Roadtech marine sell them and try the same. The freeze spray might get the temp down that tiny bit more. You are probably already doing it, but maybe a pair of vice grips to try and twist too? Do you have the hinge removal tool, that might help but you’ll see plenty on here who’ve ended up cutting the hinge off.  Hope it doesn’t get to that. 

For your front windscreen, I used the left and right plenum repair patches from Rare Spares and bought a HT,G,K rear window repair patch that I then cut and modified to fit. Was a lot of messing around, but with a bit of dollying off the car, got to the right shape with a split in the middle of the vents. It was a helpful starting point, that’s about all.  I was fortunate that my rust was mostly superficial and limited to the outer plenum skin, so I still had 2 layers of the inner window frame edge to work against. Then got in from the heater vent panels and sealed it with seam sealer, couple of goes, then KBS’d it a couple of times using all sorts of long brushes and little rollers to get in up everywhere. Used a bike light as a torch (skinny and bright as f) and a mechanics mirror to look down inside the plenum to ensure everything was sealed properly.  The HT,G,K panel ‘might’ help.  
 

You asked about seam sealers…I didn’t see any reply’s but talk to your automotive paint suppliers. You will want what is compatible with your system. I can’t remember, but I think mine was a Soudal product. For all the inside resealing and the gutters I bought an air driven sealant gun. Much easier to get a neat job. Mine was during COVID so about every second tube was stale and gone off before I opened it. Frustrating when you think ‘this weekend I will get xxx done’,  and the product doesn’t work.  My supplier was having all sorts of problems with everything at that time. Even different brands. 
 

And if you look on my thread on the bit of stuff going on under the dash, I wasn’t sure if you were asking about the hole or the rusty marks under the seam sealer.  If it’s under the seam sealer, you might be lucky. My car was sealed on one side and not properly on the other…missed on the assembly line!  Looked similar to yours and was ok once the old sealer was removed.  Cleaned it, treated it, painted, sealed and repainted.. I spent about a day removing sealer even though my car had been sandblasted! Just patience and different picks, scribes and paint scrapers. 

You are doing well. 

 

 

[S pack]

Cheers fellas,

 

I've been hammering this hinge pin for a few weeks now and the bloody thing still hasn't moved.  Tried heating it up with the MAPP torch but that didn't seem to help so I may need to get the plumber around with his Oxy set to get some real heat into it.  Otherwise I'll just keep getting the WD onto it every day and hope it doesn't waste a whole lot more of my time...

 

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Have you tried driving the pin in a little bit rather than pulling it out? 
 

[yel327]

Bloody stupid Euro design! Holdens had bolt on hinges until we started build Euro stuff again. No straight shot at it from below with a BIG hammer and drift?

[Rockoz]

I remember one of my panel beater mates having a special tool for doing the pins.

It was a pretty big bit of gear and he used a short handled sledge hammer to belt the tool to get the pins out.

Even 30 years ago they were a pain to remove.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[S pack]

I remember one of my panel beater mates having a special tool for doing the pins.

It was a pretty big bit of gear and he used a short handled sledge hammer to belt the tool to get the pins out.

Even 30 years ago they were a pain to remove.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

Made a door pin removal tool back in the 80's. Shown in the LC Workshop manual how to make it, if memory serves me correctly.
 

Edited by S pack, 26 June 2024 - 12:27 PM.

[stevemc32]

Thanks fellas, you're a bunch of deadset legends.  With those awesome suggestions and plenty more hammering and spraying and twisting I finally saw it move just the tiniest bit and worked it till that bugger was out.  I'm super glad to have not had to cut the hinge off, I really didn't want to go there.

 

Reversing the slide hammer got it in the end but I did do some damage to the sill in the process.  Gotta cut most of that off anyway so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

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The rust in there behind the top hinge looks to be through both the inner and outer part of the A-pillar.  The guard will definitely have to come off for that to be fixed properly.  Not surprising given the holes above in the cowl panel.  Different rust pattern from the passenger side, this one is the top section where the passenger side was rusted on the bottom of the A-pillar.

 

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The sill and driver side door are both similar to the passenger side but just not as far gone.  Same sort of repairs though so here comes another 6 months of work!!  I'm relieved to have the door off though, it really was annoying to be wasting time on it.

[yel327]

If you'd been around 20 years ago, I could have given you 2 x Monaro GTS bodies to play with! I cut up a blue HK GTS and a HG GTS350 (as they were too rusty!) and neither were as rusty as that! The HK was rusty as it sat on the ground, I still have the roof and firewall as they were rust free, but it was rusted up into the floor and sills from the grass and soil it was on. Plus it was only a 6cyl car and it was blue with blue trim so to me (back then) undesirable and not worth saving.

[stevemc32]

Ha, yeah I sent a 2 door LJ to the scrapyard about 25 years ago and it was nowhere near as bad as this one too.  If only!

[stevemc32]

Ohhh…as Bruiser says, you can also try a can of Freeze Spray, tool shops/Jaycar/Roadtech marine sell them and try the same. The freeze spray might get the temp down that tiny bit more. You are probably already doing it, but maybe a pair of vice grips to try and twist too? Do you have the hinge removal tool, that might help but you’ll see plenty on here who’ve ended up cutting the hinge off.  Hope it doesn’t get to that. 

For your front windscreen, I used the left and right plenum repair patches from Rare Spares and bought a HT,G,K rear window repair patch that I then cut and modified to fit. Was a lot of messing around, but with a bit of dollying off the car, got to the right shape with a split in the middle of the vents. It was a helpful starting point, that’s about all.  I was fortunate that my rust was mostly superficial and limited to the outer plenum skin, so I still had 2 layers of the inner window frame edge to work against. Then got in from the heater vent panels and sealed it with seam sealer, couple of goes, then KBS’d it a couple of times using all sorts of long brushes and little rollers to get in up everywhere. Used a bike light as a torch (skinny and bright as f) and a mechanics mirror to look down inside the plenum to ensure everything was sealed properly.  The HT,G,K panel ‘might’ help.  
 

You asked about seam sealers…I didn’t see any reply’s but talk to your automotive paint suppliers. You will want what is compatible with your system. I can’t remember, but I think mine was a Soudal product. For all the inside resealing and the gutters I bought an air driven sealant gun. Much easier to get a neat job. Mine was during COVID so about every second tube was stale and gone off before I opened it. Frustrating when you think ‘this weekend I will get xxx done’,  and the product doesn’t work.  My supplier was having all sorts of problems with everything at that time. Even different brands. 
 

And if you look on my thread on the bit of stuff going on under the dash, I wasn’t sure if you were asking about the hole or the rusty marks under the seam sealer.  If it’s under the seam sealer, you might be lucky. My car was sealed on one side and not properly on the other…missed on the assembly line!  Looked similar to yours and was ok once the old sealer was removed.  Cleaned it, treated it, painted, sealed and repainted.. I spent about a day removing sealer even though my car had been sandblasted! Just patience and different picks, scribes and paint scrapers. 

You are doing well. 

 

 

I did see that you used the rear window patch panel on your thread Adam and thought that might be a bit easier.  I've already got the two cowl end repair panels and I'm just hoping that the centre section isn't in too bad a shape for now.

 

I think the rusty section on the passenger side under the plenum is a hole but I haven't scraped all the sealer off yet to check it out.  I will be taking the guard off now so that should give me a chance to check it from the outside as well.  Thanks for the info on the seam sealer.  Haven't really thought about a finishing system as I was just planning a quick spray over the sections that I'd stuffed up just to stop it rusting again...

[stevemc32]

Not much time for getting angry at Torana's lately but started on removing the driver side front guard.  It's pretty smashed up in the front and the nose cone looks shot too.

 

Got about half the spots drilled out along the top of the guard but need to take the bonnet off to get the rest of them.  I considered just cutting it off but thought it might be worth saving.

 

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[stevemc32]

Guard is off, no real surprises underneath.  I did find a small hole that goes through to the cabin in what I believe is the same location as the one discussed before on the passenger side top corner of the firewall.

 

I removed the rusted section of the outer A-pillar but I think I'll have to take a much bigger section out of it so I can repair the inner properly.  The lower half looks pretty good down to the top of the sill.

 

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[stevemc32]

Took a little more out of the A-pillar outer skin to get a better look at the inner and got it fixed up.

 

Also had a bit of a closer look at the driver side sill today and it looks pretty familiar.  It's in a bit better condition across the middle of the sill but both front and back will need the same repairs as the passenger side.  Onto the inner sill first.

 

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[stevemc32]

Was working on the inner sill today and figured it might be easier to do the firewall brace beforehand so the inner sill isn't in the way.  Pretty poor previous repair on this, basically just duct tape over the rust and then covered in body deadener.  The outer sills both had the same treatment.

 

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[stevemc32]

Patched up the rust behind the firewall support bracket and then got a replacement sort of welded on.

 

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This is the result of my overhead welding attempts.  Just kept making little balls of steel that would fall back into the welding torch shroud.  I did a bit of googling and found that upping the wire speed should help which it did a little but I still kept making little balls...  So the welding on the rear side of the brace is pretty crap but it should stay together.

 

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As with pretty much everything I done so far on the rust, repairing one section inevitably leads to finding another part that has holes in it.  This is someone else's work that could use a bit of tidying up and needs to be extended along the rail.

 

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[stevemc32]

I really really didn't want to look inside the chassis rail on this side.  I was hoping to just patch up a couple of spots and move on. 

 

When I cut a piece out of the previous repair to fix it up I found it was only about 0.5mm thick material.  Kinda felt like heavy tin foil, so it had to come off.  The inside was pretty horrible, the crush tube itself was still mostly intact but the legs on it were gone.  Dicked around for a while making up a couple of new pieces and got it put back together.  It's certainly not pretty but I think it'll be a bit more useful than that which existed before it. 

 

My overhead welding has improved just slightly but there's still a long way to go.  I do think I'm getting much quicker at making up replacement parts for rust holes though so that's something.  This was a pretty big diversion from the inner sill that I was originally working on but I should be able to get back to it now.

 

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[4dabush]

Steve, what gas are you using on the mig? I’m far from an expert, I am sure some decent welders can chip in, but I use Argo shield gas and get the occasional drop of weld, but mostly it’s pretty good.  I did have an old SIP welder that dies and swapped to a new CIG and that was night and day difference. SIP welders had a bit of a reputation and didn’t realise how bad it was. I  find wire speed up a bit helps, with the voltage up a tiny bit too, then pulling the tip away from the work surface a bit also helps, (as well as both surfaces and earth being as clean as possible). I also use some anti splatter spray in the shield and on the tip and that seems to help a little too. It also helps the balls not stick to your shield. So with the right gas and a few little bits that help, it might help a lot.  For some of the awkward welds for cleaning up, I used a die grinder and a power file. It’s slow but can get into places a 4inch grinder can’t. Also sometimes used grinding wheels/flappy discs in a drill. They can sometimes get into other positions. Flappy discs on the grinder were good too.
Cheers 

Adam. 

[stevemc32]

Cheers Adam, thanks for the tips.

 

I'm just using an Argon mix from Speedgas I think it is, pretty much the same as the old Argoshield as far as I'm aware.  Was reading about wire speed too and I need to do some practice on some scrap welding into a 90 degree corner, I tend to get stuck on the sides without reaching the join in the corner.

 

Never heard of anti-spatter spray so I'll check that out for sure.  I'd also love to get myself one of those power files, reckon they look pretty good and could definitely see the benefits of adding one to the toolbox.  I decided to intentionally leave 2 or 3 mm of the weld on these parts just to make sure they held up ok if my penetration wasn't as good as I'd hoped.  They'll just be covered in stone guard anyway so don't think it'll stick out too much.

[stevemc32]

Spent the morning up at Toranafest and was keen to keep moving on when I got home.

 

Got the driver's side inner sill welded up after a few days of getting it to the right shape.  I think I'm making some progress on my welding as it didn't take anywhere as near as long to get this side done as the passenger side and the penetration is starting to look much better.  Made a crap load of little steel balls again and it still turns to shit as soon as I hit a rusty part but the job's done.  I'll clean the welds up a bit and trim off the bottom next, then start thinking about the outer sill.

 

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[gtrboyy]

Went Toranafest too for motivation & check out panel fitments with cousin...every car was different but was glad to see when went back to look at my gtr in his shed could see all the hours put in was paying off.

Keep at it!!!!

[stevemc32]

Went Toranafest too for motivation & check out panel fitments with cousin...every car was different but was glad to see when went back to look at my gtr in his shed could see all the hours put in was paying off.

Keep at it!!!!

Cheers gtrboyy, it certainly is good to see some progress.

 

Continued on with the front end of the sill over the last couple of days.  Little misalignment here, little shrink there.  Plenty of room for filler! 

 

It's on there though in what seemed like a lot less time than the passenger side so I can now move to the rear of the drivers side sill before getting into the floor pan.

 

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[stevemc32]

Underneath of the driver side sill was all crushed from being jacked at that point, just like the passenger side.

 

I thought about leaving it and just patching the rusty section but I couldn't stand it.  I'd already put a fair bit of effort into getting it back into place in the first photo but didn't get anywhere near where it needed to go so I cut the rusty part out and tried to pull it back down with a slide hammer.  That didn't work either so the rest of it had to come off.  I think the slide hammer blows were just being absorbed by the rear spring...

 

I don't feel I put as much love into remaking the rear sill end this time but it's there and should do the job.  Hopefully finish it off tomorrow then move onto the drivers floor.

 

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[claysummers]

Nice job Steve. I had a bit of a troll through your thread and saw the stuff on the VK injection. I’ll have to give it if a decent read as I may go that way too. I have an injected black motor sitting here. Also your variable throttle lever is just what I need for the SUs in my ute. Keep at it and keep posting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[yel327]

The Delco to VK EFI would be a reasonably easy conversion Clay. I can't remember the specifics (was like 1992 when I was playing with one), but you might be able to get away with the VK EST flywheel or flex plate using the standard VK EST sensor and bracket. Just need a hole in the top of the bellhousing for out to stick through (copy off a VK). The targets are 6deg BTDC for each pair of pistons. You should be able to program the Delco to use these for the EFI. They may even be able to be used for coil packs. The crank and/or cam position sensors are the hardest part of the conversion, apart from setting up a fuel system. So this could make it a whole lot easier.