Jboogsthethug

I guess it's been a few days, sorry I lied to you all haha. I've been working on the z every chance I get, I am almost finished with all the welding and I'm happy with the outcome so far. I may have touched on this in the past post but I've decided to shave the rear bumper indents on the side of the z. So far I've only welded the new plate on the passenger side (I tried to cut through the drivers side and then just pull it out, but I found out it overlaps the flooring on the inside of the body, so I had to re weld and the next step is clean that up and cover it up with a different sheet I've already cut out. I do feel a lot more confident in my welding abilities as time progresses, and after messing with the welder settings my brother and I think we've hit a good point (we are only using 110v so it's been tricky to figure out). I also took a few pictures to send to the guy who I plan on doing my body work, these are the mistakes that need fixing. I've been trying to get most of it out the old way, with a hammer, but I am not super proficient at it yet so I will keep trying. the one that worries me the most is probably the dent in the rear valance, that needs some pounding out. Am I a wuss for not wanting to get under my car and have all those cobwebs fall on me? haha I hate cobwebs. Spiders are ok, but when webs are on me I can't tell if a spider is lurking about and that's really what trips me out. I also started putting my new flare rivets into the body, I ordered them from pegasus racing, they're the 10/32 nuts I showed at teh end of my second post. they are kind of a pain, I have stripped a ton of bolts. I would recommend the lighter duty version, I got the heavier duty flanges or whatever and they are a pain to squish down. I'm going to weld an allen onto a bolt so it will work, that's where I'm at right now after stripping so many. they do come with a couple bolts in case you do strip them but not enough, and I bought some more from Cal-ranch (do they have that outside of utah?). as you can see by the third picture my bolts aren't holding up. anybody got a better way of doing these?? I also went through a few areas with a wire brush and one of those sponge looking brush things that don't last too long (but are amazing while they do last!). I went over a few spots on the outside that had surface rust beginning to form from me exposing the metal to weld, as well as the door jambs (I want to go over those more, some cancer still lurking there), and the rear hatch area. I had pulled out most of the dead and dry water proofing crap but the residue was still left over, so I wirebrushed the crap out of that and after I wirebrushed all the things I went over it with some spray can primer for the time being, to keep the rust gnomes at bay. These things, they're great. paint stripping brush? I also got around to doing the rear passenger flare a lot more. so far it's just tacked a bunch (tack it down, pound out the next inner flare area, tack that down, pound, tack, pound, etc.), my brother thinks we shouldn't weld the whole thing, rather leave it tacked as is and then use a sealant (I plan on the sealant either way, just for safety measures against water seeping through and rusting my fenders). What do you all think? Weld the whole way or just sealant the rest shut?? I also cut the excess off in preparation to finishing it up. looks a lot cleaner now! As you can see I used some 24 gauge metal to patch up some cancer! first time I've ever done patches, and I have yet to grind down the welds but I was pleased, although I would recommend 22 or 20 gauge for future reference, 24 seemed a little thin in comparison to the rest of the body's metal. I used my super fancy wrench to help bend the shape, I got it more refined than this before I installed, I was pleased with how it turned out! before: after: very cool stuff, this body work! anyways, That's all for now. I'm planning on finishing up both rear flares today, wish me luck. also, I've found these around the internet, very helpful little diagrams! figured I'd post them for reference. justice.