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The Perfect Tool
This goes out to all
you guys who have seen the rows of weird vise grips that you
always wondered "who would ever need that?"
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Close-Up
One of the tricks
to a good weld is keeping the metals in tight contact. If there
is a gap, the weld spits and sputters leaving an ugly seam. The
screws and the Vice Grips really do a nice job.
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Big Improvement
Fixing the luggage
compartment was certainly a load off my mind. This was the most
obvious and extensively rusted part of the car.
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All Welded
In
The whole compartment
has now been replaced. The original factory ribs are nice, but
not really that important to the appearance of the lower surface.
This whole area will be covered by carpet.
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Working at Night
It seems that working
during the day is out. Too many little business projects on the
go. My routine now involves working from about 7pm-10pm, three
nights a week. Many of you may know that I stopped watching television
nearly 10 years ago, I think this is a better use of my free
time.
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Inside Seams
Although I don't know
why it exists, there is a small tray on the inside of the engine
compartment on the driver's side. The next couple of pictures
shows how I went about rebuilding it using the old one as a pattern.
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Tracing It out
I carefully drilled
out the spot welds and removed the old tray from the car. I then
transferred it's shape onto a new piece of steel and cut it out
with the air chisel.
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Back in Place
With the help of those
wacky Vice-Grips, I repositioned and welded the new tray in place.
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