More Progress (1500 Project – 18)

More progress today on the 1500 project. I got the A-pillar rebuilt, and finished, and more finish welding and grinding on the rocker panels. Everything is getting pretty close.

One of the last projects that needed to be dealt with was the driver’s door. I am using the original 1500 door on the driver’s side of the car, and like nearly every 1500 door that I have seen (in the Northwest) it suffered from rust along the bottom edge of the door where it was wedged against the foam door weatherstrip that the 1500 cars used. (I have not had the same problem with the 1600/2000 cars):

The amazing thing is the rest of the door was clean and rust free!

I cut out the offending rust and made a new patch panel that matched the profile on the door and tacked it into place:

That was then welded and ground (still needs the last finish grind in this image):

A little body filler and it will be good to go…

The door had other issues though. At some point in its life, someone had taken a die grinder and made the holes oblong– who knows why. I decided to get the holes back in their stock locations for now, and if they need an adjustment when the car goes together, we can do that.

So how do you fix the holes that look like this? I am glad you asked… 

The easiest way to fill the edges of these types of holes is to use a thick chunk of aluminum as a backing plate (behind the hole). You want the backing material something that a typical wire welder won’t stick to– aluminum or copper works best. You want it thick as it will heat up pretty fast if you are doing multiple holes or many tack welds:

Wedge the aluminum behind the hole you want to fill, and do multiple tack welds to fill the side of the hole that is oblong. Try to maintain the original profile of the original hole so you know where it should be located. When you are done, it should look like this– not pretty, but it does not have to be, all you want to do is fill that hole! Use a 90-degree die grinder with a sharp bit to clean up the weld:

Go easy with the die grinder– they can get away from you pretty easily! When you are done, the holes should look like this:

Fixed! And there you have it! Hopefully I should have the metal work wrapped up tomorrow…