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  • Originally posted by DanStokes View Post

    Or, evidently, you could but a box of Bondo spreaders and a case of RTV.
    On the Riviera you're supposed to pull the dash and defroster assembly to replace the heater core despite the firewall suitcase... so like most others of it's type mine has the hole cut at the corners so you bend the firewall out of the way and pull it out the engine bay. Then you RTV the cuts over and call it done...

    Floors are already in the car and welded in but I'm not happy with the lap weld part so keep thinking about redoing that bit.
    Central TEXAS Sleeper
    USAF Physicist

    ROA# 9790

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    • Yes but Lennie was welding on mostly if not all brand new metal. You're working on what 45 plus year old British water soluble steel. I still have a difficult time with that stuff. Look at the welds on my new stuff, they look good. Look at the welds on the mini on the floor pan and you'll see areas where the backside is fugly! Little bits of 0.023 wire sticking thru, and weld snots hanging off here and there. So don't beat yourself up. Leave that for all of us

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      • Originally posted by dave.g.in.gansevoort View Post
        Yes but Lennie was welding on mostly if not all brand new metal. You're working on what 45 plus year old British water soluble steel. I still have a difficult time with that stuff. Look at the welds on my new stuff, they look good. Look at the welds on the mini on the floor pan and you'll see areas where the backside is fugly! Little bits of 0.023 wire sticking thru, and weld snots hanging off here and there. So don't beat yourself up. Leave that for all of us

        One word: Grinder. Or die grinder as the case may be.

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        • Probably the worst place I ever tried to lay a bead. I considered removing the radio holder section but decided that would be more trouble than it was worth and came up with a process (standing on my head rubbing my tummy, etc) to get the repair in place. Here you go:

          After yesterday's repair here's what it looked like: I had trimmed up the rust by cutting it with an oxidizing flame on a number 2 oxy-acetylene welding tip - basically, a deliberatly bad gas weld. There was no way to get a grinder or cutter in there.


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          I was able to, with great difficulty, weld the curved part of the repair from the outside thru the hole I cut to fix the outside part of the heater box (there's the inside panel that I'm working on, an outside panel that is partially cut away in this pic, and an inside piece that seems OK). It's an especially ugly weld but again I'm welding in a hole with horrible access so I'm just pleased to have it all glued together!

          The perspective is weird in this pic but the round hole near the center of the pic is at the top of the forward area of the transmission tunnel if that helps.


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          And here's the best pic I could get of the finished repair. I'll seal this with furnace caulk just to be sure. Again, most of this weld was a stinker, too. I think I have a few areas where I can improve the weld.



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          Last edited by DanStokes; November 14, 2022, 06:23 PM.

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          • The heater box is proving to be a much longer term project than expected. Today I pretty much got the intermediate plate back to useful (if indeed it ever was) and have the final cover piece almost fabricated - this is the sheetmetal that covers the bottom of the heater box and was shown in the first heater box pic a few posts ago. Tomorrow I'll weld-thru prime the snot out of the inside and weld the bottom in place. I'll be able to paint at least some of the inside of the heater area so here's hoping that between the primer and whatever paint I can squirt in there it won't immediately rot.


            Before, but with as much of the rust trimmed off as possible:

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            And with the repair welded in place. That arc in the bottom (the part sticking up) is there to provide clearance for the transmission bell housing and there's some chance the new trans wouldn't fit if I didn't reproduce that curve so there it is. I welded the repair in place, cut the arc into it, and welded in a flange across the bottom (top in this pic as the car's upside-down) to stiffen it and to allow rosette welds to hold the whole thing together.


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            • Finally got the heater box back to functional. What a PITA!!! All that's left is to install a hose from the cowl drain area thru the outer box.

              I went ahead and primed and painted inside before welding the bottom on. I know some paint will get burned off but it's the best I can do for it. I'll make a best effort to respray inside there now that it's all in one piece. Here you can see the pipe that drains the cowl area - it's at the top right of the pic. It gets a hose from the pi[e out the hole you can see on the upper surface in this pic. At least, that's what I think is supposed to happen.......


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              The inside of the bottom piece, primed with weld-thru primer prior to installation.


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              And all welded into place. This patch is modified to give a bit more transmission tunnel room - the stock sheet metal was shaped to conform to the curve then flattened out to hit the flat area toward the left. I figured more room was better in this application. I found another rusted-thru area, hence the extra patch at the right lower in this pic.


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              • You're making progress! As usual, you're making most of us look bad.

                I swear those things were made from pre rusted steel
                A.K.A. Brian
                Jack of many trades-master of none

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                • Originally posted by DirtyWhiteBoy View Post
                  You're making progress! As usual, you're making most of us look bad.

                  I swear those things were made from pre rusted steel
                  LOL,
                  PreRusted Steel......
                  Suzuki copied this same business platform
                  On the Samurai !!
                  The inside side of panels have No Paint !!
                  So the bodies or panels were Not "Primer Dipped" either!!
                  They rust from the inside out.

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                  • Originally posted by DirtyWhiteBoy View Post
                    You're making progress! As usual, you're making most of us look bad.

                    I swear those things were made from pre rusted steel
                    Yes. Yes the are!

                    I find it interesting how stout the body structure is even though they never figured how to keep them from rusting. The bodies were made by a company called Pressed Steel in England and was MG's first unibody so they over-engineered the snot out of it. Because of that the cars remain driveable even with the sill structure rotted away - the trans tunnel is enough to keep the front and back connected. With a stronger rearend they can take the power from an LS (it's been done) and stay together.

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                    • Originally posted by DanStokes View Post

                      Yes. Yes the are!

                      I find it interesting how stout the body structure is even though they never figured how to keep them from rusting. The bodies were made by a company called Pressed Steel in England and was MG's first unibody so they over-engineered the snot out of it. Because of that the cars remain driveable even with the sill structure rotted away - the trans tunnel is enough to keep the front and back connected. With a stronger rearend they can take the power from an LS (it's been done) and stay together.
                      That building it like a tank might have been part of why they rusted so much. So many areas that could not get primer/paint after burnt together. And water will always find a way in.

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                      • Originally posted by 2020 mustang View Post

                        That building it like a tank might have been part of why they rusted so much. So many areas that could not get primer/paint after burnt together. And water will always find a way in.
                        True. I plan to go into the ends of the rocker boxes on each side of the center membrane with the grease (actually wool wax) style undercoating so I can thoroughly seal that structure from the inside. Then I'll conjure up a Voodoo Goddess to keep the rust away. One of those might work!

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                        • Drains and cavity wax....
                          Patrick & Tammy
                          - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

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                          • In keeping with my promise to limit reporting on this side I'll just say that I've started fitting the new English sheet metal (still not sure if sheetmetal should be one word or two - maybe a poll is in order). This side's a bit different with the full-length inner rocker but I'm working it in.

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                            • Sheet Metal; pronounced ...."TIN"
                              Found on the Periodic Table of Elements.
                              Malleable to almost single Atom thickness......
                              As in British Automotive Parts.

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                              • Originally posted by Captain View Post
                                Sheet Metal; pronounced ...."TIN"
                                Found on the Periodic Table of Elements.
                                Malleable to almost single Atom thickness......
                                As in British Automotive Parts.
                                Naw. Tin doesn't rust as badly.

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