FC UTE, NO PANTS

[weedy-burton]

Just thought I'd post a few pic's of the ute with its passenger side quater pannel off;


Pants on


Pants off

Took nearly 2 days to get it off drilling and air chiseling the spot welds trying to do as little damage as possible so as to minimise the amount of repairs when putting it back on.Hopefully I'll get the other one off by the end of next week so I can run up to rare spares and get some sills.

Cheers
Weedy

[mcl1959]

Weedy, top effort - its not until you do this that you realise just how hard it is to do.
May I suggest supporting the car in a number of places whilst working on it in this fashion or welding in a brace or 2 to keep the body from bending.

Also consider putting back (or at lease tacking on) the first quarter before removing the other one.
Quite a lot of flexing and bending will go on while you are working on the second quarter if the first is not returned, especially if you are going to take off the sills as well.

Maybe you could also consider a set of floor to point measurements so that before and after are the same.

Hope this helps - keep up the good work.

Ken

[weedy-burton]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll take your advice about leaving the the other quater on till this side is finnished (sill and all ). I took about 10 measurements in and around the ute before I started and actually screwed the pannel on in verious places so that when it goes back on it's in exactly the same position as before.I had a couple of those old screw type bottle jacks under the middle of the ute packed up on various bits of wood,but by the time I had all that timber under there there was'nt any room for me so I took them out care fully to make some RHS stands to weld to them.It's supported under the front X-member (subframe removed)  that goes up and around the trans tunnel and under the rear chasis,I didnt think it'd flex much untill I took the sills off but now you've got me worried (a good thing) so Im going to go out and chuck a couple of floor jacks under there till I can finnish the stands tomorrow.

Cheers weedy

[4hammers]

Top advice Ken.
I found out the hard way when fitting a new sill panel to my first FC sedan 10 years ago. Jacked up the front, jacked up the rear, cut it off, welded a new one on, & from that time forward, the doors NEVER shut properly, or lined up at all
The whole side seems to have stretched
I had put so much effort into the car, I was devastated & swapped the bloody thing for a VH commodore wagon :-/
That won't happen again!
Rob J

[RET]

Shown in weedy's photos but not commented on is another excellent idea for anyone embarking on a project like this - a punching bag kept very handy

cheers
RET

[weedy-burton]

Ive been using the bag to bang my head on when Im having trouble with something on the ute, or trying to explain to the wife ( at least three times a week ) why I need to spend money restoring a 45 year old car when there's, Quote "a perfectly good 3 year old one in the driveway". Its a bit softer than the brick wall I was previously using.

Weedy

[customFC]

Hey Weedy.
I see this is not the first FC ute you've disected. Love the wall art in the background. Good luck with your project.
Regards
Alex

[weedy-burton]

I thought I might use this thread as my build up/progress thread in the hope that it'll give me some incentive to pull my finger out and have the ute ready for paint this summer.I'll kick it off with a couple of pic's of my cowl vent (supplied by slim) repair.
out with the old

in with the new


Will hopefully have some sill and quater replacement pics in yhe next couple of weeks.

Weedy