Working on Getting Things Right Jun 11, 2003
Work has been progressing quickly on the Project Midget. In the past month, we've completely disassembled the car following a thorough inspection. We've been very pleased with the overall condition of the car and it came apart much easier than most of the cars we see up here in Michigan.
The car is now a bare shell surrounded by boxes of parts on shelves and a pile of fenders and doors in the corner.
During the disassembly, we found several surprises. There was more rust than we'd expected. We found small rust holes in the floors, trunk floor, one fender, and one rear quarter panel. The lower door hinge mounts are very weak, and the battery box had been rusted and poorly repaired by a previous owner. None of this rust is terminal, and we'll be showing you how we make the repairs.
We found some other surprises. At some point, part of the gearbox tunnel around the shifter and radio console had been cut away, then fiberglassed back into place. The convertible top mounting area in the rear scuttle has been repaired for some reason with a combination of body filler, extra-thin sheet metal, and pop-rivets. We won't know why until we strip the paint.
In the coming weeks we'll be stripping the paint as well as starting the mechanical restoration on some of the parts waiting on the shelves.
Figuring Things Out Jul 3, 2003
As you can see from the inspection checklist, we've identified a large amount of weak or bad areas to address on the Midget. We'll be using this information to start planning parts orders and deciding what to save.
We've also been disassembling various subassemblies that we previously removed. We've pulled the gauges from the dash, disassembled the doors, etc.
These pictures show the left side of the front suspension.
The right side came apart like butter--a rare treat with a Midget. The left side was more typical. The lower fulcrum pin on the stub axle/kingpin assembly had seized to the kingpin. The mounting area in the A-arm was also damaged, with several stress cracks.
We got out our biggest torch tip (the Mighty Rosebud), but even that couldn't unseize the pin. Time to cut.
We'll be rebuilding the stub axles/kingpins and installing bigger brakes. While the A-arm can be repaired, we'll most likely just get a new one. Why take chances?
More Stripping Aug 7, 2003
We've stripped just about all the paint, bondo, and assorted goo from the Midget and we keep finding surprises--many in strange places.
Up here in Michigan, we're used to the bottom 12 inches of cars being rusted away. Much of the Midget's rust is up high. It must have spent quite a bit of time near the ocean, as this kind of rust seems more common in areas where there is salt air.
As the pictures show, there is rust at the leading edge of the hood. We rarely see that in Michigan. The detail picture shows rust at the base of the convertible top. We never see that in Michigan. Not only had the top area rusted, but some previous repairs were completed that made the area worse over time. There was also some rust in both A-pillars and the left rocker panel. We see that all the time in Michigan.
Despite of all this, we're still calling this a solid restoration candidate. Even with the little bit of rust in the rocker panels, the car is in excellent structural shape. So we'll be working a little harder, but we're not worried.
Working on the Bottom Oct 1, 2003
With the Midget tub sandblasted, we're ready to start working on the rust. We've decided to replace the entire floor, including the trunk floor. Even though the panels were all pretty much in tact, they had enough "swiss cheese" to them that replacement is going to be easier than repair.
While we could have used a fancy rotisserie, we went the low-buck route to gain access to the underside of the car. A couple of 2x4s cut, drilled and mounted in the right spots are helping hold the car upside down while we work on the floor. We've left the doors on through the process so that we can check the gaps and make sure they stay straight.
Once flipped upside down, we started cutting the passenger side floor out with an air chisel. We also used an electric 4-inch grinder in some spots. After a few hours of noisy work, we ended up with one floor removed and ready for replacement.
We'll weld in the replacement floor (sourced from Moss Motors) before we start cutting anything else apart. We've always felt it's best to keep as much as the car intact at a time as possible.
Welding in the Floors Oct 9, 2003
We've welded in both floor panels. After completely cutting out the left side and cleaning all the mounting areas, we fitted the new panel to the tub. We trimmed one side of the panel to appropriately fit the gearbox tunnel. Then we drilled a series of holes in the floor panel for rosette (plug) welds, which simulate the factory spot welds. Using our 110 Volt HTP 140 MIG welder, we welded the panel to the car.
After welding and grinding, we repeated the process on the other floor panel. As you can see, the panels are now in place and have a factory look.
Now we're ready to tackle the trunk floor, which was also swiss-cheesed.
We again used our air chisel and grinders to quickly remove the floor for replacement.