Preparing the couch for sandblasting

Its time to take the couch for a sand blasting to get rid of the old paint and remaining rust. But before doing so I will finish some details and strengthen the construction so that it will hopefully withstand the blasting. Also tried to remove some paint and rust protection mass to make it easier on the blaster.

I started by adding welds here and there and "boxing" the point where the backrest is welded to the car.

  There was a dent on the left side of the car. This was pulled out with a slide hammer.

I tried sanding the sides but the paint is really hard to remove.

Scraped off as much of the rust protection mass as possible using hot air gun and knife.

Made a plate to weld to the open end of the car to strengthen the sides. Didn't exactly let my imagination  run wild on the design...

First tacks in place. I try to weld as much as possible from inside also as most of the welds from outside will eventually be grinded away.

Cutting and grinding excessive material away. There are still holes in the seam so more tacks will be added until no visible holes are left.

 

As the wheels have bearings in them they where removed to avoid sand in the bearings and replaced by peace's wood. The chromed feet where protected with plastic and duct tape and the adjustable part was replaced by a bolt and a piece of wood. 

Ready to go!

Quarter panel repair.

The ambition level does not allow procurement of new quarter panels so I try to make the best of the situation by patching the current ones. 

This way of working requires a lot of welding! 

The corner is tricky!

It's not pretty but after some more welding and grinding and cutting I should be able to make it resemble stock.

I need to make a patch on the inner corner so I have something to weld in.