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.

Winter!

It's winter and the garage is unheated so progress has bin slow. We have had temperatures below minus 20 Celsius degrees. But I'm glad we finally have a "real" winter for a change.

Compared to February 2020 when the project was hauled home and the scenery looked completely different. Picture above is from almost same spot but from different angle.

When temperatures have been more durable some minor tasks have been attended to. Welded wheels and feet to a piece of profile that will be welded under the couch. The idea is to be able to lift from the rear bumper and move the couch on the wheels. The feet have an insert with treads that allow length adjustment of feet (inserts not shown on picture).

Temporary wheels removed and preparing for welding.

Mocked up. I was lazy when building this piece and welded everything. Future replacement of components not taken in consideration! 

The cut!

It's time! The couch will be cut to its final length. 

Started by making sure the "car" is in level with a spirit level. Then a construction laser level was set up to mark where the cut is to be made. 

Drew with a "thin" permanent marker a line where to make the cut. Same procedure was done on both sides of the car.

Before making the cut some additional supports are added.

Making the cut.

On the inside of the car the laser does not work so thread is used for marking where to make the cut. 

Separated!

Some more rust repairs.

 Before cutting the "car" I want to have "healthy" metal where the cut is made. Right side quarter panel is in bad shape. Tape shows where the cut is planned.

Shaping of this piece is mainly done by hand.
   

To check the shape I'm comparing repair piece to my car. Reshaping and comparing until I'm happy with the result.

Masking tape on backside of repair piece to not scratch the paint. 

Welding preparations.

I use a technique where I tack weld the repair piece on top of the damaged piece, this is just to hold it in place for now.   

Then I cut along the top side of the repair piece and and push in so that the repair piece and car sheet metal are flush and tack weld in place. 

When one have cut around all sides of the repair piece the replaced piece should hopefully be possible to take out as demonstrated in the video. 

After some more welding and grinding this is how it looks. There are still some holes in the welding joint that will require some more welding and grinding.

Frame for the sofa.

Although not all rust repairs are done yet I decided to get started on the frame for the sofa.

I bought some 30X50X2 mm pipe for making the frame.

Frame for couch bottom ready!

Manufacturing of backrest frame.

 Mocked up. Not happy with how it looks! Reluctant to weld in place. 

After some thinking back and forth how to proceed I decided to use backrest and weld it in place. Preparations.

Welded an angle bar behind the backrest frame for making it easer to install the backrest. Uncertain if this will be left on the ready product, basically it should be enough to just leave the parts connecting backrest to car. 

This is a milestone and next one is approaching fast! Soon time to cut the "car" to its correct length.