A little help from a friend

I have been a bit lazy and haven't got around to proceed on welding and fixing that rear window corners. My good friend got frustrated on my laziness and we drove El Camino to his garage and he welded those rear corners, painted window areas with rust preventing paint, tinted the glass, installed the glass and did few other minor things that I haven't done. So, it is ready for yearly inspection and hopeful nothing too bad has come so that it'll pass the inspection and we can drive around.

No bigger news this time. Keep calm and drive interesting cars!

Oh, yeah facebook page hit 700 likes last weekend!

Driving from my garage to friends garage.

My other ride.

Fabrication.

Yesterday and today I have been cutting out that rusted metal around rear window corners and making a template out of thick paper. Paper is easier to mold around this corner where there is all kind of shapes and sharp turns and bends and what not.

It's a tricky place to mold and eventually weld but I am in no hurry and doing it slowly, spot by spot.
Luckily I had Dremel mini grinder so I could to those final clean ups and more freely to manuver attacking angle of the grinder.

These were my tools for making a template. It was quite easy to do once you got it figured out in your head first. I has been so long when I needed to this thing that I wasn't sure how well this is going to progress.

Those could have been better shaped and molded, but this isn't your trailer queen and show stopper, and after all you don't get to see those since window and trimming is covering almost whole corners completely.

Leaking rear window, dammit.

I was yesterday at the garage to do a clean up on those rear window corners and as I scrape and poke that surface rust away, I noticed how the sound was a different on that tight corner. As I poke and scrape a bit more it revealed a rusty edge of sheet metal.

As you can see it's straight through, but that light that you can see is inside c-pilar which doesn't lead to inside the cabin. And it wasn't that bad before I started poking it with a screwdriver. So now I have to cut it up and make a template from cardboard and make a small piece from the sheet metal to fit in and spot weld it in place. And same thing to the other side.

I was affraid that it was this bad and I was relieved that it wasn't as I post on my last post, but now I am a bit of stressed. I know how to use welder and bend the steel, but it's always a bit of work for me as I am not used to fabricate sheet metal for tight spots and corners. It takes time and patience. I was hoping that this would have come to me when I have planned whole stripping down to bare metal and do it propeply.

Well now I guess I have to do it because I have the window off and there are still time left before I'll take her out in the open road for a drive. Driving season is planned to start in mid-May. So till next time I'll be in the garage and keep you updated on how this little project goes on.

Air Lift 1000 air spring kit.

Air Lift 1000 air spring kit

"Air Lift adjustable air springs work with your existing suspension to give your vehicle more leveling support when you need it, so your vehicle is always level and stable. Proper weight distribution to all tires means more safety and a more comfortable ride as well. This results in:

Improved braking and steering: when all four tires are firmly on the ground, braking time and steering are both improved

Less sway: Air springs increase spring rate and vastly improve vehicle stability

Less bottoming out: Air springs provide adjustable load support to help prevent bottoming out on rough roads

Headlight aim: Only level and stable vehicles provide safe and proper headlight aiming

Less porpoising: Even vehicles which don’t squat when loaded can begin to “porpoise” vertically when towing heavy trailers. Adjustable air springs dramatically reduce this problem for a safer, more comfortable ride"

I had original air shock in the rear, but those leaked and didn't worked as those should have. When I bought the El Camino it came bed full of new and second hand parts, including a pair of Gabriel Red Ryder Gas shocks. I installed them last spring and those didn't improve the ride quality that much, it was better for sure, but I think springs has seen better days. I could go "All bag" but I don't want that kind of hassle with the compressor and "Stance", plus I don't have the money to go "all bag"!