Paul Masson's 71 Grabber

Well, I just spent about a grand of mine this morning! I spread the wealth around between www.AutoKrafters.com www.PartsTrain.com and www.RockAuto.com

My spot weld cutters should be here tomorrow, so I can start cutting into the ol' girl and have the cowl fixed by the time my parts arrive. I am going on Vacation May 1 to May 9 in Florida:bananaman, so my time is getting limited for my restoration.

 

Nice job on the Bumble Bee Maverick Paul, where are you coming to down here in Florida?

 

Disney World, but we will be staying on-site. I'm trying to figure out if I can get to ??Old Town??? for some car shows. A guy from work was there a month ago and said he saw a couple of Mavericks.

Thanks for all the compliments on the drawing.:Handshake

 

Paul, Old Town isn't far from the on site Disney Hotels - down on Route 192 heading towards Kissimmee - are you getting a rental car?

 

No rental, but we have been looking into the Lynx bus service. Off-site visits may not happen. We are using the Disney meal plan too, so we'd have to waive a couple meals most likely to go play outside the Disney grounds.

On another note, I got an e-mail from Auto Krafters saying that a bunch of stuff, including my vinyl top has been back ordered. Once the cowl is done and the rest of the car is painted, the top and glass will follow. Hopefully they will not take long to fill the back order.

 

The area around Old Town has become somewhat run down, just stay at Disney, you'll have more than enough to do.

 

First 19 spot welds out of the way!

I finally picked up my spot weld cutters. I opted to go with a trade-quality set instead of the "Made in China" cheapies from Princess Auto.

 

You're drilling too deep. Only cut through the first layer of metal. If you drill all the way through you will have to repair the lower piece before you put it back together or else you won't have anything to weld the top piece to.

 

Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that. The bracket thickness is so much more than the cowl under it. The bits are working a "little too good". After 10 or so, I started to get a better feel for it. I am going slow, but it's so easy to go through the bottom layer. Hopefully the rest of them will go better.

There were a couple that I didn't get the punch in the exact centre, and they "tore" the cowl because not all of the weld was cut.

Thanks for the info:Handshake

 

Take your time. On the brackets try prying up in it with a screwdriver or something while you're drilling and if you do it right you will hear it pop or feel the top bracket let go from the bottom. You should also clean up the spot welds first so you can see them good. Take a torch and melt any seam sealer away and wire brush as you go and it should come up nice and shiny so you can clearly see the spot welds. And worth repeating, take your time. If you dk a nice clean job it will be less work when you put it back together.

 

Does your spot weld cutter have the little depth adjuster screw in the tip of the shank? The Harbor Freght cheapies did and I didn't find it until I blew a few holes in my own cowl

 

Bob, the cutters that I bought are a single piece. There is no adjustment. They have a more pointed section at the tip, then a wider cutting edge "higher" up. I'll post a picture when I get home from work.

They also have a pefectly round shank, so making a depth gauge probably isn't in the cards. I've got a pretty good "feel" for it, and I'll just take my time.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Those are probably spot weld removers, not necessarily for body work, where you need the lower piece for reassembly.

 

Cowl Cover Panel is OFF.

Last night, I severed the last remaining spot weld from the cowl. Not surprisingly, I discovered a nice 'little' mouse-house just inboard of the driver's side fresh air inlet.

 

Nice job, it looks pretty typical....