72 CSL restoration

[cal csl]

Hi guys,

after spending hours of trawling through these forums for info on the rebuild. Thought it was time I started to make some posts on the progress. As we all know nothing is as simple as it seems with the E9 and ignorance is bliss. It started out with a replacement of the nose (my bad oops) and the fenders. I expected to find some rust gremlins underneath to what extent was to reveal itself as i explored.

My research trip found that the rockers were mostly in really good condition except for up the front around the A pillars. The rear of the car was very tidy showing nothing serious in all the common rust spots. The front floors were had and looked like a rusted patch work quilt. There was some rust in the fire wall where the wheel arches attach. The bottoms of the A pillars where looking sad. The wheel arches had rusted along the tops and been bronzed up in places (nice).

I share the car with my dad who used to do club meets in it back in the 80's. Fortunately back then my dad had bought a fair bit NOS (just new stock back then) replacement panels to do the resto but never got around to doing it.

I have so far:
- stripped the car and removed everything up to the firewall,
- replaced the rusted sections of the firewall,
- repaired the sills around the A pillars
- Replaced the A pillars and the internal panels they attach to with NOS

I am tig welding everything as I find it gives a cleaner weld and I am also reinforcing all the seams.

Next is to do the front floors that I ordered in from mike in the States.

I will post some flicks as shortly

 

[cal csl]

some flicks

 

[m_thompson]

That looks much better than my CS did when I got it.

 

[cal csl]

Long time between posts but have been chipping away at on the car.

The LH A pillar is done. Replaced both the internal panel and A pillar with NOS and replaced the rusted out sections on the front of the sills with some pieces I formed. The rest of the sills are in good condition and just required a clean out and some cavity wax pumped into them.

Did the rear rh floor pan by cutting the sections out and using a combination of formed pieces and sections i had cut out of a wreck.

rusted floor pan

Floor pan with section welded in.

The front Rh floor pan is finished and just finishing the front Lh at the moment. Will post pic's soon.

 

[m_thompson]

Looks great so far.

I bought a pinch spot welder like this one:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MILLER-Air-Cooled-Spot-Welder-2Z543?Pid=search
to weld the fender sheet metal to the fillers, and the fillers to the fender wells.

I borrowed this one:
http://lencoautomotive.com/index.php?q=product&p=l-4000
to weld the fenders to the A-pillar part that you just installed.

 

[readie]

hiya, you mentioned that you had to replce the nose cone, where did you manage to find one ?

 

[merlin32]

CSl with white headliner???

Is it a true CSL, saw the white headliner??

 

[cal csl]

hiya, you mentioned that you had to replce the nose cone, where did you manage to find one ?

hi, I managed to by a good second hand one from a guy here in melbourne

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Looks great so far.

I bought a pinch spot welder like this one:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MILLER-Air-Cooled-Spot-Welder-2Z543?Pid=search
to weld the fender sheet metal to the fillers, and the fillers to the fender wells.

I borrowed this one:
http://lencoautomotive.com/index.php?q=product&p=l-4000
to weld the fenders to the A-pillar part that you just installed.

Take it from someone with 40 years in the auto body & sheet metal trades, there is no way I would trust that Miller spot welder for doing any structural welds on uni-body cars. Home shop restorers have a much better chance of doing a structurally sound job by using a mig welder to do plug welds. Automotive assembly line spot welders are rated at 20 KVA to 50 KVA (that’s why you see so many sparks flying around in line shots), that Miller is only 1.5 KVA, too small to make a decent sized weld spot and the arms are too light for enough pressure. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[m_thompson]

Take it from someone with 40 years in the auto body & sheet metal trades, there is no way I would trust that Miller spot welder for doing any structural welds on uni-body cars. Home shop restorers have a much better chance of doing a structurally sound job by using a mig welder to do plug welds. Automotive assembly line spot welders are rated at 20 KVA to 50 KVA (that’s why you see so many sparks flying around in line shots), that Miller is only 1.5 KVA, too small to make a decent sized weld spot and the arms are too light for enough pressure. ~ John Buchtenkirch

I used the MIG welder on all of the structural parts where you could not see the welds. I use the pinch welder on the thin body sheet metal where you could see the welds. The little Miller has plenty of power for welding a fender to the supporting filler panels.

The LENCO has enough power to vaporize the sheet metal if you are not careful with it.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

I used the MIG welder on all of the structural parts where you could not see the welds. I use the pinch welder on the thin body sheet metal where you could see the welds. The little Miller has plenty of power for welding a fender to the supporting filler panels.

The LENCO has enough power to vaporize the sheet metal if you are not careful with it.

MT, my plug welds don’t have to be hidden, they look just like factory spot welds (slightly sunken). The sample piece in the 2 photos was done with a 110 volt Lincoln mig using .023 wire but the 110 volt Miller mig will work just as well.


The technique is really quite simple, just turn the 110 volt welder up to its highest setting and swing a quick circle in the hole you have drilled. With an hours practice on scrap pieces anyone with any welding experience should be able to do the same with either of the 2 welders I mentioned. It’s really more of a getting the timing down thing, it happens so fast you barely get to watch the weld puddle.
I remember very well that the Lenco welders enjoyed a brief popularity during the seventies but body shops soon found that quarters they were sectioning broke at the seams instead crumpling up during very light 5 and 10 mph hits. None of the dozen or so shops I frequent have used them in years (the risk of being sued is too high) and I could in no way recommend them for amateur restorers. A good solid spot weld requires very solid arms (to keep the welding tips parallel to each other when pressured) and an ample power source to make big enough spots. Some things the Lenco doesn’t address and that little Miller does very poorly. Just as an example the 2 stationary spot welders I use in my restoration shop have 2” thick solid copper arms but I don’t own a hand held spot welder I would trust to weld parts onto a car, at that point everything is either tig or mig welded.

I’m admittedly pretty anal about this welding thing but I don’t want to be sued or have my reputation ruined over weld failures or even worse have a death on my conscience. Remember what you could get away with back in the day with frame cars could kill you today with uni-body cars where so many parts are structurally important for the safety of the car. I’m sorry to have sort of hijacked the thread with my rant but weld safety is something I feel very strongly about --- I have to deal with it almost every day at work. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[cal csl]

I used the MIG welder on all of the structural parts where you could not see the welds. I use the pinch welder on the thin body sheet metal where you could see the welds. The little Miller has plenty of power for welding a fender to the supporting filler panels.

The LENCO has enough power to vaporize the sheet metal if you are not careful with it.

MT, my plug welds don’t have to be hidden, they look just like factory spot welds (slightly sunken). The sample piece in the 2 photos was done with a 110 volt Lincoln mig using .023 wire but the 110 volt Miller mig will work just as well.
View attachment 2557
View attachment 2558
The technique is really quite simple, just turn the 110 volt welder up to its highest setting and swing a quick circle in the hole you have drilled. With an hours practice on scrap pieces anyone with any welding experience should be able to do the same with either of the 2 welders I mentioned. It’s really more of a getting the timing down thing, it happens so fast you barely get to watch the weld puddle.
I remember very well that the Lenco welders enjoyed a brief popularity during the seventies but body shops soon found that quarters they were sectioning broke at the seams instead crumpling up during very light 5 and 10 mph hits. None of the dozen or so shops I frequent have used them in years (the risk of being sued is too high) and I could in no way recommend them for amateur restorers. A good solid spot weld requires very solid arms (to keep the welding tips parallel to each other when pressured) and an ample power source to make big enough spots. Some things the Lenco doesn’t address and that little Miller does very poorly. Just as an example the 2 stationary spot welders I use in my restoration shop have 2” thick solid copper arms but I don’t own a hand held spot welder I would trust to weld parts onto a car, at that point everything is either tig or mig welded.
View attachment 2559
I’m admittedly pretty anal about this welding thing but I don’t want to be sued or have my reputation ruined over weld failures or even worse have a death on my conscience. Remember what you could get away with back in the day with frame cars could kill you today with uni-body cars where so many parts are structurally important for the safety of the car. I’m sorry to have sort of hijacked the thread with my rant but weld safety is something I feel very strongly about --- I have to deal with it almost every day at work. ~ John Buchtenkirch

Hi john,
your welds look very neat. What size whole are you drilling?
What amps are you running roughly?
I have a pnuematic punch that does approx a 1/4" hole and have been tig welding the holes up. Bit time consuming but means you can get them pretty neat as well.
I'm about to do the front end of the car so using it a mig will speed things up a bit.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Hi john,
your welds look very neat. What size whole are you drilling?
What amps are you running roughly?
I have a pnuematic punch that does approx a 1/4" hole and have been tig welding the holes up. Bit time consuming but means you can get them pretty neat as well.
I'm about to do the front end of the car so using it a mig will speed things up a bit.

Callan, thank you for the compliment on my welding. The holes I punched on that sample piece are ¼”. I set my 110 volt mig for 12 gauge (basically flat out) when using .023 wire (which is the only size wire I use in it). I set my 220 volt mig for 1/8” or slightly more because I run .030 wire in that machine. I agree with you, the mig is much faster for plug welding plus it puts less heat in the panel compared to doing it with a tig.


Most hobby welders (and even professional body men) do plug welds much too cold & too slow so each plug weld looks like a little mountain that they have to grind down. How much penetration they have into the lower sheet is also suspect.


My technique is very easy, it just takes some practice on scrap pieces of the same thickness to get the timing down. You just hit the trigger while swinging a 3/16” circle inside the ¼” hole --- it’s that easy. The hard part is getting the timing down, it happens so fast you don’t get to watch a weld puddle flow. This type of plug welding is really more of a robotic action by the welder than actual welding technique where you’re watching the puddle.

If I don’t use this technique for a week or so I actually have to do a few holes to get my timing back. First time out you may have to practice for a half hour to an hour to get good plug welds that look like factory spot welds with one quick kiss with the grinder. I did polish the upper right weld on my sample piece so people can see how close it looks like a spot weld once dressed.


Finally I will just add that it takes a quality 110 mig with some balls (power) to do this, many cheaper imported welders can’t handle it. I would think all 220 volt migs have enough power. This type of plug welding is too hot for over head welding. Let us know how you make out . ~ John Buchtenkirch