1964 Daytona Hardtop Rescue Effort

[r1lark]

Update on Work Completed

Been a little while since I've updated the progress on the Studebaker Rescue '64 Daytona hardtop. Following is a summary with pictures:

Finished the rust repair in the front of the passenger side rear wheelwell, including self etching primer, paint, seam sealer, and undercoating:




Don't know why this following pic is rotated 90 degrees clockwise???


Coated front portion of the inner rear quarter and the floorboards close to it with POR-15 (still have to apply the seam sealer):


Removed passenger side rear quarter window, polished stainless frame, cleaned rust from lower channel and coated with Dupli-Color Rust Fix and painted with Stainless Steel spray paint. Cleaned area between inner and outer passenger side rear quarter (under r/q window), vacuumed out, made sure drains were open, and coated seam with POR-15.......but no pictures of this . Cleaned and lubed the passenger side rear quarter window regulator. Removed passenger side r/q window upper retainer, polished, installed my patented new improved catwhisker substitute, and reinstalled:




The passenger side r/q window lower rubber stop was missing, and I didn't have a new one and SI doesn't list them (at least not in the catalog). So.......made one and installed it. Here is the cobbled up one (on right) next to an original on my '62 Daytona hardtop:

Made some 'flathead' bolts (washers welded to the end of a 1/4"-20 bolt and the head cut off, countersunk them into a 1/4" piece of conveyer belt and JB weld epoxied them in, then used 3M super adhesive to glue a larger rubber block to that. Looks a little different, but is the same height & width and works just fine. Here is a pic of it installed in place:


Got some NOS outer r/q catwhiskers with clips so will install the passenger side tomorrow and get the window and regulator back in. Will get some pics of all that.

Next will be to pull the passenger side door window glass, vent window, and regulator........clean and POR-15 the bottom of the door, replace window rollers, clean/lube, and reinstall everything.

[studegary]

"Last edited by r1lark; Today at 08:54 PM. Reason: grammer and spelling correction (for studegary)"

If you were doing that for me, then you should also correct "grammer" (sic) to grammar.

[r1lark]

That was for you Gary .

Usually I just correct spellin'........................

[Noxnabaker]

Making my own stuff is what I also do many times, nice to see your solutions!

[r1lark]

New Studebaker Rescue Video!

New Studebaker Rescue video has been posted on YouTube - first in a series of rebuilding the vent window assembly.

Link: https://youtu.be/KuKKrFr-vdA

[r1lark]

Studebaker Rescue - Part 2 of the Vent Window Rebuild Videos

Part 2 of the Studebaker Rescue '64 Daytona vent window rebuild series. This one deals with installing a new lower pivot (the one that always seems to break) with semi-tubular rivets as was originally done.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/qlqz6sbmUuY

[r1lark]

Drivers Side Sheetmetal Replacement

Started on the biggest job to be done to the '64 Daytona - replacing the front half of the inner rear quarter panel, the outer rear quarter panel, and the door, all on the drivers side. This car had been sideswiped and the drivers side door and rear quarter had been 'sort of' replaced. By sort of, I mean not a very good job was done on the replacement with less than perfect used parts. The door striker post (guess that's called the 'B pillar'?) was sort of straightened. I saw all of this when I purchased the car, so planned this work from the start......obtaining NOS door, rear quarter, and front half inner rear quarter from Newman & Altman. (Oh yeah, that was about 1988 . Picked it all up at York, and remember complaining to Dennis about the cost of the inner panel......and he knocked about 50% off that piece.)

In the process of taking the old stuff off - rear quarter and rocker is off:


Damage to bottom half latch pillar on inner rear quarter, I had no hopes of ever getting this straightened out; note the bent up and badly straightened rocker also. It's a lot worse than it looks like in the picture:


NOS front half of inner rear quarter panel:


Inner r/q panel part number sticker:


You can see my 'centerline' pink string in the first pic. This is stretched front to back at the exact centerline of the car, and gives me something to measure to while taking my reference measurements. Luckily even though the latch pillar got pretty bent up, the inner r/q did not get bent inward. All the measurements to center match the passenger side perfectly.

Next step is to carefully cut the old front half inner rear quarter out. The 90 degree flange will need to be repaired under the inner r/q panel where the rocker bolts to it, and a small rust area on the floor replaced. After that, surface rust cleaning and POR-15 onto the floor, and then fit and tack weld the new inner r/q panel in. (Yep, I know I'll have to grind the POR-15 off on the spots where the welding has to be done.) Then the new rocker panel and outer rear quarter can be test fit.

More pictures to follow as the work progresses.

[r1lark]

Had a decent day today, although it was rainy out. Managed to work between showers. Took a while to drill out spot welds, cut welds, cut with the recip saw, etc on the inner rear quarter panel. But did get it out, and got all the small pieces cut off. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain again, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day............ But, I can be making repair panels. Underneath the big 'foot' right at the door lock pillar (post), there was some rust so that will need to be cut out and replaced. also, the front of the rear wheelwell has some rust (like the passenger side) that will need to be repaired also. Following are some pics.

This pic shows some of the drilling spot welds and cutting welds on the big 'foot' right at the door lock pillar (post):


Spotwelds drilled out where the inner r/q panel ties to the roof sail panel:


Front half inner r/q panel is out!! and all the remaining pieces removed:


Some rust in the floorboard under the 'foot', will need to cut out several inches past the white outline to get a good foundation for the foot to be welded to:


Area of front inner wheel well that needs to be repaired; you are looking from inside the car towards the tire (the tire is covered with a towel). Much better access than the passenger side now that the outer r/q and front part of the inner r/q are off:


Hopefully more progress tomorrow, making patches. Doubt that I'll be able to weld any of them in though because of the rain, but we will see.

[r1lark]

Well, I see it's been over a week since I posted an update. My younger son came in for a week from Scottsdale AZ and we have been doing family things most of the week.

Got the rusted area cut out. Went farther than the rust so the 'B' pillar (the post that the door striker attaches to, which is part of the front half inner rear quarter) would have fully solid new metal to be attached to. There is internal (guess 'underfloor' is a more descriptive term) bracing in this area that provides a solid support for the B pillar. Here is a pic of the floor cut away, and some of the factory spotwelds marked on the underfloor bracing. The underfloor bracing is thick stuff; didn't measure it but it's more than 1/8". Note the number of spot welds that attached the floorboard to the bracing in this area.......and I'm sure there were some that I couldn't find also. I'll plug weld the new floor section to the bracing.


There is some pitting on the braces, but not as bad as the picture makes it look........plus as mentioned the braces are really thick. After cleaning up the braces, a rust conversion (Dupli-Color Rust Fix) was used to kill the remaining rust as shown in the pic below. It's since been painted, but I'll have to remove the coating in the areas where the floor piece will be plug welded to the bracing.


Here are a few pics of the replacement floorboard piece. This has already drilled with 5/16" holes for plug welding to the braces, but don't have a picture of that. Besides the plug welds, the floorboard seams will be butt welded to the existing floorboard.




As mentioned, the floorboard replacement piece has been drilled for the plug welds, and the underside has been coated with self-etch primer and VHT Epoxy Chassis Paint (except for the areas around each plug weld which were masked off with small squares of tape). Hopefully tomorrow afternoon after work, do one final cleanup of the original floorboard where the butt welds will be made, and get the coating off the plug weld areas on the bracing, and get this piece welded in (or at least get started). Tuesday is an off day from work so hopefully can finish the welding and start on the repair of the front part of the rear wheelwell.

[creegster]

I love these photos as they help me to realize I can do a bunch of these repairs myself. Thanks for doing this!

Do you have a brake to bend the metal? It seems like that would be a needed tool for this work.

Thanks

[creegster]

Also, the videos you create are SUPER helpful, please keep those up!

[r1lark]

Thanks creegster! Glad this helps some folks, same reason I do the videos. (I'm just slow because I got roped into doing consulting work after I retired, has really cut into the car time.)

I have a brake, but it's a cheapie Harbor Freight one that really can't bend the thick floorboard metal too easily. I did one of the two bends on the offset with the brake, but the other bend was done with a MAPP torch and a piece of 1/4" square stock. The 90 degree bend was done with a piece of angle iron and the MAPP torch also (and some scrap steel plate, lots of clamps, etc). The tweaks to curve it slightly were done against one of the vertical support posts in my basement . You can do this stuff with minimal fancy tools, it just takes longer. No English Wheels, power hammers, etc here. I do have a leather shot bag (actually has sand in it, instead of shot) and some nylon hammers that help me make compound curved pieces, one body hammer and three dollies, etc.

I've got several more videos to put up on YouTube, on the vent window refurb so stay tuned.

[creegster]

Thanks creegster! Glad this helps some folks, same reason I do the videos. (I'm just slow because I got roped into doing consulting work after I retired, has really cut into the car time.)

I have a brake, but it's a cheapie Harbor Freight one that really can't bend the thick floorboard metal too easily. I did one of the two bends on the offset with the brake, but the other bend was done with a MAPP torch and a piece of 1/4" square stock. The 90 degree bend was done with a piece of angle iron and the MAPP torch also (and some scrap steel plate, lots of clamps, etc). The tweaks to curve it slightly were done against one of the vertical support posts in my basement . You can do this stuff with minimal fancy tools, it just takes longer. No English Wheels, power hammers, etc here. I do have a leather shot bag (actually has sand in it, instead of shot) and some nylon hammers that help me make compound curved pieces, one body hammer and three dollies, etc.

I've got several more videos to put up on YouTube, on the vent window refurb so stay tuned.

Even more wonderful, useful information. Keep it up, its great!

[r1lark]

New Video - Continuing on the Vent Window Refurb

Latest video installment, continuing with the vent window refurbishment.

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/WPIEJDZ7gvA

[r1lark]

Working around thunder and showers today, got the floor panel welded in, welds ground down, and primed with self-etching primer. A lot of welding with all the plug welds, plus the seam welds. The seam welds are butt welds, so was a series of small tacks - whew, that takes a while!

Here are a few pics. First, the panel clamped in place, ready to start welding. The plug welds holes are 5/16" diameter. Pretty much the plug welds match the factory spot weld pattern, remember that these spot welds firmly attach the floor panel to the underfloor bracing below, then the striker pillar posts welds to the floor pan:

By the way, I hate those black China clamps. They don't stay straight like the real ViseGrip ones.

Here is the panel with all the welding done (except a few plug welds on the where the old and new 90 degree flange mates up). Couldn't get a shot from underneath, but got really good penetration on the butt welds (even though they don't look very pretty):


Welds all ground down and primed with self-etching primer. The back side butt welds were primed also:


Next step is to test fit the new inner front half rear quarter so I can get the patch made for the front wheel well. That will be Friday since Wednesday and Thursday are work days (plus it is supposed to rain too).