Restoration: 1978 Honda Civic (1200) Part 2

[Randy]

Such a pain in the arse trying to get this aftermarket rocker to line up and fit properly for welding is a tough job. I ended up cutting off some pieces from the end of the old rocker to spot weld on the inside to help align the rocker. I even tacked it at one end for trial fitting and realized the ledge is at a 90 and the actual has a slightest slope on it.

The back part is going to be interesting as it does not come close to the actual body line, I may have to weld something back on, either a couple inches of the original panel or add on to the new panels to attach above the body line. The later is not likely as I want to keep as much as possible of the original panel.

[Randy]

The rocker panel is finally attached, not finished welding though as I ran out of the proper size wire, I was using .023 and tried some .035 and it did work when when I adjusted the power up but threw a lot of hot spatter. That’s not ideal as the molten wire spatters everywhere. The mig only has a high and low setting as it is a converted flux core wire welder.

I hope to finish the welding up this weekend on the rocker and may turn the car around if the snow melts outside. If not I and clean up some welds inside with the TIG welder.

[Randy]

Oh, got a couple of pictures, the welds are cleaned up and I will be doing some touch ups because of bow trough holes.
The metal is just too thin in spots.

I should have some better videos going forward as I was able to bring my GoPro Hd back from Death Valley!
Put it in the freezer for a few hours and the lights come back on. Quickly updated the firmware and its ready to work. LOL

[Randy]

Here is a full video just over 30minutes of fitting, cutting, welding and grinding.
Some issues were blow through due to the sheet metal being so thin especially up front where the metal folds in where the fender goes on. Thinking about this now I could have cut further back by about an inch. This area is easily repaired with a filler rod or coat hanger.
I used a filler rod, I had to also use the punched holes as filler disc to fill in one such blow through today. (Not in this video)
https://youtu.be/X_DLQ0PHHVk

[Randy]

Cleaning up some welds tonight with some grinding before I move on to the inside the wheel well and lip.
There is some nasty underneath that I won’t be touching until I flip the car on it’s side.

Where the rocker meets the fender there is a bit of a gap, I grabbed the first fender I could get my hands on, it’s an aftermarket one. I am pretty sure the OEM one that was on there is a better fit but it’s out of reach right now.

[Randy]

A little bit of work tonight, I cut down the patch to fit after I scratched the back and added 1/2” to allow for a flange.
Turns out the Eastwood crimp/punch tool can’t punch in the cold, I grabbed the Princess Auto one and it worked fine except the hole punch size is bigger than the Eastwood.
I cleaned up the metal and sprayed it with rust primer this time instead of weld through primer and then cleaned the spot weld holes with a drumel tool with an inline wire brush to clean the paint off before welding it in place.
I have a partial video but it ran out as I had a guest that distracted me as he was really interested in what I was doing. I hope his boss was not upset the time he took away from his canvassing the neighborhood’s .
So I do have half of it welded in and grinded down. I used the air belt sander to take the welds of quickly and then followed up with the mini disc grinder.
I have to figure out the bottom where the three bits come to together, so I might have to wait to look at the other side before I can finish up.

[Randy]

The two pieces are welded in, I used weld through primer this time.
The weld along the inner edge of the lip was almost impossible to get at. I used a die grinder to clean up the weld.
I just have the rocker extension to trim off, I just need to compare it to the other side and put a tiny piece in the bottom.

[Randy]

The wheel Well Repair is done, see the link below for the video.
https://youtu.be/m3cqchUbq3U

I may start on the front wheel well scrapping off and cleaning up the undercoating in preparation of putting some rust primer on. I have a bit of tack welding to do to refasten the front end to the wheel well end as it was broken off in an accident, most of this I have pulled out and straightened. I do have a few dents to knock out of the front valance that I did not notice in the darkness of the garage.

I hope you enjoy the video, don’t be afraid to leave comments if you have questions or concerns.
I have not overlooked too much as I will be getting back to other areas when I can flip the car on its side as my neck is very fragile and I have to take care.

[Randy]

The cars turned around and the garage is cleaned up for a fresh start.
I started to clean up the passengers side wheel well. I used pot scrubbers on a handle with paint thinners. I loaded some of the thinners in my 40 year old spray gun, still works to mist the under coating and to soften it up. I did that for a couple of days and it almost wipes off.

Now the bad news, I put a wire wheel on the mini grinder to clean off the surface rust, I also did the A door pillar. Hum some bad news here, it’s full of body filler, and holes and badly twisted out of shape. I am surprised the body shop did not replace it.
I think it’s going to be impossible to find a used donor to weld in. I will be saving that for later as it’s going to be a fab job. I will have to get the proper shape and dimensions from the drivers side before I get to it. The car is slammed up against the wall on the other side.

[Randy]

a little more clean up and discovery of the challenges ahead. However most of the wheel well is cleaned up ready for sanding and primer.

The back of the wheel well has holes from the OEM mud flaps. I will be filling those holes to start off new with fresh screws. Over time the holes seem to get bigger.

I had to re-weld where the inner attaches to the front just below the headlight pot area.

I may have to get out the sand blaster to get into the very top corner.

Looking at the damaged post I cannot understand why collision repairs are so expensive when all they do is use a tone of body filler instead of actually making it sound. It’s never good as new, it’s probably worse off after the repair waiting for a disaster to happen.
The same thing happened with my Prelude, it had been side swiped and the pulled the rear rocker out but not the door pillar behind it and replaced the door and paint.
After I bought the car not knowing it was an illegal repair of a car that was written off and sold without telling the buyer.
I was hit in the rear end by someone from behind that was hoping to run the light. Good thing it was raining as he push me out into the intersection.
It caused more damage to the side then the back end. He got off lightly because my car was so covered in winter muck I did not notice the crack down the side of the rocker.
He paid enough to get the clips and foam under the bumper repair. It’s probably a good reason not to settlement out side of insurance.
I will see if I can find the link on the site of the repairs after where I had a new rear quarter put in.