At 06:02 PM 4/21/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Well, the weather is finally warming up here in Pittsburgh.
>Therefore it's time for Bricklin work. The completed frame,
>drive train, motor, etc. is now outside and covered and the
>body is ready for work.
Dave, Sounds like you are about at the same point as I am.
>I got the roof and the "A" pillar covers off with little or no
>resistance and was surprised to see a pretty good amount of
>metal (whew). From here I want to get the rear quarters and
>the floor out so the cage can be sandblasted, welded, etc.
>One of the rear quarters has separated itself from just about
>all the adhesive holding in place.
Do you mean all along the rear of the birdcage or only around
the inner fender well? The seperation around the fender well
is very common and doesn't require removing the quarter panel
to fix.
>The other is held in place tighter than a...well you all get
>the picture.
>
>The question becomes, is there any good way to get the other >rear quarter
separated from the floor and rear fascia without
>damage? (Oh, I forgot to mention, both rear quarters are crack
>/ warp free).
Dave, unless your birdcage really has problems, I wouldn't
think of pulling the rear quarters, or the floor. To start
with, the only place the birdcage usually goes is the sill
plates, the plenumn and possibly the box at the bottom of the
"A" pillars. At least that is where mine went, in addition to
ALL the add on sheet metal for reinforcement.
Pulling the rear 1/4s is very difficult, and will cause damage
to them. Not to mention trying to realign them and reattach
them. If the car has body damage, then that's a different story.
The floor are a little different, but again, you can work around them.
What I've done, is used a knotted wire wheel on
a 4" grinder and stripped all the old paint off the inside and
outside of the birdcage, with the exception of inside the "A"
and "B" pillars. The I've painted everything with POR-15.
I've cut the pass. side sill plate out and have to fix the
front box at the bottom of the "A" pillar as it is badly
rusted. Once the pass. side is done, I'll move to the drivers
side.
>Is there possibly something to soften the adhesive (and not
>the panel), or is this going to be a sharp chisel and alot of
>time and luck.
Yes to all. You can use a hot air gun to try to soften the
glue, drill out the pop rivets, and then use a chisel,
sharpened putty knife, die grinder with a cutting wheel, and
a sanding disk to try to help seperate the various panels.
However, the rule of thumb on these areas is:
if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!!
You can do more damage and just create more work for yourself.
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@nhr.com
Va. Beach, Va Phone: 495-8229
48 TR1800 48 #4 Midget 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire
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