My 71 Duster work in progress

Maybe I'm just being too simple here, but why couldn't your stiffening plate just be held in by the ball stud while you weld it? I would think you'll make it as large or larger than the ball stud reinforcement, so you'll have to drill it for the stud's threads anyhow. Use the ball stud to hold just the stiffener, weld that, then remove the ball stud nut, slide the factory reinforcement plate over the threads, and reinstall the nut. Now weld the reinforcement.

Separate of that completely, how you can have a welder without having at least one of these is beyond me:

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It'd hold the stiffener, reinforcement, whatever you want in place. Welding magnets are inexpensive and unbelievably useful.
 
I have a ton of those and many many other assorted welding helpers. I just said I couldn't clamp it and was still figuring it out. At least I think that was the gist of it.

Those things, in my opinion, suck anyway. I've got rare earth magnets that I use. You don't want to get a bit of skin between one of those and a piece of metal or another of the magnets. It might work if you have a skin tag you want to get rid of.
 
Looking at it last night, got distracted trying to bang it flatter only made it samer and realized for some reason I had been thinking of fixing the wrong side and that the Jass method is the way to go, at least as to what side I should be working on.

Dr.Jass said:
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I found a fresh piece of AMD cut-off to use too. The fenderwell has a contour to it that I need to obey to keep things flattish but I can basically just weld from good to good and forget about the in-between.
 
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Ha, I tried to use software to draw out a cut pattern for the patch, and couldn't do it because of that contour. It is recessed, so the plate kind if fits into it, but my eyes and mind kept telling me it was extruded. I just gave up, will use cardboard in the 3d world.
 
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b-body-bob said:
I have a ton of those and many many other assorted welding helpers. I just said I couldn't clamp it and was still figuring it out. At least I think that was the gist of it.

Those things, in my opinion, suck anyway. I've got rare earth magnets that I use. You don't want to get a bit of skin between one of those and a piece of metal or another of the magnets. It might work if you have a skin tag you want to get rid of.
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It really only needs to be held in place while you put a tack or two on it, and those magnets work well for me. I do have some 1/4"x1/8" neodymium magnets that I'll use when space is tight.

Regardless, using the ball stud itself to hold the parts in place during welding seems the easiest method.

If nothing else, it's much easier to work on the outside of the inner fender for what you're attempting to do. That's I went the direction I did. Aside from being easier to accomplish on the outside, it also disappears nicely after undercoating and it isn't visible with the hood open. On my car, if you stick your head in the front wheelwell to have a look, you'll find much more interesting (daunting? terrifying?) things to see than my silly countershaft reinforcement. 😁
 
I found that when I tightened the ball stud, the other edge of the plate pulls away from the inner fender because the structure behind it ain't flat no more so there is work to do. If I cut out a patch similar to the one on your car with plans to weld it beyond the damage, then I can use zip screws where needed to hold it and weld new to good then weld the plate to new.

The ball stud will definitely be in place for that to make sure my patch is where it needs to be as well as to put the plate in place for the final weld up.

I'm definitely with you on ease of working on the outside. I don't know why I was stuck on patching the inside, but I was and am not now.
 
Try making gradual, smooth inward bends around the outside edges or at the corners so they stay in contact when you tighten the ball stud. Maybe even some light "bodyworking" taps with a hammer to form it.

Hot tip I learned from @restoman years ago: Plug welds are much, much stronger than edge or butt welding. The two parts act more like one formed thicker part, hence the reason my reinforcement looked like Swiss cheese prior to welding. Even when we replaced the floors, we flanged the original driveshaft tunnel, then punched it for plug welds along the flange. My punch & flanging tool very quickly became one of my absolute favorites. Obviously, further in from the edge you have little choice but to drill, but for lapping and plug welding that Astro can't be beat... as long as one doesn't make the bonehead mistake I did and accidentally try to run it below 95PSI! 😬 It makes dents rather than holes at 65PSI.
 
I've got the HF version of that tool. Used it to piece in one rear wheel well on the A12 before I decided that looked like hell and the car deserves better than that. If had been this Duster, it would still be in there. I think one major difference is the HF version only pokes a 5/16" hole, or maybe 1/4", for sure it's a step or two smaller than the big name models. There are standards established for how big a hole needs to be for a plug weld given material thickness and it ain't quite there, but it still works. I'll be using it again soon enough.
 
Yep

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This shows where the holes that I'm patching are located
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Yes it's upside down

Start welding where it's flat against the inner fender, and where it isn't bang it until it is then weld it there too. Once that is in and grinding is done, weld the reinforcement to that.

I haven't been able to figure out how the reinforcement was welded to begin with. The only trace of welding I've found so far is at the bottom edge of it, so I don't know if I should add holes to that or not. There are two big open holes I can use for welding, and an itty bitty tiny one closer to the pivot stud.
 
Half done. It ain't going anywhere now.

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No undercoat. I may try to hide it with bondo, but probably not.

I can't figure out where I laid the reinforcement. :unsure:

Yeah I need to cut the points off those sheetmetal screws.
 
Hey at least some forward progress, you have the same mice as me, they seem to move & hide about every other thing I put down!
Or is it just our old feeble minds!
 
I'm going to blame mine on having too much stuff in too small a space.

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Wet paint.

It's a wee bit crooked but that's where it ended up sitting flattest and it's damned sure too late now. The one thing that matters is true. I gave it a few boinks with a hammer and it's still attached and the ball stud fits through the hole.

I plugged the two big holes and the small one to the inner fender. I put a bead on the front edge, but that wasn't working out so well. I started again on the top and it was doing the same thing so I said forget about it. I am glad the guys who put the plate in the wrong place didn't try as hard as I did.

I am the king of making dust out of welding wire. I should've taken a photo of the pile I swept up.
 
I just plug-welded mine in every hole that wasn't for the ball stud. I didn't have a factory comparator at the time, but even now that I have (the '68) I haven't actually even looked at it.

Realistically, the ball stud itself is doing most of the heavy work since it's clamping that reinforcement bracket into place. The welds could let go completely and you'd probably not notice it until you had to service the countershaft or ball stud itself.

b-body-bob said:
No undercoat.
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You might want to consider it. Even non-undercoat cars had the wheelwells done by the factory. You'd be surprised how much racket a rock hitting an inner fender (or rear wheelwell) makes inside the car. If you've ever had someone throw a pebble at your helmet during football practice, it's a pretty similar experience. Hell, the whole goal of my Valiant was as fast as possible for the least amount of rubles, yet I still dropped about $45 in spray bedliner to add weight to the various panels that comprise the front wheelwell. Those sharp noises are borderline painful.
 
The clutch linkage looks like a No-Go. I thought it was going to work then I noticed the wire clip holding the outside bearing/ball in place wasn't in place and the whole thing was shifted about an inch to the inside. It sounds like it needs the TTI mod because that moves the arm on that side toward the engine away from the headers and I think angles it back a little bit.

I had to release the strap across the headers and they're back to being all over the PS box and a torsion bar. I tried jamming a screwdriver between the tube and the torsion bar before letting the strap go because it seemed to SLAP-CLANG open, but this time it didn't probably because of the screwdriver.
 
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OK, there's gotta be a trick to getting these things installed, right?

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I noticed that the adjuster has more room for those than there is at either end of the pedal rod. I'm thinking about slimming down the ends of that.
 
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68R/T said:
Make sure the tabs are started in the groove they're intended to and use force----a LOT of force
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I can't get them to start. One side is always out and/or the other side is jammed into the gap in the mounting hole (is loose fit). Everything I try to squeeze and insert it with blocks me when it hits something that won't move.

I assembled the adjustable linkage to the z-bar on the bench and the clip popped right on. The difference in the gap of the slot for the clip is because the lower adjustable part is thinner than the other linkage.

I've got a rain delay anyway, with the z-bar situation. I already ordered a TTI part from Mancini. I really need to dent the headers before I go any farther too. I want the next time I put the z-bar and linkage in to be the last.
 
Started an eval on the header dents last night. Need one at the PS box, and one on each side at the TB. The DS TB slid right back out - the other one is being stubborn. Header instructions don't say anything about removing the TBs just the drag link, so I should be able to get the header out to give me more space to then slide the TB to the rear.

I'm starting to have thoughts like "I really should have a lift" though but it would be a hard way to go with my garage. It's got a 9' ceiling now and maybe you could modify the trusses to give room for a lift in the center, but then there are dual doors so with a lift in the middle I can't get a car in. I'm thinking about it though. This working on my back stuff is insane.
 
That's why I bought the rotis, no way I could spend months under there stripping the bottom, let alone how would you paint?
Now a lift would be awesome, one of the gas stations I used way back when had an outdoor lift, I think at this point in my life it's my last resto, so I'll watch you guys toil away & remember why I said no mos!
 
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