response to gedas

I don't know how much I can help, but I can tell you what I did wrong, and maybe that will help.

I did all of the sheet metal work myself. I bought a 4 foot by 10 foot piece of 16 gauge sheet metal and that just barely was enough for the whole car. I had a LOT of rust. The 16 gauge is a litle thicker than stock, so sometimes that made welding difficult, and it probably added 10-15 pounds total to the car. It will be stronger, but I don't think the car really needed it. I think next time I would use 18 gauge.

The floor boards werent all that hard. I used a bead roller to add rigidity and a hammer and dolly to make some of the odd shapes. The outer rocker panels on the other hand were a disaster. I was short on cash at the time so I couldn't buy Jack Ashcraft's reproductions. I wasn't smart enough to find someone local to make it either. I had a 42" sheet metal brake to do the bending, but it needed to be something like 48" or 52" I can't remember. So I made the rockers in two pieces and welded them together in the center. Big mistake. I could never get it straight, and spent weeks and weeks fussing with them. There is way more fiberglass reinforced mud on those than I am comfortable with. I still have half a mind to do those over before I get any further.

Bracing. You need to brace the chassis before you cut anything out. Mine was so rusted I had to brace it before I even took off the body. Wanna know how I know? When I took the body off, I couldn't close the doors anymore. The tops of the door opening had pinched in a good 3/4 of an inch. Fortuneatly there is a frame straigtening machine in the shop, and I was able to at least get it all level and even again. I just took 1 inch square tubing and welded it in back to front and side to side at the top of the doors. I ran one diagonal, and also some vertical braces down to the cross beam in the floor.

For all of the internal spaces that I can't get to, I was recommended a product called Rust Fighter 'I' from 3M. It is a sticky anti rust goo that protects everything. I'll tell you in 30 years how well it works.

On everything else I hit all of the rust with a wire wheel and a phosphoric acid based rust converter metal etcher. I sanded every nook and cranny with 220 grit paper. Then I used an epoxy primer followed by single stage top coat. The rocker panels, I added some intermediate steps. I hit it with high build primer, and wetsanded it down to 600 grit before painting. I didn't mess with POR 15 or anything like that. I did see someone thin out POR15 and spray it on to his car though, and it looked pretty good.

My car certainly didnt' turn out show quality. The floor patches are all visible if you look for them. But they are going to be covered by carpet anyways. At any rate, good luck, and remember that I'm really not good at this at all. Hopefully my mistakes will help you avoid some of your own.