69 Z/28 Day II Project (Air Force Brat)

[NorCam]

For those who'd like to know what's been going on with the bodywork...here's a bit of an update. The floor was completed a week and a half ago before Ron took to the dashtop and the bottom of the windshield area. The car didn't have a lot of rust in it, but the front of the dash did have some decay due to moisture being trapped under the dashtop in between the underlying support panel. GM used to fill this area with a foam sealant that retained moisture and was targeted with planned rust out. I believe GM called this "Planned Obsolescence".

With the underlying area cleaned up and replaced with new metal, a new dashtop was then installed and has now been welded in and ground smooth. Next, we replaced the lower firewall section due to an earlier clutch explosion (1974) that damaged the tunnel, toe boards and the leading edges of the floor. An AMD lower firewall section was then fit into place and welded around the outer seams. We also repaired the drivers side cowl plenum which was damaged from a racing incident back in the 80's. Rather than repair that particular piece of metal, a choice was made to replace the outer cowl panel with new sheet metal. This now finished off the front of the car and Ron has since moved onto the rear quarters and trunk area which are progressing quickly. I'll update more pictures of the bodywork once the GM quarter panels are welded in and the bodywork begins on the doors and fenders.