Weight Reduction and Chassis Prep Phase 1
I cut out the holes and dimpled them leaving the swiss cheesed sheet metal rigid.
One hole aint do much, but many of them...still not much. Im pinching for lbs so everything will count in the end. I dimpled and drilled out a 1 1/2" hole, using a bolt driven die.
Brackets, reinforcement plates, and other miscellaneous bracing have been drilled out with a spot weld drill bit (not pictured). I drilled through to the outside several times, I will have to go back weld in what holes I made.
Once everything has been removed, I have began to remove all sound deadening, adhesives, and paint and primers. A heat gun was used for the deadening that was stubborn, and finished off with acetone and a lot of old microfiber cloths.
I started a small section with aircraft paint stripper, with all the crevices it was difficult to scrape off. Also, it was not effective at going through the layers of paint. The car was originally red then painted black, so thats 2 coats of primer and 2 of paint. I noticed the aircraft stripper was not strong enough to penetrate through the primers. I switched the method to mechanical, scotch brite pads have been effective in the past but on a larger scale, using the large pads on an angle grinder. I used only 4 pads to get it to the stage pictured above, 4 pads @ $5.00 each. Left a very clean and smooth finish without warping or damaging the metal, I will finish the the rest with brush on aircraft stripper.
Factory gas tank removal, theres a little fuel remaining so for safety I have removed it.
The spare tire well will not be needed, It will give me a better view on how I want to mount the new fuel tank.
I will be rolling out a new trunk pan, but it will come after planning the fuel system and wing layout.
When Im finished this prep I will either begin to prep the cage for welding or Ill do the fuel system. I need to pickup a few things, a bead roller to do the floors, a tube notcher to notch the tubing for the cage and the fuel stuff.