Engine Bay Clean Up

Working on a project there are always things that pop up and catch you attention.  This is one of them.

Excuse the blurry picture, but you get the idea.  There was rust in the former home of the battery tray, an intercooler pipe hole that's too small and in the wrong location for the intake, holes from drilled spot welds, and provisions for a washer fluid tank that's been out of the car for nearly 10 years now.  My first problem was no press brake to bend the radius on the panel.  So I made a quick and dirty rail for the hydraulic press at work.

I used this in conjunction with a piece of 1-1/4" round stock to make a nice radiused corner.  Then used my handy dandy card board templates to make my patch panel out of 22ga sheet metal, the same thickness as the original piece.

After making the panel I cleco pinned and butt weld clamped it in place for weld.

Also, I patched some strut tower rust that I had previously repaired with bondo and stitch welded the front of the car.  I figured that with the extra torque the LS will provide the front of this car will need all the help it can get.  The first steps to stitch welding are scraping out the seam sealer, then wire brush the remaining sealer out.
 

Stitch welding is a serious pain, no matter how much you think you've thoroughly cleaned all the bits of rust and seam sealer there will still be some in there.  Every time you hit some seam sealer, dirt or rust and pull it into the puddle it burns and makes the puddle pop.  You'll have a good run for a few stitches then a few that are terrible where you keep cleaning and trying to get a good weld.

A much easier part was making at attaching subframe rail caps.  I plasma cut them then used the dimple die to make the holes look clean and tig welded them in place.

The next step will be to repair some rust holes I discovered in the frame rails (frail rails)