#migmonkey

Got the fiberglass side of the heater box cleaned up and the metal doors painted. Next step on those will be cutting foam to glue to the doors like the factory did. I also fabricated new inner sheet metal halves to replace the badly rusted out ones. I will rivet those back in place once the paint cures. The only thing really left is reassembly after the hardware gets cleaned up and painted also. Hope to get this day and get back on welding in floor pans. #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #fabrication #fab101 #fabricationlife #migmonkey #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #restoration #xframe #bbody #rustrepair #heaterbox #paint #rustoleum #rustoleumpaint

Got the heater box half painted along with some other pieces. Shouldn't be longer till it starts going back together. I used the rustoleum gloss black appliance paint. That paint seems to be more durable and produce better results than the regular gloss black version and is the same price. #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #fabrication #fab101 #fabricationlife #migmonkey #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #restoration #xframe #bbody #rustrepair #heaterbox #paint #rustoleum #rustoleumpaint

More work on the heater box for my 64 Bel Air. I used my air nibbler to cut out the replacement patch piece for this inner panel for the heater. The bottom portion of the inner panel had little pin holes in it but luckily wasn't throughout the whole thing. The hardest part was making the small lip have the same radius as the original. I made a separate slide show of how I went about making the lip and radius that I will post after this. All that is left to do is weld the seam up and grind it smooth. #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #fabrication #fab101 #migmonkey #fabricationlife #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #restoration #xframe #bbody #rustrepair #heaterbox

Getting close to being done with welding in patch panels on this side of the heater box. Been most of a day chasing parts but glad to get this almost finished up. I have some small imperfections to fill in and this should be ready to clean up and paint. The other half of the box will need some metal replacement also. Looking forward to driving Bella again soon. #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #weldinglife #weld #fabrication #fab101 #migmonkey #heater #heaterbox #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #restoration #xframe #bbody #rustrepair

Moving along on rebuilding the heater box. I welded on the lower panel I built using my metal brake last night. I finished up tying in the remaining parts of it this morning. I finished making another piece to fill in the rusted out section in the first and second pictures. Sorry about the first picture being dark. Didn't realize it till after making the slide show. There are a lot of little spot welds to put it together and get it this far. I'm finding thin spots when welding the new and old together at a joint. The original sheet metal is 22 gauge and some places it's likely 24 or 26 gauge or even thinner as surface rust has etched or eaten away at it. I have blown through some places in the metal so I clamped a 1/2 inch piece of copper plate to the back side to help with blow through. Another great tip I learned from @weldmonger. 👍👍 I did have some hiccups along the flange on the new panel I put together last night. The welder gun had enough wear in the tip that the wire was moving enough to make getting a consistent spot weld in the same line difficult. At first I thought it was me until I thought to check the tip. Long day and then you feel like you are loosing your mind. Hope to get this finished up tonight or early in the morning. #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #fabrication #fab101 #migmonkey #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #restoration #xframe #bbody #bella #heaterbox #rustrepair

I encountered a problem with the information that I found on the internet about using a heater ac unit out of a 88 to 92 civic and Integra for my 64 Bel Air. Due to the imports along with just about every car built now, the heater box assembly is too tall to fit under the dash of the 64. The 64 has a transmission tunnel due to being rear wheel drive which is one of the many problems. The newer vehicles tend to have a flat firewall and concentrate most of the heater box in the center of the car behind the dash. So as they say the internet is 90% bs, it's true but I'm thinking it's higher percentage than that. My alternatives are to heavily modify the heater ac unit I just got or rebuild my old rusted out heater box and go down the road. I decided to rebuild and picked up a newer heater core today plus the gasket kit today reseal the heater box. The gaskets are foam rubber and runs about $25. The heater core was $50. Now due to my car being a factory ac car, I'm going to use an evaporator out of a 96 sentra that I picked up because it is the right size and it already uses R134. So after looking at the sheet metal and cutting out the cancer rust, I cut a 3 inch wide strip of 22 gauge sheet metal to replace the rusted section. I ran it through my brake to make the bends I need. I have a lot more to cut out of cancer rust but I will do one section at a time. I decided to cut out the whole bottom of the box and start over rather than try welding new to pitted metal. I could look for another heater ac box in a wrecking yard but I don't want to even know how much that will cost. It will be faster to just rebuild what I have and if I found another unit, I might have the same problem with rust on a 50 + years old part. Chop, Cut, rebuild and motor on! #designsbyandrew #metalworking #metalworkingnation #welding #fabrication #fab101 #migmonkey #sheetmetal #chevroletbelair #chevrolet #64belair #rust #heaterbox #acbox #bella #belair #restoration #xframe #bbody