December 10, 2003

Today [December 9] I was in the area where the Charity AMX is being worked on. I stopped in to see how things were progressing. I found that things are coming together slowly. The body and frame guy Steve found that the car had most likely hit a pole of some kind early in its life, just behind the passenger door. As I stated previously the inner wheel well had to be pulled out 3/4 of an inch. He later found that the door post was pushed in approximately 1 inch. He also showed me that the rocker panel needs to be pulled out at the top anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1/8 inch along the bottom of the door. In some places it has little to no curve left in it, it goes almost strait up and down. After Steve looked closely he found the rear sub frame also needed straitening since it had a curve in it where the pole had hit.

This car was most likely repaired before the technology that we have today existed. He found that the old quarter panel had been brazed on instead of MIG welded in place and the tolerances for their measurements were off quite a bit when they straightened the car back then.

Steve has now straightened the wheel arch, door post and sub frame. He has mounted the quarter panel on the car with temporary screws and the passenger door now lines up perfectly with the proper gap between the door and the quarter panel.

The roof has had its final coat of filler to give it the correct shape back.

He will be welding the quarter panel on the passenger side soon and then be moving onto the passenger side lower repair and trunk floor repair.
 

Respectfully,

David W. De Labio
gremlin1@acronet.net
On-Site Coordinator, Project Charity AMX, Southeastern Wisconsin