Another new member with a 2000 Century

Waiex191 · Oct 8, 2020

Rust remover

A rough patch cut from the remains of a '67 Jacobsen lawn trailer.

CorvairGeek · Oct 9, 2020

I have noticed so many GM cars (after 2005-ish) have bare insulation in the bottom of the tire well for noise control. All I can think of is how fast it will rust away around in the Great Lake States as soon as it get wet.

Waiex191 · Oct 11, 2020

I've cleaned and painted my patch with POR-15. I masked the edges for welding.

Waiex191 · Oct 13, 2020

Had to remove some rust for the welder ground clamp. I'll be removing the rest of this rust later.

Here I'm using a jack to jam the patch down tight.

Next I've tack welded it around the perimeter.

Coming up: more welding, beat to fit, and paint.

Waiex191 · Oct 14, 2020

I did some more tack welds and started laying down beads.

I'm happy with the penetration. The underside looks sort of artsy, or maybe something like a Hubble telescope picture.

The top right corner in the next picture had a lot of pitting after I cleaned off the rust. I think that metal was too thin for me to weld at my skill level and with the equipment I have. In the picture I have a trouble light under the car and you can see the light shining through the holes. I think I'm going to hack out those sections and make another patch.

Waiex191 · Oct 16, 2020

Trial fit of the bumper. Looks good, but a shame I put it on upside down.

I had to stop welding because I ran out of wire. So I figured I'd start looking at bolting the hitch up. I'd rather drill holes on the press, rather than under the
bumper. Less chips in my eyes that way.

Unfortunately, my new wheel well floor is higher than the stock one. I'll have to shave the foam jack mount and modify my hitch. The hitch does not meet up flat.

The better way to do this repair would have been to cut out an entire spare tire well. Most of them are rusty. The car I got the bumper from was not, but the car was resting on the tire well and it was smashed.

Waiex191 · Oct 21, 2020

Here is my setup to weld to the right angle on my trailer hitch.

I'm still getting used to this new MIG welder. Seems awesome, though some of my welds still are not pretty. I'm ready to let my old Craftsman stick welder go.

I've heard many rave about POR-15. Decided to try it. Seems pretty awesome. Very durable so far. Plus it looks good.

Waiex191 · Oct 24, 2020

All of that setup to get the angle and I found I got it wrong once I bolted up the hitch tight. Oh well, that is what oxy-acetylene torches are for. Got it glowing and bent it to the right angle with some vise grips.

Bolts and bracket in the trunk:

And underneath. Mr. Muffler is not looking so great.

Stress test:

Count67 · Oct 24, 2020

Waiex191 said:
All of that setup to get the angle and I found I got it wrong once I bolted up the hitch tight. Oh well, that is what oxy-acetylene torches are for. Got it glowing and bent it to the right angle with some vise grips.
View attachment 26664

Bolts and bracket in the trunk:
View attachment 26665

And underneath. Mr. Muffler is not looking so great.
View attachment 26666

Stress test:
View attachment 26667

Nice fabrication work!

chem_man · Oct 24, 2020

Lookin' good!!!

Waiex191 · Oct 25, 2020

Thanks for the positive feedback!

Here is a mount I made for the connector.

I welded it into the hitch.

Phosphoric acid bath after I ground and wire wheeled off as much rust as possible:

My new favorite paint - POR15.

chem_man · Oct 25, 2020

POR15 is great stuff. I used it on our gas line after we had gas run to the house, and on a cellar door to the basement.

Waiex191 · Oct 25, 2020

Here is my nicely mounted connector. I put it on so I could figure out my wire run.

Here is the routing:

And across:

Unfortunately once the bumper cover is on, no good. I think I'll just mount it to the bottom of the bumper cover.

The plastic tube runs through the space under the trunk latch bar. I'll route the right blinker wire through this tube.

I'm ready to be done with this project.

Waiex191 · Oct 27, 2020

I printed up some bushings to mount my trailer hitch connector.

Here it is mounted up.

It seems pretty solid, though the bumper cover is not totally stiff.

Waiex191 · Oct 27, 2020

I hate hacking into wiring harnesses - except at the junkyard. I noticed there is a disconnect for the tail lights, near the tail lights. So I snipped out the left and right side harnesses on either side of the mating connectors and brought that home. Then I made a breakout harness. This is the right side.

So I plugged my harness into the car harness, ran the white wire down the plastic tube, installed about a million self adhesive tywrap points, and bundled it up.

Ok, not a million, but 5. Then I did the left side.

I was not sure how loaded the ground wire was, so I just made a ground in the trunk. I only had orange electrical tape, but it does match the bumper.

chem_man · Oct 28, 2020

Nice work!

CorvairGeek · Oct 28, 2020

I thought I was looking at orange 'F4' tape at first!

Waiex191 · Oct 30, 2020

Everything bolted up. Just need to square away the donut spare.

It's actually pretty hard to see the hitch and connector under there.

Waiex191 · Oct 30, 2020

So my fuel filler neck is super scary looking. I got a new one from LKQ. I'd like to get a new hose for between the filler neck and tank. Anybody have a part number?