Day 102

Today I was productive, albeit not as much as previous days.

I am trying to take my time and do things right the first time and so that I'm happy with the end result.  The passenger quarter panel kinda bummed me out because if I had only gone a bit slower it would have turned out better requiring less filler work.

Anyway, I replaced the driver's side rear bumper mount today.

Original.  Replacing it because of that bend near the first captive nut.

Removed.

All done!

 I talked about the rust area in the trunk last time and didn't have a good picture for it.

This is what it looks like, it is a very intrique area and I have a replacement coming from a donor car.  Hopefully it works out or I may have to try some sheet metal fab skills!

Day 101 - More welding!

I expect the welding to continue for a while :)

BUT, I did make some progress yesterday.

I had to repair the driver's side rear quarter panel fender area.  The damage wasn't quite as bad and I made sure to take my time so it turned out very nice.  A thin coat of filler and I'll be good to go!

Old vs. new

Ta dahhhhhh

Custom made patch for the lower area.

Not bad.

I also filled all the carpet tack holes inside the car.  And had to do a repair on the front "firewall" where it had rusted through.

Today I hope to finish up the rear end of the car replacing the bumper bracket on the driver's side and the partial rear quarter panel on the passenger side.

I still have to tackle the front, replacing the spare tire well, straightening the front completely, and replacing part of the trunk that is rusted through.

One step at a time...

Day 100 - Body welding!

It certainly has been a while.  I had a nice work trip to Alaska and some friends in town.  Hard to find a clear day to work on the car.

Today I spent about 10 hours in the garage working on the passenger side taking care of some of the rust.  I got most of the passenger side done expect the A pillar.

I feel ok with how the welding turned out.  Not the best, but strong and fixed the rust.  I will use a light skim coat of body filler to take care of my imperfections :)

Enjoy!

The bad and ugly.  Note the area cut out.  See next pic for my custom patch.

I didn't have a metal piece to replace the cut out area, so I fabbed one up!

The re-enforcing rib in the middle of the picture needed some welds.

Other bad area cut out, replacement fitted.  Welded and sanded down.

Ehhh welding.  Could have been better.

Driver's side to go.  Both A pillars.  Rear apron is going to have to come off to replace my passenger side quarter panel.  Driver's side bumper mount.

Still need to do the front apron area and rear which is going to be a pain.

AKA still a long ways off!

Post paint cleanup

I didn't do much on the car today.  Just got my paint booth taken down and cleaned out the garage.

I did spray Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating in the heather channel, both inside and outside the heat carrying portion.

This stuff is the same that I used in the tunnel to get to the areas I wanted to protect from future rust and neutralize present rust.  It's very thin and gets into all the nooks and crannies.  Better than nothing, for sure!

I have a garage back!

Will start working on metal work tomorrow :)

Day 99

Well I guess it's fitting that day 99 marks the last day of a major hurdle in the project.  I have all my parts and pieces in epoxy primer.  I can now feel a bit relieved and say "AHHHHH" because the parts are cleaned, painted, and protected from rust.

Staged the night before

Hooks in action!

A lot of small stuff!

Laid out, ready to paint!

But of course, they are no where near being ready for final paint.

That's where the next section begins!  Metal and body work!

Day 98

Well I had (am still having) a full day today.

I flew early in the morning and then dropped off my remaining parts at the media blaster.  Fenders, doors, hood, rear seat and decklid.  Should be done in a few days and that expensive part of the project will be finished!

Caroline had a trip into North Vegas today so we got some unexpected but nice hang out time.  Always  a fun surprise when she shows up.  Sometimes we coordinate ever so dilligently all for not, so it's nice when it works!

I did get to de-rusting my purchased hood replacement.  I sent my original hood to media blast just to see if it will be salvageable.  I can also sell it for some $$.

My purchased hood had been blasted a while ago and sitting in the house had higher humidity, even in the desert so it did rust a bit.  The hood does need some work too, especially around the nose area.  But nothing that is not manageable.

I used phosphoric acid which converts the rust (iron oxide) to iron phosphate.  It is no longer rust, inert, and you cant paint on it.  If I didn't do this, the rust would probably rear it's ugly head again in the future which would be a little upsetting.

I could have sent it back to media blast but this is definitely a project that a few hours and some elbow grease can achieve with similar results.

The blue towels were wetted, then put in place to keep the phosphoric acid on the tougher spots longer.  It is still sitting outside now, I'll let it sit for a couple hours and then before bed put it in the garage and wet it down one more time with the acid to dry overnight.

Tomorrow I'll clean it off and should be good to go!

Paint should be this weekend.

Day 96 & 97

Well, the past few days I have been getting ready for my final primer day.  I have a bunch of small pieces that needed to be blasted and primed.  I spent about 7 hours Saturday doing most of the small pieces.  Then another 6 or so today working on the gas tank and one seat frame.

The paint on some of the pieces was VERY thick and hard to get off.  I'm also using a semi-abrasive media so it takes a bit longer sometimes but doesn't damage the underlying material.

I have the shift rod, emergency brake handle, and driver's seat still to go.  Those will wait until the last application of the primer (during high build stage when all body work is done) before I take them off the pan and paint them.  That way I can still move the pan around and not have to worry about an immobile pan!

I also installed some eye hooks into the ceiling so I can run some wire to hang the pieces I am going to paint.

Last of the "big parts" off to the blaster tomorrow, hopefully done Thursday and paint this weekend.  Digging into savings at this point in order to move onto the next step.  Blah.

Looking forward to wrapping up the primer and moving onto metal and then body work!