Oh Jeez, what have I done?

[Grover]

For a couple of years now I've been gathering bits to prep for a paint job. More recently, Ash00 was nice enough to help me with some prep in welding up the US spec sidemarker holes, the lower knee trim holes etc.. Then, this past weekend I went a little ballistic on the car, replacing a rusty fender and trunklid, stripping all the trim and glass, sunroof etc... It now looks like absolute hell, but I'm well and truly commited now. I dropped it off with the body guy today for the first round of work, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Yikes!!

[tjones02]

Wow, cool Tom! Who's painting it?

[ought2]

How did the fender replacement go? Any surprises or advice? Good luck on the paint, Tom!

[JohnC]

Tom, What have you done? You've done the right thing! If your paint/body guy is half way decent You're going to be pleased!

Be patient now, body and paint guys like to use these project cars as filler in between insurance work. Don't rush them and hopefully they'll be grateful and do a kickass job because they like you and your car!

Good Luck, can't wait to see it!!!

[CutteRug]

Right there with ya Buddy....

I just pulled the sunroof out the other day (all the glass was already out of the car) and I said to myself, "What the hell - are you trying to make another Stella here?!"

But boy, are our cars gonna look SWEET when they're done!!

:-)

[jerry]

it must be something in the water we drink that's causing this rash of bodywork going on in the bay area. chadB and his pop are into day 7 of sanding/bodyfilling on chad's car. his car will be sporting the nifty springs you gave me, too (only chad, does not know that yet). i'll be expecting your polished car at brisbane next may....

[dubois]

that's a nice start. I love that clean look without the knee moulding.

[DennisR]

Lookin' Good! I'm on the verge but haven't pulled the trigger yet. You are my inspiration and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. I'd be interested to know who you are using to do the paint and body work. Enjoy!

[TTyMiller]

The joy will be in seeing the before and after pictures!

[keninmorganhill]

Great to see this kind of post, G.

I'm doing the same type of work on mine and every now and then I stop and do a reality check. This was supposed to be a simple hand here and sand there, but I find myself actually digging deeper and deeper and taking care of all sorts of other minor body bits as I go along.

I too am shooting for the non-knee trim look and running lights removal scheme.

I'll post pics of my craft as well, shortly. ;-)

- Ken

[ChadB]

looks good, I'm doing the same deal on my 76'

-chad

(Jerry,

What Springs are you talkin about? and shouldn't you be at work right now?)

[dtharp113]

I haven't verbalized it yet, but....

I dropped off a shell at the beginning of the year w/ the comment to the body guy "just straighten the driver qtr panel, prep it and shoot it". Well, 6 months later, I get Blunt to send me a spanking new qtr panel.

Needless to say, the body guy is very happy and will commence work "soonish".

[ingraham]

Some of us have had the privilege of seeing the beautiful job Grover did on his Megasquirt conversion. Based on that project, this repaint will be one we will all wish upon ourselves. Go, Grover.

[Grover]

I should probably get off my rear and make a project blog, but for the life of me I can't seem to post photos with Photobucket. Hmmm....

Anyway, today was another long day of dirty work at the body shop. Andy Schank (who is doing the paint work) has been nice enough to let me work alongside him for these first few days such that I can learn, and simultaneously keep my bill in check by doing as much of the grunt work as possible. Today I spent the majority of the day prep'ing the trunk!!! I'd not originally even planned on painting in the trunk, but after welding up the old side marker holes as well as the US spec license plate light holes, I thought I had to at least do a little bit in there to make it presentable. Famous last words, and 8 hours of work later it's still not quite ready to prime yet...

Ought02, in response to your question, the fender replacement was very easy. In retrospect, we shouldn't even have put the energy we did into trying to patch the old rusty one (although I am trying to preserve as many original parts as possible, partly for posterities sake, as well as budget limits.) Anyway, I used a heat gun to soften the paint up at the weld by the front clip and then scraped and wire brushed away until I could clearly see the weld. Then, I just used a dremel with a cut-off disk. The rest of the attachment points are just screws. I'd say in less than an hour total a new fender was hung. Live and learn...

Attached are a couple of photos from today's finds. Of note is the driver's side door which I knew had some bondo on it, but not as much as we ended up discovering. It looks like it was side swiped at some point and was then drilled and pulled out prior to opening a large tub of bondo to be slathered on. I ended up taking it all the way down to bare metal and then Andy did some metal work on it to try to get it as straight as possible. A skim coat of filler will still be needed to get a good clean line, but such is life. Another panel we spent a lot of time on was the front clip where an airdam had been previously mounted by an inexperienced owner (ahem, your truly I'm afriad.) Let's just say it was "securely" fastened with about 20 screws, all of which left a hole that needed to be welded shut, and now sanded, flattened, and given a skim coat to get flat. Oy vey.

In another photo you'll also see some old drips of paint from the previous paint job. This is an indication of the type of care they took in various places on the car.

[SteveJ]

Working along side the body guy is just wrong. You will be ruined for life.

You'll learn what it takes for a GOOD job versus a good looking job. I have a jaded eye. I guess that's why all my cars look like hell.

My flared 02 went the same way- Helped by cleaning the shop, sweeping the floor, cleaning tools, etc... Eventually I got to work alongside the body guy and learned how to mix mud, lay mud, sand mud, and then have him check my work."High, high, high, low, low, high, low...do it again." A couple of days on each door, not too bad. When it came to the final sealer and color, I stayed away and let the pro do it.

Looking forward to the rebirth!!!

Remember that the last 10% of the work will take 90% of the effort. Don't get discouraged.