Father, Son, and Grand Father project. 1963 Valiant

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He's looking forward to spraying. When we tell him that this is the crappy part, but the more you sand the better the final product will be. He just says "I know I know. Lol
 
Wow. It's been a while since we've updated the build thread. So here goes. Lol.

First, let me start off with a big shout out to waggin. Curtis went over and above to help us find the odd ball part that we were missing. It was the upper weather strip holder for a 2 door hardtop. Why it was missing…nobody knows. But it was. And Curtis came through for us at a very reasonable price. And even more than that, I really enjoyed talking with Curtis on the phone. He's just plain ok good people. I could have rapped with him all day. Thank you again Curtis.

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I'd also like to thank Cosgig. As always, Geoff came through with more parts Jason needed at "I'm a broke *** student building a car" prices. Lol.

He hooked us up on a rear bumper, inner sill plates, dash trim, trunk hinge pivot thingeys, an oil pan, an intake manifold, misc brackets, and about 100 other things I'm probably forgetting. Thanks again Geoff.

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Jason refers to them as uncle Geoff and uncle Curtis. Lol
 
Update…part two.

We spent some time straightening out the crooked front bumper that this car came with…because apparently the one year only, 63 front bumper is made from unobtanium. Lol.

I had my doubts, but grandpa came through with ACES!!! I'll let the photos tell that part of the story.

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And here's some pics of it half assed fit on the car. It turned out way straighter than any of us ever thought it would. It was pushed up pretty hard and twisted on the drivers side.

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As always. Thank you for the words of encouragement. And thank you for taking time out of your day to follow our journey. Eric and Jason.
 
Next up on the list was patching the pass side rear quarter panel.

It was the only really "bad" panel on the car rust wise.

Shout out to Rick @ Laysons on the great part and great service. Even though it was on back order, he stayed in contact with us and kept us informed as to what was going on. Thanks again Rick.

We got a late start today because of other chores and duties around the house. Since I knew it was going to be a late night, and Jason had some more homework to do, and school in the morning, I flew solo tonight. (It was probably for the best though……Jason usually has a coronary whenever we take cut off wheels to his car. Lol. )

So it was just me and Dad. We had a great time working together tonight. Everything just gelled.

Much like our humpectomy on the firewall, this project started with ample use of the spot weld cutter. I love that tool.

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Than we followed that up with another cool tool. A pneumatic sheet metal stepper for the air hammer. It was epic.

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Than the measuring, marking, and destruction began. It was also……epic. Lol.

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Than came the fitting and welding. It only took 4-5 trial and trims to get the panel to fit perfect with our cuts. Dig it.

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We got it all tacked into place and called it a night. We both have work in the morning. Lol.

I'm hoping that after I get tires for my wife's truck on Wednesday, I can run up to the body supply place and get the prep solv, primer, and reducer. Hopefully in a week or two we will have it in primer.

As always, thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
Thank you very much. It's actually the first patch panel either one of us have ever done. Lol. We usually patch stuff up with used sheet metal bent to fit.

It was nice using a nice pre bent piece of sheet metal for a change. As the pictures show, filler will be at a minimum.
 
Well, today was the day. Final prep for primer. Most of the car was torn down already, so there wasn't much in the way of taping.

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Than we wiped it all down with prep solve, and tack ragged it down.

Than it was time to spray. We're using an epoxy primer. Suppose to be high build but seemed a little thin compared to the high build urethane were use to.

Grandpa teaching son and grand son how to spray. There were some runs involved in today's activities, but we're learning. Lol.

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And there you have it. Jason, me, and Dad have been busting *** all day.

Dad and Jason spent all day Saturday doing final block sanding and extra prep.

I'm very proud of Jason. It's turning out great.

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Jason got to be super excited to see primer going on. Just keep reminding him good paint job is 90% sanding.
 
Jason got to be super excited to see primer going on. Just keep reminding him good paint job is 90% sanding.

Lol. Yeah, we've been telling him that for months. Lol.

Our hard work paid off though. We have a few spots that need spot puddy, and a few small dings that we missed somehow. But it's pretty straight and almost ready for paint.

But first……more block sanding. Lol
 
Time for an update.

Last Tuesday after work we got the car and barn prepped and ready for paint.

Wednesday we finished prepping and sprayed the base clear. It turned out great.

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Here's the color Jason picked. As you will see, it's eye seering bright. Lol. He nailed the color. It really pops.
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Here is the base coat laid out. It sprayed out really nice.

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And here's the clear. It lasted out pretty well with out to much orange peel or runs. Here it is. After almost a year of metal working, swapping out body parts, and block sanding. BAM!!!!!!
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I hope you all enjoy the update. Thanks for reading. Eric and Jason.
 
And here it is unwrapped. It came out great. I can still see a few areas on the quarters that are a little wavy……but for three hacks it came out pretty well. My block sanding skills still leave a bit to be desired. Lol.

But. The chrome really made it pop. I wasn't sure about Jasons color choice at first, but after seeing it with the chrome and glass……I'm a believer. It's going to look great with the polished weld drag kites we have.




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Next up. Wet sanding. We are planing on wet sanding the entire car to clean up the small amounts of orange peel. We have 3 coats of base and 3-4 coats of clear. Should clean up great.
 
Today we started wet sanding. Grandpa teaching grandson and son how to wet sand. It's going well. No unexpected surprises. Soon, it will look like nail polish.


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Tell Jason after the dreaded wet sanding, that took me two weekends. The compounding is next. I found that to be the fun part because you could see the gloss come back. That red paint will pop like crazy. I liked 3m compound. This was my first car I painted and I'm 47. The black valiant I posted earlier was my second. Still took just as long but my technique was a lot better.
 
Wow awesome Job guys, it's nice to see Grampa out there and you guys working together to get this project going.

Can't wait to see more progress and pics of course...
 
View attachment 1715043211 Tell Jason after the dreaded wet sanding, that took me two weekends. The compounding is next. I found that to be the fun part because you could see the gloss come back. That red paint will pop like crazy. I liked 3m compound. This was my first car I painted and I'm 47. The black valiant I posted earlier was my second. Still took just as long but my technique was a lot better.

He was a little scared when we first showed him……but when we took the buffer to it he felt all better. Lol.
 
Wow awesome Job guys, it's nice to see Grampa out there and you guys working together to get this project going.

Can't wait to see more progress and pics of course...

We couldn't do it without him.

This is the same barn that me and him restored MY 63 valiant originally. Lol.

Lots of deja vu going on up in here. Lol.

Sometimes me and dad look at each other and go wow……has it been 25 years. Lol. Than we realize we're both old……and it has been 25 years. Lol
 
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Today we gave the car its first bath. Wet sanding is done and we needed to wash it before we could commence buffing it out.

Than we touched up any areas with the air brush that we busted through the clear. Turned out great.
 
Next we worked on the radio. We had a complete AM radio with a perfect face plate. And an AM/FM from a 1973 scamp. Enter my idea……red neck retro sounds. This is going to be good.

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This is what we started with. Factory
AM radio. It dosent work…and unless your into Rush Limbaugh…AM sucks. Lol. But Jason loves the look of the AM faceplate. So here's what we did.


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We took the 1973 FM radio, and modified the faceplate to fit the square buttons. The factory AM knobs fit perfect.

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Here it is test fitted in the dash. Looks almost totally stock at the casual glance. But a closer look through the dial reveals ……
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BAM! The FM dial hiding behind the factory face plate. Total cost involved…$0. Straight up awesome.

Thanks. Eric and Jason.
 
The radio is pretty cool. But wouldn't Jason want blue tooth satellite capabilities? Lol. Remember my diesel son, well we just got a 2002 diesel 3/4 ton extended cab full bed ram truck. Another project, however my son, nick works just as hard as Jason. Nick will be a senior in September. So are goal is to have the truck ready. Trucks not that bad, finished all the mechanicals, now on to interior and going to change the color from silver to black. So this will be my sons first time sanding. Hahaha. Did you tell Jason that red cars are always faster. With my valiant I ran into a snag. I used a 273 crank and forgot to machine the pilot hole bigger for the torque converter. .260 difference in diameter. Oops. Keep us updated beautiful car.
 
Time for another update. Things are progressing slowly but surely on Jasons car.

Here's the test fit on the new radiator. 4 core 22" champion. With a little massaging, (redrilling, lol) it fits great.

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We also got some more trim polished painted, restored and installed. Slowly but surely. Jason is having a lot of fun polishing and restoring the bright work. It's been great therapy and exercise for grandpa also.



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