gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Thanks Bill. It feels really good to be back at it. I had been lurking around the site, but not gettin' anything done! Just had to get over the hump, get in the garage and start playin' with the tools again. L8r
Gerahead's 71 Dart
- Thread starter gerahead
- Start date
-
DieWilde13
Well-Known Member
Good Work you do there!
Nice Metalwork! Can´t wait to see it finished!
I changed everything on my Dart since back in the Days.
Another Tranny, Engine, rearend....
Go ahead!:cheers:
Nice Metalwork! Can´t wait to see it finished!
I changed everything on my Dart since back in the Days.
Another Tranny, Engine, rearend....
Go ahead!:cheers:
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Greetings and thank you Wildman for stopping by and taking a look! I haven't done this level of replacement before. Learning as I go. When I started this project, I didn't think I would have to do this kind of work. It is amazing what can be hidden if you try hard enough. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
I had some extra hands available yesterday, so I was able to drop the deck lid back over its hole to check up on the alignment with the modified driver side quarterpanel and its extension. It all looked good so I can continue to march! I also had the hands available to tack an uncooperative seam so it will stay where it belongs. Might have this thing welded in here in a couple of days. Then on to strippin and paintin. The car I mean! L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Well . . . . after about a bazillion tack welds, the driver's quarter is nearly done. I will need to do some final weld dressing, check for pinholes and get some paint over the seam. I have included some pix of the previous work that I hadn't posted of the process that I used. I found that after I got tight, uniformly spaced tack welds, if I cranked up the heat a little when I 'stitched' them together, I got a flatter weld that cut down on the grinding. Thanks for stopping. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
A strange but enjoyable thing happened over the last week and a half. I was on my way home from work and 5 blocks from home on the same route that I have been taking for about 38 years .. . . .. . out from a side street comes a 69 Dart. Nice copper colored paint, skinnies and tubbed bigs, fenderwell headers, x-cap oil pan and sounding healthy as a new born! I have never seen this car before. I give him the :thumblef: as I drive by and he waved back. As I am driving away, (forehead slap here) I'm thinkin' I should have stopped to find out if he is a neighborhood guy or visitor. Doooo.
The next week I am headed home about the same time, so I thought that I would take a little side trip to see if the car can be spotted. I get about a 1/2 block in . .. . and there she is and there is someone out in the garage. U-turn, park and walk up to the garage. The owner is on his back under the core support and it was his son that I saw. Introduce myself and we chat for a little bit. Turns out he has lived there quite a while, and has had the car about 7 years. It's a 580hp, 440. Very nice car. Funny how close you can be to something and never see it. It was a good chat, I intend to stop back when I have more time to schmooze.
Project update - completed welding the seam on the driver's side quarter and ground it down, checked for light leaks, welded them up and ground some more. I have to knock down the plug welds on the trunk floor extension and wheel well and I can wrap up this side. Progress has been slow, but it is still progress. L8r
The next week I am headed home about the same time, so I thought that I would take a little side trip to see if the car can be spotted. I get about a 1/2 block in . .. . and there she is and there is someone out in the garage. U-turn, park and walk up to the garage. The owner is on his back under the core support and it was his son that I saw. Introduce myself and we chat for a little bit. Turns out he has lived there quite a while, and has had the car about 7 years. It's a 580hp, 440. Very nice car. Funny how close you can be to something and never see it. It was a good chat, I intend to stop back when I have more time to schmooze.
Project update - completed welding the seam on the driver's side quarter and ground it down, checked for light leaks, welded them up and ground some more. I have to knock down the plug welds on the trunk floor extension and wheel well and I can wrap up this side. Progress has been slow, but it is still progress. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Welding and grinding all done on the quarter panels. :blob::blob::blob:
When I disassembled the car, I removed the K-member and entire front suspension intact including the front tires. As you can probably imagine, it has been quite a PITA to shuffle it around the garage as needed to get at other things. The other day I took advantage of HF having moving dollies on sale, so I got one to place under the assembly so that I can at least roll it around when I have to move it. One of the reasons the tires are still on it is because a previous owner installed Gorilla lock nuts on virtually every wheel stud on the car. What kind of idiot does this ****!!! The only 'key' for these locking lug nuts is one that I found loose in the trunk eons ago. Those of you out there who are reading ahead . . . . . you are absolutely correct, the 'key' did not fit on any of the locking nuts :wack:
What I had found on the rear axle is that I could drive an undersized impact socket over the nut and tightly wedge it over the largest OD of the nut and then use my impact wrench to back the nuts off. As is always the case in things like this, 4/5 came off relatively easily. The last one is just a *****. I finally gave up when it got to the point that I was getting so angry, I was going to hurt something. Put everything down, go inside, mix an adult beverage, calm down . . . . . solve this one another day.
Plugged the air hose into the blasting cabinet and cleaned up the sway bar splash shields that I scored last Fall. These are the kinda smallish black plastic pieces that screw into the bottom side of the front frame rails that were gone on every car I had ever seen before this. They were full of all kinds of scaly, rusty crap. The glass bead barrage cleaned them up very nicely. I little scrubbing with soapy water and they ought to be very nice. One is kinda buggered up so I intend to see what I can accomplish with some auto adhesives to fix some cuts and cracks and a heat gun to straighten it back out. It will have to do until I can find something better. That's it for now. L8r
When I disassembled the car, I removed the K-member and entire front suspension intact including the front tires. As you can probably imagine, it has been quite a PITA to shuffle it around the garage as needed to get at other things. The other day I took advantage of HF having moving dollies on sale, so I got one to place under the assembly so that I can at least roll it around when I have to move it. One of the reasons the tires are still on it is because a previous owner installed Gorilla lock nuts on virtually every wheel stud on the car. What kind of idiot does this ****!!! The only 'key' for these locking lug nuts is one that I found loose in the trunk eons ago. Those of you out there who are reading ahead . . . . . you are absolutely correct, the 'key' did not fit on any of the locking nuts :wack:
What I had found on the rear axle is that I could drive an undersized impact socket over the nut and tightly wedge it over the largest OD of the nut and then use my impact wrench to back the nuts off. As is always the case in things like this, 4/5 came off relatively easily. The last one is just a *****. I finally gave up when it got to the point that I was getting so angry, I was going to hurt something. Put everything down, go inside, mix an adult beverage, calm down . . . . . solve this one another day.
Plugged the air hose into the blasting cabinet and cleaned up the sway bar splash shields that I scored last Fall. These are the kinda smallish black plastic pieces that screw into the bottom side of the front frame rails that were gone on every car I had ever seen before this. They were full of all kinds of scaly, rusty crap. The glass bead barrage cleaned them up very nicely. I little scrubbing with soapy water and they ought to be very nice. One is kinda buggered up so I intend to see what I can accomplish with some auto adhesives to fix some cuts and cracks and a heat gun to straighten it back out. It will have to do until I can find something better. That's it for now. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
It feels like it has been forever since I have been here for an update. I see from the date of the last post, that it has been!! Life has gotten in the way in a big way, but hopefully it has returned to more of what most people would consider to be normal.
I had a chance to spend some time on the lonely Dart a couple of nights back. There is a boo-boo on the passenger side rocker. I had originally planned to cut out this part and weld in a patch from the sheet metal that I had cut out with the quarterpanels. Since that time, I had acquired a stud welder and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to give her a whirl.
I had borrowed a HF stud welder from a friend of mine some time ago and for anyone who is contemplating buying one . . . forget it! The slide hammer sux and no matter what I tried, the studs did not weld with enough strength to hold squat. I bought a Magna Spot welder and what a difference!!!! It is a heavier unit and once welded on, very few of the studs pulled loose. The slide hammer worked great even when only hand tight.
The dent was both pushed in on the lower side of the rocker and the outer side of the rocker is both pushed in and buckled outward. I ended up with quite a few more studs welded on that n shown in the picture, but you can kind of get an idea where the low spots were. The crease ran diagonally upward between the "pin cushions". Between pulling the studs and beating with a body hammer, I got it looking pretty good. I shot some gloss black paint on it to protect it from surface rust and I can see from the reflections that I have a little more work to do, but I am calling this experiment a success:blob:
More fun to be had. L8r
I had a chance to spend some time on the lonely Dart a couple of nights back. There is a boo-boo on the passenger side rocker. I had originally planned to cut out this part and weld in a patch from the sheet metal that I had cut out with the quarterpanels. Since that time, I had acquired a stud welder and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to give her a whirl.
I had borrowed a HF stud welder from a friend of mine some time ago and for anyone who is contemplating buying one . . . forget it! The slide hammer sux and no matter what I tried, the studs did not weld with enough strength to hold squat. I bought a Magna Spot welder and what a difference!!!! It is a heavier unit and once welded on, very few of the studs pulled loose. The slide hammer worked great even when only hand tight.
The dent was both pushed in on the lower side of the rocker and the outer side of the rocker is both pushed in and buckled outward. I ended up with quite a few more studs welded on that n shown in the picture, but you can kind of get an idea where the low spots were. The crease ran diagonally upward between the "pin cushions". Between pulling the studs and beating with a body hammer, I got it looking pretty good. I shot some gloss black paint on it to protect it from surface rust and I can see from the reflections that I have a little more work to do, but I am calling this experiment a success:blob:
More fun to be had. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Wow, where has the time gone? I have found some lost motivation and have been back at it. At some point in my car's previous life, the ends of both the front and rear sub-frames had been dinged up. I am thinking that it was due a lift? I was originally planning to just leave them alone, but have found my OCD inner self. Why have all these nice tools if I am not going to use them, right. I first tried to pull out the dents with a stud welder and slide hammer and that was a no-go. So I decided to cut out the bent part of the frame rail, straighten out the metal that was cut out, the frame rail and weld the piece back in. The first victim was the passenger side rear rail. I marked out the portion that I wanted to remove, cut it out and then glued it back in. After dressing the welds, I think that it turned out pretty well. The next one will be what I think is the worst one, passenger side front. The corner of this one is crushed. You can see it at about 5 o'clock to the round drain hole in the last picture. This one should be a challenge. Jeez, it feels good to be back in the saddle!! L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Had to spend some time wrestling with the welder after I unknowingly had changed the wire speed setting while I was moving the welder around so the cables would reach where I was welding 
In order to straighten the side of the frame rail, I clamped a short piece of angle steel in the hole that I cut and used it as a dolly while I persuaded the steel back into shape with a hand held impact device.
Had to do some trimming to get the two pieces to fit correctly after being straightened and welded 'er up. I think that it now looks way more gooder!
In order to straighten the side of the frame rail, I clamped a short piece of angle steel in the hole that I cut and used it as a dolly while I persuaded the steel back into shape with a hand held impact device.
Had to do some trimming to get the two pieces to fit correctly after being straightened and welded 'er up. I think that it now looks way more gooder!
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gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
I got the front passenger side frame rail cut out as shown in the last picture of the previous post. In order to straighten out the side of the rail, I clamped a short piece of angle steel in the hole to use as a dolly and hammered from the outside to straighten out the side.
IMG_4669.JPG
Then I started to weld the cut piece back in. The area where it had buckled took some trimming, but I finally got a fit I was happy with. Tacked the piece back in and then it all went haywire. All a sudden I couldn't get a good weld. No "sizzle", all that would happen is the arc would strike and then the wire would burn back to the tip. Took the nozzle apart and cleaned it up thinking that the wire was hanging up, still no joy. It was getting late so I called it a night. When I got back to it over the weekend, I went back over the set up. Duh!!!
While jockeying the welder around on the opposite side of the car so the cables would reach, some dumb *** moved the wire speed dial down to virtually zero. The welder works MUCH better when set up correctly! In the meantime, I had some really ugly welds to clean up and do correctly. It took longer than it should have, but this was also the worst of the four repairs needed. It looks a lot better! Two down, two to go. L8r
IMG_4670.JPG
IMG_4669.JPG
Then I started to weld the cut piece back in. The area where it had buckled took some trimming, but I finally got a fit I was happy with. Tacked the piece back in and then it all went haywire. All a sudden I couldn't get a good weld. No "sizzle", all that would happen is the arc would strike and then the wire would burn back to the tip. Took the nozzle apart and cleaned it up thinking that the wire was hanging up, still no joy. It was getting late so I called it a night. When I got back to it over the weekend, I went back over the set up. Duh!!!
While jockeying the welder around on the opposite side of the car so the cables would reach, some dumb *** moved the wire speed dial down to virtually zero. The welder works MUCH better when set up correctly! In the meantime, I had some really ugly welds to clean up and do correctly. It took longer than it should have, but this was also the worst of the four repairs needed. It looks a lot better! Two down, two to go. L8r
IMG_4670.JPG
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Sorry for the double post, this has changed a little from what I remembered before the platform change. I think I got it! L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Moved on to the last of the frame dents that I am going to repair (decided one was so minor that it wasn't worth fooling with). The drivers' side rear had damage that extended into the boxing for the spring mount. My slide hammer "kit" doesn't have a hook shaped attachment for it, so I had to get creative with the wheel pulling attachment. It took some doing, but I got it pretty straight eventually.Fitted the piece that I cut out and burned it back in. Tough to get the welds along the back edge blended in, but got it looking pretty good.
View attachment 1714951457
View attachment 1714951458
View attachment 1714951457
View attachment 1714951458
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
I seriously want to get the underside of the car blasted, primed and painted before the summer is gone. So tonight I put together a punch list of the things that need to be done before I start spraying media, then I got started on it. I worked on getting the last of the undercoating stripped from the passenger side wheel well. Most of it had been removed previously with a pneumatic gasket scraper. I filled a non-aerosol sprayer with naptha and hosed down a portion of the wheel well.
Then I used a grey scotchbrite pad to scrub up and loosen the remnants. Then wiped it down with a shop towel. After several rinse and repeat cycles, I got it pretty clean. The process works really well, but lots of manual labor.
Then I used a grey scotchbrite pad to scrub up and loosen the remnants. Then wiped it down with a shop towel. After several rinse and repeat cycles, I got it pretty clean. The process works really well, but lots of manual labor.
Swinger340Canuc
72 Swinger 340 Special
I see we both came to the same conclusion Jim the best and easiest way to repair the dents on our frame rails was to cut the section out straighten it then weld it back into place. Its just to strong to pull it out and if you did weld a tab or something on and pull it out it wouldn't be very straight and flat so I think this is the best method. I'll be check out your progress, keep up the good work.
Danny
Danny
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Thanks Danny. Since there is nothing special about my project (unlike yours) I had pretty much decided to just let these areas go the way they were. But after some thought I figured I dove in this far, why not go all the way. I think that it turned out well. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
After a way-to-long delay, I am back working on what a good friend of mine calls a "staic display". Lots of work related travel and a herniated lumbar disc can keep even the best intentions subdued. I have had that corrected and am just waiting to get the post-op okey dokey from my doc, so I can resume my "normal" activities. Quite a while back, I had posted a question looking for help . . . .
[When I disassembled the car, I removed the K-member and entire front suspension intact including the front tires. As you can probably imagine, it has been quite a PITA to shuffle it around the garage as needed to get at other things. The other day I took advantage of HF having moving dollies on sale, so I got one to place under the assembly so that I can at least roll it around when I have to move it. One of the reasons the tires are still on it is because a previous owner installed Gorilla lock nuts on virtually every wheel stud on the car. What kind of idiot does this ****!!! The only 'key' for these locking lug nuts is one that I found loose in the trunk eons ago. Those of you out there who are reading ahead . . . . . you are absolutely correct, the 'key' did not fit on any of the locking nuts :wack:
What I had found on the rear axle is that I could drive an undersized impact socket over the nut and tightly wedge it over the largest OD of the nut and then use my impact wrench to back the nuts off. As is always the case in things like this, 4/5 came off relatively easily. The last one is just a *****. I finally gave up when it got to the point that I was getting so angry, I was going to hurt something. Put everything down, go inside, mix an adult beverage, calm down . . . . . solve this one another day.]
I thought that I had a plan, I would grind the end of the lug nut flat and weld a 3/4" nut onto the end and just spin 'er off! All I managed to accomplish is destroying two 3/4 nuts because the welds just tore apart. The wheels are the old Fenton style slotted mags and even though I am not going to use them on the car, I didn't want to do any damage to them either if possible. If it wasn't for that, I would have already broken out the gas ax! I am at my wits end. Does anyone have ANY idea that I could try to get this one last lug nut off?? I am at the point of desperation! Thanks, guys. L8r
[When I disassembled the car, I removed the K-member and entire front suspension intact including the front tires. As you can probably imagine, it has been quite a PITA to shuffle it around the garage as needed to get at other things. The other day I took advantage of HF having moving dollies on sale, so I got one to place under the assembly so that I can at least roll it around when I have to move it. One of the reasons the tires are still on it is because a previous owner installed Gorilla lock nuts on virtually every wheel stud on the car. What kind of idiot does this ****!!! The only 'key' for these locking lug nuts is one that I found loose in the trunk eons ago. Those of you out there who are reading ahead . . . . . you are absolutely correct, the 'key' did not fit on any of the locking nuts :wack:
What I had found on the rear axle is that I could drive an undersized impact socket over the nut and tightly wedge it over the largest OD of the nut and then use my impact wrench to back the nuts off. As is always the case in things like this, 4/5 came off relatively easily. The last one is just a *****. I finally gave up when it got to the point that I was getting so angry, I was going to hurt something. Put everything down, go inside, mix an adult beverage, calm down . . . . . solve this one another day.]
I thought that I had a plan, I would grind the end of the lug nut flat and weld a 3/4" nut onto the end and just spin 'er off! All I managed to accomplish is destroying two 3/4 nuts because the welds just tore apart. The wheels are the old Fenton style slotted mags and even though I am not going to use them on the car, I didn't want to do any damage to them either if possible. If it wasn't for that, I would have already broken out the gas ax! I am at my wits end. Does anyone have ANY idea that I could try to get this one last lug nut off?? I am at the point of desperation! Thanks, guys. L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
When I acquired my Dart, it did not have the splash shields that mount on the bottom side of the frame rails, just ahead of the lower control arms like in the image below.
I was able to source a couple from a donor, one really nice and the other ok. One was misshapen and has a couple of cuts/breaks in it. I was able to re-shape it with the careful application of hot air from my heat gun. These are kinda flexible and I am wondering if anyone knows what kind of a product would work to repair the cuts. The material is pretty thick so I could likely get away with v-cutting the edges and applying a bonding agent. Any ideas? L8r
I was able to source a couple from a donor, one really nice and the other ok. One was misshapen and has a couple of cuts/breaks in it. I was able to re-shape it with the careful application of hot air from my heat gun. These are kinda flexible and I am wondering if anyone knows what kind of a product would work to repair the cuts. The material is pretty thick so I could likely get away with v-cutting the edges and applying a bonding agent. Any ideas? L8r
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
No ideas on how to repair the splash shields?
Not too much worthy to report. I finally got the front wheel removed with nothing more than the offending lug nut becoming a casualty in the process. I have been trying to get all the tasks completed that I wanted done before I get it outside to blast the underside of the car to prep for priming and painting. Got the passenger side exhaust hanger where I wanted it and drilled the holes to mount it.
The body mount for the rear axle brake line had been torn from the sheet metal and pulled away from the body. I suspect that someone had tried to remove the axle and forgot to disconnect the mount and found out that it would not support the weight of the axle. Fired up the torch and got the bracket straightened back out. Now I just need a couple of extra hands to hold the bracket in place so I can weld it back into place.
After installing the quarter panels, I never went back and trimmed off the overlap between panels. So I have completed the passenger side and have the driver side all marked off for trimming. I have also been exercising my blast cabinet to clean up and repaint some smaller parts to fill in short intervals of "free time".
That's all for now, just pluggin' away. L8r
Jim
Not too much worthy to report. I finally got the front wheel removed with nothing more than the offending lug nut becoming a casualty in the process. I have been trying to get all the tasks completed that I wanted done before I get it outside to blast the underside of the car to prep for priming and painting. Got the passenger side exhaust hanger where I wanted it and drilled the holes to mount it.
The body mount for the rear axle brake line had been torn from the sheet metal and pulled away from the body. I suspect that someone had tried to remove the axle and forgot to disconnect the mount and found out that it would not support the weight of the axle. Fired up the torch and got the bracket straightened back out. Now I just need a couple of extra hands to hold the bracket in place so I can weld it back into place.
After installing the quarter panels, I never went back and trimmed off the overlap between panels. So I have completed the passenger side and have the driver side all marked off for trimming. I have also been exercising my blast cabinet to clean up and repaint some smaller parts to fill in short intervals of "free time".
That's all for now, just pluggin' away. L8r
Jim
Swinger340Canuc
72 Swinger 340 Special
I don't know what I would do without my blasting cabinet Jim, I bought a lot of new fasteners and small parts but I have reconditioned a lot of stuff using the cabinet, a great investment. Keep plugging away, I'm 2 1/2 years into mine and one does need some patience.
Danny
Danny
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Not too much worthy of an update. I completed the trimming of the quarter panel overlaps. The passenger side was pretty much done already, but I hadn't started the driver side. The tape line in the photo shows how much I had to trim off. I am sure that many of you who are working in a smaller space than desired have had to deal with a rear axle until you got it back under the car. I had been rolling mine around long enough. I fabbed up a little dolly to make it easier to move about. I replaced the stringers on a HF mover dolly with some lengths of oak from a building supply store and bolted/stapled it back together. Then I welded up some mounting brackets from some scraps I had laying around. This works sooooo much easier! Since I was taking pictures, I figured I'd throw in a pic of my other A-body, this one from the General. It is my first car and I have owned it for almost 47 years. It is so filthy dusty. Enjoy! L8r
Jim
Jim
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
I got the last of the underside tasks completed. The bracket on the floorpan kickup that the rear axle brake tube mounts to was ripped out at the top side spot weld and bent. It looks like someone maybe tried to remove the axle without getting everything disconnected and found the bracket wouldn't hold up against gravity. I had heated up the bracket with a torch and bent it back to its normal shape as well as I could, but my arms aren't long enough to press it in place from the outside while I welded it from the inside. I had some help the other night and got it handled. Now I can get some help to shuffle the inventory to move it outside next to the garage and I can start blasting the underside for primer and paint. Can this be considered the official start of re-construction?
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
I got started on the underside cleanup last night. I only had a little sand in the blaster so I did a trial run. It worked really well. In order to help move the process along a little quicker (at least in my mind) I decided to start by cleaning up as much as I could with a wire wheel first. I am sure that my neighbors are appreciating all the noise that I am creating with the floor pans!!
It looks like after I got the paint and crud off the inner rockers that they might be galvanized. Can anyone verify that they are? Dirty work, wow! L8r
Jim
It looks like after I got the paint and crud off the inner rockers that they might be galvanized. Can anyone verify that they are? Dirty work, wow! L8r
Jim
gerahead
Glutton for Punishment
Okay, so I have been away for a while, but I have been busy during this time. I got the underside of all but the engine compartment cleaned up. Wire wheeled the bejeezus out of it and then hit it with some spray bomb black to protect it since it is sitting out side.
I got some tips from swinger340canuck on how he media blasted the bottom of his car (thanks, Danny!). I got a stockpile of media and developed a plan. I built some easy 2x4 corner posts and built myself a "bathtub" to catch as much of the flying media as possible.
Once I had that done, I loaded up the playpen and went to work. It went really smoothly until I was about 1/2 done and then the blaster started to act up. The nozzle was plugging and when that wasn't the problem, the siphoning manifold plugged. It may be due to me recycling the media. It breaks down as you use it and the finer grain might have been the issue. Anyway, you would not have wanted your little kids to hear the language that was clearly audible Friday afternoon!
I eventually got it all done. The underside of the car is in really great shape, so the areas that were pretty clean didn't get the full treatment. I decided that if I ever have to do this again, I will pay someone to do it. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I was done.
I tried to plug the holes in the floor pan with aluminum tape, but it didn't hold up to the devastation of the blaster. With the recycling, I ended up using 3- 50 pound bags of ground glass media to complete the job.
Tonight the car got a couple of coats of PPG Omni black epoxy primer.
The epoxy was followed with a couple of coats of satin black paint over the epoxy primer. I wasn't sure at first if I would like the satin black, thinking it might be too flat, but it turned out to look pretty good. It is probably hard to see in the photos, but the paint has a little more gloss than the epoxy primer.
I am stoked that I am finally on the road to RE-construction rather than continued disassembly! It is amazing how nice it looks with clean metal and fresh paint. Whoohoo! I am declaring the official start to the reassembly!
I got some tips from swinger340canuck on how he media blasted the bottom of his car (thanks, Danny!). I got a stockpile of media and developed a plan. I built some easy 2x4 corner posts and built myself a "bathtub" to catch as much of the flying media as possible.
Once I had that done, I loaded up the playpen and went to work. It went really smoothly until I was about 1/2 done and then the blaster started to act up. The nozzle was plugging and when that wasn't the problem, the siphoning manifold plugged. It may be due to me recycling the media. It breaks down as you use it and the finer grain might have been the issue. Anyway, you would not have wanted your little kids to hear the language that was clearly audible Friday afternoon!
I eventually got it all done. The underside of the car is in really great shape, so the areas that were pretty clean didn't get the full treatment. I decided that if I ever have to do this again, I will pay someone to do it. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I was done.
I tried to plug the holes in the floor pan with aluminum tape, but it didn't hold up to the devastation of the blaster. With the recycling, I ended up using 3- 50 pound bags of ground glass media to complete the job.
Tonight the car got a couple of coats of PPG Omni black epoxy primer.
The epoxy was followed with a couple of coats of satin black paint over the epoxy primer. I wasn't sure at first if I would like the satin black, thinking it might be too flat, but it turned out to look pretty good. It is probably hard to see in the photos, but the paint has a little more gloss than the epoxy primer.
I am stoked that I am finally on the road to RE-construction rather than continued disassembly! It is amazing how nice it looks with clean metal and fresh paint. Whoohoo! I am declaring the official start to the reassembly!
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