The Darwin Project

-
Darwin said:
... but there is no way to get a good paint job without removing it. Somewhat to my surprise, there was no rust around either window.
Click to expand...

You have my respect for all the ways you're doing it "right". And my condolences for the fact that it's necessary. I grew up in salty road country, too...

How in the world could you have floorpan rust that perfectly correlates with leaking window gaskets-- but no window channel rust? Incredible. You must have caught it at the perfect time. One other rust area to look out for is the "hat" shaped sheet metal under the cowl, where the fresh air intake boxes hang. It's a bear to replace, so I understand. Though if you're willing to tackle upper control arm bracing, it doesn't appear that you get scared of rust.

Most of my repair work is with mechanical and electrical items. I can make 'em run flawlessly, can tune 'em up by ear, can tweak just about anything to work better... but have never learned bodywork. Tried it once, was terribly unsatisfied at a lack of perfection, decided it's not my cup of tea. May as well stick to the stuff that causes a satisfied smile.

Again, congratulations. It looks very well done.

- Erik

64 Valiant, 170 3spd
82 Volvo, 5.0 5spd :)
 
Those pictures of your car in primer are very inspirational, I'm going out to the shop to work on mine now!! Your work looks great, keep us updated.8)That color is going to look great on that car.
 
Painted it today.
First masked off engine bay and interior and used foam insulation rope in all the jambs to keep overspray to a minimum.
Sealed the primer, let it set up and wet sanded, blew it off, sealed it and wet sanded again.
Layed down 3 coats of the color followed by 3 coats of clear.
Ten hours later...
Well, the pics tell the rest of the story.
I think it turned out awesome.

IMG_4393.jpg


IMG_4394.jpg


IMG_4395.jpg


IMG_4396.jpg


IMG_4397.jpg
 
Clifftt, thanks for the kind words, I love your car.

mpg, the rusted floors were not a result of leaking window seals but more from years of salty boots on unprotected carpet. The windows were sealed so well I had a heck of a time removing them, I can only hope my new seals work that well.

Bob
 
Nick and I started preping interior pieces last night. Filled the holes in the top of the dash, going padless. All intreior painted surfaces will be painted the same color as the exterior, difference being, the interior will get a satin clear.

IMG_4398.jpg


IMG_4399.jpg


IMG_4400.jpg
 
Walked into the paint booth this morning to find this.
The paint on the roof, and very slightly on the hood, appears to be lifting.
My painter can't seem to figure out why and he is piiissed, after spending that much time to get it perfect. He used all PPG products from the same family and sealed the entire car before painting. It will sit now until Mon. and he's going to get the PPG rep in to look at it.
I figured a wet sand and buff would cure this but he seems to think it will need to be repainted. Bummer, I hope this is not the case.
I'll let you know what happens.

IMG_4401.jpg
 
very cool, congrats on getting it painted already!


Edit: sorry to hear about the lifting problems
 
Wow...you do great work! Looking at what you started out with makes me so glad mine is done! If only the same could be said about the Valiant. :clock:
 
Wow that looks great. I really like it. Was the car originally blue? I might of gone back with it, dont see it to often. But the silver still looks great. Nice work so far.
 
Wow what a pretty color!
Sucks about the paint though, I hope it gets worked out for you!
 
sublime green said:
Wow that looks great. I really like it. Was the car originally blue? I might of gone back with it, dont see it to often. But the silver still looks great. Nice work so far.
Click to expand...
Thanks sublime, the car was originally blue but since I went as far as I did I let my son pick his color of choice
 
WOW now thats what I call progress and time spent with your sons PRICELESS. I'm on my second father & son project, first was an 87 T Bar Cobra Mustang. joe and I built a rotsiery and went to town on it ,sub frame connectors, full cage, full tubular drag suspension. Yea I know just another pro street Fox Body but know for the COOL FACTOR We painted it inside and out and under carrage Plum Crazy Purple and we are now in the process of gathering parts for the drive train 5.7 HEMI.

second and present project 71 Swinger we bought from Caifornia to be finished in Hemi Orange with pretty much the same bells and whistles as the Mustang build but will be 340 based.

My son are a little older than yours36 & 27 so they both have adult lives going on so any time spent in the shop with me is time that alot of dads don't get and makes it all well worth it. The finished project will be a symbol of the bond and freindship that you share with your sons. Cherrish these times as we are not getting any younger... lol...

Best Luck To You And Yours Larry
 
Thanks Junior for the kind words.
This is my second father son build also. My first was a 64 Beetle when my two oldest were in 1st and 2nd grade, they're soph. and junior in college now. When it came time for them to drive neither of them wanted the VW, I guess the stock 36hp wasn't enough for them. My eldest, Paul, went to the dark side and drives a ACKURA. My Second, Ryan, "borrowed" my 97 Dakota and made it his own. My third, Nick, is my last hope, he really loves the old Cuda.

Bob
 
Darwin said:
Walked into the paint booth this morning to find this.
The paint on the roof, and very slightly on the hood, appears to be lifting.
My painter can't seem to figure out why and he is piiissed, after spending that much time to get it perfect. He used all PPG products from the same family and sealed the entire car before painting. It will sit now until Mon. and he's going to get the PPG rep in to look at it.
I figured a wet sand and buff would cure this but he seems to think it will need to be repainted. Bummer, I hope this is not the case.
I'll let you know what happens.
Click to expand...

Dude I was totally admiring the paint work. I think the color is awesome. I love seeing all these 66's lately. That sucks if you have to repaint the car. I know how that feels :tongue6: It will all work out in the end that's what I always tell myself.

Hope you get the paint issue cleared up. Only thing I can possibly think of is that whatever you used to clean the car off with, it did not get enough time to flash. Whether it be a waterborne or solvent borne W&G remover. But that would likely leave solvent pop which I cant see . The PPG people always seem to blame the painter and not their products.

The other thing it could be is bad activator for the clear? That stuff can go bad especially if the lid is cracked just a little.

What do I know? Just an amateur painter myself. Hang in there dude.
 
Although Charley Darwins theory falls on it's face in many aspects , Your Barracuda is "evolving" pretty nicely. That's a fantastic color choice. Once the issues are worked out, It's going to look awesome!
 
Met with the PPG rep, he can't really seem to figure it out. I'm going to let it sit for a few days and try to wet sand with 2500 and buff. I'm thinking it will buff out nicely. IMO there is some kind of solvent migration happening here from the primer (?). Don't really know, but at least the PPG guy is aware of it and he assured me he would take care of it down the road if the wet sand and buff doesn't work.
 
Darwin said:
Met with the PPG rep, he can't really seem to figure it out. I'm going to let it sit for a few days and try to wet sand with 2500 and buff. I'm thinking it will buff out nicely. IMO there is some kind of solvent migration happening here from the primer (?). Don't really know, but at least the PPG guy is aware of it and he assured me he would take care of it down the road if the wet sand and buff doesn't work.
Click to expand...

You could block wetsand the clear with 400-800 grit to remove any orange peel and urethane wave. Let it gas off in the sun (UVs) for 24 hours and then prep, clean and flow 2-3 more coats of clear. As long as the basecoat is still okay and doesn't have dieback, mottle or shrinking issues, this may help whatever solvent issue there is to gas off. Plus with recoating with more clear you'll have a greater margin for error when buffing. :salute:

Good to know that the PPG guy is backing your painter up.
 
I think I'm in the clear with the paint issues.
Block wetsanded with 2500 and buffed, came out smooth as glass. Don't see any mottleing or shrinking issues and my painter doesn't think it will reappear. We're going to block wetsand and buff the rest of the car.

Got the dash and the rest of the interior trim painted and we're going to experiment with some satin clear to get the right sheen.

Waiting on delivery of the new headliner, once thats in, we can get the dash in and reinstall interior trim, then I can get the glass back in.
 
great news. Best part of all is that you can always go back and reclear if necessary.

Look forward to the next progress pics
 
Got all the interior pieces cleared with a satin clear. The dash is now back in, complete with a new 6"x9" speaker. Don't know if I'll ever need the speaker, but much easier to install with dash out. You can't really see it in the pics, but I added a flattening agent to the clear on the top of the dash to knock down the glare. What do you think of my padless dash?

Headliner got delivered the Fri. before Christmas. The car is going to the trim shop tomorrow for headliner install. I'm hoping he will let me get the interior trim pieces installed before it leaves his shop. I'm also hoping he will let my glass installer put the glass back in while its there. That would make the ride home much nicer, I'd hate to see the new headliner get shredded with the wind blowing through car all the way home.

Took some time today to finish installing the front body parts and aligned the hood, got the hood latch and safety latch installed, still need to replace hood bumpers. The front pic was taken before the latch was put on.

IMG_4411.jpg


IMG_4412.jpg


IMG_4414.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top