Back from the bodyshop...

[barno68]

... and not quite painted! After two and a half years in the shop I thought it would have been finished, but with a move coming up I had to pick it up yesterday.

This was really a learning experience and I will make sure to have milestones set in the agreement next time. I can't complain too much as the shop did a tremendous amount of work for what I paid. Of course at this point I have no idea what to do, but know I need to get the whole thing in enamel primer before trailering it for the move.

I have three more weeks, so plan on getting the undercarriage painted and welding in the center console mounts. Past that who knows...

Here is how she sits:

[chevelle19700]

Do you have any before pics the car looks pretty good but id like to see the carnage before

[David Sloan]

Good luck. Looks like a good start, body looks solid.

[Martin71RS]

Looks nice and straight....but waiting for that long is terrible.....I had mine back in 2 weeks!

[hotrdblder]

looks nice, either epoxy prime it or urethaneprime it, at the stage the car is in, i would urethane prime it as its high build and will take wet weather

[barno68]

I do have pictures from the start, but most of the rust and old repair work were not uncovered until the paint was removed. I had thought that it was pretty solid until that point. When I bought the car it was in the process of being converted to circle track and was a mess. A lot of missing parts and the firewall and trunk looked like swiss cheese from all the holes that had been drilled in them. I had some repair done about four years ago when the vinyl top was removed, but a lot of that had to be redone this time.

The usual vinyl top rust issues along with the lower quarter


This is what it looked like prior to taking it to the shop


It needed patches on both sides on the dash corners and lower cowl. The firewall was smoothed also.


Always amazing what paint is covering

[barno68]

Made a mounting bracket for the A/C compressor today, just need to get is painted up. I decided to go with a Sanden as the stock LT1 compressor was all of a 1/4" off the upper A-arm. It is not pretty, but should be functional :-)

[Motown 454]

Looks good keep us informed on progress and the move.

[souljaboy9768]

what size tire and rims are you running? What brand of rims?

[barno68]

what size tire and rims are you running? What brand of rims?

They are 17" x 9.5" aftermarket BMW rims. I bought them a couple of years ago for rollers as they fit over the PBR calipers.

[65BuickGS]

I feel your pain...I took my project to a body shop,,,the guy tinkered around,,,after a year of tinkering I got sick of it and took the car home,,,I just took it back 3 weeks ago,,,all it needs is for the final block sand and paint,,,I told him the car is leaving August 9th,,,painted or not!!!! I made him mark on the calender that it would be done that day,,,pulled out my camera and took a pic of his writing on the calender!!!
Sooooo,,,the following saturday I was at his shop again...of course nothing had been done,,,so I asked him if he knew what day it was,,,after a few guess's...i told him that it was 7 days closer to August 9th,,than it was 7 days ago when I dropped the car off!!! He got the point!!!!!

[barno68]

I think next time I will go with the time line approach with bonuses for early phase completion.

I was under the car today grinding all the patch work, the rear section just needs to be degreased and I can spray. I decided to do one half at a time, seems more managable. I did find a couple of holes that were missed, so I will have to break out the welder and take care of those.

I also noticed that the sheetmetal lip is really banged up around the rockers and rear end. I may try to straighten some of that out, but my skills are on the mechanical side rather than bodywork.

[barno68]

Funny thing about working on cars, some lessons come the hard way... Yesterday I learned that taking out the old seam sealer with a wire wheel makes a huge gooey mess. Now I will have to figure out how to clean the garage floors and the tile I tracked it onto in the house

Anyway, mocked up the dash and center console and now have everything drilled. This was originally a column shift car, about five years ago I purchased a repro center console and shifter. Had I not already had them in storage I would have converted it to a 6 speed when I did the LT1, such is life. The console did not quite fit right under the dash, so I will have to tweek the dash mounts later on.


My wiring harness came today from EZ2Wire (can't remember who they have make them). I really like the fuse and relay box, nice consolidation. Also, it is a much nicer and smaller unit than the factory harness that I modified originally.

[barno68]

Paint arrived today, so I was able to get going on the undercarriage. The Zerorust is very easy to spray, no issues with running. This is the first time I have tried this, but spraying the first coat in a light color really helps with ensuriing coverage. My only complaint is a numb spray can finger :-) While at the paint store today I saw they had this same paint in quarts, so I may use that on the interior.

Also ordered a U-pol Raptor kit, so it looks like I will have to lay out some more tarp in the garage...

[Motown 454]

Looks good your making better progress than the body shop did. Does the zero rust come in a few colors or did you tint it your self ?
Wayne

[barno68]

I think it comes in 8 colors or so. The blue was on sale for $4, so I had to go for it for the first coat. The final will be black. They make a tan, and since that will more than likely be my interior color, I will pick that up also. The shop I had it in did a lot of work on the car, just not in a timely manner. I have not complaints about the work they performed.

Good news, I have a friend that has a custom paint and restoration shop, he will be coming by on Saturday to see if he can fit my car in to finish the body and paint.

[Motown 454]

Good luck, I hope it works out for you and he can get you in!
Wayne

[barno68]

Just wanted to give a report on the ZeroRust quart. I really liked the spray, not so sure about the liquid. It is not self-leveling like Rustoleum, so I have a lot of brush marks. Is was tacking up by the second stroke of the brush, but then again it is over 110 degrees here today. I think with a second coat it should look Ok and will post a photo once I get that applied.

[XTRMEASURES]

looking real good

[barno68]

Just an update- got the undercoating done this morning, so should be able to start getting the rear back in tomorrow. I got some great guidance on applying the Raptor bedliner from members, here is the thread if you are looking to use this product:
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...d=1#post416729

Also, I will be trailering the car next week and taking it over to a friends place to finish the bodywork and paint . He is a member here (bk2life) and I appreciate him making room for my project.

Oh, and the second coat of ZeroRust did the trick on the interior. I used foam brushes this time, but think in the future I would just by a better quality brissle brush.