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    Results 81 to 100 of 252
    1. #81
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      I wanted to trim and roll the wheel well lips not only to create more side clearance for wide tires but also to allow more suspensiion travel and to allow the possibility of dropping the car a little. I know I was right at the limits before hitting with the 315 tires I had before. I'll be doing the Adams mod during this project which will drop the car a small amount and I may drop it a little lower than that before I'm done. So trimming and rolling the lips now before paint is just the right time to do it.



      As seen in my previous post I trimmed about half of the wheel lip off in the center directly above the rear wheels and tapered off to nothing several inches above the body line. This way no one will notice when looking at the car from the sides because the wheel well lip looks stock. You can only tell if down really low looking up. Filled the gutter created by rolling the lip with panel bond to add strength and prevent debris from getting in there and holding water IF the car ever gets wet. Then I primed the wheel wells so I can move on to getting the rest of the underside stripped to bare metal without having the well sheet metal get rusty from humidity.

      Here's pics of the rolled lip, shiny clean 43 year old wheelwell, and 1st coat primer.









      Meanwhile Jeffs been getting the quarters in primer and now he's skimming a few places on the roof. A couple small patches were used on the passenger side quarter to fix soft spots that could have eventually become a problem years down the road and the drivers side only needed a very small repair (size of a nickel) in the corner right behind the wheel. For original 1970 quarters on a car that was originally a DD up North it doesn't get much better!



      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 04:51 PM.


    2. #82
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Posts
      378
      Very nice! Good to see the wheel wells get the same attention, it's more work, but really helps the car stand out as a quality car!
      Thomas

      Spare Change: 68 Camaro, 300hp/350ci, 700R4

    3. #83
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Jeff's done with getting the unibody & door exterior surfaces stripped, straightened, skimmed, etc. and is on to the prime & block stage. I'm still stripping the underneath and areas like the tail panel to shiny metal then priming. Yes, the firewall will be modified.







      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 04:53 PM.

    4. #84
      Join Date
      Aug 2011
      Posts
      130
      Name:  Blue Underside.jpg
Views: 2142
Size:  277.7 KBName:  002-12.jpg
Views: 2133
Size:  142.7 KBName:  New Blue Paint.jpg
Views: 2244
Size:  229.1 KBPersonal joke for John, no need for others to comment: John, what the hell are you painting the undercarriage for? Nobody looks down there anyway!

      ;^)

    5. #85
      Join Date
      Apr 2005
      Location
      IN/MI border
      Posts
      1,904
      Country Flag: United States
      Coming along nicely John!

    6. #86
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      The body & door exterior is in primer ready for final blocking. I moved on to stripping the trunk channel area and found an old rust repair the PO had done with fiberglass at the base of the rear window (never leaked) which will require removing the window to repair with metal. I'm having a glass guy who showed up at a couple jobs I've been on come by & pop it out then return for install when I'm ready. Not too expensive and I don't want to risk the piece.

      Since Jeff had the body in primer and I was waiting on glass removal we pushed the car out of the way to work on other things. I moved to the gas tank. The inside of the tank is perfectly clean with not a speck of rust but like many northern cars this one had been backed into frozen snow mounds denting the tank. So the stud gun got called back into action and worked great to get the dents out. Then a skim coat of filler to smooth out the surface followed with prime & block and it'll look perfect when painted. Since I'm going to fabricate a diffuser that will allow the tank to be seen if someone peaks under there I wanted it nice.

      You can see one of the dents in this old pic, others are more subtle and flat black hides them.





      Cleaned enough to use the stud gun and pull the dents.



      Studs ground off, high spots hammered and cleaned for filler.



      Starting skim coat.



      While I was messing with the tank Jeff started on the front fender we knew would need some work. I'd gotten the fenders from a bud back when I painted the car the first time 20+ years ago and one was an early fender without the core support brace provision that had some rust issues. I'd done some repairs but without a welder at the time I was limited. Fast forward to now and we decided to take the fender apart from the inner support to make repairs.

      After getting started and thinking about the best thing to do I remembered a bud had a couple late 2nd gen bird fenders he didn't need and couldn't sell stored in his warehouse so I went to look for them (ya I have a key). I thought we could cut up the Formula fenders to get the metal sections needed to fix my fender. When I got there there were no regular fenders BUT there was a really nice rust free early 2nd gen left TA fender by itself and I just happened to need a left! I talked to my bud (OK,begged) and he gave me the fender. There's a little dent in it by the side marker light but we can fix that right up in a lot less time than doing metal work on my old fender.





      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 05:02 PM.

    7. #87
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 05:03 PM.

    8. #88
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      After getting the other side of the tank in primer we got to work on the front fenders. I sandblasted the insides of them and Jeff stripped the outsides with sanders and did some hammer & dolly work before skim coating a couple spots. After a little post blasting prep work on the insides we were ready to get the insides in primer. It was sooo nice to work with rust free fenders!

      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 05:04 PM.

    9. #89
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      With no rust repair work needed on either fender bodywork on the outside of the fenders is now roughed in and they're in primer. We'll wait to do finish bodywork till the car is partially reassembled so we can check door/fender gaps etc. and do final blocking.





      I decided to smooth the subframe so all seams and joints are now fully welded and I'm in the process of grinding all the welds.

      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 05:05 PM.

    10. #90
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      I have 2 front valance panels. This one is going to remain stock and be a backup in case the modified one doesn't work out the way I want. It had some rust hidden under old bodywork so I welded in some patch panels and then sandblasted it along with some other parts. Next they all got some prep work & primer.









      Last edited by NOT A TA; 05-14-2014 at 05:08 PM.

    11. #91
      Join Date
      Dec 2006
      Location
      oshawa ontario
      Posts
      1,607
      Country Flag: Canada
      Looking good, always enjoy your updates.
      Nascar 69 Chevelle project, 1999 Hutch Pagan Nascar chassis, 69 Chevelle body,700hp, Penske's, slicks, roadrace track day https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...le-Cup-project
      89 Iroc 406 Fitech 5 spd
      01 chevy 2500HD 4x4 8.1 Allison
      31 Scarab 2 x 454

    12. #92
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by shortrack View Post
      Looking good, always enjoy your updates.
      Thanks! Here's the latest!

      Door bottoms of most cars built when this one was usually don't hold up well as many of you know. I can't tell you how many cars I've seen with fully rusted out bottoms and they're a pain to replace the metal in because of the curves & folds. Luckily, although mine had some rust they were repairable without having to replace metal. The passenger side door is usually worse than the drivers and mine's no exception so I'm using that to show how to do a door that's got some rust but is still structurally sound without welding all new metal in.

      In this case there's no visible rust in the interior of the door, if there was, new metal would have been installed. When I painted the car 20+ years ago the outside rust was there and I cleaned it with wire brushes/wheels, etc. and put rust converter on it before paint. Granted the car has rarely gotten wet since the first time but the rust had not popped through the paint or progressed. This time it's getting a better repair because I have a blaster.

      Sandblast edge of door & get the rusty parts really good. Blow out all send & debris and then coat all the rusty areas with panel bond, let sit 24 hours. Because this isn't a place where the panel bond would get hot from exhaust or rapidly change temperature by heat from the sun it makes a great filler to seal the pits and stop new rust from forming after blasting. Inside will be sealed later.



      Sand down panel bond till it's just filling the rust pits and open up the drain slots, and gasket holes. Then skim coat with regular filler, sand, and prep for primer.




    13. #93
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      I've been cleaning the underside to clean shiny metal a section at a time and shooting it with epoxy primer. With a little luck I'll finish cleaning the middle floor section and have it in primer over the weekend.




    14. #94
      Join Date
      Aug 2011
      Posts
      130
      NICE!!!!!!! Nobody looks under there... but you!!!!! 'Ol #14 is going to live up to its billing as a cover car again! Just make sure you visit your eye surgeon to be sure you can see it! Thank god, I haven't been able to reach you for a couple days and I wanted to make sure you were working, not stuck under #14 when the DSE blocks finally gave way! Keep it up, bud, I remember when the Camaro was at this stage, and it wasn't that long ago!!! Give Jeff a kick in the shin for me!

    15. #95
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by rlodad View Post
      NICE!!!!!!! Nobody looks under there... but you!!!!! 'Ol #14 is going to live up to its billing as a cover car again! Just make sure you visit your eye surgeon to be sure you can see it! Thank god, I haven't been able to reach you for a couple days and I wanted to make sure you were working, not stuck under #14 when the DSE blocks finally gave way! Keep it up, bud, I remember when the Camaro was at this stage, and it wasn't that long ago!!! Give Jeff a kick in the shin for me!
      Heck, no one will even be able to see it! Planning on smooth bottom belly pan as part of my aero upgrades.

      Ya I've been busy working on the 68 Mustang Eleanor car and the 71 Impala donk. BUT, I'm waiting on parts etc. so I'm off this weekend and I'm finally working on MY car a little.

      Making progress, need to remove interior to finish the last sections. Found a little rust on the passengers rear seat pan I'll take cars of and need access to the bolt heads for the sway bar supports that attach to the floor pan.




    16. #96
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Finished up the floor pan and moved on to the cowl and firewall area. Had a small rust spot on the drivers side of the cowl so I made a patch piece for it. Since it's not visible once the fender is on it just has to be functional. Once the sides were in primer I moved on to stripping the firewall and cowl after removing all the wiring, windshield wiper system, steering column and pretty much everything under the dash. Will be smoothing the firewall a bit.

      I'm eliminating the heat/AC under dash parts to save some weight. I'd removed the under hood part of the AC system and switched to heater functions only when I lived in New England but being in FL now there's no need for heat either so out it all goes!

      I'm sooo tempted to leave the bottom in white, ya know, because race car!












    17. #97
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      2nd gen F bodies are known for poor cowl drainage. They suffer more if the car sits out in the weather for extended periods without moving like mine did. Puddles form on the top of the cowl by the ends and GM made a nice place for a little pond to form inside the cowl right above the brake pedal. About 10 years ago I fixed the inside pond part and on the top I had cleaned what I could get to (with the fenders still on the car)and used rust converter followed by some bondo to fill pits and semi gloss black paint. Since the car doesn't get wet it's been fine but this time I can do a better repair since the fenders are off.

      Although both ends on top of the cowl had pitting and some rust through the drivers side was worse due to the cowl tag holding water under it so I'm showing the repair on that side but I did make a similar panel for the pass side. Since they rust from the top down due to the puddling we're seeing the worst of it. Replacing the entire top of the cowl can be done however in this case I didn't feel it was justified. The center of the top of the cowl is in great condition and this is more of a track car that is street driven so strength and fire protection are my goals on the cowl/firewall area. I could cut and weld new metal in the ends but I felt this would be stronger and easier.

      The top of the cowl had already been wire wheeled and the center section primed to prevent rust. The raised area around the fender mount was thin so I cut it out around the fender mount then wire wheeled the area to clean metal.



      Made a pattern out of paper, transferred to sheet metal and started bending, hammer/dolly, etc. into shape. Made the raised area for the fender mount with a big impact socket and a die handle with a BFH. It's humid here in So FL so everything rusts as you can tell by the sheet metal. Not to worry though it gets cleaned up well on both sides before final install.







      Once the panel is shaped the edges are finished and it gets cleaned. Then it gets marked where the soft areas are in the original panel and screwed into place staying out of the soft areas. Then the screws are removed.



      Next a thin layer of panel bond is spread on the area where the panel will go. Bonding the panel onto the existing panel is much stronger than replacing the original metal with a single layer regardless of whether it was bonded or welded in place. The panel bond over such a wide area is stronger than mig or spot welding without the warping problems. For those who avoid panel bond because they don't want to buy the expensive double barrel caulk gun you can push the 2 parts out evenly (without a mixing tip on) with a piece of pipe if you remove the back of the label so you can evenly move the plungers so you have equal parts. Then mix like bondo and spread where you need it with a plastic bondo spreader.





      Once the panel is in place install the fender mount bolt with wide washer on it and screw the panel on, then do a finger smear around the edges with the panel bond that squishes out which will seal it so no water can get under. Make sure the drain hole is open and that the panel bond will keep water from getting between the panels there also. Because the fender mount is high there's no need to have that bolt hole sheet metal sealed (and you do not want a washer bonded there!)unless you're gonna throw the car outside for 10-20 years.



      Once the panel bond has set remove screws and fill the little screw holes with panel bond. A piece of tape underneath will keep it from dropping through till it sets. After the panel bond is fully cured (24 hours) sand the panel bond and apply a little plastic filler then sand. With the repaired area done prep the whole area surrounding the repair and prime. Before priming I used a large drift and a BFH to make some spot weld looking dimples along the cowl lip so it'd resemble the original part in the center.






    18. #98
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      With no heat/AC anymore I want to close up the firewall openings to slow a fire should one ever occur in the engine compartment. So I made up a couple panels for the large openings, spot welded them in place, sealed edges with panel bond, and smoothed the larger area. Also made a small panel to cover some extra holes I'd made previously for wiring, gauge senders etc. .







      Last edited by NOT A TA; 06-19-2014 at 07:26 PM.

    19. #99
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Florida
      Posts
      2,391
      Country Flag: United States
      Prepped the underside and firewall areas with 320 grit paper and red Scotch Brite pads then shot it with PPG Delstar single stage acrylic enamel.






    20. #100
      Join Date
      Aug 2011
      Location
      Connecticut
      Posts
      927
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks great! I cant wait until I can get into the body work on my car!


      1967 Firebird "Poor-Boy Build"
      New updated thread
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...bird-(Updates)
      Follow me on Instagram @NaturalLivingMan



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