69 GTO Build

['71cutlasluvr]

Busy making patches to the firewall and testing out my new bead roller, having fun with it so far but would love to stick a motor on it someday for better control.





Crappy rubber sanding disc backer blew up on me today and shot across the garage putting a dent in the new rear quarter!



Gus I am running the same brakes that Mike is using, 14" and 13" Wilwood's.
Your earlier question about how to get the undercarriage so clean, after it was media blasted I could still see some rust on the surface so I sprayed Eastwoods After Blast on it. Then I used everything from an 80 grit flap disc on a 4 1/2" grinder on the high spots of the welds, (be really careful not to take off good metal with this, it will burn through and you will have more holes than when you started) to then a Die Grinder with 2" Roloc discs ranging from 36 grit up to scotchbrite, then my DA Sander with 80 grit, and then after sanding all the corners by hand I used a 4 1/2" grinder quick strip disc (like a big scotchbrite wheel) to really clean it. Then smaller scotchbrite wheels on drills. Don't keep track of the hours either, I don't want to know how many hours I spent doing it! I have the same problem where things take at least 4 times as long as you expect them to.

Oh and don't use a regular hard grinder wheel if you are trying to clean up you welds on the sheet metal, no matter how hard you try you WILL either grind too far though or not notice that you have been grinding on a spot that you were unaware of.

Once I have all the welding finished I will be spraying everything with an epoxy primer, then on the underside of the floor a truck bed liner, on the top side of the floor LizardSkin Ceramic Insulation.

Hi Eric,

Just previewed this post and realized how long it is. Sheesh. Sorry guys, I get typing and things pop into my head that I think about and would like an answer to,.. before I know it, it's in the post. Please forgive the wordiness.

So sorry to see the dent in your quarter panel. That's a heart breaker. Why couldn't it have hit an old rusty sheet metal panel you were going to replace anyway?? Oh well, ad it to the "to do" list, above and beyond the "honey do" list from your mrs.

The bead roller is cool. We DO love our specialty tools, don't we? But obviously, you have the skill to use it. If it ain't preformed, I'd be lost but once you know what you're doing, it's a valuable skill worthy of putting the time in to learn. Like Mike and his stellar paint job, you guys have the time and the guts to try. And that's very very

Thanks for the heads up on the the Wilwoods. I'm seeing that setup more and more lately compared to Baer and the other popular big brake kits. I'd like to know your's a Mike's thought process that brought you to the Wilwoods (besides the cool coating the helps prevent oxidation as Mike was kind enough to point out), but no rush.. just curious and that part of my project is quite a ways away for now. I am considering using the silicone brake fluid since far too many times, a brake line leak absolutely destroyed the eastwood chassis black in a matter of days on my convertible. The only drawback I have read about is that the silicone does not transfer pedal force and strongly as standard brake fluid.. so perhaps a brake assist system like hydroboost would overcome that short coming? Are you and Mike running manual brakes? With the big calipers I would guess that is doable. Would silicone fluid be efficient enough to run with manual brakes and the big brakes kits you guys have?? Your thoughts when you have time... as I mentioned, no rush.

Re: under body finish. Man you really go to the nth degree, don't you??!! You have incredible patience to put so many hours into something that few will see let alone appreciate, but that's the level you have chosen to maintain and I applaud you for sticking with it. Mere mortals like me probably won't go that far but my goal is to get down to clean metal before using the after blast (neat product, by the way.. didn't know it existed. Saw a vid on how it works... amazing stuff!) So I will follow your formula and hope to achieve the same results. Thanks for the detailed response. As always much appreciated. Your previous thread said you were going to use a truck bedliner for the underside, and lizard skin for the inside. Great idea. I was going to use LS on top and bottom, but the bedliner is far more durable (I would guess anyway) so you really have a winning combo there. Something else to put in my book of "tips from Eric and Mike"!

That's some serious metal cutting your doing there my friend. Are you using the mini cutoff wheel for all of those nice clean cuts? I have a 4" grinder that I use for cutting but that may be a bit to big for quarter panel replacement and a small cutoff wheel may be what I will be needing for that type of precision cuts. I have a plasma cutter and also a guide wheel roller that allows for smoother, straighter cuts, especially with a straight edge, which I'll be using on the frame notching, but as I'm sure anyone who has ever used a plasma cutter will tell you, it is NOT forgiving. If it see metal, it GONE! But it sure is a time saver. I won't be doing much cutting on the floor pan or firewall like you, but I may have to make some mods if I go with my 4l80e. I'll worry about that when i get closer to completing the frame and body mods.



Running a bit behind on my welding chores. Youngest daughter needs me to pickup and install her washer and dryer that her grandmother (my mom) bought her tomorrow. So much for going full out balls to the walls on the project kone kilr, eh? Well, as we all know, family comes first.

You staying cool in this miserable HHH weather Eric?? (for you who live in more temperate locales, like CA, HHH stand for Hazy, Hot and HUMID!) My vaca is going so quickly, and although I did the lights and other stuff, I need to get the nuts and washers welded onto the angle iron then weld those to the frame. Then I'll move the welder (it's in the newer garage) to the old garage where the frame is and weld them to the frame. I must wire up another welding outlet since the plasma cutter needs both 130 psi of compressed air plus 240 vac and I only have the one outlet for the compressor, so MORE wiring!

final note. How long ago did you coat your floor?? did you ucoat it? (I'm guessing that's what you used) I used gray with the flakes but didn't have enough clear so those areas look bad after 9 years. And there are some areas that the coating is flaking and peeling off. Probably cause the cement had just been poured a month and earlier didn't didn't have time to cure properly. It's tolerable for now but I really wish I went with the darker color like you. Would hide many of the oil stains that won't come out now, even with power washing. Not sure what else I can do but I guess it's better than a bare cement floor, eh?

As always, thank for your input and I pray to the car guy gods that any more errant sanding discs will not hit your body panels.