[gtofreek]

[gtofreek]

Boy, it's been a while since I updated this. Been very busy, both on the GTO and with personal life. Since my last update, I started stripping the paint off the drivers door. Then I got sick, or what I thought was sick, for a couple weeks. Turns out, I wasn't sick at all, just the wind was blowing all kinds of dust and dirt around and that made me feel sick. Probably allergies or something. At any rate, the following weekend the wife and I spent the weekend out of town for my birthday. So for three weeks, I was unable to work on it. After that, I got back to it, but then the next weekend I found myself fixing the wife's Bronco, my Sons Bonneville, my S-10, my daily driver, and pulled the head off my daughters Toyota. Worked on every car at my house that weekend, except my GTO, the one car I really wanted to work on.

So, here is my update. Started stripping the paint off the door. First, I tried sanding it off. That just gave me very sore arms for a week. Then I tried some nasty paint stripper. That removed the paint, but wouldn't touch the red oxide primer.

[gtofreek]

So I get the paint off, but the red primer would just get greasy like from the paint stripper. So I resorted back to sanding it off. More sore arms. Unfortunately, that still wasn't working. What in the heck is this stuff made of, granite dust? It ain't sanding off, it ain't coming off with chemicals that will strip the clothes off your mother-in-law, it ain't budging!

[gtofreek]

So I remember this stuff I bought at Home Depot years ago that was a adhesive remover. That stuff removed anything sticky and worked great. It was called Citri-Strip. So I go to Home Depot and they had Citri-Strip citrus paint and varnish remover. Non-toxic, and Bio-degradable! Yeah, this oughta work good! Yeah right! Since the adhesive remover worked so good, I thought I would give this stuff a try. I put it on with a paint brush. It smelled like oranges!





I also put some on the paint that I hadn't removed yet to see how it worked on just paint also. After 10-15 minutes, the paint had had enough to the point it was just jumping off the car. Curls of paint with dried up orange stuff on it was piling up all over the ground, like ants on a dead bug. Unfortunately, the red primer was not getting excited about going anywhere. No curling, no jumping off the edge, no nothin'! So, just for the heck of it, I got out the paint scraper and tried scraping it. Much to my surprise, the red primer scraped right off in sheets! This orange stuff is DA BOMB!. So I finished sanding it the rest of the way to bare metal.





I found no Bondo, and no rust! Just a couple minor dents to straighten out, and ready for primer. Oh, yeah, a couple holes to weld up also.

[HWYSTR455]

Wow, that door actually looks pretty good, not going to need much work, you got lucky!

And a happy belated b-day to you!

.

[gtofreek]

Thanks!

[Marv]

Loving the progress on this build - I stumbled across it while reading your engine threads (I'm researching my engine build now).

Just a tip about stripping paint that I learned from a friend who has been a coachbuilder for 30ish years (Pebble Beach stuff). I've used this on my '62 Bonneville resto and found it by far the easiest and quickest way to strip paint/primer/etc...

- Put down a floor covering of thick, heavy duty plastic.
- Put on clothes you don't ever want to use again (incl. shoes you can throw out).
- Scuff the paint in cross-hatch patterns with 36-grit sandpaper.
- Mask up any areas you DON'T want stripper (ie: roof gutters, hard to reach places). I generally only use it on faces of panels or where i can get a wire cup on a grinder in to fully clean it up before paint.
- Lay the paint stripper on nice and thick - as thick as possible - working in half-panel sized lots and IN THE SHADE (keep it cool!!).
- Allow 15min activation time.
- Have a large bucket full of HOT water with metal wire kitchen pot scourers (ones WITHOUT soap in them).
- Work the paint stripper off the panel using the scourer, turning it regularly to avoid it clogging up.
- It'll take the top layer off pretty easily, then reapply another thick coat of stripper, allow 5mins activation time and hit it again with the steel wool/scourer.

I stripped my Bonne's rear guards and 4 doors in 3hrs with this method. Just make sure you clean EVERY SCERRICK of stripper off before you go painting!

[gtofreek]

Thanks for the tip! I've been busy working on my yard, but hope to get back to this in the next week or two.

[HWYSTR455]

My yard, house, dishes, and laundry all take a back seat when it comes to garage time! Heh-heh! And I just started my project too! I'll get a thread going in the next week or two...

Keep at it Paul, amazing how much gets done each time you take a whack at it!

.

[gtofreek]

I'm getting started on building me an engine. Here is a link to the build.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=765803

[gtofreek]

Well, it's been a while since I updated this thread, so here goes.

I took a break from doing body work to work on the engine. I figure I need to know how much roll bar/cage to put in. Hopefully just the minimal amount. Then I can get back at body work. I'm almost ready to start machining the block. I have it, and the crank all prepped, and ready for machining. I bought POR15 in silver to base coat the engine with, and I got some of POR15's Pontiac blue metallic engine enamel. The engine should look really amazing when done. POR15's engine enamel is awesome, and tough. Engine will look like it was powder coated. I've been doing a lot of port work on a junk 670 head to figure out what I will need to do to the actual heads I will use. Here is a link to the engine build if interested.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=765803

[gtofreek]

Worked on some body work for a couple hours today. Trying to remove this pesky dent.



So I heated it, and quenched it with ice cold water. That helped some, but still the dent was there. So I hit it from the inside, and it oil-canned out. Now, it is a bulge that I cannot get rid of.







I hit it, and it expands out, then I quench it, and it shrinks back to where it was. I tried heating the area around the dent and quenching it, but that didn't help either. I'm at a point where I'm not sure what to do. If I dent it back in, and use body filler, I'm afraid it will oil-can out someday, and pop the filler out.

If I leave it slightly bulged out, and use filler in the low areas around it, I'm afraid even though it will be smooth, and nice, it will have a bulged appearance on my door that just won't look right.

Any suggestions?

[HWYSTR455]

Shrink it by dimpling, it will pull together, dolly some maybe if it needs it, then fill it (the dimples).

.

[gtofreek]

Started working on that pesky dent again yesterday, and today. Fellow board member Louis P. sent me his shrinking disk to use to work this bulge out. Well, I'm happy to say that after a couple hours of patience and working it, I got the bulge almost all the way out. Probably another hour or so, and I'll have it done. I'm real happy with how it's turning out. Hard to believe that rubbing a stainless steel disk on the metal will shrink it, but it does, a few thousandth's at a time. This bulge stuck out about a 1/2". Now I can barely feel it with my hand, and looking at it from the side, i can barely see a slight bulge still. I bought a slapping spoon and used that to work the low spots around the bulge out, so now it feels pretty smooth, and will need very little filler, if any. We'll see how the rest of the bulge comes out. Here are some pics.

Here is what it looked like when I started.





After working it some.





Getting there.

[gtofreek]

Almost got it!

[GOAT WHORE]

Nice Paul! Pretty rewarding isn't it.

[gtofreek]

Yes it is!