[bdk1976]

[QUOTE=mrtonegto;3930596]

sprayed with (2) coats of POR15; cured for two days; DA sanded with 80 grit and then primed.

QUOTE]

Interesting....are you using POR15 as a basecoat on the whole car? Would like to know how that works out - any reason you're not using a regular epoxy primer?

[mrtonegto]

bdk1976,

The trunk lid and roof had heavy rust and quite a bit of pitting remained after the rust was removed. The NJ got out most of the rust in the pitting and most likely coverted the remainder, but we did not want to take a chance.

The surface that remained was fairly rough also.

BTW, the pits were not so severe as to be rusted through.

So the painter, who has done this before, decided we should POR15 the roof, filler panel and trunk lid (hood was OK), then DA with 80 and prime. We went down to bare metal in many places but the POR remained on any pitted or rough spots.

His opinion is that the POR does a better job sealing off any potential rust than an epoxy primer - its his warranty and its always worked in the past...........

[mrtonegto]

Seems the more I look at the car the deeper I get into doing more work.............

I looked under the dash and it was covered with light rust. Spent a couple of hours grinding all of it off - no fun btw, you end up covered in it - and your working in a pretty bad position. Next step is to POR15 it in gray so it's not so dark under there when your looking for a connection/wire.

Today I thought I rough sand the front wheel wells - that turned into taking them down to bare metal since there was light rust there too. Also some serious rust under the battery tray after all the years of battery acid.

I picked up my new tire/wheel combo's on Saturday - I'm really happy with them. The wheels are Rocket brand in Hyper Silver. Went with 17" X 8" with 4.5" BS in the rear and 17" X 7" and 4.25" BS up front. The rear tires (see pic) is Nitto NT555 in 25550R17

[22times]

I like those wheels.....

[mrtonegto]

Thanks 22times, the center is a silver paint and almost appears to have been flowed on - if that makes any sense.... the rims are polished aluminum and have a smooth machined edge.
Can't wait to get them on the FINISHED car....................

[mrtonegto]

Got the front inner fenders sprayed in POR15, will topcoat with 60% gloss black on the engine side and undercoating on the wheel side.

Tonight I took all the electrical off the radiator support and wire wheeled it to bare metal. It will be POR15'd also and 60% too. Found some rust-through on the radiator side of the vertical support - it was ground down and will be patch welded.

[mrtonegto]

We worked on doing a repair on the pass side corner of the rear glass. Someone had done a bad repair before that left the side edge bowed. It had about 1/4" of space between the stainless molding and the edge.

We took the pressure off the edge by cutting where it had been pounded/filled and patched. We noticed that the prior repair also made the window channel (where the glass rests on) very narrow - so we had to fashion a way of returning it to full width.

By taking a donor piece from a scrap C-pillar, we cut away the narrow channel and slipped the donor piece below outside C-pillar's sheet metal. Then spot weld holes were drilled and it was welded in place.

Will provide final pics when its completed. It hopefully will end up looking like the good one shown (B-man's car).

[Greg Reid]

That looks familiar. I had to do the same on my '68. You probably already figured this out but the trim makes an excellent template for checking your work for the correct shape and profile...

[mrtonegto]

Right on that Greg! We referred to the trim many times in the process.

Also used a straight edge against the window channel (where glass sits) to ensure it was straight and that it met up perfectly at the bottom corner - meaning that the glass must have an even/flush surface to rest upon.

Your repair looks good Greg, hope you "get 'er done" soon...........

[Greg Reid]

Thanks, it's getting there but way too slowly. Working the engine bay right now so I can drop it back in.

[mrtonegto]

Here's a pic of the final welding of the corner. It will be covered in POR15 and the final corner shaped with POR's putty before the final skim coat of filler in applied.

[GTOWoody]

Excellent work. Feel free to come over an help me

[mrtonegto]

Got the car sprayed in POR15, it will be sanded down to leave any pits filled and then primed.

Also have the radiator support and inner fenders painted in black.

Getting closer.............

[mrtonegto]

I just about finished taking the dents out of my stainless trim and buffing it all to a high shine. It's a job for sure. But if u really take ur time u can even get badly scraped pieces looking decent. Of course, the pros can get them perfect for $25+ a foot!

I built a shade tree bathing tank for the aluminum trim - to get the anodizing off of it.
Took some hard cardboard corner posts and made frame out of them. Then took a plastic drop cloth, doubled it over, and just draped it over the frame. Then just poured water in until it was about 1.5" high, then sprinkled in a can of Drano. I added another half can today to do the second half of the trim.

Drano works great, u can see the action within minutes. Takes quite a few hours if the pieces are worn. If they're in good shape it will take 10-12 hours of soaking. I scrubbed them every once in awhile to get the accumulated grunge off the surface.

They are completely dull when they're stripped. Haven't started on getting the scratches out yet.

[mrtonegto]

If there's one good thing about removing anodizing, its that the scratches are mostly in the anodizing and not into the aluminum - on most of my pieces anyway.

Today I freshened up my wiring, putting in new heavier gauge wires where needed and redoing weak/worn ends - like at the alternator. Still looking for my vinyl wrap tape to finish it off.

I also installed the painted inside fenders and the radiator support along with running the wires to the headlights and horns.

Sanded the dash board so its ready for the flat black top and 60% bottom. Want to get that all done so we can seal off the interior and prime/fill the rest of the body.

Attempted to rebuild my power steering pump but found it had a badly scored shaft bushing and they're hard to come by it seems. I have two other pumps (one old style and one '75) that hopefully have good bushings. BTW, not much to rebuilding one of these if you ever thought about it.

The quarter panels had some flexing in them if you even rubbed against them slightly. This is especially true in the area below the quarter windows. The painter used a stud gun and applied 5-6 studs in that area. It immediately tightened up the panel which will now be hammer and dollied.

[wytnyt]

Originally Posted by mrtonegto

Here's a pic of the final welding of the corner. It will be covered in POR15 and the final corner shaped with POR's putty before the final skim coat of filler in applied.

did you use brass?color looks to be gold
i quit working for one company as the boss wanted me to split 2 convertible mustangs and make one by only using brass

[mrtonegto]

No brass/brazing was done - must be the lighting and my lousy cell phone camera.

That's some boss..........bet you learned a lot from that guy!

[wytnyt]

Originally Posted by mrtonegto

No brass/brazing was done - must be the lighting and my lousy cell phone camera.

That's some boss..........bet you learned a lot from that guy!

lol,,yeah what NOT to do
gto is looking good btw
dull black was how i rode mine for a couple years
oddly,i liked it

[mrtonegto]

That's POR15 with an dulling agent added to make sanding easier. I didn't know that could be done until now.

There's definitely a place for flat black rides..........i.e. Two Lane Blacktop

[mrtonegto]

Body of car is now in primer with hammer/dolly and body filler to follow.

Dash is in primer and finish sanded, will get final painting first so I can put the dash and heater box back together while bodywork is being done.

Also took some time and opened up an extra hood scoop - I say that someone else had done this and thought it was a good idea. I don't "plan" on driving in the rain.......