[The Boss]

The Hot Rod Garage is one of the best restoration shops on this board!

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by Brewster

Does Dave get a Hat now???

Thanks for all the kind comments. Actually MPD had the hats made up for me as a Cjhristmas gift. Pretty cool, huh? Just need to get some now with the Red Car.

[REEDRACER]

Awesome job! Gets me motivated to work on my car! Looking good!

[SD455DJ]

Bob, That is a great picture of you and Dave! The car is totally frickin' amazing from all the hard work you two are putting into it. I can't wait to see it in person.

Dennis

[bird72]

I think The Hot Rod Garage should have live video feed with web viewing. Multi camera of course. Cars should probably have engine cameras. My money is those two have to occasionally throw wrenches at each other

[Bentwheelbob]

Thanks again for the kind comments. This is such a cool car. It's a ball to work on and get it polished up while retaining the original patina. BTW - Dave and I never throw wrenches at each other, but he would tell you it's because there are never any lying around due to my OCD cleanliness. The key to keeping MPD happy is to keep him well fed. Today we had smoked ribs and brats, and homemade fries.

It was another long day, but we got a lot more done. The car is back inside the garage, and the new flywheel, clutch assembly, and transmission are installed. I struggled with putting the clean, but rusty crossmember back in without paint, but I think it's the right thing to do. The transmission, bell housing, and crossmember got a good cleaning, but nothing got refinished or painted. The closest we came to that is all the bolts and hardware got a good varsol bath and time on the wire wheel to remove the rust and clean up the threads. I'm really happy at how well the shifter and rods cleaned up.

Here's a few pictures....

[The Boss]

The classic pose!

Bob, you didn't want to give the cross member an evaporust soak?

[RamAir]

Im proud of you for your restraint in preserving the cars original finishes. Outstanding

[Norwood]

Dave right back at you

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by The Boss

The classic pose!

Bob, you didn't want to give the cross member an evaporust soak?

Nah, I'm not sure where that process stops. First the crossmember, then you have the subframe arms, then the driveshaft, the rear axle, the leaf springs....IMO unless you are ready to do it all, it looks much more natural doing none of it. If the gas tank hadn't been painted I would have left it alone.

Speaking of which, I used heavy duty chemical paint stripper to initially soften the paint, and then finished it with an aerosol citrus stripper and a green scotchbrite pad. I would do a section and Dave would immediately pressure wash it. The key was to work the scotchbrite aggressively with the grain of the steel, and the citrus stripper was an excellent lubricant. Sort of like wet sanding.

Norwood - Dave and I are a package deal, sort of a two for one special. However, neither of us work well without a lift.

[eaglesan13]

Is that how you stripped the paint from the fuel tank? Since mine has been painted, I'm curious as to how you got yours looking so good.

Originally Posted by Bentwheelbob

Speaking of which, I used heavy duty chemical paint stripper to initially soften the paint, and then finished it with an aerosol citrus stripper and a green scotchbrite pad. I would do a section and Dave would immediately pressure wash it. The key was to work the scotchbrite aggressively with the grain of the steel, and the citrus stripper was an excellent lubricant. Sort of like wet sanding.

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by eaglesan13

Is that how you stripped the paint from the fuel tank? Since mine has been painted, I'm curious as to how you got yours looking so good.

Yep, that's it. Sorry for the delayed response. The chemical stripper was also an aeresol, but it flashed pretty quick and would just dry. I coated the tank once with it and let it do its thing and then dry. I then coated smaller sections with the chemical stripper and used a plastic putty knife to clean off what I could without being too fussy. After that I switched to the Citrus Stripper aeresol that had no flash point. After soaking for thirty minutes or so I went over the whole tank with a green scotchbrite and then power washed it. Following that I got a fresh scotchbrite and worked sections at a time with the Citrus stripper being careful to work the pad with the grain - front to back. After each section was finished it was power washed. I probably switched scotchbrite pads a couple times during the last stage to make sure it had plenty of tooth to give a nice directional finish.

I've been following your Formula rehab project and it looks great. You did a fantastic job in the trunk. Please share on your thread your experience with the trunk spatter paint. I have heard so many horror stories, but yours looks awesome.

[Norwood]

Maybe I need to spend a week in coal country.

[Bentwheelbob]

Originally Posted by Norwood

Maybe I need to spend a week in coal country.

You would be welcome any time my friend, but I'm not sure I can match the hospitality or charm Bill affords you on your Memphis pilgrimages.

Hop in the Blue Car and head down sometime, and I'll clear off a lift and give you free reign. Who knows, MPD might even give you a hat....

[Brewster]

Did someone say road trip? Hey is it me or is Dave putting on some weight??? I dont remember that finger being so fat?

[Transamric]

Too many brats lead to FFS,..........Fat Finger Syndrome.

[Bentwheelbob]

So, the Red Car is all back together and on the road. A few tweaks are still needed, and the paint buffing/polishing remains, but the heavy lifting is pretty much finished. The tranny and new clutch are in and adjusted, the exhaust system is on, driveshaft back in, basically all is good.

I went with a LUK clutch and love it. It feels great with the right pedal effort, and it hits all the gears including reverse with no problem. The exhaust system is a Gardner from the Black Car, and frankly it was a bigger pain than I expected. I think mainly that's because it was used and had tight clamp areas already that made it a little harder to adjust for a different car. After a long drive today, one thing I am difinitely not thrilled with are the repop spiral shocks. They have very little dampening effect and generally suck. There has to be a better solution.

It's interesting that the right side has more overspray on the floor pan than the left side. I know NJSteve has a similar situation on his much higher mileage SD (), but I forget if it is also the right side.

Here's a few pictures. I love this car...

[RamAir]

That it a thing of beauty

[West Coast GTO]

The car is beautiful; much better than I could have ever done! Were the original shocks rebuilt or did you go with different units. I remember that the aftermarket shocks that were on the car really allowed for great handling.

[Bentwheelbob]

Michael - you did a great job with the car tackling a lot of the messy and difficult mechanical jobs. This has made it easy for me to focus on the little details that remained. I looked into having the original shocks rebuilt, but the quote was almost $300 per shock to rebuild and retain the original patina. I'll be looking around at other options for the original spiral shocks and will definitely replace the repop spirals with something else.

How is your hunt for a GTO going?