[gtohurstjudge]

One other thing.......I see in your pictures that you are planning to butt the front bumper up against
the front of the fenders with no air gap. In 49 years of owning a 69 GTO convertible I have found that
if you don't leave an air gap between the bumper and the fenders on a 69 convertible, the natural twisting
and flexing of the convertible body when driving the car will cause the bumper paint to crack at the top
outside corners. Ask me how I know this!

[roger1]

Thanks!
A couple of things about the tight fit.
I don't have the bumper tightly against it but it is close. I can get waxed paper to slip in between.
Another thing is that the primer and paint products I'm using are all flexible. SPI epoxy primer remains flexible after full cure and so does their polyurethane Universal Clear. I'm also using their base coat and I will activate it.

[roger1]

I hadn't heard that about the premium bumper that I bought from Ames. Dang.
I'll try it first and see if anything has changed. I will say that the chrome looks very nice.

[dataway]

Are the repops bowed out at the ends? Lots of OEM pieces out there with a similar problem, not horrible, but you have to really get it tight in the center to get the ends acceptably close to the quarters. My rechromed original is forward as far as I can get it on all the stops just to make it look passable. I may end up modifying the mounts bit to get it closer at some point.

[n20ta2]

I would try to leave a little more then the wax paper thickness, on my last 69 I left about that much and although it didn't chip it rubbed the paint off the fender and I could see primer in spots. That was on a hardtop as well. I left a little bit more this time to fight that.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by n20ta2

I would try to leave a little more then the wax paper thickness, on my last 69 I left about that much and although it didn't chip it rubbed the paint off the fender and I could see primer in spots. That was on a hardtop as well. I left a little bit more this time to fight that.

I should be able to leave a little more when I reassemble it. I do have the edges beveled just a bit so if it did rub any paint thin, it would seem like it would only be down into the seam.

[roger1]

I am getting much closer to being ready to start painting. My paint order arrives via UPS today. I'm still waiting on my paint booth filter order though and hopefully that will be next week.
Yesterday I sprayed the door jambs and perimeter of the trunk opening with epoxy primer and sprayed the quarters again as well for a final uniform coat to seal sanding scratches and a couple of small sand-throughs. I reduced the epoxy by 15% so it would lay down a little more slick. I will wet sand it all with 500 grit.
I tried to get the best reflections on the quarters I could for these photos. I am very happy with the way they reflect now.













I had some left over activated red primer from yesterday so I decided to spray the trunk floor with it. It does have some rust pitting. I'm not sure how much the spatter paint hides that. The anal part of me wants to smooth it out real nice with some filler but not sure if it's worth the effort. I will be using a mat.
I did order a quart of spatter paint today from The Parts Place.



Next I am going to move the car into my other stall so I can get the this room prepared for spraying paint. I'll scrub the walls and floor with soap and water hose it all down. I'll wet sand the car outside and will continue working on the trunk floor if I'm still waiting on the paint booth filters.

[north]

The repop rear bumpers have incorrect shaping at the upper outer corners. Looks OK if you don’t compare it to an original.

[MUSLCAH]

Good stuff right here….but you probably already have it.

[dataway]

This may sound strange, I worked for a friend that owned a body shop for a couple of years, out in the country type shop. His paint booth had a deep crushed stone floor, he would wash down the stone and let it dry between paint work ... washed all the dust and overspray down into the gravel where it wouldn't get stirred up.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Attachment 576396
Good stuff right here….but you probably already have it.

I don't and haven't heard of that. But thank you, I will do some research on it!
Have you ever used these? They look interesting too.

[MUSLCAH]

I use these alcohol wipes....removes static related dirt from bumpers , plastic parts,and fiberglass. I use it on metal parts too

[gtohurstjudge]

Originally Posted by north

The repop rear bumpers have incorrect shaping at the upper outer corners. Looks OK if you don’t compare it to an original.

I was having my original bumper rechromed and I had a magazine photo shoot scheduled and bought one of these Ames premium bumpers to stick on my car temporarily and it looked so bad I took it back off and borrowed
the rear bumper off a friend's 69 GTO for the shoot. The Ames premium bumper that I bought had way way too much gap between the middle top bar and the deck lid even if you crammed the bumper ends all the way into the quarters with zero clearance
Also the ends of the bumper on the top corners are totally wrong and don't protrude far enough forward to tuck under the ends of the quarters like they are supposed to. I was so upset with the way the bumper looked on my car that I got mad and threw it into a dumpster rather than hassle with trying to return it
so that it could be foisted on someone else. I'm going to assume that the bumpers still look like crap but please install it and post a pic and we'll see if anything has changed. The chrome on the repro bumper was gorgeous, just the shape and fit were like crap.

[gtohurstjudge]

for reference, this how a correct original bumper looks...........

[gtohurstjudge]

note how the top corner tucks way under the quarter panel......

[north]

The problem you are describing about the center and corners is classic “springing”. When you stamp steel you don’t just hit it hard enough to make it take the shape you want but you hit it with even more force so that you tear the fibers in the steel to “teach” it that this new shape is its natural shape. The way you do this is press size and the number of stamping steps to get the final shape. The classic problem with all repop stamping is those Asian mills are using much lighter presses so even though they can completely press the dies together the pressure is insufficient to prevent the steel from “springing” back a bit to the flat sheet it used to be.

Anyone who’s had experience fixing damaged factory sheet metal knows what I’m talking about that when you “help” a crumpled panel with heat, pulling and pressure it “wants” to find its way back to the way it was stamped.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

I was having my original bumper rechromed and I had a magazine photo shoot scheduled and bought one of these Ames premium bumpers to stick on my car temporarily and it looked so bad I took it back off and borrowed
the rear bumper off a friend's 69 GTO for the shoot. The Ames premium bumper that I bought had way way too much gap between the middle top bar and the deck lid even if you crammed the bumper ends all the way into the quarters with zero clearance
Also the ends of the bumper on the top corners are totally wrong and don't protrude far enough forward to tuck under the ends of the quarters like they are supposed to. I was so upset with the way the bumper looked on my car that I got mad and threw it into a dumpster rather than hassle with trying to return it
so that it could be foisted on someone else. I'm going to assume that the bumpers still look like crap but please install it and post a pic and we'll see if anything has changed. The chrome on the repro bumper was gorgeous, just the shape and fit were like crap.

How long ago was this?
What Ames said in their catalog had me feeling good about it when I made the order. I guess we shall see.

"All, Show Quality (RE)
Our supplier of L174S has provided us with an exceptional final product exhibiting excellent copper nickel chrome plating. Quality: Excellent"

I still have my original bumper but I think it has a minor dent in it. Where did you get yours rechromed? Do they straighten them too if necessary?

[Sidponcho]

Originally Posted by north

The problem you are describing about the center and corners is classic “springing”. When you stamp steel you don’t just hit it hard enough to make it take the shape you want but you hit it with even more force so that you tear the fibers in the steel to “teach” it that this new shape is its natural shape. The way you do this is press size and the number of stamping steps to get the final shape. The classic problem with all repop stamping is those Asian mills are using much lighter presses so even though they can completely press the dies together the pressure is insufficient to prevent the steel from “springing” back a bit to the flat sheet it used to be.

Anyone who’s had experience fixing damaged factory sheet metal knows what I’m talking about that when you “help” a crumpled panel with heat, pulling and pressure it “wants” to find its way back to the way it was stamped.

Actually, nitrogen is often used in the lower die to control the form. If the Chinese used QC fixtures and were held to standards you'd have better repops. Often times it's the same amount of work to make it right.

[roger1]

Updates:

I moved the car out of my work stall and removed all the filthy plastic sheeting and stretch wrap.



I'm still liking what I see with how the quarters reflect now that I can see them from different angles.









I applied some Icing filler to some of the deeper pock marks left over from the rust that was on the trunk floor and then sanded the entire floor. I used maroon Scotch Brite on the hard to get to areas. I think it's looking pretty good now and will only need spot spraying primer on the filled areas then sand those and then apply a full final coat that won't need to be sanded. Then spray the black and aqua spatter paint. I checked on my order for the spatter paint from The Parts Place yesterday and they said 2 more weeks. Supply chain issues.



I think what I'll do now since I have to wait on both the spray booth filters and the spatter paint is to spray the final reduced coat of epoxy on all my removed body panels and have them be ready for the final wet sanding. I will apply epoxy primer to the back sides as well. I'll also get epoxy primer applied on the front inner fenders. After thinking about this, I think it makes sense to do all that before washing down my work stall for spraying base and clear.

[wagzilla]

Looking sharp. What are you going to do as far as tail lights?