Hi all
went to visit BABY in the shop today and see how the progress is going.
My body/paint guy has made a fair amount of progress on getting the paint stripped since my last visit.
The passenger rear quarter and passenger door are pretty much done and "venting". He was working on the two front fenders and the drivers door while i was there today. next is the hood and roof, than the nose of the car after removing the headlight buckets.
He figures by the end of next week the car should be all completed of the stripping process and he will let it sit for another week or so to finish letting all the chemicals vent out of the fiberglass before proceding.
By the end of this week all the fenders and both doors should be as cleanly stripped down as the rear quarter and passender door already are and by the end of next week the rest of the car should be finished the same way.
after that comes the start of the "real" work - the fixing of the fiberglass anyway on thew body that needs repair.
In case anyone is wondering, we know that media blasting the body would have been MUCH faster - it could have all been stripped down in one day and there is even a media blaster guy directly across the parking lot of my guys shop, but we didn't want to go that route as it would cause more problems later on that would require additional body work such as rounding off or softening of the lines, creases and corners. Chemical stripping is much slower but overall a better way of doing it.
As expected, we have already found some interesting "past history" on prior bodywork done on the car. One in particular was on the front drivers side fender down right above the lip. There was bondo built up almost an 1/8" that someone used to rebuild and reshape the fender on a previous repair. My guy of course will remove all traces of the bondo and repair the fender properly with fiberglass. If you look at one of the pics I'm posting you can see where the bondo is on that fender as it shows up very white.
I took the opportunity today to discuss the overall schedule of the project with him and I told him as long as I can get the car back by March 1st I'll be happy. He thinks it may end up being a little sooner if we are lucky but if he can have it that long it's better yet. He mentioned that between stages of work the longer the car can sit the better. The more it can sit and vent from the chemical strippers it is better for it, same as letting it sit and having the 'glass set up longer after he builds it into the car, and also the longer the paint can sit and cure between coats the better.
i know Larry thinks i'm nuts for letting this project stay in a shop without a definate end date but at least we have a March 1st date which is truely all i car about. With the cold weather coming quickly it would soon be sitting in storage in my garage anyway so better off letting him have it for as long as is needed during the winter to do the job as well as it can be done. I'd rather have it done right the first time than trying to rush things than having to return it to the shop because the paint started to blister from the chemicals not having vented enough before hand, or cutting corners on his time of rebuilding areas of the body properly, etc.
What's scary is that this "project" started off as a simple thing to get it in the shop to repair some blistering on the hood and a few little scratches. It turned out to be a complete front to back, top to bottom redo of the body and a complete new paint job!
i'm now also about to order a bunch of parts needed from LICS that we will need. A complete new set of windshield SS trim pieces, new trim clips, new windshield weatherstripping, rear window sealant, rear window trim clips, screw sets for all the new clips, and door weatherstripping.
The weatherstripping on the car is all new already but chances are they may get destroyed or damaged during removal so better to get new pieces to install during reassembly.
pass rear quarter panel and passenger door
drivers side rear quarter panel - still being worked on
The MAN himself (Joe from Joe's Garage) working on stripping paint from the passenger side front panel. What a messy, nasty job that is.
Joe working on the drivers front fender and door. After the paint stripper you can see him washing it down with lacquer thinner which removes most of the rest of the traces of the paint and primer and than it has to sit and vent to let the chemicals evaporate out of the fiberglass.
Starting work on the drivers side front fender you can see the bright white area around the curve of the fender down by the lip. that is where a lot of the bondo was found.
went to visit BABY in the shop today and see how the progress is going.
My body/paint guy has made a fair amount of progress on getting the paint stripped since my last visit.
The passenger rear quarter and passenger door are pretty much done and "venting". He was working on the two front fenders and the drivers door while i was there today. next is the hood and roof, than the nose of the car after removing the headlight buckets.
He figures by the end of next week the car should be all completed of the stripping process and he will let it sit for another week or so to finish letting all the chemicals vent out of the fiberglass before proceding.
By the end of this week all the fenders and both doors should be as cleanly stripped down as the rear quarter and passender door already are and by the end of next week the rest of the car should be finished the same way.
after that comes the start of the "real" work - the fixing of the fiberglass anyway on thew body that needs repair.
In case anyone is wondering, we know that media blasting the body would have been MUCH faster - it could have all been stripped down in one day and there is even a media blaster guy directly across the parking lot of my guys shop, but we didn't want to go that route as it would cause more problems later on that would require additional body work such as rounding off or softening of the lines, creases and corners. Chemical stripping is much slower but overall a better way of doing it.
As expected, we have already found some interesting "past history" on prior bodywork done on the car. One in particular was on the front drivers side fender down right above the lip. There was bondo built up almost an 1/8" that someone used to rebuild and reshape the fender on a previous repair. My guy of course will remove all traces of the bondo and repair the fender properly with fiberglass. If you look at one of the pics I'm posting you can see where the bondo is on that fender as it shows up very white.
I took the opportunity today to discuss the overall schedule of the project with him and I told him as long as I can get the car back by March 1st I'll be happy. He thinks it may end up being a little sooner if we are lucky but if he can have it that long it's better yet. He mentioned that between stages of work the longer the car can sit the better. The more it can sit and vent from the chemical strippers it is better for it, same as letting it sit and having the 'glass set up longer after he builds it into the car, and also the longer the paint can sit and cure between coats the better.
i know Larry thinks i'm nuts for letting this project stay in a shop without a definate end date but at least we have a March 1st date which is truely all i car about. With the cold weather coming quickly it would soon be sitting in storage in my garage anyway so better off letting him have it for as long as is needed during the winter to do the job as well as it can be done. I'd rather have it done right the first time than trying to rush things than having to return it to the shop because the paint started to blister from the chemicals not having vented enough before hand, or cutting corners on his time of rebuilding areas of the body properly, etc.
What's scary is that this "project" started off as a simple thing to get it in the shop to repair some blistering on the hood and a few little scratches. It turned out to be a complete front to back, top to bottom redo of the body and a complete new paint job!
i'm now also about to order a bunch of parts needed from LICS that we will need. A complete new set of windshield SS trim pieces, new trim clips, new windshield weatherstripping, rear window sealant, rear window trim clips, screw sets for all the new clips, and door weatherstripping.
The weatherstripping on the car is all new already but chances are they may get destroyed or damaged during removal so better to get new pieces to install during reassembly.
pass rear quarter panel and passenger door
drivers side rear quarter panel - still being worked on
The MAN himself (Joe from Joe's Garage) working on stripping paint from the passenger side front panel. What a messy, nasty job that is.
Joe working on the drivers front fender and door. After the paint stripper you can see him washing it down with lacquer thinner which removes most of the rest of the traces of the paint and primer and than it has to sit and vent to let the chemicals evaporate out of the fiberglass.
Starting work on the drivers side front fender you can see the bright white area around the curve of the fender down by the lip. that is where a lot of the bondo was found.
)
