68 Camaro bodywork

[idrivejunk]

I googled it... wow now thats a hot interweb topic!  

Y'know what I miss? (I was a Sikkens man when I painted for my supper) CR primer. That was a top-notch product in my book. But it was polyester based so you could not use poly products directly over it. I noticed that some epoxies are not recommended for use over etch stuff or converters or soda blasting. So on exterior panel faces I try to stick with epoxy, pun intended.   This seems to be the only panel this way.

[UGLY OLDS]

A perfectly good "pre-treated" Illinois part well on it's way to failure.....RUINED.. :cry:
Does the underside of the panel have the same "treatment" :?:

I agree...just "sanding" the rust never gets it all .. Blast,sand & epoxy prime ...But remember .. I'm the guy that got 3 different shades of blue from the same gallon can on the Olds ...  

My best paint work still comes with a roller , small brush & quality paint from Ace Hardware ... :oops:

 Have you seen the thread where 348 Tripower, Glass blasted his 1950 Plymouth Wagon  :?:

 Pretty neat way to remove "brown"....

Bob...

[kb426]

If that mobile glass blaster was available in my part of the valley, he would have had my money in a heart beat. As I remember, he said it cost $600 to do the wagon. I spent real close to that on media.

[idrivejunk]

A perfectly good "pre-treated" Illinois part well on it's way to failure.....RUINED.. :cry:
Does the underside of the panel have the same "treatment" :?:

I agree...just "sanding" the rust never gets it all .. Blast,sand & epoxy prime ...But remember .. I'm the guy that got 3 different shades of blue from the same gallon can on the Olds ...  

My best paint work still comes with a roller , small brush & quality paint from Ace Hardware ... :oops:

 Have you seen the thread where 348 Tripower, Glass blasted his 1950 Plymouth Wagon  :?:

 Pretty neat way to remove "brown"....

Bob...

Yee-Haw I done cured me some Illinois bottom rot, wait-n-see     Shines like an Arkansas diamond!
Underside had the e-coat intact but the whole face had been done that way with the POR treatment  

Sand IS part of the pop quiz answer, stay tuned for the Matt-Solution... :?:  :?:  :?:

Seems like I have perused the 50 wagon thread at some time   but I have not seen any glass beaded parts to my knowledge firsthand... yet. Glass is for flake now. Remember the dark red '41 Ford truck? Glass flake.    

[idrivejunk]

If that mobile glass blaster was available in my part of the valley, he would have had my money in a heart beat. As I remember, he said it cost $600 to do the wagon. I spent real close to that on media.

I'm sorta uneducated about blasting media. I did one car that was soda blasted, and I have seen a long roof murdered by sandblasting before. Most that we send out is done with walnut shells or a mix of that and sand. But this little cabinet is the extent of my experience doing. Nasty work, for sure.

I considered folding the header in half and.... oh just a minute      

[idrivejunk]

If it won't fit, force it!    



Yeah I rolled the edges of that paper under, donned mask and glasses, and held the lid valve open with channel locks wrong-handed. Glad I'm not in that picture because I DID get some on me! Bum hand would not work good enough to do a really thorough job this way but I hit it all as best I could and then wore out two sheets of 40 and again with 80, on a 6" HF DA. to get to here-









So... that makes the answer to yetserday's question...


SAND MORE!

Then apply epoxy-





All I did as prep was to sand then clean it with DX-330. I applied two medium coats of DP90LF and let it hang in the booth while I took a lunch break. Came back and sat it in the direct sun for 1 hour, then cooled it in the shade. It should now be what it looked like it was!

So I blocked out the left fender with 180 on my 9" Hutchins hand file and on an 18" piece of lightweight plastic tubing. Then a buzz with 180 DA and more DX-330.



First bondo in months for me It wasn't bad enough to wipe the whole panel and I'm glad because it was in the 90s outside. Thats Rage Gold filler.



I left off here, still in the 80 grit stage-



I use a DA and block together a lot for speed and comfort during contouring. Some guys won't touch something thats been blocked with a DA. Takes practice but does produce a nice finish with minimal pain. All this will be finish sanded in 180 then poly primered like the rest. I ain't doing the part up next to the hood until I have THE hood.

[idrivejunk]

[idrivejunk]

Had the right fender off for a little while, to cut loose the spot welds at the bottom mounting area and re-position that corner of the skin for improved fit. It sticks out a the bottom. Still does, but less now. Anyway right behind that was this corner of the rocker. I don't know why the rockers are made this way but I welded in a patch and the seams and threw some mud up there.





Tossed the fender back on to re-check and about that time the new hood showed up. So I put that on and cleaned up because it was time to go. Looks promising.

[idrivejunk]

I installed the new striker assembly on the new hood and reset gaps again without drama. Screwed down the cowl's front edge and established the correct position for that part. Nice clearance on everything up front with no cutting required.

Then I located any problem areas on the hood and surrounding panels. Such as this low area at the front of the hood on one side-



..and this wedge-shaped cowl gap-



...then this wavy area at the rear on the other side-



So I worked on all that stuff-

(Re-worked the bend on the edge of this cowl, FYI.)













That was all yesterday. Today I wrapped up loose ends and took it apart. Sorta multi-tasked, ha ha. Painter can start grabbing stuff anytime now. Theres still a dent in the driver's rocker somebody will fix. I'm concentrating on getting all the front end stuff ready to prime.

[kb426]

Matt, I like that the shop is pretty clean in most of the pics. Are the roll around wheels 2- 3/4" plywood shapes glued together?  Looking at the hood adds to what people have told me about new parts.

[idrivejunk]

Maybe its 1" plywood, I'm not sure. Guy who made them croaked so theres nobody to ask. I should get some close-ups of them. There was no keeping the shop clean today with 3-4 guys mudding at once. Had to sweep repeatedly. Bondo dust is slippery and flammable so we do make efforts to keep the floor shiny. Blow out a lot. I still tend to pile tools around me but with the broom coming around so often, it keeps a guy honest about picking up after himself. Thanks.

[idrivejunk]

On second thought, two pieces of 3/4" makes sense. With Liquid Nails and screws maybe. I shall investivate. Never gave them wheels much thought but they sure grab looks, lol.

The hood... would not have needed much, relatively speaking. But the way the shell and skin come together where that low spot is at front is mainly due to poor fit at pinch weld time. I think the skin is OK until the electrodes pinch it... theres a contour on both sides of the shell there where the skin's edge has to bend in some. Could have cut the welds loose to fix but this was fairly minor, and the dent extended onto the scoop area anyway.

[UGLY OLDS]

It's pretty neat the way those panels come with the bad area'a "pre-marked"..( Gap-dent-swoopy-konk-etc)..
It's amazing how much work is needed to make "new" panels useable ....
I hope the owner appreciates how much work you have done to make the car correct ....
Everybody seems to like the front wheels ....Personally , I think the front "bumperettes" are really spiffy ....Quite a "handful" so to speak....      

Looking good ...

Bob...  

[idrivejunk]

You like my little shin-grabbers, do ya?    I still bumped one on the steering rack  

Didn't get pics yesterday, wasn't much visual to show. Here's today's lot. Won't be back at it until next Thursday and not sure what I'll be working on then, so... enjoy yourselves over the Independence Day weekend.  





























Thats all Omni MP243 polyester primer, 2-3 coats. OK, maybe 4 on the hood. I applied DP90 first, over all the bare metal areas.

[idrivejunk]

Spent today blocking fenders, not much to show. Jake sanded the inside. Its getting Lizard Skin in there.