Finally, painting is completed. Now cut and buff with some touch up. The doors go back on tomorrow.
August 3, 2012
December 31, 2011
front seats done
Last update for the year, and quite a bit of work has been done to the car. It’s going slow, but I’m hoping that it will be done by the Spring. I did post pictures of the seats at Mark’s Upholstery, but they were still in progress. Mark asked that I get a rebuild kits so that he could fix both the seats and the backs. Now they really are as good as new. He is also recovering the head rest inserts with the same black vinyl (rather than fabric).
October 2, 2011
Rear seat is finished
I picked up the rear seat today. The driver and passenger seat are still getting finished up with new seat and back trampolines. I think they really turned out great. The trunk fabric on the back of the back seat is what is going to be used on the floor panels and side panels of the trunk. There are a few ‘manila brown’ pieces which I plan to paint with a good enamel and cure in a low temp drying oven. The two side panels that fit over the wheel arches in the back seat area are getting painted at the body shop with a very durable paint.
September 19, 2011
Experiment in refinishing turn signal reflectors
Before I found the old new stock turn signal, I got a pair of front turn signals that were complete, but were pretty weathered. I started searching on how to refurbish the reflective surface of the light cluster and found a couple of options. Unfortunately the only right way to do it is expensive and uses the same method of applying a thin metal film just as it was done during the manufacturing process. Some people suggest “chroming plastic” which is a little cheaper. Others suggest using two coats of Krylon high gloss black plastic paint as a base and then two coats of “brilliant” silver paint. So I tried that, and after letting the clusters air dry, I put them in a low temp drying oven for a few hours.
Before:
After Krylon High Gloss Black for plastic:
After Krylon Brilliant Metallic Silver paint:
I’m concerned at how well it will hold up, but we’ll see. It definitely is reflecting light better.
September 15, 2011
Seats are nearly done
Here is a start at the interior. Once the painting is done, I’ll get it finished up, but I wanted to at least get the seats redone first.
You remember this one:
I wanted to the new seats to be similar to the old sporty Sonnett buckets which looked like this:
This is how they turned out:
August 11, 2011
freshly blasted
The blasting revealed the extent of the rust damage. Fortunately for the areas of concern it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We did find new areas from a previous repair job on the left rear quarter and left rear door along with evidence of bondo. All the bondo was removed and any rust damage to the bottom of the doors will be patched with fiberglas.
July 31, 2011
to the media blaster on Monday
This is about as stripped as she is going to get before the media blaster does the rest. I am not pulling the engine or getting the interior blasted except for the exposed wings and door jambs where there are rust issues.
Tow truck arrives @ 11am Monday
July 28, 2011
removing c-post and fixed rear door glass
To prep ourselves on the windshield removal, we got the c-post and fixed rear door glass out. Both of these are installed with lock strips. On the c-post glass, we pulled the lock strip out, but on the fixed rear door glass we were able to remove it with the lock strip intact. The plastic lock strip for the c-post glass is available through Restoration Specialties. The left side came out clean and looked good, but the right side has some rust under it.
Media blasting is scheduled for Monday August 1st, so we’ll be removing the remaining glass and trim on Friday.
July 18, 2011
next to last view before media blaster
Glass is coming out next … nice to see the lines coming back on the left side.
June 9, 2011
stripping down the car – session one
After some careful thought, consultation, second opinions et cetera .. I think the best route seems to be to strip down the car myself, get it media blasted and then have an independent body shop work on getting the car a new finish. Because there are several rust spots, media blasting will really help to make sure the car gets a proper foundation for a good paint job and even more important expose any issues that may be covered up with paint and bondo. Without taking care of the rust spots now, they’ll always be a problem.
Fortunately I have a good friend who has been in the business for about 35 years and has good contacts as well as tools/techniques and suggestions. We worked out a deal and got started on the car today. We should have it ready for Alternative Blasting sometime in early July.
(Took the door handle off to start working on the door and quarter panel)
