Wish I could be there to make fun of your progress...

Well, I am not giving up and figured since I was already out here working on it I might as well get as much done as I can. The last 2 days I have been welding and pounding and welding some more and today I am filing and grinding and using a little filler to get the panel as straight as I can. I applied some etching primer to the inside of the car and I am going to paint the inside probably tomorrow. I ordered the primer for it yesterday and it should be here tomorrow at which time I am going to try to primer the whole car and start looking for defects to fix. Once I have got all the defects taken care of I will start block sanding till it is as smooth as a baby's behind and then I am going to shoot the base coat. Which by the way, I am going to try out the new Duplicolor system available at any Kragen auto parts store. It's about $23.00 a quart and I am going to shoot 4 quarts on it and then colorsand and shoot 2 or 3 coats of clear and see how it comes out. The whole paint job will probably cost around $190.00 for materials. We will see how it come out. Here is a current pic of the fender so far. Another hour or so and it should be good to go.

Heh Scott wish i could get back to workin on my car kind of busy at this time. If ya need any Metal you know where to go. Keep at it

Thanks Paul, I appreciate the offer. I have found the only way to get time to work on these cars is to make time. Mine being in the garage lets me work on it at night with the door closed. I still need to keep the noise down to a minimum but there is a lot of sanding to do and some of it needs to be done by hand like door jambs and stuff. My 2k primer came in today so I shot the inside back wall and the fender I welded on to see all the imperfections. Still needs more work but it is getting there.

Ok....I have restrained myself...but I will finally do it....for the first time...

With it all one color and this great primer, I can see every imperfection. I will work on these tomorrow. Here is a picture for you Jay.

Scott,
I have to say you do fine work! That car looks fantastic, its amazing how something so "used and neglected" can come back in the right hands. How's you engine coming?

I am short on funds right now so the engine is still at the machinist. I need to take my rods over to him so he can recon them. I still have a ton of work to do. Some PO has sprayed undercoating in both front and rear trunks and then painted the white over it. It is making a huge mess just trying to clean it up and ready for paint. With any luck, I will have the whole car in primer and ready to block it by the end of the weekend. Maybe, just maybe it will be ready for paint next week. The paint all came in today with the primer, the only thing missing is the clear, I should have it next week.

Today's progress so far. Elliot just came by to chat for awhile while the first coat of primer dried. Now it is time to start block sanding the whole car. A word of advice to anyone deciding to paint their own car, if you use 2k primer, wear a good mask or respirator, I was coughing it up the whole time Elliot was here. Anyway, here is how she looks right now before the block sanding.

my what a big hole you have for the distributor....must be for that twin plug HEI setup your gonna run...hehe...

Lookin damn good skliney! If I hadn't lost a transmission on the way home from jack in the box today, I'd be down there helping you paint. Now I gotta wait till it cools off to install some trans mounts. Ugh...

I don't really need help with painting, it's the block sanding that is hard on me. I just did the driver side and my back is now killing me. So I thought I would take a short break and eat something.

I am going over the whole car with 320 and then I will shoot it again and check for imperfections and then block it again with 400 or 600 before shooting the color base coat.

Great progress... I wish I was a painter... I plan on doing the pan replacement on the drivers floor since I can weld but painting is another story... I might have to learn since it seems that good paint jobs are now in the 6-7K range... and a paint job to the level of what you are doing would cost ~18-25K.

It's all the prep work and taking the time to sand, prime, sand again, prime again and then block it out before painting the color coat. I know it wont be perfect but it will be close. There are some flaws in the body I just dont want to mess with and if you dont know they are there you probably would never notice. Then again, maybe you would. I just want a nice shiny paint job on it that I am not embarrassed about. Anyone could paint a car with the right tools and patience.

Orange peel and runs are easy to fix with a little color sanding and buffing. It's the dents and ripples that are hard to deal with and get perfect.

I just spent the day block sanding the whole car with 320 and now I am ready to shoot another coat of primer so I can do it all again tomorrow with 400 or 600 grit. I had forgotten how much work it really is. I should charge myself about 6 or 7k for this work.

Big? you call that big? Jesus, you should set the gaping fuchin crater the PO cut in my car. i can almost put the engine in thru it!

Well, the paint is here, the body work is mostly done, still a few things I am not happy with I will fix today, and I am almost ready to shoot the color coat. I will most likely shoot the inside and front and rear trunks today. I employed the boys yesterday when they got home to scrub and sand the front trunk and inside floor and under dash as those are tedious to do. I am sure I will have to go over them again to make sure they are good to go. It's really starting to take shape now. Here are some pics from last night. And of course, the paint I am using. Chrome Yellow from Duplicolor. I will let you know how good it is after I shoot it. I also have 2 quarts of clear by the same company I will apply after I am done with the color coat.

If you think they are good at sanding...Watch them work on the sound deadening...Jonny did all my wheelwells....

They are both at camp during the day so they can only help in the evenings. Reece doesn't really want to help but Jonny is all over it if you offer money. When their friends come around, they lose interest and start slacking off till I tell them to just go. I will worry about the underside after the rest is done. Most of the sound deadening is going to stay in the wheel wells but I need to clean it off where the sway bar support goes in the front and the rear I already did to install the stiffening kits.

This is a great project. Your sons appear to be near the age of my oldest (10) and this is his summer of "discovery". He has taken a strong interest in cars (out of nowhere). While when requested to clean up his toys, or quit wrestling/teasing his younger brother (8) I get nothing but attitude, he JUMPS at the chance to do anything related to working on cars. This was an unexpected "perk" of the car hobby.

Good luck with it and enjoy the company of your son while it lasts.....

Actually Brian, Jonny is 10 and Reece is 8 so the kids are the same age. And they are constantly at each others throats so there is a lot of intervention required at all times. They were even bickering while they were working on the car. I should have had one in the front of the car and one in the back just to keep them separated.

Scott... I have to laugh at that... I don't feel so bad now in thinking my kids are frequently arguing and fighting because I don't spend enough time with them.

Since the older one is very "technically oriented", and the younger is the artist, I'm hoping to get them involved for mechanical, then paint work seperately.

Yesterday and today's progress, The pictures are only half the story here. I wire wheeled the front inner fender wells and prepped for the sway bar stiffening kit from Engman and molded in the rear window trim with fiberglass and then went to try to make it all straight and smooth. Lot's more work to do yet but it is getting there. I decided not to rush applying the color coat so it won't be this weekend, maybe next. The body has to be as perfect as I can get it before I shoot it. I still want to clean out the front trunk of all the seam sealer and finish the rear trunk as well. But here is what it is looking like so far. My primer gun was spitting and sputtering so it may be time to take it all apart and clean it out really good. It took forever to get this coat of primer on.

looking good Scott,

Not sure if this will help, but, when i was shooting gelcoat on my boat i had the clogging, spatter problem.

Gelcoat is alot thicker than paint and you have to get the right consistency to thin, it runs to thick it clogs.

after each quart we had another quart of acetone and ran that thru it into a 5 gallon bucket.

maybe you can try that between primer coats. It helped keep the gun clean and clog free.

This is what I am going for, actually, this is a really small image I want to try to target for my sig. It's way too hot to work on my car right now so I am just wasting time.

Hehehehehe It worked!

slantnose....nice

Scott, it sure is looking good.

Too hot to work on your car? What is it ... like 85 down there? I'm gonna be working on mine in the blazing sun and it's 90+ here!

Well, I fired up the fan today and did some work on my car. It got me out of the house for awhile. The dirtiest nastiest job I have had to do so far is removing the seam sealer and undercoating from this car. I think the seam sealer is the worst. I got this 4" wire wheel for my angle grinder and it strips the stuff off really well and fast but the crap goes everywhere and sticks to everything. What a mess it makes. I welded in the little piece that my door jamb was short from my screw up in not measuring before cutting

I also test fitted the radiator and found out my front end is different than the one this kit is for. This is a 75 and the front of the car is a little different than the 74 and older 914's so the side aluminum pieces will need to be modified a little for the final fitting.

Has anyone else welded these in? They look like they will stiffen up the front pretty good, I just dont want mine to do what Brandons did on him. This just might be the ticket. It is a PIA to do however, Hey Engman! You should cut a notch in the bracket for the brake line guide, it seems to be right where the bracket goes. I notched it with an angle grinder till it fit right. Came out ok, now I just need to grind down the welds and clean it up a little.

Picked up my rotisserie from Joe Sharp's house yesterday and will be welding it together this week so I can get the car up on it this weekend. That is all the updates for now. Pictures coming when I get the car on the tilter.

Scott - I considered the notch thing until I measured my two cars - there was a variance of 1/4". Best to cut off, gring smooth and reattach.

Thanks for the thought tho..

Your car is coming along nicely.

M

nice work scott. the seam sealant comes off in no time with a heat gun and a 1" putty knife. i doubt that tidbit is of much help now.

k

I first tried a heat gun and got impatient and went to the torch, that was a huge mistake and the fumes caused illness. Then I went and bought a wire wheel for the 4" angle grinder and that really made it come off quick. The drawback however, was the mess of crap it threw all over the place. Not that it was hard to clean up but when the grinder throws it all over the place, it is hot and sticky wherever it goes and sticks to everything. I am still cleaning it up everywhere.

Live and learn

the old "time saving technique (torch)" saved no time. bummer. that's the chore (heat gun)for the apprentices, paid by the foot not by the hour.

k