Classic black

Yesterday we completed the repairs on this Mustang, but weren’t quite finished painting the car. Today we added another simple, custom touch to the car to make it stand out from other Mustangs of the same year. All it took was a touch of classic black.

The first two photos show the car remasked and ready to paint. The areas you see are going to receive a coating of semi-flat black to complement the tinted taillights and dress up the back end a bit.

Photographs three and four show the car after the black has been applied, and five and six show the parts after they have been unmasked so you can see the effect.

Picture seven shows the guys, Jordan on the left and Mike on the right, putting the car back together. I don’t know what Mike is doing in this photo, but whatever it is, apparently he approves.

The last three photos, numbers 8, 9 & 10, show the completed car. When the owner first told me that he wanted his car blacked out in this manner I thought it a bit odd … painting the tail panel black was a common feature on Chevrolet Big Block cars … but a good idea is a good idea.

And after seeing the effect on this Mustang, I realized it was a good idea indeed.

Red hot

At long last the Hugh’s 1965 Chevelle is a color other than primer gray. In fact, it is about as far from primer gray as you can get.

The first two photos show the hood fitted to the body. Unlike the trunk lid, it fit perfectly and required no … drastic … adjustments.

The third photo shows the fenders and doors after the sealer has been applied. The sealer does just as its name implies, it seals the primer layers below it and provides a smooth and consistent color base for the paint that follows. The sealer is available in seven shades of gray, from nearly white to almost black and each color specifies one of these seven shades of gray. Using a sealer other than in the recommended shade will noticeably change the color, either lightening it up or darkening it down, depending if you shift to a lighter or darker shade.

This is one of the lighter shades of gray and just happens to be almost the same color as the primer that was on the car before it. But if the sealer is lighter or darker shade than the primer is it covering, the sealer provides good coverage to even the color so the paint that is going over the top finishes smooth and even with a minimum number of coats.

But enough about primers and sealers already … let’s talk about paint! Photos 4-9 shows the lovely red paint going onto the fenders and doors. This isn’t your run of the mill red, oh no, this is a red’s red, a retina searing, jump off the car red. Hugh wanted a red car … well, he’s going to get one.

Like all two stage paints, the base coat, the red in this case, dries to a nearly flat finish. Picture eight shows the flat finish very clearly.

Picture nine shows the clear coat going on. The clear provides not only protection to the base coat underneath, but it also provides the depth and luster to the paint.

The last five pictures, numbers 11 through 15, show the fenders and doors after the application of the clear coat. As you will notice, the paint has a much more depth and gloss than before the clear was applied.

These parts will dry overnight, then they will be set aside to make room so other parts can take their place in the booth. Painting a car is kind of like eating an elephant … you take it one piece at a time.

Some final adjustments

Today we worked on the Chevelle, trying to get it ready for paint next week. It is so close to being finished I can taste it.

The first couple of pictures show us sanding the primer used to cover the blocking marks created during the smoothing of the body. We are sanding with a 320 git paper, which is quite fine, on this final sand before the car goes into the booth for paint.

During our test fitting of the fenders, door, hood and trunk we uncovered a little problem. While all the fitting and adjusting had already been performed in the Murphy Rod & Custom shop, the car was on a buck. A buck is a shorthand term for the custom frame Kelly constructed so the body could easily be moved around his shop while the chassis was at the owners house having the drive train installed.

On March 3o^th we mated the body to the chassis, and it was a real struggle. So much so, apparently, that once everything was attached and tightened down, it tweaked the car just enough to caused the trunk lid to kiss the right side quarter panel. Now I like kissing as much as the next guy, but not on my cars, so I called Kelly Murphy of Murphy Rod & Custom to see what we needed to do.

In the third picture you can see Kelly looking over the gaps. He determined, as I had, there was no way to adjust the trunk lid to fit. Moving the lid left, to open the gap on the right, would simply move the problem to the left side of the car. Time to bring out the big guns.

The fourth photo is of Kelly grinding away on the edge of the trunk lid, removing the metal a tiny fraction of an inch at a time. He would run the grinder over the edge of the lid a time or two, close the lid to check the fit, and then do it all over again. Once he was satisfied with the fit, the edge was welded to preserve the integrity of the edge.

You can see the final result in the last photo … a nice straight even gap down the entire edge without a touch in sight. Obviously this wrecked the primer that has so carefully been applied and sanded in this area. That is why this step is done before all the priming starts, so these kinds of heavy duty “adjustments” don’t cause rework. But that chassis to body wrestling match caused unexpected problems that had to be addressed after the fact. Oh well, it is only a minor setback, easily rectified.

Next week we will prime and sand this area again, before we put the car in the booth, and the post primer “adjustment” will be completely undetectable. In fact, I have already forgotten it even happened.

And now, to your right …

A couple of weeks ago we fitted the left side door and fender, test fitting them to check the gaps and to make sure the body lines align. Yesterday, we did the right side. Both sides aligned well without a lot of work.

With the exception of the hood and trunk lid … and the interior, grille, chrome, wiring, fuel tank, steering column … and paint … this baby is just about done.

Some assembly required

It’s not much progress, but it is progress.

We got the left door and fender mounted on the car to check the fit. The lines don’t quite match up, but then we just stuck it up there to see how chose we were after the struggle to get the body on the frame.

After we do some adjusting the fit will be much better.

Reunited and it feels so good

Reunited and it feels so good … a song from 1980 by Peaches and Herb could also describe this Chevelle. At long last the chassis is once again reunited with the body.

First thing this morning I painted the firewall so it would have time to dry before Murphy Rod & Custom arrived at the shop that afternoon to help marry the chassis and body. The first two photos show the body masked for paint.

The next two photos, numbers three and four, show the firewall after the paint has been applied. It looks glossy in these photos, and if fact it looks glossy in person too, but the paint will flatten out some as it cures.

The fifth photo shows a loose nut behind the wheel that should be working but instead is goofing off. I hope Hugh doesn’t mind me power shifting his car like that.

The sixth photograph shows the red polyurethane body bushings in place, waiting for the body to be set upon the chassis. That was the only easy part of this whole job.

In the seventh picture the body is setting on the chassis but not yet attached. There are no pictures of the body actually being moved into place on the chassis because it was all hands on deck for that job. By enlisting the aide of a friend, serving as photographer for the event, it took all six of use to muscle the body in place. In case you didn’t know, let me clue you in on something. A 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle is made out of real metal. If you don’t believe me, just try to pick one up sometime.

Getting the body bushings into place, that was easy. Moving the body from the buck it was setting on to the chassis, while heavy, wasn’t particularly hard. But starting with picture eight and ending with picture ten … these three photographs are just a sample of the picture taken that document some of the  effort it took to get all the bolts into the mounts. To say we experienced some difficulties would be an understatement.

Kelly and Josh Murphy, the father and son team that make up Murphy Rod & Custom, performed the bulk of the work in getting the body attached while myself and my guys did all the pushing, pulling, standing on and prying of the body to get the holes to line up. Before we were done the running joke was, “Are you sure the body came off this chassis?”

In the end we did, finally, get all the bolts run home, but not without some heavy-duty mechanical leverage being applied to push and pull the chassis into position. Picture eleven, the last picture, shows that the once separate pieces are now, at last, a car again. It doesn’t look any different that it did two hours before when the body was just sitting on the chassis. But here at JMC AutoworX we sweat the little details, like bolting the body to the chassis, because our customers deserve only the very best.

The gangs all here

After weeks and weeks of sanding, it is finally time to do a little assembly.

The first picture shows a couple of the major components … the chassis, and behind that, the body. With those two parts, you have most of a car, but also in the shot are the two inner fender wells. Not visible in this shot, but scattered around the shop, is the hood and the front fenders.

The second and third shots show the heart of the car … the Heart Beat of America so to speak. This is the famous Chevrolet small block, a 5.4L mill more famously know as the Chevrolet 327. The refreshed but original drive-train also features the highly desirable four-speed transmission to make this one of the more rare Chevelles. Nice …

The fourth picture show a nice upgrade … the adjustable upper control arms. Being able to adjust the upper arms on the car allows the owner to dial out unwanted suspension movement under hard acceleration. This will give the car better traction at launch by adjusting the pinion angle for reduce wheel hop. And … they look awesome.

Next week we should get the body back on the frame, then this collection of parts and pieces will once again be car. But not just any car … a Chevelle.

The finishing touches

Here are a couple of the pieces of the truck that we painted yesterday installed in their proper place. The top most bit, where the chrome cap is sticking out, is a custom made piece.

I painted it, but this custom radiator cover is another example of the metal magic worked over at Murphy Rod & Custom. I think it’s a nice finishing touch.

Wide whites

This 1962 Chevy rat rod pickup is beginning to come together. The wheels we painted black on Friday have been mounted with some 3-inch white wall tires for that classic rat rod look.

I’m not sure … can a rat rod be a rat rod without wide whites?

So close …

We are so close to finishing the Mustang I can almost taste it. We have completed the final buffing and almost all the trim pieces are installed. We are still waiting on the arrival of a couple of pieces that have been ordered for the hood scoop, but that is basically it. Once those two bits of trim are installed on the scoop, then the scoop on the car, I will be done with it. While we wait for the last couple of trim pieces to arrive, the car will be leaving for the installation of the interior and glass.

Because I have a shop full of work, and it was a nice day outside, I pushed the car out of the shop so it could bask in the sunlight. It also doesn’t hurt my business that in the sun the car looks … stunning, sitting out there drawing attention.

Cassie and Karl, the owners, stopped by to see the car today. They seemed to be quite pleased with the results. I can understand that … I’m fairly pleased with it myself.