Straightening the curves
The body work on the ’55 is coming right along. We have been blocking the car out to find what needs to be straightened and what we can straighten with blocking and priming. This car has had some nice work done in the past but we will be fine tuning what they started. As you can see it does have several places that need attention and about that many more that we haven’t gotten to yet. Next week we should be able to start spraying some primer on these repairs. Once that happens another good blocking to make sure we didn’t miss anything then start prepping for paint.
A little clearer
A few parts trickled in today so we were back on the bug. We finished installing the sound deadner on the luggage compartment and on the roof first thing. You would be amazed at how much that stuff will quiet down a car. We then finished rebuilding the vent windows. Well the right one anyway. Once it was complete and the glue was dry on the felt channel it went into the door. Next was the other felt channel that goes at the back of the door and finally the door glass. This all went very smoothly. We were also able to install the license plate housing and the speedometer. Guess you will have to see that next post. I forgot to snap a picture of it. We also completed a bit more of the wiring and ran the brake lines from the reservoir to the master cylinder. Not super exciting stuff, but progress none the less.
Introducing the 1955 Chvey
This little beauty has been brought to us to finish up a long ago started restoration. Its a ’55 Chevy 2 door post car, one of my favorites. Tons of work has already been completed on the car a few goodies include rack and pinion steering, coil over shocks, big V8 and several other things. The owner wanted to dechrome the car so the first thing we did was weld up all of the molding holes. You may notice that we didnt have to weld up the ones in the quarters. Those panels have already been replace years ago and the new panels didnt have molding holes. Once the holes were welded up we started repairing the areas and blocking out the entire car just to see how the body looked. Not too bad. We do have some work to do but it should go along pretty smoothly. The car will be painted the green that you see here when its finished.
Slicky slicky
Still working on the ’57 to wrap up the week. Today we were able to get the doors and deck lid sanded down for buffing. Jordan started on the deck lid then moved to the doors. Paul couldn’t resist the fun and quickly helped Jordan out. Once they had the truck ready, Paul started the buffing process while Jordan sanded the doors. Just like the sanding process, the buffing process consists of 3 steps. First step is a cutting compound. This process removes the sanding scratches but leaves its on scratches from the process. The next step is a polishing compound that removes the scratches left by the first, but it too leaves really fine swirl marks. The final step removes the really fine swirls and leaves the paint super smooth and scratch free. Its a long process but very worth it when only the best will do. We didnt quite get done with the buffing, but the last picture shows what the paint looks like after one round of step 2. Yes, sometimes you have to go over it a few times to get it right but its worth it in the end.
It all hinges on this
Yesterday started off with a little sand blasting. Jordan blasted the hood hinges and the door hinges for the ’57 Chevy. Once they were done, Cole took his turn sanding them back down smooth. Once that was finished up, Paul cleaned them up and sprayed a coat of DP epoxy on them and followed that with the appropriate colors for the parts. The hood hinges were painted a soft silver color with a flat clear coat and the door hinges were painted the factory Tropical Turquoise then cleared with a high gloss clear. Today we started the wet sanding process. This part of the paint job separates the men from the boys. This is where the super smooth, mirror like finish comes from. Jordan started with 1000 grit sand paper and carefully sanded the clear coat to remove what little orange peel was there. He then went back over that with 2000 grit paper and followed that will 3000. This process will provide a super high gloss and an ultra flat surface. You will easily be able to shave using this paint as a mirror.
4 more ready
We have been working hard on the C-10, and it shows. We now have 4 more parts ready for paint. Cole and Jordan finished blocking these panels out today and Paul had just enough time to spray a few coats of urethane primer on them before quitting time. These panels will be blocked one final time to be certain they are nice and straight before painting.
Tubs are painted
Last week the work continued with the C-10. Paul sprayed the engine compartment sides of the wheel houses and did a spray in bedliner on the wheel house side of them They really look nice. Paul also was able to get the epoxy high build primer on the doors and fenders last week. Jordan got to work blocking them today. He did have a couple of places appear on the right fender so he went ahead and fixed that while he was at it. These will continue to be blocked out tomorrow and hopefully these parts will soon be in their final urethane primer in a couple of days
Wires everywhere!
Still plugging along on the VW. The wiring is coming along nicely. All of the major wires are run and most things are hooked up. We are waiting on some parts that is keeping us from finishing that up so we are installing what we can to keep things moving. Once we get the speedometer and the steering column installed that mess of wires will be cleaned up a little. We secured the wiring back at the firewall and started installing the insulation back there. VW made little flexible hooks for the wiring to run through when these were new but the aftermarket parts don’t put them on the ones made today. This firewall was replaced at some point a while back so we had to add the clips to hold the wiring. We are making good progress each day. This little VW will be back on the road before you know it.
Fender bender
Jordan has been devoting the past few days to the C10 project. He has the body work on the doors pretty well wrapped up and today started on the fenders. Here again these are new parts but not without issues. The owner wanted to do fill in the turn signal holes that were in the fenders to match the way the quarters were done. This cleans up the look of the truck. It makes the sides look smoother. When that was done, they left the inner lip where the light use to mount and it didn’t look good. Although it will be hard to see and most people would never notice it, we would. So the first part of the day was spent grinding away all the metal that wasn’t needed on the back side of the fenders. He then started blocking out the front side to bring the high and low spots out. Once those were found he started straightening. A hammer and dolly were uses to minimize the amount of filler. It looks like a little too much heat got to the panel when the patches over the signal holes were filled because the fenders were a little warped around the area where the lights use to be. Its hard not to get any warping when welding sheet metal because today’s metal is so thin. This is why there is just a large patch at the fronts of the fenders. He should have these finished up tomorrow and the goal will be to get these and the doors in their first coats of primer by Thursday.
C10 in progress
Over the past couple of weeks we have been plugging along on the C10 project. Repairs on the cab are moving along. The firewall is pretty smooth, work on the cab continues and work on the doors has begun. Although these are new doors they still came with a few dents that needed attention. We blocked them out to find the low spots and high spots then straightened them out. We will be applying our high build primer over these doors in the next day or so and they will receive another blocking followed by a final prime with regular urethane primer. Once that happens we will have 2 more panels ready for paint.
