Deconstruction continues

Yesterday Jordan spent a good portion of the day breaking down the doors. Today, he has been at it pretty steady all day. The doors are both completely apart and removed, the trunk is off and apart, the hood moldings have been removed as well, as a few more interior molding parts. The time consuming part of all this is bagging and tagging all of the parts and their bolts to make reassembly much easier. And buddy I’ll tell ya, their are a lot little parts. We have tubs that we use to store parts in so that things remain in one spot for safe keeping. Inside the tubs are bags with screws, bolts and clips labeled where they came from as well as the tons of bright work from the same panels. Hopefully tomorrow these newly disassembled parts will be going to the blaster.

Another Ghia back on the road

Here we have the finished product!  After a good long while in the shop, this Ghia is headed home today. I know the owner is happy to have her car back. Im not sure what wheels are planned for this beauty, but I will post pictures of it when she gets them on.

FJ

Back in the mix is the FJ 55. We have been a little slow over the past few months on our restoration work since Paul was out with a shoulder surgery but now we are back full force. Paul is back and we have also hired an old friend, Jordan. He picked right up where we stopped.  The tail gate had had a few places welded up but not quite finished up. Jordan jumped right in and got to work. The tail gate is now ready for primer as well as the left rear door. He also spent some time cleaning up the drip rails and blocked out the rest of primer on the rest of the vehicle. Next week we will get these final repair spots in primer then start prepping the jambs for paint.

Yo Holmes, to Bel-Air

Here we have a beautiful 1957 Chevy Bel-Air in the shop to get a new lease on life. We started by disassembling the front end and sending all of the parts out for stripping. Once back from the blasters, Jordan got to work sanding all of the parts prepping them for primer. Since this is an extremely important step, extra time was taken to be sure the metal was as clean as possible. Today we hung up all the parts and prepped them for PPG’s DP epoxy primer and applied 2 good coats. Next step will be to perform any metal work that needs to be done and start straightening the panels. The inner panels and fresh air vents will be prepped for paint since they wont really need any body work. Stay tuned.

What a Challenge

The new paint job on this 1971 Challenger is all wrapped up and ready to go. We had only a few minor places to repair on this one before spraying a nice base coat clear coat to bring it back to life. Once the paint had a few days to cure, the factory stripes were installed and really make all the difference in the world. It looks like a different car. The green paint with the green side stripes were at first a little questionable but now that they are on, Wow! What a difference. I really like the look of the color combination. Once the black vinyl top is on and a few bits of chrome here and there, this will be one sharp car.  The owner will be bringing it back for some grand finale pictures when its all done.

Getting closer

We have been steadily working along on the Ghia this week. Several thing have been checked off the list. Rear package tray, radio, windshield and glove box and door are in and operational. We have also been prepping the bumper brackets and painting them but I dont have any pictures of them. Next on the check list are the bumpers and deck lid, then the hood. Once that is done, the carpet and seats. We will then put a few miles on the car to make sure its all working properly.

Green Machine

This 1970 Challenger is in the shop to get a fresh paint job. The owner has done all of the work himself and might I add, he has done a fabulous job. We really didn’t have to do too much to this one before painting. Now that it’s painted, next is to remove the masking and get it over to AutoTrim design to install the factory style decals. That happens on Wednesday. The owner will then send it to the upholstery shop to get the vinyl roof installed. Once that gets done, the owner will finish putting it all back together. He will then bring it back for finished pictures. He is recreating the first car he and his wife bought together. We like doing cars that have a meaning and ones that have fill a purpose. This one fits that role just fine. 

Clear as glass

We’ve been here. I know its been a while since my last post, we have been busy. Paul, my painter has been out with shoulder surgery and its just been Cole and I for the past 7 weeks or so. Its been crazy. Things are settling down some and we have been working on the Ghia recently so here is an update on it. The door glass, rubber, quarter glass and all rubber parts pertaining to them are in. All of these parts are original to the car, we just polished them up and detailed them so they would look as good as possible. The door sound so tight now when you close them. Its really nice. We also have running and driving car now. Although its not road worthy just yet. Its close. Plans for this week are to have the bumpers on, windshield in and get a couple of nick knack stuff painted. Its really coming together now.

What a relief

Not that I was really expecting problems, its just a little nerve racking when you first hook the battery up to a car you just rewired. Luckily everything went very well. The ONLY problem we had was I wired up the headlight relay with two wires crossed. The stamps on those relays telling you what is what are mighty small and I mistook 56b for just 56. We tested every operation and they all work. Its a big relief. We also installed the door windows, the outer window scrapers and  the moldings. We also cleaned up the quarter glass moldings and chrome trim. We were on tap to install the quarter windows but Murphy and his laws showed up. One would think that if you purchased a “body rubber KIT” it would include everything you needed. Well, it doesn’t. So, we have a few more tid bits of rubber parts on order. Yesterday we bleed the braking system and checked for leaks this morning. All is well with that too. Tomorrow we will install the gas tank and if all goes well, maybe a short video of the first start up.

The heart is in

The engine is is! We received the parts we were waiting for yesterday to allow us to install the engine. There are two very important seals that go around the engine bay that help keep the engine cool. They must be installed before the engine goes in. We installed them, then checked over the clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing before the install. Once the it was in, we made all of the necessary connections for the coil, generator and fuel lines. We installed the battery and the negative cable but didnt hook up power just yet. It was late in the day and I wanted to have plenty of time to make sure I have triple checked all of the connections. This is not where you want to rush things thats for sure.