Building blocks … Part II

More building block pictures here, once again showing the etching primer and the gray high build primer with the black epoxy sandwiched in between.

Putting shoes on the Pony

We needed to get this car back on the ground because we couldn’t reach the roof to do the body work, and I got tired of standing on a bucket, so we painted all the suspension parts and installed them. Up front the car features dropped spindles from Fatman Fabrications and a one inch lower coil spring.

Because we want this car to perform as good as it looks,  all urethane bushings were used.  Disk brakes are a necessity for stopping this wild horse … and we got them at all four corners.

Out back we used the stock leaf springs with a 2″ lowering block, to compliment the lowered front, to give the car a hunkered down look that says, “Yeah … I’m bad.”

The Building blocks of a High Performance Finish

Every great paint job starts with a great foundation. We take special care to make sure the etching and epoxy primers are done properly because these are the most important steps to ensure a great, long lasting paint  job.

After the car is masked, the etching primer is applied, the gold color you see in the third photo. This bonds to the bare metal and gives everything that follows something to stick to.

The black coat in the next photo is the epoxy primer. This step bonds to the etching primer and seals the car to prevent rust. It also provides adhesion for the high build primer that follows next.

The high build or high solids primer, the gray coat you see in the last two photos, is used to make the body laser straight by filling in tiny imperfections in the body. Most of this primer will be sanded away during the blocking process that follows.

A bare bones Mach I

You’ve heard the term “roller?” A roller is a car that doesn’t have an engine in it but can be rolled about. But what do you call a car that doesn’t even have a suspension or wheels … a dragger?

We have a lot of cars arrive at JMC AutoworX on a truck, but we don’t have many that arrive in boxes as this bare bones 1969 Ford Mustang Mach I did. The body is in the shop but rest of Cassie & Karl’s car is in boxes … boxes that are stacked all over my office and break room.

You can see in the last picture that we had our metal fabricator add bracing, a sub-frame connector, to keep the monster engine that is going in this car from twisting the body up like a pretzel.

We are doing a ground up, every nut and bolt, resto-custom job on this one. When it’s finished it will look, and drive, fantastic.