Glamour shot

Today we just so happened to have these three beauties at the shop at the same time so Chris had a good idea of getting a glamour shot. The cars on each end, Mustang and Chevelle will be at the Hot Rod Expo in the Greensboro Coliseum this weekend. Come on out and see us. Mention the website to us and receive a free gift!!  While supplies last of course.

Galloping along

Today was the day that this Mustang got to put on some brand new clothes. The first step today was to clean the metal. We use a wax and remover to thoroughly clean the metal. After that we taped up the doors and windows. Then we applied a nice coat of epoxy primer. After that dried we seam sealed all of the seams with a 2 part urethane product from SEM. Then we masked up the jambs then applied 3 good coats of slick sand. The epoxy will bond extremely well to bare metal and provide great adhesion for the slick sand. Slick sand is a super high build primer that we use to ensure  super straight body panels. It provides enough build for us to block sand the entire car with 80 grit sand paper. This process gets rid of the waves and ripples and makes the panels so flat that it makes the paint look like a mirror. We have put a good amount of time in on this old Stang. Its starting to take shape and it looks happier everyday.

Its time for bed

While Chris was hard at it on the Audi, Chase was prepping this Dodge for a sprayed in bedliner. After disassembly, Chase went to town with a DA sander and 80 grit sandpaper to provide a tooth for the liner to bite into. Picture 3 and 4 shows what the liner looks like when finished. This bedliner is great for the general truck owner. It looks great, easy to clean, just the right amount of texture without a gritty feeling. This is a great alternative to the thicker more rubbery type of liners available. After a very busy week, I’d say its time for bed.

I’m exhausted

This Audi has exhausted its stay here at the shop. Tomorrow it gets to go back home. We have been very busy this week. Between a full week of work and getting 2 hot rods ready for the car show on Friday we are all pooped. Anyway, enough with all that, today we installed the bumper, grill and headlights. We also buffed out the hood to ensure a super smooth repair on this Audi.  Chris is wet sanding the hood in the one and only picture we took of it today. Tomorrow after it gets a bath, I will be sure to get a finished shot of it. I took it out for a test drive today to be sure everything was working properly and I had a very pleasant drive through the Burlington country side. Everything worked flawlessly. In the morning we will get it washed up and ready for the owner.

Audi went in

After a brief stalemate waiting on parts for this Audi, we were able to get back to it today. The radiator support went back on with out a hitch. We were able to get all of that button up today. We also started it, checked for the right amount of fluids, checked for leaks, and made sure the cooling fans were operational.  After all that, we slid it in the booth to get the hood fender and front bumper painted. Picture 3 shows in in the booth all prepped up and no where to go.  Picture 5 and 6 shows the car with the sealer applied. This coat of paint is to ensure that the paint adheres to the panel correctly. It will also provide a cushin layer to help reduce rock chips. Pictrures 7 and 8 show the Audi with the color, in this case a pure black. In pictures 9 and 10 you can see what clear does to basecoat. Its what brings the car back to life.  We still have to finish putting it back together and charge the A/C but today we made great progress.  If all goes well, we will have it done tomorrow.

Crash up derby

This truck was the victim of a much, much larger truck backing into it. The truck sustained a pretty fair amount of damage. hood, radiator support, condenser and a few other various parts we all damaged in the accident. Today we were able to get quite a bit done on it as we are waiting on parts for the other vehicles in the shop. First we removed the hood, then the radiator support and all the parts that are bolted to it. Luckily, the radiator wasn’t damaged in this accident, but the condenser was. We also got the hood trimmed out but failed to get a picture of that. The rest of the parts should be in tomorrow so we can get the mechanical part of this repair buttoned up. We will also get the hood painted tomorrow and wrap this one up pretty quickly. Sometimes things just click and we are able to get cars in and out fairly quickly, this will probably one of those times. Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself.

Working the Pony

Friday was a very busy day spent working on the Mustang. It was an all hands on deck event. We pretty much have this car ready for epoxy primer and slick sand. The body was media blasted then sent out for metal fabrication so the prep for priming consists of sanding.  Lots of sanding. We sand the body with 80 grit on DA sanders. These sanders are pneumatic sanders that sand in an orbital fashion. We use this over the entire body and the other flat panels where it will fit.  All the other areas are done by hand. We do this to ensure that the paint bonds properly to the bare metal.  In picture 2, you can see the outer wheel houses. This area will get epoxy primer as well. After that dries all the seams will be filled with a 2 part seam sealer to keep water out of the trunk and to prevent them from having to be replaced again. In picture 3 you can see the engine compartment is getting the same service. Picture 4 gives you an overall view of the body as it sit at the time of this post. Hopefully we will get some primer on here before the weeks end. Picture 5 shows the very first thing we painted on the old pony, the headlight buckets. When you take one down this far, you have to paint EVERY single part of the car. These were ready so we went ahead and knocked them out too. Stay tuned for the next installment!

One step at a time.

As promised yesterday, we primed the doors today on the Mustang. Because they were prepped yesterday, all we had to do today was clean them, hang them and shoot a good coat of epoxy and and 3 coats of slick sand. We started by cleaning the doors with a wax and grease remover. This step removes any contaminates that get on the panel. Next was the epoxy. This is the water proofing product and the product that really bites into the metal for adhesion. Then we have slick sand. This is the high build primer that allows us to block out so the panels are super straight. We did not slick sand the inside of the doors because the slick sand would have filled in the textured grain of the interior and we didnt want that.

The last couple of hours in the day were spent cleaning out all of the old seam sealer in the cowl area.  That stuff had been there for  49 years. I figured its best to get it on out and put in some new since we were already here. Seam sealer is a glue type product that is made to fill in the weld seams to keep water from getting in there and either rusting or causing a water leak.  We didn’t get that far today on the body but we did get the seams  all cleaned out and ready to go. One step at a time.

The hunter

Chris spent the biggest part of the day today getting the radiator support off of the Audi that smacked a deer the other week. Though this job is not really difficult, it is tedious work with lots of hidden screws, clips and messy oil lines. The new part should be in tomorrow and we will reverse this process and hopefully at the end of the day tomorrow this Audi will be running hunting again. The last picture shows the small amount of damage that was done to the fender. We were also able to get that fixed, primed and sanded today as well.

Pony express!

Phew!! What a day. Today we worked on the Mustang. Not just any Mustang, but one of the very first ones ever made. This is a 19641/2. We made great progress and hope to get more done tomorrow. In the first picture you see the hood, trunk, left fender and fender parts set up and ready for primer. Our first step is to clean the parts extremely well. We use a de-greasing solvent to remove any contaminates from the panels. Next we spray a coat of epoxy on the parts. The epoxy really likes bare metal. It is water proof and really bites to the metal. Next we spray 3 coats of Slick Sand on the outside of the body panels. This product is a very high build primer. It allows us to block the body panels out until they are super flat. The parts that are hanging up, we skipped this step and went straight to the urethane primer. Since they dont have the surface area the body panels have, we can prime them with regular prime and still get great results. In the last three pictures you can see Chris working on the doors. We did get the doors ready for this same process but we ran out of time. We will get those done tomorrow. Then we can start Chris’ favorite part, blocking!! The slick sand will be blocked with 80 grit paper to make the panels super straight. Next week we will start this process on the body. A major milestone will be reached then.