The project mav AKA The misstress...

Yeah...I didn't actually see the "Projects" heading when I started this thread. Guess I should wave down a moderator...

 

That a very solid looking starting point!

 

I'm sure someone can report you...
We should have went to see Kiss tonight in Darien lake!

 

And so the saga continues...

I have to start by saying...I did not paint the floor pan till after I had done the exterrior body repair and primeing...Blocking...Primeing...LOL...It never ends. After the repairs were made to the pans, the welds were primed with Eastwoods rust encapsulator. Seam sealer was brushed on afterwards over the welded areas and on all the interrior seams in the floor pan and along the inner rockers where the pans meet up with em. After scuffing the pan with grey scotch brite pads (4 of them) The pan was painted with Eastwoods 2 part Chassis black. The chassis black wears like armor plating so, I felt it was perfect for under the carpet, The stuff wont wear off.
On to the exterrior...You will note in alot of these pics that the finish on the car was not stripped off prior to welding and patching. The only reason was that I know this car inside out and knew exactly what I was dealing with. There were no hidden surprises that would affect how or what got repaired in any particular order. I dont recommend this unless you know the cars total condition. I strongly recommend stripping the finish off a project completely in order to properly asess what you have to work with as well as what you have to do. Surprises do pop up...Even on this one. I started with the left side of the car. (I allways start on one side, and work to the other as the work progresses) This rot spot on the lower rear corner of the drivers door was bothering me for a few years so it was first on the hit list. Its a place for dirt to collect and never leave. Sorry I never got a shot of it cut open but, suffice it to say that the inner was treated...A rust neutralizer was wicked into the gap between the inner and outer door skin as well as all the inner surfaces. The inner doors were then painted with rust encapsulator follower by chassis black. ( I litterally poured it into the gaps and seams between the skins) Then came the right front fender dog leg. Another common rot spot on these cars. I ground it all down cut the rust out ,treated the inner support. Made a pair of patch panels to fill the voids and...Yeah got some real warpage in the panel with the smaller patch install. Decided to stop at that point and go home. It was a long day and I was beat. Figured my gap was not sufficient between the fender and my patch to allow for expansion/movement. I know better too, glad it was a dumb mistake on my own car and not a clients. Dad decided to help while I was away for the week by makeing a few relief cuts in the panel to reverse the warpage...It was not good...I love my dad...LOL. Got a different fender for the car and the rest is history. Snack time...More to come.
Thanks for the positive comments fellas, I really appreciate em.

 

Dave...It was cold today and colder this evening...They probably had heaters on the stage for Gene and the boys...LOL...

 

The amount of work you people put into saving a car just amazes me and my hat is off to you for it. I have parted out so many Mavericks and Comets that would not have needed much work to repair that I feel ashamed of myself but the cars do not sell very well and the parts do

 

The amount of work in this one is nothing compared to the lengths some have to go to to make a nice car. If your gonna make a silk purse out of a sows ear...Its good to start with a silk sow...I got lucky with this one as it is a very solid car. Your right unfortunately, the parts are more valuable than the whole. Shame...nah, you supplied parts to people so they can save theirs from the crusher. Something to feel good about if you ask me.

Now... Todays installment: I will note at this point that the car used to have side trim. I wanted to eliminate it when I originally repainted the car...Just didn't have the time. ( I did a weeks worth of work in 3 days to paint it the last time) Including an extra 2 hours to fix a caved in door. So this was the right time to weld all the holes shut. After the welding and patching was over on the left side, the real fun began. Paint stripping...I had a good poo boy to help me out with this since I loath the stripping process. My nephew Garrette, fast learner and hard worker. His help made the process much quicker. No real pics of the stripping process since its boreing and just looks like curdled paint. Soo... On to the after shots. Note the fresh filler on the quarter...Like I said before, surprises do pop up. I knew from the get go that a spot panel paint repair had been done many years ago to match the original color. ( I could only guess as to why) Well...Someone did a very nice job filling the verticle crease in the quarter. You could not see this crease from inside the trunk either but...Stripping the paint revealed it. I did try to take pics of the crease but, it wouldn't photograph well so those few pics have long since been deleted. I did bump 90 percent of the crease out and restore much of the body line but after bumping the metal and smoothing it out with a body file a light skim of filler was still necessary to even it out. What you see in this pic is the rough fill before shaping. It also looks like the filler is hanging off the bottom of the quarter. Its an optical illusion, stuff on the floor on the other side of the car was close in color to the filler so it runs together in the pic. Kinda threw me first time I looked at this pic after taking it. I also took my body files to the factory lead work to the joint between the C pillar and roof panel. It never was very smooth or well blended and bothered me from day one. After chemicle stripping of the panels and then cleaning em to remove remnants of the stripping medium. The panels were treated to 2 coats of a product called Feather fill. Its basically sprayable body filler and I have used it on many cars and its stability is awesome. Its a great medium for filler work and blocking. Next installment... filler,blocking and a coat of primer...Its late...I'm tired, think I'll go to bed now.

 

Great progress!! You're not fooling around, are you?! I love watching builds like yours where the progress never seems to stop. Great Job!!

 

Thanks!!! I hope I haven't misled you though Paul but, this has been 8 yrs of saturdays, and a few sundays too. I am just sharing what I have been doing the last 8 yrs. I wish I could just plow through it but work gets in the way. So does the side work I do for others, doing exactly this sort of thing.
More to come tomorrow evening.

 

Ok, nothing spectacular at this stage. Just boreing, monotinous block sanding to get the feather fill flat, so I could see what imperfections I missed on the first go round. If you look you can see a few little dark spots/dots...Yup low spots. A light skim of filler...More sanding, then 2 coats of filler primer to even it all up and it was time to turn the beast around to do the other side. The last 2 pics were the first time the car had seen daylight in 3 years. The last pic... Well, yeah ugly aint it...More to come.

 

First order of business on the right side. Quarter rot at the bottom rear corner (common rust area) I cut the corner off, repaired the inner wheel house with a fabbed patch and then fabbed a patch for the corner. (last pic) Then it was on to the inner quarter (Trunk drop) RPS came out with the re-pops after I did this repair... Oh well...Removed/treated all the rust scale then closed it up. Then the wheel lip rot, this lip was swiss cheese after some grinding. Cut out the rot (Inside and out) Fabbed some patches, wicked rust neutralizer into the lip while it was opened up to nix what I couldn't see. (I'm sure there was more rust scale inside the joint between the quarter skin and wheel house) I was not cutting a quarter off to look. The rust neutralizer I use most certainly got it though. The stuff has excellent capillary action and is thin like water but sticky so it goes where you want and stays put. The excess was dripping out the bottom corner repair and puddling up on the inner rocker at the front of the wheel house so, I know it hit the whole seam. It will be just fine.
Next time... Feather fill...blocking...filling...primeing...more sanding....And another surprise!!!

 

Sorry its been a while but...Life gets in the way sometimes. Ok, first the surprise...The right rear quarter was a salvage repair quarter note the grinder marks in the 2nd and 3rd pics. It was repaired at the stamping plant here in woodlawn N.Y where it was made before ever going on a car. Could have had a dent from handeling or a blemish from the stamping process. Who knows?? Also not seen in these pics are the ( I never did photograph em) Brass tack welds that I found along the join at the tail panel/quarter and at the join between the quarter and B pillar...This quarter was installed on the car after the body was assembled (Bucked). Must have had some sort of accident while trundling down the assembly line that damaged the original quarter. This would explain a few things for me upon their discovery. The right rear end cap never matched up to the quarter well at all. The lead work on this side was very well done/finished compared to the driver side. The factory seam sealer applied to the inside seam between the lower quarter and inner quarter was Applied with the same tool used to apply seam sealer to the rest of the car (Had the same rippled pattern) This tells me the quarter was replaced before the car was painted at the factory. I could be wrong about the quarter thing but...Thats my story and I'm sticking to it. My dad also feels that this is the correct scenario. He spent 43 yrs at the woodlawn stamping plant and even did some time in a few assembly plants. He said that it was unusual but not unheard of for things like this to be done in the assembly process. More to come.

 

There is brass on the quarter panels, in and around the quarter window are, my project car also has it.

 

Yup mine tooDave but... The right side also has it where the quarter meets the rocker and on the B pillar where there should have been spot welds joining it to the pillar as well as at the tail light panel. The only areas that had proper factory spot welds were along the pinch at the quarter window/ lower rear quarter, and along the wheel lip where the quarter meets the wheel house. My dad said thats because those areas were accessible with a hand held spot weld gun. These areas would have been done on a BIG gun line normally and those things weigh too much to be weilded by hand without the cranes that normally support them. We figure the quarter was replaced at the factory since the shell was allready fully assembled, it would have been too costly at that point to just scrap it and start over. Weird huh?

 

Time to finish up the right side...A light skim of filler to even up a few things. (Feather fill the front fender) Block sand...Prime...Guide coat and...Yes...More block sanding...Car looked pretty good at this point, if I do say so myself. At this point, the project had to move to new digs...The empty lot next to mom and dads house now had a new house built on it and occupied by the owners...Didnt want to tick off the new neighbors with all the sanding painting and grinding and sanding some more etc... Soo, next installment...New digs for the project.