Captain's Comet

maybe...

i built a Harley Show Bike once and molded the frame in with a...wire welder and 4"grinder...

......

 

Go to Lowe's or hardware store and get a 6in piece of copper pipe and flatten one end. It's great to put behind a panel and fill small holes.

 

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Work on the Comet has been progressing. Still working on floorpans... sorry for no pics ... too busy welding and cussing.

Initally, I used a flat blade screwdriver to check for rust, and then moved on to a big scratch awl, and found a few more spots. I now know to use a hammer to check out rusty floorpans instead ... hammer on it and if it falls apart, it's bad ...

I found a couple more areas that passed the screwdriver test, that failed when hammered. Basically found them hammering on patches I welded in, to make sure that they are secure. They were, but a bit of surrounding metal was iffy.... a couple more business card-sized spots more than I anticipated.

If I would have known what I do now, I would have just put a complete Mustang front pan in on the passenger side. Probably would have been about the same amount of work.

It's OK ... two more patches and the floorpans will be done... just a bit Frankensteined-looking ... really, really solid, though...
Then on to Rust Bullet ...Whoo-hoo! ...

At least my welding is getting a lot better. I'm getting enough practice.

 

Passed a milestone this weekend ...

... finally done welding on the floorpans ... :bananaman

Here is the progression for the rear driver side pan ...
Click on the pictures for the larger version. These are done using the insert button under the smilies ... love it, Stefan!



The passenger side front was much more involved as I mentioned in previous posts ... would have been easier to do a whole front pan section ...



The rest of the floor is about as nice as shown in that first picture... lots of original green paint ... these two areas were enough for me to bite off as a novice welder.

Next step is Rust Bullet.

Had a revelation while loading these pic in my computer ... it has been almost exactly ONE YEAR since I pulled the carpet out to get a good look at the pans.

That was a shocker initially until I started to realize that I have cleared a few hurdles in that time ...

Fixed the cowl.
Scored some crusty LDO bucket seat tracks and restored them.
Totally reconfigured a rear seat bottom so that Mustang covers will fit.
(Tech article on that once I get the upholstery finished ... don't hold your breath).
Fixed the door hinge post.
Fixed the floorpans.
Learned how to MIG weld (kinda ... still a lot more technique to learn there).

This would have all happened a lot faster, except that I am in a band, and we keep getting busier, and I really wouldn't trade that experience for anything ... it is a ton of work though. We are starting to travel to other areas of the state to do shows ... that usually means that it takes up a pretty much a whole weekend. Fun, fun, fun...

With what we have up our sleeves, we might get a lot busier, too. May have to scale back my day job.

 

Nice Work!! (I have 2 cars, that need the same done to them)

 

New Years 2010 Week work

Got a few days off, and made some progress.

I already had the floor repairs painted with Rust Bullet. Make sure you have some ventilation with this stuff. I did one coat early AM (couldn't sleep ...) inside a closed garage. For the whole rest of the day, I felt like I needed to go work out and sweat some poisons out. Felt pretty awful. Then read the can ... they suggest a breather when using it. Did the next coat with the garage open.
Tried not to breathe it.

I had other goals, but it became apparent that the shifter and console needed attention next.

I have had this Versailles console for at least 10 years now ... great to finally see it closer to installed.
First step was to mod the original bracket. This thing was right at 1 inch too high ... not any more.
I cut the back in half and overlapped it. Then, I started bending the front out far enough that the top surface
contacted the bottom of the bin (where they bolt together) at the correct angle. Then it was a matter of re-angling the feet.



This console came from the factory wrapped in leather, and I want to preserve that. It did need to have the front edge relieved about 1/2 inch in order to set down better, so I peeled back the leather, made a pattern of the tunnel where it contacts the console, and then transferred that to the console. The console is plastic and Harbor Freight has something they call the "5 in 1 Hobby Tool" .... very useful. I had something similar as a kid when I built model cars ... it is the best thing for cutting plastic. It is a soldering iron/wood burning pencil, and there is an X-acto knife blade attachment ... that gets the job done in a very controlled manner.

Here is the final fit ...



Now the console goes back on the shelf while I paint the interior black and install the insulation, padding, and carpet.
Then it will get dyed, and a new cover for the lid will be sewn up by my lovely wife.

 

I finally have the exposed metal in the pillars and the back panel painted black. I am now dying the headliner after giving it a good cleaning.

It feels so good to be making progress ... I have three pretty big distractions going on personally, and time spent with the car had turned into "an escape".

The best news is that I will have a "helper" soon.... My stepson and his family are moving here from the icy north, and my 5 year old grandson will be here to help "fix the green Hot Wheels".

 

It felt like Christmas today ...

... unwrapping the masking to reveal new paint on the metal and a redyed headliner ...



As a bonus, I found that my window film is so old (circa 1993 ) that sticking masking tape to it makes it want to lose its will to live ... yeah! It was going to be peeled anyway. Old film can be a bear, but this shouldn't be too bad taking it off. Now that the car won't be a daily driver, I doubt I will be tinting them again anyway, I want to show off my spiffy new interior.

It was really tough to get good pics of this, took some photo editing to show it off realistically. Very happy with the results. I used Krylon Fusion Semi-Flat Black over some primer on the pillars and back panel and Krylon Vinyl Dye on the headliner and windlacing. Also shot dye on the window seals and gaskets ... they look new again.

Yes ... that is a tomato plant in my garage. It got down to 35 last night ... pretty sure that the North Pole has moved to Michigan and that Siberia will be tropical by next summer.

After stripping the window film off, the passenger door gets painted black. Then I can get to work loading stuff back into the car, piece by shiny piece ... this is getting me pumped up! Feels really good, finally!

 

nice progress

 

I was going to say something about the Tomato plant!!
Nice work, it's alot of work, but the result looks awesome!!

 

Great looking progress, Mr Jeff. Car is looking good!!


Jim

 

very ambitious project. Looks great.

 

I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy ... just didn't feel that I had anything photo-worthy until now.

Stripped off the window film ... that would have been a picture of nothing there anymore ...

Painted the passenger door ... that would have been a picture of a door without an upholstery panel ...

Made a new panel to divide the trunk from the interior ... now we're getting closer to needing a picture. The fiber panel that was in the car pretty much crumbled as I removed it. This new one is a giant sheet of thick plastic that was a leftover from a work project ... it will get insulated.

Started putting Peel-n-Seal on the floor ...



It is really nice to be putting things back into the car instead of taking them out.

 

Interior work

Nice going Jeff:
It sounds like you want everything to "fit" when you install this console.
Any time we spend on "details" like you've described on the console pays off bigtime. I like to have a clean interior also and I know its worth the time and effort it takes to achieve what you're after. I'm looking forward to seeing this one at the NPD show next year. Cometized

 

Update ... Peel-n-Seal is in, and I went over all the seams with Shurtape waterproofing repair tape (kind of another version of Peel-n-Seal but thinner foil and mastic). This stuff is available in the paint department at Lowes. Now all of the lowest parts of the floor pan are completely sealed.



The main use for P-n-S is to cut sound resonance. It does reflect heat a bit (more on that later...) but mostly it makes the floor far less tinny-sounding. Once I had pretty much covered the floor, and already had the Shurtape, I thought, seal all the lowest areas up, after all these are roofing products. If it ever leaks into the interior again (cowl, heater, etc ...), the floors ought to be really safe. Liquids would be trapped between the P-n-S and the carpet and could be shop-vacced out. Hopefully, never need to test it.



I am using Reflectix Insulation for heat control and padding under the carpet. This stuff is like industrial strength bubblewrap, and it has some kind of filling inside. After doing some reading online, certain things started to make sense ... you get a higher R value out of this due to the constuction (it has a bit of airspace in it), and it can serve as carpet pad. So far it sounds a little "crunchy", but I doubt you can hear that with carpet on top of it. As pictured, it is just set into place and still needs to be taped down. I will be using regular metal tape on this. It is just under 1/4" thick, and is compressable. If pushed down, it will conform to the floor, especially with a few strategic cuts. Had to break out my best gift-wrapping skills....