Topic: Update on my 78 Formula Restoration

[Kevin]

Since some of my original posts I have done the following to my car.

Gutted interior, removed console, all seats except drivers', removed carpeting, all interior trim pieces. Basically everything.
Sanded the whole car down with a pneumatic sander, removed the windshield and rear window molding as well as the roof drip and side moldings.
I also found a guy who is going to patch up the floor issue, re-seam seal everything, paint the inside of the car, and paint the outside of the car.
I am getting my money together to purchase a new console, shift plate, stereo, speakers, grilles, headlights/xenon kit, steering wheel and other goodies.

Can anyone tell me their opinion how difficult it would be for an interior shop to remove my standard steering wheel and install a new Formula wheel? I also would like to know if in the course of restoring you guys' classics, did you also purchase new moldings for it? My Moldings are in decent shape, but I wouldn't mind getting new stuff for that extra shine. I also want to know what you guys think about this; the guy who is going to paint my car for me mentioned using "fiberglass" to fix up the floors for me, what does this mean exactly? Does this stuff spray out or what? I would like to know... Also, in the process of sanding the car down, my father and I removed these nasty after market hood pins that the previous owner installed, so now there are holes in the hood, but I guess that could be fixed up with some bondo....  Does anyone have much experience with installing a xenon headlight kit on his car, because I am thinking of getting a xenon kit with some angel eye housings... One last question deals with the dash pull bar thing. My car doesn't have one, is this normal for the formulas? Thanks a lot guys...


EDIT: I learned the hard way when stripping the paint with the aircraft remover to USE GLOVES!!! This stuff burns the skin like you wouldn't believe... AHHH the pain. haha. But, lesson well learned....


Pictures from last week... I'm going to take it all down to bare metal if I can before I send it to paint man.

[Rick]

You can't fix the holes from the hood pins with bondo.  The hood flexes when you open and close it, and that will cause bondo to break out.  The way to repair it is to weld in the holes and then grind it smooth.  That's tricky to do without warping the hood, but it CAN be done.  Hammer had a set of hood pins in his car and that's how he fixed it, and I've seen the result.  No matter HOW closely you look you cannot tell the holes were there.  It is an outstanding repair job, but I know it's not easy to duplicate.  But that's how it has to be done as no filler made will stand up on the hood due to the flex problem.

[eroc022]

actually, no matter what there will be filler on the hood, even with welding your new pieces in........the thing about bondo, is that its plastic, and gets a bad rap for people not using it properlly, any restored show car will have filler at one point, just because its an easy way to level out the surface, and doing that much real metal work is time consuming not to mention extremely labor intensive......not alot of people want to pay for original leadwork, not to mention metal slapping to straighten out metal....especially if severe panel replacement is in order......now to do your hood, yes you will have to weld the holes shut....but the process like rick said is tricky, as if you weld to much at once you will warp your hood in a million different directions, and will show up  in your paint.......so a series of tack welds at alternating sides, will take a little bit of time but yet it will do it to the point that your metal wont warp, or at least not too badly, it will raise up where the actual weld is but you will have to grind/smooth the welds, then fill in the remainder with bondo. or equivilant....they even have a metal type filler now that has great strength.....but normal filler will be perfectly ok for such small spots......key to bodywork is to take your time, and make sure its FLAT.....hope this helps

[Kevin]

Thanks I appreciate it, can you guys maybe help me out on my other questions too? Thanks a lot so far though. 

[Rick]

Well, I can't tell you about replacement moldings because my car still has all the original ones and they're in perfect shape (as perfect as a 33-1/2 year old car that has 58,000 miles on it and has been garaged the entire time can be) and I haven't had to replace any of them.  I'd hold out for straight metal replacements in the floor boards rather than trying to fill them in with fiberglass or such.  It's not that hard to cut out the bad stuff and weld in new metal -- there are lots of guys here who have done that and have the pics to prove it.  The headlight deal is also very feasible and some here have done that too, and it's not that difficult.  The grab bar on the passenger side dash was a part of the deluxe interior package, so if your car originally had the standard interior you wouldn't have one of those.  Adding one is a matter of personal taste if you don't have the deluxe interior and aren't worried about going back to a strictly stock configuration.

[RENOVATIONS]

I'll second (or third that)  ...the hood can be welded if you're careful.
I have a hood here that had 4 hood pins on it...I cut out those small sections and welded in new metal...a little filler work and good as new.

I wouldn't use the fiberglass approach to your floor pans unless it's just being used as a filler to smooth the welds from putting in new pans...do it right once and be done with it. Shortcuts will come back to haunt you.

You should be able to do the steering wheel swap yourself, too.

[kentuckyyeti]

I have a hood here that had 4 hood pins on it...

Now where in the world would you find a hood like that?

[RENOVATIONS]

 

[Kevin]

The problems with my floors aren't big ones, they are just tiny little pin holes in the front floor pans. Hardly noticeable unless you look closely. I really don't think that this small of a problem with the floors warrants a full swap out for new ones. I'll post pictures this weekend of the issue and let you guys decide for real. Thanks a lot guys. 


Can you guys explain how this fiberglass stuff works though? I've never heard of it before I talked to this guy.

[Porter]

I've never heard of it either.  I just welded a few new patches into my floor where there was rust.  For the pin holes I have I'm just going to put some sort of sealer on them.  But be sure, make sure the metal is still strong around the pin holes.  You can take a look at http://www.78ta.com/smf/index.php?topic=10924.0 to see where I welded my patches in.

[eroc022]

well if its the fiberglass with strands of glass in it, then its mixed up like reg. filler, you have to add a hardener, then mix it up, then you apply over the pinholes, it would help if you sanded down the metal to bare metal so that you are applying it to clean metal and your rust isnt just getting covered by the filler, cause it would just allow the metal under it to keep rusting....but all in all it works great.....i used it on my 78 with some pinholes in the floor

[Porter]

Yeah, I sanded mine down as much as I could (took the rust off) and used a rust killer and degreaser

[Kevin]

Thanks for the responses. Here's my buildsheet all scanned in..





Under Decals, what does Red F mean? Red Two tone formula decals? If so, what do those look like?

[Kevin]

More Pictures






















































I have purchased new pins and bushings for the doors, a new upper left door hinge, all new marker lenses, a battery tray, Angel Eye headlights and other little goodies. Since the time these were taken, my painter has patched in the hood pin holes. He is also going to block sand the whole car down before he paints it, but patching the floors are higher on the list.

[rad400]

The car looks like its comming along well.