Topic: "Piper's" Restoration Progress

[TurdPolisher]

How's it coming along?

What's up man.....it's coming along great!!!  Lot's of progress as the entire front end is done!     Everything you can imagine that needed to be replaced was done including the correct combination of Moog bushings for the the control arms with poly sway bar set from Energy Suspension.  The bushings were a PITA as were the springs.  No big deal though as it is my first time doing any of this stuff but thanks to the guys here......and namely YouTube and the Net..........it is a slam dunk.

The only HUGE downfall was.......when I broke down the engine..........my shoulders dropped and I almost shed a tear as my numbers matching engine had a crack in the block......

Yeah big time UGLY.  I might be able to pin stitch it with Lock-N-Stitch pins to keep the engine with the car for IF I sell her.  But.........the Car Gods shined upon me last Wednesday with this for only $200 



My neighbor, heard of the bad news and just so happen to come across an ad for one for sale in the paper.  The old guy that had the Bonneville it came out of was a super cool dude.........big into Pontiacs alone with two 66 Vets in show condition.  So I now it was well taken care of.  He was going to pull it and rebuild it, but he knew a shop guy that had one already built from a customer that didn't pay for the work.............it was the W72 so of course he grabbed it..........and he scored that one with all of the whistles for only $800!  I guess it pays to know people is his world huh{  I live in a small town and that is just the way it is. He has a buddy with a 79 he is parting out too...............I have a great connection now........that is for sure.  TH350 rebuilt with a shift kit for my new 400 might be coming my way too for only $175.  The dude is rich............he doesn't really care about making a buck as he is now 75. 

Rear clip is coming in the garage tomorrow for phase two of Piper's restoration and new breath of life.  Keep an eye out for my engine build ideas that will be in the tech section under drivetrain. and chime in on your thoughts man.  Peace. 

Did you give up on your project little man{

[Driver79]

Everyone is getting alot done on their cars LOL I need a warmer garage. Looks like youre coming along pretty good on your T/A

[NWW-79 T/A]

Good to hear you're making progress. Good deal on the engine. Nah I'm still working on it. Unless something major happens I won't give up.

[TurdPolisher]

Everyone is getting alot done on their cars LOL I need a warmer garage. Looks like youre coming along pretty good on your T/A

Thanks man, yeah, bit by bit we're gettin 'er done..........as for the garage..........long johns and a space heater with a hot cup of joe or bowl of soup is the way to go...........don't forget the radio up nice and loud!   

[TurdPolisher]

Well, instead of writing a damn novel each time I post, I figured I would step things up a bit and post a video of the progress on "Piper" and her paint removal and body work with some tips and tricks. Now I'm not an expert by any means but I'm just out there in the school of Hard Knox getting my hands dirty and trying to do all the work myself.  Take a peek on how I am doing it and to maybe learn something. 
    http://youtu.be/HQ_c5ziCtII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6l904PYJqc

[TurdPolisher]

Good to hear you're making progress. Good deal on the engine. Nah I'm still working on it. Unless something major happens I won't give up.

Just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day........take your time, have fun and never give up on your goals man!

[Grand73Am]

Enjoyed your videos. Sorry about the finger  .

Since you're taking the car down as far as you are, if I were you, I'd go ahead and remove all the old body filler. Who knows how well the job was done long ago. I'd want to see what's under that filler to make sure the metal is good. Might be rusty and/or full of holes underneath. And the materials we have now are much better than what was available back when that repair was probably made. And I'd bet you'd do a better prep job and use better materials than they did. So, better to re-do from the metal up so you know it's done right with the good stuff, in my opinion.

Also, just filling those body side molding holes with filler usually doesn't hold up in the long run. They can show up later. Better to weld the holes up. And then only a little filler would be needed to finish them off.

Hope you don't mind the suggestions. And almost forgot to say that I wish I could score an engine like that for cheap. Congrats!

[TurdPolisher]

Enjoyed your videos. Sorry about the finger  .

Since you're taking the car down as far as you are, if I were you, I'd go ahead and remove all the old body filler. Who knows how well the job was done long ago. I'd want to see what's under that filler to make sure the metal is good. Might be rusty and/or full of holes underneath. And the materials we have now are much better than what was available back when that repair was probably made. And I'd bet you'd do a better prep job and use better materials than they did. So, better to re-do from the metal up so you know it's done right with the good stuff, in my opinion.

Also, just filling those body side molding holes with filler usually doesn't hold up in the long run. They can show up later. Better to weld the holes up. And then only a little filler would be needed to finish them off.

Hope you don't mind the suggestions. And almost forgot to say that I wish I could score an engine like that for cheap. Congrats!

Thanks Grand for the ideas and thoughts...........and you are very right, I should take all of the filler off and properly weld the holes after I ream them out.  After I started sanding it, I noticed the filler was cracked and didn't have epoxy under it to protect the metal or even etching primer as this was the old school way of doing things.

Taking a closer look at the under portion of the sides, I noticed some blistering paint near their body work that is well worth investigating further.  I did remove all of the filler on the driver side quarter panel that I was able to bump out with dolly and hammer.  Most likely they didn't do that on the other side damage and just slapped on cheap filler..........The Evercoat Quantum filler then glaze on top of two coats of SPI epoxy followed by 3 coats of SlickSand will be far superior. The white epoxy reduced on top of Urethane primer will make for a perfect sealer and the white will make the Mayan Red Color POP.

Thanks for the input!  I'm still learning as I have never done any of this stuff before.

[Grand73Am]

I like that plan  . Glad you didn't mind the suggestions  .

[TurdPolisher]

I like that plan  . Glad you didn't mind the suggestions  .

I don't mind at all man ....no ego here to worry about.........I"m just having fun and hoping to do a quality job in the process.

[TurdPolisher]

New update on the strip down and bodywork process prior to applying the filler next week or so.  If you learn something................cool..............if not...............that is cool too.  I'll be using a fiberglass patch over the rust area I found.  Any advise on how to fix the door to body gap, let me know as I want these to line up perfectly. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcuQgujJqFs

[TurdPolisher]

Now it's time to take care of the sagging doors and do the bodywork on the door with it off of the vehicle. So much easier to work with the body work on a table. This is how I did the job.  Turn your audio down as it will blow your ears off.........sorry.

    http://youtu.be/b6pJxxmSWMo

[NWW-79 T/A]

Man your making quick progress.

[Grand73Am]

Just a quick note. For shaping up the door, and perhaps the quarter too, you could buy a profile gauge. The longer the gauge you get, the better.  It lets you copy the profile of a good panel, so you can use that as a guide to shaping up a damaged panel. And you could copy a profile on a piece of cardboard and use that, and make other copies of different locations. So, you could copy the profiles of your driver side to compare to the work on the passenger side.

And for the rust hole, best would be to cut it out beyond the rust, cut out a metal patch to fit the hole, like a puzzle piece, and weld it in.

[TurdPolisher]

Just a quick note. For shaping up the door, and perhaps the quarter too, you could buy a profile gauge. The longer the gauge you get, the better.  It lets you copy the profile of a good panel, so you can use that as a guide to shaping up a damaged panel. And you could copy a profile on a piece of cardboard and use that, and make other copies of different locations. So, you could copy the profiles of your driver side to compare to the work on the passenger side.

And for the rust hole, best would be to cut it out beyond the rust, cut out a metal patch to fit the hole, like a puzzle piece, and weld it in.

great idea thanks!!  Yeah I know they make something for working with baseboard molding, of course on a smaller version. I will look into that.  Yeah, I think you might be right on the rust patch. I was thinking about a fiberglass patch, but I think that just might cause more problems in the future.  I'll have my buddies welder for the holes so I should do all the welding then.  Take a peek again at the patch they welded on the quarter panel.  That weld might need to be ground down as it is pretty high.  Do you think I should try that, or just filler on top of that......I don't want to grind off too much to damage the integrity of the repair yet don't want it to be too darn high either when I fill it in. What do you think.