Getting closer, starting the final body work at last! ****Mission Accomplished**

[timmycharger]

Im restoring this car sort of the long way, due to funds, I couldn't go the route of having a shell painted and sent back to me to assemble.  It took me over 5 years to weld quarters, floors, trunk and the front of the roof so after all of that I painted the trunk area, engine bay, roof and jams. The front/rear suspension and brakes are completely rebuilt, the interior is almost done, most of the glass is in, the vinyl top is on,  now Im at the point of getting blue paint on the inside of the deck lid, hood, doors and fenders, and primer on the other. Need to hit the inside of the doors with black too.  I had all of those panels sandblasted and shot with DP90 a few years ago.  The quarters need to be taken back down to metal again as after welding, I coated them with primer, but that was years ago and I don't want to take any chances.  

The goal is to have this all done by Late August or September, before it gets too cold. Last weekend I started building the frame of my garage paint booth. I need to have the garage door stay functional but I didn't lose too much space. Ive been looking at different setups online and I think Ive got the venting/filters sorted out.  Here are a few pics of the frame, Ill post pics as I go as this will be a long road.

[crj1968]

Color looks great- good luck getting it finished- i sure look forward to seeing it done.   

I spot a pistol grip on the wall.   

[timmycharger]

Thanks!, Ha! ya thats a pistol grip on the wall, figured it was a good place to keep it from getting scratched  

I know B7 is not correct for a 68, but neither is the sixpack motor thats going into it.  The car is originally a 318 auto, but I converted it to a 4 speed.


Some older pics I found of the metal replacement from years back, man Im glad thats overwith  

[timmycharger]

  few more

[timmycharger]

Alright, a couple more old ones. Forgot about the warpage on the passenger quarter, that was sorted out later though. A shot of it prior to the resto, that was taken in 02, right before the madness began.

[timmycharger]

 

[fy469rtse]

Keep posting  keep at it , good work going on here

[marshallfry01]

It looked pretty good in those before pics. I guess there was some nasty rust hidden under the paint? You've came a long way and it looks great. At least you know how all the body work has been done now. So no more of those nasty surprises!

[timmycharger]

It didnt look too bad from about 20 feet, but it was very rough actually. both front floors were completely rotted, both lower quarters were rotted with about a half inch of filler covering a mess. The front of the roof had giant holes just covered with filler and the vinyl top. both sides of the c pillars around the rear window were gone, had to fabricate them, the trunk and extensions were completely rotted. Luckily the fenders, hood, decklid and doors were in decent shape, minimal patches needed. Framerails were actually really good.

I started with just converting to a 4 speed, then things got out of hand after that once I started peeling back the layers.

wish AMD was around when I started this, I ended up using all Year One sheet metal which was ok, but not ideal.

[timmycharger]

Got the doors finished, fans mounted and the plastic up. Next week Ill finish the flap doors to get in and out, then Ill get the parts down from the garage loft and the fun begins 

[Ghoste]

Whats the little red car?

[Musicman]

  I like it!

[timmycharger]

That would be my brother in laws 72 Ford Maverick, he was over doing some work on it.

[timmycharger]

Got the parts down from the garage loft and me and my brother in law started on the scuffing of the DP 90. Next is the filler and sealer.

[sanders7981]

Looking good!  I too have taken the long road to restoration.  I am at four years now with nothing but the drivetrain and fuel system to put in.  I too did all the work myself due to not having th funds to pay for a restoration.  Best thing is at least you know what's done to the car and total satisfaction when you turn the key on to drive it for the first time!   

[Mopar Nut]

Nice!   

[timmycharger]

Thanks guys 

[six-tee-nine]

I'm having simlar plans for my own self build paint booth.

I really like the idea with the inlet filters. I have an old set of fans laying around to do just the same as you are doing.

I also did some sand blasting in my shop under plastic foil, god am i glad I have that part behind me.... its nasty is'nt it.
You can save alot of coin by doing all this stuff yourself but the road is long I know. I'm a bit jaleous, I need to do some small metal repairs before I can start blocking and painting and I also still need to put in a new roofskin when I get the shell of the rotisserie.

You are doing a hell of a good job there. Stay on track now the funn stuff starts.

[timmycharger]

we did some more work on the panels this weekend, got the decklid pretty straight, just have a few spots that needed a second pass of filler.  I know it looks like a lot of filler on there, but we sanded most of it off, there is a paper thin layer on it now but I know it will be straight.

The hood needed a good amount of work. First I had to add adhesive to the inner frame structure as none of the original goop was holding anything anymore. Once its all painted, it will disappear. A coat of filler was put on on the trouble spots, but overall the hood was very flat, Ill be sanding that out during the week.

I added a pic of some of the products Im using on this, I know some of you may not like the Omni stuff, but we sprayed the engine bay, trunk area and jambs with it and I thought it had excellent cover and needed minimal work post spray.  Its very cheap too which is a plus, after 6 coats including clear, it will be fine.  The 5 star primer/sealer was highly recommended by the auto body supply place as its great for bare metal as well as the existing DP90 that is on the panels, you just have to slightly change the mixing formula.

Slowly but surely things are happening   

[timmycharger]

 

[Musicman]

 

[Mopar Nut]

  

[timmycharger]

Doesnt look like we did alot this weekend, but actually it was several hours of blocking the decklid and hood. The decklid is 99% done, just need to sand out the spoiler area of the decklid as it still a bit wavy, put one final skim coat of filler on that area last night.

The hood is looking great, just 2 small spots that were filled again and need to be blocked then its on to the fenders next week. The good news is that the hood and decklid needed the most work, the fenders and doors wont get touched too much until they get hung on the car as I dont want to touch body lines until its all in one piece. The front valance will need some massaging, but not too bad, we are still on schedule.

Hopefully in about 2 weeks we can shoot sealer on all the panels and get some blue on the inside. Once all of that is done, the car gets pushed into the booth to sand down the quarters, cowl and panel between the back glass and decklid down to bare metal before being hit with sealer.  Then I get to hang the panels and start blocking the quarters, doors and fenders while on the car!  

[nvrbdn]

great work.

[Musicman]

 

[Mopar Nut]

Nice job!

[timmycharger]

Got a lot accomplished this weekend, the hood and deck lid are done, scuffed, and ready for sealer, the fenders are ready go, just some more small areas on the door and valance and they will be ready for sealer too. Hopefully Ill have everything sealed in about 2 weeks.

[timmycharger]

 

[Musicman]

 

[tan top]

 

[nvrbdn]

looking good

[timmycharger]

We did some spraying this weekend finally! First all of the parts were cleaned with wax/oil remover with a PPG product thats super nasty. We then cleaned all of the panels off with a tacky rag.  The underside went very well. 2 coats of sealer on everything. We then ran into trouble with the primer as I ran out of the activator recommended to go with the primer, I tried using a different kind of activator and then the primer I was mixing turned into something of the consistency of tapioca pudding... needless to say it was no good so I had to call it a day.  I picked up the correct stuff and will have to finish in a few days. The booth is working great so far, doing a great job of blowing out most of the fumes. Neighbors looooove me!!  

[timmycharger]

 

[timmycharger]

We did some some more work on the panels last night. My brother in law sprayed the topside of the panels with the same primer we used on Sunday. Ran into some strange issues with the primer that I have never seen before. On parts of the panels including most of the hood and deck lid, the primer went on really poorly, leaving tiny balls or almost like sand. It looks like he was dry spraying but it only did it on some parts of the panels, but the gun setting never changed and he was at the same distance that he was on Sunday and the back side came out perfect. One of the fenders, the valence, all of the hinges/bolts and half of the doors are perfectly smooth, but you can see almost stripes where it balled up. 

The good news is that this is the side that I will be sanding down anyway to block the body lines, the inside of the panels came out fine and we will be spraying color on it next week. I was able to rub off the balls/sand with my finger after the primer dried and It was somewhat smooth underneath. Dunno, will sand it down and see how it looks.

[timmycharger]

now the ugly...  

[green69rt]

Too much humidity??

[Musicman]

I'm no expert when it comes to painting techniques, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like the paint was drying before it hit the panels.   

[timmycharger]

Thanks guys,

It was humid last night, but no different than Sunday when I did the other side, but that could be possible.

I'm no expert when it comes to painting techniques, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like the paint was drying before it hit the panels.   

Ya, that's exactly what it looks like, but the strange thing is I was watching him lay down the paint and on some parts it went on like glass, then on the next overlap its balling up, looking like dry spray.

I started a thread on this topic in the body section hoping for more suggestions.

[timmycharger]

I talked to the body shop guy and he had some advice on the primer situation, had me clean the guns again as he thought I could have had a clog in one of the nozzles. who knows I did use the gun for primer and when we really cleaned it again, there was lots of crap still.  He shot the blue and clear, came out pretty good, this color is hard to photograph and the camera sucks, sorry!

[timmycharger]

few more


On the pic of the hood, I think I kicked up some dust as you can see it. luckily that's the panel and there are only a few spots that I will need to wet sand, otherwise it came out pretty good.

[timmycharger]

Did some work this weekend, next is prepping the body for sealer.

[69rtse4spd]

Nice,  .

[green69rt]

Yes, nice job on those door lines.  What black did you use, PPG?

[timmycharger]

Thanks! For the black I used a spray can of SEM gloss black that I got from the auto body supply place. Its expensive but its easier than having to clean the gun  

[green69rt]

Thanks! For the black I used a spray can of SEM gloss black that I got from the auto body supply place. Its expensive but its easier than having to clean the gun  

so I'm guessing that you are going for a black interior.  Nice work, I'm following your lead as I get closer to paint.

[timmycharger]

Did some work over the weekend, the pictures dont really show how much was involved. Using a DA and 180 grit paper, I removed all of the old primer and E coating on the skins of the quarter, as well as the rocker, cowl and dutchman panel.  Even being rattle can etching primer that I used 6 years ago, it was still a beast to get off. Once the body is down to bare metal, Ill pull some dents, shrink some metal and prime/seal everything that was bare. Once that is done, i can put on the panels for the last time and start the filler work on the lines.

[timmycharger]

Ok got some work done on it last week, getting closer to getting the sealer on the body before it gets too cold.  Tried my hand at some metal shrinking as the quarters and dutchman panel were oil canning, needing only to barely touch it with your finger to go in and out.

Tried 2 methods, for the areas in which I was worried about burning the backside, I used the Stud gun which worked well, but very slow and the gun got very hot.  You can see on the pics the very tiny burn marks, but it didnt disturb much behind it and did a good job.  The dutchman panel was terrible so I had to bring out the propane torch which did a hell of a job. Super quick and now its tight as a drum. With both methods, I used ice water to quench it.  Overall came out pretty well.  Sunday I will have it completely sealed/primed then its time to put the panels on!

[SovereignZuul]

Lookin' good dude!

I'll probably follow your painting process to do it myself like you after investigating costs for local shops to do it recently!  

Love your step by step!

[tan top]

 looking good 

[timmycharger]

Thanks!    ya, about 2 years ago I was getting quotes between 10-12K so thats when I decided I was going to paint it in sections, first the firewall/trunk/jambs/roof/  then inside the panels, then hopefully next summer if I finish all of the blocking/filling work it will be painted by my brother in law who has been doing a great job so far. 

Next summer I will have to build the booth a few feet wider and deeper to give enough room to get around it.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

Excellent job!

[gers1968rt]

Great job, and love the color. How much painting experience did you have before you started the project? Ger

[timmycharger]

Great job, and love the color. How much painting experience did you have before you started the project? Ger

Thank you, its one of my favorite Mopar colors, even though not correct for my year. My brother in law has been doing the spraying, both of us doing the bodywork, neither of us had any real painting experience but the auto body supply store has a guy that used to be a pro painter and he has been guiding us all along which has been great.  We always messed around with cars and have done spray bomb projects, not totally different with a real spray gun.

[timmycharger]

So im about a month behind schedule but finally got all of the panels primed/sealed and hung on the car. Still needs a few tweaks here and there, specifically the doors, but that can wait till the spring when I tackle the final filler/blocking of the body now that the lines are all straight. Hopefully by July/August we can look to spray it all blue!!

Need a break from body work, on to the next project which is getting it ready to possibly run in the spring, meaning running the fuel lines, mounting the tank, etc, all good stuff and a change of scenery.  

Here are some pics, excuse the terrible iphone but  you get the idea  

[timmycharger]

 

[moparnation74]

Timmy,

Charger looks great!  Good work!