Painters please help! It's home and painted!

[JB400]

??

[b5blue]

??

what? 

[b5blue]

Rear valance and corners are in, came out better than I had hoped to get. Everything was painted before assembly and recoated with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator after riveting and panel adhesive. (Except the outside of the valance that will get 2 coats of epoxy when I re-shoot repairs all over the car.)
The first pic is the corners bolted in place, second is with the valance installed and the corners attached to the quarters.

[Patronus]

Good to see the main bend down the valence is flat on the ends at the corners, that was real bad on mine. I cant imagine much flex going on back there, Im sure you'll be fine. Hell, adhesives are going to be the norm soon. Are you going to seam seal the corner joints? I thought they looked better. 
What color are you thinking?

[b5blue]

  The corner to valance seams were bedded in with a thick bead of panel adhesive, bare steel to bare steel that was scuffed up for adhesion. I pumped more adhesive into the outside of the seam and ran the corner of my body filler spreader (The yellow things) down the seam and filled the seams at the top with what was "tooled" off to seal the entire corner. Adding the 16 ga. on the sides 90* to the flanges to connect the quarters allowed me to do the whole rear first and let that cure in place for a tight fit before attaching the quarter ends. The quarters were re-skinned and off a bit so tweaking the corners (after they were bolted) by just grabbing and bending the mount till the valance mocked up and the lines on the end of the quarters met the corners lines was what gave me flexibility. It took 1/2 a day just fitting and adjusting with clamps and sheet metal screws. Using 3/8 steel rivets let me put rivets where screws were fitted for testing after just drilling the screw holes slightly larger. (There are 20 3/8 steel rivets back there now, most will be hidden by the bumper.) 

[JB400]

Why didn't you just weld them in?

[b5blue]

  No welder and nothing to weld too. (No money for a welder.) Aztec welding welded the 16 ga. mounting plates and "tabs" on the outside flanges of the corners for me. (20 bucks.  ) Keep in mind at the onset of this attempt I had just planned on cutting the corners and bottom of the valance below the bumper off and do nothing back there for now to proceed with the rest of the car.
  This isn't a "restoration" it's a "repair as I can for now" to keep using the car.  The Dutchman panel and insides of the sail panels were bought before anyone ever heard of AMD, over 12 years ago. Bill traded me for a NOS part for the valance and I realized I could pull this much off after removing the bumper so I bit the bullet and ordered the corners.

[b5blue]

  Well I just noticed it's a year ago today I started this whole project.The good news is I found 2 places that rent out spray booths! So now I can have a fighting chance at final paint coming out much better.  I'm still working on everything in the rear window to trunk area and going to try to get some epoxy and 1st coat paint back there by Monday night.

[bill440rt]

Lookin' good, Neal! 
Valance came out great! Keep chuggin' away, can't wait to see more progress pics. 

[b5blue]

  Finished prep and then shot the rear window/Dutchman/trunk gutter and butt of the Charger in epoxy primer today. Now I can install the trunk lid and start adjusting repairs to final fit. This Eastwood epoxy sands real well, I started blocking some areas and now that I'm getting better at gun setting/paint mixing the re-coats are looking nicer. (Still much blocking and small filler work to do though.   )
 This puts the whole exterior in a nice 2-3 coats of epoxy primer so I can start blocking and painting in sections as I go. (Still have door jambs, but they are not too bad.)
  Notice the old socks for tail pipe masking....

[Dino]

Well someone's been busy!  Looks real good buddy.   

[b5blue]

OK now I need advise guys. What grit for blocking primer just before first topcoat? Is 360, 400 still too rough? I'm going to start white in sections starting in the rear and mostly concerned about good grip to the epoxy. 

[hemi-hampton]

Any Updates? LEON.

[b5blue]

Hi Leon! Thanks for checking in!
  95% ready for 400 grit blocking (started.) and found 3 paint booths for rent at 75/100/125 per day. I'm hoping to shoot the week of 22nd as I have off that week. I called Mike, my first and best painter, of course he's way too busy to help! Chuck who will rent a booth, won't spray others work (But a nice guy anyway.) and now Jerry from "XS Custom Cars" is coming over Saturday for a look at the car to see if he will work a deal on shooting the car at a reasonable price at his shop.
  So the logic for me was I'm soooo close, if a hired gun will shoot the car, why not go with B5 Blue!    Jerry will wholesale the paint to me at cost if he shoots or shoot the white Kirker so wish me luck for this weekend. $$$$ is the big ?   

[Wicked72]

Im using the eastwood expoy primer and love it!! Cant wait for more pics. Out my way there are no booth rentals and no shop will paint a car they havent done the body work to so im makin my garage into a booth

[b5blue]

Areas sprayed a year ago have still held up nicely. I keep a tarp over the car under my carport.

[b5blue]

Jerry has agreed to shoot the car for 200.00, now I just have to get it ready! 

[jaak]

Your '70 is looking great Neal!  I know you are getting excited about seeing it in color now that you are getting close....heck I'm getting excited, I've been following your thread since you started and I can't wait until you post your pics after it's painted.

Jason

[b5blue]

  Thanks! I just prepped and shot the lower front valance today in Rust Encapsulator, next it will go to epoxy prime for paint preparation. I'm sticking with the white for now just to keep in budget, doing my rally mirrors and other stuff like trunk gutters, jambs and so on with B5 Blue starts complicating every aspect. I'll blend the bright and pure white to have 2 gallons of paint and hardener with a quart of slow reducer just in case. That will leave plenty for Jerry and I'll use or save what is left. I told him I'll do the tail (So I can install the new tail light harness and taillights for the ride to his shop and back.) and front lower valance (To make it simple to mask and shoot.) along with masking off the whole car for him. (Nothing left but the glass.)
  I ordered all the stuff for the new headliner, sail panels, rear trim and stock type insulation it will be here early next week. I have to remove the interior trim and paint all headliner parts to install the new headliner before installing the rear window. (Bill highly recommended doing the headliner with the rear window out.) I have 2 Qt's of Encapsulator for the inside of the roof so I should be a go.
  The weather witch is the only bitch for being ready now! I have the trunk lid and some other parts I can work on inside my "side-room" and am down to very minor blemishes on the entire exterior to finish off. (Before final blocking with 400 grit.)
  Aztec Welding is going to price welding the 4 foot well patches I need done, they are such craftsmen I'd rather pay them then buy a welder, I still can't believe the insane quality of the custom bikes they build!     

[b5blue]

  A week of blocking, finding flaws and getting closer. I'm still fighting with some of the cars lines, it's sooo curvy with lines blending off the doors and disappearing towards the front bumper. The closer I get the harder to fine tune, I'm just going to run with whatever I have next weekend. This paint job will show me what to do next I'm sure. I'm really liking the "body in white" concept. With no clear coat and blue metallic to deal with I can rework things later. 
  I'm going over the sections cut in with 150 with 320 today and the whole car with 400 tomorrow. I'll spot my burn through and exposed filler Sunday just before the rain gets here next week.   

[NHCharger]

Neal, I feel your pain. Spent two years on body work with my 68. As you mentioned, it seems like the closer you get to paint, the more "little things" you find. I went through that, finally said f*ck it, it's going to be driven. My painter was supposed to paint it for me two Saturdays ago, he backed out at the last minute, ended up painting the car myself. Hope everything works out, can't wait to see the final results.

[b5blue]

We are a "GO" for Saturday guys! Jerry just confirmed shoot. Now the panic sets in........

[hemi-hampton]

  Good Luck & show Pics when done. LEON.

[b5blue]

Thanks Leon! Will do..
 Jerry has a "large mechanical job to finish today" so I'm hoping that goes well. I'll probably leave the trunk lid for later, it's just not going to be ready along with hood inserts and rear extension "boomerangs".  

[jaak]

Can't wait to see it Neal! I remember when mine was getting close to paint...I didn't have a set date in mind...it was ready so I took off work, I believe it was on a Wednesday, and got it done. You're like me, its been a long time coming, and tomorrow night after its done, you'll just be so proud and keep staring at it and taking pics...you'll be like a kid at Christmas.

Good luck!
Jason