Work has begun...Topcat

[brads70]

Nice work! Your a patient man! 

[Challenger III]

  Sooo close to color! 

[JonS]

TC,

Just read all 30 pages.  Your progress is awesome!  Great work.  You are quite a ways further than me, but it's definitely an inspiration to see someone who got through all the repetitive and mundane work (blocking / sanding, priming, doing it again and again and again).  I'm in the adding metal phase at this point so it LOOKS like I make a lot of progress every time I work.  I'll need the inspiration to push through the work where progress is harder to find.

Jon

[Topcat]

Thanks Jon,

Let me tell you that doing a whole car is way more work than what I ever expected.
Right when you think it's ready for paint, you find out it's not and needs a little more attention.

I've never done bodywork before to this extent.

I just wished I had more free time. It would be painted by now.

[ShelbyDogg]

Mike,

I thought that once I had mine painted that the hard part was over.  There is so much left to do after that. Keep up the good work.

I hope you have lpts of free time in your future.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

That color is gonna look great!   

[Topcat]

The bodywork was finished up last week-end.
Bodylines are purrrrfect!!!

Now I have a new issue to tackle...My trunk lid.

It's sticking up about a 1/4" too high all the way around with the Metro rubber weather strip.

I called Tony (Fishin4cuda) and showed em pics.
He said "Get rid of the Metro and get Soft Seal." Hopefully that'll get it down flush.
Hopefully next week I can get that done once it arrives.

Crummy weather this week-end created another stall.

[DoNotChallengeHer]

Mike, Amazing work. Wow. 

[hpe600rt]

 

[Cuda Cody]

Mike, how many hours do you think you have getting it ready for paint?

[Topcat]

Mike, how many hours do you think you have getting it ready for paint?

30-40 left I estimate perhaps?

Some bad news happened yesterday...
I was preparing the Rallye hood for sealer and it slipped off and fell on one corner and bent the edge.    Time to get out the stud puller and pull it back up.

Yesterday hung the outer mirrors on and put the rivets in. Then some little spots on the D/S to go over.
Worked on trunk also. Today I decided to clean shop up and get organized for when paint day comes.

I'm shooting for July to shoot paint. Gameplan is do everything but the outside then take her to a booth right away. I'm buying 2 1/2 gallons of B2 and mixing them all up together then dividing them back into each container. That way there shouldn't be any color hue mis match.

Whats left:

Load the doors with bricks inside to weight and re align
Double check area just under the P/S louvered fender. (Shouldn't take much)
Front windshield trim how it sits in the upper corners. (May have to add more lead on the inside edge near trim)

Block underside front half and epoxy sealer entire underside and engine compartment. (Need to get more primer and supplies)

Drill holes for Shaker grommet, P/S inner glass whisker, tags, muffler brackets
Go over shaker trim ring. (Gawd are they wavy)
Mig holes up that were  340 Rallye hood emblems

[johns cuda shop]

Man that is gonna be one sweet car!! Awesome work!!

[Topcat]

I have some choices to make as far as paint day:

Door 1: Build a booth in the back yard around the car and DIY. Estimated 200 bucks. No time pressure.
Door 2: Take it to a rent booth 25 miles away and paint there myself. (time pressure, week end only)
Door 3: Haul it to Salinas which is 75 miles away and let the "pro" do it. No say so and $1K
Door 4: I wish I knew a really good painter to brainstorm with on just doing there while it's still on the rotisserie.

I have a trailer. I still need to Mig a roller jig for the body for any movement whichever decision I take.

[the_engineers]

Which direction are you leaning?  Myself, I'd probably do the booth in the back yard. Even if you spend a little to get it to ventilate the right way, you'll still have the all-important luxury of time. Knowing your attention to detail, there's sure to be an area you'll want to respray as you work through it.

Biggest concern with the backyard booth would be controlling humidity/temp, but planning can take care of that.

[Topcat]

Which direction are you leaning?  Myself, I'd probably do the booth in the back yard. Even if you spend a little to get it to ventilate the right way, you'll still have the all-important luxury of time. Knowing your attention to detail, there's sure to be an area you'll want to respray as you work through it.

Biggest concern with the backyard booth would be controlling humidity/temp, but planning can take care of that.

No humidity here to speak of. Leaning more on backyard OPs.
If I feel the rest was done to my liking, then I'll move forward and do the outside.