BUILD THREAD 81 Buick/Olds Turbo Wagon 02/15/2024 More Parts!

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I sandblasted the rest of the drivers side front floor pan, the a whole load more pinholes cropped up in the rust spots. As I started patching them, I realized it was more of a PITA then it was worth. So I took the Malibu wagon, and cut the drivers side front pan and trans tunnel out of it for the Buick. I also patched the floor where it meets the rocker panel. Then blasted the rest and painted it. I have to weld the console brackets in and the front inner bucket seat bracket. I also have to get the whole bottom of the floor pans cleaned and painted yet so there is plenty work left to do, but at least I can get the interior going in. Alot of wiring and and all to do yet.

Here is the floor/rocker getting disected.

I sanded/grinded more after this pic to get it smooth.

Got the rocker welded up and the pan blasted, quick glance, it looks fine, till you shin light and see the holes ](*,)

Here is the Malibu pan, some surface brown but otherwise a great donor.

Here is the Buick pan cut out out.

Last few are in the dark and painted, sorry I forgot to take progress pics with welding it in ](*,)

Here is a box with the power hatch glass release stuff.

More to come when I get it on the lift and drop the transmission and exhaust to clean it up.

Got the floor pans on the inside seam sealed, finished painted, I bedlined them. I ordered some fatmat from the ebay seller, 50 sg ft for 89.00, free shipping! and it comes with a roller! I'll be blasting the surface rust on the bottom, seam sealing what i can get too, and painting my welds till spring comes and I pull the body off the frame to do the whole thing.

I'm in a bind with room, I have a few projects, all apart, all taking up what little indoor storage I have, so I have to put the Buick together sort of, what ever I pull off the bu has to go on the Buick. But not entirely, since I don't want it to be all heavy when pulling the body off.

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

Here is a shot of the bedliner on the pans, through the windshield frame.

Another, but the seat is in so I can move the car around.

After getting the dash out, I noticed the cowl by VIN on the inside was rotted away. So I pushed on the windshield from the inside, and the sides weren't even stuck to the ribbon anymore! I also saw some rust under the cowl trim, so I pulled the windshield, and blasted all the rust spots. Then found I had to patch some more.

Here is the area by the VIN

The frame all cleaned up and painted, ready for glass. I had to seam seal the cowl all back upp too, the old stuff was all cracked and dried out, letting water in by the A-pillars.

I bought a new windshield, should be here tomorrow so I can toss it in.

Since I had the sandblaster out, I decided to do the few dime sized spot on the passenger side, in the rear door jamb, just to make sure it wasn't rot and just surface rust. Then it snow balled from there, lol. I had the PPG black to do the window frames. I bought some Mitsubishi Sunset Pearlescent, the color I am painting the car. My Father and I sanded the jambs, dug out all the old cracked seam sealer, cleaned it and I layed some 2K primer down. After I could tape, I re-seam sealed all the factory seams. The doors are in my garage, and everyone of them has rust/rot on the bottom of the skins where it is folded over the inner frame. I am going to try out the panel adhesive on the repairs I think. After talking to a few autobody professional friends, the stuff is supposed to be as strong as welding. And, it is water/moisture proof so it would seal up the repair and keep it from rusting where it is seamed. And the best, no warpage! I don't have pics of the doors yet.

I had my Son sand, epoxy prime, and base/clear the windshield trim and wiper arms black. I have to take some pics tonight. I also bought new trim clips, 50 per box. I only needed 24. So I have spares, lol.

I also scored two good window swipes from a 3rd generation fireturd. I need 2 more, but I like them because they are all black, with no chrome trim. They will look good with the blacked out door frames.

Here is a quick pic

Lemme know what you guys think. Don't knock the welds on the VIN tag area repair, the flux core welder I am using was being a PITA. I didn't grind them all down since you won't see them anyway.

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I got the color on the door jambs of the body. Base and clear. I painted the tops since I am blacking out the door frames and driprail trim. It'll be a long while before the body gets done, but this way i can run the wires and boots and all for the power windows/locks/stereo.

My Dad thought it would be good to get a pic of my mug with the car for once.

Here is the FATMAT

Doors off, sorry for the crappy pics!

Here you can sorta see the rust on the lower door where the skin folds over.

This is the drivers front door, there is some good rot on the inner frame on the bottom, gonna cut that out too

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I also got half the floor pans covered in FATMAT. took 3 hours just to do that, that crap takes forever!

FATMAT going down

Brand new windshield dancin_banana.gif

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I put the Buick on the lift, pulled the transmission and lowered the Exhaust. Then I stripped the paint, undercoating, and rust from the floorpans. From the firewall seam back to the underseat pan, and from frame rail to frame rail. ](*,) ](*,) I'll have to get the rest when I pull the body from the frame. :? After it was all stripped down to shiny metal, I layed some etching primer down, then some paint, then 3 coats of bedliner. As soon as the bedliner was skinned over I put the car back together. Then, I put it in the garage for the winter. This marks the first time a car has been in my garage in 7-8 years, the whole time living in the house! :shock:

Pics...

And those are STAINLESS Magnaflow mufflers too, nice and rusty! :-k :x ](*,)

While waiting in between coats of bedliner, I pulled the rear bumper so I can start fitting the roll pan to the rear over the winter. I have to find some GOOD picks of roll pans on wagons.

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I went through the entire dash and interior wiring of the Buick. I removed the factory anti-theft, since I was missing parts and there are better systems out there today, I am adding the remote start and all. I cleaned all the hackery up, then added a few things. All wiring has soldered and heatshrinked connections.

front/rear vent power window wiring
front/rear door power locks wiring
rear hatch glass release wiring and switch
rear hatch are dome light, rear view mirror lights
front/rear door speaker wires
rear hatch glass defogger wiring/relay/switch/timer/contacts
painted top of cowl
glovebox light
floor courtesy lights
cigarette lighter light
modified dash bezel for later model headlight switch and dimmer
put all new foam in the dash ductwork so it is sealed up tighter then a tick @$$ :lol:
I added the bulkhead connector for the nitrous pressure gauge
added the wiring and all for the a/f, boost and fuel pressure gauges in the a-pillar
Started to redo the 3 gauge A-pillar trim, I am painting it with the SEM texture paint to look like the rest of the interior
Ran the base wiring for the Nitrous switch.

There is more, I just can't remember it.

In between all this, I was out stripping the chevy.

I got the dash in, and added the bezel and gauges.

I'll be pulling the glass out of the Chevy, then cutting the roof off so I can use it as a form to make a fiberglass headliner board.

I have a few progress pics, but I'll upload the later

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

Here are a few pics of the wiring and the dash and cluster going in.

Dash laying in the back waiting to go in after getting pulled from the Chevy

Harness pulled apart getting all the new circuits added and the old stuff repaired.

Just a taste of all the wiring that got added.

Gauge cluster

Dashboard in

Console test fit.

The console still has to be cleaned and dyed, and new black carpet added.

The cluster is in.

Found the Build sheet

Door skin bottoms lopped off

Flip side of the lower skin. I have both rear doors like this, still have to cut off the fronts

On the left is the blast cabinet, on the right is the blast booth. Both in work

Here is the inside of the cabinet with some underhood parts after blasting with aluminum oxide.

Door hinges and other parts in the dirty paint booth in work. I took the hinges completely apart, the blasted them. Then primed, painted, cleared. In the back are rad support X braces, fender to cowl braces, rear control arm braces, in etch primer waiting for red paint. They were to long to put in the powder coat oven in work so I have to paint them.

Here the are just fitted together.

Underhood parts, brackets and what not after black base/clear

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

Here are pics of the door skin repairs. You can see where I cu the bottom 3 inches off of them, then blasted the using aluminum oxide. I then etch primed the inside of the inner frame. I have sheet steel that is the same thickness as OEM. I made lower door skin patch panels using the box break in work. I stepped the patch panel, and fit it to the door. I used MAXIM panel bond adhesive to glue the patches on. I used small self tapping screws to hold i in place, then on Tuesday when I go back to work, I'll plug weld the screw holes shut. I don't have pics of the patches installed, I"ll post those next week. I also have metal-to-metal to do the initial filler on the seam, but it is so flat, it will be very thin, just what I want.

The skins were all hammered over like stock. I also blasting all the chrome items, the door handles and such. That aluminum oxide is some wicked stuff, it tack all the plating, copper coating and all, right off.

Well, I bought the MAXIM panel bonding adhesive. Got the instructions. As the pics show, the area to be bonded, ie the skin and frame, have been blasted or grinded down. I glued the skins on Friday. Left them in work for friday, saturday, sunday and monday. I went to work tuesday, started sanding and laying the metal to metal on the rear door over the repair. The was a high spot right by the seam, so I hit the skin with a small body hammer to lower a high spot, and the seam popped apart. ](*,) ](*,) After a phone call to evercoat, the tech rep asks for some numbers, and tells me the epoxy is no good, it is over 1.5 years old. WTF, I just did ALL 4 DOORS with this $h!t. ](*,) ](*,) Looks like I'll be welding the seams after all. I'll be getting a new tube that is supposed to be good, but I won't be using anything of the like in the future on something like skins. I will be buying the paint, at 150 bucks a quart, 5 quarts of it, then clear yadda yadda. I am not prepared for technology to fail me once more. On a side note, after some late research, I come to find out that there are instances where a witness line would pop up at the bonded seam. I am SOOOO glad I found this poop out now, and not after all the bodywork was done. #-o

So I welded the seam solid. The only reason I went this route, with the adhesive, is it is supposed to be the poop. Superior corrosion resistance, can't pull the seam apart, blah. That may be the case with epoxy that was sold to me that is 1.5 years old, but now I can't redo the patches, I would have to cut the door apart to get the skin off where it is wrapped on the inner frame. Live and learn I guess. And just think, body shops are buying this stuff, using it, and pushing the car out the door to somebody.

As A side note, I blasted my headlight bezels, 4 outer door handles, the PS seat tracks, and the hatch glass handle.

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

I welded the bottom of the door skin patches on, got some warpage, ever though I had a bucket of water, a sponge, and jumped around 🙁 oh well, I hammered and dollied it pretty strait, the used the metal to metal on the seam. I got both doors and the passenger side front in this stage.

I media blasted all four doors' skins, there was filler and questionable adhesion of the red paint. So I just went to bare metal to start anew.

I bought a gallon of slick sand, a gallon of rage gold and my epoxy primer. I also got a replacement tube of panel adhesive that is 3 moths old. I'll be trying it once more on the license plate hole in the tailgate, I want to smooth it over.

I took for door handles, and ground the ridges of the face of them, to smooth them out. I like the look. I'll be doing 8 outside door handles this way. Ill paint 4 black, and 4 body color, so I can decided on what looks best. I also filled the pits in the headlight buckets and the hatch glass handle, the sprayed them with 2K high build. That was tonight.

I have to go out and buy a primer gun, or a real big tip for one of the guns my brother and I have. 1.8mm or bigger, to spray the slicksand.

I welded the DS door mirror holes shut, and a patch in the hinge area. Then grinded all the welds down, and apply metal to metal on the lower skin seam and the mirror holes.

Ok, now for some of the pics. I started laying the Rage gold on the rear doors. There were so many cherry dents, I hammered them out, and skimmed almost the whole door. ](*,) But the filler is super thin. After the rage is worked, then a few coats of slick sand and lots of blocking, it'll be mirror flat Oh, I also just blasted the whole outer skin to get all the old shabby paint and bondo off.

Lower skin tacked, all the doors looked the same so I slacked on the pics a bit. 🙁

After welding

Drivers side door mirror holes welded up. I'll be using the 88 Monte SS mirrors, but I am pushing them way forward, right at the beginning of the window frame.

This rear door, is the same as all four. All those dark spot are low spots, cherry dings. The is a crap load of them! :? The lower doors are flattened out with the metal to metal, again, it's thin but needed.

The drivers side front door, I welded a patch in here.

Some rage gold

More rage gold

Sanding

I have to do another pass with the rage gold, then they'll be ready for epoxy/sealer, then Slick Sand.


Here are the headlight bezels. They are loaded with pits. I primed hem and the have some filler on them now. Need to get some more pics, but this is after blasting and some etching primer. These are metal.

Door handles with the rib ground flat, I think they will look great. I am undecided on black or body color, so i did 8 exterior handles like this.

I will say this, if the adhesive would have worked, the lower doors would have less work in them. And, if there were replacement skins available, I would have done that instead.

 

[liquidh8]

Re: 81 Century/GN Wagon build-up 56K beware!!

Well, after some more rage gold on the rear doors, I put down 2 coats of epoxy primer, then 2 coats of 2K high build primer. I flipped the doors over and seam sealed all around the skin, just like the factory. I will 320 the doors down flat, then put 2 coats of slick sand, then long block the crap out of em and they'll be arrow strait.

Here is the drivers side front door with rage gold and some sanding, This door was all wrinkled and dented up too. But the filler is super thin, so no worries.

After all the filler work is done, I have to lay the slick sand on all 4 doors, then long block with 320 all 4 doors, then I will seal them once more, so I can have them sit around for a few months in my garage till I get the other bodywork done. When It comes time to paint, the sealer will get blocked again to prep for color.