'83 Cutlass Cruiser Build Thread

[Blake442]

Saturday I sprayed the hood for the 442 and yesterday I blacked out the underside.
The main reason I wanted to do it was for some practice before the paint flies on the wagon.
I haven't sprayed anything other than semi-gloss black and various primers for over 10 years...
It turned out pretty good for painting out on the farm! lol Not perfect, but certainly presentable.
Unfortunately I didn't have enough lite in the shop when I sprayed...
The hood looks fantastic indoors, but outside you can see it's thin in a few spots.
Bottom line is I should've had more lite, and I should've given it one more coat of base.
Oh well. The 442 just sits in the damn garage anyways so it'll look great! haha
I'll worry about it once the wagon is all back together and I start digging back into the 442...

Anywho...
Today I took care of my remaining low spots along the base of the 1/4 glass where I had ground those studs off.
While I had some filler mixed up I also filled in a few chips in the header panel that I kept forgetting.
After that I finished up blocking the hood out and gave it the 'o.k.'... Not perfect, but I don't care anymore.
The fenders need a little attention before I hit them with their second round of surfacer, and I'll block the header panel 1 more time.
So the 1/4's, all 5 doors and the hood are all ready for sealer.

I'm getting close to being ready for color!

 

[Longroof79]

Blake,
Practicing on another body panel is a good idea... and something I should've done myself.
I too had poor lighting in the garage when I was painting...a few fluorescents and a few makeshift drop lights....nothing like you'd see in a professional spray booth, but I didn't have access to one, so I had to wing it. My next paint job will be better, and I'll use better materials. You learn from experience.
I'm glad to hear that you're getting nearer to laying paint on. 🙂

 

[liquidh8]

Blake, you are ahead of me my friend. It's looking good!

 

[Blake442]

Thursday I ended up dragging my feet a bit, but I managed to get the header panel sanded and gave it the stamp of approval.
Saturday my supplies showed up in the mail, but when I headed out to the shop I got distracted and ended up cleaning up the Buick.

You might remember me mentioning earlier this month that it's been slow at work, well last week 26 of my coworkers got laid off.
I narrowly survived the cut, only by taking a hefty pay cut bouncing back to my previous position, so it's time to thin the herd...
The transmission in my truck finally lost 3rd gear Labor Day weekend, after losing OD back in June.
Unfortunately with 256K miles, it's beyond the point of being worth fixing so it will end up getting parted out and junked.
The Buick needs to find a new home and hopefully I can at least get my money back. Luckily I don't have much into it...
Once those two are gone I'll be buying my grama's '03 Impala, since she is no longer driving.
I'll miss them both, but I need to slash $500 a month out of my budget, and insuring one less car and getting 2x the gas mileage will help.

My goal for this coming week is to get the fenders wrapped up, as well as getting the chip-guard sprayed on the lower body.
After that I have a handful of touch-up areas to make go away before I get ready to seal everything up.
Crops are starting to come out of the fields nearby, so I've got a couple weeks before I can shoot color...

Here's how everything looks waiting for primer sealer...







And here's how the 442 hood turned out... Looks great indoors!

 

[Longroof79]

Blake,
I'm sorry to hear that things have leaned out at work. That's a huge layoff..26 workers.
I'm glad to hear that you weren't among the 26...but having a pay cut sucks.
Sounds like you made a good decision getting rid of the clunkers and getting your grandma's Impala.
Good luck man. I hope things get better for you...and that finishing the car is still within your budget.

 

[Blake442]

Thanks Jack! I'd like to stay there, but we'll see what happens I guess...
It was a bit of a shot in the gut though. I've almost finally gotten myself out of the hole I've been in since '08 when my life hit a wall the first time.
Hopefully it'll either pick back up in the coming months, and maybe they'll even open my old spot back up...
...Or it'll get worse and they'll lay everyone else off and close the plant.
In which case I'll have a bunch of time to work on the wagon while I ride the unemployment train!
Either way, progress on the wagon will continue as planned.

 

[Blake442]

Wasted a bunch of time yesterday staring at the car and decided to change my plan for the week.
Going to get the body all in primer sealer first so that next I can seam seal the final spots and spray my chip-guard.
Once I finally got moving I sanded out the tops of the doors and called it an early day to go show the Buick... and he didn't show. 🙄

Today I went out and knocked down the last nooks and crannies that remained, swept up the shop and blew all the dust off the car.
Got it all wiped down so that I can get it masked up tomorrow. Stared at it some more and I'm happy with how it looks.
I'll shoot sealer on the gate, 1/4's and doors friday or saturday.
I'd like the do the hood and header panel too, but we'll see how much time and sealer I have...

 

[Longroof79]

Man, you're so close you can almost taste it.

 

[81cutlass]

Sucks about the job but its great to see the wag coming together!

 

[liquidh8]

You are so close!