BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Canon_Mutant]

Yeah, the under side of my doors is the only area on mine that needs [rust] work. Just surface rust so NO new metal required. Simply needs cleaned up and repainted. The only sad thing is had the bottom [silver] of the 442 been done right from the factory, given its 24/7 garaged life with no winter usage, I doubt I would even have that. But after they stripped it all down at the dealer, got rid of all my runs, drips, errors, and even stalactites hanging down from the doors and rocker panels, the repaint lacked that thicker orange peel typically found along the bottom for a reason. I actually did not know that in 1986. But, given the masking tape I used to protect the PS fender edge while it was loose doing the antenna from hell project peeled silver paint off, I suspect I would be wise to just have a shop redo that entire silver area on both sides again . . . and do it right this time.

Yup, do it twice Garth [it never ends, it never ends]

But plenty more to do before I get there . . . I am ready to lift the body off the rails to box and coat the frame, swap the bushings, front bumper is off so it can finally go out to Aeroflow for their lip and splitter work, and [separately on the bench] reassembling the rear end. Not quite ready for pics and a write up though as I need to put this on my thread not yours . . . sorry!
Think I temporarily fell victim to project envy and just had to post something. Easy to do on this thread.

Beyond your obvious skills, I am frankly more impressed by your time management.

 

[fleming442]

Time to go rob a bank! I guarantee they can't fingerprint you! 😛

 

[Rktpwrd]

Time to go rob a bank! I guarantee they can't fingerprint you! 😛

Howzat??

 

[Texas82GP]

Howzat??

Fingerprints sanded away.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Still plugging away, tackling little projects while waiting for Sunday for Mike to give me a hand getting the door off.

Earlier in the week, made a trip to my bodyshop materials supplier and stocked up. I was out of a lot of stuff, but this somehow still doesn’t look like nearly $550 worth...
😱

Back on the car, I decided to address a little annoyance that has bothered me since day one on this car. The marker/signal/headlight indicators that mount on top of the fenders never sat properly. Even with the thin gasket that goes underneath them.

It would seem that they sit perfectly on the center of the crown of the fender, if you rock them to one side, there’s a gap on the opposite...

...and if you rock them to the other, the gap shows up opposite again:

Curious as to how they sat when tightened down, I found that the difference in the gaps got split evenly, certainly of no help either. Here’s the passenger side one, now after sanding all the old paint off, and tightened down:

I did notice though, that when driving the car, the angle of the passenger side indicator made it a bit difficult to see clearly. With that in mind, I biased the indicator to the inside, and built up the base on the outside with some USC All-Metal.

Here’s how that went:

Once it had set up sufficiently, I gingerly removed it and cleaned up the edges.
Fits like it was originally intended to now, but this is how my simple rust repair and repaint projects get drawn out into two year long sagas!

Once that was done, I moved back onto the outer rocker panel, and got the rest of it stripped down to bare metal.

Moving along, I next mixed up some epoxy primer and brushed it into the areas that are going to be re-seam sealed.
Once it had cured overnight, I scuffed the middle with red ScotchBrite and feather edged the rest with 180:

Tonight, I reapplied the seam sealer with some 3M heavy bodied stuff. Turned out pretty good me thinks:

I’m pretty much at a standstill now until Sunday when Mike comes over, but not before I had stripped the door down to its bare essentials. Handle, lock, mirror and harness pulled through, and only two bolts left holding it on:

I’m still on the fence about using this door, after pulling the door panels and belt moulding I don’t like the additional rust I’m seeing around the perimeters. That, and the nuts holding the outer handle on were so rusty, I sheared one stud completely off.
I think we’ll be bringing in the other two passenger doors I acquired, evaluating them all, and using the best of the three.

Thanks gents, that’s all for now.
Keep the shiny side up!

D.

 

[Wraith]

It's an American Thanksgiving miracle! No, maybe just a well needed update. 😛 Excellent work!

 

[Rktpwrd]

It's an American Thanksgiving miracle! No, maybe just a well needed update. 😛 Excellent work!

Thank you.
Not a whole lot of substance to that update, but it’s all I have for now. Lots of progress will be made here next week, with more stuff getting painted, bolted on, unbolted, and a few other things.

Thanks for checking in on things.

 

[pagrunt]

Earlier in the week, made a trip to my bodyshop materials supplier and stocked up. I was out of a lot of stuff, but this somehow still doesn’t look like nearly $550 worth...
😱

Body supplies never look like you got what you paid for. Be glad you're working with white insyead of red.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Body supplies never look like you got what you paid for. Be glad you're working with white insyead of red.

Definitely agreed there. I know what you’re referring to, red pigment paints are the most expensive.

In that picture, there’s a quart of the grey I’ll be using. Just for that tiny can of single stage, it was $50 all by itself. Not looking forward to when I’ve gotta buy a gallon or more of base when I go to spray the whole car!

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Nice work Donovan! I really like your attention to detail!! Thanks for the update.