BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
I'm afraid to ask how much you have spent on tape and paper! 
Update from the weekend.
After being tied up with commitments all day Saturday, and the weather finally favourable after the Snowpocalypse the previous week, I was under the gun to get the edges of the hood in paint. It might’ve been my last chance for the year.
So knowing I had a ton of work to get done, I was up and in the shop before dawn while most folks were still pounding their ear. I did a shop cleanup and put everything that wasn’t needed away. Then got down to hanging and prepping parts until it got late enough to fire up the car and pull it outside.
Hung the mirror halves with a little creativity...
...with the thought that I’d be able to prime and paint both halves easily this way. This was only mildly successful and had a major flaw in the plan, but I’ll get to that later.
While I had already stripped the 3 accessible sides of the hood and bodyworked and primed the topside, I obviously wasn’t able to do anything with the rear edge while it was on the car.
With it set up upside down on the stand, I was finally able to see what I had to work with.
The folded over flanged section got carefully stripped down to bare metal with the Clean n Strip wheel on the die grinder from edge to edge:
Then my favourite, (insert sarcasm here) more masking:
The underside had already been scuffed and shot with VHT satin black a couple years ago to cover up the overspray from the shitty previous paint job, and I didn’t want the entire underside body color, so it got masked off as well. (Bruce 😉)
That took care of the prep on the hood, but in the time since I stripped the mirror and signal indicator, the pot metal had lightly oxidized (it happens pretty quick when it’s unprotected), so both those components got a thorough scuff with red ScotchBrite and a good cleaning.
Time to play amateur chemist. A batch of epoxy was mixed up and the first coat shot on all the parts. The fender mounted signal indicator is visible near the center of the hood:
Here’s where things got a little tricky with the mirror. I shot only one coat of epoxy on both halves of the mirror parts where they join for corrosion protection...
...then assembled the halves because I knew I had to have something to hang onto (the protruding studs) if I was gonna have a chance of getting any coverage inside the housing around the glass.
After it was reassembled, it got 3 full wet coats like everything else.
After the required hour from the last coat, it was time for color. 3 more wet coats of color got nice coverage on (almost) everything. (More on that in a bit)
I allowed everything to dry as long as I could, then returned to unwrap my “Christmas” presents. They all turned out nicely. Lots of pics here guys, but I was trying to get all sides and angles for y’all to see.
But now I had a conundrum. I had an unmasked not dry yet large panel in the middle of the garage, the car outside, and no way to pick up the hood by myself without touching any of the edges.
Thankfully my neighbor was home and I was able to enlist his help in getting it moved off the stand. After “borrowing” some pool noodles from his son, he and I were able to set it up on the hood of The Juggernaut temporarily.
Not what I would’ve preferred, but sometimes beggars can’t be choosers:
Continued >>>
After being tied up with commitments all day Saturday, and the weather finally favourable after the Snowpocalypse the previous week, I was under the gun to get the edges of the hood in paint. It might’ve been my last chance for the year.
So knowing I had a ton of work to get done, I was up and in the shop before dawn while most folks were still pounding their ear. I did a shop cleanup and put everything that wasn’t needed away. Then got down to hanging and prepping parts until it got late enough to fire up the car and pull it outside.
Hung the mirror halves with a little creativity...
...with the thought that I’d be able to prime and paint both halves easily this way. This was only mildly successful and had a major flaw in the plan, but I’ll get to that later.
While I had already stripped the 3 accessible sides of the hood and bodyworked and primed the topside, I obviously wasn’t able to do anything with the rear edge while it was on the car.
With it set up upside down on the stand, I was finally able to see what I had to work with.
The folded over flanged section got carefully stripped down to bare metal with the Clean n Strip wheel on the die grinder from edge to edge:
Then my favourite, (insert sarcasm here) more masking:
The underside had already been scuffed and shot with VHT satin black a couple years ago to cover up the overspray from the shitty previous paint job, and I didn’t want the entire underside body color, so it got masked off as well. (Bruce 😉)
That took care of the prep on the hood, but in the time since I stripped the mirror and signal indicator, the pot metal had lightly oxidized (it happens pretty quick when it’s unprotected), so both those components got a thorough scuff with red ScotchBrite and a good cleaning.
Time to play amateur chemist. A batch of epoxy was mixed up and the first coat shot on all the parts. The fender mounted signal indicator is visible near the center of the hood:
Here’s where things got a little tricky with the mirror. I shot only one coat of epoxy on both halves of the mirror parts where they join for corrosion protection...
...then assembled the halves because I knew I had to have something to hang onto (the protruding studs) if I was gonna have a chance of getting any coverage inside the housing around the glass.
After it was reassembled, it got 3 full wet coats like everything else.
After the required hour from the last coat, it was time for color. 3 more wet coats of color got nice coverage on (almost) everything. (More on that in a bit)
I allowed everything to dry as long as I could, then returned to unwrap my “Christmas” presents. They all turned out nicely. Lots of pics here guys, but I was trying to get all sides and angles for y’all to see.
But now I had a conundrum. I had an unmasked not dry yet large panel in the middle of the garage, the car outside, and no way to pick up the hood by myself without touching any of the edges.
Thankfully my neighbor was home and I was able to enlist his help in getting it moved off the stand. After “borrowing” some pool noodles from his son, he and I were able to set it up on the hood of The Juggernaut temporarily.
Not what I would’ve preferred, but sometimes beggars can’t be choosers:
Continued >>>
Last night, I unmasked the mirror, and did a couple minor little things. Removed the mirror studs, chased the paint out of the threads with their nuts...
...and Loctited the studs in the pedestal:
If you’ve ever fought with dirty or rusty threads you know how much frustration this simple little step can save.
Upon examining the gasket for this mirror, it had overspray on it too from an equally shitty paint job at some point. This is why I hate lazy people and poor prep.
So after scraping off what I could with an XActo knife, I lightly sanded the edges with 400 grit to smooth out the scratches and make everything uniform again.
Time to restore its appearance. From the factory, the edges are a glossy finish, and not dull like the sanding had left them. To duplicate this, I set it up for a light coat of clear. A light dusting first with Bulldog adhesion promoter, then a coat of clear. I had noticed the front of the lens for the signal indicator was a bit cloudy after cleaning, so this was the perfect time to take care of it too.
Now, remember when I said that things “mostly” went smoothly with painting the mirror? This is what I ran into. There was a fatal flaw in my plan in painting the mirror, and it was all in how I had hung it from the ceiling. Because I had attached it to my painting wire with a ziptie through one of the cables, there was too much tension to allow me to move the glass and have it stay there while I blew paint into the edges.
With the mirror mounted on the door and the tension off the cables, you can see all the areas that didn’t get coverage.
😠
Also noticed yesterday that there was even more hidden green overspray I didn’t catch. 😡
It’s not the end of the world tho, and certainly nothing I can’t handle. I’ll get the green overspray removed, and the next time I shoot grey, I’ll mask off the outside of the housing (it’ll actually be much easier now), and get full coverage inside around the glass.
In the meantime, the parts look pretty good on the car:
And here is the reason for the urgency on the weekend:
It was forecast to hit last night, 2-3” of snow in less than 12 hours with a bitter cold 40 mph wind straight outta the north.
Glad I hammered down and got it done when I did!
That’s it for now gents. As always, thanks for checking in on the progress and for the likes and comments.
D.
...and Loctited the studs in the pedestal:
If you’ve ever fought with dirty or rusty threads you know how much frustration this simple little step can save.
Upon examining the gasket for this mirror, it had overspray on it too from an equally shitty paint job at some point. This is why I hate lazy people and poor prep.
So after scraping off what I could with an XActo knife, I lightly sanded the edges with 400 grit to smooth out the scratches and make everything uniform again.
Time to restore its appearance. From the factory, the edges are a glossy finish, and not dull like the sanding had left them. To duplicate this, I set it up for a light coat of clear. A light dusting first with Bulldog adhesion promoter, then a coat of clear. I had noticed the front of the lens for the signal indicator was a bit cloudy after cleaning, so this was the perfect time to take care of it too.
Now, remember when I said that things “mostly” went smoothly with painting the mirror? This is what I ran into. There was a fatal flaw in my plan in painting the mirror, and it was all in how I had hung it from the ceiling. Because I had attached it to my painting wire with a ziptie through one of the cables, there was too much tension to allow me to move the glass and have it stay there while I blew paint into the edges.
With the mirror mounted on the door and the tension off the cables, you can see all the areas that didn’t get coverage.
😠
Also noticed yesterday that there was even more hidden green overspray I didn’t catch. 😡
It’s not the end of the world tho, and certainly nothing I can’t handle. I’ll get the green overspray removed, and the next time I shoot grey, I’ll mask off the outside of the housing (it’ll actually be much easier now), and get full coverage inside around the glass.
In the meantime, the parts look pretty good on the car:
And here is the reason for the urgency on the weekend:
It was forecast to hit last night, 2-3” of snow in less than 12 hours with a bitter cold 40 mph wind straight outta the north.
Glad I hammered down and got it done when I did!
That’s it for now gents. As always, thanks for checking in on the progress and for the likes and comments.
D.
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Donovan your posts are like a well produced "How to" manual. Your attention to detail is incredible.
I just erased a ton more comments because they are all redundant!
If you wrote a book on doing this "hobby" I'd buy it.
I just erased a ton more comments because they are all redundant!
If you wrote a book on doing this "hobby" I'd buy it.
Those mirrors simply won't do
But man that attention to detail really is something and makes the results unreal
But man that attention to detail really is something and makes the results unreal
Yeah, we got snow last night too. I pulled 13 hours getting farmers fuel yesterday. Even you have trouble painting mirrors, they truly are terrible to paint. I am very glad my 70S has a chrome mirror. As usual Donovan, the flaws are so minor, unless you point them out, we won't see them.
Thanks for the kind words Tony.
I don’t have plans of getting published any time soon, but I’ll certainly keep that in mind! Maybe it can be my retirement plan.
😁
Appreciate it brother, thank you!
The mirrors will do, not worthy of burning the car down just yet, but I just know for a fact that it’ll bug the everlivingcrap outta me if every time I look at that mirror and see white where there’s supposed to be grey!
Especially when it’s on the driver’s side. It’s gotta get fixed!
Couldn’t agree more, these left hand mirrors suck to paint, the right hand ones are fine in comparison. And it’s all because the glass doesn’t disassemble from the housing. It would’ve been so easy to correct when they were designing the damn thing. Very frustrating.
Thanks for the compliment Christian.
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