That is some killer block work Donovan. If one thing i despise in all of bodywork it would be bodyworking a roof, they can be so fickle to get flat and true, especially if its done small patches at a time and not as one large panel.
BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
Thanks for the comment Kevin!
It's nice to know some of you guys understand how difficult it can be to get things straight and flat on a large panel such as the roof.
Btw, nice to hear from you again!
Lol
Sorry man. I didn't think too many of you would be interested in seeing filler work and pictures of dust!
With that being said, I guess I do have a few things I can update y'all with.
So in the past 2 weeks since the last update, I've just been continuing to pick away at the filler work. With the roof blocked out and ready for primer, I turned my attention to starting on the side of the roof and the sail panel on the passenger's side.
I won't go into too much detail on it, but suffice to say the transition from the roof side into the sail panel was a real bi*%ch. The roof side skimmed out and blocked out fairly nicely, with the exception of one high spot I missed in knocking flat when I welded the patch in.
The transition area however fought me tooth and nail. The shape and contour of the roof side is actually different than where the sail panel meets the roof. So a gentle, careful blend must be made where the two change so as to be unnoticeable. It took me no less than 6 or 7 attempts to get it right. I remember having this issue with The Juggernaut when I converted it to a hardtop too, but not to this extent.
Here's a couple of pics as I was working on it:
Once I had the transition area close, I started working on the area approximately halfway down the sail panel to the body line on the quarter panel:
It went much easier, and after blocking it flat and a couple skim coats of putty I had it done. I found some waves in the quarter below the body line despite my attempts to minimize the warping, so those got a light skim of putty and blocked out as well once the old paint was sanded off.
Tonight I finished up the sail panel and "B" pillar bodywork, again just light skims of putty where I had welded up holes and had some deeper grinding marks.
This is how the car looks currently:
It ain't pretty by any stretch, but unfortunately it's a necessary evil. I am however happy to report that everything I have block sanded is nice and flat and true. It all feels really good to the hand at this point. The plan is to have the entire roof, "B" pillars, and both quarter panels bodyworked and done before I mask and prime. It should be a bit easier to manage by doing sections at a time that way.
The driver's side filler work is next, starting tomorrow night.
In other news, based on the experiences and recommendations of a few members here, I changed the high build primer I will be using. I was originally going to try the Omni stuff, but decided against it when I went in to buy it earlier last week. Instead, I went with PPG's ShopLine stuff:
It should be a decent economical product to use for what I need. We shall see.
The plan as far as priming the panels (and maybe the current bodyshop professional members here can comment on the wisdom of doing this) is to prime everything with epoxy first, then follow up with 3 coats of the high build, wet on wet. I'd like to go this route if possible, rather than screw around with etch primer on the bare metal areas. The epoxy as a base should provide excellent corrosion resistance, and fill in some of the low spots in the filler work before the high build goes on. Essentially a fourth coat of primer. Plus the epoxy can still go on the bare metal spots.
Continued >>>
Just as a quick aside, here are the many layers of paint and primer that are already on the car:
Obviously the car has been repainted once already, and not very well at that. The burgundy layer was actually for the pinstripe. It's weird that they'd do such a crappy job of painting the car, yet go to all the effort of painting the pinstripes on.
Unfortunately I do not trust the primer work that was already done on the car, in the course of stripping some areas I've found little faux pas like unfeathered rock chips, and rust specs that were forming. EVERY panel will have to be stripped down to bare metal, and started again from scratch.
Sucks to be me.
Over the weekend, I found a guy local to me that was renting out his fender roller for $25 a day on Kijiji. (Thanks for the tip Steve!)
I contacted him about renting it for a day, and went and picked it up Saturday. Since the quarter panels are going to be next in my sights, it seemed the perfect time to do it.
After experimenting with the best technique on the driver's side, I got comfortable with what and how to do it.
The passenger's side went much quicker and easier:
I tried taking some pics of the inner flanges after rolling them, but they didn't turn out very well. You'll just have to trust me when I say they rolled very well, especially considering they're double thick and spot welded. Something that Eastwood doesn't suggest attempting.
After these pics were taken, I stripped off the remaining old paint, rust and crud from the flanges. They look really good now.
That's all I've got for y'all tonight, tomorrow will be more of the same, more filler and blocking work.
Thanks for checking out the progress guys.
Till next time,
Drive angry my friends!
D.
Obviously the car has been repainted once already, and not very well at that. The burgundy layer was actually for the pinstripe. It's weird that they'd do such a crappy job of painting the car, yet go to all the effort of painting the pinstripes on.
Unfortunately I do not trust the primer work that was already done on the car, in the course of stripping some areas I've found little faux pas like unfeathered rock chips, and rust specs that were forming. EVERY panel will have to be stripped down to bare metal, and started again from scratch.
Sucks to be me.
Over the weekend, I found a guy local to me that was renting out his fender roller for $25 a day on Kijiji. (Thanks for the tip Steve!)
I contacted him about renting it for a day, and went and picked it up Saturday. Since the quarter panels are going to be next in my sights, it seemed the perfect time to do it.
After experimenting with the best technique on the driver's side, I got comfortable with what and how to do it.
The passenger's side went much quicker and easier:
I tried taking some pics of the inner flanges after rolling them, but they didn't turn out very well. You'll just have to trust me when I say they rolled very well, especially considering they're double thick and spot welded. Something that Eastwood doesn't suggest attempting.
After these pics were taken, I stripped off the remaining old paint, rust and crud from the flanges. They look really good now.
That's all I've got for y'all tonight, tomorrow will be more of the same, more filler and blocking work.
Thanks for checking out the progress guys.
Till next time,
Drive angry my friends!
D.
Last edited:
Thank you Kevin!
The progress is glacial, but it's progress nonetheless I suppose!
😕
Man I really would like to use one of those. Looks way easier than any of the primitive methods we've grown to love.
Ive always wondered about those fender rollers and came close to buying one myself. I was always terrified id mess it up though
Check your local Craigslist and other classifieds around you. I was surprised to find this guy renting it out in my area. Chances are pretty good that someone near you will be too.
I've gone the medieval route in the past too, a BFH, brute strength and ignorance. This is a much more refined method of achieving the same results.
Looks like it works better than my bace ball bat technique I'd like to try it
Similar threads
