BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

Oct 14, 2008
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Melville,Saskatchewan
We have also owned only 3 nice cars paint wise. Our 2004 Toyota Corolla with 13,000 km when we bought it, Toyota's paint is very durable even on gravel roads. Hitting multiple Deer and hail finished off that car 248k, it would have went another 248 k, very few problems and 50 mpg. Our 2010 Challenger was nice but had a few imperfections at 34,000 km when we bought it but the Stone White looked so nice, *ss hats in parking lots left a long scratch on the passenger door and multiple parking lot dings. It started rusting in front of the rear wheels, it was drove all winter, plus using oil, a badly cracked driver seat that a replacement was ridiculously expensive and other bugs made trading it in easy. Our 2017 Challenger is a gorgeous Go Green with nearly perfect paint, only had very few minor scratches in the clear with less than 1000 km 0 owner. It is by far the nicest car we have owned, every available option and there is a lot. But it is has picked up stone chips. Really Dodge, no mud flaps on an AWD car? I added no drill flaps and did an extremely careful job of touch up with tape, you can only see one touch up spot if you look close. To be honest Dodge's paint isn't the best in world for chip resistance, the front bumper seems to pick up the most. We even picked up some errant rocks from Semi's on #1 highway! We park far away from everybody in parking lots when we can and still have issues. Knock on wood only one door ding so far on our 2017, it didn't chip the paint and the tiny dent did pop back out somehow. If I did your level of perfection, I would bring a layer of bubble wrap for the parking lot. Most people don't care because they see cars as disposable things and buy the ugly crossovers they trade in every few years. I will feel for you when someone carelessly dings your masterpiece, let's hope it never happens. On my 88 I just want decently smooth panels, rust kept at bay and paint that shines with minimal orange peel, we will see come Summer.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
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Feb 2, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Alright gents, time for another update.

I know it’s pretty quick on the heels of the last, but after the colossal undertaking it took to do that one, this’ll be the first of (hopefully) weekly updates from here on out.

Overall it was a pretty slow week, but I did get a few minor details looked after and crossed off the list. Last weekend I hit all three of the biggest auto wreckers in the city and while I didn’t score anything of particular interest, I did manage to scoop up 4 really nice and super soft door bump stops. The ones I had still left on the car were rock hard and missing at least half of them.
A little cleanup, and pop them in place:

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The other major accomplishment for the week was getting the lower section of the fender block sanded out and the flush mount marker light fitting a little better. It was a tad tight fitting with the additional paint and primer on it, and I wanted a little wiggle room so I don’t chip any of the edges. No pics here as there really wasn’t anything to see.

Back inside the door edge, I applied a little trick I’ve been contemplating for a while now to the spot inside the door that the door popper/seatbelt retractor rides on. Hard spring loaded plastic and fresh soft paint rarely play well together, so to avoid the inevitable damage this would’ve caused, this is what I came up with:

Many years ago I worked with what is now a very good friend of mine in a truck accessory shop. You know the kind, running boards, bed covers, that sort of thing. We used to do a ton of rolling bed covers, and there were almost always spare stake pocket covers left after the install depending on the truck. While I had long ago pitched my stash of these leftovers, I contacted my friend Dustin in Swift Current and asked if he still had some kicking around.
Thankfully he did, and dropped some in the mail and shot them out to me.

These little devils are really thin black anodized tin covers with a strong adhesive on the backside. This is what they look like (door handle incorporated into the pic for a size reference):

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I took one of these pieces and trimmed it down to size...

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...then simply removed the backing from the adhesive and stuck it on:

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Because it’s tin, it will last a very long time before it ever needs replacing, doesn’t look out of place, and provides protection from the door popper scratching the hell out of the inside of the door. It’s essentially just a sacrificial plate, and so far it’s working beautifully.

Onto other things, after restoring the colors to the backside of the marker light indicator, I decided the front needed a little refresh as well. I simply popped the lens out and gave the front side a couple coats of rattle can clear. It’s tough to tell in this pic, but it actually made a world of difference:

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Skipping ahead to today, it was garage day at my place this weekend. Mike came over, and I turned him loose on the AstroRoof outer metal pan. He got all the rest of the underside all stripped down and cleaned up, then turned his attention to repeating the procedure on the topside:

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While he was tackling this, I devoted my attention to masking up the front fender for its (hopefully) last application of high build primer. Here it is masked up and etch on the bare metal spots:

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Of course, once that was done, it got 4 full coats of high build:

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To round out the rest of the day, I jumped in to give Mike a hand and started working on stripping and rust busting the rear inner support structure for the outer AstroRoof pan:

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After a brief break and a bite to eat, I’m back out in the garage again. I unmasked the fender, and stood back to admire my handiwork:

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Good stuff. 👍🏻
This is actually a major milestone for this year as wrapping up this last little bit on the fender concludes the bodywork on the passenger side of the car! Sure, there’s a little bit left to do on the trim and door handles when I get them back, but’s that’s minor.

I’ll be spinning the car around to face the other direction at some point this week because the driver’s side will be next fairly soon, but for now all attention will be focused on completing the AstroRoof.

That’s all I’ve got for now guys, thanks for checking back on things!

D.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
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Feb 2, 2015
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Clear powder coat on the trim?

That’s definitely a feasible option Mike, and not one that I’d really considered before. It might even be reasonably cost effective if I was to take all the trim parts in as one large batch. There’s usually a little price break if the quantities are sufficient. I guess I’d need reassurances from the coater that the build thickness wouldn’t exceed a certain amount, as the parts tend to “grow” in size as coatings are applied. I certainly don’t need problems reinstalling the parts after they’ve been coated.

Someone also suggested SharkHide. I had an in depth conversation with Jared several years ago about this product when he suggested it for the wheels on The Juggernaut. I don’t know, maybe things have changed, but at the time SharkHide was not available here north of the 49th, and the import regulations prevented it from being brought up from the U.S.
I’ll have to maybe look into that option again as well.
🤔
 
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69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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I was confused at first over your "door poppers" comment. I was thinking there was some sort of electric solenoid deal to kick open the door remotely. What I gathered from your placement of the tin shield, you must be talking about the spring loaded front seat belt release levers that unlock the seat belt when the door opens and allows the little plastic release lever to move outward, unlocking the seat belt so it can retract. Yeah, that lever is made of plastic but can wear the paint down in the area of contact. Nice idea to protect that area.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
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Feb 2, 2015
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I was confused at first over your "door poppers" comment. I was thinking there was some sort of electric solenoid deal to kick open the door remotely. What I gathered from your placement of the tin shield, you must be talking about the spring loaded front seat belt release levers that unlock the seat belt when the door opens and allows the little plastic release lever to move outward, unlocking the seat belt so it can retract. Yeah, that lever is made of plastic but can wear the paint down in the area of contact. Nice idea to protect that area.

Yep, that’s exactly what I was referring to. I know they’re for retracting and unlocking the seatbelts, but being spring loaded they also pop the door open as soon as you pull the handle. I feared there might be some confusion there, that’s why I referred to them as “door popper/seatbelt retractors”. I’m sure there’s a fancy GM name for them, but that’s just what I’ve always called them.

Thanks for the compliment on my idea.
 

O. D. Showtime

Comic Book Super Hero
Feb 6, 2009
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Regina Sask. Canada
Well this makes my crappy weekend a lot nicer. Looks great Donovan! I really like the idea of protecting the door from the release feature! Nice work as usual!
 
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O. D. Showtime

Comic Book Super Hero
Feb 6, 2009
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Yep, that’s exactly what I was referring to. I know they’re for retracting and unlocking the seatbelts, but being spring loaded they also pop the door open as soon as you pull the handle. I feared there might be some confusion there, that’s why I referred to them as “door popper/seatbelt retractors”. I’m sure there’s a fancy GM name for them, but that’s just what I’ve always called them.

Thanks for the compliment on my idea.

I believe they are called Comfort Lock.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Well this makes my crappy weekend a lot nicer. Looks great Donovan! I really like the idea of protecting the door from the release feature! Nice work as usual!

Thanks Kevin. I’m sorry to hear about your crappy weekend in the hospital, I hope you’ll be feeling better and back up and at ‘em again real soon. This week’s update wasn’t much, but if it helped be a bright spot in your otherwise bleak weekend, then I’m happy with that.

Appreciate the comment on the seatbelt release plate, thank you!
 
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spidereyes455

G-Body Guru
Mar 6, 2013
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The way I see it the only thing that's gonna suck about the car when it's done is that you'll probably have to permanently mount a sign in the window that says NOT FOR SALE ! So that your not constantly harassed by random people.
 
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