Rockatansky's Bold, Brash and Blocky 1978 Malibu Build
- Thread starter Mrockatansky
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AxisG, you got that right. John at The Plating House is the man I went to see. Still walking funny, but from what I gather worth it in terms of quality of process and finish. I understand that not all Chrome Shops are created equal and certainly don't want to cut any corners.
So its been a quiet couple of weeks and the weather has finally started to turn favourable up here in the Great White North. Motorcycles are out and slowly but surely seeing some folks take their "babies" out of their garages.
Except for me of course, as there is much still to do before the Malibu is on the road.
Few things to update you all on.
Firstly, my centre (centre) console from Classic Consoles finally arrived and I must say I am very happy with it. The construction is sturdy and the finish is quite well done.
This inspired me to start cleaning/washing and refinishing the remainder of my interior trim. I washed all the interim ABS plastic trim pieces with a mixture of Dawn to degrease and Old School Tide detergent, the granular kind, to get into the pores and textured surface of the pieces and then rinsed them very well and let them air dry.
The cleaning worked really well and the very grimy and weathered looking pieces came out well. Here is a picture of the footwell kick panels nice and clean:
After this I began painting my collection of assorted interior bits with the SEM Color Coat paint, which I could not be happier with. The product is fantastic and results are astounding. I am using Colour 15243, Satin Black.
I followed the paint with 2 very light coats of SEM Clear Coat to give some of the high wear and tear items some durability. Very happy with how they turned out.
I also managed to find some NOS G body wheel Emblems for 14" Rally wheels with the intent on trimming this to fit for my front grill emblem (Thanks for that idea Jack). Will be making a template and attempting this week.
The body work is coming along nicely and I am so far very pleased with the calibre of work Paul has been doing. The only real problem area of the car was the passenger side rocker panel and once removed revealed the inner rocker and inner door frame support were in bad shape. Paul has this all fixed up now with 1/8 rolled steel and his work looks pretty slick:
My headlight bezels are coming along too. My Cosmichrome guy had to do some bead blasting as some of the original chrome treatment done from the factory started flaking off. I think they are coming along quite nicely.
Thats about it for now, should have some more progress to share soon. Engine building starts in earnest and since I am a total NOOB with this it should be not only very challenging but an interesting experience.
Hope all y'all north of the Mason-Dixon line are enjoying this new found jump into nice weather.
Except for me of course, as there is much still to do before the Malibu is on the road.
Few things to update you all on.
Firstly, my centre (centre) console from Classic Consoles finally arrived and I must say I am very happy with it. The construction is sturdy and the finish is quite well done.
This inspired me to start cleaning/washing and refinishing the remainder of my interior trim. I washed all the interim ABS plastic trim pieces with a mixture of Dawn to degrease and Old School Tide detergent, the granular kind, to get into the pores and textured surface of the pieces and then rinsed them very well and let them air dry.
The cleaning worked really well and the very grimy and weathered looking pieces came out well. Here is a picture of the footwell kick panels nice and clean:
After this I began painting my collection of assorted interior bits with the SEM Color Coat paint, which I could not be happier with. The product is fantastic and results are astounding. I am using Colour 15243, Satin Black.
I followed the paint with 2 very light coats of SEM Clear Coat to give some of the high wear and tear items some durability. Very happy with how they turned out.
I also managed to find some NOS G body wheel Emblems for 14" Rally wheels with the intent on trimming this to fit for my front grill emblem (Thanks for that idea Jack). Will be making a template and attempting this week.
The body work is coming along nicely and I am so far very pleased with the calibre of work Paul has been doing. The only real problem area of the car was the passenger side rocker panel and once removed revealed the inner rocker and inner door frame support were in bad shape. Paul has this all fixed up now with 1/8 rolled steel and his work looks pretty slick:
My headlight bezels are coming along too. My Cosmichrome guy had to do some bead blasting as some of the original chrome treatment done from the factory started flaking off. I think they are coming along quite nicely.
Thats about it for now, should have some more progress to share soon. Engine building starts in earnest and since I am a total NOOB with this it should be not only very challenging but an interesting experience.
Hope all y'all north of the Mason-Dixon line are enjoying this new found jump into nice weather.
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Coming along nicely, Matt.
As Jeff said, keep up the good work.
I'm glad my idea for the grille badge will work for you.
As Jeff said, keep up the good work.
I'm glad my idea for the grille badge will work for you.
Are you painting the car too or fixing it to drive for the season for now? Looks like progress is moving along.
Hey Everyone,
Hard to believe a few months have passed by so quickly. Haven't been on the forum really at all as I have been really busy at work and with some business travel. Got off a plane Monday night and have been bed ridden since with a nasty flu virus, guess when you burn the candle at both ends somethings gonna give. So here I am with the luxury of being able to update my build thread at long last. Lots has been happening and everything is really starting to come together. In fact, I think my car should actually be finished (mostly) and on the road (wishful thinking?) by the end of the month so I am really happy about that. Or at last the idea of that.
So since I last checked in things were all happening quite slowly but very surely. My body guy was doing his thing and I was focused on the minutiae of the build like headlight bezels and misc trim pieces etc.
Here is what has transpired since then:
All the major body work has been completed
Primer stage was undertaken and later completed
And last but not least
Body and paint is pretty much done!!!!!
Drum roll please.....
Really pleased with the colour and super excited to see her all back together.
My upholsterer friend has also been busy at work and we have some real progress on my front buckets:
Still have some seat ABS parts to SEM colour coat but I am really happy with how things have been progressing.
My bezels also turned out AMAZING. Big shout out to Cosmichrome here in Ontario for the refinishing of the bezels with their spray chrome process.
**Edit** Here are the bezels shot close up:
And yes in the summer I dig Flip Flops.
I have also been busy myself on a few things with what little time I have had to myself. I refinished the radiator fan shroud and I think it looks great. I started with a grease cutter, dawn, a bristle brush and a hell of a lot of water. Once cleaned I let air dry and started the paint process using the Krylon Fusion satin black paint for plastics. Researched this paint and decided it was the one for the job. Very pleased with result.
I also managed to trim, sand, finish and mount my wheel cap/grill badge and think it looks great. This process was a bit of a chore, especially the cutting part as the badge is a metal sticker. I then sanded round cut edges with some fine grit sand paper and used some industrial strength double sided tape to mount it.
The genius is in the details or so they say.
Engine build starts next week and I am spending my remaining time just gathering the last few parts and finishing touches for the build. All engine accessory brackets have been dropped off at the powder coater and hands are definitely getting dirty very soon.
Seems like the light can be seen at the end of the tunnel.
Hope to have an update for you all soon.
M
Hard to believe a few months have passed by so quickly. Haven't been on the forum really at all as I have been really busy at work and with some business travel. Got off a plane Monday night and have been bed ridden since with a nasty flu virus, guess when you burn the candle at both ends somethings gonna give. So here I am with the luxury of being able to update my build thread at long last. Lots has been happening and everything is really starting to come together. In fact, I think my car should actually be finished (mostly) and on the road (wishful thinking?) by the end of the month so I am really happy about that. Or at last the idea of that.
So since I last checked in things were all happening quite slowly but very surely. My body guy was doing his thing and I was focused on the minutiae of the build like headlight bezels and misc trim pieces etc.
Here is what has transpired since then:
All the major body work has been completed
Primer stage was undertaken and later completed
And last but not least
Body and paint is pretty much done!!!!!
Drum roll please.....
Really pleased with the colour and super excited to see her all back together.
My upholsterer friend has also been busy at work and we have some real progress on my front buckets:
Still have some seat ABS parts to SEM colour coat but I am really happy with how things have been progressing.
My bezels also turned out AMAZING. Big shout out to Cosmichrome here in Ontario for the refinishing of the bezels with their spray chrome process.
**Edit** Here are the bezels shot close up:
And yes in the summer I dig Flip Flops.
I have also been busy myself on a few things with what little time I have had to myself. I refinished the radiator fan shroud and I think it looks great. I started with a grease cutter, dawn, a bristle brush and a hell of a lot of water. Once cleaned I let air dry and started the paint process using the Krylon Fusion satin black paint for plastics. Researched this paint and decided it was the one for the job. Very pleased with result.
I also managed to trim, sand, finish and mount my wheel cap/grill badge and think it looks great. This process was a bit of a chore, especially the cutting part as the badge is a metal sticker. I then sanded round cut edges with some fine grit sand paper and used some industrial strength double sided tape to mount it.
The genius is in the details or so they say.
Engine build starts next week and I am spending my remaining time just gathering the last few parts and finishing touches for the build. All engine accessory brackets have been dropped off at the powder coater and hands are definitely getting dirty very soon.
Seems like the light can be seen at the end of the tunnel.
Hope to have an update for you all soon.
M
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