Space City 1982 GP Build
- Thread starter Texas82GP
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Thanks! Being organized is both a blessing and a curse. I can generally always find something since I can't walk away from the project without cleaning everything up and putting everything away, even if the project isn't finished. I'm trying to keep the storage pretty clean and well organized to stay in the good graces of the property management should they decide to pay me an unsolicited visit.
The plastic....The car has nice paint so I'm trying to take care of it. The car sat for a few months, closed up in the storage and I was surprised how much dust there was on it. I dusted it off with a California Car Duster and went over it with Quick Detailer and a micro-fiber cloth and then pulled the plastic over it to keep it clean. I fretted over the plastic starting out but there seem to have been no adverse effects. I'm getting sick of the plastic though. I've cut it back to the leading edge of the doors and have gone to soft fender aprons around the perimeter of the engine compartment. I think I'm about to buy a car cover, not that the dirtiest aspects of the project are done and just pull it up to the base of the windshield, and do away with the plastic entirely.
Thanks! I'm really happy with the level of shine. I really like the Rustoleum for this job. If I was going to blow the car apart and strip everything to bare metal, then I would spray this stuff with SEM Hot Rod Black. Since I'm not doing that and I don't want to deal with the overspray mess, I'm going this route. The stuff is cheap, seems to stick really well, is forgiving of a little bit of dirt or trash in a nook or cranny that you can't get to with the wire brush, rag or Scotch Brite and the Rusty Metal primer seems to grab onto and treat the rust well. We'll see how it holds up. At this point I have no regrets.
Thanks guys!
I managed to get over to the storage last night and make some progress. I was over there for about 3 hours. I worked on cleaning up the passenger fender inner structure panel and the core support. I went at it with Simple Green, mineral spirits, scrapers, wire brushes and my small shop vac. I made some decent progress. I didn't snap a pic before I started but this pic was taken as I was working on cleaning up the passenger end of the core support. You can see what the area where the radiator and condenser goes looked like...
Here is a look at the passenger fender inner structure after I'd been over it....
Here's a look from the driver's side looking at the portions of the core support I cleaned up/wire brushed. The passenger side of the engine compartment had a lot of dirt on it. The frame, the core support, the suspension, all of it. Somebody chugged through some dirt on that side repeatedly. Not pretty, but progress.....
And a look at the untouched Driver's end of the core support and driver's fender inner structure....
Not pretty, or exciting but I feel good about the progress. I'll feel better when all of it is painted and I'm moving on to assembly. Hopefully I'll have another update this week. As always, thanks for following along.
Here is a look at the passenger fender inner structure after I'd been over it....
Here's a look from the driver's side looking at the portions of the core support I cleaned up/wire brushed. The passenger side of the engine compartment had a lot of dirt on it. The frame, the core support, the suspension, all of it. Somebody chugged through some dirt on that side repeatedly. Not pretty, but progress.....
And a look at the untouched Driver's end of the core support and driver's fender inner structure....
Not pretty, or exciting but I feel good about the progress. I'll feel better when all of it is painted and I'm moving on to assembly. Hopefully I'll have another update this week. As always, thanks for following along.
Jared, the work your doing now is tedious and probably boring but I've never seen you take any shortcuts. That is why the work you do while paying attention to detail accomplishes phenomenal results that many of us can just dream about....🙂
Your car looks fantastic! Firewalls are something a lot of people overlook, but you have done a fantastic job making that one look new. The firewall in my Regal is kinda ugly, I just slapped a quick coat coat of paint on it when I had it apart. Looking at yours I'm thinking maybe I should do something about it!
Beautiful work Jared. Your attention to detail is amazing. Looks like a good solid car.
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the kind words. I'll say that it looks better in the pictures than in real life. That being said the firewall turned out quite presentable and I'm glad I did something about it rather than stick the engine right back in. Much of the sound deadener on the firewall was in bad shape. It had a few holes punched in it and lots of it was so crispy that if you bumped it, pieces fell on the floor. That's really bad for my OCD so here I am.
I went over to the storage last night and put another three hours into it. I finished cleaning up the core support and I got the driver's side fender inner structure cleaned up. I finished peeling back the front light harness to get it out of the way. I pulled the Grand Prix bar, the horns and miscellaneous hardware off the core support and the fender inner structure panels to make room. I also pulled the lower air dam and pulled the wiper motor back off. I got the passenger side fender taped up. Tonight, I intend to tape up the driver's side and then go over everything with a red Scotch Brite pad and follow that with a wipe down with lacquer thinner on a micro-fiber cloth. I hope to start priming either Friday night or Saturday morning.
I have not particularly enjoyed this portion of the project. Who does enjoy cleaning/scraping/sanding? I've been getting up at 5:30 AM for work, getting home close to 5 PM, having a quick bite and then heading over to the storage. I've been getting back home at 9-9:30 PM to do it all again. Looking over at the painted firewall and the assembled HVAC case with new heater and evaporator cores has kept me going.
No pictures from last nights work. It doesn't look tremendously different. I guess the next pictures will be of it in primer. I, like many of you, am looking forward to the payoff pictures when everything is in fresh black and things start to go back together. Thanks again guys. I'll update again when the progress warrants.
Kudos to you for keeping at it. Its easy to lose sight of the end goal and skip over some steps only to be unhappy with the results.
Yeah, it's boring, labor intensive work, but its the kinda of stuff that will really make your car stand out. I usually don't have the patience for it, so I end up finding a medium between my meticulousness and my patience.
Also keep in mind they were sloppy and imperfect from the factory, so don't be overly critical of yourself. I have that problem a lot if the time. It looks great, your doing an excellent job!
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