Wow!! I love those mirrors... will you be towing a travel trailer?...😛
I had a set of similar type mirrors on my '64 Ford Econoline...
I had a set of similar type mirrors on my '64 Ford Econoline...
BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
I remember seeing one build were they actually used tiny cameras to get the same view as the side mirrors would have had, I think they had them hidden in a fender vent or something.
Maybe you could put those new chrome mirrors on the front of the fenders.
Maybe you could put those new chrome mirrors on the front of the fenders.
Donovan, those are awesome man love em lol!!!!! Might have to ditch my bullet mirrors for those asap!!
Keep the clean look Donovan, i wont shave my mirrors but it sure fits the bill for your cutlass!!! As usual, keep killin it!!!
Scott
Keep the clean look Donovan, i wont shave my mirrors but it sure fits the bill for your cutlass!!! As usual, keep killin it!!!
Scott
HOLY CRAP!!! How could have missed this build????
I just spent the last 3 and a half hours reading the whole thing. You are a high level detail master!!! I can't believe I didn't see your build. It's amazing to say the least. I've only seen one other build with your kind of detail so far and it isn't even on this forum. It's on Pro Touring.com and the guy is Keepat and his '68 charger. The biggest difference between your build and his is that your doing a custom inside and out and he's doing a custom with the same attention to detail, but looks stock!!! You need to check it out just for kicks. http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/106855-Modern-Bullitt-Charger-build
I was floored when I saw you did a Celebrity headlight conversion. I did one in the late 90s on a Chevy Monza. Your detail is light years away from what I did on mine. I wish I had the resources to do it better back then. Your work is top notch and highly inspiring.
I'm not missing a moment of your progress.
T.
I just spent the last 3 and a half hours reading the whole thing. You are a high level detail master!!! I can't believe I didn't see your build. It's amazing to say the least. I've only seen one other build with your kind of detail so far and it isn't even on this forum. It's on Pro Touring.com and the guy is Keepat and his '68 charger. The biggest difference between your build and his is that your doing a custom inside and out and he's doing a custom with the same attention to detail, but looks stock!!! You need to check it out just for kicks. http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/106855-Modern-Bullitt-Charger-build
I was floored when I saw you did a Celebrity headlight conversion. I did one in the late 90s on a Chevy Monza. Your detail is light years away from what I did on mine. I wish I had the resources to do it better back then. Your work is top notch and highly inspiring.
I'm not missing a moment of your progress.
T.
Wow!HOLY CRAP!!! How could have missed this build????
I just spent the last 3 and a half hours reading the whole thing. You are a high level detail master!!! I can't believe I didn't see your build. It's amazing to say the least. I've only seen one other build with your kind of detail so far and it isn't even on this forum. It's on Pro Touring.com and the guy is Keepat and his '68 charger. The biggest difference between your build and his is that your doing a custom inside and out and he's doing a custom with the same attention to detail, but looks stock!!! You need to check it out just for kicks. http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/106855-Modern-Bullitt-Charger-build
I was floored when I saw you did a Celebrity headlight conversion. I did one in the late 90s on a Chevy Monza. Your detail is light years away from what I did on mine. I wish I had the resources to do it better back then. Your work is top notch and highly inspiring.
I'm not missing a moment of your progress.
T.
View attachment 45995
I'm quite taken aback (but in a good way) at the compliments and praise you have bestowed upon me, thank you very much! You are too kind sir.
🙂
I'm glad you have enjoyed the build thread up until this point - there will be much more to come in the future, I can assure you. I was quite amazed to hear that you spent three and a half hours reading thru the whole thread - there is A LOT of detailed info and my ramblings in there. That sir, took dedication!
As far as the detail in which I tend to incorporate into my work, it's just something that's in my nature. I can no sooner help it than I could stop breathing.
Lol
In all seriousness tho, I truly do believe the "devil is in the details " as they say. Often in the competitive world of building cars, it can be ones' attention to detail that can set one car apart from another. For me, it's something that I enjoy and take pride and satisfaction in. The downside however, is that things do tend to take much longer to complete.
🙁
Thanks for the link to the thread on ProTouring.com, I'll be sure to check his build out.
Btw, those lights look great in that lil Monza, I can remember when those things were everywhere... I miss those days.
For everyone else, it's been quite a while since my last update, and I'm sure some of you are wondering what I've been up to. Keep an eye peeled between now and the New Year.
I'm almost done what I've been working on, and will be posting another of my long and detailed explanations of everything with lots of pics as usual.
Thanks for tuning in,
Drive angry my friends.
😉
Donovan
Hello again and happy New Year everyone!
I'm well aware that it's been quite some time since my last update and I apologize - that's not to say that I haven't been busy on the car, quite the opposite in fact.
There's a saying that says "80% of the work takes 20% of the time, but the last 20% of the work takes 80% of the time...".
Nothing could be closer to the truth in my case when it came time to wrap up some of final details on completing the composite headlight mod. The bulk of the heavy modifications to the header panel actually went fairly smoothly and quickly, but as you'll see making the modifications to the headlight bezels and getting them and the grilles to fit well was time and labour intensive and took a REALLY long time. 🙁
So that's what I'm covering in this particular update.
This may seem like it's going to be another of my long updates, but actually most of it will just be lots of pics. I'm going to do this in a step by step format so that it can be seen what was required to achieve what, in the end, appears to be a really simple result. So hang on, and here we go...
Ok, first off, you may remember that I got my ballasts, transformers, and bulbs for the HID kits already installed. This wasn't simply for kicks and looks, it was actually so I had the proper and final bulbs in place to be able to accurately aim the lights. This was step one as the final bezel shape needed to be based upon the headlights properly positioned and aimed. Once that was done, the bezels and grilles were de-chromed at my local chrome plating shop. They DO NOT chrome plate plastic unfortunately (more on this later), but they do have the ability to remove existing chrome from plastic parts with a simple chemical bath. Once my parts were stripped and I had them back, I was ready to start the process of modifying them to fit the new lights. Here's what I started with:
Before I could even start to rough fit the bezel, the center bar needed to be cut and removed. I tried a multitude of different methods to cut the plastic, but just a simple fine toothed hacksaw blade (removed from the saw itself) seemed to work the best. Here, the center and a small amount of the upper flange have been removed:
Even with this removed, further trimming needed to be done to get it closer for a test fit. The biggest area of interference at this point was actually the top portion of the bezel. The angle of the "roof" portion was too great, and hit the top of the light preventing it from fitting. So pencil marks were made on either side as cut lines to follow, and another line was scribed along the leading edge with a compass to outline the offending area. Note that I stayed well away from the corners on my initial cut - it's always easier to remove bits at a time than it is to add material back in.
The bezel that I'm working on in these pics is the driver's side, in this photo you can see where the upper portion was removed.
With that done, I was getting closer, but now the same area needed to be trimmed from the lower portion. The marking and trimming processes were repeated the same way.
Finally, with the largest areas that were causing interference removed, I was able to get to the point where I could physically fit and attach the bezel in place around the light with the mounting screws. As you can see, still more trimming was needed particularly in the corners...
...so more marking, trimming, filing and fitting was done until I had gone as far as I could with removing existing material. In determining where the radiused corners needed to be in relation to the black "gasket" around the new lights, a fine file was used to work it to the desired shape.
With this filing and fitting process repeated until all four corners were close, it was time to start adding material back in to make it look right. First to get addressed were the two slots on either side that were originally used for the factory sealed beam light adjustment. The slots and the surrounding area was sanded with 120 grit to rough up the surface and provide some tooth for the repair compound to stick to. Once that was done, the back edges of the sides were back-masked with 2" masking tape to create a "dam" for the compound to stay where it was needed.
Some of you may have heard or seen me recommend and use this product already - but this is what I used as a "filler" if you will on these parts. 3M 8235 Semi rigid plastic parts repair. It's suitable (and recommended) for use on ABS plastic parts, which is what these bezels are.
This is an excellent product, however, it has an EXTREMELY short work time - only 50 seconds! Yup, better have your sh*t together before you dispense this product, or it WILL set up on you and become unworkable before you can blink. With that being said, there's obviously not much time that can be spent on smoothing it out and making it look all nice n' purdy. So now you'll understand why it looks so rough and crappy in the following pics. It doesn't much matter anyways as it all gets sanded out afterwards.
Continued...>>>>>
I'm well aware that it's been quite some time since my last update and I apologize - that's not to say that I haven't been busy on the car, quite the opposite in fact.
There's a saying that says "80% of the work takes 20% of the time, but the last 20% of the work takes 80% of the time...".
Nothing could be closer to the truth in my case when it came time to wrap up some of final details on completing the composite headlight mod. The bulk of the heavy modifications to the header panel actually went fairly smoothly and quickly, but as you'll see making the modifications to the headlight bezels and getting them and the grilles to fit well was time and labour intensive and took a REALLY long time. 🙁
So that's what I'm covering in this particular update.
This may seem like it's going to be another of my long updates, but actually most of it will just be lots of pics. I'm going to do this in a step by step format so that it can be seen what was required to achieve what, in the end, appears to be a really simple result. So hang on, and here we go...
Ok, first off, you may remember that I got my ballasts, transformers, and bulbs for the HID kits already installed. This wasn't simply for kicks and looks, it was actually so I had the proper and final bulbs in place to be able to accurately aim the lights. This was step one as the final bezel shape needed to be based upon the headlights properly positioned and aimed. Once that was done, the bezels and grilles were de-chromed at my local chrome plating shop. They DO NOT chrome plate plastic unfortunately (more on this later), but they do have the ability to remove existing chrome from plastic parts with a simple chemical bath. Once my parts were stripped and I had them back, I was ready to start the process of modifying them to fit the new lights. Here's what I started with:
Before I could even start to rough fit the bezel, the center bar needed to be cut and removed. I tried a multitude of different methods to cut the plastic, but just a simple fine toothed hacksaw blade (removed from the saw itself) seemed to work the best. Here, the center and a small amount of the upper flange have been removed:
Even with this removed, further trimming needed to be done to get it closer for a test fit. The biggest area of interference at this point was actually the top portion of the bezel. The angle of the "roof" portion was too great, and hit the top of the light preventing it from fitting. So pencil marks were made on either side as cut lines to follow, and another line was scribed along the leading edge with a compass to outline the offending area. Note that I stayed well away from the corners on my initial cut - it's always easier to remove bits at a time than it is to add material back in.
The bezel that I'm working on in these pics is the driver's side, in this photo you can see where the upper portion was removed.
With that done, I was getting closer, but now the same area needed to be trimmed from the lower portion. The marking and trimming processes were repeated the same way.
Finally, with the largest areas that were causing interference removed, I was able to get to the point where I could physically fit and attach the bezel in place around the light with the mounting screws. As you can see, still more trimming was needed particularly in the corners...
...so more marking, trimming, filing and fitting was done until I had gone as far as I could with removing existing material. In determining where the radiused corners needed to be in relation to the black "gasket" around the new lights, a fine file was used to work it to the desired shape.
With this filing and fitting process repeated until all four corners were close, it was time to start adding material back in to make it look right. First to get addressed were the two slots on either side that were originally used for the factory sealed beam light adjustment. The slots and the surrounding area was sanded with 120 grit to rough up the surface and provide some tooth for the repair compound to stick to. Once that was done, the back edges of the sides were back-masked with 2" masking tape to create a "dam" for the compound to stay where it was needed.
Some of you may have heard or seen me recommend and use this product already - but this is what I used as a "filler" if you will on these parts. 3M 8235 Semi rigid plastic parts repair. It's suitable (and recommended) for use on ABS plastic parts, which is what these bezels are.
This is an excellent product, however, it has an EXTREMELY short work time - only 50 seconds! Yup, better have your sh*t together before you dispense this product, or it WILL set up on you and become unworkable before you can blink. With that being said, there's obviously not much time that can be spent on smoothing it out and making it look all nice n' purdy. So now you'll understand why it looks so rough and crappy in the following pics. It doesn't much matter anyways as it all gets sanded out afterwards.
Continued...>>>>>
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Here is the initial application of the repair compound in the required areas. You'll note that I was a bit proactive and added material to the edges of the openings as well, as I knew that I was going to need more there in places anyways.
Once the compound had cured, it was time to sand off the excess and get it closer to the desired shape.
The backside needed to be sanded as well:
Then it was time to add additional material to further build out the edges. This needed to be done to fill the irregular and unsightly gaps between the edges of the black gasket around the light, and the edges of the bezel.
...and again, more sanding to bring it down flush.
There's much more to it than I'm posting in these pics tho. Each time this adding and sanding of material was done, material had to be added to and sanded on the backsides of the bezels as well so as to provide the proper thickness of the material as well as the necessary strength. The pics I'm posting up are kind've just the bare minimum to tell the story.
With adequate material added to the edges now, I was able to fit the bezel in place and start making marks and sanding the edges down to the desired shape around the gasket. I was shooting for a uniform 1/16" gap between the edges of the bezel and the gasket. This seemed to be the most visually appealing. Here is the bezel fitted up and the trimming process started:
After getting the gap fairly close, it was time to turn my attention to the upper and lower flat sections in the center of the bezel (visible in the upper LH corner in the previous pic), and getting those areas ready for the next step. This required bringing the small lip left from the initial trimming down perfectly flush to the backside. In this photo, the RH side (or bottom in the photo) has been done, with the LH side still to go:
Template time. A simple template was made for the top section from a small piece of shirt cardboard, and transferred to the sheet of flat bulk ABS plastic I picked up at a local plastic and fibreglass retail shop. Total cost for the sheet of plastic and the required solvent welding chemical and dispenser was right around $25. Pretty reasonable.
Continued.... >>>>>>
Once the compound had cured, it was time to sand off the excess and get it closer to the desired shape.
The backside needed to be sanded as well:
Then it was time to add additional material to further build out the edges. This needed to be done to fill the irregular and unsightly gaps between the edges of the black gasket around the light, and the edges of the bezel.
...and again, more sanding to bring it down flush.
There's much more to it than I'm posting in these pics tho. Each time this adding and sanding of material was done, material had to be added to and sanded on the backsides of the bezels as well so as to provide the proper thickness of the material as well as the necessary strength. The pics I'm posting up are kind've just the bare minimum to tell the story.
With adequate material added to the edges now, I was able to fit the bezel in place and start making marks and sanding the edges down to the desired shape around the gasket. I was shooting for a uniform 1/16" gap between the edges of the bezel and the gasket. This seemed to be the most visually appealing. Here is the bezel fitted up and the trimming process started:
After getting the gap fairly close, it was time to turn my attention to the upper and lower flat sections in the center of the bezel (visible in the upper LH corner in the previous pic), and getting those areas ready for the next step. This required bringing the small lip left from the initial trimming down perfectly flush to the backside. In this photo, the RH side (or bottom in the photo) has been done, with the LH side still to go:
Template time. A simple template was made for the top section from a small piece of shirt cardboard, and transferred to the sheet of flat bulk ABS plastic I picked up at a local plastic and fibreglass retail shop. Total cost for the sheet of plastic and the required solvent welding chemical and dispenser was right around $25. Pretty reasonable.
Continued.... >>>>>>
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The new flat piece was cut from the sheet of plastic, and carefully solvent welded (read "glued" lol) in place being mindful to keep the new section of plastic about 1/32nd of an inch higher than the edge I was gluing to. This allowed me to sand the surface of the new plastic down to the edge of the existing plastic keeping everything flat and perfectly aligned. The sharp eyed will notice that the outer edges don't align with each other. This is because the angle of the new plastic needed to be at a shallower angle than what the factory piece was. (Remember?) 😉
The corners were actually relief cut and tweaked down slightly to minimize the difference in the two angles, they then were filled and reinforced with repair compound front and back.
With that accomplished, I moved onto adding a thin layer of repair compound to the face of the joints in the corners to fill any gaps and imperfections. Once again, these areas were sanded and finished perfectly flush and smooth.
The finished "roof" or inner top of the bezel:
Another test fit. On the right track...
The whole entire process was duplicated for the lower section of the bezel, without the trouble of the misalignment in the corners. These areas fitted up nice and flush thankfully. The final test fit with the lower done:
At this point, the modifications to the plastic portions of the bezels was done, and the grilles were bolted up so that I could refine and improve the fitment between the two. I'm not going to go into great detail as to how it was done, it was just spending some time fitting, adjusting, adding material where necessary, and sanding it all flush and smooth. We all know how lax the factory tolerances were in these areas, and it was something I wanted to concentrate on improving since I had all this work into these areas anyways. Here's some "after" pics of the final fitment. I think it's just about perfect. How the designers had intended it to fit and look.
Continued... >>>>
The corners were actually relief cut and tweaked down slightly to minimize the difference in the two angles, they then were filled and reinforced with repair compound front and back.
With that accomplished, I moved onto adding a thin layer of repair compound to the face of the joints in the corners to fill any gaps and imperfections. Once again, these areas were sanded and finished perfectly flush and smooth.
The finished "roof" or inner top of the bezel:
Another test fit. On the right track...
The whole entire process was duplicated for the lower section of the bezel, without the trouble of the misalignment in the corners. These areas fitted up nice and flush thankfully. The final test fit with the lower done:
At this point, the modifications to the plastic portions of the bezels was done, and the grilles were bolted up so that I could refine and improve the fitment between the two. I'm not going to go into great detail as to how it was done, it was just spending some time fitting, adjusting, adding material where necessary, and sanding it all flush and smooth. We all know how lax the factory tolerances were in these areas, and it was something I wanted to concentrate on improving since I had all this work into these areas anyways. Here's some "after" pics of the final fitment. I think it's just about perfect. How the designers had intended it to fit and look.
Continued... >>>>
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Now that I was finally happy with the fit and finish of the bezels and grilles, it was time to move onto the finish they were going to receive. At this point, I was still a bit undecided, but either way, they needed a couple of thin coats of primer. Epoxy primer was chosen as it won't negatively react with either the plastic, or the repair compound used. In addition, it would help seal and lock the repaired areas in permanently. Hung 'em up and shot them in the garage.
Once the epoxy had cured, the bezels were sanded smooth and finished in 400 grit dry. Fortunately, by now I had finally made up my mind as to what I wanted to do for the final finish on the bezels and grilles. I originally tossed around a lot of ideas like hydro dipping, painting certain areas body color, blacking everything out entirely, etc.
Ultimately I decided that I want the car to have a classic timeless feel to it when it's done - I don't want the car to appear "dated". So I decided to stick with a "near factory" appearance, (with my own touch of attitude of course).
The outer Flat portions of the bezels would go chrome again to tie into the grille surrounds (also to go back chrome again) and match the rest of the brightwork on the car. The insides of the bezels however, would go a nice satin black. Kind've like mascara on an already pretty lady.This helps tie in several areas at once. The satin black matches the color and sheen of the rubber gasket around the headlights, and as well as I would paint the sides of the fins on the grilles the same.
🙂
So, with that decided, I shot them with my touch up gun in PPG satin black. (Their DelFleet line)
Then the insides were masked off and the black was block sanded off the surfaces that are to go chrome again.
The finished bezels ready to go off for the chrome finish:
Still not done yet.... Time to paint the grilles as well. The outer edges were masked off, and then the grilles were shot in the same black front and back. The faces of the individual fins will be chrome again, but it was simply too tough to try and mask off such a thin surface area. So the faces of the fins were shot black initially with the intent to block sand them off clean again afterwards.
With the outer edges of the grilles unmasked, but before the paint was sanded off the face of the fins, I decided I had better do another test fit to make sure that was still the direction I wanted to go... As it turns out, I didn't hate the all black grille look as much as I thought I would, but it was interesting to see none the less.
I kept the passenger side assembly bolted up this way, and then bolted up an original spare chrome grille I had on the driver's side. I wanted to see the two side by side so I could get a comparison. To each their own, but I decided I was on the right track with my original plan to keep the faces of the fins chrome.
Sanding the black off the faces of the fins:
Finished product ready to go off for chrome:
And that's pretty much where I stand currently. I mentioned earlier that my local chrome shop DOES NOT have the ability (or desire) to chrome plate plastic. Rather than risk shipping my hard worked on parts halfway across the country to some unknown place that won't really have a clue as to what I want, I started exploring options open to me much more locally. As it turns out, a co-worker of mine has a good friend that is doing spray chrome!
I'll be the first to admit, I had no idea what the process entailed or how it was done, so I did my research. As it turns out, initially there were some issues and horror stories of people having bad experiences with it. If you dig a little further tho, you'll almost always find that there was improper prep or some other similar such situation behind it. In addition, the early processes weren't as refined and they didn't have all the bugs sorted out yet. I have met with the owner, and he has assured me there are no longer any issues with the process, so I'm going to take a bit of a chance and go for it. He currently has the parts, and figures he should have them done and back to me around the end of January/ beginning of February. Good or bad, quality or crap, I'l be posting the pics of them on here once I have them back. So stay tuned for that...
That's it for now, I'll be doing a much smaller update in the next couple of days again as I complete this next little area I'm working on now. Thanks for all your patience, and for following along if you've made it this far!
Cheers guys
Donovan
Once the epoxy had cured, the bezels were sanded smooth and finished in 400 grit dry. Fortunately, by now I had finally made up my mind as to what I wanted to do for the final finish on the bezels and grilles. I originally tossed around a lot of ideas like hydro dipping, painting certain areas body color, blacking everything out entirely, etc.
Ultimately I decided that I want the car to have a classic timeless feel to it when it's done - I don't want the car to appear "dated". So I decided to stick with a "near factory" appearance, (with my own touch of attitude of course).
The outer Flat portions of the bezels would go chrome again to tie into the grille surrounds (also to go back chrome again) and match the rest of the brightwork on the car. The insides of the bezels however, would go a nice satin black. Kind've like mascara on an already pretty lady.This helps tie in several areas at once. The satin black matches the color and sheen of the rubber gasket around the headlights, and as well as I would paint the sides of the fins on the grilles the same.
🙂
So, with that decided, I shot them with my touch up gun in PPG satin black. (Their DelFleet line)
Then the insides were masked off and the black was block sanded off the surfaces that are to go chrome again.
The finished bezels ready to go off for the chrome finish:
Still not done yet.... Time to paint the grilles as well. The outer edges were masked off, and then the grilles were shot in the same black front and back. The faces of the individual fins will be chrome again, but it was simply too tough to try and mask off such a thin surface area. So the faces of the fins were shot black initially with the intent to block sand them off clean again afterwards.
With the outer edges of the grilles unmasked, but before the paint was sanded off the face of the fins, I decided I had better do another test fit to make sure that was still the direction I wanted to go... As it turns out, I didn't hate the all black grille look as much as I thought I would, but it was interesting to see none the less.
I kept the passenger side assembly bolted up this way, and then bolted up an original spare chrome grille I had on the driver's side. I wanted to see the two side by side so I could get a comparison. To each their own, but I decided I was on the right track with my original plan to keep the faces of the fins chrome.
Sanding the black off the faces of the fins:
Finished product ready to go off for chrome:
And that's pretty much where I stand currently. I mentioned earlier that my local chrome shop DOES NOT have the ability (or desire) to chrome plate plastic. Rather than risk shipping my hard worked on parts halfway across the country to some unknown place that won't really have a clue as to what I want, I started exploring options open to me much more locally. As it turns out, a co-worker of mine has a good friend that is doing spray chrome!
I'll be the first to admit, I had no idea what the process entailed or how it was done, so I did my research. As it turns out, initially there were some issues and horror stories of people having bad experiences with it. If you dig a little further tho, you'll almost always find that there was improper prep or some other similar such situation behind it. In addition, the early processes weren't as refined and they didn't have all the bugs sorted out yet. I have met with the owner, and he has assured me there are no longer any issues with the process, so I'm going to take a bit of a chance and go for it. He currently has the parts, and figures he should have them done and back to me around the end of January/ beginning of February. Good or bad, quality or crap, I'l be posting the pics of them on here once I have them back. So stay tuned for that...
That's it for now, I'll be doing a much smaller update in the next couple of days again as I complete this next little area I'm working on now. Thanks for all your patience, and for following along if you've made it this far!
Cheers guys
Donovan
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Truly custom. Here I am trying to find a 35 year-old OEM grille that's not too crusty, and you're inventing entire new ones. Thanks for the detailed write-up and pictures of the process. Looking forward to seeing the chrome applied.
