BUILD THREAD The Mullet Maurader, The Epic of the LS swapped Buick

[Northernregal]

Progress is looking good man, keep it up! Were all rooting for ya, and with the addition of RKTPWRD sharing the proper knowledge that Regal is gonna look slick!!

Thanks Scott, gotta do something to keep up with the guys like you that sweat the details.

Porcupine roof! Love it!!

View attachment 131292

The trunk lid is going to look like a porcupine for sure. It probably has close to 2 dozen hail dings.

 

[Northernregal]

Got a few things finished today.

First I sanded out the incorrect glazing on the C pillar and did a final skim coat of the correct fine filler. Thanks to Rktpwrd for pointing out my error.

Skimmed up.

While it was drying I got on fitting in the inner wheelhouse metal. It's pretty much ready to weld in, just need to clean up inside the wheel well and do some epoxy coating and rust prevention in the seam. What a fussy pain in the butt it was. Took a couple hours of grind, fit grind, re-fit, and repeat.

He top seam needs to be pushed back into place to weld but it fits nice. Gonna do the Donovan epoxy sealer treatment before tacking in the pinch seams. I never want to do seam repair here again. Hahaha.

After that was fitted in I sanded out the C pillars from 80 to 180grit and applied the glazing putty to the rough spots, pinholes and heavier scratches.

I'll sand out the putty with 180 and start the B Pillers next as I work on the metal work so I can prime the whole drivers side over Christmas holiday. Then onto the roof.

Now a question for the group. What can a guy use for rust abatement on panel seams? Will POR15 be ok under seam sealer in the trunk? Or should I just wire wheel it out and brush epoxy into the seam? I feel like I need to put a converter in to prevent future rust.

 

[Rktpwrd]

What can a guy use for rust abatement on panel seams? Will POR15 be ok under seam sealer in the trunk? Or should I just wire wheel it out and brush epoxy into the seam? I feel like I need to put a converter in to prevent future rust.

Duke, on the PITA areas where I really REALLY don’t want rust coming back, I’ve been doing both, treating the leftover rust with converter to neutralize it, scuffing and feather edging it, then brushing epoxy over top afterwards. The converter will stop the current oxidation process, but I don’t feel it will provide protection to anything new that’s trying to start. That’s what the epoxy will do, especially if it’s applied liberally, and there’s nowhere for new oxidation to get a foothold.

I would strongly advise against using POR15 underneath anything you plan on welding, once it melts with the heat, it runs into and contaminates your weld puddle. Ever tried to weld really rusty shitty metal with all the popping and farting? It’s 100 times worse, and I speak from experience. You’ll be chasing pinholes and poor penetration forever, trust me.

Epoxy on the other hand, tends to burn a little bit rather than melt, and it doesn’t seem to contaminate the weld nearly as bad.
Just my opinion of course, take it or leave it for what it is.

 

[Northernregal]

Duke, on the PITA areas where I really REALLY don’t want rust coming back, I’ve been doing both, treating the leftover rust with converter to neutralize it, scuffing and feather edging it, then brushing epoxy over top afterwards. The converter will stop the current oxidation process, but I don’t feel it will provide protection to anything new that’s trying to start. That’s what the epoxy will do, especially if it’s applied liberally, and there’s nowhere for new oxidation to get a foothold.

I would strongly advise against using POR15 underneath anything you plan on welding, once it melts with the heat, it runs into and contaminates your weld puddle. Ever tried to weld really rusty shitty metal with all the popping and farting? It’s 100 times worse, and I speak from experience. You’ll be chasing pinholes and poor penetration forever, trust me.

Epoxy on the other hand, tends to burn a little bit rather than melt, and it doesn’t seem to contaminate the weld nearly as bad.
Just my opinion of course, take it or leave it for what it is.

I was going to use it in some seams I'm not welding or after welding.

The rust converter is for the passenger B pillar. There was some surface rust under the trim that I need to deal with before I seal it.

 

[Northernregal]

Got some work done tonight. The drivers side rear quarter is almost ready to seal and weld up. Damn metal work takes forever.

The last pieces to get put together were the bottom edge of the trunk drop.

First made a plan with the bottom edge. Made a template to cut out of cord stock.

Traced onto steel and cut it out.

Bent one edge to match the trunk drop.

Test fit, tweak, trim re-fit....

Then tack it in.

Once I got this phase done I made up a template for the front edge. Cut it out and started shaping into the needed shape.

I spent a lot of time shaping it. Lots of hammering and fitting. Some trimming and fitting. Made a bit of a boo boo and had a hole. At this point I was getting a little frustrated and kinda just sent it.

I'm not proud of my little square but I'll pretty it up from the back and no one will ever see it.

Tomorrow ill finish trimming and welding that out and proceed with the sealing and welding in the inner panels. Then on to the outer skin. Getting close to the finish line on this panel.

 

[motorheadmike]

When you start sweating perfection, remind yourself of the purpose for this car: High performing driver or concours restoration? At least that is what I tell myself. Heh.

Looking good!

 

[Northernregal]

When you start sweating perfection, remind yourself of the purpose for this car: High performing driver or concours restoration? At least that is what I tell myself. Heh.

Looking good!

Thanks Mike. I just want to be in the middle, done right and not have to do it again.

 

[Northernregal]

Only got a couple hours in tonight before I had to do family stuff. So short but important update.

Welded out the trunk drop patch seam and smoothed it out. It's no perfect but I'm pretty happy.

Then I cut an fit the quarter panel. Its about 95% fit, still a bit of tweaking but I'll do the rest when I weld it in as the panel isn't a perfect fit as it was. Pretty much it's time to start laying epoxy and welding from the inside out.

Kinda excited to not have a hole there anymore.

 

[Northernregal]

More progress this morning before I was confiscated for family related duties.

I popped some holes in the patch pieces with an air flanger, mixed some epoxy primer, cleaned everything off with dewax/degreaser and brushed on the epoxy. I had taped off the holes to prevent weld contamination and let it tack up.

I primed up the lower edge of the panel and cleaned the attachment points with a shop towel. Then it was weld time.

First patch went in really nice.

The welded out, smoothed and it disappeared.

I brushed some epoxy and cleaned the plug weld spots again and started on the wheelhouse patch. At which point I learned a lesson I though I knew.

Dont leave paper towels in your crotch area whilst welding.

The second patch was not as smooth as the first. I kept blowing through the original sheet metal in the seam. So the back of it in the trunk area is ugly right now. But I'll smooth it out and blend so it's not noticeable when this is done. Its fully accessible at the moment so it's not hard to make the pretty.

Once I get that mess sorted out I'll start final fitting of the outer skin and get it tacked in.

 

[Northernregal]

Had a pretty productive day here today. Unfortunately I didnt gets a lot of pics because she was a busy one.

The Rktpwrd Skunkworks showed up mid morning and school was in. After a visual inspection of my repairs and some good discussion of what I should be doing work started.

The roof was prepped, the passenger side hail dents pulled and knowledge passed on the pro tricks of the stud gun Donovan got laying filler school going.

While that was going on I tore into the rust holes on the inner wheelhouse on the drivers rear.

Donovan had quite a bit of insight as he had done the exact same repair on Olds Cool.

I'm sure everyone has seen this process.

Cut, cut and cut out all the rust.

And the final cut out, prepped for coatings and welding in new steel.

Should be a good day tomorrow.