58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[JTR70]

8/3/13

Right side of this car now ready for final paint. (after block sand)


At long last I got this side of the car to a level that I can live with.

Smooth transition and consistent shape at this corner

Uniform enough from quarter panel to door.

B-Pillar to gutter T-junction

Finally done with this A-pillar; Really small area but a lot of things happening all at once. BTW: what also makes these places so tough is you constantly have to watch your sanding strokes as to not create wear grooves into the opposing surfaces as you go. I of course did that several times along the way.

[JTR70]

Now the bigger picture of the general contour.

more hours of block sanding and tracer coats than I care to remember but I can now leave well enough alone.

Critical detail for me personally was an undistorted reflection from the door gaps across to the fenders. The reflection of the Vette under the cover stays almost uninterrupted but its hard to distinguish this detail in a still photo.

Same uniformity on the upper "cap" area from door to quarter panel. Here also is were that even transition from the upper cornered edge of the door to the base of the quarter window opening makes itself known.

Another rare session where I felt some victory; doesn't happen too often. Onto the tail and deck lid gaps next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

Bet you were pleased with that work when you left your shop. I can't quite get over the door gaps, they are so perfect. Tell me in the photo they look within 2mm maximum? I still don't understand how the opening of the door is not affected by clearance. I have probably 4mm at the front opening and 3 at the back. As the door opens it only just misses the leading edge of the front fender.

Surely your gap gives minimal clearance at the front. I raised the question before I remember but, just cannot get my head round it. What happens with the final paint. That has thickness have you accounted for that? Thats an amazing finish before spraying it will look like a perfect mirror I am sure with the final coats.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thank you Roy! Yes, they are just shy of 3mm. To have them this tight I have taken on the extra responsibility of policing the paint thickness to maintain enough clearance. I also have to take into account that when the body gets warm in direct sunlight there could also be potential clearance issues with temporary heat expansion. A lot more work but once I get it all dialed in after paint it will be well worth it at least to me. Thanks again! Justin
8/6/13
Deck lid gaps and fine fitment.

As with hood and doors before I am gaping and blocking the deck lid in with the body for tight matching gaps and undisturbed reflections across them.

Long even strokes with my plastic board across the rear cowl and deck lid. Gaps a getting better but a lot of fine tuning still to come.

So glad to be working in the final closing panel; also nice that its the smallest of them all. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[JTR70]

8/15/13 More Deck lid edges and gap detail..

The progress is very slow but still moving steadily ahead. I am sorry if this thread gets too detail involved at times but I'm trying to share everything it is taking to get these panels to fit right and to get the best painted shell that I can. So with that apology out of the way more deck lid..

As skim coating and block sanding has progressed on the cowl this left side leading edge of the lid stayed coated in a few Mils of filler. It needed to be spanked up a bit. Would be easier just to leave it but again I want all the edges a correct thickness once complete. Definitely a lot more work and time involved to do this with repeated fits and gradual slaps with my dead blow hammer on a shot bag but worth it in my mind.

After several series of slaps, remounts and block sands the filler on the edge slowly gave way to the initial silver paint.

It wasn't that straight forward. Several spots were now too high so I had to ever so slowly and gradually love tap them even with my ball ping and this stir stick to displace the force of the hammer strikes more evenly throughout.

At long last this side and the upper gap were now ready for primer and another tracer coat to see what's doing.

Shot last night.

This side and the cowl run are all but finished. There are a couple little irregularities still but I should knock those out on the next round.

The gaps are definitely a little tighter than when it left new; especially this upper one.

Will now address this corner and vertical run since the other side is all but finished. Then there is the lower gap still to do. Getting closer though.

[JTR70]

8/15/13

Got to the shop this afternoon and noticed my tracer coat was still a little gummy. So I pushed it out to let the sun activate it little. This is maybe the second or third time this car has been outside my shop in the last 4 years. It was weird seeing it the sun light and at a vantage point of more than 4 feet I had to take a couple of pics.

Letting that cowl, deck lid, and left roof section I painted get nice and warm. (the temp was 105 today) Needles to say I had to put my welding gloves on to push it back inside. Gotta get that quarter panel shunk!



Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[merbesfield]

Looks so nice in the light. I see u have taped the front hood joint to keep dust out. What brand of tape do you use? The white cheap masking tape I have used goes bad so fast I am afraid to use it. It can become a PIA so fast. Thanks, Mark

[JTR70]

Thanks Mark! I only use 3M masking tape (both white and green) on the car. You're right cheap stuff bleeds and is a total PIA to remove as it tears in tiny strips, extremely frustrating! I will use the cheap stuff for my paper templates though. Justin

[roy mawbey]

If its looking that good in a mix of primer flashes imagine how good with top coat! Nice!!!

Roy

[gkw]

Justin, that really looks good out in the sun.
almost looks like fresh aluminum. Really nice, Gordon

[Carrera_The_Kid]

Love the brakes Justin!!

[JTR70]

Thanks Roy, I really hope so!

Thank you Gordon! The photos hide a lot of sin. I'm hoping to have mine looking as beautiful as yours very soon here.

Hey Joris, Thank you! I like them too though I paid dearly for them but they are an important part of creating the vision I have in my head of the finished product. Thanks once again you guys!!! Justin

8/18/13
Lower engine lid gaps and elevation issues.
I had a really nice break-through session on the lower engine lid this evening. Since I very first fit this lid again several months ago the lower lid edge especially at the corners stood out from the body just by a few MM's. The rest of it fit so nice especially with the original hinges back that I mindlessly began building surface area with filler as I worked the upper lid and cowl. Now that I am directly addressing this area it just got really hard mentally to keep going this way. I was just not liking the amount of filler the corners of the body was needing to even up with engaged lid.

As I worked the upper area I'd swatch the corners with my excess to begin building up the corners. After about the third pass I just could not stand it anymore. It was starting to buildup and the damn thing still wasn't were I wanted it.

Then the very simple notion of thinning out the spacer washers on the latch tab caught my attention. Because the lid had always fit so snug and securely against the rubber buffers I sort of put it out of my mind to adjust them again. But rethinking it I knew the shim count was not set in stone. The original washers I am using are pretty thick and removing just one I know would be way too much. I needed a "half thickness". I found it in the original wave washers. You can see the space between the washers in this photo. That's the stand in wave washer. Once I re-latched the lid it was like magic! The entire fitment got instantly better.

Once I latched the lid its corners set a few mills lower than the body which was absolutely perfect because there was a lot of filler I wanted gone. The photo above shows block sanding well underway and sections of the original lead were now wearing through. I was even getting into the old "pink filler" here that again has been on the car since 1988! It was so going in the right direction here!


as the sanding progressed it became apparent the old factory lead was now just a touch high. I grabbed my body file and began leveling and shaping it to the edge of the lid.

A couple of sweeping passes and it was there.

I could not stop there I went after this side once again to see how far I could take it down. Again got a section of old pink filler to thin out. I have a little more to go but it's close. A couple spots of steel are showing through so I'm about out of road but its better and thinner than it was.

A detailed shot of the "new" fitment. I can live with that! hard to believe just the thickness of a wave washer set all this free and into the right direction but its proof that just the smallest of adjustments can make all the difference.

Like the front fender before as I wear into the old pink filler my father's old pen marks are reappearing to show me what needed more filler when I was just a kid learning this stuff. Its incredible to think that this work has been on here since Reagan was in office. Where does the time go??

What really makes me most happy with this area now is that I know everything is back within factory tolerances and not just caked with putty as was the case yesterday. A lot of steel showing with very thin swatches to catch the irregularities. Just about ready for a primer coat. Thanks for reading this! Justin

[JTR70]

9/7/13

Deck lid leveling and gaps now 3/4 of the way complete.

At long last the upper cowl, left side vertical run are in their final test coat.

gaps and final shape to these areas are complete. I can live with it. Lower corner there needed just a bit more work on the gap.

With that out of the way I started working my way down the skirt. I have decided to leave the lower rolled under lip and 90 degree flange devoid of any filler. It will be a little wavy but I prefer this area to be free because its so low and exposed to danger.(rock chips etc.) I did the same with the front skirt.

First sealer coat of primer and will continue on with this next. Thanks for stopping by! Justin

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

I can appreciate why you were so happy with the washer situation. Its a great feeling when suddenly it all goes the way you want it to. So easy just to apply filler without first thinking why.

I have been thinking about my front lid and the replacement seal I put in. I am sure I can get an even better fit with a more pliable rubber seal like you possibly used. Its something I will do eventually.

The engine lid fitment looks first class really nice job.

Roy

[merbesfield]

The pic of your deck lid w all the different colors is like a Psychedelic painting out of the 60's. Very cool.