last friday, my 72 GS was trailered to the bodyshop. over the past 3 weeks, i gutted the interior, removed the vinyl roof, removed all the interior & exterior hardware. did not remove the engine as the engine bay is to be untouched. under the headliner, i discovered 2 cotton-based mouse nests - there prior to me purchasing the car. found no surprises under the vinyl roof. i already knew that the rear window lower valance corners were beginning to rust. fortunately, it was pretty good. the right rear corner has a couple of small holes & the left rear corner has no visisble holes. the car is being sanded to bare metal & repainted buick fire red with a new black vinyl roof. it was originally flame orange, then silver, then fire red. the roof will be unpainted but will be epoxy primed. i will be checking occasionally as to the progress of the repaint & post a few pictures. see the attached photos As of October 31, 2009 As of Feb 27, 2008 As u can see, from the a-pillar back, the car is primed & sealed & ready for paint. The doors are being prepared and the front clip is next to do. Repairs were made to the rear window corners and lower corners of the trunk seal channel. After blasting, they had to repair a couple of places around the windshield and a spot in one door. I should be selecting paint colour this week. tentative completion date is april 1.
Goodluck my 72 started out wintering at the body shop 4 years ago and i havent seen it since, he tore it apart and then quit working on it. I even sold the stroker motor i built for it. who knows when it will get finished. :af:
Shawn go and get your car now. There is no excuse for that crap. Same happend to a friends car. Almsot had to break in and take by force. We took it home in boxes. 4 years is a joke. Get the police involved if you have to.
Ya I almost did this year hes not stopping me from taking it but I figure what am i gonna do with it when i get it home? I already sold the motor for the car. its basically free storage now. till i can get a plave to work on it myself.
the paint/bodyshop is a local, very reputable business in leamingtion ontario. the owner's father started the business many years ago. the father owns a restored (at this shop) beautiful 67 mustang ragtop painted pearl white. my car is a winter project for the shop and i have asked to have it completed by april 1 2009 as it will probaby take me a month to re-install all the pieces that i removed + have a headliner & vinyl roof installed. i do know that the right front fender was replaced many years ago (accident?), the doors are original & rust free, the rear quarters were replaced in about 1990 with nos full quarters.
since i had to have the lower corners on the rear window repaired and the vinyl roof had to be removed to perform the repairs, i weighed my options. my car has been repainted twice, in different colours (orig orange, then silver, then red). the current acrylic enamel red paint (maybe 3 coats, not certain) was sprayed by the previous owner. from 10 feet it looks great. however, it appears that no blocking was performed on the body. the doors are quite wavy. the fenders, front and rear are very straight. the front fender lips & lower rear quarter lips were were poorly sprayed. there is paint fade on the trunk lid & lower rear window valence. there are also a lot of scratches in the paint. the engine bay & firewall will be untouched as that was refinished in 2001 and still looks great. i repainted the fender liners a year ago. i decided that, while i am still working (retiring in 4 yrs) and i have been saving $$ for several years, that the time was now to repaint. thus, it is a winter project. i just no longer want this buick to look good; i want it to look great.
How bad was the mice nests? Under my headliner was full of mice nests in like every hole that I can't get to. Does anyone have any suggestions?
the mice nests were about 6" in diameter with a quantity of mice $hit pellets. they were constructed from the cotton padding & border about the rear seat base. i believe this happened when the previous owner failed to re-install one of the rear quarter lower trunk plugs and that allowed the mice to move in, navigate about the rear seats, under the sail panel and into/above the headliner. to prevent infestion, u have to plur every conceivable hole - trunk, kick panel vents, doors closed, windows closed, even the tail pipes. they mice did not chew thru the headliner.
Gerry you should consider having the roof sprayed even though you're putting the top back on. The primer will absorb moisture and eventually rust...sooner. Good luck with it all, can't wait to see the pics. Doug
if i paint the roof, i have to wait 3 months or more to install the vinyl roof and that is not practical for me. one of the fellows on this site that installs vinyl roofs stated that epoxy priming the roof metal was the way to go. i will ask the body shop about applying a sealer over the epoxy primer and if the epoxy primer (using no solvents) will resist rusting.
I just did had my Regal down in Sikens, I did not have to wait 3 months to have the top installed. The guy the srayed my car (Pat Hoover) is the Sikens paint rep. I must say he did an excellent job!!!:beer
Well once you have nice fresh paint you are gonna be paranoid...trust me!! LOL Looks good...keep the pics coming :beers2:
pictures part 2 - as of march 16 notes: after the doors, hood & fenders were blasted, it was determined that both fenders & doors, at one time or another, had been accident injured. the hood had a lot of filler to mask a serious injury on the driver's side. rust repairs have been made around both front & rear window channels and one door and one fender. there were 5 or more coats of paint on the body which were easily razor peeled. the rear quarter required no repairs. this morning, march 17, they painted the bookshelf metal & the dash metal, black. my car is a winter project and the fact that the last week or so was slack at the bodyshop all three guys worked on the car and make great progress..
after almost 6 months, my car goes to the paint booth early next week. the final block sanding is almost complete as of wednesday. the car is being painted (fire red) with water base paint and then clearcoated. it has been a long haul, yet is was a winter project for the bodyshop, so i cannot complain. once the car is wet sanded & buffed, we make a trip out to the shop and examine it very carefully for any flaws. if all is well, i will return the next day, pay the man and haul the car home. i will the arrange to have a local fellow install a new headliner and the vinyl roof. the rear window will then be re-installed. i may have to replace the pinion seal. i figure it will take me maybe 3 days to re-install all the removed parts & pieces. there will be a lot of cleaning under the hood - fender liners, firewall and engine - in the trunk and wherever else there is bodyshop dust/dirt & overspray. pctures will be forthcoming as soon as i get the car home.
Make sure to examine it under fluorescent lighting, rolling out into the sun is an old trick that hides a lot of flaws...artificial light is best. Leave the vinyl roof as long as you can, not sure on water based but all paints settle out somewhat...the fact car has been in primer for so long in the shop is a good thing, lets it settle out a bit before color goes on. Car will be stunning. You must be getting excited!! :TU:
