Please! Keep the green dash, steering wheel and interior and green exterior paint. Some dog dishes and green steel wheels with trim rings and it will look absolutely killer. Hopefully the standard granny interior is good enough to reuse.
Thanks Rusty! In the immortal words of Scotty, "we're givin her all she's got cap'n!" Jim, The original interior in this car is in fantastic overall shape. The dark green dash and vinyl seats are staying, and the only things getting replaced are carpet, headliner, package tray, and one arm rest pad. And all are staying the original dark green. As for the exterior? Let's just saying you are a man with very, VERY similar tastes as mine......
Shawn - All I can say is WOW!!!:eek2: I haven't been on here in a while but first Justin finishing his car last year and now you......Good job!:beers2: Where's the 10 ft of snow that the rest of us Ohioans are under? I'm glad your at least drinking Yuengling now........... Good luck. I hope its done by Norwalk. See you there. Lon
Thanks Lon, good to hear from you! Yeah, we focused on taulbs car to finish it as it wasn't as big of a job, and now we're on to mine. I'm bustin my butt to try to get it there! Now that the quarters were straightened out and the other holes were adressed, a few small issues needed attention. I very reluctantly made the call to not put a vinyl top back on this car as to keep with the stripped down low option appearance theme I'm shooting for. I'm still only 51% vs 49% sure this is the right call as I've always liked the vinyl tops on these cars, but the trim studs had already been removed so its a moot point. Where the quarter meets the roof on these original vinyl top cars is notoriously rough and this one was no different. The seems were filled with a rubbery-like filler, not what I expected. We ground it down to a smaller area And then feathered the entire surrounding area with filler. Same deal on the drivers side Also the decklid, doors, and roof were DA'd down to naked. Once the handles were removed and few other areas knocked down to metal, its was cleaning and taping time. And time to start mixing up some primer!
If your still on the edge of decision on whether or not to put the vinyl top back on, I my opinion, depending on color, would be to put it back on. The trim studs are actually easy to put back on than you think. Also be careful on that pillar area with the rubbery stuff. Reason cars got the vinyl top or not was because of that area. Bad= vinyl top lol. Anyway back to the rubbery stuff. Yeah be careful in that area, I would hate for anything to start cracking a few years from now in that area. Oh yeah and according to the BookFace, you have what looks like 88 days left
At this stage of the game, its a done deal. With me being 51-49 I would be uneasy either way, so I threw in the towel and proceeded to remove all signs of a vinyl top. As far as the 'Rubbery stuff", we didnt hog it out of the seam or anything. We just took it down to flush or slightly below the surface in order to give the filler space to work. It did take covering a large area with filler and feathering it in ever so gradually to fix the gnarly seems and such. You are absolutely right, from the factory it was terrible and the top was a way to hide it. If it causes a problem down the road, maybe that will be the ultimate answer for the vinyl top debate, and the arduous task of then adding one back on will be the order of the day. But for now, Im going topless. Everytime I start questioning it, Taulbee lobbies that it was the right call knowing the grand scheme of what I want this car to come off as. Right or wrong, it was the call that was made. Time will tell I suppose! o No: Oh, and 88 days??? I WISH!!! My target is my birthday, which will give me a little over a month to shake it down and work out any bugs (and I know there will be bugs). I have a calender on my desk with a countdaown to target to help keep me motivated. 42 DAYS and counting.......... :eek2:
Tired of looking at 9 different colors of filler, it was time to mask up the car (and the barn...) and started mixing up the primer. Time to spray! Started with an epoxy sealer primer and away we go. Then 3 healthy coats of high build. Then I cranked up the heat and kept the barn at 80-90 for a few days to let everything dry. I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. With everything one color you can get a better idea of how the bodywork is, and although we found a few very small areas that need a minor touch up, I was very excited how straight it was. Even my "ace in the hole" body and paint expert said it turned out way nice and that blocking should go well on this car. It was a huge milestone and a big boost to help keep me motivated!
Wow well then, keep it up and hopefully you have 1 or 2 days of vacation lol. However, I do wish that at least one of my cars was in primer at this point in time... o No:
Great work to all involved. I can't wait to see that thing out doing its first burnout man. My B-day is June 11th. I'm just hoping to have the car running by then. Paint and body will be a while for me. Maybe by 2016 lol. Congrats on the awesome work so far and good luck with the forward progress. I need to find a car gang in my neck of the woods lol. One man makes for slow progress.
Host a Free BUICK BBQ with Beer Picnic / work session. Invite others to come and help .. or work on their cars too like basic tune-up stuff etc.
Yeah, I've got some vacation time and if it comes down to burning some of it for a week long thrash to the finish, it's not outta the question! 41 Days..... Me too! That woulda been a much easier decision on what I wanted to see..... :Brow: Thanks! Taulb and I have been wrenching on each others rides for about 15 years now. We always joke that I have as many hours in his car as he does, and vice versa with my car. But we get stuff done that way and take pride in what we do, no matter which one of our names are on the title. Its been that way with trucks, motorcycles, jeeps, quads, etc etc. But having 2 of us tackling these big jobs definitely makes a difference! Then being able to get some experience and expertise on the paint and body side was a life saver as well. Sometimes its not what ya know, its who ya know. Thats pretty much it Alan! They know the garage fridge is stocked with their beverage of choice, and if we go grab lunch I often times try to pick up the tab or at least pay for some celebratory beverages. Also, if they need a hand on their rides, Im always happy to return the favor and get greasy. Heck, Ive been lucky enough to be elbows deep in all 17 of taulb's trans swaps.....ou: haha:moonu:
LOLOL .. but sometimes, aren't you guys Lazy .. Just wanna Stay in Bed :Brow::Brow: not together of course .. not that there's anything wrong with that [video=youtube;69EcnxJmnd4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69EcnxJmnd4[/video]
Interesting thread. Keep up the good work! I am always amazed how much work americans do in their garage / barn. :TU: In Switzerland and rest of central europe, you rarely see people do bodywork or even paint "at home". then it is always one of the priciest things to get done here.
Hey Shawn, killer build man. all involved should be very proud. It's as good outside as it is inside and It's real pretty under the hood. keep 'em coming. we are all watching your work in progress. :TU:
