71' Gran Coup Gen III

[larry4406]

Nice job.  What blast media are you using and at what pressure pot pressure?

[CudaA39]

I'm using an Allsource 41600 with TP Tools "First Choice" abrasive.  It holds about 100lbs so I can go for awhile without having to stop, and it's got big lines and valves, bigger than the harbor freight unit, do it really moves a lot of air.  I bought six - 45lb boxes of media and still have one new one left over.  Ive been reusing it quite a bit till it loses its grit.

[CudaA39]

Sealed with two coats of Sherwin Williams Genesis DTM Epoxy sealer followed by their single stage FJ6 for an absolute exactly "just left the assembly line" look #sarcasm.  I actually liked the look of the gray better, but am very happy with how it turned out.  My Devilbiss GPG worked flawlessly and even though it was my first paint project the orange peel was minimal (I wouldn't care either way, it's the underside, but still).

Plan is to flip the car over tomorrow, put it on Jack stands, remove the jig, and do the same for the engine compartment and trunk.  Feels amazing to finally make one step forward and have the car back to green for the first time in probably 40 years.

[YellowThumper]

Huge accomplishment for sure.
Looking good.

[CudaA39]

Finished engine bay, trunk, and engine compartment items.  It came out ok, struggled with some leftover blasting sand finding it's way out unfortunately.  The Devilbiss Dekups system saved me in the trunk area around the cage.  Definitely learning a lot of "don't do that" but I think it should be as nice as I hoped. 

[CudaA39]

Front suspension coming along.  Getting better at using the black phosphate kit for the hardware.  Torsion bars and rear suspension parts were blasted yesterday and hopefully to be painted by the weekend if I can sneak out to the garage.

My plan is to get the car back on wheels so I can move it around and start exterior body finishing.  I'd really like to get this car painted by spring.

[CudaA39]

Coated the interior with the epoxy sealer along with restriping and recoating the cage.  I wasn't too confident in the rattle can holding up, hoping the SEM product will be ok.  Still vacuuming out leftover sand, but was able to get the inner door hinge areas nicely.

Next I started working on the passenger door.  The body shop dropped a ladder on it and tried to charge my dad to fix it.  That was the last straw for him, and why it came home unfinished 20+ years ago.  I stripped the entire door and worked the dent out the best I could.  There's still some wavyness, I'm hoping some light skim coat can take care of what I can't seem to get.  I didn't find anything else surprising under the primer thankfully.

However, driver door was a completely different story.  The entire door had a 1/16-1/8 coating of bondo about 18" wide.  No clue why other than lack of skill mixed with laziness.  It was like a giant plate of filler, right over the door body line, for no reason that I can see.  I'm not a body guy (yet), hopefully I don't find out a reason why that would have been necessary.  I'll buy a new door skin if so.  The other picture is what I found on the front fender lip area after closer inspection of a hairline crack.  I'm not sure what they were thinking, this is where the front valance meets the fender, this would have caused an issue.

I plan on completely stripping the rest of the exterior, which is bittersweet, but that's the only way I'll know it will be done right.  I plan on doing a full coat of epoxy primer on everything then going from there.  Lots of work to go, but I should be ok.  Anything is better than the sandblasting.

[CudaA39]

Also had a chance to paint the 5 steering column pieces in SEM trim black.  Last few coats I tried to get fancy and turned the pressure down and fogged two coats to see if some texture would lay down.  It still flattened out a bit but turned out close enough for me.  I'm sure the $200 a qt suede would look better...

[360fish]

I appreciate the detail you are putting in to your posts on the build.   
It helps me see things I'm tackling and gives me helpful ideas.   

[CudaA39]

Thanks, trying to show as much as I can.

Got the driver side door down to bare metal.  Took a propane torch and a scraper to the filler, came off like scoops of ice cream.  Finished the door with 40grit on a DA, and appears to be as straight if not straighter than the passenger door.  Body line is crisp, corners have zero rust.  No reason for anything beyond a skim coat, glad I did this.

Moving onto front fenders next so I can see if I need to completely replace.  Hoping not, but I can see they're heavily covered. 

[CudaA39]

Started stripping the fenders now that I found some questionable body work.  Boy was I in for a surprise.  Hit the front nose with the wire wheel...bondo...hit another spot....bondo... another...bondo.  The entire, and I mean entire fender was covered in anywhere from 1/16" to 1/4" covering of filler.  I took 8lbs off by the time it was all said and done.

Got to the area behind the wheel, hmmm a patch panel.  Well you don't weld on a panel just cause, wonder what's under it.  These idiots couldn't even be bothered to paint it to prevent rust, it was just metal to metal.

I found blue over spray on the backside of this fender, and same as on the lower valence sitting in my basement.  I'm suspecting the car was hit and panels replaced.  This appears to be an original gill'ed fender, unlike the other side that I know had gills added.  Going to buy a patch panel from summit and see if I can save it.

[CudaA39]

Well the other fender was worse, and the body wasn't spared either.  A night with the puddy knife and heat gun found all the major areas, including three horribly done patches.  Driver side was limited to behind the wheel, passenger side was a whole other story.  Had the entire thing stripped with my drum sander in two days.  Looks like I'm buying a quarter panel, which should be fun because trunk was already painted and it's probably outside my skill-set.

[CudaA39]

Was thinking I could maybe just use a quarter skin, dissect the sections out, and reweld in patches but I think it may be more work vs a compete quarter.

[CudaA39]

Got the door, fender, and trunk lid mounted and aligned.  Took measurements off of each so that when I reinstall the quarter I could have some form of reference.  Bought a good spot weld cutter, but aren't looking forward to the welds in the trunk.

Fingers crossed, today it's Jesus take the (cutting) wheel today.

[CudaA39]

Through a combination of drilling out spot welds and cutting out pieces with the wheel, I got the entire quarter off.  I wanted to take the quarter off in one piece but it was easier for me to dissect.  Did a test hang of the new quarter just to convince myself "this is ok..this is good".  Another good news is that my front fenders came in from AMD as well.  Tomorrow I'll start fitting the quarter before I prep and undercoat.  With the quarter fitted, I can take the trunk lid off, and paint the trunk and hood underside at the same time I paint the quarter.  Then I'll move into the other side, which will just be a patch.

Knock on wood this part has been straight forward.  Throw in the headphones, take my time, and enjoy the work.