Progress Thread 88 Gt T-top- Project problem child

[Davedacarpainter]

Wheels look great Bill. Good thing the old paint job wasn't sanded before hand.

 

[billison]

Never throoghy I’d be glad someone did a crappy job lol. It’ll be busy work while things dry and what not.

 

[billison]

More work on the wing. Did an all over block sand with 320. Found one oddball pin hole I missed. Worked a bunch on the tips of the wing, they were almost blocky before and are getting closer to round. The wing has been easy , it’s just keeping the edges round that’s work. Primed to once more while I finish out the imperfections. Should be done by the weekend.

 

[billison]

Ok. The wing is basically done. Just a little touch up.

Started on the hood. I believe most of the work will be on the underside. Not gonna go crazy here though.

So far I hit it with 320 on a dual action with a soft pad . Sanded with reducer to get the red overspray off. And started filling the larger chips in the gel coat.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to get the overspray off the wire mesh in the clear opening. Probably just gonna be more Reducer and time. Then I’ll tape it off. The goal is to keep it metallic.

 

[billison]

Got 2 main accomplishments for tonight. Swapped my compressor fittings all over to high flow fittings. So far everything has more pep.

Started knocking down the repairs on the hood. I’m using a 2 part bumper repair kit for anything that requires structure. It works well but is hard to Sand. Almost done rebuilding the edges of the hood prop hole. Gonna look into some kinda metal tab to glue here to prevent this from happening again.

 

[billison]

A little more work on the hood. Focusing on the latch area. I removed the actual metal latch to get the area cleaned up. I don’t like that the latch only attaches to fiberglass. I plan to add some metal and on the inside and use longer rivets. Beyond that it’s just a bunch of samding so far.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Have you blocked the topside yet Bill? Fiberglass hoods usually are so wavy.

 

[billison]

Have you blocked the topside yet Bill? Fiberglass hoods usually are so wavy.

Nope. Haven’t touched the top yet. It was previously painted and pretty straight , but the block will confirm that.

I wanted to get the bottom done first so the top spends as little time as possible on the stand once it’s ready. Flaws in the bottom are not as big a deal. I know I’m gonna spend a bunch of time blocking the edges for sure.

 

[billison]

More progress. Got the bottom pretty much done. Not really much to show.

Started on the top. Dave was right, this thing needed a lot more sanding than I expected. There was a ton on trash in the paint but it’s much closer to flat now.

Also got the fuel door and the cobra grill in primer. Both went very quick. The fuel door needs a little touch up but is basically there. The grille was a one shot job. The second pic is how smooth the primer laid out. The high flow fittings really wake up the paint guns.

 

[billison]

Also got some 8’ led lights I’m gonna start working on getting up. These should be enough to light the way when I lay paint.

 

[billison]

Things left to do.

Spot prime 4 fender extensions
Prime , block and finish side skirts
Spoiler
Hood
Gas lid ( where did I put that thing?)
Strip the door jambs and reprime them.

Prep garage for paint
Practice on spare parts

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Almost there Bill! Great job!

 

[billison]

Spot prime 4 fender extensions
Prime , block and finish side skirts
Spoiler
Hood
Gas lid ( where did I put that thing?)
Strip the door jambs and reprime them.

Prep garage for paint
Practice on spare parts

 

[billison]

Hood is now blocked out and basically ready. Fuel door is the same.

Sunday starts the family vacation. Colorado bound!

After that.

Strip door jambs and prime
Figure out the door moldings
Clean the garage ( thanks baby Jesus)
Flush cooling system and install
Overflow ( random but needs done
Hang plastic and filters for paint
Practice
Practice
Practice
Paint

 

[billison]

Ok! Back from vacation. The family spent a week camping in Estes Park. Took a week to get caught up on things at home and work. Started the process of stripping the door jambs. This is a pain in the butt job. I’m 90% done with the passenger side. I’ll finish it tomorrow. Don’t miss stripping parts at all. This was definitely something I was tempted to skip.

 

[billison]

Drivers side jamb is stripped. Tomorrow I’ll prime and start getting the garage back in order . Getting close. I know there will be a bunch of oddball crap.

 

[General karthief]

Oddball crap? What? You expected me to come over? Now that's downright not nice, wait, ooohhh, car oddball crap
Never mind, move along, nothing to see here

 

[billison]

Lol. By oddball crap, im sure the parts have picked up a few nicks. I’ve also improved how I do things so some things may get redone. We’ll see.

 

[billison]

Got the jambs primed. Started moving a few things out of the way. Gonna take a few days to clean and organize before I start sanding the jambs and checking each part. I already saw some stuff on the quarters im gonna fix.

 

[billison]

Just spent the night cleaning out the garage. Pulled the mustang out. I love that it can sit so long and fire right up. Finally added a retractable air reel. Should have done that before I started.


Decided to get the glass clean and found one of the accidental cool things about the car. It had the back glass tinted and one of those running horse decals. When I removed the decal I found the tint was faded around the decal. I wonder if I can somehow recreate this with fresh tint and an semi transparent decal.


Next is starting the process of getting anything that’s in the car out and cleaning the car along with doing final Checks of everything. I need to make a plan for turning the garage into a paint booth.