Just like a toothache, you gotta take care of busness!
After a year and a half, and hundreds of hours, I trotted out to the garage this morning with my prayer beads, one hymnal, and an old beat up tithing plate to put my shiney body on the frame. I do all this because I'm the Lone Ranger on this project and I need all the help I can get.
This is in the process following THE LIFT.
Joyce walked out, took one look, choked a little,and escaped back to the house!
If you think I wasn't slightly stressed, check out the next photo during THE LIFT
I think there must of been an earthquake, I wasn't shaking that bad.......was I?
Nick finished the final detail on the "A" and shot it.
I think we ended up using a mixed 2 gallons of Honda Rallye Red and a mixed 1 3/4 gallons of SPI Universal Clear.
The clear was tough, hard as nails in 18 hours. We color sanded with 1200 (work!!) and then with 1500 over the entire car.
Polished with 3M to finish. Machine polished the panels and I finger polished the detail.
This was a intense learning experience for me and I can tell you that 3M is the best of the best in polishing products. Absolutely AMAZING !!! Click on Pic
Thank you Nick !!
I had some help, and expert supervision, but this was an endless nightmare.
My respect for those that do this for a living is more than immense. I probably spent three times the number or hours on this than an experienced body man would have, but its done.
When I got close (???) the painter
would come by and write notes on the car and smile and leave. I think this went on for weeks.
Finally, he said "not bad..." I'll take it from here.
Maybe it was the wad of C' notes I threw on the trunk floor, but actually I think that he is just a super individual.
He's doing the final detail and then COLOR!!!
Actually, he was very pleased with the trunk lid..........
We have spent the last 8 days sanding, washing, grinding, filling, sanding, washing............ This is serious work. I cannot see how a shop can do something like this for a reasonable amount of money.
Now coated with two coats of SPI epoxy primer and three coats of SPI heavy building primer. Finally sealed.
This is just the beginning. Now the entire body must by blocked and primed probably twice more to achieve
the final finish that we are looking for.
They do this virtually overnight on TV,
what's my problem??
Continuing ..........
A short delay in the body work.........
This is a reproduction 1930 "A" dash that I layed out for Dick's expertise on his CNC mill.
After milling, I sent it to Superior Plating in Pomona to be stripped and replated. The Taiwan plating peeled badly during the machining.
All electric Autometer antique gauges are going to match the Model A vintage interior well and no speedo cable to deal with.
Serious cutting and grinding required to fit this into the original dash (gas tank no longer used).
Thank you, Dick !!
If you have ever had a car completely disassembled in your garage then you know.......... hard to walk in the mess. If I had Tom's garage, there would be no problemo. I could do two!!
Where to put it all??? on the frame and then roll it outside. The 9" rear axle was easy, but carefully assembling the freshly painted front assembly took a day and a half.
Now if I could get rid of the engine on the stand and the turbo 350 I would be ready to work on the main body.
Working on this Jewel is not all that much fun. I'm a clutz and I cannot scratch it now. I'm much better with single seat off-road cars and snow plows. Scratches are not an issue there.
Things are much better now, I have room to shove the paint materials and filler up against the cabinets.
The main body starts now, I hope to have paint on it by the last half of April.
Nothing hidden now.
I was finally able to pick up the media blasted body today. It doesn't take them long to do it, he was simply backed up. The entire body has been garnet blasted, and the doors, trunk lid, and small parts are all epoxied and primed and ready for blocking. This is such nice work and saves many hours of stripping, cleaning, and trying to get rid of surface rust.
Be aware that this cleaning process is great preparation but will expose hidden damage.
The blasting was all done by Snail Motorsports here in Vegas.
Many hours in this already and now the final fun begins.
