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Pulled the body off again for another round of primer and blocking. Everything was in real good shape, but with that many sand throughs, it needed another couple of coats. Oddly enough, with the removable hard top, there are quite a few panels to paint and it's tricky to get everything setup up so there is room to move around,and that's with no fenders.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x...-53-34_598.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...-52-50_144.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...9-53-42_23.jpg
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I block sanded again and I just sprayed two coats of reduced epoxy on as a sealer. Since I'm using a metallic base, I'll wet sand the epoxy w/ 600. Maybe get some color on this weekend????
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q...Y/000_0080.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...g/000_0082.jpg
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Wet sanding the epoxy was a drag, took a lot of elbow grease. But I got it all sanded, cleaned the garage, put plastic up and seal up around the doors. Got 4 coats of color on, the silver was slow to cover, need to clear coat tonight.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...-15-52_543.jpg
This is the first coat so it's a little blotchy, but after four coats it's pretty even. You can tell from the picture, but it's really bright mettalic silver.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Y...-16-17_426.jpg
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Lookin' good George. One of these days I need to keep my promise and take a drive to see it in person:eek:.
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Cool lookin' project. I can empathize with the hinges. As simple as they look when they are done, a lot of head scratching has to go into them for them to work the way they are supposed to. Great Job.
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Love the car, it is really turning out nice. Smoothing a car is very time consuming and yet is make or break when it is finished.
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Very nice job on the paint and body work!
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The usual fiberglass body problems to work out. Once the color and clear are on, all the blocking time doesn't seem quite as bad!!!!!! The chassis sure does look nice, anxious to see it with the body back on!
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Got the loose end finished up on the chassis and most of the body parts sanded and buffed so it was time to put the body shell on.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-c...-06-33_612.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l...-34-15_790.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-D...-34-31_779.jpg
I broke the front suspension down to install the new suspension bolts and to cut he rear lower control arm so I could get less caster.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A...-32-21_897.jpg
I took a different approach with the insulation and used the foil faced bubble wrap type insulation - I have my reasons and it's not all about price.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_...-58-03_355.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1...0-58-09_63.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_...-58-03_355.jpg
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One cool thing I figured out was the A/C vents unscrew so you can attach the tubing to the vent and then stick it though the hole in the dash from he back and then screw the face plate on. Makes it a lot easier than trying to push the duct on with the vent already installed.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-H...-22-23_291.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J...-22-47_985.jpg
Installed the carpet and boots.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x...-03-07_460.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7...-03-13_726.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...-03-36_308.jpg
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Installed the door panels and used "Neat Knobs" from Watson Street works for the interior latch. After messing with the cable setup, I came up with a rod setup that connects the exterior handle directly to the latch. It work pretty slick and is fully adjustable. The only issue now is I have to push down really hard on the interior knob to release the latch. I'm also not sure if the rod setup will clear the windows when I install them so I might have ot chage it around again.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--...-38-44_629.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...-39-04_401.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-B...-35-56_958.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r...-36-29_448.jpg
My solution for the poor fitting water fall was to just cut it off and trim it with windlace.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O...-36-13_869.jpg
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I wanted to install the roll bar but wasn't sure how to go about drilling the holes. I think one of the other builders had posted something about taping around the outline of the rollbar and then using the hole in the tape as a template to locate the holes in the waterfall. I put the rollbar in place and taped around the holes. I removed the roll bar and then carefully slid the waterfall into place without disturbing the tape. Then I could sight down inside the tape and draw the hole locations on the water fall and cut them out. Worked pretty good.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-M...-17-50_835.jpg
I remeber reading or hearing that you should paint the flange black where the glass sits or the body color will show through so I taped it off and did that.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E...-20-32_455.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-j...-20-45_123.jpg
I also made a headliner out of regular auto headliner material and 1/4" poster board. I used velcro to hold it up and I think it came out pretty good. I make a pattern out of paper and then trnasferred it to the posterboard. Then I used 1/4" tape to make the outline smaller so there would be room for the headliner material to wrap around the board.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7...-30-00_358.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J...-41-07_912.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...-45-18_628.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Q...-08-08_630.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c...-09-35_511.jpg
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Redneck powder coating.
I had not sent the rollbar out for powder coating when I had the chassis done, can't remember why now. But now I had to either powder coat it, paint it or cover it with some thing. I tried covering it with the extra black vinyl that came with the kit, but that turned out horrible. I could have painted it, but that would be process of sanding, priming, blue base, blue candy and clear - it's a formula I had worked out that matches the powder coat color.
It was too big to fit in my oven so power coat at home was out - or was it? I know from powder coating a bunch of small parts that the powder actaully will melt at a pretty low temperature. So I had a redneck moment and got out my torches. Now the powdr is flamable so you can't have an open flame around - but if I can preheat the part, shut off the flame, than I can spray the powder.
So I took about 15 minutes with my torch and heated up the bar evenly to about 200 degrees. I shut the torch off and quick grabbed my powder gun loaded with silver, dusted it on and sure enough it melted right down. I then swapped the blue in quick and dusted that on and it melted just fine too. It didn't flow out nice and smooth, it has more orange peel texture than if it was in an oven, but it looks fine and I'm happy with it.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y...-03-30_285.jpg
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I got the hood and side panels mounted so I rolled it outside and stuck the roadster windshield on for a couple of pictures. I think the hard top will be let on most of the time so I figured I see what it looks like with out it.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...-01-38_727.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U...-01-56_558.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-q...6-04-00_80.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...-04-09_437.jpg
Still had to sand and buff the hardtop, that was a lot of work.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...-23-27_152.jpg
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Got it done just in time to make a big local cruise in. Still have a few loose ends t owrap up. Need to install the side windows, final connect the A/C hose and charge and run the exhaust out the rear. Have a few paint blemishes to touch up also. I had a pretty elaborate flame job planned but now I'm not so sure.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O...14-44-40_3.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-s...14-44-50_6.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...-45-00_709.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-X...-45-44_870.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...-46-00_810.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-f...-46-09_639.jpg
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Nicely done.
If I can ask ... what kind of money do you have tied up with the finished product??
Thanks.
Ratty 46
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cool :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:
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looks great, Congrats's. well we be able to see a video of this sweet ride¿
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George, I know you wont say it but I can:eek:
It looks MUCH better in person:D
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Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how it came out but do have some loose ends.
A couple weeks before I was done, I heard Factory Five was looking for a customers car for the Good Guys Columbus show. I contacted them and told them I would not be done in time, but I was planning being at the Syracuse Nationals if they needed a car for that show. They contacted me a week later and said they would like to have it at thier booth so we made the arrangements and I drove it the 3 hrs to Syracuse and it was on display for the whole show. They were a great bunch and I had an awesome time.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-w...-58-41_337.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-p...-59-43_596.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B...-13-12_276.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y...-50-30_849.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...-56-26_463.jpg