1966 Coronet 440 field find

[gdrill]

Thanx Devin. Yes the car is very motivating. Every time I do something I get pumped up. But when I compare my task to some of the others on here I really get the bug. There are so many cool builds going on that it's hard to keep up. I think this would be a very easy job for some guys here after seeing their cars being stripped down to skeletons and then put back together. I just can't wait to get the body and paint done so I can start doing mechanical, which I'm far more familiar with.

 

[gdrill]

All welds are under glass

Well, the last of the welds are under fiberglass now. Still have to putty this side but that's it before sanding the rest of the car down for primer. I am way happier with this side. The patch was a much better job than on my learning side! :hello2:

 

[Ron 73]

It sure looks good bud! Now the hard part coming, sanding until your arm feels like its coming off and you know another couple months of it and it will be ready to paint!

 

[Dieselholic]

Just spent the last 45 minutes looking through this thread. Great job! I love how you rescued the car from a field.

 

[gdrill]

Thanx guys. Yes sanding will be a chore. But I am really excited about getting it in primer. Something about it being one color, even though it's just primer, really gets me going! Diesel, I happy to know someone new has joined in the entertainment! I love the first photo in this thread and when it's all completed I will put a comparison of "found to finished" side by side. That is something I think really wraps up a build thread for everyone to see the transformation.

 

[gdrill]

I finished up the putty on the passenger quarter and the rocker panels. Man all the little dings sure show up once you start feeling the steel. My plan now is to have the rest of the car sanded down by the weekend. Then I have to build another hillbilly paint booth so I can prime it. It's getting closer! :toothy12:

 

[kb67mopar]

looks great! Excited to see it in paint....

 

[Ron 73]

Looking good, here is another that looks forward to the new dress on her!!! Hillbilly paint booth? You sound like me lol....

 

[kb67mopar]

haha I never rigged up a paint booth when I did what I painted. I wish my hillbilly painter had used one...I have a couple of mosquito's permanently embedded in mine.

 

[Basket case]

I always heard "no charge for the meat"

 

[gdrill]

It's a lot of sanding! There sure is a lot of nooks and crannys when you get down to it. I took the majority of the paint off with 40 grit on a D/A sander. Then I went over everything with 80 grit, again on the D/A. I am doing all the little spots with 80 by hand. Hope to have it all done tomorrow or the next day. the door jams and trunk are the most tedious. I think I could get away with just scuffing all the paint, but I'm taking it mostly to bare metal. Maybe overboard!? I found some previous repair work on the cowl. It's not too bad. There is also some on the passenger A-pillar. I think it may have been done on the assembly line. Overall there aren't too many dents to touch up. I've been reading on painting and people say silver is hard to paint. My son saw it sanded down and said it looked good silver! I think so too. Gonna have to think hard about that.













View attachment 240944

 

[747mopar]

Wow, that is some clean metal. That car is looking great Grill, I don't think it's overkill at all because unless you strip it you don't know what your covering. Very nice!

 

[Ron 73]

Bud, I really think its going to turn out great with the silver, I will say with mine when i was done with all the sanding, i re-started it with 400 grit paper and went over it several times, With my 73 it was a story i guess and i didn't take the time to repair every small dent and wished later i would have!, i got in a hurry and shouldn't have but at the end the 400 grit was the final process and did make a good difference, if i didn't tell you i would pay for it later and maybe im wrong but that is what i did...

 

[TDawg]

I concur, gdrill... You are doing an awesome job, and she'll look amazing in silver!

 

[Photon440]

I see you have your "I am not like the others" whiteboard displayed in the shop too.

 

[gdrill]

Thank you guys. I am very happy with the condition of the metal. Heck if I could have afforded the $2000+ per side an OEM set of quarters might have been OK on this car!! Oh well, not in my budget! Good eye Photon, that is a Christmas present from years gone by. I have to admit, it kinda fits me! :glasses1:

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[gdrill]

If you are ever suspicious about the lead at the A-pillar........you probably have good reason to be. I had a couple small spots of rust showing so I dug into it. After I did the drivers side I headed right over to the other. Sure enough, rust under both. Nothing tragic but there nonetheless. I discovered it is easy to find the edge as lead will peel easily from the contaminated area and stay strongly adhered where it is OK. So I used hammer and screwdriver and began peeling. After all the loose lead came off I ground it down. Now I have a question. Can I replace the missing lead with fiberglass filler, then top coat with putty? I certainly don't want to re-lead it, but if I have to I will.

 

[Photon440]

If you're really sure all the lead is out (fumes), consider the likelihood of this part ever needing to be separated again. If it was mine I'd probably braze it up because it's not that large of a joint. You could even slowly fill it with spot welds and grind it smooth. Both would be a permanent covering that won't have the chance of rust creeping under, unlike any fiberglass or plastic based filler that you're thinking of.

 

[747mopar]

I'd take a small spot blaster to it (only way to get it out of all the crannies). I melted all of the lead out of my car, welded the seams solid (to seal them up) then filled with Fiberstrand and topped with regular filler.

 

[gdrill]

I was actually thinking about hitting them with the blaster too. The welds are still good as far as I can tell. It was mostly on the surface but I'll see better once it is fully cleaned up. One good thing about it is, now it likely wont rust out in my lifetime. It took 49 years to get like this and unless I make 98, I don't have to worry about it as I don't have that many left in me! :toothy12: