1967 Belvedere II Build

[ardentind]

Blocked out the passenger side today. Again, hard to know if you’re doing things correctly or not when there is not shine.
This is with some WGR sprayed on it to shine it up a bit. I have a video of me walking down the length of the car…I’m amazed at how straight it looks to be honest.

 

[ckessel]

You can get them from RA, Amazon, your local parts stores. Look up 73-76 Duster/Dart. Wagner, Centric, Bendix, Raybestos, Power Stop, Dynamic Friction are some brands. I got Wagners for the wagon. My cheapos that were on the car groaned when warmed up plus had very little stopping power.

 

[ardentind]

Again, super happy to see it looks to be pretty dang straight. Unibody is all in 400 grit now.

 

[ckessel]

Thats the view I learned as a kid from my first job working at a body shop.

 

[ardentind]

Small win and maybe something that will help someone else. The front spindle dust caps from Napa were too small by .010”…darn.

I got to looking at the Dorman ones more and did some measuring. Turns out the smaller diameter that gets tapped into the rotor was actually too long. It was bottoming out before the flange was sealing.
I was thinking it was hitting the end of the spindle but not the case.
Spun them in the lathe, remove .140” from the length and they tap in nicely.

 

[ardentind]

Had cooper cobras mounted. Mostly to protect the wheels from getting dinged. I begged and pleaded with the tire store owner, please be careful, don’t ghack them, stick on weights only on the inside. If you need to rotate the tire on the wheel to get them to balance, I’ll pay you for your extra time.
He did them himself he said and I don’t see any marks in them so I’m happy.

255/60 rears. 225/70 fronts.

 

[ardentind]

Hard to believe it’s done but I was able to spray the car this past weekend. It turned out very nice, much better than I had faith in my abilities to achieve.

Little orange peel and a couple debris nibs to deal with but overall, very nice.

It goes on the back burner for a bit as life has other projects coming up.

 

[ardentind]

Now with clear coat.

All SPI primers, Motobase basecoat and Universal Clear from SPI.

I was pretty terrified of how good or bad my blocking skills were, especially on these huge quarters. I havnt found any areas I missed though.

 

[ardentind]

More

 

[ardentind]

Last few pics. I’ll post a couple videos to show movement along panels.

 

[ardentind]

Front fender after clear

 

[ckessel]

Nice! Since its back burnered for now, it'll have time to shrink before the cut and buff.

 

[ardentind]

Nice! Since its back burnered for now, it'll have time to shrink before the cut and buff.

Exactly. Wow, the painting was such a mental drain on me. I’m naturally a worry wart but this was next level.
Logistics of moving parts around, what day to do what, misjudging how long the final masking would take, pushing off schedule, afternoon was a scorcher so had to elect to come back to lay clear the following morning on the body, etc.

So so so glad I’m past that part…and that I’m happy with the result. Ha!

 

[71dodgechargerrt]

That looks great.

 

[qkcuda]

That looks awesome

 

[ardentind]

Dang, the picture quality really drops off when posting. I know, storage and bandwidth. The YouTube video should be clear I hope.

 

[ckessel]

Exactly. Wow, the painting was such a mental drain on me. I’m naturally a worry wart but this was next level.
Logistics of moving parts around, what day to do what, misjudging how long the final masking would take, pushing off schedule, afternoon was a scorcher so had to elect to come back to lay clear the following morning on the body, etc.

So so so glad I’m past that part…and that I’m happy with the result. Ha!

Waiting till the next day to apply the clear is a good thing. Cuts down on the possibility of solvent popping due to the base still off gassing. At a shop I managed years ago, that was a major problem. Since it was a production shop, not a resto one, you're under a time constraint due to insurance contracts. The shop had the local PPG rep come up to show the painter proper procedures, nothing was being done wrong btw. The rep layed down some clear on a black Navigator which solvent popped after he left.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Looks great! I used SPI universal clear on my Charger too, great stuff. I let mine cure for three weeks before cut/polish. Blocked with 1500, then 2000, then DA"d with soft intermediate pad 2000, 3000 then compound and polish. Used Meguires M100 much easier on cleanup than the 3M I had been using. I did all of this twice because I was afraid of cutting through the first time around!

 

[ardentind]

Looks great! I used SPI universal clear on my Charger too, great stuff. I let mine cure for three weeks before cut/polish. Blocked with 1500, then 2000, then DA"d with soft intermediate pad 2000, 3000 then compound and polish. Used Meguires M100 much easier on cleanup than the 3M I had been using. I did all of this twice because I was afraid of cutting through the first time around!

Great info. Thanks! Ive started researching that process, knowing its coming up. But life is BUSY at the moment so I really need to stay away from all of it. Ha!