Greg's 68 RR Resto - Bayou Bird

[Greg68RR]

OK folks! I will get this resto thread thing going! I've been snapping some photos w/ digital camera and now gotta start posting them. I will be looking to get new camera since my old one just bit the dust. I think taking it inside and outside with this damn 100% humitity and 100 degF heat has finnally killed it! Next camera will be waterproof even though I plan never to submerge it intentionally!

So stand by for some pic's...
:worthless_thread:

Also, I'd like to figure out how to get an email when someone posts to my resto thread...

Greg
:sSig_noob:
:the penguin:

 

[Greg68RR]

Dash Resto...

OK. Had to fix big hole in dash where something was added. Hole was not even done neatly, like somebody used tin snips & pliers to tear open a hole.







OH. And the thing under the black plastic...



More pics to come...
Stay tuned...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Trunk

The trunk lower lip was too far gone. I scored a good rust-free trunk lid that had a trunk panel originally. I filled them holes and drilled new ones using the original as the pattern. The GG1 paint and factory crayon marks for tire size will be duplicated later on the new trunk.











OK...
Will post some more later for all car **** junkies out there!
I'm headed back outside to work on the car...
Greg

 

[Donny]

Nice! Looking forward to more!

 

[Greg68RR]

Bad Pass Door Jam Area

Well, the passenger side door jam striker area was a little rusty. In order for the doors to shut properly in the future & stay shut, that area had to be replaced...

I'd already laid down DP40 epoxy primer, after grit blasting, so, had to re-soot that area. I kinda hate covering up something I know that I'm going to have to go back and repair, but with the South Louisiana humidity so bad, you'd better get paint on it FAST!











More to update... Saty tuned.

I'm trying to catch the thread up to present. Everything that I'm posting till I say, "I'm UP-TO-DATE" was done in the last 4 months.
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

The Dirt Factory

I'm taking everything down to bare metal. I use abrasive pads, disks, etc. but to get all the rust off, I fire up the grit blaster, nicknamed by my daughter as "The Dirt Factory". I'm using aluminum oxide, fine grit, as it's very gentle with the sheet metal and I've had zero warpage using it. We use it to blast turbine blades and parts to get them clean, so I decided to give it a try. Later, I tried some crushed glass media based upon someone selling the stuff's recommendation. That was a mistake, but, I'll get to that later.

All I have is a small Harbor Frieght blaster. I've upgraded it with a hose & dead-man nozzel from eastwood. My 7.5 HP Ingersol Rand air compressor will keep up with it OK. The compressor has an aftercooler, which keeps moisture out of my air. I've yet to have a problem w/ moisture in my air.

Now, let me tell you, it takes some time to get the metal blasted. I don't know the amount of ft2 per hour, but, if there's someone that provides this service in your area, look into it. It took me 3 weekends to get the car body done @ 1/3 per weekend. Donny, you've preached taking the car to a pro blaster with the big blasting pots, plastic media, big rotary screw air compressor, etc. Now that I've blasted a car with my pip-squeak Harbor Frieght blaster, the next car will most likely take a trip to get a dip or to get blasted. I don't know how many times I swept, sifted the stuff, & reloaded that damn blaster. PITA.

Dirt Factory:









Enjoy!

More pics coming!

Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Epoxy Primer

Well, taking it down to bare metal means shooting it w/ epoxy primer. I'm using PPG DP40LF, which is a grayish primer. PPG epoxy is a little pricy, but I've been satisified with it, so far. The lower price PPG line, OMNI, I believe, also has epoxy primer, but I've stuck w/ the DP. Here are some photos after applying some DP40 epoxy.











More photos to follow...

Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Repo Radiator

Bought a new Glen-Ray reproduction radiator from HARMS Auto. 68 hemi cars got a 2898048 rad, mine was missing. HARMS was good supplier. Recommend using them to get your next radiator. The Glen-Ray radiator looks great and appears to be well made. Can't wait to put a heat load on it!





Still uploading photos to catch up...
Lot more to go. May take a few days?
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Battery Rot Fix Up

Had a spot to fix on the driver side inner fender where the battery trays mounts.







Filling pin-holes in the trunk pan welds. Best way to to find them is to roll it out into the sun or get someone to shine a light for you while you lay underneath. MIG welding sheet metal is kinda repitetious. Weld. Grind. Weld some more. Re-grind. Weld. Grind...





The whole back of the car was ripped off by me in 2001. I'd got it back from a body man, that I thought would do a good job, in piss-poor shape. Replaced rear quarters w/ donor car metal, and pretty much everything in the rear of the car. I put the trunk pans & quarter extensions in the car in 2,002. Felt good to finally finish them up.

More pic's coming...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Warp Speed Dummy!

I mentioned before that I got some chrushed glass blast media at a recommendation from someone at the grit supply house. I tested it out and didn't like how it performed. Seemed proned to warp metal. It also felt like golf balls bouncing back at me. Playing around w/ air pressure didn't do much. So the chrushed glass got set aside & I kept on using aluminum oxide with good results.

So, one day, I figured I could "use up" the chrushed glass on the inside floors and set on it. The floors are ribbed & welded pretty good, so warping shouldnt be a problem. Floor area went well, no warping. Then, I had a full blasting pot and decided I would skim inside the roof. It had that funky glue stuff on it that I thought would come off easy. BIG Mistake! I warped the roof metal!

While contemplating hari-kari, I recalled reading about shrinking metal w/ heat. So,I broke out the torch and set about shrinking the spots. The metal was "oil canning" before I started. I also got the shrinking hammer & dollies out to actually use them! I shaped the metal back some and eliminated oil canning. It will take a little filler to fix up, but I think it'll be OK. If I don't like it or if it needs something later on in life, then it'll get an AMD roof. Right now, I'll make do. Tired of replacing metal...












I was so sick after it happened. I loaded up that chrushed glass grit and hauled it off after that. Didnt want it around. I should have stuck w/ my gut feeling and told the guy at the grit supply place to "pack sand" & give me my Al-Ox grit!

I'm sure someone has probably had issues w/ Al-Ox grit. But, for me, it works well.

Yea, I drank a lot of Bud's that day! Probably why I goofed! I knew better than blasting the roof w/ thay damn chrushed glass crap.

More pic's coming...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Rebuild Hinges

I rebuilt the door hinges w/ a kit I got years ago (forgot where). It came w/ new J type springs. Then I sprayed em w/ DP40. Blasted & painted hood hinges, too. I used the bead blast cabinet for this blasting. Yea, it's an el-cheapo Harbor Frieght cabinet, too.












More pics to come...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Doors #1

The doors needed to get worked on. They body shop had chemically stripped them ~10 years ago & all I did to preserve them was keep them out of the rain. The surface rust on them had started to pit them some. I know I should have coated them way back but didnt. So, they get blasted and epoxy coated. They have some rust-through spots that I'll have to repair.












Yea, I broke the stud off the went wing bracket on both doors. I had another pair, so I didn't have to resort to welding a bolt back on. I've learned a lot of tricks, a lot of them from other BBO member's work, while doing all the work on the car myself.

Doors part #2 to follow...

Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Doors #2

Blasted doors & epoxy coated. I tried to blast inside the door as much as I could but it's hard to get in there with the deadman blast nozzel. I'll hit the inside w/ some eastwood rust converter/encapsulator product, then DP40 as much as I can inside. That will be in a later update, doors part 3, after making metal repairs.











More pics coming...

Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Hood #1

The hood I had was modified sometime way back when the car was a drag strip racer. Fresh air vents were cut into it where to engine call-outs were. I found a used hood in good condition in Florida & made a speed run to get it w/ my daughter as co-pilot. Got the new hood from G&D Muscle Car parts (Glenn & Dana). The part was as they described in real good shape. Recomended if they have what you're looking for. They deal w/ mopar parts and have been doing it for years. Good folks.

Evidently, this yellow hood came off a GTX w/ 440.












More hood photos to follow...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Hood #2

Stripped the hood & documented where anti-flutter foam is or is supposed to be. I also played around with where a 68 hood black-out treatment would be placed. The car wasn't optioned with it, but I think I will put it on. I don't know how I'll do it, yet. I've seen several cars w/ a satin or flat clear coat over the black. I do like the real flat black treatment, too. Undecided right now...












Next, is Hood part 3...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Hood #3

Strip paint, blast, apply DP40 epoxy primer. Found dent on front edge that I pulled up with stud weld gun and slide hammer.













Continued on Hood part 4...
Greg

 

[Greg68RR]

Hood #4

Continued w/ work on the hood. Note that I'm using an AMD fender box as a paint stand! Fenders will get posted next.













OK. Got epoxy on the hood. You can see where my camera is starting to screw up. The humitity is starting to kill it.

I hope I'm doing my resto thread correctly. I think I'm going about it OK. I found out why I wasn't getting emails when someone posts to the thread. I had wrong email in my profile!

Anyway, more pic's to come. I'm headed outside, in the heat, to get back to work on it. Kinda nice sitting in the air conditioning doing computer stuff!

Greg

 

[TheSwede]

Great thread!

 

[Donny]

This is nice, sitting in bed, Overhaulin is on TV and reading this thread! Pretty cool! Got a few questions for you Greg, it's been a long time since I D.A. sanded a hood, how long did that take to do the hood, and how much sandpaper did you go through? I admire your determination, this is repeated here on this site in numerous threads.

 

[detmatt1]

Nice work, love those `68's!