Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[charliekwin]

Finally: everything is in epoxy!

Took longer than I thought (I'm as bad at guessing times on this project as I am on, well, all my other projects) and got tied up with some other things the last few weeks, but hey, it feels like real progress. Mainly, I'm happy to not have to strip any nasty stuff any more! Since it's just epoxy and I really didn't want to go through the trouble of setting up the tent, I painted everything al fresco. There's a bug or two on the bottom of the hood; I can live with that. Still playing around with the gun: I thought I was was a little too fast when I did the body last month, but overcorrected and went a little too slow on the first coat on things like the back of the doors. Second coat was better.

And started with filler a couple weeks back. Roof and quarter are coming into shape. The good side won't need much work at all. With everything painted, I can do the seam sealer and start filling all the things.

[Patcon]

Good progress. Keep at it...

[charliekwin]

Been chipping away bit by bit as time allows. The doors, hatch, and the roof required a lot of work and are as good as I think I can get them. Had to use more filler than I want, but less than I thought might need. I've gone through about a half gallon so far and probably 3/4 of it ended up as dust...much respect to the pros out there who can do it in one try, quickly, without wasting a ton of materials!

The passenger rear quarter and the rear panel are almost finished. The rear quarter on the driver side is going to be a challenge reshaping the wheel arch and that swage line. Saving that for the end. Just started on the hood and fenders...hopefully they go quick.

 

[Patcon]

That's good progress!

75% on the floor sounds about right, at least for me. I am not sure the pros do a lot better at that. It's just what it takes

To help crisp'n the lines on the rear quarter and other panels , like down the center of the hood. Run a piece of 2" blue tape along the crease line with one edge of the tape nice and straight right on the line. Sand right up to the tape, maybe a hair over it. Cross hatching from both directions. Then move the tape or run a new piece along the other side of the line and repeat. It will help you define a nice sharp line. Many times mine become too sharp and I knock them down with a quick swipe of 320 by hand. When you start running primer, buy some good powder guide coat. You will be surprised how much it will show you. When you sand you want your transitions to be very smooth. No defined area from filler to primer to metal. You will find that if the line is very defined when you prime you will be able to see a map of your filler work. I like the edges of my filler or primer to sand out really far and get translucent where they feather off. Guide coat will help you find these areas before you color and high build should be able to deal with most of those issues. I probably put almost as much primer on the floor as I do filler. So buy an easy sanding primer and good paper!!!

[charliekwin]

I hope (of course) the panels look good when the next layer of paint goes on. I shaped, blocked, and feathered everything as best as I could and it feels good, but it's darn near impossible to see some of the details through the layers of paint and filler. And the lines...it's the subtle fade at the very top of the wheel arch I'm most worried about getting right. I'm comforted, at least, by knowing you can't see both sides at the same time :)

Speaking of paint...anyone with experience want to talk me into our out of using a few coats of the epoxy in lieu of high fill primer? I know there are people out there that do that and I've convinced myself it might be a good idea because I: have a ton of that stuff left over, am not in any rush, am comfortable-enough spraying it, and always happy to save a few bucks if I can.

 

[Patcon]

1 hour ago, charliekwin said:

I'm comforted, at least, by knowing you can't see both sides at the same time

As for using the epoxy in lieu of high build, I wouldn't!! The epoxy just gets too hard and doesn't sand well. In fact it gets so hard if you leave it for more than a few days it has to be abraded before top coating. Some people use the epoxy over filler to reseal the filler and metal down, and it sticks really well to almost anything. Then they run high fill over that. The problem that would cause me is my total build thickness tends to be on the high side any way, and adding another coat or two of epoxy would just make it thicker overall. It is possible to get too much build thickness which can cause failure problems

[charliekwin]

Fenders done.

Hood...not done.

[grannyknot]

Are your candy scoops welded to the fenders?  When the gap is filled in properly so it looks like one piece it can look very sharp, looking forward to the finished pic.

[charliekwin]

Are your candy scoops welded to the fenders?  When the gap is filled in properly so it looks like one piece it can look very sharp, looking forward to the finished pic.

Yup, welded the seams. Hoping it will look as nice in real life as it does in my head.

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[charliekwin]

In all the time working on the hood trying to get the metal on the left side straight, I somehow overlooked that it was out of shape. Instead of having a slight crown, I had a slight dip. Someone probably leaned on it or used it as a table or something at one point.

I do not have the patience or ability to try to coax that panel back into shape, so I forced it instead by cutting up a few pieces of ~3/16" steel bar and hammering them between the top of the hood and the bracing underneath. Seemed to work. But, while I had the hood turned over, I also noticed that the two sides still didn't match. There's are (supposed to be) some rubber pads sandwiched in there, and the driver side ones in mine are missing. I cut some replacements out of a rubber sheet and stuck them in there. Everything's even and back in shape.

Then just more filling and sanding, and the hood is done. So is the cowl; at least that was easy.

Was hoping to get all the panels finished before going on vacation, but didn't quite make it. Only have the one rear quarter and some final work on the rear panel left.

 

[charliekwin]

Arrrrrgh, I am a first-class idiot today.

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[siteunseen]

Ah man, you didn't use self-tapping glass screws. 8^(