wheee!

Gaps look great, finish should be super smooth! Love the car porn! so jealous....

I worked on the inside of the rear hatch last night. It was a painted mess with old and new paint plus undercoating. The stripper cleaned it all up pretty good and revealed a lot of surface rust on the lower part of the hatch. But the bare factory metal.... gorgeous.

Till you get a rock chip...

Apparently, this stuff says it evaporates into an inert coating that will not have residual effects. I am not going to be painting these parts for a while, but I will still clean them up as best as possible. I have wiped off most of the excess already, but the seams will get a lot of attention prior to primer and paint!

Overall I am impressed with the chemical stripper. At $40 a gallon, it is not cheap, but comparable to the cost of EZ Strip plastic wheels at about $12 each. The finish is left like factory fresh metal when done compared to a granular sanded surface. The amount of effort is minimal with the stripper and no piles of dust and debris (HUGE plus for me). In the end, I will continue to use the stripper method and then go over the bare metal with an EZ Strip wheel to remove some stubborn primer/bondo that is stuck to the metal. This will reduce the dust and mess considerably versus not using the stripper first. I still have the remainder of the hatch, doors and one fender to strip.

This is where we should be going... Next Gen Z....

Somewhat done...

Scraping after 7 minutes with a flat bladed putty knife. Needs another pass.

Five minutes and counting...

Cheap top coat on epoxy primer Heirloom Max stripper. One minute later Two minutes Scrape test at three minutes More stripper and one extra minute then scraped again. In the end it recommends leaving it on until the surface is softened then reapply as needed.

I’ll respond by saying that the paint stripper does seem to work in layers. The longer you leave it on, the more it removes. I don’t think I would trust it to not remove more than one layer though. I found that the milder versions of Heirloom stripper from Canadian Tire would be a safe start, but I would do small patches and remove it as soon as it starts to bubble. It does seem to do an awesome job when it gets to the bare metal though! Like a factory fresh panel! And no residual effects when it evaporates meaning no paint bleed later on.

Here’s a start..!

Blechhh...

... there's always more rust....

Put them up for auction on eBay with a nice reserve....

Then I would say add 20% to the asking price for tune-ups and minor repairs to make it roadworthy/safe and drive it till you're ready to "restore" it.

The car is worth whatever you feel you are willing to pay for it in the end... Look at your total plan and decide if this is a "drive it as it is" car or a "project". A project car will cost you a lot more in the long run and the initial purchase price becomes irrelevant if it falls into your total budget for a finished car. The drive it as you bought it is your basic budget, so if that's your comfort zone, go for it!

Thanks Cap'n!

Excellent progress! Great pictures!

A little progress tonight on the hood.

The sheathed portion is 22.5” from the firewall so this looks good if you are 14.5” as the crow flies. Even with a 3” offset, I should have enough to run the cable smoothly. I can adapt the throttle linkage to line up under the cable at the end of the run.

Packages showed up! Mail strikes suck when parts take an extra week to get here. So the Mr. Gasket cable looks very well made. It fits inside the linkage guides perfect. The firewall length will be close... anyone with a 280 able to measure the distance to the end linkage loop on the intake from the firewall?

Looks great and I hate to nit pick but those tractor hose clamps scare me. Too many of mine ate through the fuel lines on my setup...

Very true Zed. Use a proven combination of products and read the labels carefully. Mix and prepare the products as per the manufacturers direction and you should be good to go. There are times I wish I was using the old school products, albeit at a greater health risk...!

Glad to be of assistance! I made a deal with the wife that I would work on the car mainly in the winter months and not let it monopolize my life or finances. Sometimes I don't get to work on the car for weeks at a time (and because I am military and often away). Don't rush your project, plan the time to do it right, be prepared for setbacks and make sure that the important people in your life are on board with your plans, both financially and emotionally. If your significant other resents the time and money being spent on the car, it will make your life miserable.