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Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:09 pm

Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of my project. I live in Cypress which is next to Long Beach, if anyone that lives local ever wants to stop by just PM me and we'll set something up. Critiques / pointers are very helpful, I'm 23 years old and this is my first restoration I've ever attempted. Never even worked on cars before really, but thanks to a couple books and the internet it seems to be coming along just fine.

Here's a picture of my pan after I stripped it, filled in some rusty areas and sprayed with SPI epoxy primer and MasterSeries CT Chassis black:

That was a couple months ago. Here's my PAINTED (gasp, I just wanted to make something bright so my wife would see and think I'm making progress) transmission and new GR-2 shocks:

Here's a rough mudded in idea of how the electric sunroof which came from a mid-90s car that I hacked up with my sawzall at the local pick-a-part:

This was really tricky. I wanted a nice edge without too much gap between the door and the shaved roof so I had to weld 1/4, 3/16, and 1/8 inch round rod to give a solid edge for the filler to grip. I used USC all-metal filler which is pretty much rustproof and then some evercoat rage on top. Still got a lot of shaping to do, hopefully it will turn out ok.

Shaved door handles...just sanded down the 2nd coat. A little thick, but it has all-metal underneath the evercoat rage gold.

Got some more feathering to do but here's a shot of the shaved rain gutters:

And finally, the early bug headlights and shaved turn signals. Not quite done as you can see:

I've done everything so far with the bare minimum in tools. My welder is a $100 Harbor Freight fluxcore mig. I don't have a decent air compressor so all of the filler shaping I've done by hand. I did splurge for a good turbine paint spraying setup, which is an Accuspray 3-stage turbine with Series 10 HVLP gun. It will be getting two coats of epoxy primer, two coats of high build primer, then a sealer coat of epoxy (all made by Southern Polyurethanes - http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/ ) before I paint it with single stage Nason metallic silver.

Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:13 pm

Also, in the pic with the sunroof, don't mistake the super dark area in the middle for a low spot. that's just the lighting, I'm not THAT bad with filler (getting much better) :twisted:

Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:09 pm

Looks pretty good. You having any problems burning holes through the metal with no gas while welding? You're doing a good job for a first time project.

Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:48 pm

Yeah I've had a few problems since the little fluxcore welder only has two settings - low and high. Low setting makes the weld sit on the metal rather than go through and bond, the high setting for more than 2 seconds will blow a hole clean through. I leave it on low and just weld thick and grind down usually. But, I'm not exactly building a yacht here, so it works out ok :p

The car had been in several wrecks from how it appeared, had been resprayed at least 5 times. The gutter was rusted straight through and I had to weld in new windshield pillars and graft in some new metal in the back. The sunroof just seemed like it'd be fun to do. I still have to figure out how to plumb the thing before I get too much farther.

Thanks for the compliments, hopefully I will be able to finish by the end of the school year (this is what my GI Bill money goes into while I'm in school)

Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:30 pm

What year/model is the sunroof from? Did it match up with the existing metal as far as the gauge of the metal, and did you have to brace it at all to prevent it from buckling? It's nice to see the GI Bill at work. I'll use mine in 3 1/2 years.

Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:08 pm

I'm not even sure what kind of car I cut the sunroof out of :oops: It appeared to be a early to mid nineties grand prix or crown vic or something. I just brought my sawzall to the pick-a-part and cut the four posts and strapped it down on top of the squareback.

The curve is pretty close, I was really just winging it. the squareback is narrow up top, but it's also very flat, so I just looked for a car that had semi-flat sunroof. Getting it to stay in place on top of the roof was a PITA, but I managed and it sits slightly lower than the rest of the roof so I could clean it up with filler.

The bug headlight conversion was by far the hardest part, this is the only late model type 3 I know of with the conversion done. The earlier type 3 fenders are a couple inches wider up front and more gently curved, I really had to tweak with the fender to get it to hold just right. I just hope that when I hook it all up the headlights aren't all crossed :) I am hoping that with the headlights sitting higher up the front some of the "shark nose" look will be softened...

Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:05 pm

more pics!

Got a lot of dialing into do on my gun, but it's a step closer to completion...

Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:58 pm

Why bug headlights? Just curious

ddare wrote: Well I finally got around to taking some pictures of my project. I live in Cypress which is next to Long Beach, if anyone that lives local ever wants to stop by just PM me and we'll set something up. Critiques / pointers are very helpful, I'm 23 years old and this is my first restoration I've ever attempted. Never even worked on cars before really, but thanks to a couple books and the internet it seems to be coming along just fine.

Here's a picture of my pan after I stripped it, filled in some rusty areas and sprayed with SPI epoxy primer and MasterSeries CT Chassis black:

That was a couple months ago. Here's my PAINTED (gasp, I just wanted to make something bright so my wife would see and think I'm making progress) transmission and new GR-2 shocks:

Here's a rough mudded in idea of how the electric sunroof which came from a mid-90s car that I hacked up with my sawzall at the local pick-a-part:

This was really tricky. I wanted a nice edge without too much gap between the door and the shaved roof so I had to weld 1/4, 3/16, and 1/8 inch round rod to give a solid edge for the filler to grip. I used USC all-metal filler which is pretty much rustproof and then some evercoat rage on top. Still got a lot of shaping to do, hopefully it will turn out ok.

Shaved door handles...just sanded down the 2nd coat. A little thick, but it has all-metal underneath the evercoat rage gold.

Got some more feathering to do but here's a shot of the shaved rain gutters:

And finally, the early bug headlights and shaved turn signals. Not quite done as you can see:

I've done everything so far with the bare minimum in tools. My welder is a $100 Harbor Freight fluxcore mig. I don't have a decent air compressor so all of the filler shaping I've done by hand. I did splurge for a good turbine paint spraying setup, which is an Accuspray 3-stage turbine with Series 10 HVLP gun. It will be getting two coats of epoxy primer, two coats of high build primer, then a sealer coat of epoxy (all made by Southern Polyurethanes - http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/ ) before I paint it with single stage Nason metallic silver.

Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:34 am

Quote: Why bug headlights? Just curious

Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:37 pm

Looks like it's coming along just fine. I like the early bug headlamps on type 3's if done correctly.

Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:44 pm

looks like its coming along good, keep us updated

Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:05 pm

well I had to put off laying down the 2k primer for a little while, I got sick last time I was out painting... don't think it was from the paint fumes, probably just a combination of being sweaty and cold from all of the block sanding I've been doing.

I've decided to order a couple new neeldes and nozzles for my accuspray gun, the atomization has been pretty rough so far and I don't want to reduce the paint too much and have to wait hours for it to cure.

Ordered a 1.5mm tip and a 2.1mm tip, the 2.1 is about as big as they make, will be good for spraying the 2k primer and MasterSeries if I ever decide to spray it again. I sprayed it, reduced, on my pan with ok results with a 1.3 mm tip. I was using a 1.3mm tip for the epoxy primer but 1.5 is what the mfg recommends so I'm going to give it a shot. My last round dried fairly rough - I've already started blocking it out with 220. Orange peel from the size of the tip and just because how dirty my garage is. Gotta work on that..

Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:46 pm

some more pics...

well I reduced the primer by about 10% (my measuring was off and I didn't have room for any more reducer in my quart-cup) and let it induce for 15 minutes, it layed down a lot smoother. I think it will be very smooth when I get my new tip and nozzle on and everything adjusted right.

Gonna hopefully lay down 2k primer over the weekend, then get started blocking this monster. Stay tuned...

Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:21 pm

sweet, its looking really nice, what color are you going to paint it?

Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:29 pm

I ended up reducing the 2k primer approx. 10-20% and got it to lay down like this:

That was also towards the end (when it always lays down the nicest for me anyway). I started to spray a little closer and move the gun faster too I think which helped.

The rest of the body is blocked out with 220 grit (well, a lot of it) and looks like this,

Some more block sanding to do, then spray the sealer, then wet sand to 600 and then it's base coat time.

Fri Aug 18, 2006 4:55 pm

8 Months later with a new paint gun and a compressor instead of a turbine, and here's my first basecoat. Will hit it up with clear in the morning...

Fri Aug 18, 2006 4:58 pm

You should get a cartoon character airbrushed in the hood!

Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:13 pm

Man you are really going the whole 9 yards. Coming out nice 8)

Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:23 pm

Sweet, I was waiting for an update. Looks good!

Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:55 pm

What size compressor and type of gun did you use? Is that gun metal color? Looks really good.