Camaro paint job...after almost 10 years

[Money pit Beretta]

Navel Jelly works well, as does another Eastwood product. Damn if I could remember the name! Puts a phosphate coating on metal and makes it look like stainless steel. Used it on the floor pan(rear seat area of my 67) that had heavy pitting and it took off the rust and kept it from coming back.
I liked 3M pads much more than wire wheels. The maroon ones are light duty and the black ones heavy duty. Only problems are that the black ones do take off metal and tend to fly apart on edges. They sure get rid of heavy rust though.

[woody90gtz]

Got my spare fender back from my buddy with the color test. The Code 29 Dark Blue (front) looks best most of the time, but it does turn blurple. The Code 492 Saville Grey looks too grey...but I like the slate-ish kind of hue. I'm gonna see if I can get a custom "492" mixed with double the blue ingredients.




I got the firewall completely smoothed until I saw a post on Facebook and decided to relocate the wiper motor. So I ground out some of the filler I had just finished and worked it out. Had help from Kevin's post a few years ago when he did it.
http://nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.ph ... 069&page=7

Now I just have to finish smoothing it out.

[3X00-Modified]

You need to hone those sheet metal welding skills Although I have not welded sheet metal with my machine yet it does have a stitching option module so you don't have to do it manually.

[woody90gtz]

Those welds came out really nice. I did them fairly slow because I wanted to put minimal heat in the panels so close to the filler. The main thing is just getting the heat & wire speed dialed in. My welds have gotten better with more wire speed, I wasn't using enough in the past...

[Money pit Beretta]

Oh is that the nice aircraft primer? Use to dream of that stuff and the money to pay for it.

Sometimes I use to use a copper sheet as a heat sink for welding. Well that was when copper was cheap.

[woody90gtz]

Finished smoothing out the firewall. I really like it.




Stitch welded the subframe to add some rigidity. Braced it up first to keep it from warping. I also nutted the engine mount holes and filled in the 6cyl mount holes, etc.





Waiting on a friend with a spot blaster to touch up the bracing in the driver's quarter so I can close it all in and clean up the shop to lay primer & lizard skin.

So in the mean time I'm doing a little mock up. Even that smooth firewall gets a lot going on in a hurry on the driver's side. I need to shorten the hose and mount the clutch reservoir still, but I don't know if I want it on the inboard or outboard side of the master. That should be easy enough to mount with a self-tapper that I don't really need to worry about it now though. I'll see how it all looks with the engine in the car.

[bonecrrusher]

Needs more chrome/shiny bits!

[woody90gtz]

Doing more mockup I found a problem with the Hotchkis sway bar. The stock bolt holes in the frame are too narrow for the huge bar and bushing...although they say it is supposed to work. I called them up and their solution is their new billet brackets for $150. No thanks. So I took some 3/16, set my welder on max and added a reinforcement plate that I drilled & tapped at 3-1/4" spacing rather than the stock 2-3/4". This is a nice solution to keep the bolts from pulling out of the subframe too. It also gives the bar a hair more clearance with the idler arm, and my dropped core support. I'm gonna flip it over and mock it up with the core support again (with radiator this time) and see how much room is left for a cross brace now that the bar's position is fixed.

[woody90gtz]

My buddy was dragging ass to help with the spot blaster so I just borrowed it and did it myself. It's not the greatest, but with some patience it works.



And while I had the blaster handy I decided to melt out the factory lead on the quarter. There was a tiny crack starting. I see the factory welded a few beads in addition to the spot welds. So I figured I'd weld the rest before filling it back in.

Exposed with 3M rubbery paint/rust disc.


Melted with my little torch.


Wiped with a wet rag.


Blasted.


T-1000 Terminator leftovers.

[CorvetteBeretta]

WOW! this is going to be a hell of a Camaro when your done..

[woody90gtz]

crap! No updates in a while...

Welded in a strip of sheet metal in the recessed area of the B-pillar. This is popular on NastyZ to strengthen that seam. I'm also going to weld in a small fillet so that no longer comes to a sharp point.



I also finished up the bracing on the driver's quarter and closed it in with my patch panel. The ebay Taiwan panel didnt fit very well, but at least it will be mostly covered by the fender flare.




Started off using some Aircraft Stripper on the roof and I'm unimpressed with the results. Takes about 4 applications to get down to the factory primer. So I just used the DA for the quarter and it's done a lot quicker, with much less of a nasty mess.






I wanted to weld in a brace at the front of the frame rails, but I'd say there isn't enough room across the bottom...too tight between the swaybar and the dropped rad support. Too bad cause I know a PTFB 1LE-style brace won't fit the Hotchkis bar, and I don't think a CustomWorks weld-in brace will go under the rad support now that I've dropped it to correct the wedged subframe alignment.

[bonecrrusher]

Is there room to run that brace through the radiator support?

[woody90gtz]

Nope, but I've got a friend in NJ who just suggested bending rollbar tubing in a wide U under the support that you can use as a jacking point too. And he works in a resto shop so I'm gonna he if he can hook me up when I give him measurements.

[woody90gtz]

Been doing body work. Boring stuff...but I'll get some pics at some point.

Speedhut is having a 15% off sale until the end of the month...so I got my ass in gear and designed my gauge set from scratch. I've had the basic idea for a while and just finished my design. Well...I say finished, but I do have a handwritten "Nasty" I'm going to scan and see if I like better than the small font in there now. Might give it just the right attitude. I also originally went with their basic "E 1/4 1/2 3/4 F" layout, but I think I like "Fuel %" better. It matches the rest better.

[Money pit Beretta]

I don't know man, body stuff seemed kind of fun after it was done. Not many see it, but you can say that you did it. Then with a smile hope that it was right.