MrJD wrote:Lol... As an aside, are you stripping the car with a wire brush or?

i sand blasted everything but exterior body panels. i was worried about warpage. but yes, i used a wire wheel on the grinder, then shined it up with 180 grit with the DA sander, then after that I roughed it up with 80 grit with the da sander. seem backwards, but the 180 seems more aggressive when it came to making the metal clean and shiny....

I wish I knew about that windex trick earlier! how do you clean it off though? I imagine it would leave a film on the door which would be crap for painting.

the video that i have, the guy uses that pre paint, waxer degreaser instead of windex, then he just wipes it down after he is done...

I've actually used liquid dish soap, like dawn. Anything around the house. Before you do any painting, the surface should be washed and dried with a paint prep degreaser. I used stuff i got at the auto paint store. wear vinyl or latex gloves during this process and do not touch the surface with bare skin after that. Very important is to not let the degreaser dry on the surface. All that does is take all the contaminants and deposit them right back on the surface again. Do not use shop towels either. They have lots of contaminants from the washing machine. Use paper towels....lots of them. This process will leave little lee-lees on the surface so dont forget to use a tack rag immediately before painting.

not much to update.... got the doors on and lined up to the fender... fenders are back off so i can clean them up. didn't see the point in working on them until i was sure they would line up... i spent all weekend at my dad's helping him work on his cars, so i didn't get much done. when i got home this evening, i put the windshield on so i could line up and center the wiper cowl. Tomorrow, i'll work more on the fender and get the hood centered so when the fender go on i can get them lined up with the doors again, then play around until they are lined up withe the hood and cowl.

but at least it's starting to resemble a car again:

I still like your third brake light better!!
It's so tempting but I can't bring myself to cut mine up again...

i started riveting the fenders on today. lining everything up has been a rear pain... but i wanted to post some pics of where i'm at. do you think it's good enough?

LOOKS PRETTY STraight from here, but u would know better from your end

I think the duct tape adds a nice touch! Vision still ok?
Looking good Steve!! Better than from the factory for sure!

thanks alan and jim... the worst of the gap was actually an easy fit... the top gap between the driver's door and fender looked a little funky. turned out that all the playing around make the door drop (wouldn't have happened if i would have install the door lugs). but now that the door is straight, the gap looks just like the other side... a little bigger than i wanted but, the hood is adjusted all the way back and the front fenders line up with the hood, so i can't back the fender up any further and if i move the doors forward, the rear door gap will be too big... i guess it's close enough and will look better once it's painted (at least i hope).

I duct taped the shit out of that glass and frame.. i did not want that to move... i have already broken two windshields in the past trying to get them straight in the frame.... i only have one spare windshield left and i'd like to never use it... on a side note... the spare windshield glass is about 3/16 of an inch thinner than the one i'm using....

Steve, your doing good work. A lot more than I have time or the patients for. Pace yourself. You have til next spring the. It has a long drive south.

spent all day today trying to get those gaps better and i think it finally got them...
here's the pics:

Looks really nice Steve! Did you figure out what to do with your hood?

thanks.... i'd still like to replace it... i haven't even started working on it yet...

Gap looks much better.