What to do, what to do, what to do?

Major problem! After painting for years, Tom starts getting sick. Seems he's allergic to the chemicals in the paint! Now what do we do. Well, you see he does everything pertaining to cars and he just so happens to be building a 455 for another fellow, Joe, at the same time. A deal gets worked out with Joe to finish the painting. Great, right? Don't ask Joe, you might not like his answer. First time we did it as individual pieces. Everything we painted came out a little different. Remember I said "small areas" earlier? The clear has to be applied at exactly the same interval after the base tacks or it ends up a different shade. Also, on flat surfaces you might think you did something right but don't look at the sides. The additive in the clear will grab the red dye and pull it down like a mud slide. Next time he sanded it smooth and did the whole car. Same thing. So what now? I did some searching on the internet and found out that PPG makes the Honda R274M in a Candy paint (902172). IF I HAD ONLY KNOWN THAT AT THE BEGINNING!!!!. You don't want to know what 2 batches of RED paint cost! I figured this was also a good time to install the A/C pump without working over a finished fender. Once again he sands it smooth and now we have a painted car. The best thing is that the paint actually resembles the Honda color. The USPaint color was more red, most of the time. Joe says he is going to sand it and buff it out maybe this weekend coming. I haven't mentioned all the parts that I restored. They are resting comfortably in my basement ready for installation. I might have this thing home yet before the snow falls. Once I get it home, I will add more to the blog. Wish me luck! Oh by the way, time so far is about 5 years.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? NO!

We spent maybe 2 years working between the 3 projects. Do some here for a while, do some there for a while, go back, etc until it was time to do some painting. Now, I looked around for long time because I wanted something different. You saw the motor, right? Not the typical Pontiac blue scheme. I went to car cruises, car dealers, lots of places and I bought some paint samples to try but nothing pleased me. Then, at another cruise, I saw a motorcycle that really caught my eye. A Honda Goldwing, mid 2000s. Before I left that night I had the code for the paint, R274M. Now, where to find it. I checked at the local paint stores but they had no cross reference for Honda motorcycle colors, so I went to the internet and found it at USPaints in Texas. We called and found they were supposedly the only supplier other than Honda. After talking with the chemist we found that it was a candy, but a 2 stage candy called either Durango Red or Candy Red. Tom of course was a little skeptical and tried to talk me out of it. Why? Although the paint is great to look at, it is a B**** to paint. The basecoat goes on alright but the problem is with the clearcoat. It has an additive in it that reacts with the dye in the base and draws it to the surface. The chemist said they had never had anyone paint a car, just smaller areas. We found out why. Don't buy any, you will regret it.

Try, Try again

Now I have this friend of mine named Tom. He actually helped me build my motor and has been rebuilding cars for quite some time. Would you believe me if I told you that he forbid me from using any hammer or any sandpaper coarser than 1000 grit? Well, one day, I asked him over to check a couple things on the car and ended up getting him to commit to doing the final stages of the body work and paint as long as I would help him reconstruct a 69 Firebird and his 92 F150. Needless to say he wished I had contacted him earlier. Most of the putty that had been put on came off. Remember, ALIGN ALL METAL SURFACES FIRST!!! The trunk lid that I had re-skinned ended up being thrown away. It was an extra one I had anyway. I apparently didn't get the correct roll over the back. It was impossible to get the key mechanism to work the lock. I never tried the lock so Tom ended up wasting many hours of getting the lid straight. Also, after many hours of working with the hood, we gave up on it also. Seems it had been in the wreck also and the metal was all stretched. I ended up buying a new hood. As for the lid, I took it apart, had both pieces blasted and Tom made new sections from my junk lid to fix the one that came with the car. We worked with the skin and reassembeled both pieces. It ended up better than a new one. By the way, you can't buy one since they aren't manufactured.

Coming together

I needed to locate a top frame since mine was junk so I found a guy about 45 minutes away that had a nice one. I dismantled then blasted then repainted it, putting it aside until it was time for installation. Now that things were moving along, Chris, my first body man and I had bolted on the repaired fenders and doors (I had re-skinned them) along with the reassembled hood and trunk lid. With some mud and some primer it wasn't looking too bad. We had gotten to Chris's limits. Now it was time for the finish body man.

Cover the cowl intake

Things were moving along quite nicely. I had taken the instrument panel/dashboard completely apart, rewired the harness for a new style alternator and repaired some bad wires. I repainted the dash and put everything back together. BEAUTIFUL! I was so proud. I then installed the pedal assembly and the complete dash followed with the tilt steering column. The tank was in place and getting ready for the start-up. Now, this was about the time I had hired someone to do some putty work but I had neglected to cover the cowl opening. OK, let's put in the battery and see if the electrical system does anything. Woosh!!!. Without thinking, I had left the fan on and it proceeded to create a white cloud in the garage, filling the heater and the newly, perfectly clean, gauges with all kinds of dust. BUMMER! (Actually, I said a few other things). Also the rear tail housings were badly pitted. I used a small burring tool to remove all the loose chrome then gave it several coats of flat paint to give it a nice look.

So many things to do and so little time to do them!

Once I had the body repaired where I wanted it, I started with the heater assembly, inside and out. Now this car came with air conditioning so I took great care in checking this thing out since my plans are to use it after I am done. It also came with fold-away lights. I will mention this, that if it had spot welds on something, it came apart. So I dismantled not only the light assemblies but the front fenders, the doors, the trunk lid and the hood. Stories on the trunk lid (notice the attempt at a new skin) and the hood will come later. Also, when I got the car, there were no front seats. There was a very badly rusted rear seat though, but not worth fixing. What to do, what to do. You will not believe this but my neighbor had been over many times to see my progress and he had often informed me that he had at one time owned a 1970 GTO. What did he bring home just about this time? A 1970 GTO convertible (he is restoring this as I type) and a 1971 Lemans convertible, with good seats. Guess where I got all 3 seats from? A BLIND SQUIRREL FINDS AN ACORN ONCE IN A WHILE! Problem solved. I tore them apart, had them blasted, then I repaired them and refinished them myself along with the rear armrest panels.