Napoleon Solo

I set my deadline for the end of month to be finished all of the mud work and blocking. Getting distracted by life has needed me to likely push that out 1 week. I'm going to try - we'll see. I'm almost done with the body tub then on to the panels.
I modified my engine stand to support fenders and doors for blocking and possibly painting.
I'm starting to freak out a little because it seems like there is a stink load to do in order to reunite the body and chassis and my deadline for total completion is rapidly approaching.

RROLDSX

Sounds like your at least pressing. You know the saying ....One bite at a time.

Bernhard

Don't Rush it !!
You have taken your time from the start of the build,don't rush through the prep for paint step!!!!

RROLDSX

That's a given. When you've put that much effort into the project. But mainly it's the difference of wether your actually working on it or not.

Bernhard

Bernhard wrote

I was just at our local car show and you would be surprised at how may cars were painted twice or have to go back in for a complete strip and re-paint.
I can tell you from personal experience it does not take much for paint work to go sideways. You can get the prep right and be undone by product failure.
Incompatible products, paint booth motor that fails mid paint job.
When I go through a show it is rare that I find a car free of paint and prep problems.
I don't go looking for them nor do I judge the cars that have issues!!!!!!!!!
When you are trained to look for problems you cant help but notice they just pop right out, I don't even ware my glasses at the show for that very reason.
There are so many things that you have to get right for top shelf paint work there is a reason paint jobs run $20,000 and up.
I would never pay for 20K paint job nor do I think a muscle car should have such paint work.
I like the factory thin mill thickness paint look but that is not for everyone.
Looking forward to seeing it back together!

Good luck with the rest of the build.

Napoleon Solo

Thank you for the encouragement. I am going to relax on this and get it right. As a matter of fact I am going to redo all of the seam sealer work I did because it looks ugly.
I had a buddy who is a professional painter come over and have a look at what I've done so far. He has basically convinced me to drop the idea of painting the car black. Not sure what to spray it but I have a few colours in mind. Kev gave me a few tips and advice. That combined with your input has made me realize that this part in particular can't be done at warp 9...
Taking the pressure off makes it fun again - not a chore.

RROLDSX

Your welcome. We were just trying to help you make your May 1st deadline as you requested. I knew by your previous work you weren't going to cut corners anyway. We can all go back to our regularly scheduled program now. Good luck!

Bernhard

There is no reason you can't go black it's just a lot of blocking.
The cars that were black at the show had lots of high solid primer on them and you could tell. To make the car perfectly straight dulls the lines of the car. This is a hard one to balance straight but not dull the lines.

Napoleon Solo

So I'm thinking maybe Burgundy Mist
or
Sierra Gold...

The interior is black and the running gear is all gunmetal grey.

RROLDSX

I prefer the gold but what was the original colour?

Bernhard

Color is very hard to pick as it is so personal.
It's one of those critical decisions, as it sets the tone for the car and how it is viewed.
What other colors have you thought about?

Napoleon Solo

The car was Royal Mist (Navy Blue).
Maybe I'll consider factory paint again...this isn't my car but it's what it would look like. Minus the mini tubs and roll bar of course...

oldsmobiledave

It looked like this once....go there again.


Or if you prefer a lighter blue you could go this way.


FYI the light blue car ended up black after I sold it. Also a possibility.

Bernhard

The car looks good in Black
What stock colors are there that you like?

Napoleon Solo

Well I think it will come down to Factory Royal Mist or Burgundy Mist. My buddy is pushing me to go Burgundy with a two tone. Black roof with the red. I'm thinking Burgundy with gun metal grey metallic roof to match the rest of the car. Wheels, chassis engine bay etc..

Bernhard

I'm a fan of one color then stripes.

Bernhard

I always liked the car in Red

http://momentcar.com/images/oldsmobile-442-1965-2.jpg

oldsmobiledave

Have you considered two tone paint scheme

Napoleon Solo

Yeah Dave - that's what I'm thinking. Burgundy Mist body with a gunmetal grey roof.
BUT - I want to do it right so I'll need to find C pillar trim to separate the colours..

therobski

This is -64 Target Red with a stripe painted on( not tap) with GM 15 inch matching rims and original 64 Dog dish hub caps.

RROLDSX

Have you checked online pics of grey and maroon cars? Personally I think you went to so much trouble to make the car like new, I would either pick a stock colour or an enhancement to a stock colour. JMO.

Robski - although red is not my favourite that looks sharp and very period correct.

oldsmobiledave

Napoleon......check your PMs.

Dave

therobski

RROLDSX- I got stuck like Napoleon along with Maroon and that beautiful lite yellow, both with black interiors. I believe the gm code for Target Red back in the day is CC.

Bernhard

Nice!
I like the color and stripe!
The color and stripe work well with the dog dish hub caps.

Napoleon Solo

I'd be stoked if my car turned out as nice as Robski's. I/m not sure about going full on red - but it does look awesome. I'm still thinking two tone - maybe black roof with the burgundy mist. My wheels are gunmetal grey with a red pinstripe which would still work with a black roof. I still have time - keep the ideas rolling in!

therobski

Maroon with a period correct black vinyl top very cool.

oldsmobiledave

Vinyl tops were not an option until 1966.

oldsmobiledave

Vinyl top came out in 66

Napoleon Solo

I had a productive evening in the garage. I formed up my rear brake lines, dug out my door hinges to mount the doors to the body AND - as I was digging through my shed 'o' parts I came across my Vista parts. Comparing reverse light lenses - lo and behold the reverse light housings on 64/65 wagons are identical to the reverse light lenses and housings on a 64 Cutlass.

Whaddya know...

therobski

YE;P I badly needed back up lights too and was very lucky and found these brand new still the GM Guide box on E-Bay. I cross referenced the part number and low and behold its the same part number for a 67 Buick Skylark wagon as advertised.

Napoleon Solo

It's been quiet around the car lately. I haven't gotten up to much. This past week I was in SoCal for business so I figured I'd grab my tail light bezels from Dan at big D's chrome.
They are so pretty...

Napoleon Solo

I've reset my deadlines to finish the car. They're a little more realistic this time but I want to hurry up and get the next bit done so I can hit the milestone. So far this weekend I finished the undercoating and plan to finish the rear brake lines. I would like to install my freshly ceramic coated exhaust as well but that may happen over the next couple of days. My mission is to reunite the body and chassis by next weekend.
The next steps will be checking and test firing the engine, finishing the mud work and preparing for paint. I expect to have the car painted by late fall while I continue to restore the trim.

Late winter coming into spring I should be doing the reassembly and WHAMBO - drive it next summer. Assuming of course nothing goes sideways between here and there cuz that never happens...

Napoleon Solo

My goal is to mate the body and chassis on the upcoming weekend so there's a lot I have to do between here and there. I am having special stands made to support the body while I roll the chassis under it. Those will be welded up this week. When I can get those under it I can dismantle the rotisserie and get it out of the way so I can paint the firewall gunmetal grey THEN roll the chassis in.
I am in the process of mounting my ceramic coated exhaust and just cut the hole in my perfect floor for my auto trans shifter linkage. There should be lots of good stuff to post over the next week or so.

sorry about the pic orientation...

Napoleon Solo

It feels good to get done what you set out to do. Today I got the body up in the air on my custom made pedestals and 4x4's so I can finally do the paint work on the firewall. I'm giving the rotisserie back to my buddy tomorrow.

When that was all done I went on to the chassis to finish the exhaust. I had to modify the muffler hangers to fit. I think I bought Camaro hangers because they were readily available. I ended up reversing the sides, making a spacer out of tube and used long bolts to hold them up. I drilled out the cross member holes to 3/8" so I could get a slightly larger bolt in. Between the plated washers and frame I put rubber 'O' rings on the bolts to eliminate vibration.

It's only Saturday and I have 2 more days off...

therobski

Your getting there. Looks good....

oldsmobiledave

Looks good sir.


Don't forget your new heater core. It's sitting on the shelf in my condo in Tsawwassen.


I'll be out in late Sept or early Oct and drop it off when we get together. I look forward to seeing the car.

Napoleon Solo

Thanks Gents!

So I'm in the garage enjoying my coffee this morning dreading the job I had in front of me. In another thread I was asking about painting over POR-15 and everyone said I'd have to either scuff it up with 320 or hit it again to make it tacky - then blow on primer then paint. I had done a quick test for colour with a rattle can over 4-5 square inches and was pleased with how it looked. So I'm thinking, coffee in hand, what if I just rattle can paint the firewall?

I weighed it out. Best case, looks good and I'm done in 5 minutes with no mess and trouble. Worst case it doesn't stick, turns out splotchy and I have to sand it all off. So I went for it - and the result is pretty impressive.

Feeling pretty good about myself and being a full day ahead now, I rolled the chassis under the body. It almost looks like a car again.

Also, using the stencils I had made for my valve covers I decided to paint that today too. The scratch on the valve cover above the lettering is touched up already..

Napoleon Solo

I was working on the car over the weekend and I should be ready to test fire the ol' machine shortly. I just need to figure out what the wiring looks like...
Anyway, more and more it's looking like a car again.

Napoleon Solo

Stuff it - I am going to paint the car black like I originally intended.

Alex72cutty

Nice find!! Can't wait to see finish product.