Thanks, Rodney
The bottom is the easy one they say.
Hopefully, the top section will look as good,
Had trouble with the buckets getting the piping straight.

 

Hit the 4 year mark the other day, still a lot of work to do.
Hoping to get it on the road this summer.
Put a light coat of epoxy over the filler and break throughs.
Closer to straight but needs more blocking.

 

Another nice sunny day to help stretch the top back seat cover.
Pretty happy with the results.

 

Got a couple of coats of urethane primer on more blocking to come.

 

Some interior work.

 

I recognize that cup holder mod.. Looking good Tim!

Rodney

 

Yes another idea from your playbook, I might see how bluetooth speakers work out in the cup holders.
Any idea what screws are required for those pieces including the light housing.
Most of mine have disintegrated.
Must be awesome to have yours on the road.

 

Got the dash mostly sorted out.

 

After a busy summer finishing (or almost finishing) a bunch of projects including replacing decking, tile and barn board in the kitchen as well as a mirror and lights in the bathroom I am finally trying to get back to the car.
With tips from this post I used a torch to start restoring my inner fender wells.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ration-172682/






I used the weed burner torch, looks better but I think I'll go back and see if the regular torch works better

 

Ugh the least favorite part of my restoration… lots of patience.

 

More work on the inner fender wells.
The torch method is very quick maybe not the best results but not bad for 10 minutes or so.


pretty big difference in just minutes

 

more work on the inner fenders.
A ton of tar on one of the fender wells.
scraping and fair amount of prep sol took forever but got most of it off.
Torch, then engine brite seems to work fairly well.

 

After taking a break on the dam staples on the inner fender well, I figured there had to be an easier way to bend the staples over.
Using a hammer and dolly was difficult to get the correct spot for the dolly and to hit it with a hammer while trying to balance the fender well.
Clamping a piece of metal behind the staple, made it a much easier task.

 

Finally got the car moved over to the new shop.
Need to get the compressor moved and plumbed.
With luck, I can get back to working on the car soon.

 

Tim - The new shop looks great. Glad you were able to get the car moved.

 

No excuses now! Looks great.

 

I have shop envy!

 

After dealing with snowmeggadon for the last six weeks, I finally got some garage time. It looks like some moisture got under the primer on one of the fenders. I may end up stripping it.
Going to have to move my storage from the collapsed hoop house. At least the garage is 99% done.


Still snow left after 3 days of near 70 and a week above freezing

 

Now that the car is where I can see the back of the car and how it sits I noticed the drivers side is about 1/2 higher than the passenger side.
I thought I checked for straightness of the frame before assembly. Before I panic and send to frame shop, what can I check ahead of time.
I measured at several places back frame rail, rear end etc all about 1/2 off. I measured with the gunni wheels in place to minimize possible tire pressure difference.

 

Put the car on 4 jack stands (near where your lift arms are positioned) and start measuring. This will eliminate any variations in the suspension from side to side. Check the distances from your shop floor to frame and shop floor to body. From your photo, it looks like there is a bigger gap between the body and frame on the driver side vs. the passenger side.

 

Loaded68W34 has the right idea; assuming your shop floor is level, eliminate suspension variables by using the jack stands to check frame straightness. I had a 1/2" variation in the rear (L-R) when I reassemble my car, it turned out to be the "old" springs. When I pulled the springs out to take measurements the free-height dimensions were not the same. I bought new springs but still had a 1/4" difference L-R in the rear. I know it's there but nobody else seems to see it.

Rodney

 

I checked the floor and it's level, I put a level across my jack stands and it's off a bit, and the second pair of stands are different. type.
So 1st thing is to get 4 supports that are the same height, or some creative math,

 

My garage floor is not level so I cut 12x12 squares of plywood in various thicknesses to use as shims under the jack stands.

 

Found the two sets of jack stands were close enough for government work.
It appears the frame or something is off by just under a 1/4 inch, and the body with suspension unloaded matches the 1/4 inch.
Will remeasure when back on the ground. I wonder if the rear coils are not clocked correctly. thought I double checked when installing.


rear jack stand point

to body above rear frame mount

to rear frame mount bolt head

 

I had my son repeat my findings and we found the frame seems less than 1/4 inch off when on jack stands.
however it's over 3/4 inch off when on the suspension.
Based on several posts it appears clocking of the rear springs has no effect.
Could the front suspension not being aligned make that much difference in the back?

 

On my car, I used an extra spring seat cushion on the lower side to compensate for the variation in spring heights. The assembly manual calls for a single rubber spring cushion at the top of the spring to reduce road vibrations in the body; I added another one at the lower spring perch as well as the top to shim the lower side up a bit more. I suppose you could make a metal spacer if you need more adjustment.
Rodney

 

Going to put stands on front and remeasure, thinking this should isolate the problem to the front or back.

 

With jack stands in front it's dam close.
So I am hoping once the front is aligned and verified it will be fine.

 

Got some garage time, trying to get back in the groove.
Did some blocking on the doors, I have to get some epoxy on them before they start rusting on the bare spots.
The guide coat is telling me I have more work to do.

 

I started to block the fenders for the final seal coat, or so I thought.
It wasn't long before I sanded a little too much and broke through to bare metal.
To my suprise there was some rust, I was under the impression EDP coated panels were protected from rusting.
At first I thought there may have been a scratch or two that caused the problem.
The more I investigated the more I found.
So down to bare metal It will go.
What is the safest product to stop flash rust? I have heard some products are not good when you go to paint.

 

I was hoping the inside of the fender would be rust free and I wouldn't have to strip it.
Unfortunately, I have work to do there.
I am concerned there is surface rust under the brace.
Not sure how to rectify that perhaps blasting?

 

TIm:
I chose to separate the fender and the brace to gain access to the hidden rust in this area. It's a lot of work but I think it's a worthy endeavor to prevent future rust. I carefully drilled out the pinchwelds and made registration marks for reassembly. Here's some pics from my project.

Rodney


Quite a lot of rust hiding behind the brace.


Fortunately, the brace was is pretty good shape, but I did patch a few rust thru holes in the brace.


After rust removal via Evaporust, I treated with a rust convertor to kill any rust that might have survived followed by 2 coats of industrial grade Rustoleum paint.

 

Good job on the fender Tim, I think that is the way to go- separating the brace. I would be very worried about rust found under your primer. I have always wondered why some cars 10-15 years after a paint job have rust splotches, etc, I'm guessin that type rust caused it.. I am not a body man- far from it. Great job- I'm followin' ya.

 

I really didn't want to pull the brace off, but glad I am, I still have a bunch of welds to drill out to finish the top section.
As you can see plenty of rust on/under the section I removed.

 

got the rest of the spot welds cut out, the top of the brace was surprisingly rust free.

 

Nice work!

 

The fender saga continues, I thought I try another approach to the tough to sand areas.
After some research, I decided to try Cooper's strip club.
It works well but the crevices are still quite time consuming and the stuff aint cheap.

 

Getting closer there's got to be a better way, I am in well over 20 hrs on this fender.
I may haul out the blaster for the next one at least for inside.
Still finding more surface rust.

 

Finally got some primer on that fender from hell I have over 40 hrs just stripping it.

 

Got another coat on the fender and one of the doors cleaned up and coated.
Fender 1 ready for re-assemble/welding
Hopefully stripping the next fender will be a lot faster