Optimus Prime - The '68 Coupe

[gregski]

Final bits to come off

I removed the "aftermarket" mud flaps, since some of you were wondering if I am going to loose them, hewl yes. Then I removed the rear valance just to make it easier and more thorough. When you take pieces off, remember where you put them when it comes time to paint them, I'm just saying.

After this we start sanding I promise. (actually I've been sanding here and there and removing the bits just to brake up the monotony)

 

[Red5oh]

I ziplocked all the specialty bolts and brackets.... inside the doors, regions of the car, trip, etc. That made it much easier to 'match' the bolts when I put it together with all new ones.

I am thinking I have some extra parts left over which I will NEVER use. I think one might even be the rear fender extensions and mine did not have the trim, so it would not be a hole to fill or worry about. There might be others as well, so let us know what you need and we will provide!

 

[horseballz]

Pull Those Extensions! Re-aligning is no big chore, but the results of the possible nasties trapped in there on your new paint WILL be a chore.
Gene

 

[pyroman]

Shameless post coming.

Felt I owed it to the stangnet community to point this out.

Ok I'm done

 

[mysavioreigns]

 

[65coupe408w]

Great Thread! Keep all the pictures and descriptions coming! I am currently restoring a 1960 Falcon 2dr and I am getting into the bodywork too. I have the car stripped back to bare metal, just getting ready to do some dent and rust repair, then onto paint. All this information will be great help for me in the next few months!

Keep up the great work!

 

[gregski]

Shameless post coming.

Felt I owed it to the stangnet community to point this out.

Ok I'm done

Kean eye PYROMAN, why you must be a fine "body" man to spot such detail, lol that does it, it's brown paper from here on out

 

[gregski]

I am currently restoring a 1960 Falcon 2dr and I am getting into the bodywork too. I have the car stripped back to bare metal...

Man I love those things, and was looking for a Falcon [shhh don't tell] when I found my Rustang. Hey what did you use to strip it to bare metal, wire wheel, aircraft stripper, other chemicals? When I use the wire wheel after a while all the wires lean one way making it ineffective, any tips? [pun intended]

 

[gregski]

Sanding

OK, so she's all naked now what? Well let's do some action shots shall we...

yes that's not how you're supposed to park an angle grinder, this was done for the photo opp, and the other end is not plugged in [wink, wink] no animals were hurt either during the photo shoot

 

[gregski]

The wire wheels on the angle grinder go round and round, round and round.

I must admit I'm liking how this old lady is put together, (I always had a thing for Cougars, but wait isn't this a Mustang, no wait not the car, well you know what I mean). Seriously I thought I would be snapping a bunch of old crusty plastic bits, like on the cars from the 80's but instead everything is held in place using metal and screws, imaging that.

Note to self: [as I apply another band-aid on the tip of my index finger] wear gloves when working a wire wheel.

I swear I spent more time on this stupid trunk lid then the rest of the rear of the car. I needed to take the top down to bare metal because of a couple large chips that I didn't wanna bondo over. Then I thought lets see what it will take to strip the entire thing to bare metal. How hard could it be, right?

Well it's friggen hard ok, and time consuming. Here's one thing I learned ugly paint sticks to the car way better than pretty paint, for some reason!

 

[gregski]

Work continues...

I sprayed some Rust Reformer (complements of your local Auto Zone) into the hard to reach nooks and cranies of the trunk lid underside. Then I swirled it in there by turning the lid on all four sides to get the converter to run all all over the place. I wouldn't use this on a rusted roof, but for those hard to reach places we'll see how it [ahem] reforms? Then days after it dried, I stripped and cleaned up all the nasty runs that seeped out. I know the cap looks redish brown (I guess to imitate rust, but the stuff comes out black out of the can, some said it would turn black upon contact with the rust, but it just comes out black, how do I know, well my fingers were black from overspray, and last time I checked they were rust free to begin with.

This picture is a bit out of order, I did clean up the remainder of the rust around the edges that you see on here, so no worries there.

 

[gregski]

half a dozen Fridays and many hours later...

Man all I have to do now is clean, tape, clean, prep, clean, mask and clean some more and she should be ready for primer. The challenge of priming a car for the first time, is that you are multitasking, and I don't mean just working on the car in different spots, I mean you are setting up your space and trying to figure things out. If your space is anything like mine, it is a friggen magnet for "stuff", and I hate it, I like space. Space and good lighting are essential, and they are often overlooked and or taken for granted. I actually started taking stuff out of the garage and storing it inside a spare room in the house, cause taking it in and out of the garage to work on the car was driving me crazy, and it sucked when it was raining outside. Now in order to store it in that room I had to clean the room first, domino effect if you know what I mean. But heck, if it was easy everyone would be doing it, right?

Here is how I masked off the trunk. Why, well not so much to avoid spraying primer inside the trunk, as I didn't want the dust, rust, and what ever else flying out and sticking to my primer, know what I mean? By taking a large piece of paper and laying it over the trunk opening, I was able to use my finger to put a crease on it for me to later cut a template out of. Kinda made me feel like I knew what I was doing, or at least could fake my way through it, until... and you will have to wait till later on to find out how I blew it!!! LOL

 

[afast93stang]

You forgot to cover up the tail light holes!

 

[gregski]

You forgot to cover up the tail light holes!

BINGO ~ my brotha! so I undid one side nice and neat and covered up that taillight, then I went to cover up the trunk corner and it wouldn't stick right like the first time, damn it, so I punched the other corner - needless to say I was peeved, I hate doing things over... but in the end it turned out alright

 

[gregski]

more masking

well in all that excitement I forgot to mask off the taillights but as you can see it all turned out in the end, so you're sitting there thinking Greg you're a pin head that's way overkill on the masking it's only primer and aren't you going to strip the front end anyways? well yes it is overkill but it is good practice for when I go to paint it, and I hate over spray and dust flying around from the dirty uncovered bits

 

[horseballz]

Gregski,
I'm sorry for posting this so late and I hope I catch you before priming. You REALLY need to remove the fuel filler before priming. You will be sorry if you don't. Any spilled/overflowed gas will creep under your paint and bite you in the wazoo! And I still say you should pull those fender extensions. Quick, easy to remove and makes a cleaner finished product and re-alignment is a piece of cake. Not to mention there may be some rust behind the extensions that could creep out. You are doing such a thorough, amazing job of attacking the nasties, don't cheese out now!
Have Fun,
Gene

 

[gregski]

Shock Value

just wanted to show you the PPG Acryli-Clean DX330 Wax and Grease Remover, this stuff is expensive but it's the *****, guys may give me a hard time for the brand of primer I am using but they will definitely approve of this one [I hope]

next up is H.E.T. 1370 Urethane Reducer, this is the optional third part I add to the primer mix, about 10% or a shot glass of it, it makes the mist come out smoother

ok, so just when you thought I had some credibility I go on and pull a stunt like this, see my Harbor Freight $75 dollar SPRAY KIT below... originally I was planning on using a gravity feed spray gun (bottle on top) and borrow my buddy's 30 gallon Craftsman air compressor, but then he told me he hasn't used it in a while and it most likely had rust and moisture inside it so I would need some sort of inline filter regulator jobbie, also i would need to change the fittings on his lines to marry my (purple Harbor Freight) spray gun, so I went to HF to look for that stuff and that's when I saw what I bought instead using one of them 20% off coupons you find in the back of most vehicle magazines

ok so I am not saying you all need to run out there and buy one of these contraptions, but after reading the reviews, at that time two guys already said they actually used it to paint their cars so I thought what the he11, so here's why it made sense to me, for $75 bucks you get all you need, plastic compressor that will not rust, no need for inline filter/regulator, hose/fittings/ (siphon style, bottle underneath) spray gun with three different size needle adjustment thingies, and it runs on 110 volts and is very portable

keep in mind I am only shooting primer, and I can stand on a ladder and poor this stuff on the top of my roof and allow it to run down if I wanted to, and then sand off the excess, that would be stupid and a huge waste of money, but it would work, I could roll it on, I could brush it on, so this is a way better option, and having shot the roof already, I know it works. Keep in mind this coat of epoxy primer is to adhere to, and seal the surface it doesn't have to be pretty it will be covered with build primer which then will be sanded smooth.

 

[1968-coupe]

Nice work! Hoping to get the ball rolling on my 68 this fall. Keep up the good work!

 

[gregski]

You REALLY need to remove the fuel filler before priming.
...

And I still say you should pull those fender extensions.

...

You are doing such a thorough, amazing job of attacking the nasties, don't cheese out now!

Damn it Gene, you sound like you care and you are really motivating me to do it [ahem] right. So although I already shot it, I will go back and take these things off and re shoot it when I do the doors in the next phase, promise.

 

[horseballz]

Gregski,
That HVLP setup is actually "the bomb" for the price. A lot of woodworkers use/like it as it is identical (completely) to other brand/packaging schemes that the woodworker supply joints sell for twice and sometimes three times the price. I use it for poly and varnish on wood projects with great results and as long as you clean the gun religiously/completely/impeccably, it will last pretty well. Not a lot of adjustments to mess with or confuse you. I also used it to spray my engine compartment and underside of the car with POR 15. Just as a point of reference, the difference of gravity feed vs siphon feed is more of a convenience and preference issue than spray function. The real difference is HVLP (high volume low pressure) or conventional which I believe is called LVHP (low volume high pressure). The pros will hopefully correct me if I'm wrong. The one you have is considered HVLP, ergo the the sort of like a shop vac for air, and is very easy/forgiving to use. Harbor Freight also sells an HVLP set (purple) for use with a compressor, with a full size gravity feed gun and a small detail gun that can many times be had for $30-ish after a 20% coupon. It also gets Okay reviews in the wood world. I'm beginning to learn that one of the reasons cheap guns get a lot of complaints from newbies is because they are inexperienced and there not as good/critical at cleaning them. And yes I do actually care. Folks who mess with old cars are a dying breed and it is easy to get discouraged, early on, if you bite off more than you can chew or get poor results after doing a BUNCH of hard work by taking a few needless shortcuts. You are a diligent, personable, hard working and smart guy with a good sense of humor and it will be nice to see you succeed which will inspire you to continue in this rewarding endeavor known as Hot-Rodding.
Be Safe Bro,
Gene