Build Thread '83 T-top Coupe - Welding Holes in My Rear

[Davedacarpainter]

More little stuff on a little emblem. I decided to spend a little time on it while I wait to drive out to Sand Springs to work on a beautiful new BMW around noon today.

Here's a side view where you can see it has a collar on it to hold the clear plastic cover in place.

I used a razor blade to carefully separate the collar from the base and you get these four pieces. The collar itself has silver paint round the rim (silver sharpie to the rescue). I'll sand the clear cover to remove the scratches and gouges and clear coat it like I did my taillights.

Here's a close up of the shield.

I never really looked at these closely before, so now I need to do a little studying. I thought the background was white, but as you can see the top surface is a spun look. On the right side i used a little spit and my thumb and you can see where it peeled a coating back a little. I wonder if this was just clear originally or a pickled whitish look? You can see the makers of the emblem didn't necessarily stay in the little squares for the red, white and blue. This is good for me. It will be a slight pita to mask those off for paint.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

So this week I've brought home my hood scoop

my instrument panel (dash) and my t-tops. I plugged my t-tops on Doby just for temporary storage.

Poor Doby is dusty right now, but new and bigger plans are coming for him.

I'm trying to get back out to the yard to get my driver's door and a little something for my buddy Nick. Hopefully soon.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Jeez, my thread was four pages back! I've been slacking obviously!

I've been busy working on customer stuff though really.

That died again, so....

I painted the little emblem. It took me several hours to do this. When I cleaned up then brushed aluminum disc it luckily removed that tiny little freaking black pinstripe around the wreath and crown that surround the crest. Yay!

Anyhow, what I decided to do was to paint the field the same green as the GLX emblem on the hood. I wanted a little accent of it in the interior, now I got it.

So, before

Painted green

I had to scrape out the channel between the wreath and center of the shield with an exacto blade so the black stripe on the inside would look right. Here it is after masking for thirty minutes before the black stripe.

With the red, white and blue and clearcoated. Plus the little lense that covers it.

The picture of the emblem itself makes it almost look spotty on the black in the inner area. It's just glare from the lights.

I've started cleaning up the instrument cluster, I'll cover that next week.

I was going to get the door, but the yard owner was out of town for the last two weeks. Next week though you'll get to eventually see more kona blue shot.

 

[stykthyn]

Someof us have been waiting patiently and drinking a lot of beer waiting for this

 

[Revogen]

Jeez, my thread was four pages back! I've been slacking obviously!

I've been busy working on customer stuff though really.

That died again, so....

I painted the little emblem. It took me several hours to do this. When I cleaned up then brushed aluminum disc it luckily removed that tiny little freaking black pinstripe around the wreath and crown that surround the crest. Yay!

Anyhow, what I decided to do was to paint the field the same green as the GLX emblem on the hood. I wanted a little accent of it in the interior, now I got it.

So, before

Painted green

I had to scrape out the channel between the wreath and center of the shield with an exacto blade so the black stripe on the inside would look right. Here it is after masking for thirty minutes before the black stripe.

With the red, white and blue and clearcoated. Plus the little lense that covers it.

The picture of the emblem itself makes it almost look spotty on the black in the inner area. It's just glare from the lights.

I've started cleaning up the instrument cluster, I'll cover that next week.

I was going to get the door, but the yard owner was out of town for the last two weeks. Next week though you'll get to eventually see more kona blue shot.

The green is an awesome idea and, of course, well executed!! That'll be a sweet accent in the wheel.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I know it's little stuff guys, it'll get more exciting soon.

Soon as i make extra money, that is.

I'll at least be doing the driver's door next week. I might start pulling stuff from the engine bay to keep me active on it until work finally picks back up.

Funny how $500 off a pay check just a few months ago wasn't an issue.....

 

[Noobz347]

I know it's little stuff guys, it'll get more exciting soon.

Soon as i make extra money, that is.

I'll at least be doing the driver's door next week. I might start pulling stuff from the engine bay to keep me active on it until work finally picks back up.

Funny how $500 off a pay check just a few months ago wasn't an issue.....

Who are you, Harris Pilton?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

C'mon Dave!....You spent what?........A week? detailing the center of a stock steering wheel?

This borders on obsessive beyond reason. There is nothing I have done to anything that compares to the insanity of this.
Just to justify it to yourself, you'll have to stand around at a car show, make people sit in the car, and make them tell you what they notice about the steering wheel and not let them out until they tell you.











































5 years later, when they can't figure it out,....you tell them.

It looks really good, but Jesus Dave,....

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Wait till you see the flames I'm painting on my instrument cluster needles.........

 

[mikestang63]

Dave, tell us how you are using imported air in your tires..

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Dave, tell us how you are using imported air in your tires..

Wait, I'll show you. Look between me and the booth, I just imported it from Qatar.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

My allergies are really kicking in today. If you got this problem too you should try this new liquid medicine I've got recently. It doesn't really stop the boogers or anything, it just makes you not care as much.

It also makes you see double, which is handy now because I have enough beer for the weekend.....I think....

 

[02 281 GT]

Wait, I'll show you. Look between me and the booth, I just imported it from Katar.

The air in Qatar stinks.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

The air in Qatar stinks.

Then don't sniff my tires.....

 

[02 281 GT]

Then don't sniff my tires.....

Never much been in the habit of sniffing another man's tires...

 

[Noobz347]

My allergies are really kicking in today. If you got this problem too you should try this new liquid medicine I've got recently. It doesn't really stop the boogers or anything, it just makes you not care as much.

It also makes you see double, which is handy now because I have enough beer for the weekend.....I think....

Is that Scotch tape holding the label on? Seems legit.

 

[02 281 GT]

Ah Jeez.....I got the new dew wipes on the door panels, plus the little ring for the lock rod. They both have chrome on them. The chrome looks sooooo good against the black. I'm thinking i'm going to look into that chrome transfer tape i mentioned a while back. That kona blue may just be a good base for chrome. I think i'll keep the grey in the upper moulding middle though. To top it off, i didn't get a picture of the new dew wipes on the panels. Boy they're nice though. The old ones literally fell apart in my hands as i was taking them off. I did mention i went ahead and ordered the new carpet from LMR right? I'll just get a new picture posted when they're complete.

The door panels really screwed with my completion fixation, so i had to do something else too.

I wanted to go to the mirrors and window trim, but the trim is chromed. For you that know the fun of sanding chrome, i decided to delay those parts till next week. So, what did i do? Taillights!

So, I started with the left taillight that i already had disassembled earlier. If you remember, it had a small 2" crack in it. I used super glue to repair the crack.

I blocked out the excess super glue and sanded the lense down with 400 grit sandpaper.

Then i clearcoated it.

Here it is with the right side. I also sanded and cleaned the housing and painted the black on it. I will spray that "chrome in a can" stuff in the silver reflective area on monday (thanks @Mustang5L5 ). I will also mask off the lense and respray the black, it was chipped and gouged. Plus the black needs to be more of an eggshell finish. Doesn't that look awesome?!

This got me cocky with the time i had left in the day and i tore down the right side. It was in great condition compared to the left except the butyl tape sealing that lense was dried out. While this may sound bad, and sure made for a dirtier interior, it was a breeze to clean up! Butyl is a wonderfully sticky mess when it's still pliable. BTW, notice the red plastic stick to the left of the lense? That's what i used to separate the lense from the housing.

I sanded, cleaned and cleared it.

I also cleaned and prepped the housing (no picture, second verse, same as the first).
Here is the right lense with the left. These easier things can be so satisfying.

As I said, I'll get the silver on monday. Then I'll put new butyl tape in there (the clips are in great condition, btw). As I mentioned in an earlier post, I can get all I want for free.

The lenses look beautiful! I needed this victory. I thought that whole Kona blue thing would turn out better on the door vinyl than it did. Oh well. I'll have btchin taillights!

I'm digging this up because I have a couple of questions: you only used 400 grit to sand the tail light lenses? Did you sand them by hand? Do you have any expert tips for sanding?

I have a set of junkyard taillights for my '90 Mercury that I want to redo which I hope will turn out even half as good as these.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

I'm digging this up because I have a couple of questions: you only used 400 grit to sand the tail light lenses? Did you sand them by hand? Do you have any expert tips for sanding?

I have a set of junkyard taillights for my '90 Mercury that I want to redo which I hope will turn out even half as good as these.

I used my finishing DA to do the sanding. There are different types of DA sanders meant for different purposes.

A finishing DA is different simply due to it making tighter circles. If I were to use a different DA I might not go heavier than 500 grit sandpaper.

DA are similar to grits of sandpaper. The finer ones like a finishing DA is used when you're getting close to paint.

 

[02 281 GT]

Hmm. I still need to buy an air compressor. Guess I'll have to wait a bit on this.

 

[General karthief]

Make sure it comes with the box that you wear on your head.
Madmike have to supply his own.