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Progress
Thread started 06/07/20 and possession of the actual car on 07/02/20 and today is 11/18/20....amazing record time...Awesome job!
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I dropped the car off to Ron on Sept 24th and he still had a week left on the vehicle previous to me, so in fact, he's been on it since Oct 1 which is pretty incredible. We talk about it a lot and it's amazing how he cranks this stuff out at 73 years old. :worship: |
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I asked a few days ago and he didn't have anything exact at the time. It's the 4th frame off body & paint job he has done for me and typically he's in the 300+ hour range somewhere. This one should be right in line with that, and I should know more about the hours in the coming days.
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Hadn't heard from Ron for a couple of days. He was busy doing all the little last minute things like adding the window clip pins to the sides of the rear window openings (behind the quarter sails), drilling holes for the 302 hood emblems (NOS hood), tweaking the fender gaps (I was a bit picky about them), masking off the entire car, covering the bottom in poly, and finally....cleaning the booth inside and out.
He has a few more little things to do in the AM and it will then be sprayed yellow. If that goes well, it will be masked and the stripes sprayed out as well. Then it's a few coats of clear and let it cure before the cut and polish starts. I can't wait. |
The car was painted yesterday with base sealer and color. Today I went out to help tape the stripes on the car and the black just went on about an hour ago. Still too soft to lift the tape off at the time of the photo's being taken. It's coming along nicely. Tomorrow it will get a few coats of clear and the color will then come alive with some depth.
https://i.ibb.co/7rCc1xj/IMG-4063.jpg https://i.ibb.co/YNPtRJJ/IMG-4064.jpg https://i.ibb.co/JHC84w2/IMG-4067.jpg https://i.ibb.co/K6FZDV8/IMG-4068.jpg https://i.ibb.co/fCdkt7t/IMG-4069.jpg https://i.ibb.co/b1yGJQd/IMG-4070.jpg |
Damn that’s exciting. Something about adding the stripes feels like a major milestone for bringing a Z back to life! Congrats on the epic progress :beers:
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Ron painted the front cowl and the rear spoiler while off the car to get better quality and control of the spray. It was then pointed out to me last night that the factory method was to install the rear spoiler just before the deck lid was striped, then spray the stripe color with the spoiler mounted on the car.
I would think painting it off the car works better for the quality, but found it interesting that Norwood painted the spoilers stripes while mounted to the deck lid. We painted the stripes to halfway under the spoiler as I was taught to do years ago. With the factory method, the paint would just feather out under the leading edge of the spoiler. Here's a shot of the feathered edges as shot by one of the leading restoration shops out east. Learned something new last night. Thanks to Joe S. for the info on this. https://i.ibb.co/HD2c9c9/127273734-3...26636762-n.jpg |
The car was cleared today and will now cure for a couple of days. Once dry, the grill will be installed, the bumper will be fitted to the car and both pieces will be painted. Then it's time for a full cut and polish. I'm definitely liking what I see and trust it's going to pop once it's out from the booth lighting.
https://i.ibb.co/4V9FHnN/IMG-4073.jpg |
Can't wait to see pics in natural light.
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Look's great!!
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Ron has now started wet sanding the car. I was out to see it today and he's currently working it with #1500 and plans to hit it again with #3000 over the weekend. After that, he'll pull out the Wizards "Mystic Cut" and hit it with the power polisher to bring out that mile-deep shine. The grill and the bumper will then be fit after the polishing is complete. I'm loving the color after seeing it in person today. Killer contrast for sure.
https://i.ibb.co/wWJVVGq/IMG-4115.jpg https://i.ibb.co/dJzQZSF/IMG-4100.jpg https://i.ibb.co/6BQWGLq/IMG-4112.jpg https://i.ibb.co/sRpYZT6/IMG-4103.jpg https://i.ibb.co/X2Pkh4D/IMG-4104.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Z1XMD41/IMG-4107.jpg https://i.ibb.co/PWTF1Kb/IMG-4110.jpg https://i.ibb.co/4VgPHwm/IMG-4113.jpg https://i.ibb.co/37WfmL2/IMG-4114.jpg |
Awesome progress Graeme! I was just looking through progress photos of my 70 Z project. I started it in 2012! You are making me look bad! I gotta get back to work on it this week!
Buddy |
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Life is too short my friend. :cool2: |
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Graeme, its been four days without an update. We need a fix !
My 302 on the dyno. Trying to keep up with ya :burnout: Attachment 180055 |
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I was out to see the car yesterday and we agreed to leave it a few more days and do some more fitting of the bumper, another round of polishing, and some minor detailing. It won't be long now. https://i.ibb.co/4JdbzD6/IMG-4119.jpg https://i.ibb.co/wKvLJsQ/IMG-4120.jpg |
A couple more pictures of the car from today. The grill and bumper will likely need a little more tweaking to be right for me but that's an easy fix. The rear spoiler in the shot below wasn't bolted down completely and has since been tightened down and is nicely aligned. It's come a long way in a couple of months.
https://i.ibb.co/kKVvpbr/IMG-4221.jpg https://i.ibb.co/hsJ1WJX/IMG-4220.jpg |
OK. Body & Paint is done and I was out to pick up the car today. We put a coat of Wizards shine master on it before putting it in the trailer, and it didn't take me long to change the wheels out once I got it home. Now the fun starts...Day 2 Style!
https://i.ibb.co/VmwC9fM/IMG-4256.jpg https://i.ibb.co/NthFL86/IMG-4261.jpg https://i.ibb.co/tB9BVBV/IMG-4255.jpg https://i.ibb.co/M7yVVnN/IMG-4282.jpg https://i.ibb.co/QKqQhgG/IMG-4288.jpg https://i.ibb.co/WKk3fFL/IMG-4293.jpg https://i.ibb.co/V9xPhJD/IMG-4295.jpg |
Daaaaaaaam looks Killer!
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Starting to look properly badass Graeme :beers:
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Looks awesome Graeme!
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Sweeet! You'll be driving this in no time.
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Sexy with a capital S!
Nice work by all, Jason |
Good Lord thats beautiful!:worship:
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Very very nice! Can't wait to see the finished product.
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I love the wheels, the stance, and the traction bars........
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As usual Graeme...........
SPECTACULAR!!!!! |
Looks tough with those wheels. Nice work.
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Too cool not to share!
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Adding to the restoration pics and the storyline of the undersides, I had Ron apply some overspray and satin black paint to the primer sealed underbody. While much of the rear section and tunnel area is prominently sealed in grey primer, the lower floorboards were painted black with the heaviest emphasis being up near the toeboards before painting the satin black firewall.
He then painted the lower rockers and rear wheel openings in yellow without being overly protective of getting any overspray onto the floor edges or the areas beyond the targeted pattern in an attempt to mimic what the factory did. Yellow overspray can now be seen where typically found on the factory painted cars including some overspray of the black sound deadener applied to the wheel well areas. I'm fairly happy with the end results and didn't want to over restore the car or get too carried away with overspray. https://i.ibb.co/bW5P1m3/IMG-4298.jpg Yellow overspray seen on the lower floors here. The label still needs to be removed from the added subframe connectors and they need some welding at the rears. https://i.ibb.co/ZJRL5Tr/IMG-4299.jpg Restored original 12 bolt rear with Cal Custom Cover and vintage Lakewood Trac Bars (Decal was a fun touch to be added) https://i.ibb.co/MsVfZ7D/IMG-4301.jpg Here you can see the yellow overspray in the tunnel area from the outer frame rails being sprayed. https://i.ibb.co/Csnmxxm/IMG-4300.jpg The same overspray patterns are found on both sides of the rear tunnel. https://i.ibb.co/2WqtB8Y/IMG-4302.jpg Lots of overspray under the tank mounting areas and on the leading edges of the lower trunk pan. Fuel lines were added after the fact. https://i.ibb.co/xG0kPXL/IMG-4307.jpg Here you can see yellow overspray and some sound deadener residue over the black on the rear of the floor pans. (non-deliberate effect) https://i.ibb.co/f8CffnH/IMG-4311.jpg The transmission tunnel is seen with exposed primer between the lower floor pans. The tunnel hole was torch cut into the new floor and rivnuts added. https://i.ibb.co/6XSqTNS/IMG-4313.jpg Here are the lower firewall sections looking back where most of the central area is satin black (except in the tunnel area). |
Toms Differentials built my 12 posi for my V8 vega in 1977,
he was a big angry guy with a mean pit bull! I raced w/that posi for over 20 years in different cars, bullet proof, I remember that the rebuilt 4 series carrier, henrys axles & olds ends cost $700, a huge hit back than. |
Tom was one of my suppliers when I had my rear end business. He knew more about a 12 bolt than GM, but he was kind of hard to deal with. Whenever I called to order parts I hoped that someone else would answer the phone. His daughter is trying to run the business now and seems to be keeping it going. Tom's has parts that nobody else has.
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Looks fantastic, the wheels really go awesome with the paint
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Freddie knew I was in need of some good quality bearings and an install kit and he was the one that suggested Tom's to me. The girls are running the business there today and appear to be doing a fine job of things. I believe it was Tom's granddaughter that was manning the phones and got me squared away. Really good service and even the young one was quite knowledgeable. They had exactly what I needed and they shipped it out the same day.
I highly recommend them if you're looking for made in the USA shims and bearings. |
I was out hanging some emblems and badging on the car last night and thought I'd better get some engine bay shots now that it's home and everything has been cleaned up. Aside from my powder coater getting the wrong color on the fender support bars (gloss black rather than satin) I would say it's looking pretty good under the hood. Once the wiring and front lighting is completed, I'll plumb the brake lines, add the pedal carrier, the tilt column, and the restored booster with the master cylinder.
https://i.ibb.co/sVq4T0Q/IMG-4328.jpg https://i.ibb.co/kHwXr7b/IMG-4334.jpg https://i.ibb.co/RDKg69y/IMG-4336.jpg https://i.ibb.co/q7rQ9fQ/IMG-4337.jpg https://i.ibb.co/hCXrmBL/IMG-4338.jpg https://i.ibb.co/fFVDJGy/IMG-4339.jpg |
looks great!
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That car is going to be a blast.
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Just recently I was trying to think of what else I could add to the front of the car to make it a day-2 time capsule for years to come, and there it was in the sYc classifieds. A Baldwin style Stinger Hood that Jason Booth had squirreled away in his stash. Well...we were quick to make a deal but what made it even better was that a nearby friend and Day 2 dude Russell Rosales (mr.4speed) had also made something very unique available for this build. A really nice pair of 8" Cragar's mounted up with a wicked set of M&H Race Masters that I had been drooling over for some time.
Making it another step better, Russell is now making those parts come together as we work on getting a ride for the parts to come up to Canada. Can't say how that is going to happen (on the hush)...but it looks like it's quickly drawing together. More when the parts are united with the car, but a big shout out to Russell and Jason who are both completely awesome to work with and have each gone the extra mile and then some. True car dudes who help to make this hobby so special!!!:worship::worship::worship: https://i.ibb.co/tYQRsC3/MH-Racemaster-Wheels.jpg https://i.ibb.co/zsFbJ0K/IMG-6697.jpg |
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