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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
10 Attachment(s)
Sometime around end of March 2020 (as we were into the full Covid lockdown) a friend Dereck Glesby helped me drag the body out to Ken Kiernicki's shop to sandblast and prime the underside.
Car dropped off into Ken's blasting tent. Attachment 216091 Suiting up Attachment 216092 And away we go... This is very tough and dirty work !! I have a new appreciation for the industry. First off you can't see much out of that helmet never mind the weight and difficulty getting in and out of it. Once you start blasting there is also the dust cloud and having to drag around the hose. Many stops, gear downs, inspections, suit-ups and re-starts !! Complaining aside it was an awesome day with a few friends giving the project a nice kick forward ! And it turned out quite nice. Ken owns a Carnival business called Wonder Shows. They typically fully rebuild and refinish a ride or two each year. the blasting equipment is very HD... The distance in the photo is pretty much the closest I dare got. Attachment 216093 Attachment 216094 Attachment 216095 This is an example of Ken's Wonder Shows crew refinishing work. BIG job, stripped cab and all exterior down, lots of repairs/refreshing/upgrades and refinishing !! Attachment 216101 Back around and into Ken's shop the following weekend for DP90 epoxy. First order of business blow gun, vacuum, roll over, repeat, repeat repeat. Weld up a few little spot repairs and wipe down the underside and firewall with degreaser, repeat repeat, repeat until clean! Attachment 216096 Attachment 216097 As Skee Lo would say "I wish I was a little bit taller....." Attachment 216098 Attachment 216099 |
I hear ya on a hot, filthy friggen job !! I blasted the entire underside of my '66 Chevelle in my driveway with a little 100# pot blaster. I had 300# of sand and knew it wouldn't be enough, so put the car on a tarp. Good thing I did. Over the next 13 HOURS, I swept up that sand, screened it and ran it thru the pot so many times I lost count. As you say, the overalls and helmet get really hot and all I had was a few bottles of water and a couple cheese sticks all day. The sun was going down at 9pm when I finally pulled the car back in the shop and cleaned up. NEVER again. I'll take it somewhere and pay for the job.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...080&fit=bounds Rolled it out the next day to clean and prime. https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...080&fit=bounds |
Those don't look like MN floors!! Southern car?
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Complete AMD 1 piece trunk floor. Left front floor complete pan and a section of the right front pan were replaced. IOWA car !! that ended up in Pensacola and I bought it from there. |
So, are you converting it to a console car? The first pictures showed the floor with the rough torch-cut shifter opening that the factory did on the non-console cars.
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Continued cleanup and stripping
Attachment 216500 Attachment 216501 Attachment 216502 Attachment 216503 Attachment 216504 Attachment 216505 Attachment 216506 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
When I first purchased this car it had 4.10 gears which I robbed out for another car. Not sure why but I did not powder coat the housing at that time. So away we go
Attachment 216507 Axle needed replacing.. had a good pair of factory axles to replace with. Attachment 216508 This was a brand new bearing when I swapped the gears :shocked: This literally has less than a mile of use. The spots visible are deep pin holes which were not visible under the coating when first installed. Attachment 216509 Housing ready to go Attachment 216510 Ratech Shim Kit plus assorted collection from years of hoarding Attachment 216511 Damn shim split on what would have been the last assembly. Oh well pull out and reshim. Attachment 216512 Attachment 216513 |
Gear pattern looks good!
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A slight correction Gary, coming from the owner prior to Dereck! The car is originally an Arizona car, went to Texas, then Nebraska, then Canada! |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
10 Attachment(s)
I'm Baaaaaaack. Well that was a long Winter / Spring Hiatus but finally have the summer cars home and able to have some fun and catch up. The Green bastard is currently in summer storage but lots of pics to update on.
Continuing body prep cleaning up under the package tray where everything has a layer of surface rust Attachment 222764 Attachment 222765 Homemade tool to remove the torsion rods and trunk hinges Attachment 222766 Attachment 222767 Loooooots of stripping with wire wheel and hand sanding Attachment 222768 Attachment 222769 And a coat of DP90 epoxy to seal everything up. Attachment 222770 Attachment 222771 Attachment 222772 Reassembled and still have all my fingers !! Success Attachment 222773 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
1 Attachment(s)
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
2 Attachment(s)
Upside down shot towards the rear seat divider... cleaned up nicely.
Attachment 222775 All of the paint and seal sealer was also stripped from the door and trunk jambs. This photo is looking up at the Left door jamb showing the fresh epoxy seam sealer in door jamb and drip rail seam... messy job !! Attachment 222776 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
8 Attachment(s)
Well the Green bastard rears it's ugly head once again. Stripping the roof revealed some significant previous repair / damage. There are many quite rough gouges from a previous strip job and an area of Very heavy filler.
I suspect the aggressive stripping caused some heat and stretching of the metal resulting in oil canning. Apparently the cure was three HEAVY blows with a soft pointed body hammer which probably tightened up the panel but then required the heavy filler. I worked out the hammer blow dents and did my best attempt at shrinking the panel but... I realized my limits here and reached out to a professional. Attachment 222777 Attachment 222778 Proper repair required the careful removal of the inner bracing. Which were then straightened stripped and epoxied. Attachment 222779 Attachment 222780 Attachment 222781 Attachment 222782 Cedrik Cahill of Cahill Auto Body brought his 12" shrinker and after about an hour of work had the panel in good shape for plastic work. Money well spent ! Attachment 222783 Attachment 222784 |
L78 Nova...
Impressive dedication to the project...great job :beers:
-wilma |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
9 Attachment(s)
Around this time (June July 2020) having been recently separated and with the Covid restrictions in place... There was A LOT of activity happening in the garage !
Couple shots of the BEFORE in epoxy primer Attachment 222826 Attachment 222827 Attachment 222828 And preparations begin for a semi-gloss finish coating (two coats DTM Urethane) Attachment 222829 Attachment 222830 And once again... as Skee Low would say "I wish I was a little bit taller". Attachment 222831 Attachment 222832 Final job turned out well with the exception of the firewall. Attachment 222833 For the firewall I later reshot with a further flattened topcoat. This is the shiny version. Attachment 222834 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
9 Attachment(s)
Now back to Bodywork on the Roof.... A week of holidays was a full week of 12 hour days bodyworking the roof.. never said I was fast ! The weather cooperated with high temps well in the 90's every day. It was Gruelling !! (I will foreshadow that it turned out beautifully after paint)
Reinstalled inner structure Attachment 222835 Attachment 222836 Full skin coat of Bondo (couple rounds)... followed by a full skin coat of polyester glaze (couple rounds) Attachment 222837 Looooooots of blocking and repeats Attachment 222838 Once I was happy with the base work it was all sealed with DP90 (a little pebbly shooting it in the heat) Attachment 222839 Attachment 222843 Attachment 222840 Some more spot repairs and DP90 sealing... Then a full cover with high build primer and another round of blocking Attachment 222841 Attachment 222842 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Doors had previously been stripped hung and aligned and epoxied.
Now onto the finishing work Several rounds of bondo, blocking, glaze, blocking Attachment 222848 Attachment 222849 Attachment 222850 Another sealing coat of DP90 Epoxy Attachment 222851 Attachment 222852 And High build primer Attachment 222853 Attachment 222854 |
Can I ask how you get DP90? I was a painter at a shop in the 1990’s. PPG at the time quite selling DP90, so we had to go to DP90LF. Of coarse, it had no adhesion to bare metal. You had to shoot a wash primer on first before the DPLF. I was surprised when you wrote that you were using DP. Thanks
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
It is the DP90LF... direct to metal is OK providing mil thickness is adequate and it is not further reduced (per PPG pec sheet). Never had an issue, sticks like concrete.
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Some pics of further finishing and fit up.
Attachment 222866 Attachment 222867 Attachment 222868 Attachment 222869 Attachment 222870 Attachment 222871 Attachment 222872 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
4 Attachment(s)
The next challenge was fitting up and body working the fenders. I wanted to hang these on the car to fit and align and find any surprises before paint. So that meant putting the subframe and rad cradle onto the body.
I figured out a way to reverse the front side of the rotisserie and be able to hold up the car by the subframe. Doing the majority of this work alone did not make things easy. Believe me, I carried that subframe around like a horse collar several times. Attachment 222874 Loaded onto the rotisserie Attachment 222875 Slid under the car supported by the engine crane. Attachment 222876 My buddy Dereck did give me a hand bolting the subframe in... and voila first mock up of the NOS fenders Attachment 222877 |
Great work & ingenuity :worship:
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Looking good.
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Rough hanging Left front fender...
Some bumping and filing of some dents. (and a little bit of shrinking) Attachment 222940 Lower reinforcement behind wheel was welded in crooked on the NOS fender and there was some very rough formed metal at the opening. Attachment 222941 Cutting it loose to reweld correctly and repair. Attachment 222942 Attachment 222943 rough alignment and shimming done Attachment 222944 This will clearly need some work on both the fender and door (this was found before the prior post of the door work) Attachment 222955 Attachment 222946 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
4 Attachment(s)
The rough mud work
Attachment 222956 The Nervous drilling work Attachment 222957 Attachment 222958 The "MONEY" shot Attachment 222959 Always fit all trim before final prep work. Amazing how many times parts have to come apart and go back together !!! Fender on fender off, door off door on fender on door off etc etc etc :rolleyes2: |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
8 Attachment(s)
Finishing Work
Attachment 222961 Gap is a little wide but... loooots of clear going on this job ! Attachment 222962 Attachment 222963 Attachment 222964 Attachment 222965 Attachment 222966 Attachment 222967 And a little surprise for good measure Attachment 222968 |
Oh man...loving those panel gaps there Ken.
I need to come over and see that green bastard before you get it finished. Very nice work!!! |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Another extended hiatus... Sorry Guys. Work has continued... time to catch this up as these photos are from late 2020.
Found a couple lost pics of the Right fender work (getting better at extracting from the icloud). Rough fit up. Need to work some high spots forward of the rear edge. Attachment 226321 Attachment 226322 Attachment 226323 Working on some NOS storage bruises Attachment 226324 Getting them stripped down to begin mud work (sorry no bodywork shots) Attachment 226325 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
6 Attachment(s)
Original hood on the car was rusted along the front edge. A friend had a California Nova on which he had installed a cowl hood so... with some persuasion and cash I had a solid California hood. Good news and bad... "It is ready to block and paint" Umm, well looks like someone may have been a little aggressive when originally stripped so some extra work was definitely required.
As purchased Attachment 226330 First hit with the blocking Attachment 226331 In the mud work. Hoods are difficult, large flimsy areas require a huge spread of filler and it takes forever to block off with minimal pressure and lots of fresh paper. Attachment 226332 Sealed up in epoxy Attachment 226333 Underside re-sprayed in satin black Attachment 226334 Later shot of final prepping the hood and trunk lid Attachment 226335 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
4 Attachment(s)
The hours... The Hours !!!!
Stripping about 4 coats of paint from my best candidate cowl fller Attachment 226339 Underside... yes each fin was carefully sanded, scraped, prepped and straightened. Attachment 226340 First round of epoxy and sanding (NOS bumper filler in the back). Yes there was some small filler work required on both pieces ! Attachment 226341 Another round of priming... fins taped off to prevent excess build up (AND RESANDING) Attachment 226342 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
7 Attachment(s)
Glove Box, Ash Tray, Miscellaneous bits
Glove box stripped epoxied and bodyworked (this car had a rough life :laugh:) Attachment 226343 Attachment 226344 oops missed a spot Attachment 226345 Ash Tray was dismantled, stripped (as best possible) epoxied and reassembled Attachment 226346 Attachment 226347 Attachment 226348 Various bits getting epoxy, NOS fender gills :eek2: My old eyes dinna like masking those chrome edges ! Attachment 226349 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
3 Attachment(s)
Even the dash did not escape the torment !
Attachment 226350 Attachment 226351 Attachment 226352 No pictures of finished semi gloss :hmmm: |
Looking great!:beers:
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1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
5 Attachment(s)
Some final sanding and touch ups in high build
Re-prime some bare spots in the jamb Attachment 226365 Sanded out Attachment 226364 A small fix along the RH trunk edge Attachment 226366 Attachment 226367 Attachment 226368 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
5 Attachment(s)
Everything sprayed in a final coat of epoxy sealer.
Attachment 226373 Attachment 226374 Attachment 226375 Attachment 226376 Attachment 226377 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
5 Attachment(s)
Every square inch wet sanded to 800
Very Excited at this point !! Attachment 226378 Attachment 226379 Attachment 226380 Attachment 226381 Attachment 226382 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
5 Attachment(s)
Prepping wheels.... YUCK
Attachment 226383 Attachment 226384 Sprayouts are much more interesting Attachment 226385 Attachment 226386 Once I got them away from the large flake we got it nailed We were working from an original dealer color sample book with huge coupons. Attachment 226387 |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
6 Attachment(s)
January 2021 To the Paint shop !!!
Attachment 226389 Attachment 226390 Attachment 226391 Attachment 226392 Attachment 226393 Attachment 226394 I hate to do it to you guys but the color shots will have to wait... not long though I promise. :wink: Gary |
1970 L-78 Nova Restoration; Saga of The Green Bastard
2 Attachment(s)
Ok, OK, Sneak Peak
Color sample Book Attachment 226395 Teaser Photo... painter is visible in reflection (did not want his photo taken, prolly witness protection) Attachment 226396 |
Looks really nice!
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