I have dehumidifiers on storage and paint booth. Thought about a mini split for the paint booth but just another thing that is a want rather than a need. I was chuckling a bit about the working in the shop. They took the Methylene out of the stripers because it was causing people to pass out! Even with it now gone i do it all open air. I love this hobby but id like to be around and kicking for years to come :)

Roof Fust
 

Some cars seem to have some surface rust which is always alot of work to get clean. I strip the paint and then get out muriatic acid. Nasty stuff to work with. Doesnt take too long for the rust pits to disappear. This roof was not too bad but still a multi day event to get cleaned and neutralized before starting the first step of body work.

Question, after the muriatic acid and neutralizing, do you put anything on the metal to prevent flash rust? TIA

I’m also curious how you apply and neutralize the muriatic acid.

No, its just alot of hard work after that. Wire wheel the entire top, followed by a d/a. Even after doing a day of body fill and blocking I will probably hit it again before putting down some primer. I think a little OCD at this stage will pay dividends later.

You just need a strong base solution like water and baking soda. You will still get some amount of light rust, just no way to get around it.

Thanks for posting your work although i know this stuff takes time I look daily for updates!

Rough in Complete
 

After stripping its hammer out the dents, followed by the base layer of filler. I wanna point out that the better job of hammering out the dents the less filler you have which is the primary goal. I realize this roof looks bad but there is very sliver thin areas of filler here. After that epoxy prime followed by standard primer.

This paves the way to about a dozen additional rounds of blocking and sanding.

DriveShaft
 

Aside from body work finishing up chassis items one at a time. I dont have the time, patience or money to try and get a driveshaft back to bare metal and have it look good, so painted works just fine for me.

Thanks to some mice
 

This is one that is a first for me. Upon doing some window channel sand blasting i found the package tray area undeer the dutchman panel was pinholes from rust. After investigating and blowing out a bunch seat cushioning it appears some mice packing the space and it allowed moisture to hold itself againts the angle section of the package tray as it leads up to the ledge the dutchman panel is spot welded too, or in other words the small section where the rear window sits on. Truly amazing spot to have found rust. Not a great spot to have to fix, but im shocked how good the reproduction panel was made. Almost a perfect exact match to the original panel. Sometimes these cars can throw you a real suprise during restoration.

Black and Orange Painting
 

Between the last 2 weekends painted some chassis parts along with some engine pieces. Did some rear end factory paint marks.

Looking great Rick!!

Rick I agree with Dave - Looking great! - question do you have any preference on the engine orange paint? reason I ask is whatever I used on my 302 I'm not happy with, I Don't remember what I used- Duplicolor? -as it turned almost flat orange after driving it I looked at a thread here and Seymour Hi-Tech EN48 was suggested, and I see several brands up on your shelf
thx Rich

Engine Paint
 

Hi Rich,

I have been using the Bill Hirsch stuff for all engine builds i have done. I have used everything from there Hemi orange for some 6 pack engines I built for some other guys as well as the Chevy orange for my cars. This last time i picked it up it seems to have a very long dry time, as in over a week or more. The parts still could not be touched a day after painting In the past it seems like it dired much faster. With Bill Hirsch it also seems that one time you get a quart and it is thin enough to spray and the next time im adding a reducer to because its to thick.

The reason i like it is it sprays easy, drys glossy, and after a motor is fired and gets a few heat cycles dulls down just a bit to more of a semi gloss to satin. Very durable and you can touch up, heat cycle an engine and never tell where you touched up.

More Body work and my thoughts on NOS sheetmetal
 

This is just a glimpse into the time commitment required for body work. All panels are stripped and dents worked out, followed by filler to smooth out areas. This gets followed by epoxy primer. Something else that is a pet peeve, NOS sheetmetal is does not mean perfect, and in most cases the parts you get had flaws. This quarter proved to have some serious issues behind the back wheel. Worked out the metal best i could. Also managed to get the tail panel worked, and mudded for a first sand. If your wondering why all mud, its because much like rockers you will never find a straight one. Just the way it is.

Great progress on the car. You do quality work

Continued Body Work
 

I do hope you guys are finding this somewhat interesting. I could see how for some, this could get boring fast. Body work is just something I was taught by my dad to not rush and do right. Every car i seem to work on i continue to learn more and get just a bit better.

The rocker in the first picture shows the continue process of blocking, finding low spots and filling. Dad taught me to use minimal filler. We both somewhat cringe when we see car shows and they mud the full panel and block it.

The door is back the basic, stripe, hammer dolly and in the case of this door acid off any light rust. Much easier to acid the smaller door than the roof. On this car I finally bought a dent puller. Really helps keep the filler down to as minimal as possible and with some panels you just cant get to the back side. The triangle in the bottom right of the door is just me cutting out some rust and repairing. I believe this is pretty common for 68/69 doors because of how tight the door frame is to the skin.

Awesome work. My dad also taught me to do body work when I was a kid, but his was more the Earl Scheib mentality.

I really commend you and others that have the patience for this. I for one don’t have the patience or skill and lean into ,pay, folks like you so I don’t lose my mind! Curious, do you listen to music while working?

I had to look up Earl Scheib. Dont sell yourself short, for the name and time period the work he did was probably pretty good

Thankyou! The whole process is actually very fullfilling. I find i pickup a sanding block and cant put it down.

When in the shop music is required! Im also spoiled with a TV, but thats more a winter time thing when its cold out.

Drivers Door
 

This was a pretty decent door out of Missouri. However it did have some pin holes in the corners from dirt sitting in corners. Door a a supper deep dent just in front of the mirror that strected the metal.

This door had to get the acid treatment was well. It was all pretty light, but needed regardless. After acid neutralize, wire wheel and DA the first pictures shows its ready for dent removal and make sure its flat/curved across. Second picture is another day where the inside edges, and inner structured were blasted and primed.

Brings smiles to take something that looks hideous and transfome it back to a clean door.

Thanks again for posting these pics Rick. It’s one thing to have the talent to restore these cars, but to take the time and document the journey is much appreciated.:beers:

Decklid
 

Its always a much more relaxing restoration when working with very clean rust free metal. The decklid is original but had alot of dents along the edge between the tail lights. Someone also really bent and twisted the lock cutout. Couple hours with the dent puller and some very gentle hammer work on the lock area and this deck lid really came back into shape easier than I thought.

So nice to only have to remove one coat of paint.

Deck line had alot of Lacquer checking so it recieved same acid and clean treatment as the doors.

Body Sand Blasting
 

Unlike the frame the body is quite the olympic event in sand blasting. Made a pretty good dent this weekend considering I did a door and part of the deck lid edges Saturday. I also spent some time fishing with dad today, but as im sure anyone knows fishing with dad takes precedence over car work.

I cant continue to express how happy i am with this car. It is absurdly clean, rust, and pit free. Hopefully next weekend i can get the trunk, cowl and inside the cab complete.

Always. The days are precious

Couldn’t agree more!!

Firewall and Under Dash Blasting
 

If weather holds out I should have this fully blasted next weekend.

Frame Assembly - Fuel and Brake Lines
 

With the rainy weather its time to start having transition days where i work only inside. Car body was fully sand blasted and ready for finish work in the spring.

Installed both Brake and fuel lines. Brake line required alot of massaging to get into place, fuel line almost dropped right in place. Not sure why but Right Stuff left the fuel and brake lines long which mean modifications to the ends. Last picture is inline with the amount of fuel line sticking out on the originals it took off.

Even managed installing motor mounts and rear snubber. Still waiting on some layout fluid for the front cross over brake line clips.

Sure looks like you started with a pit free frame good for you.

Small Things - Dash Trim
 

Good thing about clean cars is some items like the dash molding can easily clean up without any fancy expensive rechrome. I lucked on this piece.

Parking Brake
 

With the cooler days its time to work on small things. Park brake assembly was in good shape.

I want to say thank you for sharing your incredible talent with these cars with us! I look daily for updates on your builds.
Do you have a trick with restoring the plastic pull handle on this Emergency brake handle or will you replace it ?

Sometimes you have cars you can restore the old piece. With more southern clean cars most plastic and rubber is just destroyed. For a car like this it will probably be a repop piece that like many i will rework what I dont like.

Upper Control Arms, Ball Joints, and Axles
 

The updates will keep coming fast during chassis assembly. Things will slow down once i have the frame on some wheels. Thats just how it works.

New ball joints installed. It would be nice to do the original rivets but i find that process kinda painful, especially when working with a finished painted arm. I go with the traditional bolts, but I do modify them to look like rivets on the underside as the picture shows. Just my flavor of doing things.

Im thinking this weekend if the weather is crappy it will be time to get the lower arms in with the springs. My fear on this car is i will be pulling them off once fully assembled to adjust the ride height because of the weight reduced motor. I called a few places about this and frankly was not encouraged by just use our small block springs. We shall see how things shake out.

Looks great!

Small detail but I think the fasteners on the upper ball joints are reversed - the riveted looking part goes in from the top of the ball joint and the retaining nuts on the bottom underneath.

I choose the orientation such that if in a judged event the rivet like bolt is seen from the bottom. Less likely someone sticks or even fits there head in the wheel wheel to see the bolts, nuts and washers.

Clutch and Brake Pedal Assembly
 

The original setup was in sad shape. Someone had broken the clutch bracket right off the pedal which I have seen before. Sourced another complete pedal assembly. Complete tear down, bead blast, phosphate and paint before reassembly. Lucky to have found all the little pieces that are part of the neutral safety switch for 69.

Restored Before Assembly
 

Missed one picture

That's some nice detailing!