I'M STOKKED!!!

RICH MUISE · 2011-04-13 16:03

absolutly right as usual Zap...I made that mistake on my sister-in-laws repair job 3 years ago. I scratched the damaged area down to the primer to see what color it was and I was surprised to see it looked like it was black, so that's what I went with. In dim lights it's a perfect match, but in bright lights it's shades darker than the rest of the car, telling me the black primer I used was not reflecting back like whatever was under the rest of the car.

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-16 23:01

Quote from: JPotter57 on 2011-04-12 00:21
Is that gray or silver? It looks awesome.....makes me second guess my color choice, lol....more photos please.

here's more pics...stage 2..got the ass end blocked and painted this weekend. I was really happy with the way my body work looked with some shiney stuff sqirted on...especially the hand formed rolled pan. Now 30 or so hours of colorsanding and buffing and touching up a few places here and there.
The first pic is after the basecoat.

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-16 23:04

and some more...hope I'm not boring you guys with too many pics. The last pic shows the rear quarter/rocker area I was talking abiut on another post about it not being right because the quarter was out too far, and the rocker was too far in. I sliced the quarter underneath to remove some sheetmetal, then moved it in where it was suppose to be..and the rocker I cut out about 2 ft., and welded in e section cut from a new rocker. Now it's straight (almost..very close)

JPotter57 · 2011-05-16 23:27

That looks awesome, Rich...Man, it makes me wanna go silver...

Zapato · 2011-05-17 00:48

looks KILLER, perfect. can you post a straight o shot of the rear am curious how the pan came out.

and please continue boring us

Zap-

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-17 08:44

"awesome", "killer","perfect".....hard to do much better than that...thanks guys.
Zap not sure what you're wanting to see..if you're talking about a "straight on" shot from the back, I don't have enough room behind the car to get a shot that way. If you're talking about a side shot so you can see how the pan "came out" away from the body in a curvature, I'll try to get a better shot of that.
Most of the rear pans I have seen on other cars involved just filling in the gap that was there, which leaves, imho, a rather flat looking pan. Making the pan extend out,curved and extending past the center of the verticle rounded fender 'ends', so that it wraps around the side slightly, I thought added a subtle blended look. There was nothing subtle about the number of hours it took to hand form that panel though.
Rich

Zapato · 2011-05-17 10:03

Guess I'll wait till the car rolls out and then get that straight shot, no problem. Really looks good so far.

Zap-

shopratwoody · 2011-05-17 10:35

Very nice Rich,
Nice color and good job spraying it. Always liked the Greys and you won't tire of it like
some other colors.

cool57 · 2011-05-17 12:52

That is some beautiful paintwork Rich! You may have posted before and i missed it but, what method did you use for molding in your taillight housings?

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-17 23:23

Quote from: Zapato on 2011-05-17 10:03
Guess I'll wait till the car rolls out and then get that straight shot, no problem. Really looks good so far.

Zap-

This is the best shot I could get. (You'll notice I couldn'rt resist seeing how the Galaxie taillights worked with the Grey paint) Rich

Zapato · 2011-05-18 11:08

That's exactly what I wanted to see. The look many bowtie owners will get used to in the future. Really looks great and the time you put into shows. Great workmanship.

Zap-

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-18 18:03

Thanks again Zap..here's a few pics after color sanding and 2 passes with the buffer and "diamond cut" on one fender.One has a shot of old grey beard looking back.

A tip I got from my restoration shop buddy: once you start color sanding, finish what you started because once the "skin" is removed from the clearcoat, it dries out and hardens 2 or 3 times faster than it would otherwise. So it is better to do all your colorsanding progression and buff to finish on one panel than to try to do too many panels letting the sanding sit before it is buffed.

RICH MUISE · 2011-05-18 23:12

Quote from: cool57 on 2011-05-17 12:52
That is some beautiful paintwork Rich! You may have posted before and i missed it but, what method did you use for molding in your taillight housings?

Sorry it took so long to reply..I had done it so long ago I had to think about it a while.
short answer: epoxies
my usual too long answer: first I enlarged a few mounting screw holes to make sure I could position the housing where I wanted it. next I wire brushed at slow speed to really roughen-up the mating surfaces on both the housing and the end of fender for the epoxy to grip.I used an epoxy putty made by por-15 because of it's long working time, waterproof, and high tensile strength. I kneaded a rope about 1/4" dia and applied it all the way around the housing. I used the 4 mounting screws to tighten up the housing squishing the excess putty out. Before I put the screws in I used 2 washers on each of the screws between the fender and the housing to fill up the air space that was there, allowing me to lock down the screws very tightly without distorting the fender. On the outside of the housing where it required some buidup to blend to the fender, I used "kitty hair" bondo with glass fibers. On the inside I applied as much of the por-15 epoxy putty as I could reach and apply with my fingers. I also brushed a liberal amount of por-15 on the inside to seal of the bare surfaces. It also adds a very strong bonding factor as well.
By the way, I experimented with no sucess with low temp brazing rods hoping to braze the housing to the fender. The map gas torch was melting the housing before the brazing rod. Rich

cool57 · 2011-05-19 00:25

Thanks Rich, it is a nice look, noticeable-but clean and subtle too.

suede57ford · 2011-05-19 18:27

Great progress Rich!!

You are very ambitious.

Can't wait to see it in person.

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I'M STOKKED!!!