Bare... Shiney.... Metal....

[jpnovak]

Now I know how those guys on Overhaulin feel after a few days of body prep.

Some of you saw my post about rust repair and complete rocker replacement. After you put away the welder you need to get the spray gun out.

Can you say bare metal paintjob? I knew you could...


First you start with a gallon of stripper. Slather on lightly, wait 10 minutes, and slather on a second coat. After 20 more minutes, start scraping. We pulled the glass while waiting for the tub to bubble.



Bare metal is good!






After a lot of tub cleaning and multiple wipe downs its time to start laying down the epoxy. Don't forget to keep that wet edge moving along.



Bare metal is so clean and shiny.


Better living through chemistry.



More epoxy on the doors, fenders, hood, and bumpers. We finished up the can of grey, how about a little tan?

[jpnovak]

Better One?


Better Two?


The car will be finished with a flat decklid. I might still go find a 964 if the price is right. KNow of any?

Narrow Body goodness. Notice the lineage in the license plate.


We are a day ahead of schedule and tired. Next step is to start with the filler and weld up a few more holes.

Now the fun begins. Me and the longboard will become one. Lots of block sanding in my immediate future. ACtually the tub is very straight. I suspect it will take a week to block the car. there is a little bit of filler to add here and there. We already knocked out some of the dings. My rust repairs and the fenders will need the most work. the good thing is that the paint color will be light. Light colors hide mistakes well but define door and body gaps.

[BURN-BROS]

Very cool Jamie! Keep at it.

[Zeke]

Wow, that is gonna be one wide track car.

Lotsa work, I share your pain, literally.

[azasadny]

Great work there!

[dtw]

Very nice work. Mine's finally blocked out to all but the doors and front fenders. Who's there, Dad? Say hey to him. Y'all drink a few beers, you've earned it!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

WOW!

Gonna' turn out great - nice work! Work slowly and keep up the attention to detail. . . It'll show in the end for sure.

BTW like your last name. Maybe we're related somehow.

[4flyboy]

I vote for number 1 get your duck ON. Sweet project man, you go boy.

S.

[squidmarks]

Jamie,

What did you use to scrap off the paint once you loosened it with the paint remover? A plastic scraper/rag?

Thanks.

Geoff

[mb911]

jamie how do you find the time????? Looks great!

[BlueSideUp]

Nice work! How much time went into getting your fiberglass rear bumper to fit that nice?

[mjshira]

good for you dude, for those who have not met Jamie in person, he is very industrious indeed. To pull this off with a small shop and a full time job AND THEN to stay married... wow, talented man for sure ;-)

[jpnovak]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Milt, Yeah, really wide. I think I might need more rubber but it will hardly, if ever see track time. I think I will leave the stock 14x5.5" Fuchs in place.

Dave, Yes, my dad came in town for a long weekend. I will tell him you said hello.



This car is being built for my father. It is my pleasure to do so. We found a good starting point with very solid mechanicals but needing a little cosmetic surgery and touch-up. The car will live in Oklahoma not far from the fun roads of Arkansas. We are building it for comfortable touring with a bit of fun on the side. Clean, simple lines are what this project is all about. The original color was light ivory. It will now be painted 964/928 Linen gray. This new color is only a few shades darker than the light ivory. We will likely shoot the underside of the hood and door jambs this afternoon after some light sanding.

My wife is very understanding. My son (currenly 21 mos. old) goes to be early. I get an hour or so out in the garage in the evenings. I find that I work much more efficiently when the time is limited. This weekend was special since my dad came down to speficically work on the car. the afternoons have been quite busy.

The paint was scraped off using several sizes of putty knives, steel wool, scotch-brite pads, and the wire wheel in a grinder. usually the stripper is left until it just about dries. This means the paint can be easily scraped off and collected on paper for disposal. If done right you end up with paint flakes, not a gooey mess. The whole tub was then washed with water and then scuffed until its really clean.

The rear bumper and decklid are from Rennspeed. It took about an hour to fit. I use a hard cutting/grinding wheel for rough cuts and then smooth with 80 grit by hand using whatever sanding shape I need. A screwdriver handle was used for the muffler cutouts. I am pleased with the outcome. I still have to fab some rear mounts for the bumper. It currently held in place with clamps.

[mjshira]

that makes the project all the more special, keep us posted.

[BlueSideUp]

Jamie- If you don't mind detailing the install process on the rear bumper I'd really appreciate it. My original rear license panel has some visible corrosion and there are two options for replacement. I'm either going to buy one of the reproduction aluminum panels from Stoddards or replace the entire rear bumper with a fiberglass unit like yours. Do you have any idea how the fiberglass bumpers handle the heat from the bumper? My license panel gets really hot, do people put a heat reflective material on the back of the glass bumper?

My front bumper is a fiberglass S unit and the car has RS flares on the rear so fitment might be slightly different but I don't have much experience with glass.

[RWebb]

"Do you have any idea how the fiberglass bumpers handle the heat from the bumper? My license panel gets really hot, do people put a heat reflective material on the back of the glass bumper?"

- You could do that - Sherwood's stuff might be just the ticket. I asked this a couple years ago & Bill V. & others posted - in essence that for a non-turbo, you are likely ok. I have a Monty (a large muffler) and no problems on mine. If you have the m&k, there is even more clearance.

Be SURE to get a quality manf'd glass piece, it is a real nightmare if you get a bad one - don't ask me how I know. TRE can be trusted, GT Racing also.

[jpnovak]

Jess - Having done both of our ideas I would ask a few questions... I see you have RS flares. do you have flared stock metal bumpers? I would personally keep them unless you want the smoothed look of a single piece bumper. The aluminum license panel would be much easier to fit than an entire bumper.

I agree with Randy. the bumper was much more difficult to fit than other pieces I have used from GT Racing. Most is due to the prep work as the bumper comes from the mold. There is less of the "flash" trimmed from this bumper. This means you have to personally clean the edges to make it fit. I rather like this since I can shape it to my liking. Of course, it just costs time.

Otherwise, the bumperettes are just a hair too narrow for my tastes. I know the taillight lens will fill some of it but the tolerance could be tighter. I grew up repairing surfboards for friends in FL. Fiberglass is pretty forgiving stuff. If you mess up, just add more and sand it out.

I have a fiberglass bumper on my track car. it too gets pretty hot. I have not noticed any warpage, peeling paint or other ill effects and I have run sans heat shield for 3+ years. I did notice that the first few times I drove the car I could smell the resins baking out a bit. Fairly faint, but still noticeable.

Anyway... to detail my fit technique.

Bumpers removed and muffler in place. First try to fit it to the car. you will find areas that do not fit. grind them back with a course grinding wheel. if the bumper does not move all the way forward see whats blocking it and trim it back. Its a slow, repetitive process of installation, marking, trimming, and re-installation. I like to check the "gross" fit first. then go back and work on the fine details. for example, the ends are not shaped right or the seam is too wavy. Just block them down or reshape.

By contrast, the Aluminum license panel just required straightening of the mounting tabs and enlargement of the square mounting holes. Then a skim coat of filler, block it smooth and paint.

[jpnovak]

I thought I would add some closure to the weekend's work. Today was just as busy as yesterday. The first thing was to block the new fiberglass decklid and rear bumper. the stock decklid had "heavy hand" syndrome and was too distorted to fix. The rear bumpers were dented and rusty. The fiberglass sections fit within the budget and took some weight off the back of the car.

Next up was to prime these pieces as well as the front latch panel and part of the cowl we missed on Sat. OOPs. Easily corrected. After the panels were primed it was time to try some color. Color code is 1989 60M/E2 Linen Gray. Its just a shade or two darker than the light ivory. I think it is also the same color as 1968 622 Oxford gray but I am not quite sure.

The color shots were the backside of the hood and decklid. The center of the hood will be painted black at a later date. While the gun was loaded I shot color on the latch panel, door hinge panels, and lower section of the cowl where the hood overlaps. This will make top coats a little easier to shoot.





It has often been said that you need to have a stable base coat of primer to get your color coats correct. As an experiment we shot some color on the gray epoxy primer and also the tan epoxy primer. Look at the difference in color between these two areas. The paint on the gray is much darker in appearance. The final sealer coat for the car will be a tan primer to go with the light tan color. this really makes the color stand out in comparison.


AFter the priming and paint experiment it was time to bolt the parts back on the car. Time to start sanding out all that primer and fixing the few problem areas that I found.



Well, what do you expect? It looks like a half finished project because it is.

I will update the thread to show some of the rest of the project progress as time allows. I have to focus on the day job this week.

[BlueSideUp]

Jamie- Thank you for the help. I do have the metal RS bumper extensions on my car. It's just the license panel that is in need of help. I think I'll do as you said and stick with the metal rear bumper. Using an aluminum license panel will probably save a lot of heartache vs. changing everything out.

[Britain Smith]

Originally Posted by BlueSideUp

Jamie- Thank you for the help. I do have the metal RS bumper extensions on my car. It's just the license panel that is in need of help. I think I'll do as you said and stick with the metal rear bumper. Using an aluminum license panel will probably save a lot of heartache vs. changing everything out.

Where did you get the Metal RS Bumper extensions?

-Britain