E-tek Restorations: PROJECT THREAD

[Kevin54]

Ed....I'm amazed how you stay on top of things like you do, going from car, to car, to car. Is the Camaro getting worked on in the house garage, or is it in your shop?

Weren't you going to tutor some kid or guy this last Summer on the finer workings of auto repair? Did he ever show up, or did I miss that somewhere? With all you got going on this last year, and looks like this year also, you're going to need some help.

Let see....you have a couple engines to rebuild, you have the old Jalopy to work on, you still have the '40 although it's almost done, you have the Camaro, you have the Zee, the Cougar will be showing back up, and didn't you say you have another car or truck coming in? Yep....you need to get yourself some help!!!

 

[NASTYZEN]

That Camaro is like a can of worms!
Nice progress.

 

[MP&C]

Ed do you have the welder for those trim pins? I have heard that some of the dent/stud welders will work to install them but not sure if you need a special "attachment" or not...

 

[e-tek]

Ed......does the moulding fit correctly in this area? It looks like the patch is too far into the roof area or there is a bulge where the two vertical seams came together. Or do you still have to dress this area off with some All-Metal or Rage?

Still to be final-dressed Kevin...as per my earlier comments.... But it's for naught - we've decided to pull the entire roof. Stay tuned for all the fun and excitement (when it arrives in 2-4 weeks...)

Just to lend a bit more context to this (and hoping I don't bore you!)...what I tried to do here was leave the edge next to the roof/quarter seam "in" a bit, so that I could run the filler material over and down into the glass channel. I've found (and been taught) it's best to keep your metal low enough in an area of filler so that it doesn't "show-through" or protrude, in spots. If not careful, a spot of metal that is too high and 'shows' after sanding the surrounding area filler, causes all sorts of issues. Having a high spot that you need to work out by hammering will just move it elsewhere or crack the filler, and grinding it down thins the new metal you just put in. Does that make sense?

 

[e-tek]

Ed....I'm amazed how you stay on top of things like you do, going from car, to car, to car. Is the Camaro getting worked on in the house garage, or is it in your shop?

Weren't you going to tutor some kid or guy this last Summer on the finer workings of auto repair? Did he ever show up, or did I miss that somewhere? With all you got going on this last year, and looks like this year also, you're going to need some help.

Let see....you have a couple engines to rebuild, you have the old Jalopy to work on, you still have the '40 although it's almost done, you have the Camaro, you have the Zee, the Cougar will be showing back up, and didn't you say you have another car or truck coming in? Yep....you need to get yourself some help!!!

HaHa - when you put it like that

This is all in my shop as we keep the daily drivers in the attached garage in the winter - and the convertibles in the summer. The 40 Ford is pretty much done: it's going for exhaust, alignment and upholstery next week. It won't be back until spring - for final polishing and to install it's window surrounds, vent windows and mouldings.

The "Zed" is no rush. I can work on that whenever I get a break. I was actually just about to tear down the 390 (for my Galaxie) and then take it and the flathead to the machine shop. Once the FE is back it's gonna get a power adder (turbo or?) before going into the Gal. The Sidey (as Simon would call it!) is for the rod and is a Loong-term project. The Cougar is in paint purgatory and I'm not sure if the owner or I will put it together....and yes, I have a 1964 Ford Comet Convertible coming in for a complete restoration. It is slated to arrive February 1st!

I tell people straight out this is a part-time 'labour of love' and a full restoration takes me about 2 years. Of course that's still WAY faster than most body shops will/can do them! As you can see, I pick and choose what - and who - I work with. I've turned down 3 projects just this past month as I'm fully booked for the next 3-4 years! The '64 Comet convertible is a GREAT story that I just couldn't say 'no' to, otherwise I wouldn't bring it in so soon.

That Camaro is like a can of worms!
Nice progress.

That's rust work!

Ed do you have the welder for those trim pins? I have heard that some of the dent/stud welders will work to install them but not sure if you need a special "attachment" or not...

I do not have a welder for the trim pins, but have always just used stainless screws (like the glass companies do) when the time comes. IMO it's as good or a better attachment method.

 

[Kevin54]

Still to be final-dressed Kevin...as per my earlier comments.... But it's for naught - we've decided to pull the entire roof. Stay tuned for all the fun and excitement (when it arrives in 2-4 weeks...)

Just to lend a bit more context to this (and hoping I don't bore you!)...what I tried to do here was leave the edge next to the roof/quarter seam "in" a bit, so that I could run the filler material over and down into the glass channel. I've found (and been taught) it's best to keep your metal low enough in an area of filler so that it doesn't "show-through" or protrude, in spots. If not careful, a spot of metal that is too high and 'shows' after sanding the surrounding area filler, causes all sorts of issues. Having a high spot that you need to work out by hammering will just move it elsewhere or crack the filler, and grinding it down thins the new metal you just put in. Does that make sense?

Holy ****!!! So what's not going to be new? Two front fenders and a hood

 

[e-tek]

Holy ****!!! So what's not going to be new? Two front fenders and a hood

Yup, should be a beauty when done!

 

[e-tek]

Well look what FINALLY showed up!!

It pains me to say it (but in a good way) they were definitely worth the wait WOW - talk about your vehicular BLING!

Here's some teasers, just until I get them installed tomorrow:

 

[Motown 454]

Nice!

 

[Kevin54]

Well look what FINALLY showed up!!

It pains me to say it (but in a good way) they were definitely worth the wait WOW - talk about your vehicular BLING!

Here's some teasers, just until I get them installed tomorrow:

How long did you have to wait for those wheels? I can usually get American Racing like those in two days, or I can get knockoff that are American Eagles, next day in any size and offset.

I was actually going to go with that style of wheel on momma's Olds. They are now what Cragars were back in the day. But I'm kicking it around about going with some other style of wheel as everyone and their brother and sister runs that style around here. They look great, and I love the style, but when you go to a car show, 75% of the people there have those on their car. Don't take it the wrong way......they will definitely set the '40 off and they look great, but the first show he goes to, he have the same wheels as the person to either side of him.

 

[MP&C]

Ed, wheels should really compliment the paint job well.. especially in the sunlight

 

[e-tek]

Now that the 40 got it's new shoes....

It was time for it's first tentative steps... en route to getting its interior, exhaust and final tuning taken care of:

As a token of our shared interest in his now beautified 40 Ford rod, the owner gave me the original banjo steering wheel from his 40 to use on my Model-T Runabout Rod build....as well as a bag of home made wild-meat Farmer Sausage!

 

[MP&C]

That's a nice looking banjo wheel, don't even see any cracks! Nice score....

 

[HOTFR8]

Nice score....

More like you ****, Great score.

 

[Kevin54]

Finally some outdoor pics The '40 is looking good setting outside. Nice job on it.

It does look like it could stand a little wider meat on the rear, but looking good non-the-less.

I don't know how things are north of the border, but around here and even in my podunk little town, American Racing caps get stolen quite a bit. They interchange with the cheaper American Eagle caps. And American Eagle sells an identical wheel but about half the price of the American Racing. People will steal and swap out caps, then ******** somebody when they sell the wheels or car with wheels.

You might tell the owner to invest in some tamperproof stainless flathead screws. Those would be the ones that have a pin sticking up in the middle of the hex, and the hex wrench has a hole in the end to clear the pin. A normal hex wrench can't fit the hex because of the pin.

And again...it looks good. Enjoy the little bit of space you now gained in the garage for a week or two

Oh and BTW......I think you deserve a YOU **** for the Banjo wheel

 

[TimeWarpF100]

Looking good Ed!

You get more done by accident than I do on purpose!

Can I make a suggestion though?

How about a better camera? I do not think the pictures are doing justice to your work.


Maybe 30yrs ago for me to tear one apart with rust repair like the Camaro job.

In my first years all I did was rust repair. Happy to be in AZ where I just find a nice body and now refuse to work on what I call Rust Buckets.

Looking forward to the '64 Comet Convertible build.

 

[e-tek]

Thanks guys. Im thrilled with the 40, but moreso that the owner is happy. Its really not nearly finished and will be back for parts that have to go on after upholstery, plus whatever shows up on the shake downs. As well it'll go back to the painter to address a few issues before a final cut and buff.

That photo makes the back wheels look smaller than in person, but we do have some work to do back there to finish the set up. Owner has lowering blocks for it which will bring it down another 2.5", plus, he may set the axle back a bit to center them better in the well.

Good advice on the caps Kevin...and now that you mention it, my Galaxie has American Eagles - so I should have been the one to steal his caps!! But seriously, this being Canada , I don't think getting them stolen is much of an issue....(plus you'll likely be needing a heat gun to remove the screws now!)

The spot in the shop won't be open for long, but it will give me time for some re-arranging. I'm going to move the lift to the back and put the Camaro on it so I can get to the lower parts of the quarters and rockers without having to lay on the floor!

 

[e-tek]

Looking good Ed!

You get more done by accident than I do on purpose!

Can I make a suggestion though?

How about a better camera? I do not think the pictures are doing justice to your work.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I was waiting for someone to mention that!! We do have a MUCH nicer, new camera, but the shop environment is too harsh, so I use the old camera. However, I can see it has gotten MUCH worse over the last while, plus the battery only lasts a couple hours - and the flash SMOKES when it goes off! I guess it's time to buy a new one - especially since you can get a decent camera for very little $ now.

Maybe 30yrs ago for me to tear one apart with rust repair like the Camaro job.

In my first years all I did was rust repair. Happy to be in AZ where I just find a nice body and now refuse to work on what I call Rust Buckets.

Looking forward to the '64 Comet Convertible build.

For Canada, the Camaro is actually pretty good - but we ALL hear about you bastards in AZ that have all the clean, rust-free cars!!

Wait 'til you see the Comet.....

 

[e-tek]

My compressor had been limping along for a while, then finally yesterday blew a tube PLUS a head gasket! Spent part of today on repairs, having to cut and re-flare the aluminum feed-tube and re-seal the head:

Both air-inlet valves were bent open like the bottom one, allowing air to leak back out of the cylinder. I'm guessing they overheated and warped, so i flipped them over like the one on top. seems to have worked.

All of that left me little time to work on the Camaro, so I only managed to remove the left door and replace the hinges:

Tomorrow I'll install and align the door. Cheers!

 

[e-tek]

Im not sure what the reasoning was for all the silicone behind the window seal track, but they shot a huge load of it here

This side is gonna be trickier for sure. Evidence of previous damage, including the gap here between the quarter panel door jamb and the inner structure (they should be welded together). Check out the "bridge-weld" holding the panels together (apart?):

Damage on the inner panel, plus slide hammer screw holes, show that this side was involved in a major collision at some point in its past:

If only vehicles could tell of some of the things they've seen and been through. Beside the evidence of being in an accident, I found this mysterious white powder-like substance under the front seats...I'll have it tested at the lab before concluding the case

Time to bolt the left door up to the hinges:

For some reason I just couldn't get it to give me a decent gap at the front fender. I pushed and pulled, checked the thread plates from inside the door and still it touched the fender when I went to close it....

So I unbolted itagain and checked the thread plate hole locations against the original door:

The attachment holes on the new door where out by 1/8"-1/4" vs. the old door. I began to open them up some, but ran out of time before finishing up. We'll see tomorrow if that's the entire issue....

 

[Kevin54]

It looks like it's a darn good thing that the quarter is coming off. It will let you get the inner panel straightened out. Hopefully you won't get into a problem with things being really racked out of shape.

Are you going to hold off on putting the new quarter on until the roof panel comes in?

Seriously....you need to get a helper in there that is willing to learn. If not for anything but some of the grunt work. You could get a lot more done if it wasn't for some of the little **** jobs that mount up.

 

[Kevin54]

Im not sure what the reasoning was for all the silicone behind the window seal track, but they shot a huge load of it here

Did you happen to check the window against the seal, before you pulled it off? Chancers are there was water leakage coming in which could have been between the rubber and the chrome, and whoever worked on the car last might have thought it was coming in between the chrome and the body, so they piled the silicone on. It's hard to tell what goes through some peoples heads at times and why they do what they do.

I hate silicone like that because it is so damn hard to get off. And just one little spec of it that is not removed can really screw up a paint job.

ANd like I said, I hope you don't run into huge problems on that side. By the way the inner panels look on that side, I would say in got clipped in that rear corner at one time and bulged things out by the rear wheel. That's why they had the slide hammer inside trying to pull the inner back inside towards the inside of the car. Once you get the quarter off, you'll be able to tell better. That may be why there is still a gap where the vent goes on the jam. The inner structure has been popped out just enough to get things to halfass fit. Once you get things hammered and dollied back to shape, it will lengthen the inner structure some and help both the jamb and even at the rear panel.

It was sure a halfass lazy way of fixing things though by just throwing one tack weld across the two structures. They probably had too much movement or rattles until they did that

 

[DynoDave]

Dang that car has been kicked around.

This may have been covered earlier....is that someones name welded into this panel? Were they that proud of their work?

 

[4EyedTurd]

E-tek, any advice or tips on doing floor pans in a 64 belair?

 

[e-tek]

Dang that car has been kicked around.

This may have been covered earlier....is that someones name welded into this panel? Were they that proud of their work?

Like I said - if cars could talk...

The name is written in glue - likely when the headliner was installed at the factory is my guess....

 

[e-tek]

E-tek, any advice or tips on doing floor pans in a 64 belair?

That's a question anyone would gladly write pages of advice for, but my suggestion would be to search YouTube, or Powerblock, for some good video of the task.

 

[E.rodz]

looks like you have enough projects to keep you busy for a while. lol you have the curse too or the gift depending on how you look at it.I saw your pile of rusty bolts and your comment about the sandblaster I found a better way just get a rock tumbler throw them in with some sand with them and let them go for a couple days and you have new bolts! keep up the great work!!

 

[e-tek]

Kevin - good eye as usual. I'll definitely try to address a lot of the old damage. Much of it will be revealed when I slide the repro quarter on - that is, if the repro piece is any good....

...have you ever had one of those days where you chased an issue for what seems like forever, only to find out it's someone elses fault?!

Well that's what ended up happening with the hinges....

Although I was able to get the door reasonably-well lined up with the quarter, the leading edge still wouldn't quite sit even with the front fender, which is obviously a critical spot that needs to be addressed:

Slotting the door bolt holes didn't help much and looking into the door gap, I could see that the hinge-edge was butting up against the door inner, not allowing it to be adjusted inward enough. So after a bunch of effing around....I finally compared the old and new hinges against each other:

On the next 2 photo's, check out the portion of the hinge next to my thunb:

The photo's don't really do it justice, but the repro hinge is WAY off the original. The extra material is what is butting up against the door, stopping it from sliding in enough so the door lines up with the fender.... So a call to the supplier got me another set on the way, but still...this is why repro parts get such a BAD name!

Time to move forward....

Check out the dirt, over an inch thick, inside the quarter!

 

[Motown 454]

And they wonder why they Rot. Its amazing what get in there.

 

[e-tek]

Are you going to hold off on putting the new quarter on until the roof panel comes in?

Seriously....you need to get a helper in there that is willing to learn. If not for anything but some of the grunt work. You could get a lot more done if it wasn't for some of the little **** jobs that mount up.

I'll definitely wait and put the roof on before any welding on the quarter takes place, but while I'm waiting for the roof panel, I'll drill out and remove the old panel, fit the quarter (using screws and clamps), repair the inners, weld in the wheel arch and finalize some metal work on the right side.

As far as a helper - slim chance!! This is a labour of love and the last thing I need is some kid to watch over, or get in the way. Sure, it can get dirty - and even tedious - at times, but overall I really enjoy my time in the shop and working on cars - all by my lonesome! Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the day-to-day work even more than winning a trophy for work done.

 

[e-tek]

I hate to trash other peoples work, but WOW!.... Whoever did these skins were either drunk - or trying to do a terrible job of it! Check out the rough edges, Very little (if any!) paint or undercoat used and the use of just a few spot welds to attach it all:

The inner fenders where sliced and punched in to fit into the skins wheel arch. No welding here, just sealer and filler:

This method was so poor at sealing to the quarter panel that it came away without any trace!

And the striker panel....the inner piece below is as I found it. It appears as through they started to cut it out, then realized it had to stay, so tried to repair (some of) it.

Here's just one of the reasons I use dedicated rust paints - if there's a joint, there's gonna be rust:

A little bit of patch work to be done here!

The dirty work - removing undercoating -

All cleaned up

 

[HOTFR8]

That does not look good. No Wonder it had so much rust.

 

[e-tek]

After battling with a crappy "customer service" rep at Cmarodepot.ca, the manufacturer, OER, has decided to send a new set of hinges. They obviously know there was an issue with that batch of hinges, but don't want to admit it.
So, while I await new hinges and the roof panel - and since I only had a few hours to "play" today - I decided to drag in the front suspension for the 240Z and tear it down for detailing and a full-on rebuild:

The was nothing left of any of the rubber parts!

The heat wrench got a workout!

The big cleanup:

 

[e-tek]

My favourite type of shop day:

Started on the Camaro - fitting the inner fender:

Drilled out spot welds:

separation process:

Fixed one of my older hammers. I've been using epoxy to cement and seal them lately - works great:

I had waited on painting the inner window garnish for the 40 Ford until the vehicle was out for upholstery, so they'll be painted tomorrow as well:

Paint is premixed acrylic enamel.

And...got the 240Z parts finalized for primer and paint as well:

Of course not without it's hick-ups! A couple of the fasteners holding the brake shields were seized hard enough that the impact driver ruined the philips head:

so I turned them into a slotted head:

and out they came:

Pretty sure these are 43 years old. A quick buff and they looked new...ish.

Not so this...

 

[stinkity stoink]

Very nice work! I admire you're dedication. It is not easy to finish a complete car for a customer. Especially doing it alone. Great job! Thanks for sharing all of this.

 

[readhead]

And for anyone wondering about which lift to buy--that is what is great about a four post lift. Instant, adjustable workbench.

 

[e-tek]

And for anyone wondering about which lift to buy--that is what is great about a four post lift. Instant, adjustable workbench.

Very true! In this photo I'm using my small stool, but often I lift it a bit higher to use my tall "bar" stool. I also use it to raises me up to access my hanging shelves along the north wall.

 

[Kevin54]

E-Tek....does the owner know any history on the car, or was he the one that had it repaired before?

The reason I ask is that where the door is fitting at the front fenders, are the front fenders original to the car or are they possibly repops? I know the hinges play a huge part in it, but it those are repopped front fenders, they may just have issues of their own too.

When I was redoing my truck, I had to put a new front fender on and it was a *************. It took me one complete day to just get a fender to fit up correctly. I had less time than that putting in cab corners and finishing them off.

If it were ma, I'd go over the front with a fine toothed comb and make sure there is no accident damage evident in the front that may give you some trouble on down the road.

What do the rest of the rocker panels look like, inside and the back side?

 

[santagary]

And for anyone wondering about which lift to buy--that is what is great about a four post lift. Instant, adjustable workbench.

Which lift do you have? I'm in Pagosa and thinking about installing one in my right garage bay after tearing out the second floor and joists. g

 

[readhead]

Backyard buddy.