Pinch Me, it it real?

[motormitch]

Sorry, I should have warned you ... My poking fun about breathe deep was aimed at the fact it appeared to be galvanized. I figured you had a respirator. Just for the record , I love these stories about thebBlood Shed, so don't use chlorinated Brake parts cleaner to degrease before welding. Fosgene, I think... Gas is a by product and can cause some nasty nasty health issues. Good luck!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Gas is a by product and can cause nasty health issues". Never have truer words been spoken. Words of wisdom to live by.

 

[motormitch]

Now let's remove the truck and door skins to work on them off the car. I love the fact that the skins unbolt.



Trunk lib, skins and front valence parts all final primed and ready for paint next...



Let's jump to the end of where I'm at now with the rest ready for the final block after several other blocks.

Getting slowly closer. Tackled the underside of the hood. Removed it, cleaned and removed old adhesive, primed with black epoxy, sanded, painted with SEM hot rod black, glued and insulation installed. Looking good!

 

[motormitch]

Next come the door jams....

Remove and paint shields, prep and paint jams, door ends, back jams and reassemble.

 

[motormitch]

Making a little more progress on the 65 Riviera. Shot the rear last night. Long way to go, but seeing improvement gives me motivation. Here are a couple of before and current shots.

 

[motormitch]

Hit the shop at 0300 this morning and got more of the first 65 Riviera painted. Front bumper cover, rear hood valence, both door skins and restored the vinyl roof as well. Man, I'm having fun! I love making ugly old things look bad ***......

 

[Askme42]

The comment about the soda blaster and the door being open did not convey the full extent of the disaster. I turned a valve on and the nozzle jumped out of my hand and flew into the house in the kitchen and living room area. Every surface was completely covered in white. My wife was going to be home in four hours with her best friend to stay the weekend. I immediately vacuumed and dusted everything I could but we had hardwood floors. In a moment of brilliance I thought that if I were to mop the hardwood floors that would get everything out of the cracks. Water and baking soda equal grout. When she brings this up, as she often does, I have to actually leave and worry about my life.

So this is what I picture actually happened (at least if it were me). Wife bringing home best friend for the weekend. I have work to do but all I can think of is ********* ********* *********. Because my testosterone is over riding my common sense I leave the door open while soda blasting just feet away from it. After the disaster I'm thinking ok I have 4 hours to clean this up or no *********. Let's get to work. I get it all almost done and realize all the baking soda in the cracks of the hardwood. Ok a ********* is so close at this point common sense isn't even registering. So let's mop it up and she'll never know anything happened. After mopping is when ********* ********* ********* soon turns to oh **** oh **** oh ****.

 

[motormitch]

So this is what I picture actually happened (at least if it were me). Wife bringing home best friend for the weekend. I have work to do but all I can think of is ********* ********* *********. Because my testosterone is over riding my common sense I leave the door open while soda blasting just feet away from it. After the disaster I'm thinking ok I have 4 hours to clean this up or no *********. Let's get to work. I get it all almost done and realize all the baking soda in the cracks of the hardwood. Ok a ********* is so close at this point common sense isn't even registering. So let's mop it up and she'll never know anything happened. After mopping is when ********* ********* ********* soon turns to oh **** oh **** oh ****.

Sounds about right

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hit the shop at 0300 this morning and got more of the first 65 Riviera painted. ...

Hit the shop at 0300 ? Ugh.

 

[motormitch]

Hit the shop at 0300 ? Ugh.

I do my best work early in the morning with no one around, no text messages and no wife "just checking to see if you're OK", calls. As I've gotten older I find I only need to average 4-5 hours sleep a night.

 

[motormitch]

Wet sanded and buffed the hood last night. I am please to announce that I haven't lost all my skills over the year that I had stopped doing this type of thing.

However, I found a small 1/2" scratch on the outer edge of the hood that I am trying to decide if I should redo the hood over. This car is going to be up for sale, but it is not a frame off restoration 30-40K car. It is going to be a very nice weekend cruiser for 15-20K. I guess I'll wait and see how everything else buffs out before deciding. If I find another piece that needs redoing then maybe I'll do it.

 

[KZOC]

Hope you're staying warm out there in LW!

I spent just a few hours in the garage yesterday and was pretty darn cold...

 

[motormitch]

Work on one of the 1865 Rivieras has progressed significantly over the last several days so I thought I would share some photos.

There was a LOT of hidden damage and tons of old body filler.

Here is a picture of a large dent that you could barely see until I got into it. After removing a couple pounds of old filler, I pulled the dent out the way it should have been done.



Then there was the rear end to deal with...



Working it..



Then on the other side, another dent filled with filler. Here is a picture of grinding it out..



Getting there slowly but surely.

Hope you're staying warm out there in LW!

I spent just a few hours in the garage yesterday and was pretty darn cold...

I kept it at close to 70 all weekend....

 

[motormitch]

Been a while, but I am continuing to move along slowly on the Riviera. Decided to take of the top of the motor and do a little media blasting and factory correct painting. Here are some before pictures.

 

[motormitch]

Then when I was finished, the motor looked good, but when I connected everything and fired it up, I found a little problem. When I removed the water hoses from the heater core, I must have cracked the connector solder because it poured into the floorboard. I pulled the outside cover and it is pretty rough. From everything I can read, to get the core out properly, I will be pulling the center console and basically the whole dash. Fun Fun. Oh well, at lease I will have no excuse not to replace all of the old vacuum lines. Also, my friend Allen, who is much better at this than I am, will be helping so it might actually work.

You can see how different the correct color on the motor was and then the sorry shape of the heater core.

 

[luke7734]

Artwork.. beautiful.

 

[motormitch]

Not too sound like a big cry baby, but after busting the heater core yesterday in Riviera, now my 496SS truck got a flat, the thermostat stuck shut causing an overheating break down and now a leaking radiator. All before 6:30 this morning. Fun flipping fun. Good thing I love cars and truck or I would REALLY hate them.

 

[Max Power]

"If it wasn't for kids and cars, we would all be rich"

 

[motormitch]

They say that it is always darkest before dawn and man do I hope that saying applies to car restoration. That little bitty POS heater core has turned into a BIGGGGGGG pain in the ***. Please observe my pain in these pictures of what had to be done just to get to the little *******.....

 

[motormitch]

Oh, I forgot. Here is the the source of my pain or as I like to say, "the core of my pain". I know, I know but come on, I need a chuckle.

Notice the little bulge at the top. Allen, who has been a massive help in removing all of the **** and diagnosing the problem, tells me that it is likely caused by someone letting plain water freeze in the core. When he hooked up pressure to it, it looked just a shower head spraying right out of the bulge.

 

[Seagoon]

They say that it is always darkest before dawn and man do I hope that saying applies to car restoration. That little bitty POS heater core has turned into a BIGGGGGGG pain in the ***. Please observe my pain in these pictures of what had to be done just to get to the little *******.....

Having twice removed heater cores, from different cars, I have come to the conclusion that they start with a heater core then build the rest of the car around it! I hate the job!

 

[motormitch]

To make lemon-aid from lemons, I have media blaster everything from in the dash and painted it up nicely (not that it will ever be seen) and started refinishing the center console.

 

[shinertx]

Mitch,

as i was reading this today in my office at work got the part of electricty and you pride and joy been zapped, feel out of my office chair on the ground laughing! My office staff thought i had lost my mind. Sorry that had happend to you i know what it feels like by hand of course.

 

[motormitch]

Mitch,

as i was reading this today in my office at work got the part of electricty and you pride and joy been zapped, feel out of my office chair on the ground laughing! My office staff thought i had lost my mind. Sorry that had happend to you i know what it feels like by hand of course.

I'm just glad my pain brought someone joy!

 

[motormitch]

Continuing to take advantage of the fact the fact that everything is out of the car, I decided to rebuild the gauge/dash. Here is the tear down.

 

[motormitch]

Here are some finished items and the completed dash.

 

[shinertx]

Mitch, when you get a chance can you take a picture of your retractable paint booth. I would like to see what it looks like. Thanks robert

 

[motormitch]

[/ATTACH]

Mitch, when you get a chance can you take a picture of your retractable paint booth. I would like to see what it looks like. Thanks robert

Here are 5 pictures that I already have on my camera.

Here is the booth retracted and you can the see the air handler and vent.



Here is the booth extended, but the front filters aren't shown installed yet (5 minutes)



Here is the front with filters looking directly at it with the doors closed and the booth retracted.



These last two show the booth from the inside facing the rear. You can see the filter wall for cleaning the exhaust air and there is a man door on the left to use when painting. PM me if you want to talk about it and I'll send you my cell.

 

[Dugan]

I was practicing some welding on thin metal. I felt pretty good about my bead work, but my friends told me I should take some classes. I think they are being too judgmental and just jealous of my skills. So what do you think?

Stick to painting, hahah. Also galvanized will let off fumes that give you symptoms of the flu. Drink milk to get rid of them. Had this a few times and I hate milk...


Also fosgene only came from the Chlorinated brake cleaner. I dont think you can find anything but Non-Chloro anymore. Either way I dont use it.

 

[motormitch]

Stick to painting, hahah. Also galvanized will let off fumes that give you symptoms of the flu. Drink milk to get rid of them. Had this a few times and I hate milk...


Also fosgene only came from the Chlorinated brake cleaner. I dont think you can find anything but Non-Chloro anymore. Either way I dont use it.

It's good thing there aren't any fumes that can hurt you painting.......

 

[Dugan]

It's good thing there aren't any fumes that can hurt you painting.......

 

[quasi_accurate]

Wow, incredible build! I've often heard that our city's permitting office is way backed up, so I wasn't surprised to hear about so many delays. Your garage turned out really well!

 

[motormitch]

Wow, incredible build! I've often heard that our city's permitting office is way backed up, so I wasn't surprised to hear about so many delays. Your garage turned out really well!

Since you are a fellow Austin deweller, you should come by and check it out. Just PM me and I'll give you the address and my phone number.

 

[quasi_accurate]

Since you are a fellow Austin deweller, you should come by and check it out. Just PM me and I'll give you the address and my phone number.

Awesome. Will have to take you up on that some time!

 

[motormitch]

I have just finished restoring the cracked up 1965 riviera steering wheel and it turned out pretty darn nice. Here are some before and after pics. The before are after I had already started the filling process so everywhere you see light blue is a major heat crack that I am repairing.

 

[motormitch]

The 1965 Riviera continues to progress in spite of the heater core set back (heater core not so bad, entire dash removal to get to it BAD) I just finished restoring the parts that have wood inserts like the door panels and the center console parts. I still need to do the two big door panels but I want to wait till I have a second set of hands since it is so long. Here are some pictures...

 

[davalf]

First, I have been following your thread for a long time and every time I see there is an update, I get excited hoping it is one of your well written stories. They make me laugh every time. I love your shop and what you have been doing with it. I myself only have a 24 x 31 that is always a work in progress but I have been paying more attention to my 67 Valiant inside the shop.

The gauges you rebuilt look great. Can you go into greater detail on what you did, what you used, and how you did it. I am looking for some ideas to do the same to my car.

Thank you for helping make garage journal one of the most enjoyable forums for me.

Dave

 

[Tylor55]

just sat in front of my screen for 4 hours reading all 26 pages every post looking at every picture thank you for the laughs was very enjoyable to read very nice shop and nice toys also

 

[motormitch]

First, I have been following your thread for a long time and every time I see there is an update, I get excited hoping it is one of your well written stories. They make me laugh every time. I love your shop and what you have been doing with it. I myself only have a 24 x 31 that is always a work in progress but I have been paying more attention to my 67 Valiant inside the shop.

The gauges you rebuilt look great. Can you go into greater detail on what you did, what you used, and how you did it. I am looking for some ideas to do the same to my car.

Thank you for helping make garage journal one of the most enjoyable forums for me.

Dave

I have been panning to do the second part of the mini bike story and it's role in my childhood development so I'll get to it.

As far as the gauges go, I wish there was a "secret" I could share, but it is really just slow careful work. First, I disassemble the gauge cluster (I always look to see if there are any videos or how to's on the web to learn from those who have gone before me). As I disassemble, I take a LOT LOT LOT of pictures with my phone because you would be shocked at some of the crazy little design tricks the guys in the 60-70s used. Next I take the housing and clean with soap ad water and then usually paint it if that is appropriate. In the Riviera's case it was just good old semi-flat black paint. A spray can usual works fine for a simple color like that. I use Krylon semi-flat.

Next I take the lens and polish them with a mini little buffer that I have as a part of a "3M De-nibber" kit the wife bought me for Christmas, but I used to just to it by hand. If there aren't too bad, I use 3M Scratch remover and micro fiber cloth. If there are really bad, I will wet sand them with a very fine paper like 1200 and then polish with 3M buffing compound, followed by 3M machine polish or the scratch remover.

Next, very carefully take a piece of paper to slide under the little needles on the gauge face and use a mini spray can of paint from the hobby store to repaint them. Usually a florescent safety orange or yellow, but I have even seen green.

If you have chrome trim rings that have rusted, tarnished, etc., I take a piece of aluminum foil and crumple it up into a loose wad and use some water to gently rub the piece until the chrome shines again. If there are really bad, send them off to be re-plated if you want to spend the money. I also have a very fine stainless steel brush I use with water to remove rust and pitting on chrome.

Replace all of the bulbs while you have it out. Now it is time to carefully reassemble and wow!

That's how I do it.

 

[davalf]

That's how I do it.

Perfect! Thank you! And keep the stories coming.

 

[sean Buick 76]

I love your shop build! My wife is also super hot and a little bit scary when I piss her off...

Like you I am building a shop remotely because there is not enough room to do my dream shop at our residence.

If it makes you feel better my shop is being built 45 minutes away from where we live so you are doing pretty good! I am still on the lookout for a chunk of land closer to home but the wife says "no more properties"...

I am 31 and expecting my first baby so |I have out the shop build on hold and trying to make do with what I have for a year or so...

Congrats on the great build!!!!!!