NHvette

I just spent the last hour picking out pics and formatting them, so I'm not
planning on typing much - but a picture being woth about 998 words, here
goes:

Last time we left off, I had cut the windshield header and Ttop bar section
from my 75, and trimmed the '70 to accomodate it. Here is how she sat at
that point:




Much of the 75 frame was pitted with rust, as shown here:




The frame was totally taken down to metal with wire brushing and sand
blasting, where required. Still lots of pitting ...





The "clean frame was then treated to a POR15 starter kit - marine clean -
metal prep - and POR15 (silver). I went with silver to give contrast to the
top coat - for good coverage. Here is the frame getting washed and then
treated with the etching metal prep. Note the dark blue coloring - it
washes off, as seen in the third picture below..






Here it is after the first coat of POR15.






The POR15 doesn't fill in the pits that I had, so I tried their epoxy putty,
which worked well in some cases (like filling the metal joints smooth).
Ultimately, I ended up using JBweld to skim coat the areas and sand them flat.





With the frame near ready to install, I put some reinforcements in the
bottom portions of the pillars - that the frame will sit onto. Here are three
pictures - first is welded pieces - second is ground down - and the third
shows how I recycled more of the '75 to cut the pieces with exact curves.






Now, it was tough, but I managed to wrestle the frame onto those
reinforcements. Here she is - looking good.




The holes for spot welding to the reinforcements ...




Here they are welded in place, wire brushed, and ground "smooth".






The finish came out nice, and all those nasty pits are (mostly) gone.
After the epoxy cured, I went with another coat of POR15 - then Krylon
semi-flat black.




Lastly, here is a picture of the POR15 over plain rust - VERY light wire
brushing. It is the dash support bracket. It looked like the rusty hole in the
background, and now it is really pretty nice. I know I sound like a
commercial, but I'm sold on this stuff for rust. Unfortunately, it doesn't work
as well over old paint. That's what sux - removing all the old paint.




That's all for now. I'll probably finish up the welding and grinding this
weekend - pics to follow. After that, the firewalls get swapped.

:cheers: :seeya

Blues77

:eek: wow Dave. Amazing work. Kepe those pics comin. I love watchin your progress. The bathtub pic is hilarious :lol: ..


[Modified by Blues77, 11:01 PM 10/17/2002]

Stevo81

You, sir, are one steely-eyed Corvette man !! That is inspirational.
And thanks for the pix. :smash:

luvmy73

Using the bathtub is ingenius! Any man you thinks that his corvette parts are good enough to share with his place of hygeine is o.k. in my books. Nice job on the pit filling as well, looks great! :yesnod:

Desertdawg

The bathtub pics are hilarous...But
Is this your bedroom?????



Damn!!!!! Your are a motor-head through and through....... :smash: :smash: :smash:

Great job :cheers: You can hold your head high :D

78pace

great pics but i know my wife would cut off my jewels if i used the tube for
corvette parts :lol:

Mystery Machine

I think you are the hardest working corvette guy I have ever encountered!

Excellent job!

Steve Adkins

Wow Dave! Great job. Keep up the good work and you will be driving it before you know it! :cheers:

mpro71vette

WOW!! That looks great! How about putting a sign up on the outside of the next bay "Dave's Corvette Shop----Remover of rust, Replacer of steel" Let me know when you start taking appointments!! :lol: :lol:

ImBatman

Great Job!!!!!! :cool: Thanks for all of the detailed pics. I think I finally got the idea of how all of my stuff is going back together. You must have a very, very understanding wife. Mine flipped when I washed the tail light lenses in the kitchen sink. :eek: :D :yesnod:

Swamp Thang

:cool: any problems with POR15 adhering to JBWeld?

BlueL36

Nomad78SA

Looks good Dave. I also used POR-15 in my project.Good stuff
Neil in Tenn

Smokehouse69

Dave, I bet your wife wasn't home during the bathtub washing was going on! :lol:

NHvette

This is TOO funny.

First, DesertDawg - How did you know what my bedroom looks like ? I was
wondering what the wife's been up to during the day. :jester

Actually, no. It is a finished room in my basement. We have two extra twin
beds, which mostly get used for jumping on - by the boys. My youngest
keeps bugging me to clean up my crap - so he can play down there again.

For all the amused folks: The wife and I have a stand-up shower off of our
bedroom. The tub in the pictures is the "kids" bathroom on the 1st floor.
Everyone was home for the "bathtub" cleaning. Keep in mind that this thing
was SHINY clean before it saw the tub, and then I was simply using cleaner
and prep on the piece. The tub ended up much cleaner than when I started.

Mark - sorry, but I think the 75 will be in the second stall for some time.
Actually, I could fill two more stalls - after I start splitting the bodies and
chassis apart. Something's gonna end up outside under a tarp - most likely the 75 chassis and rear clip.

JR - The POR15 sticks well to most rough surfaces. Since I had sanded the
JB weld after applying it, the surface was properly prepared to accept the
POR15 without issue. The JB weld worked quite well for small surface
imperfections. I used a bondo spreader to apply it. I used 80 grit to
smooth it down. The POR15 Epoxy Putty was very nice to work with, but
did not lend itself to filling shallow imperfections. The epoxy putty can be
smoothed and worked with a wet finger, as long as it is not too thin.
Also, the epoxy putty sands up easier than the JB weld. In my pix, the
white stuff is epoxy putty, and the JB weld is a darker gray color.

:seeya

CF6873

Dave, Great job. I'm glad you decided to use the reinforcement plugs. It has made the repair much stronger than a butt weld only. To keep peace in the house I keep my parts in the garage. Craig :cheers: