MrPbody

A brief update:
I did end up driving the car over to my buddy micks shop last week to have him do the patch panels on the fins. he doesn't work real fast, but perfection takes time. I know that because I asked him why he was so slow. The up side, however, is that he does such dang nice work that I really can't complain too loudly. according to todays check up, the welding should start tomorrow.

Kerrmudgeon

Boy, he looks like a precision type of guy.
Are you going to squirt some rust retardant inside the fins when he's done Russ?

MrPbody

Uh hu. he leaves about 1/16" gap between the panels, which will get welded with a soft wire in a Mig welder. one spot weld… cool with air. one spot weld…. cool with air. it's a slow process. the weld is then hammered flat. very little grinding with a flap disk will be needed after welding.

I'll use some Ospho to kill any remaining rust, neutralize, then coat the inside of the fins with POR15

Russ

MrPbody

the car is still at Micks shop, but the last I saw, he had the fins almost done. as long as it's out of my shop, and I don't have anything else to do, I decided to go ahead and get the new/used trunk-lid prepped and painted. I shot a few coats of 2K primer over an initial epoxy base, and block sanded on the 2K until it quit waving back at me. the under-side is sprayed in the single stage interior green (very slightly darker), and the top side is BC/CC. I'll color sand the dust out of the top side tomorrow and shoot one more coat of clear, then she be ready to bolt on the car when the time comes.

Zoomin

Looking good so far, Russ!

Kerrmudgeon

......still dropping in to see the progress Russ. How's the wife doing?

blue_74

Good lord, that's a huge trunk lid! At first glance, I thought it was the hood!!

MrPbody

Ha ha. tell me about it. it's a lot like carrying a sheet of 3/4" plywood around by myself
Also I could barely reach the center to paint it.

MrPbody

I got the car back from Mick today. as long as it was there, I also had him put a small patch in the trunk opening also. I wanted to show what this looked like in bare steel so it can be appreciated just how good he is at these patches. as anyone who has attempted these can attest, it ain't as easy as it looks. just about any decent welder can do it, but few can do it well enough to not require a ton of hammer and dolly work, as well as bondo, when the welding is finished. these will now require a coat of epoxy primer to give a strong bond to the bare metal, then a coat of 2K primer, which will be block sanded and then painted. bim/bam/done.






I have other irons in the fire at the moment, but I'll be back to do some other body work and prepping for paint before too long now.

Russ

Zoomin

That is some craftsmanship, right there. Like you said, nothing slathered on to mask anything, just nekkid metal.

Kerrmudgeon

Looks great Russ. We have some Portuguese guys around here that do that kind of work. He told me he was a master welder by the age of 14 in Portugal and that bondo type filler was not available there, so they had to be really good. They did my 56, all panels beat by hand from sheet steel. I've got some great pics of the process.

Q. can you buy that Ospho in small quantities? My Cadillac need a little work done.
Is a 94 Cad motor the same base you used in the roadster? :

MrPbody

I'm not sure what you have there, but we have a small home improvement store locally that carries Ospho in quarts and gallons. found in the paint section in green plastic bottles. I use a spray bottle to apply as it doesn't take very much to do the job. it's like $15.00 qt. which will more than cover the average cars needs.
I believe 93 was the first year for the Cadillac Northstar engine. there were minor valve and intake differences between the early and late (up to 99) but all the first generation Northstars were pretty much the same otherwise.

Russ

mcb55-210

Enjoy catching up on your progress, Russ.

That color really pops!

Mike

MrPbody

I was playing with a more forward portion of the fin yesterday and discovered another area of mushy metal. not real bad, but enough that I felt it should be replaced, and being the impatient fellow that I am, I decided to just do this one myself. the flange area was solid, so I left it in place and just cut out a patch panel with a single bend in it.

The area to be replaced was cut out:


The new patch panel tacked in place:


And once fully welded it was ground smooth. I still need to finish welding the flange portion, but that gets hidden by trim, so it doesn't need to be pretty.


Not as beautimus as Micks, but it came out pretty well me thinks.

Russ

MrPbody

Thanks Mike. I do really like the color also. very unusual effects in varying light conditions, due mostly to the high silver content. the same silver that make spraying it well quite challenging. that's ok. I do like a challenge.
before I had the car back from Micks, I also sprayed the hood. one piece at a time it may eventually all become "California Sage Metallic".



Russ

Kerrmudgeon

Thanks Bud, I'll check around for availability.

blue_74

It reminds me of a Lexus color I saw the other day, I think it's called Desert Sage Metallic? It may even be the same color as this. Either way, you're right that it totally changes depending on the lighting. It's a very "60s" color, to me. I saw the color the other day and thought it would be great on my green '67 Mustang.

MrPbody

Very similar, but this color was actually chosen from "62Jeffs" 2009 Aston Martin DB9.

Russ

Kerrmudgeon

Are you OK Russell?

MrPbody

Ya. I'm ok. Jennifer isn't doing well however, so my shop time is very limited lately. I've gotten a little bit done, but not enough to update for a few more days.
We'll get there eventually,
Thanks,
Russ