"78 project - Chassis painted
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
"78 project - Chassis painted
Well, today I got 3 coats of paint on the inner fenders and 2 coats so far on the front of the frame (forward of the firewall) and the front suspension. I have one more coat of paint to still put on the frame and suspension but WOW, what a difference it makes in the appearance of the engine bay compared to how it looked at the beginning!
Looks like unless something really major crops up to cause me a problem I should be ready in time to drop the motor back in this weekend.
I just have a little more detailing in the engine bay to do plus pull the torgue convertor out to drain and replace the fluid in it.
If i'm lucky I should get all that accomplished tomorrow than Thrus and Fri I can spend the days under the dash (oh, how fun THAT sounds
) because I need to remove an aftermarket alarm that had been installed and rewire the harness back to stock condition.
Maybe by the middle of next week I might be able to actually try firing this girl up again....... I'll see how things go.
Here are the pics from todays engine bay painting and just as a comparision another link to the pics of the beginning condition so you can see just how bad she looked when I started.
Chassis Painted
"Before" condition
Looks like unless something really major crops up to cause me a problem I should be ready in time to drop the motor back in this weekend.
I just have a little more detailing in the engine bay to do plus pull the torgue convertor out to drain and replace the fluid in it.
If i'm lucky I should get all that accomplished tomorrow than Thrus and Fri I can spend the days under the dash (oh, how fun THAT sounds
) because I need to remove an aftermarket alarm that had been installed and rewire the harness back to stock condition. Maybe by the middle of next week I might be able to actually try firing this girl up again....... I'll see how things go.
Here are the pics from todays engine bay painting and just as a comparision another link to the pics of the beginning condition so you can see just how bad she looked when I started.
Chassis Painted
"Before" condition
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
I know it's FAR from perfect and it would be a lot better if I was restoring the car for a show car, but this is just going to be a driver car so it's fine and it looks a lot better than before and the rust is now gone.
If I was going to do it as a show car I would have just done a body-off and disaasembled everything and the parts like the front suspension components would have turned out a lot better but I just wanted to make this car somewhat presentable and I think this will do the job.
I think it will meet my simple goals; get rid of the surface rust and make it look presentable when I open the hood.
If I was going to do it as a show car I would have just done a body-off and disaasembled everything and the parts like the front suspension components would have turned out a lot better but I just wanted to make this car somewhat presentable and I think this will do the job.
I think it will meet my simple goals; get rid of the surface rust and make it look presentable when I open the hood.
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
Stingray, I wasn't going to since the rest of the frame from the firewall back was just about perfect except for 9,500 miles worth of road dust and one very samll area on the passenger side frame rail where someone must have jacked up the car once and sratched it so a bit of surface rust was showing thru. Because of that one spot I decided to paint it back to the transmission crossmember.
The problem with that is that it now looks funny if you look under the car having freshly cleaned up and painted frame rails to the crossmember than duller ones going back from there.
I think what i'll do it after the motor is back in and I get her running and that issue is out of the way I'll wirebrush and paint the rest of the frame rails to the back also so it looks consistent. Once the motor is back in and I can move the floor jack that is currently supporting the tranmission I'll need to get under there again anyway to drop the tranny pan to replace the tras filter and fluid so I can just do the rest of the frame at the same time.
The problem with that is that it now looks funny if you look under the car having freshly cleaned up and painted frame rails to the crossmember than duller ones going back from there.
I think what i'll do it after the motor is back in and I get her running and that issue is out of the way I'll wirebrush and paint the rest of the frame rails to the back also so it looks consistent. Once the motor is back in and I can move the floor jack that is currently supporting the tranmission I'll need to get under there again anyway to drop the tranny pan to replace the tras filter and fluid so I can just do the rest of the frame at the same time.
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Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
alright!
My buddy who has the engine hoist was just here and we were going over the car.
I really only have two very small jobs left to do on the engine bay/chassis that should be easily completed by tomorrow afternoon.
We discussed our schedules and it looks like we are shooting to try to drop the motor back into the car Fri. afternoon. If works out I may be able to see if thing will fire up by late Sunday or sometime on Mon if i'm lucky!
The best part is............ as we were in the garage discussing it the mailman showed up with a priority package. My carb is back from Lars!!! YAH!!!
Oh man, i'm excited now.
My buddy who has the engine hoist was just here and we were going over the car.
I really only have two very small jobs left to do on the engine bay/chassis that should be easily completed by tomorrow afternoon.
We discussed our schedules and it looks like we are shooting to try to drop the motor back into the car Fri. afternoon. If works out I may be able to see if thing will fire up by late Sunday or sometime on Mon if i'm lucky!
The best part is............ as we were in the garage discussing it the mailman showed up with a priority package. My carb is back from Lars!!! YAH!!!
Oh man, i'm excited now.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 5,236
Likes: 898
From: Myrtle Beach SC
Hey Barry:
Interesting project...I keep toying with the same idea for my 78 but not as aggressive. Very nice documentary. Glad to see you throw some semi-gloss on that chassis. I guess first few pics must have been primer or something. It looked like flat black.
How did that spray can gun work? I've seen them before. Good control?
When I've gone to Chevy dealer for GM Corporate Blue engine paint...they tell me that don't sell single cans, only be the case of 12. So, I haven't done anything. How many cans to paint your engine? And where did you get paint from?
What shades black did you use in the engine compartment. I see some what looks like satin flat black for engine compartment with the semi-gloss for the chassis. How about the master cylinder...looks glossy.
Keep us posted and thanks
Interesting project...I keep toying with the same idea for my 78 but not as aggressive. Very nice documentary. Glad to see you throw some semi-gloss on that chassis. I guess first few pics must have been primer or something. It looked like flat black.
How did that spray can gun work? I've seen them before. Good control?
When I've gone to Chevy dealer for GM Corporate Blue engine paint...they tell me that don't sell single cans, only be the case of 12. So, I haven't done anything. How many cans to paint your engine? And where did you get paint from?
What shades black did you use in the engine compartment. I see some what looks like satin flat black for engine compartment with the semi-gloss for the chassis. How about the master cylinder...looks glossy.
Keep us posted and thanks
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
Hi Hunt
the trigger attachment for the rattle can paints is great. It really does make spraying the paint easier and with better control plus no paint on your finger!
On the chassis, the stuff that looks flat black is the Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator which I put on first after wirebrushing off all the loose surface rust. The Semi-gloss black is Eastwood Chassis Black paint.
The Inner fenders were painted with SEM Trim Black. The master cylinder is glossy black rustoluem. I would have prefered semi-gloss on that but it's what i had and I couldn't find the Rustoluem in semi-gloss black. I did it before I got the Eastwood Chassis black paint which I got in both spray and quarts.
The Engine paint is from Hirsch Automotive. I used their Chevy Orange on my '65 and was very pleased with the paint so I got their Chevy Blue for this project. It took 2 cans to paint the motor and I put on a good number of coats - 2 light coats at first than 3 medium coats.
the trigger attachment for the rattle can paints is great. It really does make spraying the paint easier and with better control plus no paint on your finger!
On the chassis, the stuff that looks flat black is the Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator which I put on first after wirebrushing off all the loose surface rust. The Semi-gloss black is Eastwood Chassis Black paint.
The Inner fenders were painted with SEM Trim Black. The master cylinder is glossy black rustoluem. I would have prefered semi-gloss on that but it's what i had and I couldn't find the Rustoluem in semi-gloss black. I did it before I got the Eastwood Chassis black paint which I got in both spray and quarts.
The Engine paint is from Hirsch Automotive. I used their Chevy Orange on my '65 and was very pleased with the paint so I got their Chevy Blue for this project. It took 2 cans to paint the motor and I put on a good number of coats - 2 light coats at first than 3 medium coats.