72 Grande Coupe project, starting Fall 2017!

[vikingsandpintos]

Finally got the cowl repair done. Went pretty smooth. I already had the heater box off, and pulled the dash structure so I could get to the bad spot from underneth. I really didn't want to have to undo the top of the cowl. In this case, with just the 1 bad section in the lower cowl, this was what I decided to do. Here is the bad section. I wire wheeled to get into good metal, then cut out the bad

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Old cut off part

 

[vikingsandpintos]

New cowl, marked and cut out a replacement piece with body saw. Hated to cut up a new panel like this, but it was all I really needed

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Welded in new piece. Pro tip, when welding upside down, use ear plugs. Cause nobody likes that sizzle when slag gets in your ear!. As I'm not the best welder in strange positions, I did lots of like tack welds. Then back over them. I then checked in the dark garage and a flashlight looking for any gaps missed, and touched up a couple of spots.

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Then some grinding, a liberal amount of brushable seam sealer just in case, and a touch of paint, and all fixed! Being under the dash, and doing it just for me, I wasn't too concerned with making it look too pretty. Just don't want leaks anymore, lol! Ready for some re-assembly, but that will be another day. I am going to make a repair thread for the cowl with this same info, hope it helps someone out there

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Onto outer body paint! I painted the bumpers and some small parts. Also did the hood, using the stencil from Graphic Express. The lights make the hood look pinker than it really is, and the black is hot rod matte black but wasn't fully dry when pic was taken so looks more glossy.

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Fenders were also painted off the car, not sure what happened to the pics. On the right fender, I got a few clear coat runs. I sanded the runs and buffed it, and looks decent. I did burn thru a couple of small spots, and am going to just dab them with paint and q tip. (Again, not a show car, just going to be a driver). I painted all this in 1 batch, off the car.

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Onto the body itself. That was an adventure, lol! Remember, this is the 1st street car I have painted... Got the primer and sealer done ok. Sprayed the color on inside of doors, deck lid, and jambs. Not bad, also

 

[vikingsandpintos]

Got body ready, primer and sealer. Sprayed the color and clear, but didn't really come out too good. No runs, but after the runs on the fender, I think I sprayed the color too dry trying to avoid runs. I got a more grainy texture, and when I sent the fenders on the car, it didn't all match good. Thought about it a few days, and decided to respray the body color. I scuffed it all, and re did it, color then clear. I was much happier with the 2nd try.

I do wish I had spent more time on the roof, but I will live with it. The car was a Grande with the vinyl roof, so it was pitted badly. I thought I did a better job filling than I did, in the garage under the led lights shining straight down, the spots show in the fresh paint. I did buy a special color match flashlight, that is supposed to look like the sun, to check paint. I turned off the led lights, and used that, and didn't look as bad, so I'm thinking in the real world outside it will be livable, lol.

The pic makes the car look a little darker that it is

 

[vikingsandpintos]

I sprayed the bottom blackout on the sides, turned out pretty good. I got out the stripe kit out to sort out the pieces, and ran into a problem with the deck lid. The kit is the Mach I hockey stick set. As it turns out, the coupe decklid, like mine, has a shorter face than the fastback sportroof ones. The fastback key lock is also lower, as opposed to the coupe that is more in the middle. So, there is not room for the Mach I lettering above the stripe. I am trying to decide how to proceed right now, if I want to put the stripe on, or what.

 

[vikingsandpintos]

I got the rear end of the car mostly together. New taillights, as the old ones were crap. I added the honeycomb panel, and new gas cap. the bumper was a pain, I had it on and off several times trying to get it even side to side, and finally realized the stock brackets had 1 that was bent (Must have been banged before I got it). Bent it back best I could, and got it looking more even.

Got the deck lid looking decent, but had to slam it pretty good to latch. It was at the max adjustment, so I unbolted the bracket from the car, and slotted it more to get it raised up a little, and now the trunk latches much easier. The lid was not wanting to close even side to side, no matter how i adjusted it the driver side was a little low. I finally drilled the body and and put a rubber bump on it to keep that side up a little when closed, worked out good, much more level now when closed.

Went to put the valance on, and realized the top screws are behind the bumper, so had to pull that back off, mount the valance, and bumper back on. Always something, lol!

 

[Sheriff41]

Nice progress!