So, I had the painter come to the shop to check out the Mustang today, and he's cool with what I've done so far (made me feel good that I hadn't screwed anything up). He was pleased that I'm going to the effort of stripping off all the old paint and sanding it down to bare metal (less work for him and less money for me
). He said that even my crappy welded seam on the driver side quarter is a lot better than most of the DIY'ers that take their cars to him and told me to not to worry about filling it... he'll get it a lot straighter and use less filler to make it right. He said I did a great job with the quarters and seemed impressed that I got the contours matched up so well on the door and end caps. I also showed him the rest of the parts (end caps, valances, bumper, and Master Fastener Kit) and says I'm doing everything right so far. He also said fixing the original doors won't be a problem since they're not in bad shape, actually.
The plan is to call him after the 20th (he's on vacation for a few weeks), and figure out when to get the car to his shop. He'll have it for 1-2 months and it'll be all shiny when he's done. His plan is to keep me posted throughout the job and call me in periodically to make sure I'm satisfied with what he's doing... especially when it's time to mask off the black areas (that way if they don't come out just right, it's my fault rofl ). GREAT Day today!!!
Hey Greg - there's no surface rust coming through yet... just my crappy ol' 3.2MP camera and PaintShop Pro X's older photo processor. You're probably also looking at the doors and/or trunk lid - I haven't touched the doors yet, and I gave up on the trunk lid because of all the bondo (got a new repop lid on the way). The roof and upper quarters are still just as bare metal as yesterday and no signs of the bad stuff yet. The big test will be this coming Friday when I get back to the shop - if there's anything showing up, I'll take care of it and throw down a quick coat of primer. Thanks for the tip, though - it's VERY reassuring knowing you guys have my back... that's one of the best parts of having this site and all you professional guys here watching over us newbies. ::thumb::
This is so surreal - I never imagined getting to this point, and even less so as the months and years drug on. I was starting to feel like it had become the never-ending project: less of a car, and more like a Mustang-shaped hunk of metal that I'm just supposed to come to the shop and cut/grind/weld on every weekend. I can't wait to start seeing actual color and shine start coming together... then it's just a matter of putting the cool stuff back in and start enjoying it as an actual car by the time summer (and car show season) rolls around. The ONLY bummer in this whole deal: I will definitely not be making the trip to the Mustang 50th as it looks right now. But... a road trip will definitely be in the works to at least go see her folks and family in SC and VA.
Q!! What can I say, Man - freaken AWESOME (as usual). As I was sanding my roof, I noticed a lot of flex between the roof cross members on mine. Thanks for sharing the pics - I might just have to do something similar if I have time before the painter tells me to bring it to his shop.
