July 22nd. Stripping and Undercoating

This week has been extremely productive for me. I finally fixed two "screw-ups" that kept me awake at night; the roof patches, and the seat platform, both fixed and looking great and solidly welded back together. Half of the floor was repaired, tripped, patched, primed and ready for underlayment. The other half will be taken care of this coming week....

We've been experimenting with ways to strengthen the firewall and cowl side panels. I built a several edges and fitted them above the firewall, waiting for the cowl assy. to arrive and see how it all fits.

Sanding the body panels has been a combination of chemical stripping, heat-gun and DA sanding. First I used Aircraft paint stripper to loosen the several coats of paint and primer, then the heat gun to lift it, and the DA sander to get the rest out. A lot of work was done this week on these areas.

 Alanis lifts the paint with the heat gun

On Sunday we decided to undercoat the fenders. I had a can of Rust Oleum and another of Permatex Undercoating, so I used a different one on each fender. First we washed the inside of the fender, then we sanded away all rust, scraped old undercoating and washed again and let dry under the hot sun. Then we sprayed black primer and then the undercoating. I think the Permatex laid a more uniform coat of rubber, but the Rust Oleum can lasted a little longer. 

These are the original fenders and aside for some superficial rust, they are in great shape.

Right now I am looking for a someone to do the bodywork and paint the car at a reasonable price, or a painter that will paint the car after I do the bodywork. I can do the bodywork and I know It will come out right, but finding a skilled painter that will paint over someone's bodywork, is no easy task. But I'll keep looking...