Car #069

[ratrog64]

Well its been a year since I made the road trip north to buy #069 from Brian.
When I brought it home, I spent a few days on it without even taking it off the trailer.
I began to sand off all the primer and get it back to gelcoat so I can see what repairs had been done in the past. If I am going to the trouble of painting a car, I want to make sure any body work that has been done won't come back and bite me in the ass. If it does happen, at least I know its my fault.

Brian had stripped off multiple layers of paint using a heat gun and a safety razor. It does work but at a big cost if you are not extremely careful. The body is loaded with gouges from the razor pretty much everywhere (no hate Brian!, just pointing it out to others so they don't make the same mistake).

All told I think I spent a few days on the car getting a bunch of primer off and working on the side pods filling in about a thousand small nicks and gouges. I patched a few holes in the body and did a few other misc. things. The car stayed on the trailer for a few months up at my shop before being unloaded in the garage of my home base shop. Then it sat, and sat, and sat some more. In the garage, to the driveway under a cover then back inside again.

Fast forward to last Sunday when I decided to do a little sanding on the car. So I did some sanding, filling, some more sanding, some more filling, all the while trying to decide what and how I'm going to do this car. I think I have a plan, but as always its subject to change.

I've decided to do it as a budget build. Not getting too carried away with all the extras. A less is more kind of build, using stuff I already have. At this time it may even be a roadster with a open roof / fair weather car. I guess I'll see how it goes.





These are from last year on my way home.

 

[ratrog64]

A few more photos from last year (July 2018)

I did a lot of work to the rear quarter. There were some really bad stress cracks in this area and it required a fair amount of work. The cracks were ground out and filled with a kitty hair reinforced filler. The area was then reshaped and turned out pretty nice. The old marker light holes were also filled in.

 

[ratrog64]

Side pods.

The side pods were in terrible shape. So may gouges to fill. I think I spend 2 solid day alone just on the side pods. I'm sure removing all that paint on a rounded concave shape with a straight razor was brutal. I also had to do a fair amount of trimming to get them to fit. The new chassis bottom rails get in the way unlike when you just use a regular bug pan. After a fair amount of trimming I was able to get them to fit again.







They have since been primed but I don't have a photo just yet.

 

[ratrog64]

Fast forward to July 2019

I started playing around with the rear end of the car last weekend. It was the only part of the car that was in the shade and let me tell ya, Florida in July, shade is important however its still brutal hot!

I trimmed out the motor opening since it had been hacked pretty good to fit dual carbs. I trimmed up the rear section since it already had 2 giant openings from old tail lights. I did a whole lot more sanding and filling to get it all pretty close to good. I shot on 3 coats of a high build primer and called it a day.













It will still need a guide coat, block sanding and filling of imperfections.

 

[ratrog64]

July 4th 2019

While the rest of you were eating hamburgers and hotdogs, I was in the garage working on the Sterling. I spent about 5 hours working on the front trunk and headlight openings. I spend some time cleaning up the nose and fixing the chips at the seam where the belly pan will attach. Added to the few hours I put in after work earlier in the week, I still a bit more to do before I can shoot some primer. The rain and lightning forced me to quit earlier than I wanted to.

 

[ratrog64]

Friday 7/6/19

Got a little impatient this evening after work and decided I wanted to see some progress. Doing minor filling and sanding takes a lot of time but at the end of the day it doesn't look like much. So I wanted it to look like I did something! Out comes the primer gun! After I shot about a quart and a half of high build I went back to sanding. In the end, seeing another section primed did make me feel better. Sometimes that's just what you need to stay motivated.







Above is an example of the gouges in the gelcoat I am dealing with. Anywhere the body has some roundness to it, this is what it looks like.

 

[ratrog64]

Saturday 7/6/2019

Spent the second half of the days working on car #069. Got the hood sanded and filled where needed. Cut the hood latch hole and did some minor trimming to fit the body. Also got the hood hinged. Spent the rest of the time filling and sanding on the body before calling it a night.







Brought Rays roof home from the shop to get some primer on the inside. Ran out of time but will borrow it for a photo-op of car #069.

 

[sector]

Sometimes all you need is a small progress to keep yourself motivated. Looks good. What type of primer are you using, Slick Sand?

 

[ratrog64]

Sometimes all you need is a small progress to keep yourself motivated. Looks good. What type of primer are you using, Slick Sand?

I'm using a High Build 2k Urethane Primer from U-Pol. I get it from a local supplier for about $86 a gallon. I like U-Pol light weight fillers also. They make pretty decent products and they are reasonably priced.

 

[ratrog64]

Sunday 7/7/19

Started out the morning in the front section again. I finished smoothing out the headlight area. Brian had done a pretty good job of filling the hole back in so all was left to do is the finish work.

After an hour or so I decided to start working on the top some more. This is the old top from the #114 car that had been cut for T-Tops. I had done some additional cutting on it a couple of years ago. Since I hate to see it go to waste I have decided to make a sort of roadster top. It needs a bunch of holes filled and the rear section narrowed so it follows the body better.The drivers side is near done and the pass side needs some glass mat then some smoothing.













I set the windshield in to get a better idea of how it will look. I like it!
I will likely not be using a Sterling windshield, I think the plan is to do an acrylic windshield. I know what you are going to say, not DOT approved. Keep in mind, I live in Florida.

 

[RangerBEH]

Wow the progress is amazing. I know I know I’m sorry about the chips some were from me some of the crazy stuff was under primer I was able to strip off. I’ve never seen that many layers of paint on a fiberglass body. Anyway I like the direction a lot. The convertible sterlings are awesome and fixes the cooling issue for sure. Can’t wait to see this car finished!

 

[ratrog64]

Wow the progress is amazing. I know I know I’m sorry about the chips some were from me some of the crazy stuff was under primer I was able to strip off. I’ve never seen that many layers of paint on a fiberglass body. Anyway I like the direction a lot. The convertible sterlings are awesome and fixes the cooling issue for sure. Can’t wait to see this car finished!

Let me tell ya, I'd rather be filling scratches and gouges then sanding / stripping 3 or 4 layers of paint! You did all the hard work.

No AC really simplifies the project for sure. Still lots to be done but at least I think I have a direction. Subject to change at any moment! *laugh*

Good to see you on the Sterling sight again BTW!

 

[ratrog64]

7/11/19 Something is better then nothing.

Nothing earth shattering to report. Did a little block sanding in the headlight area and nose. Also laid up some fiberglass. I need a couple of pieces of sheet glass for my headlight brows so I laid up 3 layers of 1.5oz mat. I also got the top glassed over where I made my alteration. Some progress is better then nothing!

 

[ratrog64]

7.12.19 Hip Scoops

Put a couple hours in tonight after work. I got the hip scoops bonded down, ground some glass from yesterdays repairs and filled a few minor blems.

 

[sector]

Excellent progress. At that pace you'll have it done in no time.

 

[ratrog64]

7.13.19 Saturday

Excellent progress. At that pace you'll have it done in no time.

That's the plan!

Started the morning off with cutting out the headlight brows and then started on the rear interior shelf.




Then spent a few hours on Rays car.

Back on my car after ray left for home involved working on the under nose section. I had put a lot of time in on this part a while back because I used it to make a mold from. After a good wipe down with a wax and grease remover, I gave it a good sanding with 220 to get it ready for some primer again.





I have to tell ya, fitting the under nose section is a tough one man job.

 

[ratrog64]

7.20.19

Had a pretty busy week so not much shop time. Worked on getting my garage / paint booth re-lit in the am. The last time I painted in here I had an open rafter ceiling that I would have to cover in plastic to control the dust. Some time after I closed in the ceiling but in doing so I had disconnected most of the wiring for lighting. So after a couple of hours of crawling around a hot attic and doing some wiring I got most of it finished. I still have a few fixtures to hang but at least the hard part is done.

Afterwards I put in a couple of hours on the car. I had laid up the parts for a spare rear spoiler last year so I got the parts trimmed up, fitted and bonded together. That's one more item off the checklist!





I know its a pretty simple piece, but it's one of my favorite parts I have made for these cars.

 

[ratrog64]

7.21.19 Sunday

The goal today was to get the passenger side lower pod sanded, filled and into primer.
I also got the ground effect holes drilled and had it mounted for a short while. It is so nice to have a finished car to use as a reference when you need it. Since I was getting a gun wet I shot a few other pieces.











I also played around with dash placement. Now I can make the necessary attachment holes since it does not appear this dash has ever been in this car. If it was, it sure wasn't where it was supposed to be, some holes are close, but not close enough.

 

[Nic]

What are the 2 items in the first picture? They look like some sort of trim piece. Are they for the side pockets?

 

[ratrog64]

What are the 2 items in the first picture? They look like some sort of trim piece. Are they for the side pockets?

They are the outside rear window trim. One is for car #114. Rather then have the rear window tunnel extend out through the body like originally intended, I trimmed mine flush and will just put the trim piece around the opening to hide the ugly opening.