ROB'S RESTORATION

Fig. 3-1

These two pictures Fig. 3-1 & Fig. 3-2 show a completely de-rusted, sealed and protected chassis ready to accept the mint NOS (New Old Stock) body panels.

Fig. 3-2

This is really your make it or break it point of the restoration. It is now imperative that you seal all the nooks and crannies before welding on the panels, otherwise you will compromise all the repair work you’ve just done. The best sealer to apply is an epoxy “water resistant” variety. Do that first. Then, if you want, you could add a sound proofing/under coat on top. The next step in the process is the panel preparation but we need to do one final bit of prep to the chassis. Look closely and you will notice a silver lining along the bottom of the inner rocker panel, door support frame and so on. These are the surfaces to which the new body panels are to be spot welded. They have been treated with a “weld-through” coating. This extra step will guarantee that there will be no rusting on these areas in the future. Finally, a seam sealer will need to be applied along various points on the 1/4 panels and front fenders. No half measures here. This body has been protected far more thoroughly than the factory ever would have done.

Fig. 3-3

Another close up of all the work performed on the chassis including the newly fabricated sections behind the headlight housings, the brackets, fender mounting rails and the reattached upper radiator.

No such thing as overkill when it comes to rust protection. So that all my labor would not be in vain, the new panels were afforded the same level of careful preparation. The two front fenders, front lower valance panel, two rocker panels and the two complete rear quarter panels were all coated and sealed before being welded to the car. Along the edges you see the silver “weld-through” coating described earlier

The NOS doors and panels are now mounted. Assuming you are fortunate enough to find NOS body panels, they may well have primer but it would be inadequate at best. More than likely, they’ll have some surface rust. Keep in mind that NOS sheet metal parts for the Coupe will have been sitting around for at least 27 years. Through time and even the mildest humidity in the air, surface rust will eventually manifest itself, a testament to the poor quality primers of the day. The simplest the best thing to do is to remove all the primer and bring the panel down to bare metal, as I have done.

Follow this simple procedure and you will effectively eliminate the potential for future rust manifestation on your nice clean prize panels:

1. Use a metal conditioner to clean the entire bare metal surface so the (primer) will properly adhere to the metal.



2. Spay a thin coat of etching primer. Do not sand.



3. When the etching primer has flashed (dried), spray immediately with a couple of coats of two part epoxy primer. This will finally seal and protect your panels’ external surfaces.



4. Now, you can spray any two-part catalyzed 2k acrylic primer, used in the prepping and painting stage. By the way, since you’ve gone this far on your restoration, don’t economize on sealers and primers. ALWAYS use top quality products.

Fig. 3-4 (left image) The car is at a good point of the restoration now, both sides are straight and aligned.

Fig. 3-4 (center image) Here we’ve got the lower front valance and front fenders attached and nicely aligned.

Fig. 3-4 (right image) Well take a look! We’ve jumped to the finished product in this picture but I thought it would be appropriate. The results are better than I had anticipated. Now, every time I open the hood to show what’s underneath, I show people my old pictures to compare and they cannot believe the difference.

Fig. 3-5

Fig. 3-5 Another couple of shots to show all the meticulous work. It's hard to believe how much rust was removed and how and what it took to get it to this condition. Dedication.

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