Rookie's First Restoration Attempt...

[00fxd]

No I haven't actually. Most body shops nowdays rely on insurance work for their bread and butter.

 

[MYBAD79]

Most body shops nowdays rely on insurance work for their bread and butter.

yup.... unfortunately....

congrats on the apprenticeship :thumbs:

are they teaching you or are going to teach them ?? LOL

 

[stinger12]

Most body shops nowdays rely on insurance work for their bread and butter.

yup.... unfortunately....

congrats on the apprenticeship :thumbs:

are they teaching you or are going to teach them ?? LOL

Unfortunately, I think they look at me just like an average kid...even though i had an incredible portfolio of pics and an amazing resume with professional reference letters, from mechanics and teachers. Hopefully I will gain their respect within a few months. I will be the shop "rookie" so I will be starting out sweeping floors and stuff...then work from there.

I have to prove to them that i am worth apprenticing first. Once I prove that to them, they will put me in the program

 

[stinger12]

I haven't posted an update in a while, so I figured I'd keep you guys up to date on my "career journey". I haven't touched the vette since my last real update...life has gotten in the way, and I was pretty burnt out from all that flare work.

I've been getting my stuff together for my new job. I've spent $1800 total on tools and a tool chest so far...and still have a ton of stuff to get. I bought myself the best tool chest I could afford, and according to Mike, I couldn't have asked for a better chest. He said its the model above his (believe it or not). So, that means it has to be good! I figure I am going to be relying on these to make a living one day, so whatever I spend now is an investment. Mike helped me pick out a bunch of tools I will need, and told me which tools need to be "top of the line" (I remember when I was in Dallas that all of his stuff was Snap-On...but he has been a mechanic his whole life, so I'm not surprised). I'm on a tight budget right now...but it will be worth every penny in the end.

I wasn't going to post pics, but decided against it because you guys enjoy them. So, here they are...

 

[mrvette]

Sting, there is a old mechanic friend down the road a piece from me, at Cocoa Florida, right off I 95, near Red/Mike Zurl.......Well Charlie has about every tool known to man, but his health is not so great today, and he is mostly retarred these daze....

I can inquire if he wants to sell off some of his tool collection, maybe all of it....

it is obviously something you would have to see for yourself.....hell of a trip expense and shipping would be a bitch, for sure....

Most of MY tools came from hock shops....but you need know the prices pretty good and be able to negotiate well.....:hissyfit::beer:

 

[stinger12]

Sting, there is a old mechanic friend down the road a piece from me, at Cocoa Florida, right off I 95, near Red/Mike Zurl.......Well Charlie has about every tool known to man, but his health is not so great today, and he is mostly retarred these daze....

I can inquire if he wants to sell off some of his tool collection, maybe all of it....

it is obviously something you would have to see for yourself.....hell of a trip expense and shipping would be a bitch, for sure....

Most of MY tools came from hock shops....but you need know the prices pretty good and be able to negotiate well.....:hissyfit::beer:

You have a PM.

 

[C6Z51]

:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

 

[JeffP1167]

Man how you afford to do all this? I make good money and my project cars sucks me dry every week.

 

[stinger12]

Man how you afford to do all this? I make good money and my project cars sucks me dry every week.

I have great parents. They do not charge me rent, and let me work full time. I drive one of the family vehicles, so I do not own my own car yet...but I will eventually. I work my butt off like the rest of you guys to make money, and support myself.

I don't let the vette suck me dry of money - I control that. I will wait until I have enough money to buy something...I never use credit cards. Why do you think this has taken me 4 years, and I don't even have my paint job done?

 

[SmokinBBC]

Nice Boxes and plenty of room for the 5 grand in tools you don't yet have

 

[GTR1999]

Good luck Jeremy, as long as you like it then time will fly. Don't get too involved in building tools right now, as long as you have enough to work with. I've been turning a wrench on one POS, car or machine for the past 35 years and it gets old. One way I built up my tool collection was to watch for the new guys who bought the "low grade Tools, like craftsman" once they got into a shop they were almost under peer pressure to buy the Snap-On and Matco tools. I would buy their new craftsman tools for 1/2 price. I never was disappointed and can easily replace them if I have too 7 days a week. The Snap on guy around here stopped coming by because his prices were sky high and the guys weren't buying. Check Pawn shops too, many tools end up there. Swap meets as well, I just picked up a Snap-On 8 pt socket for the diff plugs for a buck, it was like new.
Keep the faith and you'll do fine.

 

[JeffP1167]

Man how you afford to do all this? I make good money and my project cars sucks me dry every week.

I have great parents. They do not charge me rent, and let me work full time. I drive one of the family vehicles, so I do not own my own car yet...but I will eventually. I work my butt off like the rest of you guys to make money, and support myself.

I don't let the vette suck me dry of money - I control that. I will wait until I have enough money to buy something...I never use credit cards. Why do you think this has taken me 4 years, and I don't even have my paint job done?

I had great parents too ... Helped me pack and payed for a U-Haul hahaha ... Ahhhhh the late teen years were great!!!!!

 

[stinger12]

woooohhoooo...I turn 21 today!

 

[mrvette]

woooohhoooo...I turn 21 today!

Whippersnapper......:beer:

 

[stinger12]

Here is the right fender flowed into the valance...all done with fiberglass...

Before...



After...

 

[stinger12]

Here is a pic from a while back.



And I finished reshaping and roughing in this area with fiberglass yesterday...



Back to work again!

 

[stinger12]

I started to rebuild the edge of the fender (I originally cut the gap too wide).







Haven't done much lately on the car...due to the new job and all.

I got to prime a trunk lid at work today, I thought that was pretty kick ass! I've been doing mostly shop cleanup and organizing...but I'm starting to actually do hands on stuff on some of the vehicles. I really enjoy it. Here is the hood I primed...



And here is the car it is for...pretty slick!!!!!

 

[stinger12]

Time to start working on the front side.

 

[stinger12]

Left side door gap extension is finished (added about 3/4''). I will make sure to cut the fender dead on this time when I stick the front end on.







I left the screw holes in at the bottom so I can relocate the front end on the car.



Then I started the right side.

 

[stinger12]

I've started to work on cars at my job the past two weeks consistently. Just bought myself a new primer gun - SATA Jet 100 HVLP...this thing is unreal.

We are the SATA dealer/warranty center for all of Canada. So, when you buy from SATA, it comes straight from our shop. Pretty cool...if I need to replace a part on it, all I have to do is run next door, and one of the reps helps me out.

I will hopefully start working on the vette again sometime this week!

 

[stinger12]

Mike said the gaps were good enough for now, and that I will finish fixing them once the front end is bonded on the firewall.





Next step is to bond the firewall to the birdcage, then the bonding strips to the firewall.

 

[stinger12]

Here's a real update.

I glassed the screw holes shut along the drip rail. I also made the inner fender one with the side of the drip rail right beside the hinges, as this area takes some load, and tends to crack.

 

[stinger12]

I took the tire off one of the rims at work on Friday. Now that I am done setting up the front flares, I can finally finish restoring those 30 year old tarnished wheels. This job SUCKED. I cleaned them with thinner and scotchbrite, then sanded the ENTIRE wheel with 180, then 320, then 400, then 600, then polished them...it probably took me 5 hours total. Three more to go.

If I had the money, I would have sent these out to get refinished.

Before...



After...

 

[MYBAD79]

After...

Looks awesome, well worth the effort :thumbs:

Did you try the new cone-shaped Mother's Powerball (or Power"cone") ???

Chip Foose seems to like it

 

[Fuelie74]

I just did striped and polished a set of wheels for my truck. Hit mine with an acid wash first.

You might want to try going up in grit before polishing. It is way easier to polish a wheel sanded to 1500 grit than 600 grit.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

ball (or Power"cone") ???

Chip Foose seems to like it

Chip goose was probably passed a couple of green ones to give his "opinion" :yahoo:

 

[MYBAD79]

ball (or Power"cone") ???

Chip Foose seems to like it

Chip goose was probably passed a couple of green ones to give his "opinion" :yahoo:

no doubt .... they won't give me anything for sharing my opinion but I bought the small powerball for metal polish as well as the big yellow powerball for paint.... great stuff....

:waxer::waxer::waxer:

 

[stinger12]

Here are those repairs sanded.







And here it is, ready to be taken apart, once again. This time, however, I FINALLY get to bond all those parts to the firewall. I also get to prime and paint the firewall. Here it is bonded together, and a few spots smoothed out with a thin layer of body filler.









And I painted this piece. Tomorrow I will bond the fiberglass cover on top of this reinforcement.

 

[JeffP1167]

I took the tire off one of the rims at work on Friday. Now that I am done setting up the front flares, I can finally finish restoring those 30 year old tarnished wheels. This job SUCKED. I cleaned them with thinner and scotchbrite, then sanded the ENTIRE wheel with 180, then 320, then 400, then 600, then polished them...it probably took me 5 hours total. Three more to go.

If I had the money, I would have sent these out to get refinished.

Before...



After...

Spin your rims on another car at about 25mph and you can sand them down really fast and have a chrome like shine. Probably take you 30 minutes a wheel.

 

[stinger12]

Here is another update. I have become great friends with an autobody journeyman at my new job. His name is Greg. HE IS EXACTLY LIKE MIKE...its kind of spooky. He has been doing bodywork for 30 years now, and the guy is incredible. He's even owned his own restoration shop, and restored/painted tons of muscle cars. Himself, he has a sick 1970 chevelle he restored...which is absolutely flawless. The paint job is disgustingly perfect...flat as a pancake, no orange peel, wetsanded and polished to perfection...pretty much the best you can get. Its a mirror.

He is an incredible bodyman, incredible prepper, and the most meticulous painter you will ever meet. You should see how consistent he is with his gun travel...its insane. Like a robot. Perfect every time.

The point I am trying to get at is that I have a new buddy on board with me on this project. He promised me that he would help me get the vette done by the middle of the upcoming summer. Yes, that's right. And this paint job will be perfect. I believe him too. He has the experience to know which areas need to be perfect, and which areas only need to be 80% perfect...you've probably noticed I have been doing everything 110% perfect up to this point (in regards to parts of the car). The paint job will be 150% he said...no doubt in his mind. He is taking me under his wing, along with Mike Dyer, to help me finish this car. This guy is speedy, but he is the biggest perfectionist you will ever meet. I couldn't believe how fast he had my birdcage masked and painted tonight. He wanted me to seal it up with single stage...so I listened.



The updates are going to come steadily now that I have Greg helping me with the bodywork. So check back often. The firewall gets bonded on this weekend. I cant wait to get Mike up here so him and Greg can both work together with me!

Oh yeah, and here is a panel I prepped. My prep job WAS FLAWLESS according to Greg, who painted it in the end. I am learning so much, its insane. I can prime like a god now too!



And here is Greg at work...