I just want to know how many little minions you have helping off camera???

I figure 68's project is kinda like those home remodel TV shows - as soon as the camera is down, eight guys jump in on his car, stripping, sanding, prepping and painting!

And yes, if it sounds like I am jealous that is because I am! Love getting the updates on this thread.

I am it!

To me the progress is very slow right now but it will slow down even more when I start having to buy sheet metal.

Working on removing the build primer from the paint so I can see what's under there.
There seems to be hardly any of the original paint left on the roof:


Right quarter panel has had work done:


Common problem I find when restoring cars is rust under the filler:


Some brazing was done on the left Sail Panel:


Removed the lead from the remaining seams on the roof skin:




Soon I will be drilling spot welds until my arms fall off. LOL

Removing the roof skin is proving to be more difficult that I had hoped.
The front A-pillar and flange went smoothly. I used a 5/16" spot weld drill and the a chisel to separate the flanges.



There are over twenty spot welds about 3/4" apart up each side of the rear window. They are spaced a bit more across the top flange.


The problem areas are the drip rails. Using the 5/16" spot weld drill I found that it didn't remove all of the weld in some of the holes. Just a small sliver here and there on a couple of holes has a lot of "holding power" and requires the chisel or a flat bade screwdriver to get them to break free.


I ended up destroying the driver's side drip rail. Not a big loss because it was more rusted than I had previously thought it was.

If I wasn't trying to save the roof skin (which may not happen either) I would have opted to use a cut off tool and cut through the skin about an 1" above the drip rail flange. This would have allowed me access to remove the remaining skin from the drip rail area without destroying the drip rail.

More pictures coming later.

The skin is off and in much worse condition than I expected. Rust is deeper than it looked and by the time I remove it the metal will be very thin. Looks like I will be spending some big money soon. Roof skin is $700 and the drip rails another $180.



The structure for the most part appears to be solid and should clean up well.


There are a couple of spots where rust will need to be cut out and patches welded in:



Here you can see the rust under the drip rail:


For now I will remove the other drip rail, media blast everything, weld in patches and get it in epoxy.

that sir is a lot of work... looking good

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:The structure for the most part appears to be solid and should clean up well.

Roof Support Structure Rust 1.JPG

There are a couple of spots where rust will need to be cut out and patches welded in:

Roof Structure Sail panel Rust 1.JPG

...
For now I will remove the other drip rail, media blast everything, weld in patches and get it in epoxy.

MY GOD! I so impressed whenever I see this level of work

I truly cant imagine being able to tackle a project like that!

Very Impressive from my end of the couch.

* Where did you learn those skills?

Yes it is a lot of work. Literally hundreds of spot welds. I figure each drill around 80 welds before getting dull.

I am a continuous student of the University of Trial and Error. LOL.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:I am a continuous student of the University of Trial and Error. LOL.

We used to call it the school of;
1) I'm too broke to pay someone else to do it - Truth is that I am too cheap to pay someone else to do it
2) Oh EFF Me!
3) Shouldn't take too long...
4) Hot Rod magazine said it was easy...
5) My buddy's uncle is an "expert" (he never was)…
6) All my buddies will help for the price of beer - which just left me without beer money

Anyways, love seeing your work! Keep at it.

Finally got the passenger's side drip rail off:


This revealed the extent of the rusted metal in the sail panel area:


The driver's side is not as bad but still needs attention:


I'm not sure how it could have this much rust in areas that are normally protected from the elements?

Car was manufactured in LA so maybe it spent some years near the beach and exposed to salty, moist air?