Continuing to make progress. Got the passenger side windows cleaned out and ready to sand blast before priming. Here is the passenger door window with the filler chiseled out before cutting the rod out. This one had a new twist. After the rod was welding into the channel, it appears it was covered in fiberglass resin before being finished with bondo. Didn't matter, it still cracked and let water in and started rusting, especially under the vent window. Fortunately, again, I caught it relatively early and it was just surface rust and cleaned up pretty good. I'll still sand blast it, though, just to be sure. Here is a closer up view of the layers. I'm not knocking the look, certainly the Bettancourt Merc had the same rounded windows. I'm sure it wasn't done this way, however. For me, though, I prefer the look of the stainless around the window frames. Mucho better-o. One side done, now onto the other side. Got a snow day today, so maybe after I get my honey do-s done, I'll have some time to get out there and finish the driver's side.
Kids...don't try this at home.... Thank goodness I decided to attack this now. No telling how bad it would have been if I continued to leave it and let it collect water for a few more years. :/ Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Looks like you'll need to gut your doors to strip/blast the rust from behind the window fuzzies as well. If you can set the doors up on some sawhorses away from the car at least you won't be spraying the inside of the car with sand and dust. Looking like a major job now for sure.
Actually, it cleaned up pretty good. I'm still going to blast the area before I prime it, but removing the doors and blasting inside is out of the question for now. This is not the only stage of body work I'll be doing and will ultimately strip the car all the way down, but not right now. I will be removing the fuzzies however and replacing the glass, so I'll be able to check for serious rust there, but hopefully I'll be able to just clean it up and POR 15 it like the rest of the interior. Here's a shot of the same place as above, but all cleaned up and ready to blast. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Just read this whole thread. You're doing a great job. Can't wait to see your Merc done. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Bet your wife wishes you were working in the garden,,,but we're with you brutha. You won't regret the change but those stainless window trims aren't getting easier to find.
Thanks guys! Jeff, not only is it amazing what some bury under bondo, it's amazing what some create out of it. LOL. I'm lucky…Mick discovered even worse in the 1/4's of his Merc and had to cut the whole back half off his car… http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/merc-went-under-the-torch-again.959209 I got lucky today Jack….ice storm last night so no garden today. I only got about 3 hours in the shop today, though after taking care of some things in the house first. I already have a couple sets of stainless that I have scrounged, so I even have room to spare should I mess up on my first attempt.
That's some Custom metal work at its finest right there Dave! Mercs looking great! I haven't forgot your piece, I broke a part on my beading machine and haven't fixed it yet...
No trouble Matt. Obviously, I have enough to keep me busy at the moment. After this, welding in a package tray patch will be easy. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
A little more progress. Finished cleaning out the window frames and sanding down all the spot welds around the perimeter. Today I rolled the car out and sandblasted all the window frames, a few spots on the windshield channel and all along the belt line pinch weld seam. Cleaned up the huge mess then got it all in self etch primer, except for the belt line seam which is in weld thru primer in prep to weld the seam solid and not have this problem pop up again. You can see the difference here between the blasted and unblasted sections of the belt line seam. Ahhh, all nice and sparkly clean...quite the contrast from last week and the mess that was in this very same spot. Never mind the blasted glass....it is about to all be replaced with green tint rather than the smoke tint. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
If the glass fits good it may still be used as a template for your new glass. You're really digging deep into this project. Are you gonna weld up the quarter panel seam as well?
Looking good. Thanks for the motivation and for keeping the ice down there. I keep telling myself..... "Dr. Dave built an office and actually finished it and moved on to other things......" Mine won't be near as cool, but I'm still looking forward to finishing so can move on to some hot rod things....
You are correct, I plan to use the current glass as templates for the new. My plan at this time is not to weld up the 1/4 seam. I had assumed it was already welded, but seeing how the rest of this has been done, I won't be surprised to find it simply filled with bondo. It's not cracking or bubbling at the moment, so I will leave it alone for now, save for sanding it in prep for paint. Eventually, I will be modifying the whole 1/4 for flush skirts and a Hirohata style scoop, so I will save any 1/4 welding for that time. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
LOL Clay! Funny thing is, I keep telling myself, "you finished an office, and that proves you can finish a project...keep pushing and you can finish this one, too." LOL My hope and plan is still to have the top half finished and back together in time for the Stray Kat first weekend in May and then to get the bottom half in fresh paint in time for the Custom Car Revival in June. I'm almost to the point I'm going to have to start working on it more than a few hours each weekend, though, to pull it off. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Oh. My. God. That must have been a shock to find that under the filler, especially for you, doing such precise work. (I just had a veneer repair on one of my lower incisors (#25) and had a fun conversation with the Doc about fillers, how much to use, grinding down as opposed to adding more.) I've got blisters on the quarter panels of my '51 Pontiac, in spots that had filler on them when I got it, that I left alone, thinking,"It looks OK", and now I'm going to have to grind out the old filler, repair it, and try to blend the paint. Love your project!
That's where the factory ribbed stainless piece bolted on in front of the bumper. Previous owner filled holes with acorn nuts. Must have been a squirrely dude!
Yeah I guess...all that filler rod and bondo and then he just uses some acorn nuts to fill the holes.
LOL. I can't help myself sometimes when I see some people smile and think their dentist must be a more filler is better kinda guy….think Gary Bussey. Hopefully you won't find a huge mess behind the filler on your Pontiac…with any hope it's just lost it's adhesion and started popping up….I wasn't that lucky. LOL Correct….sorta….they are those license plate bolt bullets rather than acorn nuts. Up until two weeks ago, my plan was to fill those holes and get rid of the bullets, but I received some super secret spy photos from Rik Hoving following some discussions we have been having about the final plan for the car and it might be possible that the finned stainless will be in the final plan. So, for now, rather than fill the holes, I'll be putting the stainless back on until we are sure. I'm not sure if the original builder put those on instead of filling the holes or if he had the stainless there and the previous owner removed it and put the bullets on….not that it makes any difference in the end. LOL
Nice work so far Doc! That sweater thread keeps getting longer....... When you get that thing all tidy I hope I get me chance to put my hands on it. Got a final color in mind?
Thanks John! I'm starting to turn the corner, I hope. Hoping to have it in epoxy in the next week or so. My goal is to have the roof painted by the end of the month. We shall see. Don't hold your breath on getting to paint this one too soon…..it is years away from being ready for "real" paint….this pending paint job is very transitional. I've started working with Rik on the big picture final plan for the car. My original plan was a pretty solid Hirohata clone, but that idea is getting tweaked a bit. I love the direction Rik is taking it already, and he's only just begun. Still being Hirohata-ish, the final color scheme will still be sea foam and dark green, but the final shades of those two is yet to be finalized.
The interesting thing is, Lance, is that the big stack of build pics I got of the car do not show the stage of the rod being welded around the window. The pics go from bare metal to filler, so I wonder if the owner of the car even knew that was in there….assuming someone other than the owner did the chop. No matter, it's gone now.
As per Alchemy's suggestion a little ways back from when I first started digging into the belt line seam, welding the entire seam has begun. I finished up the driver's side this today. The section under the 1/4 window wasn't too bad, but going down the top of the fender from the rear window to the trunk was surprisingly tricky. It's a tight angle and was tough to get the welder tip down in there and was even harder to get down in there to grind the welds smooth. I got it though, finally. I generally end up doing way more grinding than I do welding, but my skills improve each time I tackle something, so I guess that's good. In hind sight, I wish I would have welded a little bit then ground those welds before welding more...that would have made it easier to make sure I kept my profile the way I wanted it. I didn't want a large radius down in the corner since I had to keep it consistent with the belt line profile stamped in the door as well as the trunk lid coming straight down onto the top of the fender with no radius. But, live and learn and I'll do the other side better. The messy welding and the very patchy patches from where the rear window was welded back in didn't help me much, but I just had to keep in mind someday I will cut the whole window out and redo all that metal work and not stress about it today. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
LOL. I'm just not afraid to screw something up and have to start over. You now that shirt you see sometimes at shows that says "It's only metal, cut it up"? Sometimes I think I'll get a shirt made that says "It's only metal, jump on in there and try it...you can always get more if you mess up." LOL Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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