My best bud's dad, God bless him, used to take care of the rust on his cars with Bondo. He'd get a gallon of it, mix in enough hardener for *maybe* a quart, and start meticulously applying it with a roofing trowel. Did I mention that he carefully prepped the rusted are first? No? Good, because he didn't. The rear quarters of his '74 Dodge van were 3" thick in one spot. Not that anyone could tell, because he would paint the repaired area, and the rest of the car, IBM mainframe blue. With a brush. I wish I had a picture of the carnage. No wonder we always took my '68 Fairlane out cruising.
Updates, finally. Got the chrome back from Spacecoast Plating, it's stellar as usual. The chopped vent window frames came out lovely, I did some fine prep on them, I must say.
Bondo usage is kinda like hookin up with fat chicks. Most will do it when given a chance....but they just don't want anyone to know about it!
These bumper guards were for a passenger car, I couldn't find any for an El Camino so I had to notch them in the corners to fit, the bumpers are done too, but I'm, not going to unwrap them until they're ready to be mounted.
Here's the solution I came up with for the back window. After polishing the stainless molding I welded it to a fabricated piece of sheet steel which will be screwed into place after the window is installed. Where the stainless meets the glass, I'll seal it with urethane and then glue in a rubber strip to simulate the original gasket. There are drain holes at either end which will have rubber hoses on them to guide water away from the back window. The corner garnish moldings will hide the ugliness and urethane between the joins will ensure a watertight seal.
I'll probably paint the steel spacer body color or maybe I could glue some thin polished stainless or aluminum to it. Either way there won't be a huge ugly gap where the glass was sunk, damn, this is a lot of work.
Pulling the dents out from the wheelwells and getting 'em ready for Bondo and priming. I think I'm gonna do bedliner in there, I'll never get the panels straight enough for shiny paint, also I intend to use the truck for the way it was intended to be used. Finally the sub floor is done, so much rust had to be fixed, what a dreadful design this is. Filled in the panels where the original gas pipe went
I filled hundreds if not thousands of holes in every one of these filler pieces, it might have been easier to make them from scratch. They all need a heavy coat of primer filler and a sanding. Here's the bed after all the rust was repaired, every piece was sandblasted to ensure complete removal of rust. It took a shit load of time and I tried to beat out the dents as best as I could but to make it perfect is beyond the time I'm willing to give. It's got new hat channels and it's strong and healthy. Tailgate inner cover, it was pretty nice just a few rust holes here and there. Here's the hood, it was NOS but it had a lot of dents in it from being handled badly and it was stored outdoors so it had surface rust, I had to separate the inner skin and hammer and dolly the dents out, it took forever.
An guy I worked with years ago would tell how he used concrete in rocker panels, said it would smooth out real nice.
Here's a pair of NOS sneaker pipes I found, either set will look good poking out from in front of the front fenders. They have really neat caps on them and they're super heavy not like the cheap Chinese junk you get out there these days.
Here's all the polished stainless waiting to go back on, and also some junk I got lying around. A signed picture from Spring from Sucker Punch Sally I got from the Smokeout a few years ago, she's the cutest. Sorry 'bout the blurry pics. Memories!!!!!
Here's the still wrapped replated bumpers. I haven't even checked them because I know that Spacecoast Plating don't do no rubbish jobs, they aren't cheap but in this world, you get what you pay for, and at $500 each, this isn't such a bad price, probably only a hundred more than Bumpass BoyZ.
I'm trying, I'm working alone for the most part but I am thankful for my pals that have lent a hand. I'll try and get a lot done this weekend but it's gonna be cold.
i know how you feel, i need to get some inspiration again. i dont have a lot of work, but that only leaves me with time...........and no money! its always feast or famine!
Nads...just read this thing through from the beginning (again)... Awesome progress! Thanks for continuing to share updates...
I was JUST wondering about you last night! Glad you came up with a rear window solution. The chrome is beautiful. You are doing a great job.
I chopped the inner garnish moldings last night, they're pretty simple, the outside stainless ones will be a challenge, I only have a MIG machine, either I buy a TIG or find someone who I can trust to do it right. They're coming out nice enough to chrome plate but I don't know if I wanna spend the money. Chrome moldings do look great though. Here's the size difference and how much the car was chopped, hardly worth the effort, most folks won't even notice.
The side moldings below the A-pillar also had to be extended to match the lengthening of the dogleg. Other side tonight, to be continued.
The Jalopy Journal
