Projects 53 COOP (Studebaker) gets a major makeover

Thanks for hangin' in there, guys!

 

Well worth it!

 

I love seeing people resurect old trends that aren't currently popular.

And that shade of blue looks beautiful on your Stude's curvy body.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, guys!

Tonight, I'm going away from my normal sequencing of progress on 53 COOP's build to bring you an important progress show-and-tell. Based on weather forcasts of cooler temps, I decided to start on the painting and show you the interim results.

With all the priming pretty well done, but a very dusty garage, I decided to tent the whole car and mask off the top for painting. This allows me to have the top completed without dust in the air, and then do the real shop cleanup for painting the lower part. After washing the top with Dawn soap, I masked it off, prepped it with Eastwoon Pre, and tacked it. By the way, my normal HVAC is a thru-the-wall unit. However, in order to not have any forced air moving dust, I use the older system of electric baseboard heaters. These can keep it about 70 degrees and minimize airborne dust.

So here's the tented and masked body ready for paint on the top. Note that I am planning to do the fade up the sail panels at this time, as well. This minimizes the area needing blending of the clearcoat when I do the light blue bottom:



Here's the dark blue basecoat laid down, along with the initial fade, which I didn't like (it's the first time I ever tried this and I am really glad that my tribute to Gene Winfield was not a large area!):



For the first attempt at the fade, I used a couple of HFT detail guns and had four different shades of dark and light blue mixes. It just didn't look like a good graduation from light to dark:



But that was last night, so this morning I got out my HFT airbrush to make a second attempt. I didn't know how well the metallics would atomize, but, with a much thinner mixture, I was able to get the results I wanted:





Then I cleared it all and let it cure while I sat down for Thanksgiving dinner (just me and Judy, as daughter and grandkids are out in Denver):



With the masking off, I'm ready to clean up the dusty garage and get it done before the end of November. So far, so good....





By the way, with the clear laying down so nicely, it's my reflection that distorts the fade...or is it the ghost of Gene Winfield?

So now it's cleanup time. See you on the other side of the light blue.....

Later, 'Gator.......

 

What a clever move adding a little fade there. Love it! Looks great

 

Woof!!!
Andy

 

My goal to fininsh the back portion by October 31was last adjusted to November 30. Well, I masked and base coated it by 11-30, but cleared it today....one additional day. But I'm really pleased with how it came out:

Masked and base coated:



Cleared and unmasked (mostly):





Whudoya tink?

 

Good job!

 

Looks good.

 

Looks great!

 

Woof!
Andy

 

Magnificent!

 

learning a new skill is a challenge but, your results worth it. makes us start to understand the years of experience behind Winfield, and others

 

Love it.

 

Gene Winfield would be impressed.

 

Looking great, Jim.

 

Chefs kiss. Snowman ⛄️

 

Groovy !

 

WOW, guys! Thanks for the kind comments. Right now I'm installing trim, windows, etc. on the back section and will post progress very soon (I hope!)

 

Back half ***embly progress:

Bumper on, LEDs mounted and cut-down '56 Packard lenses installed and tested:





I painted the inside of the housing white to improve light diffusion and the clear plastic diffuser panels that I glued to the leading edge of the lenses really even out the light very well. The LEDs were from Lambert Enterprises. No nead for third brake light....these really POP (I can't get my phone to show the red of the brake lights)!

Trunk lid back in place after a sshort respite in the back garage. Rear window is about ready for install:





Headin' out to the hardware store to get weaker springs for the trunk pop-ups. Then I will be installing windshield, rear window, chrome window trim, and still need to paint the fuel door and rolled pan.

Later......

 

Oh that’s gonna be *****in under the street lamps!

 

I Llliiiiike it!!!

 

YIPEE!!! My rear window is in place!

I know, it's been a long time since I updated youse guys on my progress. It's not that I haven't been working on the car...it's just that I haven't been posting on the car! For the most part, with the cold weather setting in and spending a LOT on electricity to heat the garage, ice storm covering everything with 2+ inches of freezing rain (not politically correct to refer to ICE just now, catching a cold that I graciously p***ed on to my wife, and concentrating on getting the engine ready to fire up (I'll get to that on another posting), I just have been frustrated with the rear window issues.

But here's where I am on that last item:



Now to put it into a chronological order:

First, I want to thank John at PRO Gl*** for his coaching and advice on this install. If I ever want to chop another curved gl*** car with an extreme wrap-around window, please shoot me. I'm too old to go through more "learning experiences"!

All previous pictures of the rear window in general position on this thread are, unfortunately, with the first lexan (polycarbonate) rear window, which I ruined in the process of the "learning experience".

1. I ruined it mostly by allowing Gorilla Tape to lift the silicon surface protection coating to lift off the lexan surface. It cannot be buffed out. EXPENSIVE LESSON!
2. I also learned not to put butyl rubber caulk in the groove in the rubber seal. It gets everywhere and makes the seal hard to keep in place while wrappin it around the perimeter of the window.
3. I definitely needed to be more precise in the measuring and cutting of the perimeter to work with the profile of the rubbe seal.
4. Working a seal onto a flexible wraparound windo is WAAY harder than on a curved piece of gl***

For the time being, I am gonna leave this post at this time to get some shuteye. continue the explanation on a new post tomorrow and add a lot of explanatory pics.

Later......

 

Looking forward to the additional updates. What a beast to have conquered!

 

Dam that looks sweeeet! Those tail lights look so much better than the stockers!!

 

I got a close buddy that I tell....'it's a process' and the thing is, that for most of us, it is a learning one too.....
looks like you got it
....and I am exceptionally happy to see someone else whos work space organization mirrors mine...
carry on

 

I know, I know! Sometimes I get so caught up in the building, I don't clean up after myself and risk tripping and falling (which my wife says I am not allowed to do!)....

So weather being under a blizzard warning, I cleaned up and brought 40 COOP and snow blower inside:



Of course the blizzard with 12"+ of snow did not materialize! We got abut 1-1/2" of snow preceded by a lot of rain, so the roads are very navigable. But I feel better about the shop and fall avoidance!

 

But back to the window installation:

Lessons are learned:

1. No Gorilla tape on the window!

2. Much finer preceision is required to properly fit the seal around the window. The edge of the gl*** overlaps the pinch weld by about 3/16" and the inside of the window is proud of the pinch weld surface about 6mm.

3. In order to simulate the above measurements, I cut a number of strips of 6mm plywood and taped them in position by using Gorilla tape on the inside (no contact with the window).



4. Using the original template made of 1/8" pvc sheet (Cintra), I added about 1/4" around the perimeter of the lexan.

5. In order to keep the general shape of the lexan panel (molded by and made oversized by Pro Gl*** https://www.progl***windows.com/ ), I layed the lexan inside the original rear window.

6. With the as-received protective coating in place inside and out, I peeled away about 3/4" of the coating away and taped over the edge of the coating with painter's tape (NOT GORILLA!). I found the the painter's tape really helped keep the costing in place and so I used a lot of it as I moved forward.

7. I found that the lexan could best be cut with a saber saw with a Bosch blade with very little kerf - T101B1F - 14 TPI or T101A0 - 24 TPI. Per Pro Gl***, I covered the platen of the saber saw with packing tape to avoid disturbing the protective coating or the surface of the lexan. The packing tape has a slippery surface which makes it move easier.

8. Next, I place the window into position on the car and anchored it from moving using light duty tie-downs while I marked the final perimeter. I used some small blocks inserted to help lock it in position while I tightened the tie-downs.





9. Sighting thru the lexan, I could see the inside edge of the pinch weld and so, in general, I either masked off or sharpie-marked along that edge. Then, using 1/8" fineline masking tape, I positioned the fineline with a 1/16" gap with edge of the pinch weld. Then, with the fineline still in place, i marked the perimeter with a sharpie, just in case the fineline got disturbed.





10. With the lexan window back in the saddle of the original gl*** window, I clamped it into position and used a combination of belt sander or roloc discs in a 3" medium speed right angle sander to cut the edge to my edge line around the entire perimeter. Then I block sanded the edge and a slight bevel on the corners to make the seal easier to install.

11. Four hands works much better than two, so I asked a car guy friend, Rich Baines (Triumph sports cars), to ***ist me on the installation.

12. I measured the perimeters of the gl*** and lexan windows and determined that the lexan window was exactly 3" shorter than the gl***. We then CCA-glued the shortened rubber seal with a medium gap-filling adhesive from a model shop nearby.

13. Installing the seal around the lexan widow involved clamping MANY clamps and tying it in four places, so that we could install the ripcord around the pinchweld flap of the seal.



14. We decided to install the rubber seal without the stainless trim inserted and try to put the trim in place later. Worst case, we could remove the window and insert the trim before re-installation on the car.



My helper, Rich



15. Let me tell you, installing the trim later was not easy, but it worked, which is shown on Post #383. Since then I have been finishing the trim, but I will tell you about that on the next post.....

Then I can tell you about the engine start-up............

 

beautimus....

 

Any progress?