I’m a glutton for punishment. That’s the only possible explanation!
My plan is to get the Imperial back on the road in the summer of 2020. This means having the car mechanically complete – body/paint and interior will be later projects.
Having completed the front end work, the next step is to do the rear end. At a minimum this meant removing the rear end/differential and replacing seals (the differential is currently leaking). If I’m going to do that, I might as well have the rear end completely rebuilt and make sure there are no surprises buried inside.
After pulling the rear end out I was studying the bottom of the car and mentally planning the routing of exhaust, installation of new sway bar, dealing with the gas tank, etc. As I mentioned in the article Shiny Bottom I had only painted back to the rear wheel wells. I realized that I would never be able to do the rest of the bottom after putting the suspension, exhaust, and gas tank back together…
Krud.
Allow me to re-iterate: KRUD! Krud on a shingle with a side of despair!
So, pull out the heat gun and scrapers and go back to one of my most hated jobs: removing undercoating.
The same old drill:
- Heat and scrape for bulk removal.
- Wire brush and sand for more removal.
- Clean with solvent and scrubbing pads.
- Final clean with solvent and rags.
- And, finally, paint!
Did I mention that this is on the bottom of the car?
Of course, step 4 and 5 revealed rust that had been hidden… So, working in the cramped space under the car:
- Make a cardboard template.
- Make another more refined cardboard template.
- Make yet another cardboard template.
- Use the cardboard template to mark out the rusted area to cut out.
- Use the cardboard template to mark out the patch panel to cut out. Bend the patch panel to the proper contortions to match the body.
- Fit the patch panel.
- Make another patch panel and try fitting it again. Repeat until declaring in frustration “close enough!”.
- Weld the patch panel in place.
- Discover that the rust extended beyond the patch. Make a new patch to extend the first patch.
- Repeat for the next rusted area.
Fortunately all of these rust spots were relatively small and in the areas you would expect – overall the car is remarkably solid and rust-free for its age. But this was still a nuisance and work I hadn’t planned for.
Part of the challenge here is that I’m trying to do this right – precision fit the patch panel and butt-weld all the joints. It would be a lot faster and easier to cut the patch panel over size, overlap it over the hole, and weld it in place. After all, this is the bottom of the car and no one will ever see it!
Doing it the right way here gives me practice for work that will show, so it is worthwhile taking the extra time and frustration here for better results later on when it will show. At least that is what I keep telling myself…
After all of this, do one last cleaning pass with solvent, dig out the painting equipment, and spray the paint! As usual, two coats of epoxy primer and two coats of paint.
The biggest surprise was that I had exactly enough paint to finish the second coat. I was positive that I would run out before that point. Instead, I ran out when doing the last bit of touch-up. Why do I suspect that I will pay for this later?…
That brings us up to today: After 6 weeks of torture, the entire frame and bottom of the car has been painted! No more paint or body work is required at this point – I can now focus on putting the car back together and getting it on the road.
Next: Tanks for the Springs