Reconstruction has begun.

[doghows]

Most definitely!! I plan on powder coating the whole car. At least the base under the paint. But any brackets ,pulleys, mounts, even the springs will get the treatment. I am powdering the doors, and hood tomorrow, as well as the hood springs and latches. I'll bring the fenders down next week and see how bad those are?!? I put up some more pics when I get those done.

[doghows]

Got a bunch done over the holiday's. Here where she is now.
Sandblasted the entire car. (6hrs)
Removed side panels, and anything else to clean out the last of the rust.
Hopefully I can run it down to the shop one more time for a final blasting before starting the reassembly of all the sheet metal. Couple of suprises but all in all it was what I was expecting but not hoping for.
Anyway here are a few pics and I will keep you posted.

[BadBird]

Man that looks familiar. I sandblasted my Futura myself and that was one of the dirtiest jobs I ever tackled. Think I would pay someone if I did it again. I am not sure if I understand the powder coat primer issue. Can you explain it further. I can't see how to use powder coat for primer when it will be necessary to block sand almost all the primer to get the body straight and apply filler if/as required. Good luck with everything and I enjoy the pics on your progress. Larry

[pbrown]

It's looking good - and naked. Keep us posted on the progress. It's fun to read about. Especialy when my garage is too cold to work in.

I share Larry's concirn with the powder coating primer. I would wipe it all down with wax a grease remover and get a coat of PPG DPLF on all exposed metal. Then start and repairs and/or fabrication. All of the fillers I've used specify that they be applies on properly prepared bare metal. The usually means that you strip the area of the repair prior to mixing the filler. Then reapply good epoxy over the repair to keep moisture out.

[68FalconSC]

Sure is going to look purty when you're done.

[doghows]

The powder primer is basically the same as a sealer primer to keep everything from rusting up again. The Cardinal Powders rep told me to scuff the surface to about 80 grit and apply the body filler the same as if on the bare metal. He said they have had excellent results doing this. He told me that Caterpillar and John Deer are doing this process now. I will keep you posted on my results. I have the doors and hood in primer now. The advantage to the powder that he (Clint) explained was the powder is bonded to the metal, so unless I take it off no rust or anything else will damage it.
Like I said it is a new process to me and I will let you know how it goes, good or bad.
I am glad you guys are enjoying the pics. I am more concerned that I was boring people to death. I will start the next part which is sheet metal replacement. Thanks for all the advise and I will keep it coming. Steve

[Luva65wagon]

For sure, keep up the posts. We don't bore easily. Glad you've got a warm place to work. It's still colder in my garage than it is outside.

I was going to suggest you ought to remove the front splash shields, but it appears by the last picture you had already. Seems you have some rust-out in the cowl too. Have you ever considered investing in one of those metal sprayers for your shop? It would be perfect for those thinned areas. Maybe an investment you can write-off your taxes for work -- and use it on the car where it got a little thin. Those look to be pretty cool when I see their demonstation at the swap meets.

The thing that amazes me is how easy it would be to make a clone Sedan Delivery from any tudor wagon. Maybe someday when I get tired of having a wagon I'll do that. OK, maybe not.

[doghows]

I will keep them coming. I have a friend that has one of those metal sprayer machines. He is going to look at the car when I get the last blasting done before I start putting the pieces back on. Could save me a bunch of work. I have seen him do this process before and it is very cool.
I am going to have him patch the floor piece between the front floors and the wagon area because that piece look like a pain to cut out and find a good replacement one.
Anyway I am glad you guy enjoy the posts, however my shop at home isn't heated (yet). I have a wood stove for it but still need to install the chimney. Gotta order the part for it today so maybe next week I can heat it up. Meantime if it gets too bad I can always go to the office, I have a 8'X8'X20' heater down there. (haha).

[doghows]

Did not get anything done on the Sedan delivery this weekend. I spent it all pulling apart the 61 4 door wagon I got for parts. If any one needs anything from this car let me know. I got it for sheet metal parts that I can't buy.
So I took the cowl off this car to see how hard it was going to be. 105 spot welds later I got it off. Sooo I think I an going to take the one off of the delivery as well. It will really make me feel better about getting ALL the problem areas handled. I think I am going to go after the dash as well. The deliver has some rust issues on the bottom of it and I think a clean swap will be better than a patch job. Now all I have left is everything. I am still after the floor in the back as well as most of the tailgate area. I guess it just requires patience and a lot of 4 letter words. Oh well I'll just keep plunking along and hopefully in a couple more weekends I can start putting the delivery back together.

[doghows]

Quick update for you. I pulled the dash from the parts car and started the process of pulling the cowl from the delivery. I think I am an expert on spot weld drilling now. Anyway Roger stopped by an has seen the carnage first hand and I have sworn him to secrecy on how bad this car really is.
I am going to start replacing the rust this weekend and I will put up some detail pics of each bad area, so if you see anything I do wrong let me know. Thanks and have a good week. Steve H.

[Luva65wagon]

Carnage? What carnage?

I'll not say what I saw (exactly), but this is the closest look I gave it: then moments later, after realizing I was not breathing, it was...

Then I looked at the other wagon, which had tons of good sheetmetal on it and said, ah, piece of cake. But instead of cake I all the sudden had a hankerin' for a ham and swiss on rye.

Suffice it to say Steve has got his hands full. Nothing that can't be overcome, but man, the pictures don't do justice to the work he's done already and has yet to do. I have to give him a for looking beyond what is to see what can be.

I will say, that those of us with two-door wagons are 4 pieces of metal (per side) away from having a sedan delivery. They are the same cars up to a point, then they could go either way. Steve could easily convert to a two-door wagon as we could convert to a delivery.

Also a big thanks for the last bits needed to convert my rear window to electric. I cleaned all that up last night. Still confused about one connection, but I'll figure it out.

[BadBird]

Hang in there Steve. When I had my Futura down to bare bones and was cutting, welding and it looked like a junk pile, folks were saying I would never get it all done and back together. They kept referencing all the "Projects" for sale on ebay and craigslist to prove it was too much work.
It is a ton of work. It costs a bunch of money. More work and money than I ever considered. BUT. They don't understand the satisfaction we get and how much better it is to do this instead of watching TV or playing video games. Still do some of that also.
I saw a truck being auctioned on Barrett Jacson awhile back and they mentioned there were over 3000 hours of build time to get it done. My car will never look as good as that one and I am getting close to 20.000 hours on mine. Kidding, just seems that way.
I thought for sure I would get my car done for the Hot August Nights in Reno last year. Now I am just hoping to get it done in time for this years event.
You just keep seeing things get done and then it moves you on to the next step. And bless this club for all the help and encouragement.

[doghows]

Amen to that. As long as I can keep the motivation high and my future vision goggles clean I will get it done. Thanks for the encouragement, and the pics of how well yours turned out so far. I will be bending your ear when it come time for the shinny stuff. Thanks Steve

[doghows]

Got out in the shop and got at it again this weekend. Got the wood stove hooked up so it is nice and toasty out there.
Anyway got the old cowl and dash removed from the delivery and fit up the replacements. All is good so far. I will sand blast the car once more and then cut out the bad area under the cowl and replace it with the good stuff from the parts car. Then I will put the good dash and good cowl in the delivery for the last time.
Next up is the front lower rocker replacement. I cut good pieces off of the parts car so I need to fit them up and weld them in. That will be next weekends job. I will get some pics up of stuff probably every Monday so keep tuned in. Later Steve

[Luva65wagon]

Well, you can see where a lot of the internal water damage came from. The air vent walls are really holy, or is that wholly? Water would have poured in through those.

Little here, little there. Oh, and in the next couple/few weeks I'll make a run over and help you for a day if you want. Looks like fun.