Aaron's 76 Type LT Project

7 minute(s) of a 383 minute read

Started on the passenger side fender repair. I had to cut a somewhat odd shape to compensate for the rust on the back of the original panel. I cut the patch about 1/2" long on the edges and then I cut it to the final shape. I got the welding started and will pick it back up tomorrow.  

The Goodmark patch doesn't have the cutouts on the bottom for the bolts, so I will have to add those later.

1-25-2015

It was a gorgeous day so I decided to do some more parts blasting. I got the wheel wells, trunk lid, tulip panel, headlight panels and other small parts done. I am down to just a few more things that need to be blasted, most notably the seat frames. I will be a happy man when I am done blasting for good.

I will keep the bare metal parts inside until I can spray them.

1-31-2015

I started dong the filler work on the doors and hood. The pass door only has the small spots along the centerline where I welded up the holes for the molding supports. The hood only had a small dent near the nose. After some more 180 sanding I will be able to spray the bare metal with epoxy primer and then spray with Slick Sand. The doors should be ready for the same treatment pretty soon.

2-1-2015

I got the doors nearly done. I need to finish the filler in 180 and check for any other spots that might need a skim coat. The driver door had an old dent on the front/bottom area I popped out with a stud puller a few months ago so I finished it off with filler (I used Rage Ultra, which sands nicely).



I addressed the rear/lower corner of the pass side door. It took me a few attempts to get the contour right along the bottom but I finally got it

2-7-2015

I took advantage of the fantastic weather to media blast some more parts and spray them in epoxy primer. I have a handful of metal parts to blast but couldn't find them  

I will finish the body work on the doors and hood tomorrow and spray the bare metal spots in epoxy, then they will be ready for Slick Sand after 48 hours. I need to finish the fenders this week which I will do after work.

I didn't paint the small parts in the garage. I only hung them to dry.







The wheel wells turned out very nicely. I had to bring some parts inside so the metal would stay warm for tomorrow. I have to spray the opposite sides of those parts which should not take long.

2-9-2015

I got the rest of the parts sprayed and got the doors and hood sprayed too. I am off Friday-Mon so I will shoot the doors and hood with Slick Sand and begin the blocking process. I decided to re-do the fender patches as I was not happy with the way they turned out. So I have to tackle that, but I plan on getting the 2nd patch ready to weld tonight so I can wake up before work and get some welding in. Long story short, I chopped off the entire bottom portion of the fender just above the lower body line so I would have just one visible seam to weld.

2-10-2015

I started welding the new patch in place for the drive side fender. ChevyReb gave me some pointers for dealing with the thinner sheet metal on the Goodmark patches. I have been fortunate to NOT need to use any aftermarket patches up until this point. Every patch I did was either original GM metal or I made it from thicker gauge metal. I am not sure why the metal has to be so thin on these patches, aside from cost savings. I'd gladly pay more for a patch with thicker metal.

I decided to replace the entire lower area of the fender so I could deal with one long seam across a flat area. I first trimmed the patch and left ~1" extra and got it measured up on the fender, paying close attention to the distance between the two body lines. Once I was happy with the placement I secured it and cut through the patch and slightly into the fender to get an exact line between the two pieces. Then I removed the patch and finished trimming the fender.

I then laid one small weld about three inches apart and let those cool naturally until laying more welds (one at a time in each spot). I laid maybe 8-10 welds (per section) over an hour's time. I began stripping the paint off the spoiler pieces so that kept me busy as the welds cooled. I will take my time this round so I have as little filler work to do as possible and to minimize warping.

The 2nd pic shows the extent of the welds I was laying. Enough to fuse the two pieces properly.

2-13-2015

I changed plans today and took apart the bumpers and blasted the various brackets and some other items. I still need to blast the actual bumpers tomorrow but that should be quick since they are not painted or rusty. I will spray these parts tomorrow with epoxy primer and spray some already-primed pieces with Slick Sand.

I wised up and got a 20' x 20' tarp to catch the bulk of the media, as well as use when I am spraying primer.





I bought some side view mirrors a long time ago with near perfect original glass. It was a nice surprise pulling these out. Maybe they will be on my car someday.