restoring My 66 dart gt convertible

[keastab]

We do almost all of our work on very high-end cars using Dura-Blocks but if you need a hard flat board then something like the one below is the standard for filler work.

Filler Tools Link

hmm that's what my brother in law has and was going to bring over is the bottom cushioned or is it just solid metal(his is this type) that you stick on the paper?
is it supposed to be cushioned? DUH never mind I just followed your link. hmm cushioned. I'll check out his tomorrow.

[keastab]

I was working on the dart and got distracted (it easy to do for me) and decided to fit a couple of (to me ) problems. I've always hated the way the 66 dart tail lights worked since only the outer lights were turns/brake and tails. I decided to go LED.
here's a couple of shots with the different styles

front led made
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front led Working
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rear full tail light housing all 4 tail/brake/turn
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c-ring section tails
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another view in daylight
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a comparison video of the 2 styles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBZ6j...82AUAAAAAAABAA

or what they (c-Ring)look like in the daylight yeah these are the ones!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ReNM...02AUAAAAAAAAAA

the c-ring section set of light I have measures with a luxmeter and talked with a lighting expert(checks this stuff out for a living and writes codes for the states)
so far it has met or exceeded the numbers that he gave me using his graph and tests. (you really don't want to see my first couple of attempts. instead of being too dim I had trouble getting them dim enough in tail light mode, yeah as in 4 or 5 times too bright. hurt ya bright and brakes were Nasty bright)
couple of seconds looking at the original led setup and you would have spots dancing in your eyes for a good long time


anyway what do you think?

[keastab]

I need to keep overspray and sanding dust (sortof late) out of the garage, oh yeah and the weather off the body (tree damage to a section of the garage.
sooo.. while I'm waiting on my red iron c channels and the rest of the metal to show up I decided to layup a temp knockdown booth,
here's what it looks like so far
side view showing the lights that will be in the booth area. I'm covering the lights with hillbilly windows (m-d biulding products widow weatherizer.) ya know it's that plastic that you use double tack tape to stick on the inside of your windows to stop draft's and such then use a heat gut to shrink it tight and clear. it sticks great to clean PVC
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here's the light turned on, Dang, it shows up every flaw I have(lot's of em too!)
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another view of the lighting. MORE flaws. !@#!$#$
that darn door need to have the high spots in the center bottom panel and lower center shrunk,gah!!!! will I ever get that door straight?
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showing the top bank of lights where I'll break it down to make it portable

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this is the joint that I'll bolt together so it can be broken down and stored outside if I have to.
break point.JPG

now to finish figuring out the intake filters and duct work

[keastab]

the paint booth that is. I still have a couple of hours worth of work to fab up a mount for the fan (and a speed control) plus taping down the bottom plastic on the remaining sides
Dang I could have made it bigger!
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turned the fan on and the doors blew open???? now I gotta turn it down and seal the doors better
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better doors close now
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inside all taped up except for the bottom and fan area
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oops forgot to plug in a light ah well plenty of room though
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[Len]

Wow, that looks like an excellent job. You should be able to do some good paint work in there.

[keastab]

Wow, that looks like an excellent job. You should be able to do some good paint work in there.

thanks I hope so, tired of dirt/bug's in the paint and the nearest booth rental is 65 miles away.
I wanted a knockdown unit so that I could put it outside and recover some room when not in use or even using it outside. (the top angles and the ones going into the sides are where it breaks apart) so I get 4 sides and 1 top section. and to beat it all I"m under 600.00 buck for a booth I can use on the other 2 cars I have to do. win-win for me.
I tried to lower the speed of the fan. Nope can't slow it down enough it still blows the doors open way to much flow, I'll have to re pulley it to drop the speed. up on the fan pulley and Wayyyyyyy down on the motor pulley or I'll put in an intermediate shaft to reduce it further.

[keastab]

I couldn't wait to adjust the fan speed. so I shot 2 coats of hi build on the dart, IT WAS AWESOME!!!! no dirt no bug's (some minor operator errors though ) sneezing in a respirator does fog up your glasses and makes for a weird spray pattern sort of like a runny W. but since I was shooting only hi build and going to block it I didn't freak out to bad.
here's some pic's of my blocking process so far. I got rained out and quit before I got the body wet. but it's mostly done in the center sections that I noticed the waves in the body earlier. so far so good and I haven't busted through to metal yet either. here is the drivers side. I still have to do the body lines, upper and lower section but the waves that I'm worried about are in the center section.

DSCF2830.jpg
drivers side before blocking began
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passenger side (door is done and sealed)
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drivers side center section front and rear almost done and no break throughs YAhoo!
DSCF2838.jpgDSCF2837.jpg

[keastab]

here is the passenger side almost done too in the first grit and no break throughs.
next up 220 grit
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Can't wait to see what it will look like painted. cause it sure was rough when I started.

[All Dry]

I am looking forward to seeing it painted too, keep up the good work .Mike

[Henry]

WOW and congrats on the booth and all your efforts. Nice touch for the tail lights also. You've got yourself set for a great project and so close to paint. Take your time and keep going.

Henry

[keastab]

do some more work on the dart. we;p I sanded the hi build down with 320 and then 400 guide coating it to make sure I did all the body that I was working on, here's how that came out
DSCF2842.jpgDSCF2841.jpgDSCF2846.jpgDSCF2844.jpgDSCF2845.jpg

dang it came out goooooooooodddd! I did have 1 burn through that I hit with epoxy and some more hi build but that was it! I am stoked!

[keastab]

put some sealer on the car since I'm moving on to some other areas that need attention like the trunk (inside) engine bay and hood. plus I have to redo the firewall to work with the cable gas pedel instead of the rod for the carbs
and other minor assorted odds and ends that comes with finishing up the body(course being out of money for paint for the project does slow it down too!)
but it does look good, I did have a little dry spray in the door but I'll have to sand it anyway whenever I get ready to paint it.
here's a couple of pic's
DSCF2851.jpgDSCF2850.jpgDSCF2852.jpgDSCF2854.jpgDSCF2856.jpg


now on to other stuff until I get some more money
have a great one!

[keastab]

check and see how good/bad I did. hmmm not to shabby there , no trash in the sealer (blinding white) and only 1 little spot on the duchmans panel that I didn't sand well enough. as soon as I can get the cowl and hood done I'll have the complete outside in sealer and will be able to finish lining up the interior since I'm using 1996 sebring convertible seats front and rear . gotta trim 1/2 inch per side on the seat tops right in the middle of the top seat back to get my top side covers to fit right other than that it's a perfect fit.
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[turbocobra]

Looks awesome man!

Love the booth.

Do you plan to sand the sealer before bc/cc?

[Len]

check and see how good/bad I did. hmmm not to shabby there , no trash in the sealer (blinding white) and only 1 little spot on the duchmans panel that I didn't sand well enough. as soon as I can get the cowl and hood done I'll have the complete outside in sealer and will be able to finish lining up the interior since I'm using 1996 sebring convertible seats front and rear . gotta trim 1/2 inch per side on the seat tops right in the middle of the top seat back to get my top side covers to fit right other than that it's a perfect fit.

If the coating you applied is "sealer" then you may want to look at the tech sheet for that product because most sealers are applied right before the top coats are applied. If you allow it to sit too long you'll need to sand it before applying paint. The sealer that I use only has a couple hour recoat window.