There’s a lot of work involved with making a car look like a piece of s***

Greetings from Chicago!

I know its been several weeks since I last posted anything on the Bluesmobile.  I think since I am new to this whole blogging thing my posts ebb and flow based off of what I am doing on the car, real time. Some weeks you see nothing, some weeks you see a new post everyday.

I am working on trying to better the flow so I can supply a steady stream of updates.

But not this post of course!  This will be a long one! But fortunately I took a shit ton of pictures so you can feel free to skip over anything deemed boring, like the whole post!

So after getting the lights hooked up and  organizing my garage I decided to take the Monaco out for a little spin to stretch her legs and fill ‘er up with gas.

It was unusually warm that day, it was awesome driving her! It was even more awesome to see peoples expressions as I drove. The responses ranged from approving head nods all the way down to looks of utter shock and disgust! It was glorious!

As I was cruising around, enjoying the day I noticed that my dash pad was cracking right under the far right vents!

Not sure when that happened, honestly I can’t say I actually looked in that area when I bought her.  I know I overlooked the top of the pad as that’s where I usually see them cracked.

It’s not the end of the world, and I was able to super glue the cracked pieces together to stabilize it.  It is in an area that is hardly noticeable.

I also took the time that weekend to clean up the garage and rearrange my lights and add more!  Can never have to many lights in a garage!

But alas her freedom was short lived.  We are at the point where bodywork needed to start in earnest.

I wanted to tackle the rust first.  Mind you, my rust troubles are no where near as extensive as most Monaco’s of this vintage.  I certainly commend all you Bluesmobile fan’s out there take the time to fix your cars as right as you can in order to keep the cars on the road.

There is certainly something crazy about a person that will go to great lengths to make a car that is supposed to look shitty actually be quite sound and sturdy!

So, slapped on my respirator and took a selfie before I started grinding at the rust.

After I snapped that picture, I

Wait.  What is it about that picture of me in the mask that is bothering me???  Why have I seen this before???

NOW I REMEMBER!

That scene in Return of the Jedi where they unmasked Vader as he lay dying. Funny how something 30+ years ago can pop back in your head.

Anywhooo…

Rust.  Nasty, scaly, dirty.  I hate it.

I spent several hours with an electric drill and various wire brushes, cup brushes, sanding discs, you name it.  Surprisingly the 3M Paint and Rust removers worked the best.  When I went through the two I had, I went to the local hardware store for a couple more, but they only had the Gator branded version.

STAY AWAY FROM THOSE!

They suck.  Horrible.  Ugh.  Stick with 3M.

After I got down to clean metal I sprayed all the bare areas with some Eastwood Rust Converter like I did the other side a couple months back.  As I was doing other work in the area I noticed the rust converter was sticking to anything remotely close to the paint.  Groan.  I never scuffed the paint.

Went around and sure enough, scratch right through it.  Well what a bummer.  While it stuck to the bare metal as it should, there was a transition area to paint that it didn’t look all that promising so I broke out the 3M red scuff pads and got busy.

Well really I wiped her down with wax and grease remover before and after the scuffing, that’s why you can see reflections in the picture below.

That is some stong shit.  Make sure you work in well ventilated areas or have an exhaust fan running. I think I was high for 2 days after I sprayed that shit, even with wearing a mask!

Which made for masking the car a wonderful experience!

Cars scuffed, wiped and masked.  Time to do some filler work on the fender extensions.  Remember a few paragraphs up where I said it was a beautiful day on our last cruise?  Here it is March 13th in Chicago –

I like it when it snows though.  The temps are usually warmer and it helps keep the heat in the garage when you don’t have insulation and depend on space heaters and torpedo heater to keep you toasty.

Back to the fenders.  Time to fill and blend.  As you all know, the extensions are made out of fiberglass and epoxied onto the metal of the fenders and header panel.  Super strong, I’ve grabbed on them, bounced the car up and down, and there is no movement or stress noise.  You would think it was steel welded to steel.

But they are ugly.  You can totally tell they were not there before.  So filler was inevitable.

Now, I’m not a bodyman by trade or an expert whatsoever, but from past experience I really like working with the Rage line of products.  For this particular one I went with Everglass.

Short strand fiberglass filler now with Kevlar for added reinforcement!

At the end of the day, I want the fenders to look good and hopefully avoid any cracks on the surface due to two different materials having different expand and contraction rates.

I prefer to do light coats, sand down to semi-level and coat again. More work? Check.  Tedious? At times.  But by the time I am done, in my mind I have several thin layers that have been allowed to hardened and sanded down instead of a thick blob that might be hard on the outside, but soft and squishy for God knows how long.  I have no idea if that is correct or not, but it works for me.

Check out the pics –

I’ll be the first to admit that my spreading skills suck up to this point.  I do get better (a little).

I uncovered some old bodywork as I sanded.  It seemed solid enough that I let it stay, I didn’t want to dig it out and uncover a rats nest!

 

When all is said and done, three thin coats of filler, sanded and feathered out after each layer in order to blend the extension into the fender.  So far it’s working out like it should.

Very smooth and no noticeable transition.  After the filler I took it a step further and used Icing over that to blend it out even further.

Icing is a 2 part finishing putty that is very strong once it is completely hardened, but as the name applies has the consistency of cake icing when just mixed.

It’s meant for light skim coats only, and I don’t think you could lay it on thick with vertical panels!

I’m taking the blend all the way to the wheel well.  This will give me a really smooth transition.  In reality body work is an optical illusion.  Nothing comes out of the factory perfect, it’s taking your eye away from the blemishes.

My biggest concern has been where the top of the fenders and header panels meet the extensions.  That transition needs to be completely smooth or it will ruin the look.

I am about 95% there, just a little more work and I should have it.

The Monaco came with a vinyl top, and Chrysler/Dodge didn’t exactly do a bang up job in an area when nobody was meant to see it ever.  I feathered out the 40 year old filler and layed down fresh Everglass over it. Sanded, corrected any blemishes and then sprayed some filler primer over that and sanded some more then added a guide coat over that.

I really trying hard not to make things too nice!  Really I am!  I am trying to get a nice quality, but at the end of the day certain things need be wrong for the lack of a better word.

It’s supposed to be a SHIT BOX DODGE!!!

One area that I have been on the fence about has been paint.  I knew there was no way I would have it painted in a shop due to the cost, plus they are way to busy with insurance work to get to mine in a timely manner.

I’ve went from buying a compressor and good gun all the way down to rolling Rustoleum, and even do a spray bomb.

After watching numerous YouTube videos and reading the reviews, I’ve decided to go with a single stage HVLP turbine gun like below –

These are sold under the Harbor Freight and Rockler brand and will spray a variety of different paints and costs a hundred bucks.

I hear you can get really good results out of this little gun, so since I am going for a mid-70’s look, orange peel and all, this should do the trick.

I’m also going with Restoration Shops single stage enamel, Spinnaker white and Chassis black, both in gloss.  Single stage won’t have that mile deep gloss that I don’t want!

To Be Continued!