Chevelle updates

[VintageMusclecar]

It's back on the ground again! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

(yeah, I know...&quot;so what?&quot; lol...well, it's a milestone of sorts for me! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] )





Bodyguy got the rust damage on the interior side of the dash repaired and got the upper dash chassis reinstalled this week.



Still have a little patchwork to do on the outside, but that'll happen the next time the fenders are off, which won't be for a little while as he's now hard at work getting the repop <span style="font-style: italic">wibbly-worbly</span> (just coined a new term there) hood to fit.



Bodyguy wound up flying solo again today, and as it so happened, I wound up lending him a hand getting the rear edge of the hood into alignment with the cowl panel.

It's sort'a hard to see in the pics below, but the rear edge of the hood was well below the leading edge of the cowl panel and needed to be brought up to the same level. You can also see a bulge in the gap just to the pass. side of the crown line in the center of the hood where the skin wasn't properly folded when the hood was made. Nothing a grinder and a MIG welder can't fix, right? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]





With the cowl panel removed, a block of wood was placed on the firewall and the hood was closed. Bodyguy commenced to whacking away on the rear edge of the hood, and after a few whack/adjust/check sessions, the thing actually lined up. Now the gap can be dialed in.





Bodyguy had already been hard at work this week on the sides of the hood getting them dialed in. It took some pounding, some grinding, some welding, (and I'm sure a few choice words) but as always, Bodyguy emerged victorious. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

(sorry the following 2 pics are so dark, the flash sort'a put the whammy on things here)





(btw...in several of the pics I've posted so far, you may have noticed some gray overspray in a few places [core support, part of the bottom of the frame by the rocker panels, etc.]. I'm to blame for that, not Bodyguy)

Bodyguy said he'd probably be working on the hood all week to get it finished up. After that, the only major things left are the A pillar covers and the roof, neither of which appear to need any serious attention at this point.

I'm still in awe that the car has come this far this quickly. After all the delays and set-backs I've had to deal with on this project up to this point, it is a welcome sight to finally witness this kind of consistent progress.

More later.

[VintageMusclecar]

Not much to report for the week. Bodyguy has been slaving over the garbage POS repop hood &amp; inserts trying to make them presentable.



The finish work on the edges of the inserts looks like it was done by a blind monkey with a rat-tail file, and the contour of the inserts wasn't even close to the contour of the hood bulges, but as usual, Bodyguy has managed to make a silk purse from a sows ear.



You can't see it from the pics, but there's a ton of re-work just in these two insert openings; it took slotting the mounting stud holes, cutting &amp; welding the edges of the openings, and an all-purpose general beating to get things into line.



Bodyguy says the hood should be in DP90 by the end of the week, but there's still plenty of fill priming and blocking to be done before it's anywhere near ready for final prep.

I'll be dropping the old decklid off early in the week so Bodyguy can use it as a test canvas to squirt some color on it before I sign off on the final paint mix.

More eventually.

[Xplantdad]

Nice Eric!

[Dave Rifkin]

That bodyman sure is an artist with the patience of a saint; nice work.

[SS427]

I know first hand what your budget was for the bodywork on this car and agree with Dave. You are getting more than your moneys worth as your bodyman is going above and beyond to make things perfect not just pretty. That shows a lot of pride and integrity which you don't often see these days. Hats off the bodyguy! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

[JoeG]

Can't wait to see this car done...awesome job with this car puzzle........

[ORIGLS6]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SS427</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You are getting more than your moneys worth as your bodyman is going above and beyond to make things perfect not just pretty. That shows a lot of pride and integrity which you don't often see these days. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img] </div></div>

Good to see some of that being returned to a guy who runs HIS business with those attributes.

CONGRATS Eric! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[VintageMusclecar]

Bodyguy is without a doubt &quot;old school&quot; in his ways just as I am, and I am <span style="font-style: italic">incredibly</span> grateful to have found someone to work with who has the same work ethic that I do.

And yes, he does have the patience of a Saint. (Even Bodyguy #2 has commented on that on a few occasions during this project!)

I need to make another new .gif file to go along with the other one I made:

&quot;Bodyguy Rocks&quot; [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/youguysrock.gif[/img]

[Xplantdad]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ORIGLS6</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SS427</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You are getting more than your moneys worth as your bodyman is going above and beyond to make things perfect not just pretty. That shows a lot of pride and integrity which you don't often see these days. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img] </div></div>

Good to see some of that being returned to a guy who runs HIS business with those attributes.

CONGRATS Eric! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] </div></div>


Correctamundo Dennis!!!

[VintageMusclecar]

Back again with another update--and a bit of a confusing dilemma. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif[/img]

First up...the hood is done and ready for final prep. When I first looked at it today, I was almost convinced it wasn't the same warbly POS Bodyguy had started out with...but once again, Bodyguy surpasses my expectations.



He slaved over getting the inserts to fit as well as he could, but there's only so much he could do w/o having to make the hood fit the imperfections of the inserts. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

For now the &quot;white box&quot; no-name inserts will have to suffice, but perhaps later on down the road I can find better quality components.



Some quality finish work here, eh? The hood is flat--the inserts are not.



The A pillar covers are almost ready to be reinstalled.



And as a side note, Bodyguy managed to get the lower hood latch support to cooperate where I could not.



Now...here's where the waters muddy a little bit.

As I stated recently, I had decided to have the car painted in Deepwater Blue. Bodyguy hits up his Paintguy, who chefs up a small sample batch of paint, which was shown a page or so back. So far, so good...sample looks groovy, no complaints. Last week Bodyguy shows me a sample of another metallic blue he had Paintguy chef up--this one was also E code GM paint, and it was labeled &quot;Nightwatch Blue&quot;, which is actually a `66 Pontiac color (yet it looks a lot like `66 Chevrolet E code &quot;Danube Blue&quot; to me from what I can see [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img] )

Anyhow, he pops the lid and sets the two samples side by side so I can see the differences; (previously I had e-mailed Bodyguy some paint reference photos, and going by my preferences in the pics, he thought the Nightwatch Blue might appeal to me more)

I could barely tell the difference in the cans. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

I dropped the old deck lid off last Monday so he could squirt come color on it so I could see the differences side-by-side. Here is the results (note: obviously <span style="font-weight: bold">no prep work <span style="font-style: italic">whatsoever</span></span> was done to the decklid, it was simply scuffed, primed and shot. Please pardon the dust.)

Deepwater on the left, Nightwatch on the right:



Here's what's throwing me off--although it's a bit tough to tell from the pic since there was NO daylight out to bring out the colors, the Deepwater shows as a gray/blue in overcast sunlight, and under fluorescent lighting, depending on the angle you're looking at it under, it goes from a rich blue to almost black and even a noticeable shade of <span style="font-style: italic">purple</span> shows up. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/crazy.gif[/img]

I do not recall Deepwater Blue being a gray/blue as seen above.

Am I imagining things, or is the color on the left actually what Deepwater Blue is <span style="font-style: italic">supposed to</span> look like? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img]

At any rate, Bodyguy says this week will be the final panel fitting and he will also be drilling all the holes for the trim &amp; emblems...which means here within the next couple of weeks, the car will be coming back apart so everything can be cut in...which means I need to get this paint situation resolved pronto. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img]