"The Beater Bee" becomes "The Better Bee"

[A12pilot]

Did a few small detail items which was paint the grease on the trunk hinges.

Ya know....I find it amazing I'm replicating slop.....

Last shot is the trunk done with delivery floor mats (upside down, of course to protect them for right now!) waiting to be laid out on the interior floor.

cheers

dave

[A12pilot]

Hood sealed. Lots of pinholes on this fiberglass hood. It's the original one to the car, so I am doing everything I can to save it. Once this sets up, I'll test fit later this week and once it's a "Go", I'll shoot the final faux organisol texture black.

Cheers

[A12pilot]

My other "inspector" came out, and with a loaded "Rawrf!!!" she gave her final opinion which was.....

"Grille not lined up right, wrong alternator, incorrect horn mouting bolt, split washers under carb bolts....wrong!!!!!...incorrect filament on dome light, rear bumper saggy, too many bugs in the paint....wrong texture on undercoating, car is an embarassment to society in general....."

Oh yeah....she's one "In-the-know" pup!!!!!!

cheers

Dave (and Lacy)

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Tough crowd:-)

Two paws up:-)

Ryan

[A12pilot]

The last major piece on the Bee (besides the glass, which goes in Friday installed by a guy who knows what he's doing instead of some amateur like me!) was the hood, and with that came some debate. Mopar A12 hoods, much like the AAR and T/A hoods on the 70 Cuda and Challenger respectively, are covered with a coating called Organisol. It's a matte textured coating that is impossible to apply, and designed specifically to attract any and every kind of lint known to man. Easily scratched, incredibly hard to touch up, and a real pain in the butt to maintain. But man.....nothing looks as cool! So, what to do. Get some and apply it? Just do a flat black sheen which won't look right? Or how about try my hand at making my own textured finish to mimic the Organisol without all the nasty side effects?!!!!!:biggthumpu p:

I decided to do the latter. And with incredible succes I might add!!!!!
I started with a matte black base finish and then applied a satin clear over top of it. Both no-mix laquer products you can buy from Advance Auto or the like. I figured if this didn't work I could easily spray epoxy over it and try again without a lot of wasted money, since I didn't know how this was going to come out. I used a 1.3 tip at 20psi applied at about 12" away fading to about 18" away on the last coat. This low pressure and distance means peel, and it's exactly what I wanted without looking like peel. Just more of a texture than anything else.

Alternating patterns (up and down, back and forth, then diagonal both ways) resulted in no streaks and an overall even sheen. I did that with both the base and the clear. That resulted in a rather heavy orange peel texture (of which, I naturally can obtain!) that looks and feels almost exactly like Organisol but the best part? When you run your hand across it, it's actually smooth since it's clear coated, and no lint sticks and no staining if water is left to stand on it!!!! WOOHOO!!!! I pat myself on the back for this 'un!!!! It's pretty durable too. After I let the hood sit for 24hrs, I noticed a bunch of white hazy overspray on it. Like Organisol, it seemed to get worse as I ran my hand across it. I didn't wipe up, rather, got caught in the texture and moved around. So I got out soap and water with a bristle ended sponge and scrubbed it down. The result? Haze and overspray dust gone, perfect finish left over!

Hood pin lanyards with new bezels applied and correctly riveted in place. Notice the lanyards are all inboard. A detail some guys miss as is the orientation of the rivets at the 12-3-6-9 O'Clock positions too.

SIX PACK callouts go on Friday!!!!! Rounding the corner gents!!!!

Cheers

[A12pilot]

Oh....and what you see in those large boxes behind the Bee is a one piece floor pan, decklid, and a few patch panels for the Mustang. I know!!!! Not done one and starting into another!!!



Cheers

Dave

[Mr. Chevy]

Looks great Dave!!

Rich

[mockingbird812]

Killer finish on the hood! Nice fit too!

[m22mike]

That came out great. The closeup shots look like you could use it for GM textured upper dash.

Mike

[Billohio]

That looks great