My re-spray

[geekdaddy]

A few photos here (I will post more) about the re-spray on my 81x. When I purchased the car, I was pleasantly suprised by how little rust it had despite "living" in New England its entire life. Initial inspection showed:
- Passenger front small dent.
- Hood paint badly oxidized.
- Base of windshield rust visible.
- Driver rear quarter had a small rust hole.
- A little crusty under filler tube area and ignition module mount (holes were previously plugged and had some standing water)

However, as I pulled it apart and inspected every nook and cranny, I found more issues. Nothing critical but all needed attention:
- Right frnt spoiler badly rusted.
- Inside trunk floor some moderate rust where access panel mounts.
- Rear of area inside headlight pods beginning to rust at outer and lower points touching fenders.
- Some beginning rust under the plastic battery tray.
- Realized the side moldings were "after-market" and decided to remove them.

Found a good local body shop, spent the winter pulling all bumpers, trim, etc. and drove her over for some body work and a re-spray two weeks ago. He's been doing some good work so far. Photos and comments below:

Front fender dent and spoiler cancer:

Windshield frame base after removing windshield. Ugly but structurally sound.

Rear trunk rust around access panel area. Common issue, right?

Driver rear quarter rust hole:

Area under battery box:

Inside headlight pod shows some rust forming:

Frunk lid with paint removed. Learned that this had already been re-sprayed once and not properly prepped. Lots of rust and pitting under the paint.

Rear quarter hole cut out, media blasted and welded:

Body side molding holes welded closed. Initial grind. Will require poly fill, primer smoothing, etc:

Spoiler media blasted/cleaned, and epoxy sealed. Waiting for poly fill and primer:

Headlight pod media blasted and epoxy sealed. Rust was a little worse than I thought -- a small pinhole in the fender (light shines thru) will be filled. Note the 12ga red wire (capped) from my auxiliary fused battery feed for future headlight relays

Trunk media blasted and epoxy sealed. Access cover and top plate done also (but not shown). Will be primed/painted:

Hood epoxy sealed. Will be primed and blocked smooth before painting:

So far so good! I'm happy with the work they're doing. Hope to have her back in a week or two. Will post more photos when more progress is made

 

[jvandyke]

My '81 has rust in all those same places (but MUCH worse)
Good time to do a bumper delete and fill the holes where the elephant ears attach.

 

[geekdaddy]

I chickened-out on the bumper delete.

Was wrestling with the bumper delete and ALMOST did it. Tough decision indeed...

In the end, I kept them because I generally have a desire to keep the look of the car "stock" -- making little tweaks but want to keep the spirit of the original window sticker. I only change little things that are easily reversed if I ever change my mind.
I didn't want to remove or modify the tow hooks and don't like how they look on a lot of the bumper deletes when they stick-out.
I MUST have a front license plate in NH. Difficult to do with a bumper delete.
I like the idea that I have some minor protection from small bumper taps in the unlikely event I experience one.

I cleaned and painted all the elephant ear trim etc and my bumpers are in excellent shape so I think it will all look good when it goes back together. Disassembled, blasted, and painted the engine lid (satin black) to match. I also bought TonyK's last aluminum grille #18 so now I'm really committed

My '81 has rust in all those same places (but MUCH worse)
Good time to do a bumper delete and fill the holes where the elephant ears attach.

 

[jvandyke]

I went through the same thought process, in the end, I ditched 'em. My car is further gone than yours though so it's a little easier to do. It is still reversible though, just have to punch through the fiberglass and filler where the holes were, although I just shipped out the bolts that hold them on because, I'll never put them back. It was originally designed without big bumpers and looks better without, IMHO. I have no "clumsy parker" protection (in the rear) I know but where I drive and park, it's not an issue. Front is still on, just tucked and ears gone.

 

[Yves]

Great Work,
it will be ready for summer:clap:

 

[JimMW]

Looks nice!

Looks like they are doing some good work. Will look forward to seeing the finished product.:thumbsup:

 

[geekdaddy]

The (slow) wheels of progress

Stopped by to check on the X today. The shop is making progress but it's slow going. They're overcommitted with jobs right now. However, the owner is giving my little X a lot of his own personal attention and seems to be doing a great job so far.

The hood is sealed and they're almost finished priming and blocking it. Pretty darn smooth. Front passenger dent is popped, filled, and almost smoothed. Spoiler is also filled and almost smoothed. They're filling low spots and weld holes from the body side moldings. Almost done with all that and then some priming and blocking. Hoping they will have all the surface prep done late this week or early next week. Pics below:

Right front dent and spoiler repaired. Just some finish work now.

Windshield/cowl area and hood are all blasted, sealed, and filled.

Body side low spots (hah -- some from the factory) and molding hole welds filled.

While I wait impatiently with little to work on, I built some headlight relay harnesses based on Bob Brown's outstanding instructions. Sourced some inexpensive heavy-duty sealed relays on ebay along with the sockets, H4 adapter harness, and high-temp sockets. Went together pretty well and I'm happy with how they came out. Hope they work

 

[geekdaddy]

Getting closer...

Feels like they're getting closer. The shop definitely has its hands full with resto work and std insurance work but has cleared out a lot of the insurance work and is focusing more on the little X (and a 69 Chevelle and a Nova).

All the body repairs, welds, fills, etc. are completed. They've sealed, primed, and are now feather priming and blocking to get it all smoothed out. They didn't do any priming on the trunk lid nor rear facia. They explained why but not sure I understood. Anyhow, should be a few more days of sanding, feather coats, and more sanding and then they'll shoot the color and clear coats.

This is the only work on my X that I didn't do myself. Kinda glad I let them do it. Can't wait to see how it turns out...

 

[geekdaddy]

The (slow) wheels of progress rev2

Still going SLOWLY. Not pleased with their speed but am pleased with the quality of their work so far. The owner showed me why he is so meticulous about sealing, priming and blocking. I had pinstripes which they sanded off. However, after the first two coats of primer the old "lines" were still barely visible while blocking. They took care of it.

Wrapping up the final blocking and prep. Interesting that they epoxy sealed any area where they welded, repaired, or removed paint down to bare metal. They blocked the primer after that. One final coat of sealer and then the color and clear coats go on. Will MAYBE have her back by Memorial Day weekend...

All repairs done. Upper portion of door is finished with blocking. Final blocking around remainder ongoing:

Close-up of front spoiler all filled/smoothed and ready for finish sanding:

He wasn't satisfied with the prior finish on the weld/repair of the rear quarter. So a bit more touch-up and sanding. Will require another shot of sealer, primer, and finish sanding back there:

 

[bbrown]

Slow ain't as slow as mine...

I might want to ask your shop guy if he wants to take on another project... Mine's been stalled for over 6 months and I'm losing patience. I've had a car's worth of parts laying around here for over a year now, and something's gotta give...:wall:

 

[olerascal]

Give your painter...

Give your painter a gift.
Marry his sister...or daughter.
Sounds like a rare bear in slapdash world.
Epoxy prime is proper seal and bonding agent for bare metal.
Often overlooked. Or ignored.
Have confidence in the man whose finger
is on the trigger of the gun pointed at your car.

 

[budgetzagato]

What is blocking?

What is blocking? Block sanding? I use both soft (rubber) and hard (composite counter top) blocks, just wondering if this is what you mean.

 

[geekdaddy]

Yes -- he's got several different block types. Mostly different types/softness of rubber. He does a lot of block sanding. Typically priming after sealing, and then "feathering" by misting with black. Low spots are identified by black areas remaining after blocking and then are primed or filled again, feathered, sanded, etc. He seems rather meticulous.

Bob: Hope the final product comes out well. If yes, you may want to tow mac-x out this way. His guys do metal fabrication and welding as well if you need it.

What is blocking? Block sanding? I use both soft (rubber) and hard (composite counter top) blocks, just wondering if this is what you mean.

 

[Dan Sarandrea (Phila)]

The darker the color the more the prep mistakes and shortcuts show thru....

 

[Quantumleap]

Great write up!

My exxie has the spots of cancer showing up in all the exact same places yours did, with the exeption of the windshield, have been pondering doing what you did and will copy it to the tee. Cheers!

 

[lookforjoe]

Looks like they are very particular! Looking forward to pics of the color & clear coat work.

 

[geekdaddy]

Stopped by to take a peek today....

I'd been traveling this week for biz. A little longer than planned when the thunderstorms cancelled my return flights yesterday

Anyhow, got home this evening and hoped I might find a coat of color on my little Fiat.

Sadly -- still there with primer. They were working on it when I pulled-up. The owner was working on the rear lower quarters and observed that the surface was "wavy" on them. These are unmolested factory quarters with original paint so me thinks this is how they left the assembly line.

So they 're doing a little fill and more primer and sanding. Almost there.
They also pulled the front hood and found a little surface corrosion under the front edge of the weather strip near the nose. So they're taking care of that too.

A little frustrated that my two week re-spray is approaching two months. Summer is already here. But I like their attention to detail thus far.

 

[Kevin B (Asheville NC)]

The owner was working on the rear lower quarters and observed that the surface was "wavy" on them. These are unmolested factory quarters with original paint so me thinks this is how they left the assembly line.

My race 85 x had a thin (body shop friend says likely sprayed at the factory) layer of filler primer ( a thicker primer that served to smooth out the body shell). He said a lot of factories used this technique to make getting the body smooth quicker with way less labor....

 

[geekdaddy]

Whoopee!!!

After a long day at the (home) office, I asked my daughter if she wanted to take a spin and check on the Fiat. Was hoping they'd be ready to paint. Pulled up the shop and found them applying the first color coat!

Photo quality isn't so good because I was taking pics thru the paint booth windows which were still wet from the booth cleaning just prior to paint.

He's still got another coat or two of color and then a few clear coats

Will drop by again tomorrow afternoon if time permits to get some better shots.

 

[JDExSquid]

Looks nice so far!

I'm still doing bodywork on mine. Corrosion found under the frunk lid around the seams. Hard to detect the rust, but ANY cracking will reveal rust. POR 15 to come! After dent removal we'll seal the car, then spray with high-build primer. Blocking to follow, wet sanding, paint and clear. Mine is going very slowly.