Top secret build - Wartburg 2.0

Patrick said:

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to NOHOME :

Fortunately no one will be looking at both sides of the car at the same time. 

I’m within 1/16” fore-aft and spot on vertically 

That is far closer tolerances than most production cars.

Patrick said: Yes my mufflers are purple and i berkeleying love it

A very good friend of mine in CC built a 390FE in shop class next to my Ford 400. He painted the engine John Deere green, and it had purple hornies right off the header collectors :)

Passenger side filler is applied.  Sanded the front fender pieces for behind the wheels and got a coat on one.  Tomorrow is family day, will probably sand passenger side Monday after work then try and coat the front fender pieces for final sanding.  Then i can put front clip on horses for final welding and grinding so it can get bodyworked.  Hood and trunk should be simple by comparison.  Once i shoot primer the build thread is going zero dark challenge with final reveal in Florida 

With the amount of welding in the quarters, I’m very happy with how they’re coming out.  It will be hell to make the front fenders look half as good.  

Patrick said:

With the amount of welding in the quarters, I’m very happy with how they’re coming out.  It will be hell to make the front fenders look half as good.  

Dude. You should be happy. It looks amazing.

Patrick said:

Once i shoot primer the build thread is going zero dark challenge with final reveal in Florida 

In for red window tint and gold leaf paint applique

Short work day, time to start on front end.  Tomorrow is a scheduled bodywork day because my customer is out of money and behind in installments 

In reply to Patrick :

That is going to take a bit of buffing with the coarse grit!

How is sandpaper accounted for in the budget? Since technically none of it stays on the car, I assume exempt? And if I weight the bodyfill that I sweep off the floor, can I subtract that from the cost of the gallon that I bought?

Pete

In reply to NOHOME :

I put sandpaper in the same category as angle grinder attachments - tools that wear out. So they're not in budget.

I put thinner and filler in the same category - once out of the container, it's unusable for anything else. So they go in budget.

But you could argue either way for either one I suppose.

Little blue left, then i can flip it and hit everything I cannot do with it right side up.  

Sandpaper is a tool, not in budget, but the personal budget is very limited right now because of the other house being on the market unoccupied so 2x the bills and taxes.  I’m going with if filler hits the car it’s in the budget.  I’m going to use most of a gallon, even though half of it gets sanded off.

i will and always have prorate my paint by volume or weight, because you have to buy a gallon.  For the datsun the paint I bought was thinned 50/50 so the gallon kit  I bought for $81 was enough to mix half a gallon thinned(1 quart of paint, 1 quart of reducer/hardener) so i put it in at $20.25.  I have been known to weigh my spray cans and do the math per ounce.  

Anybody around me have scales i can borrow in a few weeks to find center of mass?

Back toasted, at ninja warrior class with Colin.

the front valence is almost beyond bodywork. It’s wasted, and that’s after all the straightening and pulling i did to get it lined up to the fenders.  It’s at least definitely beyond bodywork in the timeframe i have.  I think the bumpers and grill will hide most of the hideousness.  

I’m hopeful to get a coat of filler on the welds around the wheel openings and where the valence and fenders meet after dinner.

i have to keep reminding myself that it’s going to be good enough, based on timeline and how mangled the starting point was, and that it’s just got to look good on the cover of a magazine and not under a microscope.  With the trash people throw together and call a gasser anymore, I’ll be miles ahead of that game either way.  My uncle had his doors blasted and found a giant crease that was filled with bondo, and he just painted it because “all metal” 

Patrick said:

Passenger side filler is applied.  Sanded the front fender pieces for behind the wheels and got a coat on one.  Tomorrow is family day, will probably sand passenger side Monday after work then try and coat the front fender pieces for final sanding.  Then i can put front clip on horses for final welding and grinding so it can get bodyworked.  Hood and trunk should be simple by comparison.  Once i shoot primer the build thread is going zero dark challenge with final reveal in Florida 

 

With the amount of welding in the quarters, I’m very happy with how they’re coming out.  It will be hell to make the front fenders look half as good.  

not even a glimpse....from out in the driveway with the foginator on full blast???

There’s a 57 chevy in the way of anything like that, and i’ll have to move it soon.  If the car gets painted before labor day weekend we are likely taking it with us to michigan so i can work on wiring and plumbing while everyone else is trying to figure out what to do

Also a wheelbarrow of wilwood wide5 hubs and brakes and stampie’s model t trunk are in the way

Goal achieved.  Have to take carli to airport to get her parents car in morning, then i’m shooting over to eastwood to get some sandpaper because i’m down to a couple pieces of 220.  Eastwood is conveniently located up the street from my chiropractor so i can get my back adjusted.

also just got a full price offer on the other house, now we need to play the waiting game.

From the sofa last night:

"Jaa. Ser ist ein update on Sa Wartburg, jaaa."

"What?"

"Blixtkriiieg!"

"Umm... OK? What?"

"It's this awesome old East German car that one of the forum guys.... car stuff."

Shakes her head and returns to book...

"Schnell Patrick! Macht Schnell! Arbeiiiit!"

In reply to Patrick :

See, car stuff on vacation is a thing!

Torkel said:

From the sofa last night:

"Jaa. Ser ist ein update on Sa Wartburg, jaaa."

"What?"

"Blixtkriiieg!"

"Umm... OK? What?"

"It's this awesome old East German car that one of the forum guys.... car stuff."

Shakes her head and returns to book...

"Schnell Patrick! Macht Schnell! Arbeiiiit!"

No scheiße

nothing went to plan.  Abby was being a defiant hangry 5 year old.  We left late, had to take kids, they kept arguing about which free harbor freight flashlight belonged to whom, got donuts, inattentive donut lady didn’t put sugar in my coffee, kids were tools at Eastwood, skipped chiropractor to save time, dropped kids off, hit HF for more disposable spreaders and some other non budget supplies, and am now preparing to throw some leftover chinese at my stomach that just took more tums.  Waiting for the actual contract on the other house is now somehow more stressful than waiting for someone to like it enough to make an offer.

Got front end mostly sanded and filled and sanded and guide coat sprayed ready to block.  Also got both front fender rear panels to the point of a couple touch up spots and blocked the RF door and half the RR door.  I am likely going to take Thursday as another bodywork day, but I’ll have to probably stop when carli gets home because it’s our anniversary.  I painted the datsun on our 6th, this is the 10th.  

Left to sand and guide coat: left doors, half of rr door, rr quarter.  Roof(except above glass where i filled gouges), hood and trunk are basically scuff for primer and hit any small spots with filler and done.  We are leaving for Michigan next Thursday so i have a lot to do if i want to paint before we go.  

After dinner i went to the store in the WRX. it felt good to hoon a little bit.  Did front brakes, wheel bearings, hubs, ball joints, and right inner/outer tie rods over the weekend.  Had a frozen slider on each side and the right caliper was frozen but i beat on it and got it free and it seems fine.  Still have to do rear brakes and steering shaft.  Think i’m going to order parking brake shoes before i tear it apart because they’ll be exposed.  Have not driven it since March when i took michael to the parts store for tie rods when his truck was vomiting steering parts along I-77 and we determined i had a wheel bearing eating itself.  It rained a little bit so i went around a curve sideways and i smiled.

Bodywork still sucks

In reply to Patrick :

I am at Evan's right now.  I apparently am the final mile on the GRM Express for a.. "package", will see you tomorrow.

In reply to Knurled. :

looking very forward to that package.  

Much like the color, it’s part of the big florida reveal package.  

Also, as you can see, my inner perfectionist could not leave the front valence alone.  

IOne repair to the fiberglass trunk and then i can sand/fill what is necessary.  The steel trunklid is going to explode along the bottom edge, so i’ll toss it in the rafters never to be needed again.  

Obviously removing the subaru badge

sanded for 9 hours today, still not quite there.  I believe bodywork has put me over 1000 hours in the car.  Not taking it to Michigan because after all this sanding i am going to enjoy my break and hopefully come back ready to finish the roll bar and start doing real assembly

In reply to Patrick :

Looking good.  What is this “real assembly” you mentioned?  And where can I get some?

Patrick said:

In reply to Knurled. :

 

looking very forward to that package.  

Much like the color, it’s part of the big florida reveal package.  

Also, as you can see, my inner perfectionist could not leave the front valence alone.  

The front valence she looks uh spectacular....well done maestro.....get some rest, much deserved 

Left:  driver door, fender panels behind front wheels, trunk, jambs.  It’s as straight as it’s going to get.  

Fiberglass trunk finish sanded as is every exterior surface minus fender panels behind front wheels, which are ready to block then i can paint the back side of them where I won’t be able to access next to the cowl.  Did some edge finishing on the trunklid to conform to the less bent quarters and tail panel