Page 1 - Journal
Page 2 � Intro to the Project
Page 3 � Interior
Page 4 � The Work (part i)
Page 5 � The Work (part ii)
Page 6 � The Work (part iii)
Page 7 � Post-Work Images
Page 8 � Camouflage (How To & Other Schemes)
Page 9 � Homage to the Original Bronco II
Page 10 � Miscellaneous / Image Hosting
-------------------------
Progress is recorded chronologically from newest to oldest.
---
The Work � Part I � GENERAL BODY WORK
COMPLETED! THIS SECTION WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED!
Here's how this page works. While doing the body work neccesary before I get primer on this B2, I know I'll encounter some wierd things. The paint-job on it now is shoddy at best, and should prove interesting. So, I'll have certain places in Italics, and share with you what I did to fix it.
-------------------------
Stripping the Paint!
The biggest and smelliest challenge of Part I. I had to strip all of the orange off in order to prep the car for primer. If I left it on, I would have had redges that would show in the new paint job, which is a no-no. I apologize for the dark pictures, my lighter ones came out blurry. :(
Here's the Before shot. Always gotta have on of those.
Now, I went into the other room and grabbed some plastic and tire covers to prep the area. I can't have any of this stuff getting where it doesn't need to be, like on my running boards, lol. So, After some biting, ripping and tearing, I got Mirage ready to be naked.
Now, I had to get the tools of the trade. A milk jug, a paint brush, a razor, and a bondo spreader. Oh, and some paint stripper. We use milk jugs at the shop to hold stuff like this in. It's a cheap solution and works well. Because of my family's consumption of milk, I donated like 12 jugs in one week. Nice. So, here it all is.
So, it begins. If you try this, the first thing you notice is the stench. It's very strong of ammonia and is horrible. So for saftey's sake, please be in a well ventillated area! Also, this is a highly corrosive chemical, wear gloves!
Anywho, the first thing you do is spread some of that stuff on, nice and thick. After sitting for about a minute, you get this.
Nasty isn't it. Ewww. Whatever, suck up and deal with it, it's worth it in the end!
I did 4 different Phases here, so here's each one. First, was to cover the whole side in stripper. For the sake of this website, I'll include a picture of the same spot on the side so you can see what happened after each stage. So, here's the whole side with stripper eating away at it.
Now, my next step was to take my cool little yellow bondo spreader and run across it for this result:
Next, I reapplied stripper, and did it again.
And, I did it one more time. But, didn't have time to take pics. It was getting late.
Anyway, next I had to try and get the rest of the paint and primer left behing off the metal. That's what the razor is for. Take that and a DA and hit the side of it hard and you get this.
All the orange is gone! Kinda sad, I liked the paintjob, but, it's for a better cause.
Because of the corrosive nature of the stripper, you MUST go over the area you stripped with laquer thinner to kill it, otherwise it messes with your primer and repels the primer. BAD!
Anway, I took her in the booth, and got the side primed for the night.
This took me 5 hours all told. Working non-stop, it's not easy.
The next night, I went into the shop, scuffed the whole car up, featherd the black paint into the metal (so it was nice and smooth) and primed the whole thing. That was 6 hours. Masking it was a pain in the butt, and didn't work too well, oops. Anyway, pics of that soon.
-------------------------
The 40 Series Flowmaster Muffler!
YAY! Finally! I have soemthing decent on this car.
I order it on Saturday, it came Wednesday. Sweet.
Anyway, here's the process.
First, I had to get the little car in the air. So, up she went.
Next, I inspected the old mufler.
That thing was a pain in the butt to get off. The outlet had rusted onto the pipe. Boooo! Anyway, after using an 8LB precision instrument, and a little caressing, she came off (bascially, I beat the crap out of it with an 8 bound sledge, oops).
And, seeing as I am by no means a master welder (I'd be happy to be at "Novice" status) I grabbed Clark. He welded it on for me.
Clark in action.
-------------------------
Stripping the Paint
Well, the orange had to come off at some point. So, I bought some Paint Stripper. Now, this is not some weak little Furniture stuff. No, this is concentrated cat urine in the form of apple sauce. It's rank, and burns like a "sunufa-gun" when you get it on your skin - basically like a bee sting. Anyway, it does the job.
Now, like a dufus, I completely forgot my camera both days I did the work, but I at least have a primed picture to show you.
It's going away, and fast. I hope that by this coming Tuesday I'll have all the orange gone. Yeah, that's snow. ;) Been doing it all day, and nothing has stuck, lol.
-------------------------
Driver's Side Mirror
I noticed a funny little thing when working on my car. My driver's side mirror was a little... wobbly. I looked close and noticed this...
So, I got to work. I removed the mirror, and discovered why my mirror was wobbly. Some moron...
Had screwed it into BONDO! AHHH! So, naturally, the stress on the bondo tore the paint, and fell out.
I whipped out the shop's nice little grinder to prep my hole for a spot weld, and noticed; there was another hole! And another, and another! I had three holes, all were stock I'm assuming, and they had to be patched. So, I spotted the patch on, ground it down...
-You really don't want those dark spots, it's where I burned the metal grinding, and too much heat can warp the metal.-
-Cover windows with plastic, paper or just about anything when grinding. Sparks are hot chunks of metal, and can really mess with your window if they hit it.-
Threw some bondo on and was almost done. But, time ran out, I had to go home. So, I primed it.
I'm ALMOST done with this particular spot. I need to build up the countour a little more with some bondo, but once that's done, I'll be good to go. This is how it looks now...
The Work � Part I � GENERAL BODY WORK
-------------------------
Page 1 - Journal
Page 2 � Intro to the Project
Page 3 � Interior
Page 4 � The Work (part i)
Page 5 � The Work (part ii)
Page 6 � The Work (part iii)
Page 7 � Post-Work Images
Page 8 � Camouflage (How To & Other Schemes)
Page 9 � Homage to the Original Bronco II
Page 10 � Miscellaneous / Image Hosting
