This is the stuff I really enjoy doing in my spare time. I'll post some of the more interesting stuff I think someone might care about as I do it. My current project is a one-owner '69 Mach 1. It's an original 351W, 4-speed car and is in very nice shape. Actually, it looked like it didn't even need painted from about 15 feet. But it had the typical lacquer cracks when you got closer to it. Still, not bad for 24 year old paint job. I didn't know it was originally Champagne Gold until I was removing the quarter windows. It was painted black for the first time in '77. I've had the car in my garage since Nov '05. It had to be delivered to me before I was really ready for it so I didn't work on it all that much until April '07. I've been on it pretty good since then. I feel really bad about how long it's taken since it had already been in 2 different shops the 4 years prior to me getting it, with nothing other than some disassembly being done to it. Luckily for me the owner is VERY patient and thrilled because it's finally getting progress made on it. I've got 500 hours in it now and will probably be close to 600 when finished. Everything is done except for bolting on the front bumper and lower pan, sealing the back window, painting the cowl panel, polishing the whole car with swirl remover and cleaning it all up.

This is what the shell looked like after it was completely stripped, primed and sealed with 2 coats of PPG's NCS2005 2K sealer. The pic on the right was taken right after being painted. I raised the car as high as I could and sprayed PPG's DCC9000 black single stage on the rockers, door jambs and drip rails. A couple days later I lowered the car enough to reach the center of the roof easily. After masking off the rockers and door openings I sprayed 3 coats of PPG's DBC9700 black basecoat and 3 coats of their DCU2021 clearcoat. I sanded and buffed the shell and then started reassembling everything. I'm going from the back to the front hoping I cut down on things being overlooked. You'll notice I don't deviate much from using all PPG products. They have worked very well for me and I can't sell something I won't use.

Here are some before and after pics of the fenders. I chemically stripped the outside surface first and sandblasted the edges. There were some dents but there wasn't a rust spot to be found anywhere.

Here are some before and during pics of the doors. There were some splits in the paint on the doors that resembled bondo cracking but luckily turned out to be lacquer paint failing from being too thick. They were in excellent shape also. The passenger side had patches installed very nicely at the lower front and rear.

This yellowish orange primer is the only non-PPG product I spray. It is Clausen's Rust Defender. It is sprayable bondo basically. This is an awesome product. It takes a little while to dry but allows me to only prime a panel once. I spray 4 coats on with a 2.0mm tipped primer gun. Regular high solid urethane primers, while they dry fast to sand, actually take weeks to cure thoroughly. I don't like putting multiple applications of those on if I can help it. The Rust Defender doesn't shrink, sands very nice and with a sprayable quart cost just over half of a premium line 2K urethane primer I think it's a no brainer. I'll start with 80 grit until the darker orange color is sanded off. It shows the high and low spots easily when the color changes this way. Any spots needing filled can be swiped with US Chemical's Icing at this time. I'll spray a light coat of guide coat, block with 150, more guide coat and finish with 220. It's now ready for the 2K urethane primer. I've been using PPG's DPS3057 2K primer on the last few jobs and have been very happy with the filling and sanding characteristics.
Here is my son, Ian, inspecting the buff job on the door. He has no problem saying something if he doesn't think it looks right. He definitely got that from his mother.

I knew the car had NOS quarters put on in the early 80's. They were only available for a '70 at the time so the side scoops had to be worked around. They proved to be put on rather well. The driver side was a lot nicer than the passenger one but it is ok. The lead seams on the sail panels were no suprise...they needed work, especially the driver side. I sand blasted the wheel lips, drip rails and the front and back window openings.

The car was hit just hard enough on the point of the hood to pop the flutter foam loose. It also put a small kink in the bracing ahead of where the hinge bolts on. After that was fixed it was time to start chasing ripples all over hood.

After I applied the black I had a friend who does custom painting come over and lay out the stripes for me. Lucky for me, his '40 Chevy needs some suspension work so we can just trade some labor. What Mike did in an hour and a half would have taken me 8 hours to do...plus my way would have been crooked! You have to check out the real fire job he did on my son's batting helmet!
The color for the stripe was a great illustration why a painter should never pick a color, no matter what. Tony told me he wasn't to concerned about the color of gold but I showed him dozens of chips anyway. The PT Cruiser Inca Gold is nowhere near what I had in the back of my mind but I think it was the perfect choice now that it has been sprayed. The pic on the below left is after the sanding/buffing and hood pins and scoop bolted on. The cowl panel is the only piece that still needs painted. I'm waiting until after the whole front end is bolted on until I base the cowl panel black and then install it. Next, I'll mask the stripe continuing onto the cowl so it lines up perfectly. I think I can handle an 8" long stripe. Then, I'll remove the cowl panel again to spray the gold and clear without having to mask off the entire car.


Here is the engine compartment when I was ready to respray it and the final result. He bought a Boss 351C crate motor back in 1973 for $1200 from the local dealer. It still has the 11.7-1 compression and a solid lifter cam. It was freshened up about 10 years ago. Since there haven't been many miles put on it, I just worked around it. I added a full set of March billet alum pulleys, MSD 6AL ignition box and Blaster coil, Petronix electronic ignition conversion and a new set of Motorsport valve covers. He also tracked down a repopped original style fan shroud to bolt to the Cobra Jet radiator. Once I paint and install the strut tower braces the engine compartment is done.

He decided to try this Fitch Fuel Catalyst to hopefully bump up the octane enough that mixing race fuel or using octane boosters isn't necessary. Hopefully this isn't a gimmick and actually works. I didn't think it should be visible plus the p/s pump made getting to the fuel line going into the pump real tough to get at. I opted for mounting it at the back of the strut tower. I had to fabricate this bracket and used the proportioning valve nuts to hold it on so I didn't have to drill any holes in car. I cut a section from the factory steel line coming out of the torque box and clamped the hoses for the Fitch unit onto them. I still have all the factory clamps holding the lines in place. I bent the shield to keep rocks and junk from hitting it. All in all it was a pretty easy install.

You can tell from these pics just how clean this thing is. It should have been put on the rotisserie but he didn't want to spend that much money, plus he really didn't want something that was too nice to drive.
Here is a current pic of the interior all done except the driver's door and door panel aren't installed yet. I got slowed up a little by the window guide bolt holes being stripped. The helicoils were easy to put in but I drug my feet getting it done for some reason. I hope I'm not getting burned out now. The Auto Custom Carpeting fit awesome. Every bump in the floorboard was press molded in the correct spot. A new headliner and front seat covers were already put in just before I got the car. New sill plates finished it off. I am very happy with the end result here.

I resprayed the metal part of the dash and steering column. I added a wood Grant wheel to replace the original unattractive one. I had a small crack in the dash pad repaired and I painted it with SEM vinyl paint when I got it back. It is very nice stuff.


The console had some cracks in a few places so I used Fusor's 100EZ plastic repair on the backside of it. I sprayed two coats of Klean Strip's Bulldog adhesion promoter followed by two coats of the same SEM Landau Black that was used on the dash. It turned out looking like a new one. I had intentions of only painting some of the interior. I didn't think the rest looked all that bad until the newly painted pieces were up against the old as evidenced in the one console pic. I then decided to paint the rest of the interior with the SEM Black so it would all be uniform. Luckily the door panels and rear seat were still in very nice shape and didn't need painted. I stapled on new inner window fuzzies made by a company called Repops. They fit very nice and had great instructions. They even included the carbide drill bit with a stop attached to it for the staples to go into new holes.
    

Before and after pics of the trunk. It's amazing what a fresh coat of spatter paint does. I have a new grey and white speckled trunk mat to put down also.

The job I did prior to the Mach 1 was a one-owner '76 Trans Am. It ended up being a 400 hour job stretched out over 11 months. I think it turned out very nice and best of all...the owner liked it! Right now these pictures of the fenders are all I have. Hopefully I'll get some finished pics of it at a car cruise this year. It had already been media blasted when I got it. It needed a door skin, new used hood and A LOT of straigtening. He gave me a little break from Aug to January while he put the motor, interior and glass in. It was March '07 by the time I got done bolting the front end on and buffing it.
Here is the engine in Chris' T/A. It is the original 400 c.i. engine and has the Edelbrock RPM aluminum heads and cam package. It also has a 4-speed and it was ordered without a/c or any power stuff in the interior.

If my friend, Eric, hadn't helped me out on the straightening a lot of the parts I might still be working on it. He straightened the roof and hood himself and did the majority of the doors. The roof looked like it was used for a trampoline. The new door skin was an aftermarket reproduction one. The only good thing I can say about it was that it wasn't rusted like the original one.

These are the before and after pics of Eddie's Camaro hood. He had already cut the hole in the hood to clear the blower and scoop. I just needed to smooth it up and used Fusor 100EZ to glue the inner and outer panels together. The hood looked real nice until I ran the 150 grit over the gel coat. A lot of low spots appeared and needed filled. After that the Rust Defender and DPS3057 2K primer were applied. Then the DBC9700 black base and DCU2021 clear. This hood looks so much better than the outdated L88 hood that had been on it since the late 80's. I hope the job I did on the hood guilts him in to redoing the rest of the car. He's gone 20+ years on the lacquer job he did just out of high school.

I've been dry DA sanding my clear for a while. I think the sand scratches are way easier to buff out and 3M's newest compound, Perfect-it III, has been a lot of the reason. I always liked how my old Sata Jet B with a 1.4 tip sprayed but my new Sata RP with a 1.3 tip made that gun look average. The Jet B was made into a very nice primer and sealer gun. I've definitely been sanding out minimal orange peel with the new gun.
This is my Cam Air TS-10 desiccant dryer system. It is probably 12 years old by now. This style has been discontinued and replaced with a new style called the CT30. It has a cartridge bag that holds the desiccant beads. It's much faster to change and it keeps you from getting 10#'s of white balls rolling all over the garage floor.

The following pictures are of a '67 Mustang Fastback that occupied my garage for over a year even though I only ended up with 275 hours in it. It came from the media blasters in bare metal and I primed it before it rusted and then put floors, frame rails, toe boards and torque boxes in along with numerous patches before finishing the underneath and engine compartment. I got to use a rotissiere for the first time and I realized one thing, I will never be able to lay on my back and do this type of work ever again. It's sorta like my whole house air conditioning. I don't know how I ever did without it before I got it. I really wish I had my digital camera before this car left because these pics don't do it any justice.
Passenger side floorboard cut out and ready for torque box, toe board and floor. As stupid as it may sound, it doesn't look like this car ever had a rh torque box from the factory. I can't see how it would be possible but there were no spotwelds on the floor, outer rocker or frame rail where it would've attached. The other odd thing was there wasn't any rust where the torque box attaches like there was on the driver side.
Bottom view of floors after welding. I welded everything from the inside where possible to minimize grinding. Just little bumps needed knocked down. It was all primed with PPG's DP90LF epoxy primer. Every seam was sealed and wiped smooth. Since it's going to be a driver I sprayed a rubberized undercoating on next.
This is the engine compartment all finished. It finally left in Oct '05.

This '65 Chevy Stepside belongs to a good friend of mine. The original intention was to work on it in my spare time. Since I have none, Mark has gotten free storage for a number of years. Actually, I got quite a bit of work done on it in Nov-Dec '05. It has the ZZ502/502 hp crate motor with the RamJet fuel injection. A Richmond 6-speed and Ford 9" were also installed. I have smoothed the firewall and made room for the big block to be moved back a little. I also made a new rad support and modified the inner fenders for a smoother appearance. An Old Air Products A/C system is also being added. I'll be able to get much better pics with my new digital camera.

This '89 LX was my first attempt at rebuilding a total loss. I bought it in the spring of '90 with 8,800 miles on it. I had a real clean '87 rear clip put on it. I had to buy a rear end, driveshaft, one wheel, windshield, headliner, passenger door and seat frame. Originally, I intended to fix it, drive it to make sure the bugs were worked out and sell it. I think there was money to be made because it still had a clean title and I only had about $7,500 in it, but I liked it so much I kept it and still have it. I drove it 1,500 miles on a Myrtle Beach trip with no problems and got 24 mpg. Some friends thought I had lost my mind when I bought this. One reason was I was a Chevy guy and another was because it looked like a big blue banana. The driver's door had to be ratchet strapped to the passenger door because it wouldn't close. It was about 5" from latching. Luckily, the front clip was perfect. After buying a K&N air filter, underdrive pullies, computer chip and 2-1/2" Flowmaster cat-back kit and installing 3.55 gears I managed a 14.56 @ 91 mph. The inconsistency with the 5-speed drove me nuts. I hope I don't regret going with the TKO-600 in my '01.

Here's some Sportster parts belonging to Mark's mother. This is the only motorcycle I ever worked on. It was a nice blue pearl that really didn't need painted but she wanted it a factory Harley Purple. I sanded out some stone chips and fixed 1 little dinger. After the basecoat, the decals were put on, lightly scuffed and then clearcoated.

Here of a couple non-automotive items I've done. I have another gas pump, RC Cola machine, 7-Up machine and a 50's candy machine to do whenever I'm ready.

Here are some '57 T-Bird wheels that needed refurbished. They were blasted, skimmed with bondo, primed and painted. The backs were painted low gloss black and the fronts were Colonial White.

Here is a pic of the 9" conversion I did on Denny's '63 Falcon. The panhard rod brackets had to be fabricated as did the spring pockets. We cut the housing down to be able to use slightly narrower than stock axles. After the blower was added he decided to scrap the stock stuff and go with a Moser nodular center 31 spline alloy axles. It's gone a best of 11.17 @ 123 mph.
I also did a mini tub job using the stock inner wheelhousings. A piece of flat steel was cut to fill the space. The trunk hinge mounts needed modified a little but it wasn't too bad. Moving them the whole way in to the frame rail will gain 1.5" at the narrowest point. You can fit 26 x 10.5 ET Street radials on there now.

Home Page
Engine Compartment/Undercarriage Pics-Page 2
Engine/Drivetrain Pics-Page 3
Exterior/Interior Pics-Page 4
Serpentine Belt Set ups-Page 5
Lorne's Truck-Page 6
'01 Big Block Mach 1 Clone/Other Projects-Page 7
Fun Pics & Links-Page 8
Friend's Rides-Page 9
Power Tour Pics-Page 11