devildog93

Guys, you two have made me feel a ton better about my restoration project. You 2 are really bringing a car back from the dead so to speak. Most people will never appreciate the work you did or even know what the hell you were talking about if you explained it to them, but some of us do. I know a lot of guys rescue cars, but you guys are rescuing a couple that likely would have been scrapped or tagged as donor vehicles. Very impressive. Mine was probably walking that line itself. Well, understand that some of us do know how much work that is an appreciate what went into it. You are basically remaking a significant portion of the car yourself, which separates you from a great many of the other car guys. I am totally down with the direction you guys are going. Being a former marine there is something appealing about making something work, especially when it maybe shouldn't. keep charging, - Jeff

Outstanding job Brad. I found myself having to do a little fab on those braces also, but mine only had to have a few sections to replace. Much less extensive than your repairs. Was this car run up north or on the coasts? It looks like it rusted from the underneath side rather than from the inside out as mine did. My car had been sitting outside for many years and lost the window seals at which point it starting collecting water in the floors and the trunk. -Jeff

I started learning last year. Luckily, i work out of a wrecker yard that has a 4 bay shop with lifts. There are plenty of salvage hoods, doors, and even structural pieces to practice on. That being said, All that practice didn't help as much as i thought it would. As Ttotired said, welding car panels that have any amount of rust changes things immensely. The welder finds rust you never even knew existed by blowing holes through it. The panel may look fine from the front, but the back side could be partially chewed up. I learned through most of my mistakes on the car. Fortunately, there isn't much you can't fix with a grinder and cutting wheel and do over with more metal and welding. I learned on the job with a snap on muscle mig 250. I found i like fabricating so much that i got myself a shot bag, some metal forming tools, a plasma cutter, and a hobart ironman 230 so i can work on projects at home. I know you listed weldingtips and tricks as a good site, and i agree. My favorite guy to watch weld that i have found so far is ChuckE2009 and his youtube channel. He does a wide variety of welding, goes through some of the machines a bit, and has some interesting projects.

I have no idea how many are nationwide, but i know in my neck of the woods they didn't start springing up until the last few years. Either someone found some cars hiding in a barn or they were imports. I honestly don't remember seeing one from 1980 to 2005, ever...in person at least. In the last few years i have seen 3. -Jeff

Thanks for all the info fellas. So it sounds like the spacer may help on the backspacing a bit. I'm going to take a look at the rivets again to see what you're talking about there. I was aware of the center possibly being an issue, but i think clearing the fins should not be. If it is then i will just convert the front drum brakes to disc. That's on the list of upgrades at some point anyway. I'm just tying to eliminate 15 trips back and forth or making plans for something that won't even work.

I'm not sure why i would need a spacer. Could you elaborate?

Has anyone fit cragar ss wheels on a 1st gen? I ask because i can get a heck of a deal on a set through a buddy who works as a mechanic at Pep Boys. The rally wheels i am running currently are shot with rust and scale. I descaled one by immersion in a tank of washing soda and the use of a battery charger. The good news is that all the scale disappeared. The bad - well, they don't seal now. Too much material lost. Here is my best guess as to what i am hoping will fit: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/crr-610p775042/overview/ 610P775042 is the part number. Is there anything i need to watch out for in fitting/ordering? These will have to be special order through pep boys i am sure. but i think the discount will make it worth it. thanks in advance, - Jeff

Matt, there is a reason the torq thrusts are popular. It's a clean look. As to originality and having something diferent...well just owning a 64 riviera that is in driver shape would put you in the oddball class i would think. That being said, i do really like the look on your blue car...wheels and stance.

CTX what were the issues with your eldorado seats again? I am asking because that is only a couple of things away on mine and i'd like to get a jump on it. My rears are getting refinished, but the fronts were garbage and not salvagable. Basically the fronts were submerged in water and the base of the seats were trashed. If i recall right you said you might have to cut a channel for the seat motors?

Ok, so a couple of days ago i left the trunk and started working on the passenger rear quarter again. i thought i had taken care of the worst of it and just had a couple touch ups to do. The bad news....well after some sanding i ended up replacing the bottom of the quarter and the inner portion due to water damage and craptastic body work done before me. It had apparently had serious rust issues before and the bod guy screwed a piece of metal over the top of it and formed the curve with nothing but bondo. The good news was that i ddn't bother sanding down all the bondo and i am just replacing it with metal. I'm done with the back side and tomorrow i should be able to get on to the front side and forming the outer curve/edge. I'm sure i will have to use a little body filler and glazing putty, but i bet i will reduce it by 90% of what they had on there previously. - Jeff

Been a while since i updated this. I finally got around to finishing the trunk. I sanded it down, prepped it, patched small holes and seams with por patch, then layed down 2 coats of por 15 silver. It looks a lot better than before. I then hit the whole trunk with rustoleum flat black after scuffing the por 15. All in all i am pleased with the results, especially since it will be getting carpet over it anyway. This was practice for the outside of the car for me and experimenting wiith the por 15 a bit. The por patch was pretty dang handy. I used duct tape as a backing on the underside and coated the inside with por patch, then pulled the tape off the next day. Worked like a charm. - Jeff

Very nice. Black is never a bad car color. Was thinking of going saddle interior for mine.

i don't care for it, but the level of craftsmanship is astounding. I wish i had half the talent of the crew that put together.

Yes, i would love to see those as well. Hell, i would like to see or hear about anyone changing out their seats for something else. I'm almost to the point of working the interior and was looking at getting some seats to mess with prior to painting the interior.

Well i found that a pressure washer is about the best damn thing for removing old seam sealer. Pressure washer with degreaser made pretty quick work of what i was wanting to get. Used a gallon of purple power and got all the seam sealer and even some rust i was having a hard time getting to. Unfortunately, rain got me before i could do the next step and hit it with the metal prep, but that is what stage i am on now. I have all the outside metal work done and just need to metal prep and paint the trunk and interior, then a little body filler work on my fabbed patch panels and rear wheelwells. The pressure washer was also real good at getting rid of the undercoating on the wheel wells so i could insure i had all the rust in check. I found a neat product called por patch to fill some pitted spots and various pinholes in hard to reach places. It is like double thick por 15. Same rules apply - prep,prep,prep. Anything that sees the sun then has to be scuffed,tie-coated, then painted. I think i am going to slap spatter paint on the inside of the trunk after the tie coat. I'm stalled out for a week due to the weather, but then i should have a nice round of new pictures from the last month or two to get caught up. I had done a poor job on the pans under the seats thinking i could lap weld them and cut off excess while it was up iinn the air on the rack. No such luck, so i had to cut all my welds and recut the body to butt weld the middle pans again. About a day or two setback on that, but at least now they are done what i would think is right. No excess.