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Its fun to put stuff back together! 1955 Century 66R


Mudbone

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Guest cardinal905

Wow my Wifes grandparents lived in Sycamore, I have been there twice 15 years ago. I am in Belleville, you stop in as well !

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Looks great! Yea going back together is much cleaner. For weeks I couldn't do anything on my project without coveralls, gloves, goggles and a dust mask. But now that I'm past the miserable task of processing all the chassis parts, its so nice to be able to work on things without suiting up and spending so much time cleaning up afterwards!

Is that Eastwoods gold cad paint on those back plates?

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No, it is the real thing with two coats of satin clear from Eastwood. The brake booster I did with the gold cad paint as I did not want to chance messing up the smooth seal surface on the inside. Ken

Oh OK, It was kind of hard to tell from the pic not to mention gold cad can vary in luster quite a bit depending who does it.

The booster looks great. Excellent attention to detail.

So did you get actual cadmium plating or yellow zinc? Not may people do true cadmium anymore and it seems like many are going to yellow zinc chromate because it looks nearly identical and can be about half the cost.

I see you use the same trick I do. Cut off and pinched brake line fittings to plug the ports.

Edited by JZRIV (see edit history)
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I believe it is yellow zinc chromate as I was told almost nobody is doing the yellow cad. It looks better than the painted stuff. But it will turn silver after a while. I coated them with Eastwoods Satin clear on the outside only. I had the backing plates and all the hardware done for $75.00. I thought that was very reasonable. I did all the prep work so I think that saved me a ton. Ken

P.S. I keep telling myself. "I'm just building a nice driver"

Edited by Mudbone (see edit history)
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  • 2 months later...

Love the photographs. I will be nearing this stage in the coming weeks. Regarding your frame-- is that powdercoated or painted? (looks fantastic!). Also, how did you decide on the finish/color of the upper and lower control arms? I've read the posts on the forum here discussing how things were back-in-the-day off the assembly line, where everything frame/suspension related was dipped in thin cheap black pain floating in a vat of water. The finish was only meant to survive until the car sold.

Personally I think that would look pretty bad having everything the same black color, so I love the contrast you have here between the parts. I just powdercoated my upper and lower control arms chassis black, but I think I'm going to redo them to match yours.

Budd

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I researched this too, and some say they have found traces of black paint on them and others say that they were not painted at all. My car was assembled in Kansas City, I don’t know it that made a difference or not. I was going to paint mine black but then changed my mind after carefully studying them and found no trace of any black paint anywhere on them even in areas under layers of grease next to the bearings. I did find paint markings on different parts. Some blue and some yellow. After scrapping this away there was only bare metal underneath. So I used Eastwood’s Cast Grey over PPG epoxy primer. The frame was sandblasted and then primed with PPG Epoxy primer and then top coated with PPG Semi Gloss Black. It is not as perfect as it looks in the photos. It has some rust pitting but hey like my wife says nobody’s going to see it anyway! (But I will) My goal is preservation more than the show car look. (Post some Picks of yours) Ken

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I did find paint markings on different parts. Some blue and some yellow.

I found the same blue, yellow and green daubs of paint. I also noted that it was straight to the bare metal, covered by all the rust, grease and otherwise fading chassis black paint. I have photos on my website, and I made notes of the paint daubs. You can browse through them, they are middle to last photos of the 2010 section. Picasa Web Albums - Budd - My 1956 Buick...

I like how yours looks, I'm going to redo my in cast iron color to match the steering knuckles and other bits. I'm same as you, I think-- I keep having those "I'm just building a nice driver" thoughts, but lose sight of the forest for the trees when I'm obsessing over what color I'm supposed to paint/powdercoat something. You'd think someone would put together a darn book somewhere that details this all out (I bet the Mustang or Corvette guys have this...)

Cheers, Budd

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I love the photos. You are as crazy as I am. My garage is set up exactly like yours. 2 &1/2 with one side extended. I opted to have someone else sandblast my frame and rear axle. He only charged me $150.00. I noticed your driver’s side front spring had a spacer. So did mine. I believe it is to compensate for the extra weight on the drivers side. (Battery, Steering unit, Driver) Ken

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Guest Skyking

Ken, great job, very nice detail!!

When I restored my 1960 Metropolitan I did the same as you, every nut & bolt. Mine was a little different because of being a uni-bodied car. On a rotisserie it made things a little easier. The only downside I find with this kind of restoration is, I don't want to drive the car. The under carriage can be a bear to clean.........

Good luck with your project...........

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I found some time today to work on the car. I installed the rear end and the right side front suspension. I started to install the front brake backing plates and I ran out of steam. I hope to work on it Tuesday again. Ken

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post-50945-143138235171_thumb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

The chassis is not yet completely finished but I did get the wheels on and rolled it outside. I decided to stop on the chassis at this point and start on the bodywork. I want to get the top painted so I can get it off the rotisserie and get it back to the owner.

See you guys in Ames!

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post-50945-143138255174_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Ken,

I seen you mentioned single stage in Mikes thread.

Why are you leaning that way instead of BC/CC? I'm just curious what has you thinking this direction as I have not made a decision myself.

I was thinking SS on the underside, firewall and interior and BC/CC on everything else. I was leaning towards the BC/CC because I am going with Belfast green metallic and was thinking it would be preferable to wheel on the clear as opposed to a metallic paint.

It's been a while since I've done any painting and I'm interested in hearing the pros and cons of the choices available today.

Thanks,

Rich

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I was originally planning on going with the BC CC. About 15 years ago I repainted my Dads 26 Model T 4dr sedan. I used Acrylic enamel with hardener. It has been very durable. We just used this car in a wedding for my niece and the car still looks like it did when I painted it. (Except for all the scratches are that my dad put in it) As I am using solid colors I could wet sand and buff this out also. I still have not decided. I think I will practice on and old sedan door that I have and then decide. It used to be easy. Lacquer or Enamel!!

post-50945-143138293775_thumb.jpg

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If your color is metallic and you plan to color sand and buff then a clear coat must be applied. Otherwise you will see every pass of the spray gun and targets. Even with some solid colors like the Cherokee Red on my CVT the solids in the paint will settle at different rates and create targets when color sanded and buffed... I ended up using clear as a top coat.

It is a good idea to practice on a scrap panel... if nothing else to decide if you like the color.

Willie

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Ken,

Thanks for the reply. It was a lot easier "back in the day" but I think they have improved the products a great deal. Just using the new 2k primers I like the way they spary and lay out.

Willie,

Thanks for the info. I was thinking the same thing since I was going metallic and since I don't have a spray booth I'm sure I will be sanding and wheelin :(

What do you think about using single stage for the underside and interior? I was thinking since nobody would ever see those surfasces anyway it would reduce my cost a bit and save me the time of mixing and spraying the clear over those areas.

Thanks again for your opinions guys. And sorry to highjack your thread Ken. I thought you wouldn't mind though since you are still looking to make a decision yourself.

Rich

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The underside and firewall are good places for single stage. I did that with my Special since I didn't take the body off of that project (ahh the "simple" restoration). The underside is supposed to be primer color, but if you are going to paint it body color, certainly a one step process takes less time... unless you are planning on putting mirrors around the perimeter to show off the undercarriage at some hoity toity indoor car show. THEN you should color sand there, too. I will likely use a BC/CC on mine for the reasons you and Willie stated. Lamar had a good point also.

Ken, the Model T you painted in enamel looks very nice.

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  • 4 months later...

Mike, bringing this post up to the top again. So what you are saying is that underside of body, inside of trunk and wheel well are red oxide primer. Also, would the deck lid inner be body color or red oxide as well? Also, where would the split be from the firewall to the underside of the body? Another question, what do you think of using a SS red oxide paint (Eastwood now has one for rat rods) for all of this primer painting? Would like your thought on this.

This information would be pretty valuable for people getting ready to paint their vehicles..Thanks

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