Owner built on a budget;

[Hray]

Sunday jan 24, update

575 hours; 64 days down, 26 days to go.

We lost some momentum over the past few days, but life does require we do things besides just working on cars.

We hope to paint underside of hood and trunk lid tomorrow.

Here are some progress pictures from past few days;
Here is body where it meets the curved dash hopefully ready for paint.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2684/...ded4499d_b.jpg

Here is the nose section, note we filled in totally around the sway bar as it comes thru the inserts, connected them with kitty hair, then bondo to smooth and fill prior to paint. I like the way the mustang II bar dips in the middle it is nearly hidden behind the lower lip of the nose.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2704/...4e11b779_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/...b141275f_b.jpg
Here is the birds eye view of the door swinging away from the body
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/...1e105455_b.jpg

Here is front shot of door opening away from body
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2741/...06cfd0c8_b.jpg

Thanks to other threads here I learned that these gas tank filler necks seem to get air locked, I used the return connection on tank as well as the air vent connection to have two air vents, this might assist in air escape during fill up.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/...89b9ecd1_b.jpg

We thought all those pop rivets coming thru bottom of car were going to be ugly, so we did two things, one we turned the angle iron to the inside of the car and used self taping quarter inch bolts, and we also used same bolts on the angle into the frame rail.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/...92c73d3d_b.jpg

If you look closely you can see some arrows and marks on this tape on the back shelf, I marked the cent of car and the outside marks for the stripes on the body, I will use a square to bring these marks up the the body then use these marks to layout the stripes. I have never painted stripes like these so not sure how anyone else does it but I did it this way.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/...aa40bbd3_b.jpg

here is pic of car waiting for last sanding and paint, today during all the commercials on the two football games I spent most of the time cleaning, removing spider webs, blowing dust from all the crannies, and washing down walls and floor, in anticipation of some paint tomorrow and then complete body by thursday we hope. we will clean shop with air and water at least three times before final paint goes on,

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/...e2c78cd8_b.jpg

[*13*]

Looking good! Can't wait to see paint on it finally!

[rustyBob]

the finish line is getting closer Ray........cant wait to see some color on it...

[Hray]

Some paint finally;

Update 65 days down, 25 to go; 597 hours;

today was 15 hours for me and 8 hours for craig;

we painted the stripe color on under side of hood and deck lid, used the laser level to run the pinstripes for body color, deck lid went ok. the hood for some reason was giving us fits. we decided to go ahead and finish the trunk. we figured we would start over tomorrow on hood, we had played with the stripes so much we were going to have to repaint the stripes again.

after craig left about 5;30, I had dinner and decided to get a head start on tomorrows redo of hood. sanded it and started over, and about 12 midnight finished it up with all the stripes and body, and clear coated.

here are the pics of some color finally.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/...32833223_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4022/...2afc9ab0_b.jpg

just went out to turn off heaters in shop, hood looks great, flowed out perfect, not one sag or run, light sanding to remove dust nibs and minor buffing will make it about as perfect as one can expect.

[James Stern]

Ray, When you first talked about doing the underside of the hood and trunk I was a little skeptical. I am now a believer. Great job.

Jim

[*13*]

You put the stripes on the wrong side!!!!! Looks great!

[rustyBob]

Ray........

I'm speachless........
looks great.........

[Hray]

Thanks for feed back guys, I now know why DV said 'if you can get them straight', they look good.

these stripes are not without a little pain and effort, not sure how a person would get them on without the use of a laser level. Lots of strange contours on the underside.

Craig is now custom installing the rear fender liners. we should begin final sand later today. i have been dust proofing the work shop for a cleaner paint job. We are hoping for color on the body by friday.

Stay tuned. Ray

[Hray]

Update:

610 hours; 66 days down, 24 to go


We got the passenger side inner fender installed, we had to add some to the rear outside edge for the liner to fit the fender well adequately, will add some filler all around the edges tomorrow and sand smooth. passenger side has been modified and ready for install.

we also removed the doors again, (hopefully, for last time), I removed the hinges and installed a door stop on each hinge so the door hinge would not touch the fender upon opening it.

We had just a little too much dust and too much orange peel in the clear coat. it would have buffed out, but we thought it would be easier to sand and apply another layer of clearcoat instead of buffing it out. Got that done and it lays down much better and not a near as many dust nibs, We will just lightly sand the nibs out and buff that not the entire underside of hood and decklid.

Tomorrow we should be getting into the sanding the body for the last time and then cleaning and taping for paint. Paint will most likely be on friday. We will need a good 12 or more hour day to paint, tape, paint, remove tape, clearcoat it.

[Hray]

Update: I have lost count, I think 20 days left to the move in date for autorama, in three weeks from today we will be walking the floor of autorama.

648 hours, 70 days down, 20 to go.

Paint will be tomorrow, Saturday.

here is the patch work from rear fender liner
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/...3b6d0d81_b.jpg

here is the homemade door holder for painting thing-a-mig-jig

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2746/...c80569ab_b.jpg

here is craig with the trunk outside in the somewhat sunshine
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/...e3ed817d_b.jpg

here is car masked up and waiting for morning and new paint

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/...9f85f4ae_b.jpg

pix of cockpit all masked up.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/...7c21540a_b.jpg

we will run duck tape on the floor and then mask a skirt all around bottom of car to prevent overspray from getting under the car.

[James Stern]

Ray, The trunk lid looks great in the sun. Good luck with the paint job. Some times it is better to be lucky than smart. Watch the drip edge on the inside of the cockpit. The paint job on mine was great all the way around but there were a few runs under the drip edge inside.

Jim

[Double Venom]

Hray,
Gotta admit that is a beautiful color combo!

[*13*]

I wanna see paint!!!

[MaSnaka]

Can I borrow Craig when your done? Looks like progress is good.

John

[James Stern]

Ray, I hope all is well for you and the crew. You must have had a very busy Saturday and Sunday.

Jim

[Hray]

Sunday jan 31, update;

Well, we may be over the hump;

Here is a 24 hour phot update and progress report.

My day started at sat 7 am. building a fire in the back room and getting shop cleaned up. Craig showed up at 8 am. We swept and took all extra stuff out of the shop, here is detailed update;

9am sat; We began to finish taping off the car, here are some pictures of what it looked like at 9am.

9 am sat;
you can see my filter system on the fans, the filters are more to keep the bugs and dirt from coming in more than filtering the overspray out,

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/...f730f44a_b.jpg

here is another shot of car, you can see we covered up the shelf in background rather than taking it out of room and we still need to finish masking.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/...3918586d_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/...5ee404f7_b.jpg



Here are the pictures at 11 am on saturday;

finished the masking of car to the floor, not allowing overspray under the car, as well as it not allowing any possible dust from under the car coming out onto the paint job
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/...9520ecc0_b.jpg

another 11 am shot, the doorway with the filters will filter some particles coming into the paint booth, plus in this room behind the filters is where the wood burning stove is located, this will preheat the air so when we turn on fans the air coming into shop will be warm already to maintain a reasonable temperature. you will also see two air hoses, we used two paint guns at once, craig painted the driver side of the car while I painted the passenger side. this way we should be able to keep all paint going on to a wet surface to possibly eliminate as much orange peel as possible.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/...aa7779f8_b.jpg

craig is still masking up stuff, we have spent tons of hours making the underside neat and finished, we do not want it messed up with paint getting thru
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2496/...c49dac9f_b.jpg

Sat at 7 pm photos;


we now have sprayed the sealer, sprayed the stripe color and finally gotten the masking for stripes done, I will admitt those stripes kicked our butts good, we both underestimated how long it would take to actually get them on and ready for body color.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...3bbd5293_b.jpg

craig is tacking off the car getting ready for the body color;

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2800/...886c0bb4_b.jpg

sat 10 pm report, we now have 14 hours already in the day of paint, we have finally gotten the body color on and waiting to remove stripe tape and paper for clearcoat;

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/...6bee725d_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/...0c0b9786_b.jpg

sunday 1am update;we are now on the 17th straight hour since we began this phase.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/...6d40586e_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...1a0a36f3_b.jpg


Sunday 9am, yes we did get to bed, but I did not relax that good, just wanting to really make sure we did an adequate job and wanting to see if the gremilins came in during the nite and attacked the project.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/...47564eb0_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/...be6ed101_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/...1ce4baef_b.jpg


we got a couple sags on the clearcoat, nothing really bad, and no real bad dirt nibs, we were afraid of bugs, we were killing them all nite in the shop, but fortunately not one single bug got in the paint.

I have taken most of the day off, only removed some paper and took a few photos, and mainly today was tylers birthday party, he came out to chek out the new paint and of course liked it, but I have a bone to pick with Riley the other helper, the other nite he called it a 'girlie' car because it was pink. But what does a 6 year old really know.

We feel this was a major hurdle, of course still lots to do, and still block sanding the clear and hours of buffing and polishing yet to finish the paint.

If you ever get a quote for anything less than 5K for someone to paint your cobra, I suggest you jump all over it before the ink dries on the quote. Every Cobra painter and builder is now my idol.

stay tuned as we are on the countdown, just 2.5 weeks to total finish.

[*13*]

Hot damn! You're finally painted! Looks Great!

[Hray]

tuesday nite update:

750 hours over the last 75 days, 15 days to finish.

For the last two days we have been sanding and polishing the body. the body is now done, and tonite I covered the dash with vinyl and began to reinstall the switches and guages.

We first sanded with 1000 grit, then went to 1500 grit, then with 2000 grit by hand, Then we used my air Dual action foam padded sander with 2000 grit first then sanded with 4000 grit, after that has all been done craig then began to polish with the air buffer foam pad on larger areas. i put the hook-it foam pad on my DA and got the front nose and rear and other corners and places were more care was needed.

The other parts are ready for air polishing. Craig will get those tomorrow and i will finishe up the carpet padding and carpet and install the dash. With a little luck we might get some bright work reinstalled.

there will have been about 75 hours invested in the paint sanding and polishing after the paint was on the car. We already have 40 hours in that activity. Can hardly wait to see some of the chrome up against the paint.

Criag and I agreed today that this paint job is the best job that either of us have produced, all metalic laid down perfect, no major imperfection so far anywhere.

Will have some pictures hopefully tomorrow nite, just too tired to take time up load tonite.

[James Stern]

Ray, Cn understand the too tired. I was surprised that you posted at all. Those of us following your build have an idea as to how much effort you and your crew are putting into this project. You're close now so try not to wear yourself out. Thanks for all the updates.

Jim

[rustyBob]

Come on Ray dont keep us in suspence..........wheres the pics. of the painted body.