Aaron's 76 Type LT Project

7 minute(s) of a 383 minute read

Since I can't do much more on the shell right now I decided to start on the front sheet metal. Today I stripped the top of the hood. I will hit it with 80 grit DA before spraying epoxy primer.

I was pleasantly surprised not to find any body filler on the hood. The worst spots are some minor pitting, which will be easy to handle.

1-11-2015

I use a one-two punch on panels like this. I first strip the paint using "clean & strip" discs like these on an electric angle grinder -- http://www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com/servlet/the-4/4-dsh-1-fdsh-2"-Non-Woven-Clean/Detail They are gentle on the metal and generate much less heat than sandpaper would. After the paint is stripped I will come back and finish with 80 grit flap discs to condition the metal for epoxy primer. It's pretty quick work since the paint has already been stripped. I won't do the 80 grit stage until I am ready to spray epoxy primer. It takes 2-3 "clean & strip" discs to do the hood, for instance and then 1-2 80 grit flap discs. I recommend Lehigh Valley Abrasives for flap discs, etc. They are good quality and fairly priced.

I will have to do some media blasting for the awkward areas, like the entire underside of the hood. But that should come off really quickly. I am keeping the fenders inside right now to keep rust from forming. I might do the same with the hood and doors, which the wife will love.

So I am stripping the fenders today and I came across this monstrosity. I have no idea what they were thinking. It had a nice glob of bondo that I had to grind out. I will cut this out and replace with new metal after I am able to media blast the rest of the fender.

The filler even came through to the backside of the panel. This is why I am stripping the entire panel, front and back. I don't want to leave anything to chance.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!

The driver side fender had more of the same. It was amateur hour on these fenders. These are the classic rust-out spots where leaves and crap got stuck, so this is not surprising. I will probably buy the patches and cut put what I need.

They smeared the filler on way too thick, it was ridiculous. The area to the front of the patch is fine, so this should be an easy fix.

1-17-2015

Today was a gorgeous day so I took advantage and did some media blasting. I got both fenders and both doors ready for epoxy primer. I hope its warm enough tomorrow to spray, but it will be close. Forecasts call for a high in the mid 60s. I might take off early Tues or just take the day off since that is supposed to be the warmest day this week (high in the low 70s being forecast). I will have to play it by ear. In the meantime the finished body panels are upstairs until they get sprayed.

I got a lot of the old paint stripped using my angle grinder and finished up using media blasting

some shots of the doors

1-18-2015

I got the hood blasted this morning. I just sprayed the first coat of epoxy on the hood, doors and fenders and am waiting to spray the next coat.



Prepping the panels in the driveway as I am for the "neighbor of the year" award

Got the exterior sides sprayed

1-19-2015

I touched up the hood and doors after work today, so they are ready for the next phase. The driver door needs some filler work on the front/lower area and the hood has a small spot near the nose

I cut this crummy spot out of the passenger side fender. I am not sure what is original metal and what was part of the redneck patch. I figured you'd enjoy this

After I removed the redneck patch, I cut away more metal a little at a time. It looks like I will need to replace more than I originally thought. But it's gotta be done.