New Owner, 70' Fasty

[wdollie6]

An update, finally was able to paint the doors and back lid. I had been procrastinating for some time as I had never actually painted before other than spray can. I watched a "pro" do it with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, no respirator, but other than that had not even witnessed the process other than videos.

So, I bought an Atom X20 spray gun, mixed up some gray epoxy primer from Restoration Shop and off I went. Plenty of first time mistakes; wrong adapter for quick cup system so had to use the screw on that came with the gun (what a mess) didn't maintain distance and speed while painting, didn't mix enough epoxy, the humidity and temperature were high and the list goes on. Regardless I have now broken through the hidden barrier... fear! Overall the parts came out reasonably well, my son was actually impressed, kids am I right. The biggest issue I have to deal with is excessive orange peel/ripples in one spot, thank god this is a sandable epoxy primer, hopefully will be able to clean that up fairly quickly. The body work I had done, another first, looks reasonably good although I see one spot that will need some love.

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[wdollie6]

With the successful priming of the doors and trunk lid I moved to the front fenders. The drivers side was in great shape, the passengers not so good, just the opposite for rear fenders but those will be dealt with next. One question I have with regards to the inside of the fenders is what do people use to seal these up as they already have undercoating that even after wire brushing and scraping the material is stuck solid? My though was to treat with rust converter then add truck bed liner to seal it up, anyone done that?

Pictures of progress:

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[wdollie6]

Some updated pics, from several weeks ago. Since then have finished passenger front fender with rear passenger fender underway. Next step will be to pull the body and clean up any remaining rust around the pan edges, finish running brake lines and final chassis paint. The long, long, process continues. We will persevere.

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[Amskeptic]

Persevere! Do not use truck bed liner! People get notions and do not think it through. One notion is that truck bed liner is "strong" or something. Well, it becomes a barricade against any moisture incursion ever being able to leave one the first breach occurs. You want a smooth surfaces, caulk only where it belongs (less is more when you get down towards the bottom ... water needs to drain! to leave! go! a good primer, a decent coat of top paint, then a couple of coats of *paintable* rubberized undercoating that you can spot repair easily each fall after your 20,000 miles of gravel road gallivanting. You want open drains, rapid exit, rapid evaporation. Looking good. I love painting.

[wdollie6]

Colin, wouldn't paintable rubberized undercoating have the same moisture trapping effect as the truck bed liner? Or are you suggesting it is easier to repair than the bed liner product? I'm sure I am missing something in your reply so wanted to ask the question.

[wdollie6]

Finally separated the pan from the body, attempting to get moving forward again, although difficult with the maple trees dripping as syrup is the priority. Good news is that after additional inspection there is no additional rust to be found on the chassis, other than surface rust. I am hopeful that over the next few days I will be able to clean everything up, convert the rust and coat everything with the gray Master Series followed by a coating of black. Other than body to pan rubbers everything looks good so at this time will not disassemble any further (may regret that later on but have a strong urge to drive this Fastback sooner than later).

Once everything is coated will focus on brake hoses and hard lines as well as installing the Master Cylinder. I am also working on a safe method to get her up on her side so that I can clean up and paint the bottom of the pans with the same product as above. Might epoxy prime after the rust conversion and before Master Series, we'll see how it goes.

Also some small underneath welding on the body to complete, will use my floor lift and braces to make it safe while I take care of those items. Starting to see some light at the far end of the tunnel but still a long way to go.

My self patience is waning, time to get this project done!

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[wdollie6]

Finally had a few minutes yesterday to wire brush, then pressure wash the chassis (nice sunny, crisp 30 deg F day, wife thought I was nuts) so was able to paint on some rust converter this morning. Tomorrow, once the converter is done doing its job will coat with the silver Master Series primer, then top coat with their black. After that will flip the chassis on its side to clean up and coat the bottom, have a couple of broken screws that I will have to pull out as well (they held on the bracket underneath the Master Cylinder).

Once that is done and my replacement parts from ISP West arrive, will reassemble the chassis then move back to the body to repair some minor rust spots uncovered when we pulled the body. Feels like progress, although still a long way to go. I am shooting for early summer to fire this Fasty up and get it on the road.

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[wdollie6]

Silver Master Series applied!

Can someone comment on the steering box? It appears that there is supposed to be some sort of plug in the two holes on top. The box was covered with grease/oil which I cleaned up. My fear is that the plugs, or whatever is left of them, fell into the box, not a good thing is this a common occurrence? If I open up the box should I replace whatever is in place with the Corn Grease, which is what I used in my bus box? The steering is nice and tight, minimal play, don't want to mess with it if not necessary.

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[wdollie6]

So I pulled the cover on the steering box, removed the remains of the plugs from the grease, then removed as much grease as possible so I could refill with Corn Grease. Worked the steering back and forth to ensure the cavity was filled and left some space at the top, took about half a cartridge of grease, does that sound right. The bushing in the cap has know wear areas and everything else looks good. It did appear that the old grease was sitting in one spot and hadn't moved a whole lot, fortunately, as I mentioned nothing that I could see showed signs of wear.

Now to figure how to adjust everything when I put it back together . My aim is to reset it where it was, I marked it to be sure but will have to find out the official method. For now I'll put it back together and consider readjustment when Colin makes his way through again... someday?

In the mean time I will flip the frame up and clean up the bottom, with a wire brush and rust converter then follow the same procedure with Master Series silver followed by black, then maybe truck bed liner. While it is expensive it certainly is an impressive product. In my Super Beetle in FL (had the same M Series treatment) the old battery leaked some acid and I was panicking about the floor damage... absolutely none. I wiped up the acid and found that the black topcoat was untouched by the acid. Needless to say I am a believer! Wish I had used that product on the 66 Beetle and 72 Bus. Oh well, can always redo it if necessary.

[wdollie6]

So before I went forward with working on the bottom I decided to replace the torsion bushings, not my best decision as it turned into a two day slug fest on the drivers side (still not where I like it). The good news is that after trying three different approaches of moving the arms back on the stop I found one that worked easily and safely. I attempted jacking the arm, chaining the arm to the jack, then ended up using a turnbuckle I had laying around. Attached the turnbuckle to the upper shock bolt and one of the lower holes on the arm, done deal, see picture.

The drivers side torsion cover did not go well as compared to the 20 minute effort on the passenger side. Not sure why but the cover would not line up with the holes. Even using longer bolts didn't allow for the cover to be centered over the bushing. Attempted three different times with the same results. May have one more go at it as I am not happy with the outcome, again see pictures. The cover is biased to the bottom where more of the bushing is visible. As I said I tried to resolve this but could not, finally tightened it down and called it good.

Any thoughts on how to fix this issue?

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[wdollie6]

...and yes these areas were freshly painted prior to the install of the bushings, serious touch up now required.

[wdollie6]

Continue to move forward, top of chassis is painted, brake lines, new shocks, etc. installed and ready to go. Flipped it up on the tires and am in the process of cleaning up the bottom. The usual approach, rust conversion followed by silver Master Series, then a top coat with urethane based Herculiner bed liner. Hopefully will be done this weekend if all goes well. Then back to cleaning up the engine/transmission areas, more Master Series then a top coat. Closing in on putting the car back together.

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