Masking!

Can you believe how long it's taken just to get the car ready to paint[16 weeks]? I bet you're beginning to wonder if you'll ever get to see somebody converting a gas-guzzler into an elctricity guzzler! But don't worry! I feel exactly the same way: you're not alone.




But anyway! The other day we got really into masking so it looks all cool and retro! Brian wants to get lime green tires. I think not.

DMV victory

I finally got my name on the registration, and a temporary op. permit that lasts until the end of the year! I win! Finally! And I only had to go to the Novato DMV once (where they actually know how to do their jobs!)

We are all primered and ready to get a-painting.

I purchased a black hard-rubber restorative for the wheel-well covers and bumpers and guards (and other whatnot that is rubber and black) so everything will look nice once we put it all back together again. [not like humpty-dumpty]

as always, things are continuing-- slowly but surely.

Things ARE getting done.

Firstly, I apologize for anyone who has noticed my posting negligence... there has been a lot of tedious hard work being done and it doesn't particularly look like anything is getting done... but here I go anyhow:


This is what block sanding looks like...


This is what serious feathering looks like when there are a couple extra layers...


This is what a ceiling should look like!


This is what Maureen looks like after she feels like she's acomplished something!


This is what she accomplished!!
Notice that the floor is particualrly clean and the extrraneous wires behind the dash are gone.

Legitamate work is getting done here, we are close to... (dare I say it??) painting time... dun dun dun.

We took the insulation off the ceiling and found another enemy! To be Fixed!!

More Por-15 evidence!

Primer, De-rusting, Sanding

Daniel doing some rust preventing...

Brian cutting out some rust...

Robin stripping the bonnet...

Maureen and Robin looking cute, sanding and stripping...

The bed: all primered!!!

Photos!

The bed all stripped (the second time) and ready for a good primer-in'

Here the paint was full of flaws and was crackling, so I stripped it!

This is the filler we were using on the tailgate (the one where we learned a lot) ...doesn't it look like toothpaste?

This is all the paint. Doesn't look like much, does it?.   Should go a long way.

More Stripping, and a little Filling

Yesterday we finished stripping the rest of the truck bed and exposed more hidden surface rust, so the bed is now in better condition for painting than it was before I P-15ed it the first time, we also decided that we will not be por-15ing the entire bed. Instead we will be using self-etching primer then a high-fill primer before painting over it with the final "auto air colors."

In addition we used some metal-filler (not bond-o)on the tailgate which had several nicks and dings on it. It took us some time to figure out what the proper proportion of filler to hardener was, but we finally figured it out [just a smidge of hardener to a 3x2" section of filler] and sanded it smooth. It turned out pretty well for our large learning curve. Next, we used our high-fill primer and made it look excellent! Don't worry, there will be plenty of other opportunities to show the filler process later when I will have a camera.

I am feeling excited about preparing to paint! Blocksanding and priming: watch out! here we come!

More Por 15

The bed had many well-spread out patches of rust, so we opted to por 15 the whole thing after a small selection of stripping (the worst rust bits.) I did all the "clean"ing (Marine Clean) and "ready"ing (Metal Ready), and went crazy with the P-15 paint. A few days later I returned to see that the paint had bubbled in patches[boooo, hissss], so I am in the process of re-stripping and "clean"ing and "ready"ing and "15"ing. I hope I have enough paint left...


As a side note: I apologize for the current lack of photography, which is impossible because by camera began to take (almost)entirely pink photos which render the intended image unreadable... so unfortunately we will all have to wait until I get a new one.

We still have not done the welding [Why?! Why is it taking so long to get a welder!?]

Stripping AND! Sanding

There is rust at the bottom of the windshield which we need to weld, and to see the extent of the damage, so we used "aircraft stripper" to remove all of the paint on the panel near the rusted areas.
I do not currently have photos, but I'll add some soon.

Also, we sanded the tailgate with the new air compressor and air sander! How exciting! Then we "Marine Clean"ed it, and "Metal Ready"d it, and hung the tailgate by bunjee cords so we could spray it all at once with "self-etch primer" in light gray.

A few days previous to all this, I "Por 15"ed the bumper (covered in rust) and a few other patches here and there on the car that also needed some rust-preventative love.

Cleaning!

Bought a big jug o' Simple Green yesterday and used most of it today!


Cleaned out the engine compartment with the SimpleG, and isn't it shiny now?



Also, I sprayed off the bottom of the car+wheel wells (with a pressure nozzle on the garden hose) to get rid of spiders and dirt, and so we could better conduct a rust survey for the underbody of the truck.

DMV: CA

Visited the DMV a couple days ago to begin sorting out the Registration and Title transfer.

The man who helped me said I should conduct a Lien Sale. This is getting complicated.

More Out... Can You Believe It?

Windshield
Fuel Lines
Dashboard
Bumper (Front, as there was no Rear)
Power Steering Hoses/Pump/Computer
Heater Core/Fan/Motor (this had siezed, so my handy dad took it apart, which took some doing, and put it back together so it is now in full working-operation)
Gas cover
Gas cap
Gas filling tube
A Heat Shield (from under the cab)
All Carpeting
Headliner

The air sander arrived the other day, so now where's the new air compressor?!       [Link active as of Aug.10.08]

And I started sanding some of the surface rust a little. I learned what it meant to 'feather' the sanding (I am learning a lot, go ahead and laugh if you want.)

Finally we will begin the restoration!

More Out

Wheel-Well Covers
Weather Guard over Rear Window
Interior Door Panels
Door/Body Bumpers
Below-door decoration strip
Blue Pin-striping
Bed Tiedowns
Seats

I.C.E. Out!

The Crew.
[left to right: Daniel, Brian, Robin and Maureen(not pictured)]

Starting Work...

In progress

Daniel hard at work, and

Brian hard at work.

Dangling from Engine Hoist, the rejected GTI ICE


Finally!

In the 4Runner ready to part ways with its chassis.

The Remaining Hole!

Horn, Windshield Washer Fluid...

On the left, a blue air horn. Also left, the windshield washer resivoir and tubing. Upper Right, behind the firewall, an alarm system!? <--does not function..

Also to note:
Rear bumpers off
Front Bumper cover off
Front Grille off
Headlights out
Parking lights out
Rear liscence plate lights out
Alarm system out (entirely?)

I also wiped up some of the grime, but it's unnoticeable in the photos.

This Is The Truck.. '81 VW Rabbit P/U

[You can klik any of the photos for a larger view]





I didn't post pictures before I started ripping parts off... but I just couldn't help myself!