Primered Chevelle

I laid down some of that new PPG primer the other day, and was not happy about the way it sprayed at all. I only spotted in the areas that I really needed to work on, and blocked most of it off. Last night I figured I would give it another try, and I got it flowing just right. Only problem now was that I used it all up! Thanks to Tommy "Wagon Dude" for hooking me up with his left over 2K from the wagon, and I was able to finish the rest of the Chevelle. There isn't much room in the garage to spray it - when I paint, I'm really going to have to remove everything and position it perfectly. But I still have to block it out again, and I think I will jamb it outside. I have to get some better weather though, this rain is terrible!

Goodmark hood...not so good.

The Chevelle came with the stock hood (in excellent condition) and a brand new Goodmark Cowl hood (minus the actual cowl induction opening). So, of course I opt to install the cowl hood because it looks mean. The problem is that the edge near the drivers window wasn't rolled correctly from Goodmark, and it hit the fender BIG TIME!. If it was my purchase, I would have sent it back, but since I got it with the car, that isn't an option. After a bit of thought, I decided to cut the side edge with a Dremmel and make a very thin cut that would allow me to beat the edge with my body hammer without distorting the entire top of the hood. My idea actually worked! With a bit of help from the kids to take the hood off, and on, and off, and on, and off and finally on again, we got it pretty damn close.

I finished up most of the rough body work today, including the trunk and door jambs, and even had time to give her an oil change. She still had the break in oil in her, but that wasn't any big deal since we haven't gone anywhere yet but up the driveway. I'll need to sand up the headlight buckets and a few trim pieces, then it's time to block her out and lay down some of that new PPG 2K. I hope that it comes out nice and smooth, because now I'm certain we are going BLACK!

Filling & Sanding

I went to the track last night with the Lawn Dude to watch the wagon run in the "Mean Street" competition. The weather was terrible, hot and muggy, and everyone was running way slow. It didn't really matter that we went out in the first round, we got rained out after the second round anyway.

So, my usual routine of Saturday afternoon sanding and filling was somewhat productive, as you can see from the pics. I'm having some difficulty with the passenger side quarter panel, nothing I did, but trying to clean up the previous body work in the area. I almost have it, I think maybe a little more block sanding could show me the last bit of filler I might need, or if I'm lucky and the guide coat shows me good news, just some more primer filler. Speaking of primer, I ran out of my Dupont 4004 2K, so I picked up some PPG (they were out of my Dupont 2K) at a whopping $79 for a qt w/activator! DAMN! I hope that it works well and covers a lot, because I am out of $$$ and still need to get basecoat and clear.

I wasted about an hour looking for some pics online of just how the window molding clips go on. After I couldn't find any, I just took a clip to the car and figured it out myself. It can only go one way, so I really felt like an idiot, and should have just done that first. Probably been breathing too many paint fumes to think clearly.

2010 Camaro

I took Nancy and the kids out for a ride this past weekend in the Vette (um, that's three separate rides of course) and we almost had a head-on with a new Camaro. That would have really been a shame! Did you know that Chevy dealers already have 25,000 orders for the Camaro, making it the hottest car GM has rolled out in years.

On Monday, I decided to get busy on some bodywork, so I started sanding, filling and priming the worst spots. I made a lot of progress, and have Tommy to thank for bringing over the Quickshade tent and keeping me working in the shade. I was even so bold as to spray a little 2K with the mini-gun while in the driveway. Where are the photos you ask? Good question, I am going to fire our SHC staff photographer first chance I get. Damn....I just got fired.

Motor Speedway

I found the link for the Motor Speedway nights at Raceway Park. Click here. I would like to go check it out with the family, if I can convince them to go. If I don't go to see the Bullrun in NYC tomorrow, then hopefully I'll get to see this!

End of the metal work....

I finished the last of the metal work today, at least I hope so. I started by removing the kick panels, and that took me almost an hour. What a pain it was to get the drivers side out. I had to remove the parking brake assembly just to get enough clearance. After that, the drivers floor panel was installed...again no pic, sorry.

I was going to try to check out the starting of the Bullrun Rally. The official start line for the rally is in the meatpacking district of Manhattan, New York... 9th Avenue between little West 12th Street and 14th Street. Click the image to go to the site.