"I'm Not a Car Guy." - A 1967.5 1600 Refurb Saga

[notoptoy]

Looking good!

[Florida Roadster]

Top notch Peter. Top notch.

[2mAn]

Peter those came out great! This is going to be something special when its done

[unklpat]

I'm getting sick of Peter. Just shut up until you are bonded with your car. Pat

[unklpat]

I'm just Kiding. when you are back with your car it will be good, and we will be done with these hero posts. pat

[iloveredmeat]

Peter those came out great! This is going to be something special when its done

Thanks Simon! I do appreciate that and hope the actual car does this small stuff justice.

I'm getting sick of Peter. Just shut up until you are bonded with your car. Pat

I'm just Kiding. when you are back with your car it will be good, and we will be done with these hero posts. pat

Ha!

Believe me, I wish more than anything I was actually driving the damn thing instead of tweaking on the minutiae.

But, it's all I've got with me so I will continue to make you suffer!

[iloveredmeat]

As I’ve said before… when I decided to write a build thread, I committed to documenting this entire foreign experience… the good, the bad, and the ugly from the unique-ish perspective of a non-car guy who has never done anything like this.

This is my one and only - first and last - car restoration.

For perspective - until just a bit ago - I called the ‘wing windows’, ‘triangle windows’.

I am not proud of that.

But I am committed to being honest.

To the point:

I reckon 90+% of you have dealt with serious ‘body work and paint’ before.

But, for me, my only experience is hammering out the Volvo wagon fender that I crushed because I was 16 and young and dumb and doing multiple things I shouldn’t have been doing on a very curvy road.

Other than that, I have no experience. I have been trying to get this car done for literally years, and being 531 miles away didn’t help. Covid and busy body shops didn’t help (I heard at least 3 times… “Call us in a year, and we’ll see if we can take you then).

Rewind to August 17, 2022… almost 10 months ago to the day:

They'll pick it up in a week after their vacation (at a race track), and off we go. I am so excited.

Naive little me thought that was a huge turning point… the beginning of the end… the watershed moment… when a ton of important work would get done and we would soon crest the disassembly hill and speed down the assembly grade.

Not so much. Nope. Nada.

I reiterate that my brother has zero obligation to put my projects in front of his. He is an Extremely busy guy, and I am repeatedly amazed that he even helps me at all. But, with his busy schedule, we missed our slot, another car jumped in front of us, then the winter rains absolutely hammered these guys and they couldn’t even take any work if they wanted to due to flooding, etc.

So, for a gazillion reasons, and the fact that I couldn’t take time to fly up and do it myself, it took over 9 months for my car to finally make it to the body and paint guy.

But, here we are, and I finally have actual documentable progress on the body and paint!

My brother carved out valuable time and was able to get the car to the body guy about 2 weeks ago.

That was the official beginning of the ‘Body and Paint’ chapter of the Restoration Saga.

I will be traveling up north for a family reunion at the end of July, and am extending my stay to work on the car.

I was originally hoping that body/paint would be done, but that’s no longer feasible. I just spoke with Kevin, the body/paint guy, last night and got some updates - some good, some bad.

He has the outside stripped to bare metal and has the body off the frame. He did find some bondo around my rear tail lights, but nothing major, and some bondo hiding damage on the replacement passenger side fender, but it’s all workable. The bigger issue is the rear clip that was supposed to be the panacea for the trunk and rear wheel wells was not quite as good as we hoped... at least up into the quarters. The floors, wheel wells, and rear ‘luggage wall” are excellent and that’s the important part. He’ll be able to cut them in on factory seems with my good upper rear quarters. This is all fine, it’s just money that I don’t have.

Good news: Since I first realized the extent of the trunk rot, I wanted to do a frame-off. In an ideal world, and if I was actually with my car, I would have definitely planned for a frame-off restoration. But, since the world is not ideal, and I am not with my car, I’d have to ask my brother to squeeze my body and frame in one of his bays, take up valuable shop space, shuttle one or both back and forth, and that’s not fair, and would just be a pain in the ass for him.

So, I’ve always surrendered to the reality that doing a frame-off is just not practical, if even possible. Hands tied. Oh well, at least the frame is in excellent shape, I’d remind myself.

But... never say never... and now that body is off, I see an opportunity! Kevin did offer to do the entire chassis… the full nine yards, but frankly, I just can’t afford it.

Kevin told me that the frame is in excellent condition, and I could run it as is, but it would be a shame to put such a beautiful body on an unclean frame. It doesn’t need the full powder coat, but it would be nice to at least paint it. So during our talk, we hatched a plan!

Between now and when I go up, he’s going to get the bodywork done and the entire body primed. The day I get there, we’re going by the paint supply store and pick up the paint together.

Jeez, some of my posts are boring.

Then I’ll tow the frame to my brother’s and power wash it somehow (rental, hire a mobile person). Get ‘er all cleaned and degreased, and assess everything.

Then I’ll take the driveshaft to get balanced.

While that water on the frame dries, I’ll be at a family reunion.

Then I’ll marry the engine with the transmission.

Then once the frame is dry, I’ll paint that sucker.

Then, while the paint is drying, I’ll assess the suspension, brake lines, motor mounts, etc. And do some other cool shit.

Then, if all of that happens, I will proclaim a miracle and mount the motor/tranny on the frame.

Hallelujah.

Long shot, but what a plan!

Wish me luck.
Peter

[Florida Roadster]

Peter, just bring the frame over, I'll clean it up and media blast it for you. I work for free and I love doing this stuff! Jeff

[notoptoy]

Peter, sounds like you have a pretty good plan. Have faith that everything will work out as planned but be prepared to adapt and overcome as you have repeatedly done throughout this journey!

[iloveredmeat]

Peter, just bring the frame over, I'll clean it up and media blast it for you. I work for free and I love doing this stuff! Jeff

Does this 'free' include shipping all the way across the country?

Ha. I sure wish I could take you up on that.

Peter, sounds like you have a pretty good plan. Have faith that everything will work out as planned but be prepared to adapt and overcome as you have repeatedly done throughout this journey!

Thanks Tom, it's going to be like a military operation. And yes, I expect there will be some 'pivoting'.

I'm also going to try to bribe my nephew to work on the frame Before I get there... that would be a big help.

And, here's some tangible parts stuff from the last couple of days.

I polished up my gearshift and knob. So, that's done. Super critical step.

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Kevin the Body/Paint guy asked that I send up all my lights and scoops for body fitment.

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And, I just recently finally got back a perfect pair of 'final candidates' for my headlight scoops. Still don't know if I'm going with shiny or not, but I need to make the decision before bodywork is done.

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I also haven't even looked at these taillights in years. The NOS pair were in the back of my trunk when I bought the car! Two of the four on the car were like new, and the other two were good, but not great, and one even had a dent in it - evidence that it was indeed hit in the rear at some point. But I have four super nice taillights, which is nice.

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Trying to figure out what to fiddle with next...

[notoptoy]

I'm not sure how much I would brag so openly about polishing my knob...
It's all coming together and sounds like you have a good body and paint guy if he wants all the trim etc. to make sure it all lines up and works properly. Once that is done the project will really speed up and all of your preparation will pay off.

[Gregs672000]

The journey up the mountain is fraught with challenges, crevasses, detours, and yeti, but the view at the top will make it all worthwhile...

[S Allen]

Peter,

You are going to have one really nice roadster once your project is completed. I have two projects that have been stalled for a few years now and they are sitting in my shop and have not been 500 miles away. So, I have no excuses. Too many other things have interfered with my projects. I hope to get back to the 66 this fall-finish body work and paint. We shall see. I agree with Tom that it is a good sign the bodyman is asking for the bling bits to make sure they fit before spraying any finish. Those headlight scoops can be an issue for sure. Keep the faith as you are getting the project done.

S

[iloveredmeat]

Thanks Gentlemen!

And I'm really happy with Kevin (and his brother Donovan). He's actually who I wanted to do this since the very beginning, but he only takes on one side project at a time. The two of them also do a lot of their own project cars (they have quite a collection), and so it's never worked out until now.

And now that it's on, I'm so stoked to see some real tangible progress on the body, it has rejuvenated me for sure. And I guess since this is his one and only side project (he's a full-time shop foreman at a high-end body shop), he's moving right along.

My mind is spinning about what, when, and how, to do what I can to maximize getting it back together. Constantly weighing what to do now and what can wait until the car is finally on the road...

We spoke again yesterday about progress, and he asked if I wanted him to send down the steering box to rebuild. I'm going to ask my brother to assess it first. This is likely one of those things that will wait. Any thoughts on that? I know the car steers and rebuild kits aren't cheap.

I am likely to buy this kit since I'm sure the rubber is toast and everything will be nice and clean:

Datsun Roadster and Fairlady 63 - 69 Front Steering Boot Cover kit
https://tinyurl.com/2dygmeqe

If there is anything that can wait, ball joints, etc. then I'll tackle those issues later. Cash flow – and some of this stuff I can do when the car is back home.

Oh, wait what??! Am I really doing a frame-off restoration??? I guess I am. Never thought I'd get this deep.

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I've always said the trunk rot was so bad I could drop a toaster through it... now I can drop a small two-burner camp stove through it.

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Stuff is getting real.

[Gregs672000]

Fun is coming! There's few things more satisfying than installing new and renewed bits onto the car... that and you have a killer motor waiting too...