Finally the first coat of sandable primer. I sanded the primer down in an uneven spots then used spot putty to fill any small holes. I then gave it another coat of primer.
After over two years and two upholstery shops I finally have the new seats for the ’66. The buckets and console come from a Studebaker GT Hawk and the back seat is the original frame. I had the work done by the 2nd upholster Jody Noble and he got it out sooner than he estimated. He did a nice job of the light teal vinyl with darker teal cloth inserts and he used the original dark teal vinyl from the old seats to make up the piping and the top of the console. That helped to match up with the original dark teal vinyl on the doors, dash, etc. Happy day!
Three coats of satin black and the door is ready to be installed. I’ll leave it for a couple of days to let the paint cure a bit.
News on the Chevy front – a Caprice with a carburetted 305 has come available. If the engine has some life left in it I’ll swap it into the Chevy and then I can take my time to rebuild the original engine.
Opulant Blue sanded with 180 grit and taped off with newsprint. The taping off is the fiddliest job, but with s little patience it gets done. At least this time I didn’t have to clear away crud and grease.
Much nicer in Richelieu Blue
Hard to get a good shot of the colour, but this is somewhat close. The real colour is a bit darker. You can see the fine metalflake in the paint.
Fill, sand and repeat…. Not my favourite old car job. Has to be done so I just get on with it. I do a bit each day and hopefully it will turn out OK. It has a major damage spot on the bottom left, a bit on the right and a long groove in the middle.
Time to patch the back side of the lower door trim holes that I no longer need. I use a little brush and clean it with acetone after.
I scraped away the undercoating and cleaned with parts wash and thinners before applying the four patches and a coat of resin. When dry I’ll give the patches a second coat of resin. Probably not needed, but I’m a belt and braces kind of guy 🙂
Primed and painted with two coats of opulant blue and one of clear.
Decisions, decisions… The opulant blue is quite loud. A bright blue that will stand out. I’m not comfortable with it. I think the car will look ‘richer’ in its original Richelieu Blue which is a tad lighter than navy blue and with some violet accents.
Time for the right rear door redo. The front seat has been removed and put in storage as I had a call from Jody Nobel’s upholstery that my bucket seats, console and rear seat are done ahead of time – hooray:-)
I thought this door to be better than its mate, but it is maybe even worse! Three areas of body filler and, hard to see, but a long dent just above the large patch of filler. this is as far as I’ll take this work. Time to clean up and paint the edges first.
Hinges have been sitting in the parts washer for a few days.
Pins and spring removed for more cleaning.
Pins re-installed with chain lube. I like this stuff as it goes on loose, penetrates and then stiffens up and sticks well. Meant for motorcycle chains and it needs to stick well to stay in place. I’ve also done a final wipe with paint thinners. I’ll re-install them on the door before painting.
The tedious job of cleaning. I like to use parts wash solvent and a tooth brush to get the gunge out of all the cracks.
All painted in satin black. Looks better than it really is. I tried to feather the old paint to the bare spots, but it really didn’t work out. I’ll need to remove all the paint from this door before trying to do a final paint should I tackle it.
I was given this nice Studebaker licence topper a few years ago by a contact I had in Australia for some time. It reads “Studebaker Car Club of NSW since 1972″ NSW” NSW – New South Wales.
Door back in place without damage to the paint 🙂
Just need to put back the trim and I can get started on the other door, but for now that is all till after the Christmas season.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy New Year!
One primer coat and two of GM opulent blue. It is a rich blue with hints of violet. Doesn’t appear to be a metallic.
The remains of the big dent filled with two part tiger hair body filler. It is a bear to sand if left to dry fully. I”m using some kind of cutoff wheel I picked up from my Dad’s shop after he passed away. I used it to remove the remains of the original repair and it did it quickly. Not so quick taking off the epoxy, but it got the job done – I used it like a big sheet of sandpaper. I didn’t want to use an electric tool as it will fill my garage with dust. So a little muscle and time and it turns out OK.,
Epoxy sanded and some spot putty out of the tube to fill in the last of the small holes.
A truly fiddly job getting the door taped off – one reason I don’t like body work. Just about ready to prime and paint. One issue I’m having is that my tape does not want to stick to the door rubbers. I coat my rubbers with silicone and that’s the problem. I don’t want to re and re the rubbers so a little patience and I was able to get some newspaper tucked in between the rubber and the body.
L48 news: I’ve got a lead of a good used high mileage 305 in a ’79 Caprice. It’s a 4 bbl 175 hp model. Would work nicely while I do over the original motor.
Primed and painted. I’ve done all around the frame even though I’ve just shown the back edge.
Second go around with the filler. I’m trying to get the door curve just right so the repair won’t show.
All primed. I’ll sand the primer when dry.
Sanding the primer revealed a dent I missed – bummer!
On the Chevy front – I’ve decided not to give up on my 4 bolt main low mileage block. I’ll wait until R&D engine builders are not so busy in the early summer and take it in for an evaluation. I can’t find any cracks between the main oil holes and the sides – magnaflux may find some. It will be interesting to find out just how much higher the crank will be in the block after a line bore and just how much that would affect a double roller cam setup or even a gear conversion. Piston height may be an issue, but a thicker head gasket should take care of that.
I had to drill a couple of access holes to get at the back of the big dent. I then put a short piece of wood with piece of scrap steel on top and used a long punch and maul to bang out the dent somewhat.
I ground everything off the dents and then used rust converter on the remaining rusty pits.
Next I fibreglassed over the four unwanted trim holes in the bottom of the door.
I was planning to install the rear vent windows that I picked up at Gary Payne’s Studebaker salvage yard before it was closed down. However, they need new rubbers and no one makes them. So I’ll leave the door seals in place as they are passable and just sand and paint the inner door edges with the final car colour which is Corvette opulent blue.
All the Chevy and Studebaker trim has been sanded and some primed and painted. My shop is too cold for painting now so I will have to wait for the first warm days of spring to finish the job.
So on to servicing the Commander – tire rotation, grease and oil.
My oil of choice is the local Canadian Tire brand. It is 10W30 high mileage for older engines – it is supposed to contain some zinc and phosphorus. To be sure I add some Riselone ZDDP additive – one bottle per oil change.
I normally use STP which apparently has enough ZDDP for an oil change, but my engine is already running higher than normal oil pressure so I don’t want to make it worse. The pressure relief valve spring must be a little to stiff. I installed a new spring when I built the engine.
Next job is to do over the rear doors. I will repair the dents and then prime and paint with satin black until it gets its paint job.
The rear doors are a bit of a pain to remove. In the end I had to unbolt the front seat, move it forward, remove the door post panel and then unscrew the hinges. There are ten screws on the post and on the door and two were missing – one from the top inner that only had two to begin with. Didn’t find any rattling around so they must have not been fitted at the factory – maybe it was closing time on Friday or maybe assembly man was keen to get off for coffee and the car moved down the line without the two last screws.
Next: more Studebaker work before I tackle the dash work on the Chevy.
The machine shop checked the crank and it is bent .030 and so is toast!
Two of the main bearings were spun on the crank. That gouged out the mainss at least .005. I had a chat with Darrel at R&D Automotive about the possibility of line boring the block. I hate to scrap a low mileage 4 both main block. Apparently it would be very expensive to build up the damaged cast iron mains and do a line bore. Also the spinning of the bearing causes a lot of heat and that often causes block cracks between the main and the oil gallery. So it looks like my block is also toast – all that reaming and honing for zip.
The crank was so distorted that it rubbed a noticeable groove in one of the pistons.
Three of the rod bearings spun in the journals. These can be bought for about $35 each.
One of the pistons got added wear on both sides of the skirt. Again these can be bought cheaply.
At first glance the cam and lifters looked OK. But closer checking revealed that the cam had pits on all the lobe tops and the lifter tops were mottled. I’m getting enough toast here to do me for a week – hahah!
Again cams and lifters are available, but I would rather not have had to put out another $300- $400 on this temporary engine. As it turns out I won’t have to!!!
So my little 350 crate motor short block is destined for the scrap pile. However the heads, valves, pan, most pistons and rods’ etc are all OK. I just need to find a good short block. Even a good 2 bolt main bare block will do me just fine.
Still lots to do on the Studebaker and the Chevy while I get the engine thing straightened out.
This is my bore hone of choice. My buddy Don lent me a ball hone, but I’m comfortable with this unit.
After running the hone up and down quickly to get a cross hatch pattern I noticed these dark marks on every cylinder. A careful check to detect any ridges with a dental pick and I found I needed to do a better job of ridge removal. A ball hone wouldn’t have brought this to light.
A little extra with the ridge reamer and all the ridge is gone.
A final hone and the cylinders are all done.
Heads resting on the block and all ready to be tucked away until I get the crank back from the machine shop.
