Russell's Convertible Status!

SuperDave

Oh My Goodness ! What a beaut! Like some others.. I would never have the fortitude to do a car like you have Russ. How much longer before it's finished? By the way.. Thanks very much for your help and encouragement on my little 49 project. The help that has been offered by you and others in the club and this forum make me very proud to be an HET member.
See you in Indiana??????

54SuperWasp

Wow! You've come a long way. Time and patience can achieve a lot! Thanks for sharing. It's a very good inspiration for those of us who will begin a project. Michel

Lee ODell

Looking very good Russell. Will it be participating in the Albright Award in 2013? I hope so. I would love to see it in all its completed glory.
Lee O'Dell

onerare39

Russell,

Looking Good Russell...can't wait to see the car when finished!

John

RL Chilton

Thanks everyone for the positive and nice compliments.

Alex- At this point, I don't really think that's a problem. After all this time, I have no intention to "Get 'er done" and have the quality suffer now . . . not after all the blood, and time, and well, you know.

Victor- Thought I would be there by now, but that job is coming soon, will keep you posted. The stainless bead for the dash is completed and awaiting it's time to go on. Do you need a picture of the finished dash and the bead mounted?

Dave, Lee, John- I'm 95% sure I am not going to San Mateo, even if the car is done. BUT, come hell or high water, it WILL be in French Lick, Indiana in 2014 for the National (barring some natural disaster).

Today, I coated the inside of the car and the insides of the front fenders. Tomorrow I'll mount the fenders. Here's some before and after pics:

onerare39

Russell,

As the folks at Kanter say, "Do it once, and do it right"

Take your time and don't rush.

John

[Deleted User]

Russell whats the product you used to coat the inside of the car and the inner fenders?

RL Chilton

LizardSkin.

hudsontech

Many lizards gave up their skins for this project!!! )
Be careful the folks at PETA will be after you!! hehehehehe

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

[Deleted User]

Russell,

Did you use the Lizard Skin sound deadener inside and heat shield on the outside?


Kevin C.

RL Chilton

Kevin-

Not exactly. It's a convertible, so I'm gonna pass on the sound deadener. If it was a closed car, I'd probably use it, though. So, what you are looking at is the heat shield. only. The car won't have an "undercoating" on the bottom of the car, but in all reality, it's days of being outside in inclement weather is over.

[Deleted User]

Russell,

DUH!!! My bad! Of course, a sound deadener wouldn't make much sense in a convertible!

BTW your car looks SUPER! You certainly have the talent to resurrect such a project!!!


Kevin C.

bent metal

Can you give me an education on the lizard skin? Is the sound deadener sprayed over top of the heat shield?

Is this the first time you used it? How do you like it?

54SuperWasp

I won't be ready for this before a few months cause the garage is yet to be organised first. But while the subject is on, what would be the best steps to follow for my 54? The car is from California, no undercoating has ever been put under it, I have absolutely no floors to repair and it's only surface rust we see. Once the surface rust is gone, what should I do first? Thanks Michel.
And I would like to add something for the sound and the heat before I put the rug. I plan to drive that car everywhere but I would prefer to avoid ''tar'' under it. I like to see the nice frame rails and don't want to cover it with mud type tar...

RL Chilton

bent-
According to the instructions, the sound deadener MUST be applied first, followed by the heat shield. I did quite a lot of product research on this material before making the decision to go this route. On the last car, I used the Dyna-Mat and Dyna-Liner route. It worked, worked well. One con, it was expensive, even in a very small car/cabin (and a step-down is not a small cabin!). Two (another con), it's tedious and time-consuming. The LizardSkin is supposedly slightly better as far as a heat shield, providing you get the correct thickness of the material, which is about 22 mils. The material comes in a 2 gallon bucket. I opted to buy an air gun designed for the material, so it was sprayed on. Prep time took longer than the actual spray job, which is normal. One con about the Lizard Skin is that it could be messy. On a car that hasn't been "outfitted" yet, it's ideal, but if windows, etc. are in place, a lot of taping and covering is in order. So far I like it, ask me again when she's on the road.

Lastly, one more item I am going to do that I did on the last car, was to apply this self-adhesive rubber pad to the insides of the panels, i.e., doors, quarters. The rubber comes in a roll and it's about 3" wide. You cut about a foot of it and apply to the insides of large panels every 4-5 sq. ft. Does a fantastic job of eliminating panel ring. I'll do it on every car I restore in the future, as well.

Michel-

If your car is not going on a rotisserie, then it's a messy job, but first, I would jack the car up nice and high (and please DON'T use cinder blocks), maybe even so you could sit under it or sit on a creeper. If it's only surface rust, use a scraper and scrape all of the loose scale off of the car (Make sure you werar goggles). Then coat the entire undercarriage with a product called Rust Converter (Eastwood Products), followed by Rust Encapsulator, followed by a chassis paint. The Rust Converter and Encapsulator can be applied with a brush or foam brush, great for the DIY'er. The beauty of this system is that you do not have to eliminate all of the rust. You DO, however have to eliminate the "scaly" rust, and you have to eliminate all oil and grease from the bottom of the car. The "Converter" changes the rust to an inert form, the "Encapsulator" seals the inert rust. Paint on top will protect the surface, as usual. Project done.

I don't like the tar/undercoating either, but it was a dealer option back in the day, so it would not look out of place. However, like you, my frame rails look awful purty--all shiny and new lookin'. Hence, that is why I went with the Lizardskin, which gets sprayed on the inside of the car. Once it's on, you can top it with a layer of carpet insulation and then lay the carpet.

SuperDave

My 49 convertible got the tar type undercoating back in the day. It makes a terrible mess when it comes in contact with any petrolium product, like gasoline, engine oil and transmission lube. In it's 63 years it's had a few "encounters" LOL. The two pluses are.. there is absolutely no rust and no road noise. I have had to throw away some work clothes I wore while working on the clutch change! Darn.. this is fun...I keep telling myself.

charles4d

that stuff works great used it on the pick up looks good

54SuperWasp

Thanks Russ, I will carefuly folow your indications. Can't wait to do it...later... As for googles, I often wear a full face see-through mask. I see better and it protects all the face. Michel

RL Chilton

Here's a link to some pics of some of the engine work currently being done by Jeff Perkins:

http://wildrickrestorations.com/new.html

bent metal

Looks perfect Russell.

In the photo link: Is that your brother that is working on the '37 left rear fender?

Browniepetersen

Russ, The car is coming along and looks great!!! Look forward to seeing the car in person--perhaps French Lick needs to be on my to do list?

RL Chilton

Bent-
Yes, that's my brother, Dennis Chilton. He will be the one doing the trim work on the car.

Brownie-
The convertible will be making it's debut in French Lick.

RL Chilton

Went to see the car today at the painter's shop. Clear coat got sprayed this morning. There's still quite a lot of detail work to do, like inside the decklid, the firewall, back of rockers, hood. Car still has to be wet-sanded and buffed, but thought y'all would enjoy seeing some new progress. She should be coming home sometime in the next several days.

I'll post a video of post-paint and clear coat on a YouTube link in the next day or so.

faustmb

Nice! Make sure to have plenty of "before" pics in French Lick That color scheme is perfect.

RL Chilton

Looks like I haven't posted anything on this thread for a long while. So here's a couple more:

RL Chilton

It was a beautiful day here in Central Texas, so we took the convertible's sister to go see her.

hudsontech

Man, what a difference, what, 4 years makes. Sure didn't look that good when I first saw it back in 2009. I'll be honest - when I saw the old girl trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey I had two thoghts - he'll never finish this car and the 2nd was This dude is crazy!!!!! But you've done a great job - I just hope I'll be able to make French Lick to see her.

Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

RL Chilton

Those were the days, huh, Alex? The end is nigh, man . . .

RL Chilton

I've turned the shop into a "clean" room, awaiting the car's return. In the meantime, I've been getting the other parts laid out and ready for the final assembly.

[Deleted User]

Looks great! Can't wait to see it in person one day!

Jeremiah