The skill and craftsmanship on this channel combined with the humble down to earth attitude is so nice to see! A must watch for people interested in sheetmetal work and car restoration!
Blocking the black coat Is a big help. When you take everything right to metal. Your blind basically. Even when fixing dent with a stud gun. Leave as much color as you can around the repair . It will help you more than you think. When i first started in 1995 i used to grind the whole area. Until i saw an older body guy grind small spots and make a pull and i realized why. So you can see what you are doing. These new stud weld dent pullers are so much faster than the older ones. Very nice work. The man knows what he's doing. Unfortunately. 99% of shops do not straighten metal like this. I will tell you this. The thinner the filler is, the faster it will shrink into grinder marks. So try to sand the grinder marks out. Spray fillers are great and so is priming & blocking a car twice.
@@carthageclassiccars your welcome. One more tip. If paint your car black. Please. Use Single Stage. I painted a 69 dz302 4spd camaro. Black in base /clear. I then painted a 70 chevelle next and we used UNO single Stage. It was so much nicer that we sanded the 69 camaro and repainted it with UNO. It made that much difference. I will never paint a black car with anything else. I have done many Grand Nationals and numerous old muscle cars this way ever since😁
@@frankartale1026 I hear what you are saying. Honestly I am a base / clear person and will probably stick with what I know. I will look into it more and keep an open mind
Just wanted to say, your videos gave me many tips to become a better restoration builder and even got a raise at my shop because of how I improved from your tips. (More money to buy better tools🙂)
Haha thank you very much that is probably the nicest compliment I could receive. To me it doesn't matter what it is, if the owner cares about the car and wants to put in the effort the 73 challenger receives the same treatment as a rare 70 Hemi Challenger 4 speed.
Ive done body work all my life. Your idea of more metal work equals less filler work is what my father preached to me as a helper, early in my career. In that quarter seam try some Duraglass. Its a smoother, more spreadable version of Kitty Hair.
I will try the durglass thanks for the tip and sharing your fathers idea passed along to you. I think especially back years ago he would have been ahead of his time on that thinking where most filled everything with bondo
10.2K subscribers equals the same number of people you've made all the wiser of what it takes and the process of making these cars better than factory built. I'm looking forward to becoming one of your satisfied customers. Thanks Rick. Carl
Thank you very much, I do understand "budget build" is open for interpretation but I think it will make more sense when I show the bodywork sanding and outcome on the Cuda vs this. By all means I don't mean this car will not look good but it will be something that is more practical to drive and if needed to touch something up easier.
After watching this video.... I totally agree with your philosophy about getting the body as close as possible before any kind of fillers should be added.... but I have to say that I almost cringed at the thought of mudding that quarter panel lead seam.... I would have used lead in that spot... Maybe it just me....I know that mudding is faster but I tend to believe that the factory had it right with the lead... done right lead is forever..... I think you're doing some of the best work I've seen on RU-vid.... and I've seen alot of work including many hacks... Your attention to detail is phenomenal... no disrespect about the quarter panel seam filled with mud , but I couldn't do it.... but to each his own ..... overall your doing top notch work.... Great videos and techniques....much appreciated
I have a video out where I do add lead to the car. I think after doing both directions lead is a lot of added cost when I have seen filler when applied right smeared over half the car in a field for 30 years and still look just fine. Most of these projects the customer dictates the direction to a certain point. I also won't lead a car unless its on a rotisserie. I don't disagree with what your saying and think when lead is done right it is awesome. Thanks for checking out the video and I took no offense at all to your comment, I am 100% open to others opinions and ideas.
Just got a 1955 Nomad that a previous owner had the floors, rockers and tail pan replaced then the work stopped (the car is an empty, rolling shell with no glass). They put a little bit of primer on the car and evidently thought they’d be diving into bodywork/finish paint but now there’s surface rust all over. The plan is to blast the car (not sure which media) and redo the prep just like you showed here. Nice video, very helpful.
Ok so from my experience with your Nomad, be careful especially since a lot of the parts are nomad specific and rare. Please do not blast the exterior structure, especially that car with all the flatter panels roof, hood ect. Feel free to blast the floors, underneath, frame, inner fenders and radiator support. Use the stripping drum on the exterior of the car. Its been many times and many blasters that say they don't warp the metal but you won't know until you guide out the car there will be waves front to rear. Use the stripping drum on the outside like on this video. Its a lot more work but well worth it in the long run. As far as media when I blast the interior and floor structure I will used medium grit crushed glass. Good luck on your car it is a very cool and iconic car of its time.
Thanks for taking the time to make a detailed reply. Struggling what to do, especially on the roof which is almost perfect except for a couple small rust through spots right at the drip rail. The original headliner is still in the car but would have to come out if welding is decided to repair those spots. I also want very much to get all the surfaces/pinch weld seams where the glass goes really cleaned/properly painted.
@@johnkelly6942 yes its a challenge to know how far you want to take it. be prepared once you peel that onion it seems to never stop until you end up like the car in this video.
I am doing metal work soon on my car. Since I have to use a mig welder and I know it is not good to hammer/dolly on mig welds but what is your take on the ESAB easy grind wire? Not sue if you have even used it. Thanks. @@carthageclassiccars
@@jerrysylvester292 Honestly I have never tried easy to grind welding wire. You will be fine with the MIG just take your time and if you like that easy grind wire let me know and it might be something Ill test out in the future.
Rick, thanks so much for the education! I know it must be a lot of work putting it all out there and I hope you are blessed in it as much as I am. Love the channel, man!!!
I enjoy watching your videos even after doing the work all day. People really don't understand how important it is to find an honest quality metal/body man. I started in 12th grade at a shop I'm still at now as the foreman. Owner is regionally know as the hot rod guy to go too. In 2003 I really wanted to drive my 70 SS monte carlo to prom but it was roached on the outside and I don't have any money. The owner helps me out to have a super nice car to drive but he beat it in my head this is inappropriate work and this is butchery just to do it for a few hundred bucks and have it to last 4 or 5 years until I got established. We did chicken wire, spray foam, overlapping metal all the things lol. It turned out just as nice to the eye as a high dollar job, regular folks definitely fooled by it. Well, two weeks before Christmas it got its first crack in the quarter panel after 20 years and has rapidly deteriorated over past month, shockingly fast. The whole point of this story is to use someone trustworthy because there is very talented unethical guys out there who can do an amazing job at doing a bad job. The thing people don't realize is a hack job can look just as good as a full resto. It's just a time bomb and the 20 years is not the normal such as is my case. If they all lasted 20 years I would not be against hack work
Literally two weeks before Christmas my car went from looking like a good driver that was restored 10 years ago or so to it all falling out and rust showing in weeks. I've never really seen how fast the hack butchery work deteriorates once it goes. I just started tearing it apart last week to do it "sorta right" this time. I'm still going to hack job it in a way but before people call me a hypocrite the car is mine forever. It's also a car I drive daily when I need a car and not a pickup.
I can't say how much I appreciate you sharing this experience and honestly how valuable that life lesson is in the automotive industry. I have heard countless horror stories of some like yours, some knowing but most not knowing at all and why I try and show what I show on the channel. I get the comment all the time is for the piece of restoring one of these cars the owner can buy one online that looks just fine, but I try to tell them for how long. You might only get a few months out of that "flipper " car and then you now are back to me but with a more expensive start. BTW I understand why you did it the way you did initially I have been there with my own projects and you have to do your best with the situation at the time.
@@carthageclassiccars I just felt like putting it out there because two decades in the business and even I didn't quite fully grasp it. I knew my car would deteriorate faster than normally, but I had no clue how fast it was going to deteriorate. It's not an exaggeration that on a Monday is looked like a car that if you buffed it, it would be sharp to on a Tuesday it had a 6" crack that spider webbed. By the following Monday without driving/moving it, it had portions of mud that fell off and by three weeks you could see the wire mesh etc. Just absolutely falling apart. Sounds weird saying good job at doing a bad job but that's what it is. Truth be told, some unethical bad work is done so well it can get pass knowledgeable guys like you or me if we ain't got the best opportunity to look at it well. It's the only part of a classic car build that is extremely difficult to spot and catch. People also don't need to buy cars that are in primer either. You are much better off buying one that us sunburnt, dented and had some rust issues than a straight/solid appearing one in primer. Primer tells you nothing about the car. Only thing that tells you less about the true condition of the car is a classic car flipper lol. Our industry is so bad unfortunately Thank you for ot judging me. I was a broke high school kid who just wanted a nice looking car lol! I don't mind people doing "iffy jobs" as long as it's your personal car and you're cool with redoing it every few years..just don't pass it off as something it's not.
@@kurtdavis7588 We would get along very well. I personally have the same views. However you want to build or fix your car, thats cool with me but be honest if trying to pass it along to someone else.
@@carthageclassiccars I just enjoy your channel man. I think your channel is going to take off in the next year or two. Just stay the course and continue putting out good quality content. I've tried it, it's harder to work while filming yourself than people realize. Good luck, brother.
Great work Rick! I learn something from you every time I watch. This will help me with painting my 86 D150 truck. Please keep the info. Coming. I'm watching!!!😀
Right on Man ! Yup i have lead channels between the roof and my quarter panels and they were cracking out the paint from the factory. Im learning so much over here. Excellent instruction ! Cheers 🍾
Love these videos, I have done autobody year ago and these videos are making me want to pick up the trade again. I also agree with you about less body filler and more metal work. There's a guy here that teaches advance paint less dent removing, I am going to learn it to use that skill to refinish the metal as best I can with minimal filler. PS if I was living in NC, I would be definitely shadowing under you. I too love restoration work and you have a fantastic attention to detail.
Thank you very much, Good luck with the paint less dent I have also had an interest in that part of the bodyshop, but there isn't a big need for it on the restorations side so I never really got to go into that.
Damn great to see how quickly you’ve grown the channel. Been here since you were at around 100 subs. It’s not luck brother, it’s your hard work and quality content. Congrats and keep them coming!
Thank you so much especially the whole time sticking with it during the times I had to call 20 people to watch my early videos to try and get a few views under them.
I used kitty hair where I needed to build up a half inch on the roof to accommodate a removable roof section. Used a 50 grit norton blaze die grinder disk to give the metal some teeth first. Found that the strip disks to be very effective to shape it. Beware you will get a layer of dust everywhere!
Thanks for the advice, yea it took forever to clean the dust from the kitty hair before primer that was over everything. I am also a guy that likes a clean shop so this cleaning also has went on the past couple days as the car has been sitting.
Great job Rick, worst part about doing cars is the sanding and the painting all the dust an the paint fumes, one of my cudas is at this point now and it's not fun.
I agree 100% the bodywork and sanding is my least favorite part of the process. Hopefully you get past this part soon and on to the assembly which can be stressful but as least it rewarding seeing it take shape and finally come together.
I need to get back on the firebird, I was waiting on a part but it arrived a couple weeks ago. The customer cars come first so it keeps getting passed over.
When you were blocking the E coat what grit paper were you using 180? Great job nice car.. Wow epoxy reduced with acetone? SPI is the only one i think you can do that with.
This Omni says its optional to reduce it with acetone in its TDS and I like the way it flows out even better. I used 220 grit on the e coat. Basically you want enough grit to take it off slow without gouging the metal and map out the body.
Rick, another great educational video. I do have one question how long did it sit bare before being primed? Is there a time period you are comfortable with leaving it bare? I know it’s dependent on temp humidity but just curious what has worked for you.
From the time I strip this car and where I live usually I try to get it primed that same day. SO this car was planned before hand first thing in the morning to start stripping then finished out the rest of the video all in one day. If that's not possible usually in about 3 days I might see signs of rust on the surface and a metal conditioner is needed of some sorts. A lot of times I will spot prime areas I work on if I can't do the entire car.
be careful with the plastic inside the doors, make sure there is distance between plastic and door otherwise the plastic will stick on the paint and its not fun to fix
Good advice, I didn't spray the inside of these doors this time or I would not have put the plastic in there, just the Jams on this one. I will get the inside of the doors when I do the whole inside of the car.
Question: When working on my project and doing metal work. When I remove the paint from area for welding etc and not being able to complete it right away. Should I treat it right away to avoid surface rust or just let the surface rust form and deal with it later when I complete the repair? I have in the past sprayed some rattle can etching primer over the area but it’s a real pain to remove the primer from the weld areas and in the repair area. Thanks for all the great videos.
That is a really good question and multiple answers. So the red etching primer on this car , if you look at the gapping video I did on this car you can see laquer thinner removes it just by applying and wiping down. Thats the only reason I apply it. I usually try and finish up on an area and then epoxy primer that area but that is not always ideal for everyone. You could apply ospho in a very small dose (i also have a video on that) or like you said let it slightly rust and come back with the ospho, or a wire brush and prep disc and clean it.
@@dodge73dart put very little ospho on and it will dry and stop rust from starting. If you see first signs of rust wipe a very little on again and it will again wipe the rust right off. To neutralize it I use laquer thinner and wax / grease remove right before epoxy. Not all epoxies like acidic surfaces so check with what you are utilizing
Thanks The wife and I would like to take you and your wife to lunch one day? Maybe Cagles? We really like their Cheese Steak subs and I haven’t had a chance to checkout their new location yet. Thanks again for all of your help and videos.
I am sorry I might be reading it back wrong its measuring in mils. 1 mil is .001 inch so basically as i understand it 4 mils is the thickness of a sheet of copy paper
