body work and paint

this is the time when the three and a half years I spent looking for a rust free van and all the work, money and stress to get it home, is beginning to pay off.
You just can't beat the clean factory metal look.
I love it

tomoro it gets color on the bottom

M1D

Preserving it for the next 50 years!!! Give yourself a Huge Pat-On-The-Back for that one M1!!!

Mighty Fine Daddyo!

Factory light yellow, looks louder that I antisipated, but there is nothing else bolted on the break it up.







M1D

Wow!!!! NICE.

looks great. reassembly is on the down hill slide. what about a different color stripe to brake it up, although chris / gman's van looked to be the same color and it looked really nice.

Breathtaking! Can't wait to see it all put back together!!!

Its going to have the Ivory Racoon stripe around the windows and the grill

m1D

Looking good m1dadio! Still feeling guilty I never sent you those pics. Can't wait to see the end result

Have to ask=? what the heck is =? an =IVORY RACOON STRIPE ?? EAH????

Ivory is a factory color. the racoonn stripe is the band around the windows, like the band around a Racoons eyes.





m1d

Looking GREAT!!!
I hope everything fits back together for you well. Chase any threads with taps/dies before assembly.
Will there be bodywork on the top before paint? Be sure to allow time once the latches and hinges are in for the seals to be glued on and the doors shut so they set up properly.
Also, if it's catalyzed paint (fully 'sets up' quickly) it is time to wax/seal the bottom while it's still up on it's side before stuff goes back on. It will make keeping it clean much easier! If it's regular enamel or lacquer, talk to the painter about how long to wait before waxing. Usually a month or more...
You want to wait to assemble too, since the paint is a lot easier to damage when curing.
Now all the parts gotta be nice under there too.

It's funny, this thread was entitled "body work and paint", but I don't remember seeing any bodywork!!!

Bump for progress report!

in storage till I finish some training courses, restart end of may

m1d

back in town, working my #$$ off cuz if you want something done right you pretty much have to do it your self.

Started by redoing what the last painter did to the bottom. the crap body seal caulking job had to be cut out and re done. There was caulking where it didn't need to be and not where it needed to be and what was there looked like it was done by a first timer .





Got a guy in my local car club helping with the bondo.







M1D

M1, that thing is really starting to take shape! You might as well get it the way YOU want it. Always better to get it done right the first time around! That's gonna be one FINE looking Sportvan when all is said and done. Thanks for the update pics and keep up the Fantastic work!

Working my fingers to the bone. The interior was 30 hours of scotch brite pad and 320 grit hand sanding the whole inside, roof, walls, floor , doghouse, wheel wells, dash and door frames.

I'm beat, a hot bath and a scotch and I will sleep for a week.











M1D

Paint is always and exciting phase!

You see the most change, great work so far!!

WP

m1dadio wrote:Factory light yellow, looks louder that I antisipated, but there is nothing else bolted on the break it up.







M1D

Looks great, too bad you have to cover the inside of the doghouse lid with insulation, would look great open for shows that way!  You could always go without it but it would be quite noisy and hot....maybe now's the time to think about applying some sort of sprayed on coating for heat and noise to the inside of the house?

14 hour day, 2 guys to start laying in color change yesturday. That includes all the doby sealer, a little scuffing, masking, cleaning and prep. Then clean up equipment.

Unless you have actually done paint work yourself its hard to apppretiate how much labour is involved. Thats one reason paint and body work cost so much.








M1D

Like Buttah!!! Looks Great M1! Well worth all the effort...Thanks for the pics...This is going to be one Beauty of a Van!!!

another 14 hour day






m1d

Looking Good M1D ,must of been Fun doing floor.
Ton of work painting a Van,let alone all the extras your doing

almost 100 hours labour into the body now and a couple grand in materials.

The only way to do the floor (which had to be prime and three cotes of color was to turn it sideways and stand in the windows with floor straight up in front of me.

like this



M1D