1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals

#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals install#
#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals driver#
#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals Patch#
#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals windows#

I got a complete set of “Dura Blocks” which are made out of a hard foam so they are lightweight but they are rigid enough for block sanding.Īfter I had all the filler applied I realized that the seam on the top of the fender needed some filler as well so I broke everything back out of the garage and put down some more filler.Īs I waited for the filler to dry I decided to check on the rocker arms that I have been soaking in my kerosene and mineral spirits solution. I can’t say enough good things about the sanding blocks I invested in.

#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals driver#

Fortunately for me I am planning on making this car a nice driver quality car so filler, primer surfacer, and block sanding will suffice. You can see from the above photo just how rippled this fender was and if I were going to make Grace into a show piece and I had $5000 to throw away I would have put new fenders on her. The fender area around the headlight door could use some improvement as well so I taped off the headlight door and used some filler to close up the inconsistent gaps. Some generous amounts of filler and hopefully I will finally have the fender straight for some more PPG DP90 epoxy primer before laying down the primer surfacer and more block sanding.

#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals Patch#

I had a low area above the wheelwell in the rear, a low spot on the top of the fender and a low spot where I put in the lower patch on the rear of the fender. Tonight I continued the work on attempting to get the passenger side fender straight which has been a lot of tedious work but I think it is starting to come together.Īfter the work thus far the fender was really starting to take shape but I decided that using a larger filler spreader would help prevent the low spots I’ve been seeing as I block sand out the filler. I think I have a few more date nights with Grace, some filler, and some sanding blocks in my near future… On the other hand I certainly don’t want to rush this part of the restoration because the body and paint will make or break the outcome of the restoration. At this point I am ready to be done with Grace…the vision of cruising her down PCH is so close yet so far away. This stage of the restoration is teaching me a lot…patience, perseverance, and delayed gratification. I am hoping that it will only take two times of spraying the primer surfacer and block sanding before I can take Grace to get her shiny coat of Flame Red paint. Once I finish this same work on the driver side of the car I will spray the whole car in a primer surfacer and more of my dreaded block sanding will be in my future. Is the body on Grace 100% straight…not yet. You can clearly see the areas of filler through the DP90 which gives it a textured look. I am impressed with how well the DP90 etches into the metal and filler. I gave the car two coats which ensured good coverage. The epoxy primer is some really tough stuff that sprays on pretty thick so I didn’t really need to worry about any runs. Then I filled my HVLP paint gun with the DP90 and headed out to give Grace a few coats of her base primer. I mixed the primer and let it sit the recommended 10 minutes for the catalyst to take proper action.

#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals windows#

Then I masked off the areas I didn’t want primed (like the windows and grille) and then hit these areas one last time with some pressurized air to be sure I was ready to spray the DP90 Epoxy primer. I finished the sanding on the fender this morning before blowing off all the dust and cleaning the door and fender with oil & grease remover. Afterall it adds to the story of Grace’s namesake and restoration…undeserving yet resulting in glory for her restorer.

#1963 ford thunderbird fender skirt seals install#

Like I had mentioned previously this fender really should have been replaced but at $2,500-5,000 for a single good fender not to mention all the work to install it I think the hammer & dolly followed by filler and lots of block sanding is the right decision for our car. It is pretty clear how rippled this fender was given the spots of filler covering most of the front 1/2 of the fender. Well, after yesterday’s work I only had to sand a few small areas before I could finally get the passenger side in epoxy primer.

It was more of the same tedious process…mix, fill, wait, sand, repeat. I had worked a few hours on the passenger side fender yesterday to finish getting the low spots filled in and block sanded with 80 grit.