Bel Air Due Process

The '54 Bel Air is wading through its facelift on schedule, without too many problems. This is a first...! The rocker panels I formed (in the previous post) are done and safely covered in etching primer. The picture below shows the pass. rocker panel with its next (epoxy primer) covering. I started tearing into this car after the rocker panel rust repair by removing all the trim. And boy there is a lot of trim clips! After all trim, lights, and bumpers were removed I started the arduous task of lining up the body panels. The driver fender was mounted too far forward, and with the help of my brother I managed to line it back closer to the door. The hood required much adjustment, including moving the passenger hinge location forward and up. I had to pry the springs from the hinges in order to line up the locations properly. Last adjustment was the passenger fender. With the help of body shims and loosened bolts, I moved this fender inward and a little upward.


After all the body adjusting and trim removal, I started scuffing the existing paint and primer, focusing on any areas where surface rust had flashed underneath the primer. I ran 80 grit on the 6" random orbital sander to strip the thin pools of rust, and to thin the flame job that was much thicker than the rest of the car's primer coat. Then came general blocking with 80 grit on the 17" power inline sander. I just ran it up and down at 45 degree angles, keeping the movement flat. This showed any new pockets of underlying surface rust.

After all of the initial scuffing and blocking, I treated all the bare steel areas with Valspar etching primer as well as Dupont Variprime etching primer. Then, started the masking process and shot three heavy coats of Valspar LIC epoxy primer, which is very high solids stuff. It was almost impossible to mix the stuff, it is that thick. After this, I sprayed a fog coat of cheapo rattle can black and started blocking away...



The above picture shows a couple of the blocking tools I am excited to begin using. The small manual one is an excellent product that Scotton Tools makes in California. I bought their set of high quality block sanding tools at Pomona from the company owners, and I am amazed at the quality and price. These are excellent tools, and the price is low...too low! I will take these USA made Scotton Tools any day over the more expensive ones available at local autobody supply shops.

The red pneumatic sander is a nice little Viking V101 that I picked up at the UVU swap meet for ten bucks. It was new, and after taking it apart I simply had to carefully file off a burr on the piston. Now this $250 Viking tool works great.




Here above shows the arduous process of blocking all that thick primer, removing the black fog coat until all is gray. That shows it's flat. You can see I have still a ways to go downward.




Back view in above picture shows I'm almost done blocking the trunk. I have been going with 180 grit to break through quick without going too rough.




Top of hood shows where blocking has been going, and front shows the fog coat still un-sanded. Again, I just block until the fog is gone. The front of this hood also received filler on small flat spots where original emblem holes were welded shut.

The Bel Air is actually very straight, and I didn't have to do any more straightening or rust repair. I will definitely need to prime and seal the car again after this first blocking, but then I should be close to paint time. The Bel Air is finally in the works, and it is going much quicker than I ever expected, especially since the injury. It is nice to be progressing in the old car obsession-I actaully feared this would no longer be possible after the TBI. But here it goes!