day 5

Okay well today had a slow start because I had to drive all the way to armadale to get my new Dura-Block kit so I can properly block sand a car this MASSIVE. nearly $200 for sanding blocks
Still all the pro's swear by them and i need something alot longer then a normal block to ensure we dont have any waves in our body.

I wrote a bunch more crap but stupid blog thing had a error and I cant remember what I wrote now so anyway the only important thing is TOMOROW the BOOT goes back in!







Durablock kit (7 piece) + roll of adhesive 220grit + Metal Teck for the window sills. - $300.












Finsihed rear patch for the passengers side quarter











Finished patch for the top of the passengers quarter.













sanded, preped and primed the rear of the fender , ready to seal tomorow.












Sanded preped and etch primed the metal area and normal primed the painted area of the bottom of the bonnet, ready to seal tomorow.

Day 4

Okay another long day tidying up little stuff. First things first went to the shop to buy safety GOGGLES so no more godamned metal gets in my eye and wastes time I could be working on the impala, Safety glasses just arnt up too the job.

Then I finished the leading edge fender repair and made up the rear fender repair (90% finished). Also cut out the metal to be replaced on the top leading edge of the fender.) I have to drive to Armadale tomorow to pickup the Dura-block kit for the bodywork stage then when I get home i'll be finishing up everything on the rear quarter and starting working on the boot floor pan! At this stage it looks like the main 'body' will be getting epoxy primed on Saturday. and then it can be re-assembled and the BODYWORK CAN FINALLY BEGIN! ><

new goggles ><

leading edge fender repair

rust removed from the top of the rear fender passengers side.

Patch on the rear of the fender passengers side.

Filled and cleaned up holes for the 'badges' on the side of the impala.

Painted epoxy primer on the front right fender and the bonnet ready to turn them over tomorow and do the other side before sealing them on that side aswell. (the bonnet could be tricky.)

Day3 WRITTEN OFF!

Well I had a terrible nights sleep after day 2. turns out i had a metal filling jammed into my left eye ball ><. Yes I was wearing safety glasses, this is twice in my career i've had metal fillings successfully dodge the glasses and lodge themselves into my eye ball. this time however they had to grind at my eye skin after removing it because it was rusting--- lol.



needless to say it was bloody hard to see yesterday so I couldnt work on the Impala. However im all good today and after a short trip too the shops !!! to buy some godamn safety GOGGLES!.

Day 2

Okay well didnt get onto the boot today took a bit longer then expected cutting the last part of the boot floor pan out and making up the new patch for the front of the fender. that and when i have my garage door open EVERY BASTED AND HIS DOG DECIDES TO COME SAY HELLO! freiking 9 different people popped into say hi today. jesus!

Anyway tomorow should see the rear left fender finished and the boot floor pan all but in, also the bonnet and fender should be in etch primer on the cosmetic sides.

As a curious note I may have found a buyer for the old engine if Craig decides he wants to sell it and they can agree on a price. Which would suit me asesomely because I know the guy he lives next door and can come over and remove the engine while im working making my life painting the engine bay a lot easier and the job a lot better.




Here is the rear patch which was removed from the body today. the structual surface behind it is okay - YAY.










Here is the progress on the front patch of the rear passenger side.











The rear left of the boot floor pan has been removed finally. yay.











Progress shot of the fender patch going in.

day1

Day1 of 11 day impala

Ok well I was going to do the boot today instead i decided to finish the bonnet and do the boot and rear quarter tomorow. That way i can start sealing and priming the bonnet and get it out of the shed into storage giving me more space to work on the other parts.

Here is the bonnet with the rear right subframe tac welded in, ready to be turned over and welded up.

Here it is turned over and fully welded/grinded.

Here is the bonnet with the two front sections welded up.

Here is the bonnet with the chrome strip bolted back on after replacing all of the bolts and welding them into the strip support and then triming all of the holes in the new bonnet to allow it all to fit well.

Annoying

I run out of mig wire on a sunday - annoying.
The 3 remaining plates for the bonnet have been stenciled onto some steel so I can cut them at work and use the bending machine to make them up. due to the complexity of the pieces that will give the best piece.

nothing really worth taking a picture of today, but i'll spend the rest of the day cleaning area's up that I need to work on and the bonnet so its ready to paint when I finish the repairs :\

bonnet and presents!

Allright, its 11pm and i've just finished up for tonight ><. Now we have some pictures of the rust on the bonnet which i've begun to replace the metal on so that I can get that primed and put away with the fender which my assistant has finished sanding and preping for primer once the bonnet is complete.

Also Craig and his father [ Sorry I dont know your name? =( ] popped arround today, the first thing i noticed was a car trailor!!! but unfortunatly they wernt here to take away the Impala (lol). On a serious note though they dropped off the full seal kit which i've had a once over and all looks good nothing that's missing off the top of my head. They also dropped off the boot panels which look brilliant and once i test the quality of the etch primer they come with i'll trim them up and fit them later on. We also spoke for a while about the condition of the car and the progress.

Anyway its late and im rooted so here's the pictures of today's slowww progress at this rate i'll be happy if all of the rust repairs are done and the car's fully etch primed and back together by the end of my 11 day 'holiday' but lets see, Who knows I might get a chance to do some of the bodywork yet :S







Here is the rusted sections removed from the passengers side of the bonnet, on top the cosmetic panel on the bottom the support panel.









Here is a pic of the bonnet with the support from the drivers side repaired but the passengers side un-touched.








A picture from the bottom of the repair to the drivers side panel.











Here is a picture of the damage on the drivers side of the bonnet once the cosmetic part was cut out.

false alarm

OK well the 'iceburg' was a false alarm it looks like it was just a spot must have gone from the outside in, it welded up fine after grinding out the rust. coated it with weld through galv and she'll be fine to sand over before i etch prime the body (during 11 days off).

Meanwhile i've finshed the rear passenger support and treated that and then weld through cold galv'd it aswell. as per the pics

Means hopefully I'll get to finish the front patch tomorow night which would virtually garuntee i finish the rear quarter this week and therefore would be on target to finish rust repairs in the first day or two of the 'holiday'.

Finished welding up and grinding back the support on the passenger side.

pic from the front after treating and galving.

pic from the side after welding / galving.

pic of the 'iceburg' after it was removed.

ICEBURG AHEAD!

Okay, another 11 hour day @ real job today so didnt get as much time on this as i'd hoped. but the inside support panel for the passengers side is at least shaped now. just have to finish welding and clean it all up tomorow. then ill probably finish removing the last tiny bit of the boot section that will be replaced.

Oh and I found the tiniest spec of rust on the wheel arch rear passengers side. The question now is whats hiding behind that! remembering that this is the side with the rust on the top front of the quarter panel.

Anyway more pics tomorow.




Here is the rust repair for the support panel finished being shaped now.













THE ICEBURG! (10% visible 90% hidden).

Jigsaw anyone?

Making these parts that are 90% missing is interesting to say the least, got some more cuttings/grinding discs for the air grinder today so finished removing the front section of the passengers rear fender and began work rebuilding the structual panel behind.

I wont have to replace the whole rear quarter on this side but will have to replace about 60% of it in two sections. Also the rear isnt as badly damaged/rusted.

2 weeks till my 11 day streak on the impala so i've got to get a riggle on with the rust repairs so I can do the bodywork of majority of it when i have the time off.

Anyway. here is the pictures from today.

This is the rust on the section that was removed from the front of the rear fender.

This is the rear area with the rusted support part removed

This is the rusted support part. aka jigsaw.

Piecing together the new piece.

Insert witty title here.

Well finished cutting most of the rest of the boot out, I ran out of bloody grinding disc's for the air grinder ><. Also good news, the wheel arch metal on the passengers side isnt rusted.

The car is finished on the drivers side now. so the rust repairs have begun on the passengers side. the rear quarter isnt as bad as the drivers side however it still needs 2 big patches replacing.

Also there is no rust at the structure just behind the rear door on the passengers side, however there is rust at the top of the rear fender (go figure) so i'm going to have to replace metal up there ill take pics after work tomorow as ill be getting stuck into the rear quarter then now that wezz's front bar is finished (rx7 bar kept me busy after work on week days during last week or so).

Anyway I gota go out so going to wrap this up. Also confirmed with Craig that he's keeping the arial which is mounted in the front passengers fender on the vertical surface.

Pic of the boot with 90% of the rusted area removed. the rest will be finished when i get new grinding discs.

Here is the two area's im removing from the passengers rear quarter. All the crap on the ground came out of the fender.

Taped before being removed. to give a straight cut.

The rust which once again protrudes through the rear support panel

The rust repair on the drivers side behind the door finished.

Insert creative title here.

Okay well few things done today finally assistant finished the bonnet sanding so i can do the rust repairs on the lip.... finally....

The little patch on the rear of the door has been 90% finished just gota finish welding it. clean it up. seal it from behind. and so on so forth.

Tomorow the car will get turned arround so i can begin the serious rust repairs on the rear quarter on the passengers side and easily strip the front fender off.

The 11 day 'holiday' i've booked off work is approved now. so ill have nearly 2 whole weeks of 12 + hour days to spend on it soon. By the end of that period the car should ...

a) have all rust repairs complete

b) have the whole car etch primed.

c) have most bodywork done and the heavy 2k primer coats on with guide coat to sit for 2 weeks.

anyway. time tells all tales :P

Craig was upset no progress pics had been forthcoming recently :P (upset may be an exageration). So here's a few pictures not much to show. by the end of tomorow should be a bit more to show off.

Oh also the boot has arrived (did i say that yet?) So next weekend Craig is gona drop off the 3 boot panels and the seal set.

All this picture shows is that the door seals (roof mounted) have been removed on the drivers side. and for ONCE there was no rust.... Also removed the chrome strip that cilps over the rain bar on the roof.

Ok here is the repair on the drivers side just behind the door. not finished yet but its like 8pm and im tired ^^

More of the boot has been removed, you can now see 1 of the two fuel tank supports.

finally

Allright the rear right fender is finished welding on, all I have to do is finish sealing it up and schultz the back of it. its nice and strong and best off all... NO RUST.

Spoke to Craig today talked timeline with him all good so far so excluding anymore nasty surprises we'll both have an idea of the timeline now.

Hopefully by the end of this week all of the front and right will be finished then its just the repairs on the left side and the boot floor pan when it arrives.

taking shape?

Aight by end of tomorow i should have finished the bottom right quarter - 60+ hours later... custom making these panels takes a lot of time.

Anyway going to grab some food so here's some pics and descriptions of todays effort.

Here is the new piece clamped into place as im roughing it out

Here is the new piece welded in along the top from a rear angle

Here is hte new piece from a front agle. i have to do the ends tomorow, due to the complex angles in them i make them seperatly and weld them into place.

All of the old boot panel that im removing on this side has been removed a shot of the 'air' where metal should be.

Oh and great news, WE FOUND MORE RUST GOD DAMN IT. this time in the bonnet. behind the chrome strip on the leading edge. rusted right through in 75 % of it. awesome. Also every single bolt on the strip 'sheared off' while i was trying to remove them so i'll have to pull them apart and some how replace all of hte bolts, awesome.