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I was really happy when I finished the last sections and pulled the car out to inspect in the sunlight.
I was exhausted after compounding the whole car. I don't know how many hours I put into it exactly. It took a lot out of me to remove all the trim, door handles, tail lights, bumper, side markers, etc plus tape it off and the actual process of cutting the paint, which included a lot of squatting into weird positions. My body was hurting!
The above closeup is representative of how the car turned out. You can see there are light swirl marks left by compounding which is completely normal. These should be removed by polishing, which is normally the last step before wax.
At this point I ran out of both time and energy to polish the car. I had one afternoon left before a show and I decided it was "good enough" for now. Taking a shortcut, I moved on to wax. I used the DA with a black finishing pad as a wax spreader and applied Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax. I applied it to a few panels at a time, then wiped off with microfiber after it had been on for at least 5 minutes (per the directions).
Of course I had to look at it in the sun again. The wax gave it a little more reflection/shine/depth.
It was time for the "show". I got up bright and early Sunday morning and headed out at 6am for Supercar Sunday in Woodland Hills.
I had a great time at the show. It was hot out though - high 90s. The car drove well too and from the show, about 40min each way down the freeway. Coolant temps down the highway got up to as high as 210F, but it didn't have any trouble staying at a normal 195F while cruising and idling around town. I think I may want to install some flaps into my fan shroud to let air through at speed. Who knows how it will do when the AC gets setup.
My fuel pump is really starting to whine now. I need to figure out what's wrong with it soon before it leaves me stranded. That's all for now!
Well, crap Clint! You're gonna get that thing looking SO cherry you won't wanna race it, or nothin'! Might get rubber dust stuck to the paint, and MAYBE a bug or two's gonna hit it in the meantime! Yep, that's it, trailer queen status... LOL Couldn't resist.... That thing's gonna look GOOD while smokin' the troops thru the cones!
LOL! NO WAY is this going to keep me from racing. It's fun going to shows and all, but standing around and looking at cars just doesn't get me going like DRIVING. I love driving the snot out of this car and I can't wait for my next event. I just wanted to clean her up a bit - I never expected it to turn out so good. Don't worry - there is plenty of patina left: future cone damage will blend right in.
It's very rewarding, isn't it!?
To get at the lower portions of the car I jack it up and put it on the roller skates and rest my sorry butt on a very low stool, with wheels of course.
I gave my Nova's paint the same treatment about a month ago. For what I estimate to be 30 year old paint, it's looking pretty damn good. When I removed the rear emblem I could see that the metallic components in the paint have oxidized but at least it has done so evenly over the whole car. I'm thinking about doing it again during the winter to get the few spots that could use it.
Can you buy a dimmer switch for paint?
Kenova - Yes it made a big difference. I really had no idea what was possible. I like your idea of lifting the car up. I was on my knees most of the time or sitting on the floor for the sides of the car. It would be much easier if I had put the car high on jack stands and gone around with a little wheely stool. I'll do something like that next time!
Motown 454 - Thank you sir!
Here is one more photo someone sent me from Supercar Sunday.
Show and shine is nice but I have got to get back to racing soon. There is only so much standing around the car I can stand.
Got a wild hair on Friday, took the day off and drove my family down the Pacific Coast Highway for a beach day north of Malibu. The weather was fantastic and we had a blast!
I had an oh-crap moment running errands before we headed out. I stopped a few miles from the house and when I went to turn the key, the starter didn't crank. The ECM must have gotten a key-on voltage because the gauges fired up and the fuel pump ran, but the starter itself did not crank. I didn't have a DMM/voltmeter or anything on me so I listened for sound at the starter solenoid and heard nothing. I followed the wiring from the starter solenoid back and realized there are quite a few connections and possible failure points: one under the hood, the neutral safety switch on my Hurst shifter (which could need adjustment), a few crimp connections leftover from years ago, the neutral safety switch in the column (it was originally a column shift car), and the ignition switch. I pushed each connection together (none were obviously disconnected), moved the shifter slightly, moved the column shifter slightly, retried and it started right up. I should have been smarter and tried one thing at a time so I would know which connection or switch was the culprit, but I was just happy to get it started. I will have to go over the wiring later and check all the switches and adjustments.
In other news, the car got a layer of dust from driving it so I'm going to have to take it all apart and detail it again
I wish there was a like button for these posts... or even an "I'm jealous"
I spent 6 years watching other people complete their swaps and start enjoying their cars while I made slow and infrequent progress on mine. I know how you feel! But you are moving along much quicker than I did. Keep plugging away and soon you'll be vlogging about your latest drives.
Nice work on the paint! Using a wheel really makes a difference for results. You think your car is big? Try buffing out some larger boats! Painstaking! I feel your pain brother!!
Baby definitely added a few weeks to the build, and having to cut out the AME stuff didn’t help. But that’s why I farmed out the axle... there’s no way I could juggle the brackets and rebuild (the shop found that the pinion bearings were bad) on top of everything else. It’s all ready to go back together now; and hey, maybe this means I’ll be able to really road trip in the not so distant future.
A while back I installed a pair of reproduction side mirrors from National Parts Depot. My car did not originally come with a passenger side mirror and I was hoping to add some visibility, but the small size barely gave me peep-hole visibility to a small corner of the road. I added blind spot mirrors but even so the passenger side mirror was effectively useless. Not only that but the poor build quality resulted in a "floppy" mirror that wouldn't stay in place. UGH!
I did a fair amount of research into mirrors. I explored using factory "sport" style mirrors which came on '73-'74 Novas. Some people adapt sport mirrors from 2nd gen Camaros as well. The problem is these all have flat mirrors which means the visibility likely wouldn't be much better. Then I came across another option: Scott Drake CONVEX side mirrors (PN 65801-C & 65802-C).
Convex side mirrors are commonplace on modern cars, especially on the passenger side. They are the reason you see the text "OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR" The mirror is curved to collect a wider field of view, at the expense of making objects look smaller / farther away.
Here is a video comparing the factory-syle flat mirrors (with convex blind spot mirrors added) to the Scott Drake convex mirrors:
Here is the passenger side mirror installed. Notice the "Objects in mirror" text.
I took photos before and after from the driver's seat with the car in the garage. Look how much more can be seen out of the convex mirrors. On the passenger side all I could see before was a sliver next to the garage door when I was backing out. Now I can see the car next to me, the garage door opening and my own car! Much better!
Here is a video driving down the road. It's very hard to capture how much better these are but the difference was night and day. The passenger side is SO MUCH BETTER!
I continue to enjoy driving the car every chance I get. Last week was particularly stressful at work so I took a little twilight cruise along some backroads. I found a cool dead-end road that was the perfect spot for a photo.
It is really neat to see reflection in the paint now! The photos are deceptive though.. the car is actually very dusty.
Three weeks after the wax job, it was finally time for a bath. It was really cool to see the water beading now that the car is waxed.
With the car cleaned up again, I got the kids and wife up early Sunday morning and headed to cars and coffee Ventura.
These cruises and car shows are a fun opportunity to show off my work, see cool cars, and meet new friends. Any excuse to get out in the car with my family is great; I love having my kids piled in the backseat and my wife next to me - it's heaven.
After the cruise we did a little shopping. I get nervous about leaving my car in a crowded parking lot where it's likely to get hit by carts or even another car, but I love that I can actually use the car as a car when I want to. The trunk has tons of space.
It's funny to me how small the car looks when it's next to modern cars and trucks.
My wife is starting to ask about the AC so I may get started on that project soon. Rolling down the windows is alright, but we've had a few triple digit days and it would be really nice if the HVAC was working. My goal is to get the factory system working with the original POA valve (after adjusting for R-134a). I have no idea what I'm going to run into since I've never attempted to get the system working. It will be an interesting journey of discovery.
Funny you mentioned the size compared to newer cars.. its deceptive on how "small" it really is. I was just showing a friend this pic for reference of when I drove mine home.
Do you live in Ventura? My wife is from there! I think I've been to the Costco in the pic above, lol! Nice area!
RE: A/C- Did your car have it originally? If so, will you use the existing dash components? Or go Vintage Air or similar? If not, (same question)?
07-09-2018, 12:20 PM
