Smooth Firewall

[Rattler]

Has anyone here smoothed their firewall? I've still got my motor out and decided I'm going to clean up the firewall before the motor goes back in. I've had the heater assembly gone for years now and it was just covered with a piece of aluminum screwed over the hole.

I cut out a piece of 16 gauge mild steel this past weekend and I'm planning on covering the entire passenger side so the firewall will be smoothed out. I'll post pics as I go along.

[Ms Grumpy]

Actually sounds like a cool idea. I think it would look good.

[earthquake68]

I've done it before. It goes a long way to clean up the looks under the hood. Clean all the seam sealer out of the joint and throw a few stitch welds in there to keep it tight before you mud over the seam.

[Rattler]

I've got everything stripped and out of the way
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20001.jpg

Here's the piece of metal I'm going to weld over the existing firewall.
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20002.jpg

[earthquake68]

That should look really nice when you're done.

[Rattler]

I had time to work on the car today. When I pulled off the passenger side fender I had a bolt rusted that decided to seize up in the nut so I had to cut it off to get the fender out of the way. Once the fender was gone I removed the door to get to the upper fender nut above the door hinge. After an hour or so of fighting with the broken piece I finally got it out and welded a new nut in it's place.

new fender nut welded in.
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/smooth-firewall%20003.jpg
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/smooth-firewall%20004.jpg

The next step was to get the new firewall piece tacked into place.
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/smooth-firewall%20005.jpg

All welded up and ready for some grinding
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/smooth-firewall%20007.jpg

And mostly ground down. Little bit of grinding and a small amount of body filler will be my next step.
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/smooth-firewall%20008.jpg

Hopefully I can get some more work done in a couple weeks.

[grandsport]

Like the saying,it's your car do what you want with him.

[Derek69SS]

I'll be doing mine real soon... not completely sure if I'm going to do a whole new panel like that or just fill the holes.

[earthquake68]

I'll be doing mine real soon... not completely sure if I'm going to do a whole new panel like that or just fill the holes.

The new panel is faster and easier, for sure. Unless you don't like the idea of two pieces of sheet metal laying up against one another. Then fill all the holes.

It looks great so far, Rattler.

[flash]

Looks nice and clean .

[kustom71]

I didnt want to do a whole panel rather just fill the ugly holes.I didnt fill in the dimples either this way I thought it would look kinds like it came that way.

[Rattler]

That turned out very nice!

[Rattler]

Got the firewall prepped and ready for some primer this weekend.
http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/prepped-firewall%20001.jpg

[earthquake68]

What? No "after" pictures? lol, j/k. It looks great so far.

[flash]

Looking good ,keep us posted.

[Rattler]

Well after weeks of looking at different colors and playing around with photoshop I have finally come up with colors and a paint scheme for my chevelle. Here's how she's going to be painted.

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/black-n-red-chevelle.jpg

[flash]

Looks mean ,I like it.

[GDwrench]

That combination does have some appeal. I try too stay away from black anymore,, way high "maintenance factor". You know ?? Kind of like most of our wifes ?? :D

[Rattler]

Well I received all my paint today! wo0t!

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/paint/eastwood%20paints%20001.jpg

Then I opened the boulevard black and found this!

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/paint/eastwood%20black%20paint%20001.jpg

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/paint/eastwood%20black%20paint%20002.jpg

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/paint/eastwood%20black%20002.jpg

Amazing how excited you can be to get the package and then how down you can be when someone f's it all up!

I have to call eastwood tomorrow and see if they will send me another quart or if I need to send this gallon back for a new gallon.

[shadowgray396]

Car is going to look good. Opps on the paint.

[flash]

What a mess ,but Eastwood will make it right as they are very good to deal with.

[Rattler]

I emailed Eastwood last night and they responded this morning. They are shipping out a new gallon of black for me today and I don't need to return the one that opened. They have some top notch customer service for sure!

Props to Eastwood for correcting the issue so quickly!

[Ms Grumpy]

That combination does have some appeal. I try too stay away from black anymore,, way high "maintenance factor". You know ?? Kind of like most of our wifes ?? :D

Hey ....
I take offense to that ..

[Ms Grumpy]

I like the color scheme you chose. What is the color for the top. Maybe I missed it.

[Rattler]

I have no idea on the photoshopped chevelle. I just messed around and liked the red over black. I bought Pro street red for my top and boulevard black for the bottom which will more then likely look different then the colors in the pic, but it should look similar.

[earthquake68]

Is that base/clear? I just shot a '57 Chevy two door wagon with the same paint system. I was somewhat less than pleased with the result. After mixing exactly the ratio suggested, it was coming out of the gun DRY. I tried turning down the air pressure and running different mix ratios. It was no use. The paint is not what I like to use.

A month later, I was able to color sand and buff out alot of the uglies, but it was WAY more work than it should have been. The paint job is also not what I consider to be "perfect".

I hope your experience is better than mine. The customer that gave me the paint said I'll re-shoot it in a couple years with PPG.

[Rattler]

It's actually single stage paint, but I will be clearing it as well. I've never used the eastwood paint, but a couple cars in our club have used it and I'm very happy with the way their cars look. You can't beat it for the price. I have shot some of the eastwood epoxy primer and it's awesome. Did you happen to use any reducer at all with yours or just the paint and activator? I've heard that if the ambient temperature isn't just right your better off adding reducer.

[earthquake68]

As I said, I tried everything. ...reducer, no reducer, alot of reducer, lower air pressure, smaller pattern, ......nothing helped. Over spray was so bad in some spots, it looked like 40 grit sand paper. (no kidding) This is also NOT my first rodeo. I've been spraying cars for over 20 years. It was bar none, my worst experience laying paint.

I was able to color sand and buff out 90% of the uglies, but not what I would consider a quality paint job.

Again, I wish you better luck on your car. I had to work WAY too hard to get a presentable finish.

Here's the Eastwood raw paint job. Note the super slick shiny finish. (sarcasm)

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p224/earthquake68/57%20Chevy%20two%20door%20wagon/57004.jpg

Here's a PPG raw paint job.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p224/earthquake68/1977%20Nova/ToadProgress002.jpg

After about 20 hours of sanding and buffing, I coaxed this out of the Eastwood job.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p224/earthquake68/57%20Chevy%20two%20door%20wagon/1957Wagondone003.jpg

[Rattler]

Is that eastwood job cleared as well? I have read some complaints about how dull it looked and how much work was needed to get it to shine when used as a single stage.

[earthquake68]

No, that's their base/clear system. That's as good as it gets with a raw paint job.

[Rattler]

I managed to get the firewall primed today. Hoping to shoot some paint on it this weekend! :banana:

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20primer%20001.jpg

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20primer%20002.jpg

[Rattler]

I managed to get some color on the firewall this morning. Hoping to do some clear coat next. =)

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20painted%20002.jpg

[Ms Grumpy]

Looking good.

[flash]

That looks good ,what color is that besides red ?

[Rattler]

It's called Pro Street Red from the Eastwood company. I finished the clear coats yesterday. I just need to do a little bit of wet sanding and buffing to finish it off. =)

[shadowgray396]

Looking good

[Rattler]

I got some buffing done on it today. It's turned out really nice! I couldn't be happier.

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/firewall%20buffed.jpg

[earthquake68]

Not too shabby! I'm glad it's turning out the way you wanted it to.

[Rattler]

Thanks Alan, I figured the firewall would be a good spot for a test run. I've learned a lot the past few weeks and feel much more comfortable about starting the rest of the car now. =)

[flash]

I like that color red ,still trying to decide what color red my 72 chevy truck will be when the time comes if it comes at all.

[flash]

Cant wait to see what the whole car looks like that color ,its going to be nice.

[Rattler]

I've got the motor dropped back in. Now I just need to get everything wired up again. I'm hoping to do the cam break-in this weekend.

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/engine/motor%20installed%20003.jpg

[flash]

Damn ,that looks good.

[70SS396]

Wow, that looks great! nice work.

[earthquake68]

Progress shots are always fun to see. Keep up the good work!

[shadowgray396]

I agree that looks really good/

[Rattler]

Thanks guys! I'm very pleased with it. I woke up early this morning and fired it up to break in the new cam. The motor still sounds very badass with this new cam. I was hoping that it wouldn't sound a whole lot milder then the solid roller I pulled out. Solid rollers have their own distinctive sound that I love, but you'd never guess I'm running a hydraulic now.

[Ms Grumpy]

Damn ,that looks good.

I agree with flash !!! Wish I had thought of that.

[earthquake68]

Any more progress lately?

[Rattler]

Sorry, I've been busy with projects on the house, but I have made some progress on the chevelle. I painted the inside edges of the fenders while I had them off the car. I did this so that everything under the hood would be basically complete before I started on the outside of the car. I painted the inner fenders, bolted them to the outters and then mounted them up. Here are a couple shots of the engine compartment with everything wired and fenders mounted again.

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/engine%20compartment%20complete%20001.jpg

http://www.allenitllc.com/hotrods/chevelle/front-end/engine%20compartment%20complete%20002.jpg

[flash]

Looking good ,keep at it .

[shadowgray396]

Looking very sharp.

[earthquake68]

I like it!