Nothing better than watching a good Metal Man! Do his work ! Dying breed. old school guys are disappearing. I'm 50 yrs. old and I'm young for this kinda work. what I mean is hard to find people who do this kind of Quality work. (younger guys) I know they Are out there. But hard to find. In the restoration business. What's gonna happen in 15 yrs. Kids today don't wanna so this kinda work. And if they did. Don't think it would be right. (not trying to be negative)
There is some truth to this statement. It is getting harder to find people that do this work well, but I also believe there are more people today trying this stuff than ever before. The influx of low-priced and more sophisticated equipment - TIG welders, English wheels, planishing hammers, etc., has truly reduced the entry fee for metal workers. Granted, a lot of these low-budget tools are cheap at best, but they allow someone to try their hand at stuff without having to get a job at a high-end shop. At the same time, we have a hard time finding good technicians who understand what it means to work hard every day and value the customers time as well as have great skills. We're fortunate to have a fantastic crew that make us - and the customer cars - look great!
Buick GS hoods are not reproduced, and our car came in with a light punch to the nose. Some time with the Spitznagel Maxi dent puller, hammers, dollies, and a metal file brought it back to shape. The lower edge of the hood required a little repair panel, and it was finish welded with the HTP Versa Spot welder to achieve a factory appearing spot weld pattern. Jumping ahead to the re-primed hood.
In essence, but the Maxi is a pretty versatile tool. [video=youtube;gezMX5KHZuE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gezMX5KHZuE[/video]
That's a very useful tool. All the time I've spent looking for a good stud in the box, then loading it into the stud welder, then putting the welder down and grabbing the leverage bar, working the metal, then grabbing the pliers... You guys do that all in one motion. What a time saver!
By this point, all of the bottom side sheet-metal had been repaired, so the firewall, underside of floors, and rear panel were re-sprayed with black epoxy primer. The seams were all carefully sealed with 3M seam sealers, and then the Epoxy was followed by a black Imron industrial enamel. The owner wants to drive this car, so we coated the bottom of the car with 3M Body Defender. This product provides chip resistance, but it has a smoother texture and is easier to clean than rubber-based undercoating.
Thank you Dean! That's very kind of you to say, and we're glad you are getting some inspiration from the build. We still have some very cool stuff to share, so hang tight!
It is very typical For GM A body vehicles to rust around the base of the windshield, and our car was no different. Again, being a Buick, replacement dash panels are not available in the aftermarket, so we chose to remove the original dashboard and it's entirety and repair it. The welds were carefully ground, spot welds carefully drilled, and the whole dashboard was removed from the car and placed on a stand.
At this point, Adam repaired the rusty cowl structure in the car and treated it with a weld through primer from HTP. Then, he fabricated a new section and welded it to the original dashboard. Once metal finished, the dashboard was reinstalled in the car and attached with original style resistance spot welds. Once completed, there was little evidence of a repair.
