deekster_caddy's Riv pictures

Lookin sharp sir!

You do pretty damn good work for taking one class Derek! Looks great, I guess they didn't show you guys how to blend the paint into the door? I've always wanted to take an autobody class. Good for you man.

They will do blending and such, but I'm working my way around the whole car, so I don't mind the mismatch for now. It's temporary...

The only problem with the class is that it's 3 hours long and you can't leave work there, so it's not really enough time to prep and paint an entire car. I may go after some bigger areas next class though, like trying to do multiple panels at once.

The next area that bugs me a ton is the roof, it's high on my list. But the front fenders, right in front of the wheel opening is starting to rot too. Damn salty winters!

I can relate to that! Fantatsic work for a 3 hour session. Looking forward to seeing more of your progress, please share your pics.

BMD wrote:

I can relate to that! Fantatsic work for a 3 hour session.

I believe that the class consisted of many 3 hour sessions.
I took a welding course at a local community college some time ago and it was 10 or 12 weeks of 3 hour classes.
After talking to Derek and paying out the arse to a body shop for touch up work every year on my Riv I'm considering enrolling in a 10 - 12 week 3 hours once per week night course in body repair. I have some self taught skills but would like some expert help and it's always good to be taught the latest and greatest procedures and use of new products.
That's why i took the welding class. When I first learned how to weld (many, many moons ago) there was no such thing as MIG welders, at least not that I knew of. We used arc / stick welding and Oxy - Acet. only.

I meant the paint job itself was fantastic for a 3 hour session, as Dereck said, there wasn't enough time to prep and paint more of the car? Anyway, I think its so cool that many Riv owners like yourself want to know how to work on every aspect of their car.

Oh, now i understand what you said.
Sometimes you can't learn enough by reading a book then doing it. It takes a little hands on expert help. That's where these night courses come in handy.
They are not too expensive and you walk away with some talent and experience. Well worth it in my opinion.

edit: removed that pic, it was right there on page 1.

I'm going to add some of my bodywork-in-progress pics from last year though, for the quarter panel and trunk lid. I'm working on the roof now.

The rust I found behind the right rear side moulding:



The first cleanup:



What we found above it... Lotsa body filler



After grinding out all the old filler, pulling the metal back out, filling, smoothing, fill, sand, fill, sand... weeks and weeks of work...



The last coat of primer. We use a heavy catalyzing primer that fills and hardens instead of drying. Way better than the factory stuff. I don't know enough about it to tell you what to get, except that I really like the results. It will fill most sanding scratches and seems to withstand damn near anything!



The whole quarter panel ready to paint, radio antenna and trim removed:


The finished product:

Now its time to repaint that door, and probably the rest of the body to match the shine Nice!

thanks!

L67 wrote:

Now its time to repaint that door, and probably the rest of the body to match the shine Nice!

yeah I'm working on it. One panel at a time... Roof is under construction currently.

old:


don't have a current pic but I'll get one while inside my auto body class tomorrow night.

Derek, I am really impressed. Your attention to detail is fantastic and your commitment to doing it right has yielded you some AMAZING results . If you could do the whole car at once it would look awesome. If only they would let you do repairs in 3 hour sessions and drive the car around in primer for awhile until you have done all the necesary prep work on the whole car and then spend one session painting the entire car? Anyway please keep updating this thread, its very interesting.

I wish I could do my own body restoration.

nice job deek! body work is a pia.

nice work on your riv. thanks for sharing the pics as you go. I always like watching progress on these vehicles.

BMD wrote:

If only they would let you do repairs in 3 hour sessions and drive the car around in primer for awhile until you have done all the necesary prep work on the whole car and then spend one session painting the entire car?

They will, they have. I don't want to drive around in an all-primer car either though

The prep work is killer. The sessions above on that quarter panel were over 9 or 10 classes, and split over a summer break. It was primed, and I covered the grey with some black spray bomb shit for the summer break, and when I went back last september the rust had started to bubble up again, so we went after it with some chemical treatments. So far it's holding up but I'm just afraid the metal is too thin and it's rusted on the backside. But it's so much better than it was!

I like the way it's coming along, and I enjoy getting it done in sections. Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something!

Thanks for all the compliments!

For anyone looking for my two-tone paint color discussion, I finally found it, here:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/exterior-f12/paint-schemes-rim-chops-t1927-195.htm#88295

moved to where it belongs.

Side note to AA - I'm fine with you moving discussions around as appropriate, and I think it was appropriate, but please drop a link behind in the thread you took the stuff away from. I did a lot of browsing around to find it again...

Update - A few images from the body shop tonight:


All masked up, WET PAINT!



from the rear - just unwrapped:



From the front - just unwrapped:

Wow! It looks really really sharp

Looking cool man!

You spray that yourself?

Bert

A+

Nice! did you mask off or remove the roof channel thingies before paint?

Nice job. Are you going to paint the hood and trunk?

Deek (or anyone), if you are having trouble finding something you posted, here's a tip: in your profile, click on Statistics, then click "Find all (your name)'s topics". This will list the last 300 or so topics you've posted in (see Board FAQ).

Thanks all!

ibmoses wrote:

Looking cool man!

You spray that yourself?

Bert

Yep! The auto body class I'm taking is in a fully equipped shop...

AA wrote:

Nice job. Are you going to paint the hood and trunk?

No, just the roof an pillars. I just redid the trunk black last spring, and I like the roof-only look.

Great job Derek, the finish looks really nice. Seeing that your interior is also a light clour, I think it works really well. So I assume you just masked the rubber around the glass and didn't remove it, and you pulled out the rubber from the gutters, is that correct? Take a pic outside when you get a chance and post it.