Firebrid: The Prius v Powered Hybrid Convertible

It's on my son's wish list...

 

Everything on the body and chassis are cleaned up and ready to go to strip some paint. However the weather is alternating every 20 minutes between downpours and steam bath today. The garage door is open - closed - open - closed... I can't get good ventilation consistently in the garage for the paint stripping. Very frustrating.




Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be better. (Fingers crossed.)

Bill the Engineer

 

I can now see that chemical paint stripping is going to take more time than I thought. I might be out in the garage every nice night this week...

A couple hours later now and the garage still stinks.

Bill the Engineer

 

Day #1 of body and chassis sanding.

The chemical stripper was an almost complete failure. The Prius v paint just laughed at it. Only the top layer of the Firebird body's paint got softened, and not everywhere at that.

The palm sander and 80 grit paper is going to be a slow process. I have already found some body filler on the Firebird body. I'll only use the grinder on really rusty areas. The sand blaster is too much of a mess maker to use while the body is still off of the chassis inside the garage.






More sanding tomorrow, and Monday, and...

Bill the Engineer

 

Day #2 of sanding. This is definitely going to take a lot of time and effort...





Bill the Engineer

 

1. Oh yeah.
2. Nope. I'm a geographic orphan. Nobody else in the house likes to get their hands dirty.
3. Yup!

Bill the Engineer

 

Day #3 of sanding, grinding and drilling. I took the day off from work to have two 3-day weekends in a row.

The Firebird body's rocker panels are stripped and ready for when the body goes back on the chassis.




Then I moved to the body's rear wheel wells and quickly got reminded why I cut the bottom out of the car. Both rear quarters are rotted behind the opening and will require new metal to be purchased. I just hope they make the proper patch panels rather than the whole fender skin. Oh what fun to peek behind the bondo...




I also found previously unknown collision damage only visible from the inside of the fender. That should be interesting when I strip the paint...



Bill the Engineer

 

That will need to wait until AFTER the body is welded to the chassis. Those fenders are holding the rear end on the body at the moment...

Bill the Engineer

 

Having computer problems. I'll post updates when I can.

Bill the Engineer

 

The old Laptop is dead. Setting up the new one is taking time...

Not much to report that is photogenic this weekend. Spent much of my time grinding / scraping / sanding layers of undercoating off of the rear wheel wells of the body. Dirty job, even with power tools. Not even finished one side yet. Then there is also the rot that needs to be dealt with...





Just think of the arm strength I am building though.

Bill the Engineer

 

This was the weekend to work on the Firebrid cowl in preparation for the body drop later in the fall.
Saturday was spent roughing up the surfaces so that primer would adhere, then using Eastwood Prep to clean the surfaces. Porous edges received masking tape to fill holes.



Sunday was used to apply the first coat of seam sealer on the side of the seams opposite the tape. I applied a generous amount since I don't want my feet wet when I am driving the car. It is curing overnight before I remove the tape, although in some areas I was able to start on the second side before nightfall.






I'm taking a day off tomorrow since the weather should be nice. I'll post an update tomorrow night. The goal is to get primer on any bare metal once it is watertight.

Bill the Engineer

 

Seam sealer completed on the cowl and weld-thru primer applied. I also found a location where the PREVIOUS owner had drilled a hole and caused a leak into the interior. That puppy got sealed up too!





Next weekend on to another location on the body or chassis.

Bill the Engineer

 

If only...

Not much photogenic from this weekend. Nothing is so exciting as scraping 1/4 inch thick undecoating from a 50 year old wheel well.

Hey, at least it's progress...

Bill the Engineer