Infra-Red Focus RS replica/conversion build!

[hurtinfocus]

Originally Posted by stealthzx3

so why are you taking the rear windows out?

Because the driver rear quarter was damaged by the previous owner, and when it was repaired they didn't remove the glass.....the paint had started peeling away from the edge against the glass....if you don't remove the glass, the paint will have an edge and peel away over time, especially since wax tends to build up and hide back under the glass.

The proper way to do a paintjob is pull the glass, paint, then glue the glass back in.

[Mr.Bergner]

yeah I've had that happen to me twice, such a pita to fix, and also to do correctly the first time. so I guess just have one pita to deal with from the beginning! ha

nice work so far, been watching this closely

[stealthzx3]

do you install the glass yourself then? and taking out the windshield?

[hurtinfocus]

Originally Posted by stealthzx3

do you install the glass yourself then? and taking out the windshield?

Yes I'll be installing the glass myself...with the windsheild you can just remove the rubber trim around it and leave the glass in and use a foam tape to create whats known as a "soft edge" meaning the thickness of the paint tapers off as it gets close to the glass so that you don't run into that issue. Plus once the rubber is back in the edge is protected, unlike the rear quarter glass. I REALLY SHOULD remove the glass from the hatch to paint that as well, but I'm not going to. If the paint chips/peels I'll just start over on a fresh hatch as this one had a bunch of rust already infecting it.

[hurtinfocus]

UGH, I'm REALLY getting burnt out on this thing. Every time I go to work on it with a list in my head of things I plan to get done, I get about half of the list done. Luke and Nick came over yet again to lend hands.

Nick went ahead and removed all me weather stripping and trims from the doors, and bagged the window openings for me



Luke went around and removed all the adhesive tape from where the trims were, and I set him up to cut some strips of sheetmetal for me so I could connect the inner fender to the new quarterpanel.

once luke cut the strips for me I did this:

hammered a flange on one end, made releif cuts, and drilled holes for pop-rivets





then I set the strips into the wheelwell and marked where all the holes ended up, then came back and drilled the holes through (all from the back obv.)



Then I used a countersink bit on the outside of each of the holes to recess the rivets so they'll be hidden by fusor and bodyfiller later.



I started to repeat that procedure on the other side, but I only measured the driver side and assumed I had cut them both in the same spot. I did not. PISS. it was already 9:30 so I didn't want to be running an angle grinder and pissing off the neighbors so I called it a night.

Other things of note:

Everytime I block out the driver fender I find a new blemish or two that needs taken care of. I blocked and primed it yet again tonight, and found a couple more defects that I have to take care of again before it's ready for molding.

I haven't even touched the passenger fender since I mocked up the two halves. I have decided that I'm going to get the inner fender strips all ready to go and the passenger fender ready to go and bond them all at once so I don't waste any of the panel bond by having it harden in the nozzle. I'm hoping I can at least get the strips and fender bonded tomorrow night and the driver fender hopefully DONE.

I'm considering finishing everything besides the front fenders and using the hybrid fenders for the rest of the season unpainted to save time and get some miles on it before winter. The way I see it, I have at least 2-3 days worth of work just to get the passenger hybrid fender ready to mold. Then if I'm going to make the molds, that's a day. Then if I want to make fresh full fiberglass fenders that's another day minimum. Then those will need a day or two of bodywork to prep for paint. That's nearly a week just to do fenders, YIKES.

I still have to remove the windshield, rainguard trims, and address any imperfections in the doors and roof, not to mention the remaining bodywork on the rear quarters. BOY am I stressing. All this plus my father is calling me literally every day harping on my to get going on some of the bodywork for the challenger. He's taking it to a picnic saturday... so I have to find time to fix a few dents in the spare hood, block that down, and get it at least in black primer-sealer by then.

Yeah.....I'm d....

[hurtinfocus]

got an assload done tonight surprisingly. Luke and Nick AND my buddy john all came by today to contribute. Didn't take all that many pics of alot of it because we were in the zone, I had luke shoot a few with my phone towards the end so I'd have a few to show and narrate lol.

Things that got done:
-blocked down, scuffed, and filler primed the hood for the '74 challenger :-P
-mocked up and drilled/countersunk for the inner fender patch strips on the passenger side
-drilled and countersunk/dimpled the front fender to bond the two halves together
-bonded and riveted inner fender patch strips on BOTH sides in the rear
-bonded and riveted the tow halves for the front passenger fender
-applied body filler to the corner I repaired on the rear bumper
-accidentally panel-bonded a bunch of my hair to my left ear and made a few spikes in my hair with panel bond, unknowingly until I went to scratch an itch by my hear about 20mins later. holy shit did that hurt pulling out all the hair that was bonded!

pics!













fender:





(yes we chipped off a hunk of the pop-riveter from smacking it on the ground to get the tails out after riveting)

[hurtinfocus]

finished the inner fender patches tonight by welding them in to the existing metal. wire brushed them, cleaned them, and sprayed in acid-etch primer.







also finished the repair on the corner of the rear bumper



meanwhile, Chris came by as he's an expert on refurbishing headlights, so we baked mine and did the black inside treatment and he's going to take them home and refurbish the exterior of the lenses like new!

YAY!

[volcomstone1966]

Nice work

[sicskate]

I'm itching for another update... :)

[hurtinfocus]

All I really have for an update is my friend chris is an expert at refurbishing headlights, and mine were TERRIBLE. so we baked them apart and did the black insides conversion and he took them home to refurbish and treat the lenses with UV-protectant:















I've been too burnt out on it from putting in 4-6hrs a day for 3 weeks straight so I've been taking a minor break. I might get back into it later this week. All that's left is drill the heads off the set-rivets on the rear quarters, apply tigerhair bodyfiller over the seams, and sand to perfection. Then paint.