The Sheriff

[67Monaco]

Just over six weeks behind now. We had planned on being in the house for Thanksgiving. HAH. They say mid to late January now. Went out and the car and the truck are going to fit in the garage. That'll probably only happen once. After that it'll be a one car garage with all the tools and everything else that'll occupy the area. Not sure the new neighbors are gunna be happy about what's going to be taking place there after I move in. About 50% of the plates are out of state, majority from Michigan. I get snooty looks when we roll through in the hick mobile.

On the good note we found out about 5 families from Jr's class live in the neighborhood as well as the financial director of the school. They just moved down from TX. So yay us, I think once the snowbirds leave it'll give us time to settle in and relax. For those of you that choose to live in condos, god bless you. After 6 months in the in-laws building, I don't know how anyone does it. Busy bodies at every turn and the entire place is like a giant knitting circle. Can't wait to say so-long.


On a car related note. I was out again this week to start it up and drive it around the storage property. In the past six months it's gotten about 30 miles on it never leaving the property. It's the most it's seen in the past 12 years. She wants to run, you can feel it, every time it acts like it wants to go out for a long drive. I know better, that trans needs a rebuild, but not a single issue since we got down here in FL. Not even the funky no reverse issues it was having in CT. Hasn't gotten hot like it did idling in CT, the cold start issues aren't there, obviously it's warmer.

I cannot wait to get it somewhere that I can actually do some work on it again.

 

[67Monaco]

Finally got word the house is supposed to close 02/04. Hopefully 02/05 the Monaco will be in its new home awaiting the project to begin yet again. Though I'll probably be too broke to do anything for a while.

 

[67Monaco]

Welp the major projects are done for the year. Now maybe I can get my tools sorted and organized and get back after this car. OMG the rust from sitting outside for 9 months, OMG... It's all surface, but OMG....

Anyway, final project is done. Lightning blue. Go Bolts.

 

[65sporty]

Don't know how I missed it before but I just read the whole thread, looking forward to updates and progress on the car

 

[67Monaco]

Let's see how does the old saying go? WELL F*&K. SO we got the tools organized, got the welder all fixed up, three tanks of argon/co2 mix all ready to go and someone decides to throw a monkey f'in wrench in the whole gig. My in laws in their infinite wisdom decide to sell their condo and want to buy a house so they can have a private pool too. Head already in my hands, I know where this is going.

My garage is now filled with a new washer and dryer and a bar other misc and sundry items while they wait to close the new house.. Yes a bar. A bar big enough to sit 8 people at. WTF do 70yo people need with a f'in bar? Why don't they put this stuff in storage? Well they can't fit it in the two other 10x15 units they have. The condo is still packed with garbage. I guess I owe them for letting us stay while our house was being finished. Ok I got this. No big deal.

Fast forward a month. Closings were supposed to happen a week ago. Their guy can't qualify for all of the condo. Sigh. SO they have til this Friday to figure everything out or both deals bust and they stay in the condo. I've seen this movie before, I know how it ends. With that I know when all this crap will get moved out of the garage, they'll be the last things they GAF about and the last that will get moved/sold. A bar. A F(*Kin' bar. F%^K, really? Can't even use it with all the other crap in the way.

Anyways, got a wild hair and plumbed and wired a carter electric fuel pump as it's about the only I could manage in the space I have left. After a week of sitting she'll fire up in about 10 seconds of turning the key. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

 

[Ripinator]

Let's see how does the old saying go? WELL F*&K. SO we got the tools organized, got the welder all fixed up, three tanks of argon/co2 mix all ready to go and someone decides to throw a monkey f'in wrench in the whole gig. My in laws in their infinite wisdom decide to sell their condo and want to buy a house so they can have a private pool too. Head already in my hands, I know where this is going.

My garage is now filled with a new washer and dryer and a bar other misc and sundry items while they wait to close the new house.. Yes a bar. A bar big enough to sit 8 people at. WTF do 70yo people need with a f'in bar? Why don't they put this stuff in storage? Well they can't fit it in the two other 10x15 units they have. The condo is still packed with garbage. I guess I owe them for letting us stay while our house was being finished. Ok I got this. No big deal.

Fast forward a month. Closings were supposed to happen a week ago. Their guy can't qualify for all of the condo. Sigh. SO they have til this Friday to figure everything out or both deals bust and they stay in the condo. I've seen this movie before, I know how it ends. With that I know when all this crap will get moved out of the garage, they'll be the last things they GAF about and the last that will get moved/sold. A bar. A F(*Kin' bar. F%^K, really? Can't even use it with all the other crap in the way.

Anyways, got a wild hair and plumbed and wired a carter electric fuel pump as it's about the only I could manage in the space I have left. After a week of sitting she'll fire up in about 10 seconds of turning the key. So I got that going for me. Which is nice.

Like I said before. . . Its a conspiracy, I tell ya. An effing conspiracy. . .

 

[commando1]

Like I said before. . . Its a conspiracy, I tell ya. An effing conspiracy. . .

And it doesn't end. Ever.
Excuse me while I drain the sink so I can replace the garbage disposal...

 

[67Monaco]

Well that just happened. finally had time to get back after it. stripped the passenger fender down and removing the rust that started while we waited for the house to be done. epoxy primed on Friday, added filler where it needed to go. sanded and ready for next coat of epoxy.

So there's that.

 

[Fratzog]

Nice to hear you are still at it. I continue to follow with interest.

 

[67Monaco]

So two weeks of vacation.. Between the out of towners being here for the week of Christmas and my kid and wife being off of school nothing got done that week. This week the wife and kid returned to school on Tuesday. The honey do list started the same day oddly enough. Never even knew there was a honey do list. Thursday I said f it and spent the entire day in the garage. Got out at 07:50 and didn't walk back inside the house til 17:35.

It was actually a productive day. Got the passenger side stripped back down to metal and started over where we were in 2015. In hind sight block sanding that side and not sealing before we departed from the north was a really bad idea. The surface rust set in after the 9 months in the weather. So it only made sense to start over. Over the course of the day I got it stripped, filled, blocked and finally a first healthy wet coat of epoxy. It almost seems like I made progress. With that, I have the hood and roof left to make sure it's flat, then we'll block the entire thing one more time, shoot it, seal it, and finally put a top coat on it. I'll be happy to just have a nice even epoxy coat. Maybe by Summer I'll have the top coat done.

I'm almost giddy enough to order the transmission kit and get to cracking on the rebuild.

 

[67Monaco]

Welp, found the location of the Bubble that was mounted on the roof. I honestly expected worse based on the amount of rust that had been building on the paint surface.

BTW, this paint is the hardest I've encountered in quite sometime. 80grit wouldn't touch it. I had to break out the grinder to get to this point. Also looks like the bubble was square it the clean outline over the surface is any indication.

Filler in the holes looks to be some form of brass. Given the holes are small, and this panel has the potential to completely warp beyond my control and ability, I think it's staying that way. Just going to make sure the surface rust is neutralized , feathered flat and that it.

 

[65sporty]

Filler in the holes looks to be some form of brass.

View attachment 112898

Could be brazing rod

 

[cantflip]

So two weeks of vacation.. Between the out of towners being here for the week of Christmas and my kid and wife being off of school nothing got done that week. This week the wife and kid returned to school on Tuesday. The honey do list started the same day oddly enough. Never even knew there was a honey do list. Thursday I said f it and spent the entire day in the garage. Got out at 07:50 and didn't walk back inside the house til 17:35.

It was actually a productive day. Got the passenger side stripped back down to metal and started over where we were in 2015. In hind sight block sanding that side and not sealing before we departed from the north was a really bad idea. The surface rust set in after the 9 months in the weather. So it only made sense to start over. Over the course of the day I got it stripped, filled, blocked and finally a first healthy wet coat of epoxy. It almost seems like I made progress. With that, I have the hood and roof left to make sure it's flat, then we'll block the entire thing one more time, shoot it, seal it, and finally put a top coat on it. I'll be happy to just have a nice even epoxy coat. Maybe by Summer I'll have the top coat done.

I'm almost giddy enough to order the transmission kit and get to cracking on the rebuild.

Now that you're in FL... put a little paint on everything the first hour you can. With our humidity levels, flash rust is a real concern when working bare metal. I personally haven't mastered keeping up with it on a big project, I try to keep my metal work small these days. I also hate that I am putting on paint just so I get to sand it back off, but until you are ready to pickle and prime... the best plan I have found.

I have so much rust under paint on prepared metal for my bus... some panels are great, others... not so much. The outside of the panels isn't too big a deal, I'm concerned about what's hidden. I kick myself for saving a couple grand skipping the galvanized steel like the factory body. I think if I ever go to a bare metal restoration, I want to try the chemical dip company out... easy to say from the armchair though.

BTW, could you repost a couple of the early picture that showed the entire car? They don't seem to have survived the site update last year... I saw them before, but my memory is crap.

 

[67Monaco]

I'll dig some up in a bit. This is what it looked like in 2014.

This morning. Finally one solid color again., primer, but it's a solid. In between coats, and a once over with 000 steel wool. My phone has a hard time picking up the shadows and shades of black. Waiting on a new gallon of primer to arrive. In the mean time I may actually start on the transmission.

 

[67Monaco]

Have some touch ups. Hopefully once I get the gallon of high build primer in and start long blocking it the flaws can be addressed with glazing/skim putty.

 

[67Monaco]

Pics from when we brought it home form her uncles storage unit;

 

[GJS]

Pics from when we brought it home form her uncles storage unit;

View attachment 116756 View attachment 116757 View attachment 116758

Love that car. Your work is super inspiring, man! Can't wait to get my 67 up from Texas!

 

[67Monaco]

How we got from that point to where we are now..? Well that's the matter of a previous accident and me discovering that the quarter panel had been lapped and pop riveted in place. It had to be fixed. I couldn't leave it like that.

 

[67Monaco]

Love that car. Your work is super inspiring, man! Can't wait to get my 67 up from Texas!

Thanks, but it's taking for freakin' ever just to get here. I hope now that we're settled, with no plans to move again, I can make some progress.


So to recap since 2008 it's been in;
Colorado where we started, Murderland, Connecticut, and now Florida.

 

[GJS]

Thanks, but it's taking for freakin' ever just to get here. I hope now that we're settled, with no plans to move again, I can make some progress.

I hear you, man. Got married last April, just after getting bit by the C bug again. Plan was to live at her place till it sold then move into an apartment while we build our new house. ... and then that all happened right on the heels of me finding and purchasing my new 67... Never stops, man!