Refinishing the deck lid - one original piece saved!

Fun week this week; I took the G to the drag strip for the first time, and for me the first time in probably ten years.  I managed to run a respectable 13.98, which counts as thirteens to me.  Pretty typical for a stock G I understand, and probably not bad for 20" rims with tires at stock pressure.  There was one LS2 powered GTO (~2005?) running low twelves.  I couldn't tell if it was stock or not, but that would be great if the Chevelle can run anywhere near twelves. Anyway, on to what most of you are hear to read about.

Everyone asks me if there are any original panels that will be left on the car.  Well, the answer is at least one.  The deck lid I believe to be original to the car, and until now still had factory paint on the underside.  I thought it was in perfect shape, but like everything else on the Chevelle, there are surprises waiting at every turn. From a distance it looks fine, but up close there were still a few pinholes of rust from where moisture gathered.  The first picture gives you an idea of the overall underside.

 Up close, you can see pitting from rust,

 and a few small holes along the bottom seam.

 From the outside, it looks fine, so that is one plus.  There are five different moldings that cover over the back panel.

 The sail panel between the roof and trunk looks to be in good shape.  These often rust out, but look okay.  I think all the moisture settled to low points, because that is where we are finding rust.

 And finally, the last three pictures are the deck lid back in primer sealer.  One original part ready to go back on the car.  I don't think anything else will be this easy.  I can see why people build rat rods.

Oh crap, that's going to hurt the pocketbook

 It's been a long while since I've had an update because the Chevelle is off to the body shop.  Thankfully, Chevelle fans, Jack stopped by tonight with a CD full of pictures.  So many pictures that I think I'll break them into three or four installments to fill the next few weeks.

Just to bring you up to speed, we dropped the body and frame back at the body shop about 4 months ago with the floor "done" and asked them to do the body work on the outside, with the instructions to do what it takes.  With Jack, it pretty much has to be this, since there is the right way, or don't bother asking him to work on your car.  You don't ask Rembrandt to paint impressionistic water lilies...

Mt first reaction was oh crap, this is going to cost a lot of money.  I guess that isn't anything new. It's just amazing to see how much rust is in every little crack and crevice.  I'm really not sure that the Chevelle was worth restoring, but it has great history, family value, is halfway there, and will be a really cool ride.  I'll be able to confidently say with care, it will be around to pass on to the next generation.

I suppose the alternative title for this blog could be beauty is skin deep.  I thought the doors were the one piece that was in perfect shape, just sand down and paint.  They didn't even have door dings.  Looks okay from the outside right?

Well, maybe not so much.  I wasn't expecting the door skins to come off, but it looks like it was a very good thing they did.  There appears to be all kinds of rust at the seams.  I guess this is what you get with a barn find car.  The surface looks good, but moisture must have been trapped in every seam and crevice over the years.  Every seam they open looks bad like you can see on the door inner below.  It makes me wonder how great those barn finds they show on TV really are.  I bet unless they are from somewhere dry, they all look like this. Not good.

Here is a close up of the rust at the seam.  You can't see this from the outside until you take the skin off the door, break it open, and expose the rust.  I had no clue.  It's a very good thing the body shop found this, or I'd be complaining about rust popping through in a couple years.  When I looked in between the skins, I saw all of the non-rusty parts.  Everywhere you see rust was in an area where two metal parts come together that made it not obvious.  Just looking at the inside of the outer door skin, without carefully looking at the edge made me think all was well with the doors.

The great part about metal though is you can repair it!  I pulled a few example pictures of the work done on the inner door skins to repair the damage.  A little cleaning to get rid of the rust, repair to the lower corners, and everything is like new.

Finally, new coating to prevent rust...

Weld the skin to the inner, and you have a brand new door!

 and back on the car! Well, very temporarily back on the car.  There is a lot more work to do on the quarters, firewall, and I'm sure lots of other little bits I don't know about.  At least the new door is 100% rust free and should be good for a very long time.  Keep your eye on that dash, I think it is going to be the only 100% original part left when we are done!  Next week I'll share the quarters, or maybe the roof.  I have a week to decide...