Time has come...

[Paul Steinberg]

One hell of an idea Paul and will check into it. What is the recommended stuff to seal the inside panels. I thought that Flex-Seal would be excellent.

You don't want to seal the inside of the doors until all the painting is done. I have had excellent results with a product called PDRP, or what is more commonly known as cosmoline. This is what Ziebart is, and what Miller Meteor used when the car was being produced. I buy it by the case of 12 spray cans. The only problem is that if you use it before you paint, the paint might wrinkle because of the chemical reaction of the paint thinners and the PDRP.

 

[Kyle Martin]

lifeliner

hey richard, have a great idea! dont pait anything and sell or trade it to me! 76 stingray 4 speed 34k. have a his and her corvette. mines yellow and nice! we could trade and ill deliver and drive lifeliner back to houston and have it painted red all over. save you the hassle and money and you can find something new to play with! no storage hassles and repair costs. i promise to give it a life long home and will keep you posted on the paint. will take car apart and paint it correctly only red. what a deal. im eagerly awaiting your answer and i will come at your conveince to take my new lifeliner home. now how can you beat that kind of deal!! im gonna go pull the vette out and give it a new coat of wax to make it shine even more for the trip to florida! how can you beat that? let me know so i can pack a bag! kyle:thumbsup:

 

[Richard Vyse]

I picked the Lifeliner you this morning and dicussed with Joe where we're headed. He will repair/replace all metal, paint and seal the inside of the door, and when I bring it back to be fitted he will do the door jams as well. He says the doors are not as bad as one would think and the rockers are very solid. Encouraging. I'm still amazed at how quiet, smooth, and powerful this old gal is.

FYI: If you do not like to see posts on my Lifeliner then instead of complaining or blasting my name here or on other sites, DO NOT LOOK OR READ MY POSTS!!!! You know my drill and will spill all the little details on my project as we move forward so get ready folks.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

not bad looking at all. now while Joe has the door you pull the sill plate off clean up under it and at least put down some oil base primer. to slow down the rust from bleeding out. a brass brush will clean out the tracks in the sill. perfect time to get that tool cabinet cleaned and freshened up with the door off. then after the door is back one you can open it and look at fresh paint and clean stuff. then on to the next one later. we got to spend more time in these cars. I never realized yous was a walk across

but who would have known one could trash you one different sites!!! man I can't keep up with you on this one.

 

[Richard Vyse]

not bad looking at all. now while Joe has the door you pull the sill plate off clean up under it and at least put down some oil base primer. to slow down the rust from bleeding out. a brass brush will clean out the tracks in the sill. perfect time to get that tool cabinet cleaned and freshened up with the door off. then after the door is back one you can open it and look at fresh paint and clean stuff. then on to the next one later. we got to spend more time in these cars. I never realized yous was a walk across

but who would have known one could trash you one different sites!!! man I can't keep up with you on this one.

This is exactly why people need to share their projects as to what else may need to be addressed. Granted, my restoration will never be on the level as the jobs Ed does for PCS people but appreciate your knowledge and input. What an excellent idea Ed, thanks man!

Dessert for you tonight!

 

[John Royark JR]

I picked the Lifeliner you this morning and dicussed with Joe where we're headed. He will repair/replace all metal, paint and seal the inside of the door, and when I bring it back to be fitted he will do the door jams as well. He says the doors are not as bad as one would think and the rockers are very solid. Encouraging. I'm still amazed at how quiet, smooth, and powerful this old gal is.

FYI: If you do not like to see posts on my Lifeliner then instead of complaining or blasting my name here or on other sites, DO NOT LOOK OR READ MY POSTS!!!! You know my drill and will spill all the little details on my project as we move forward so get ready folks.

The door bottoms are in very good condition, he should have no problem doing it the right way. Those corners are always the first to go. I also agree with Ed, pull the door sill trim and touch it up when the door is off, its alot easier to do when you are not fighting the door. I have a spot on my 95 Superior Chevy that needs a sill repair, but to reach that spot the door needs to be off. Believe me, you only want to mess with alinging them once.
Also a great time to really check the condition of the hinges, for any play or wear and take care of that if needed. Door pins are very cheap and will save from headaches later down the road.

 

[Richard Vyse]

Also a great time to really check the condition of the hinges, for any play or wear and take care of that if needed. Door pins are very cheap and will save from headaches later down the road.

Hey John, my driver's door is slightly off and needs a good slam to get it to close. I was looking at it at lunch and noticed the door post bolt is worn on the top so I'll mention the door pin thing to Joe.

See, the more involved the more information can be had!!!

 

[John Royark JR]

Hey John, my driver's door is slightly off and needs a good slam to get it to close. I was looking at it at lunch and noticed the door post bolt is worn on the top so I'll mention the door pin thing to Joe.

See, the more involved the more information can be had!!!

Open the door and see if you can wiggle it up and down, thats a good sign it needs pins. If it is tight it may just be out of allingment, but still a good thing to check.

 

[Brendan Martin]

Good luck with the repairs. It's a beautiful car, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[Kyle Martin]

rivets

richard, if you drill a hole for a rivet in the door hinge they will line up perfect when you go to reinstall doors. really works. guess you dont need another vett.

 

[Richard Vyse]

richard, if you drill a hole for a rivet in the door hinge they will line up perfect when you go to reinstall doors. really works. guess you dont need another vett.

I love Vettes but one at a time. Matter of fact, my 77 is off to the shop to get the rear tires aligned since they are bowed and afraid they will pull a drive shaft out.

Never ends.

 

[Kyle Martin]

fiberglass rear spring

i know about rears on vetts. i had to put new rear spring on mine to get rear aligned properly. put new spring thats fiberglass. tracks oerfect but still squats when you get on it. halfshafts were rubbing car under hard power. installed koni shocks all around and now just bites and goes. not a lot of power on 76 stingrays even with L-82. it has true duals and been thinking of headers with sidepipes. dont think it would really hurt value as i really like the car and unless a good trade comes along i'll probaly just keep her. hooker makes headers that go direcyly to sidepipes. chrome of course. they say there good for 30 more horses and as these smog motors are low on power anyway i think this would improve performance enough for me. i installed alminum intake and kept quadrajet and that helped alot. important to get 4 wheel alignmet though. maybe even aluminum heads later. who knows. new cam and 1.7 rockers...

 

[Richard Vyse]

i know about rears on vetts. i had to put new rear spring on mine to get rear aligned properly. put new spring thats fiberglass. tracks oerfect but still squats when you get on it. halfshafts were rubbing car under hard power. installed koni shocks all around and now just bites and goes. not a lot of power on 76 stingrays even with L-82. it has true duals and been thinking of headers with sidepipes. dont think it would really hurt value as i really like the car and unless a good trade comes along i'll probaly just keep her. hooker makes headers that go direcyly to sidepipes. chrome of course. they say there good for 30 more horses and as these smog motors are low on power anyway i think this would improve performance enough for me. i installed alminum intake and kept quadrajet and that helped alot. important to get 4 wheel alignmet though. maybe even aluminum heads later. who knows. new cam and 1.7 rockers...

Nice Kyle. I thought about side mount headers too but trying to stay as stock as possible. I think my Vette may have the lowest horsepower they ever put out at only about 180 horses. You wouldn't know that the way it takes off. Nothing hurts the value on these things, it is what it is.

 

[Kyle Martin]

power

yeah richard mine has 210 stock i beleive but hey it runs great. like yours 4 speed helps alot. mine has rack on back also but i'm running 8 inch rally's and i just bought a set of 235/70/15 firestone indy 500's for her. i dont know what it's really worth but i like it and she has such low miles that it would take something really special for me to part with her. would not advertise it for sale for money as it's worth whatever to me just to own it. my wife drives it sometimes when she wants to get some eyeball time from other drivers. she would deny that but hey as long as she likes what i like it really doesnt matter. i give you lip service about your lifeliner as i love that car and really dont expect you to trade me but just trying to give ya something to think about. now that i think about it, if you got enough boot i might change my mind. he..he... post progress on bodywork as i really do enjoy your posts, and i garantee i will never bash you anywhere. people need to think about other folks before they start saying things negative. if we cant enjoy ourselves and have some fellowship about pro cars then what's the point? i dont fix up these old cars for profit i do it because i love em. period....

 

[Richard Vyse]

Couple pics of the door. Once you get the paint and bondo off it will need some work keeping in mind this is the worst door, we think.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

done a lot of them new pice of tin from just under the body line will give you a good repair.

 

[John Royark JR]

Isnt it amazing what some putty and paint hides? Ive seen this car in person a couple times, and never would of guessed it was like this. At least it is being repaired right this time with new metal instead of more putty, it will be worth the cost.

 

[Kevin Lynch]

Parts car

My "crew" took the skin off the door of our parts car (75 Coupe DeVille) and welded them to the front doors of my Lifeliner. They were going to use the door and attach the window frame but saw how different the MM front door was inside compared to the Caddy front door. Every hunk of rust they cut out sure makes me feel better. Good luck!

 

[Richard Vyse]

A little update on the door. All bad metal removed and this week the new gets welded in place. The long strip of metal was a piece from a previous repair. Getting excited.

 

[Don Lagerstrom]

Many paint stores like Finishmaster seel door bottoms that wrap around the door bottom. when you're done use a product like 3M Rust Fighter part#08892 to help with rust issues.