kaputtwagen 1982 rabbit AAZ swap/build

[jack's lack]

On to the rain tray shaving.


welded a panel in


Then started filling and sanding again.


There was a nasty hole that rusted through the inner fender, and the firewall. Wasn't an easy place to get fingers to work either.


heat delete! No turning back now!


cleaned up inner fender. Wow that was too much work.




Epoxy primed the inner fenders. The first of a lot to come.

Engine bay cleaned up and ready for primer.


Freshly primed.

[jack's lack]

On to the cowling A-Pillars & Roof.

Finally sanded! Again more time consuming than expected.


And the payoff. Wet paint action!

Here it has cured.

[jack's lack]

Next up C-pillars and rockers.

First up shaving the rear repeaters.


cleaning up the rocker.


cleaning up the rear fender wells


check out my sweet new wheel


getting the passenger side C ready for paint


here is the only major floor board issue that I found. It was directly under the hole in the firewall/raintray. A real "there's yer problem moment.


There was a fair amount of cancer in front of and behind both rear fender wells.


There was also some black waterproofing gunk applied all around the car. I wonder if the previous owner did this, or something offered by the stealership. You're gonna want that true-coat!


Filling the dents. Apparently quite a few people opened doors into me.


filled the trim holes and smoothed the panel seam below






grabbed some gas piston hood openers, so went ahead and deleted the brackets for the old stick. I'm gonna miss that stick. We spent a lot of time together over the years.



primer gray potential is finally setting in.


On to the driver's side. Sand fill repeat. I can hear the air compressor droning away in my dreams.


and more cured primer


On to the back


had some real issues behind the wheel wells. Especially at the exhaust cut out.


stitched in a panel. Clearly I am yet to become an expert. I am thankful for kevlar strand body filler.


Started the POR 15 in the spare tire well. Found a couple more rust holes to weld before finishing up, hence the unpainted spots.


Lightweight fill ready to sand. I have since sanded it and will prime tomorrow after work if all goes well. Then it's on to doors and fenders. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still faint.


also in other news I scored a little piece of Unobtainium!

[jack's lack]

Oh my gosh, look at her butt!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

Spent 4 hours stripping the paint off of the outside of one of the doors.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[libbydiesel]

Lots of work.  Very impressive. 

[jack's lack]

Put in another 2:30 today. Sanded the door with 80grit. Pulled a dent and welded some pin holes in the bottom aft corner.

Finished up the evening with some Everglass filler (not pictured). A couple more hours and this one will be ready to prime. I will tackle the jamb and interior of the door at a later pass, but regardless this has been the quickest panel by far.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

320 grit sanded here and ready for paint.


Und mit primer

The gloss of the wet paint highlighted a couple more little dings. I'll catch them in the next round.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

Today's progress


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

Sanded to 320

Primered



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

On to the next door. The passenger doors were not this car's good side. I found some evidence of previous repairs and a really large dent. It took quite a bit of filling and blocking to get it smooth. This was the most difficult panel yet.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jack's lack]

got the dents at the aft of the passenger door as flat as I could with a hammer, dolly, and slide hammer.

And with the everglass filler.  Hopefully I can carve out some time to block it and move on to lightweight filler this week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[libbydiesel]

Again, very impressive.  Thanks for sharing.

[ORCoaster]

Someone with a lot of dedication and time to do the kind of work we all would like to do but are too busy with our engines all the time.

[jack's lack]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I think that I started down this road grossly underestimating how much time it would actually take. At this point I'm just taking it one panel at a time.

Regarding the current panel, I was hoping to prime it today, but the dent needed yet alas at least one more layer of rage gold was required.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk