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1968 Mustang Project Generation Gap Paint And Body - Painted Pony, Part 2Project Generation Gap Gets More Mods And A Coat Of Primer From the April, 2011 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan
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Last month we left off with our '68 Mustang project, Generation Gap, back in the care of the folks at Classic Creations of Central Florida for our final series of stories on body prep and paint. We know there's been quite a dry spell between our last round of work and the start of our paint portion of the project in the March issue. Hopefully, we'll be back on track now with monthly, or near monthly, stories on the project as we squirt the color, and start working on plumbing, wiring, interior, and more. We'll also be posting updates on our blog section of our website at blogs.mustangandfords.com, as well as our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/modmustangsandfords. Our work in the March issue included our first application of K38 high-build primer, as well as working on some rough sections of body filler where fiberglass parts had been molded in, such as our wheel flares. We also worked on truing up our fender-to-hood gaps, too. To continue our work in this issue, we'll be adding the last of our body upgrades-LED side markers and an LED CHMSL (center high mount stop lamp, or third brake light)-and prepping the body further with another coat of K38. Then, more sanding, getting our final gaps set, and then our sealer coat of DP50 primer. At that point, we'll be down to some final wet sanding and we'll be ready to break the car down (removing the hood, fascia, door handles, trunk lid, and so forth) to get it ready for spraying our basecoat. Speaking of color, longtime readers will remember when we started down the road of this build, we discussed production Ford colors when we unveiled our artist illustration from Cars by Chris ( www.cars-by-chris.com). As we began to get deeper into the project, we were introduced to Brian Smith, owner of Auto Body Color & Supply in Nashville, Tennessee, through mutual friend Kevin Tetz, host of the Trucks! TV show on Spike. As we discussed the paint for Generation Gap, Brian felt a custom mix, essentially our base Ford colors with a little "flair" would accentuate the fastback's flowing lines. When UPS showed up a few weeks later, we had a gallon of Ghost Gray Pearl for our body color and a quart of Reaper Black Metallic for our modified Le Mans-style stripes that were custom-mixed just for our project-just like Brian does for many popular automotive television shows. Once our project has been painted and completed, you'll be able to order the exact same color from Auto Body Color & Supply (or any PPG dealer) for your project as well.  Mustang Project offers universal...  Mustang Project offers universal 6-inch LED light strips for custom installations and the company has started packaging them in a side marker kit with amber or red reflective lenses and metal mounting plates. Since we're installing the front side markers in our fiberglass front fascia, Danny Gaydos of Classic Creations of Central Florida uses the mounting plate as a template to cut our lens opening, and then used different shape files to finish the opening.  The amber lens fits in from...  The amber lens fits in from the rear and will eventually be bonded into place. For now, the lens is clamped into place so it can be carefully sanded down flush with the fascia.  A light coat of body filler...  A light coat of body filler is used to fill any imperfections between the lens and the fascia, as well as level out the area. Even though it's not necessary at this point, the area is sanded in several stages, ending up at 1,500-grit to polish the lens out and see what it would look like.  To mount the LED light assemblies,...  To mount the LED light assemblies, you're on your own to determine a mounting solution, as they are a universal product. To mount ours behind the amber lenses up front, Gaydos made simple "Z" brackets with a small welded stud on them. They'll be bonded to the back of the fiberglass fascia, allowing the light to simply be bolted in place.  The rear LED side markers...  The rear LED side markers are a bit more involved, as they'll be installed into the actual metal quarter-panel. Due to the large surface area of the quarter-panel, Gaydos uses a level to ensure the car is level before placing the mounting plate.  Gaydos opted to use the mounting...  Gaydos opted to use the mounting plate as a template again, versus welding the mounting plate into the quarter-panel; mainly because the majority of the fiberglass and bodywork has already been done in this area.  Gaydos test fit the lens and...  Gaydos test fit the lens and filed the opening as needed, taking extra care to get the corner radius just right. The end result is a fitted lens that will require very little bodywork around it. At this point, the lens is ready to be sanded flush with the body.  Mounting the LED light housing...  Mounting the LED light housing to the quarter-panel itself was considered first, but Gaydos felt it was better to create a mounting bracket for the LED light that doesn't put any stress on the quarter skin itself. A simple boxed bracket that will secure the LED light to the trunk floor was devised using 18-gauge steel.  Gaydos lined up the LED light...  Gaydos lined up the LED light housing with the finished bracket and drilled mounting holes to secure the light and allow the wiring to pass through.  The mounting end of the fabricated...  The mounting end of the fabricated bracket is punched with mounting holes to allow for a simple bolt-in mounting, allowing removal for light servicing, wiring, and more.  Gaydos placed the bracket...  Gaydos placed the bracket in the trunk to line up the LEDs with the previously made opening to ensure the LEDs are placed squarely in the opening.  Once the LED placement is...  Once the LED placement is verified, Gaydos mounted the bracket with stainless tapping screws. The bracket will be cleaned up and painted during final assembly.  For our 12-inch-long LED third...  For our 12-inch-long LED third brake light, we used the same steps for cutting the lens opening as for the side marker lights. We made the initial cut with the trunk lid still mounted to the body and aligned from the initial body fit. This ensured our LED light opening was centered at the rear of the car.  Once the opening had been...  Once the opening had been cut, the trunk lid was removed to a body panel stand to finish filing the opening to the edge of the metal template.  To fit the lens, and eventually...  To fit the lens, and eventually the LED light assembly, an opening in the rear of the trunk lid's inner skin is required. Gaydos made an opening by using a hole saw at each end and then used a pneumatic saw to cut the remaining center section free.  With the mounting hole established,...  With the mounting hole established, Gaydos can fit the LED's lens into the trunk lid and sand the lens flush. A thin coat of body filler was used not only to make the lens-to-trunk-lid seam perfect, but to fill some low spots Gaydos found in the fiberglass as well.  Gaydos leveled the filler...  Gaydos leveled the filler with 36-grit sandpaper on a long board sander. This made the trunk lid's "face" nice and even, and sanded the lens plastic down flush at the same time.  Due to the narrow mounting...  Due to the narrow mounting area, it's impossible to reach the trunk lid's face to bond brackets in like the front fascia installation. Instead Gaydos whipped up a simple aluminum bracket to mount the LED light directly to the 18-gauge steel block-off plate for the opening. Here, the parts are laid out for assembly and test fitting.  Once assembled, the third...  Once assembled, the third brake light slid right into place, and once screwed to the trunk lid, the LED light housing sat within 1/8-inch of the lens. This gap will be taken up with a small adhesive backed foam gasket to prevent light leakage into the trunk.  Last month we got our fender-to-hood...  Last month we got our fender-to-hood gaps looking perfect, but we still had the fender-to-door gaps to tackle (the door-to-quarter gaps were taken care back when we did all of our fiberglass work). Gaydos used a coarse grinding disc to shape the leading edge of the door first.  The end result is a gap that...  The end result is a gap that is more even than what we started with, but still too wide in some places. The door skin was actually separated in places from the grinding disc, but no worries, as the fender will come off next for some build-up welding.  Before the fender was removed,...  Before the fender was removed, Gaydos marked it with a Sharpie where the door skin needed to be built up to match the fender. This will close the wide gaps and even everything up.  After grinding down the fresh...  After grinding down the fresh welds and replacing the fender, you can see how our fender-to-door gap is much more even now-but we're not done yet.  Plastic body filler to the...  Plastic body filler to the rescue once again, as Gaydos put a light coat of filler over the door and fender. This will allow Gaydos to shape the final gap precisely, just as he did with the fender-to-hood gap last month.  The filler was rough-sanded...  The filler was rough-sanded with 36-grit sandpaper on a long board across the fender and door, leveling the area. Then Gaydos used 36-grit sandpaper folded twice to sand the gap opening directly for a uniform gap the entire length of the fender and door seam.  Followers of our '68 Mustang...  Followers of our '68 Mustang project know that we've borrowed a few different styles to design the exterior of our project, including the traditional Shelby look, a bit of Eleanor (but not too much!), and some of our own ideas. One of those ideas was doing something with our cowl vents. They're not needed anymore with the A/C system we're planning, so out comes the cutoff wheel.  One of our first thoughts...  One of our first thoughts was to just fill the vent in smooth with the rest of the cowl, but after discussing with Gaydos and Classic Creations of Central Florida's Merv Rego, we thought it would be great to have the cowl area match the handformed steel upper air extractors that Gaydos made for our quarter-panels. Forming an angled tray out of 18-gauge steel is where Gaydos started his design.  The metal tray was tacked...  The metal tray was tacked into place where the cowl vent used to be. The angled metal, approximately 3/4-inch deep at the forward end, will be the basis for the extractor look.  After fully welding the metal...  After fully welding the metal tray in, the scrap metal's old paint is ground away while grinding the welds too. A quick blast of primer to seal the bare metal and a small drain hole in the outboard corner finished the base of the extractor.  The top of the extractor is...  The top of the extractor is another scrap of 18-gauge steel that Gaydos cut out after creating a few paper board templates that were used to mock up different extractor looks. The top portion we all agreed looked best is shown here, fully welded into place with the welds ground.  While only roughed out with...  While only roughed out with 36-grit sand-paper and one coat of body filler, Gaydos had the extractor's final look locked in. Only one more to make and then Gaydos could start concentrating on our next coat of primer and some serious sanding. Tune in next month and we'll have our final installment of paint and bodywork on our '68 fastback with color, stripes, and more.
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