Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => Darrin Forum => Topic started by: pjkaiser on July 02, 2018, 08:53:49 PM
-
It has been a long time since talking about my Darrin body. A few years ago, we put on three layers of fiberglass on the bottom. I've been a while getting some parts ready and making other fiberglass parts. The body is so rigid it needs no bracing. We just turned it over yesterday and we are getting ready to prime in a couple of days. All the metal parts and the air dam have been primed with a red primer to more closely match the final color. We will use a black fiberglass primer (it soaks into the fiberglass and strengthens it) for the parts and body that will be painted black. I will keep the pictures coming as we make progress. The top is 95% done and will be ready for paint when we finish the bottom.
You can see the premiered seats in the back ground of one of the pictures.
We are making good progress. Will let you know more at the Nationals!!
-
Lots of work, coming along nicely!
-
I have had the Darrin Jr. Painted the same color as my full size. Kosmos Red from House of Color, with White interior, all my choices!!!
The Second picture is when the body was still on its top with the painted fenders and air intake, I know it should be the color of the Car, yet again, all my choices. I believe it will look better that way.
The third picture is the body on its side so we can paint the engine compartment, passenger compartment and trunk area easier than any of the other positions. The body is resting on two movers pads folded over many times and enclosed in plastic so the area can be wet down the driveway before painting. This is all being done in my front of my garage behind a high gate. All fiberglass surfaces will be painted, even under the areas that don't usually get painted. I want the fiberglass sealed.
The fourth picture is the bottom of the car body with enough room to get to the bottom of the engine compartment.
All the small brackets, etc have been painted, tumbled and Zinc plated and all my chrome pieces went to the Chromer last Thursday (6 weeks before done). Moving right along.
Once the body is painted, I will send it to the upholsterer. I should be able to assemble most of the parts on the body before putting it on the frame.
The frame and drivetrain will be next!!
The next pictures will be of these three areas painted!!!!
I found 4" air ducts through Custom Corvette, a shop near me. They are about 6" to short so I will add those inches from a third tube and the seam will be under the air duct holder nearest the vents, just perfect. These are made for the early Corvettes and have been made like the old ones are made and are ok for Corvette restorations.
-
Progress is good!
Did you do your zinc or send it out?
-
I sent the parts to be tumbled first, then Zinc coated. These parts look great, especially the cables!!! The tumbling really makes them look shiny. I have a home zinc coater but it doesn't work that well, not after seeing what comes from the parts that have been tumbled first.
I have included a picture of the emergency brake cable, it looks better than new!!
-
They look great. Where did you send them...you've got me thinking mine need done.
-
Those look great!
I've been zinc plating my fasteners semi-bright, and some parts small enough to make it through the 1 1/2 gal buckets. Time consuming but it does look nice finished.
-
Larry, the tumbler I used, is retiring this October. They are hard to find, it's a dirty and loud business. He had the contacts to the Zinc Plater. Tumbling gives the parts the nice finished look, if you sand blast them, the parts are too rough to look good plated. I even did the spring on the hood latch.
I included a picture of the hood latch!! I hope the finish comes through the picture.
-
That's nice, looks brand new.
-
How much do you think the body will weigh when you are done?
Was about 300 lbs from the factory.
Lee
-
I’m thinking about 400#’s, since I added about 100#’s of fiberglass under the body. I may
weigh the body as it sits. Will let you know.
-
I thought I would send pictures of some of the parts that were painted the body color. We had over 180 small black parts done at the rate of 30 - 35 at a time. This is the second of four paint sessions (Due to the fact it is in my driveway) to finish the smaller red (body color) pieces. Then it is on to the larger pieces, like the Hood, Trunk and Top Cover. Then the doors and dash etc.....
I am going to pick up the chrome pieces tomorrow, will show pictures when I get them.
There is a light at the end of this tunnel (for the body and I can see it!!!!
-
Well, I've had a few setbacks, blisters, etc. in some of the fiberglass work I did that showed up when these were primered. Now we are back on track.
My painter had to reprime the parts shown and now they are painted (on one side) after much sanding and preparation. What is next is wet sanding and buffing!! On the to engine compartment etc.!!! Remember, I am doing this in my driveway.
As an added BONUS is the candy dispenser (1985 as listed on the casting) that was being thrown away. My wife were walking around the block, as we usually do, and this was in a yard to be given away for free. I took it apart, cleaned and prepared it for paint, then had my painter use the Darrin colors. It came out quite well!! The bottom unscrews from top easily for transport. I will take it with me to the Laguna Beach Rotary Car Show tomorrow.
-
Wow looks great
Lee
-
Color...………. huge milestone...…….. beautiful!
-
The body is moving along, trunk is next for primer and engine compartment for paint.
I needed to make the better accelerator linkage. I was able to have a loaned part to make a duplicate for him as well as for me. After finding the correct size (11 gauge) metal sheet, I had access to a power shear (much easier) and cut these pieces.
I then started to experiment with the best way to proceed. I tried quite a few times till I settled on what looked like the finished product. I didn't have the equipment to put the dip for the spark plug wire, so I left it out. It just needs a little longer spark plug wire.
It took longer than I thought and the ends were quite expensive for what they are.
-
Very nice work!
-
Well, ran into a bit of a problem! When we moved the body from vertical to horizontal, pressure was put on parts of the body. A piece broke off and ended up becoming a big air bubble from the factory. You can see the way the fiberglass cloth had ridges and valleys creating this very large air bubble, some can be seen in the side view. Glad I caught it now, not later after painting!! The body is still really strong as there are three good layers under all the body and I will build this back up with fiberglass and it will be done soon. We will be taking a break, later next week, on working on the body till after Thanksgiving, I have to clean up the driveway so we can eat on the driveway. We'll have over 20 people here for Thanksgiving Dinner.
-
I'm surprised that didn't pop sooner with all of the flexing the body did over the years. And yes, now is certainly better than later!
-
Quality must have been really "good" back then!!!!!
The first picture is of the previous hole, repaired, in the right rear upper quarter panel where there were gaps between layers of fiberglass. These were sheets of fiberglass cloth, as you could see the waviness of the cloth under the hole.
Found another one at the lower right front quarter panel, just in front of the door. Lots of dirt built up between the layers. Over a 1/4" deep to the lower layers!! I will fill it on Sunday and hope no more of these show up!!!
We are now doing the final block sanding of the outside of the body. Hope to paint it after Thanksgiving. I need the week before Thanksgiving to clean up the driveway as we will have over 20 people here for dinner.
-
Wonderful progress. You mentioned you used a "fibreglass primer" . What specific product are you referring to?
-
I have help from a professional painter and he is doing the work. I attached a picture of the Polyprimer, it's pretty high end. It soaks into the fiberglass and bonds to it making it stronger. The color and clear coats are from House of Color
I just completed one of the second part of the accelerator linkage, the part mounted on the firewall. The materials I used are in the second picture, one round piece is the rod for the pivot, the second rod it half-inch tubing for the pivot to go into. Lots of drilling and welding.
Making the pivot required machining, couldn't do it myself as I don't have the equipment. The original is on the Left. I finished it off by drilling the rod hole and tapping the mount.
The last picture shows the original on top (loaned to me), the one I made on the bottom. I used 1/2" steel rod and a mounting screw ball welded to the rod and ground down to look like it matched.
-
That's really nice work. My brother has the use of a machine shop & has made a couple pieces for me, one a modified pivot similar to yours.
-
Finally got enough paint to do the outside of the body on Friday. First, we needed to do the trunk area. Did that on Saturday. I have to do this in sections since doing this in my driveway without a paint booth. Next will be the doors, tops of the hood, trunk and convertible top panel. This should go pretty quickly now. I want the body done by Christmas, then comes the frame and drive train!!
-
Gorgeous. Nice to see it coming together.
-
We have had a lot of rain and cold (to us in So. Calif.) for the past three months, now we are back on track. These parts were painted today in 80 degree weather. It was 94 yesterday!! This is the final paint, just needs color sanding and buffing and they are done. We just need to do the other door and seats, then it is on to the body. There is a light at the end of this tunnel!!!! There is a little more body work to do. When we got the chrome parts back last September, they were all fitted to the body. One of the tail light housings, the headlight rings and the grill all need to be refitted. Minor stuff but adds to the work. Then the body will be ready to be painted on the outside. All the rest is finished. I'll keep you posted with the progress.
-
Nice work total show quality.
I finally got my yellow darrin back from the body shop. Looks great, working on the chassis all the plumbing, brakes done suspension done engine done. Won’t be long till car is done. Nice to finally be able to assemble a car.
Lee
-
Well, its finally done!!!! Painted and clear coated today, yea!!!
Final paint and clear coat that will need to wait about two months, for me to re-energize, for the color sanding and final buff. When I get out of my stupor, I will start working on the chassis and drive-line. I have most of the parts.
I still have to work on the windshield, install it, then bring the parts to the upholsterer. All parts have been either painted, chromed or tumbled and zinc plated. I'm looking forward to getting my driveway back. We (the painter and I) have been working on my since last March off and on.
Enjoy the pictures!
-
That clear sure makes the color pop...……..very nice!
-
When we got back from Nationals, I had an appointment with our Local Dustless Blasting person. What a great job, in only 2 1/2 hrs, it's ready for paint after blowing all the sand out of the rails. I put it on my trailer and took it home. I started painting the frame yesterday, painting it one section at a time. I still have the major suspension parts needing to be blasted, I will do that when I'm ready.
What a surprise, the car # is tack welded on the right front spring tower. It's pretty obvious once all the dirt and stuff are removed.
In a week or two, I'll be ready to start putting things back on the frame------ there is light at the end of the tunnel!!!!
-
That Number on the frame is neat. I wonder if anyone else has ever found that.
-
I checked my car...not present.
-
I "heard" there are frame numbers at two or three different locals. This maybe just one area, maybe for early models??? Can we hear from others? Lee?
-
The actual factory # is at the top rear of the passenger side frame rail. depending how rusty the frame is they can be hard to read.
Some of the cars had them punched in to the passenger side shock tower, looks like it is done by a center punch and a hammer.
Not all of them had that.
Lee
-
I turned my frame around today and painted the top of it. The frame is now done!!! I found the right rear frame #. After painting the rail, the number all but disappeared!! I also found a picture of the frame before cleaning. If you look close, you can see a very small part of the frame number. I included a picture of the frame cleaned, again, to save the time to look at previous pages where the picture is located.
I'm sure there are other Darrins out there with the number on the right side of the front frame rail???
-
Just put the new front coil springs together this morning with the sway bar. The Master Cylinder is in and plumbed. The Front end will be completed over the next few days. I pick up my rebuilt rear end on Monday. The new rear springs are just waiting for the rear end and the brake lines are waiting as well as the backing plates etc!!! I don't work to hard, just a few hours a day (I'm on retirement time) but things are moving along.
The Transmission has been rebuilt and I have a new drive shaft. I just need to re-gasket the engine and the drive train will be done. Once that's in, I'll get the body ready to be dropped on the car!!!
There is light at the end of this long and expensive tunnel!! What a money pit!!!