Benno

I've been re-assembling. Got the tail lights and quite a bit of the chrome trim installed. I used some vinyl paint on the seats. The seats have come up pretty well, a couple of rips but should be able to fix with some tape and a seat cover until I get them reupholstered. My engine was supposedly rebuilt to factory specs not long ago. No receipts, but it looks clean inside and turns over with good compression. Should be fine to get it running, re-vinned and I can build up another motor with a cam and higher compression. Bit of a mission to install with the gearbox on, but smashed it out with a couple of mates. Would probably do it with the gearbox off next time I think. The next big step is going to be to suss out the hood lining so I can get the front/rear screens in

It was not installed in the car when I got it, so I'm not sure how it mounts sorry.

I reassembled, wet sanded with 800 grit and put another coat down. There were a couple of runs, in the process of removing them I rubbed through to primer in a couple of spots. I masked up the doors and front guards which were OK, resprayed the rest. Unfortunately there was a gust of wind near the end which blew some dust into the paint. Fortunately, I've been able to wet sand out with 2000 grit and polish. Starting to look pretty good now!

Sounds good, I'm potentially keen

Has anyone looked into 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers? I've seen a couple of videos online, it looks ideal. I had mastered SolidWorks at uni, I've never quite clicked as well with Fusion 360. Seems I can't buy a license directly from Dassault as a New Zealand user. I've asked for a quote, waiting to hear back.

The door with the plasma cutting was pretty wonky, so ended up finding a replacement. Managed to get all of the doors paneled and into paint. A bit of dust and a couple of runs, but I'm definitely getting better with the paint gun. Now working on sandblasting the door hinges and cleaning up the boot lid, before reassembly, wet-dry sanding and a final coat. Stoked to be making some good progress again.

Thanks mate. Mine actually came with an implala shifter and some shitty bucket seats. I ended up selling the shifter, quite like the idea of bench seat column change

I had a son last year, so progress has slowed down on this but still happening. Managed to get the guards, valance and bonnet prepped and painted. I got a bit of dust in the paint, but I'm happy enough for now as I'll be putting on another coat later on. Now onto the doors. A couple have had some dents in them, so heaps of bog. I've stripped them and having a go at straightening with a hammer and dolly. One of them had been cut with a plasma cutter then not welded back together, I'm going to tidy that one up.

My budget is a bit thin, I've just got a new gun (the one linked by @mjrstar) and need a new hose too. I realise the 16 cfm will be better than the 12.5 CFM, but realistically I'll only end up using it to paint a whole car a few times and my sandblast cabinet is only really good for small stuff anyway. I'll keep an eye out for a used higher spec compressor. If I don't find anything good, how bad would the 12.5 CFM one be? Would it still do the trick, provided I had a good water trap system on it? My painting so far has been with a supercheap direct-drive 180 LPM jobbie. It's been noisy as hell and I need to take regular breaks to let it fill up again. I wouldn't paint a whole car with it, but it was all good for priming, engine bay, boot etc.

I've decided it's time for a compressor upgrade, my current supercheap direct drive one is very noisy and struggles to keep up when spraying large panels. Any thoughts on this one? Intended mostly for painting and sandblast cabinet, I don't have any other air tools. https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/552-toolshed-belt-drive-compressor-3hp-50l-12-5cfm?categoryId=2179

There was a bit of rust in the LHS guard, I got a 'good' replacement guard off trademe. Turned out the replacement guard was full of bog, so back to the original. Cut out some previous repairs. Still a bit of bog in there, but less and not as thick. Painted the inside of the guards and valance with 2K black. Painted the outside with 2K primer filler, top coat around the edges. Have bolted back onto the car to do the final bogging and sanding, too much flex otherwise.

Got a the bonnet, boot hinges, front cowl, indicators and inlet manifold vapour blasted. Came up really well. Gave the blasted parts, guard and front valance a coat of epoxy primer. Found a rebuilt mk3 engine on trademe. No receipts so a bit of a risk, but better than the mk2 engine I previously had lined up for it.

After the painting I pulled the diff and springs back out. Painted the boot with 2K black. Cleaned off all the rust from the springs. Bit of pitting, but not too bad. Treated them with Brunox, painted with CRC Black zinc. Then got them reset and riveted at Bellamy and East, really happy with the job they did. Next I bare metaled the diff, epoxy and 2k black Re-did the worst part of the guard, not perfect but now only a few mm of bog needed Also made a new inner guard nose. Guessing mud etc gets stuck behind it, which rusts it out

I've got a cheap vice mounted stretcher/shrinker. Happy enough with it, did the trick for what I needed it for. I used a jack handle on it to make things a bit easier. You're welcome to borrow mine for a bit if you want to see how well it works for you before you buy one.

Wee skim of bog over the repairs and some other small dents. No more than a couple of mm, much better than the >10mm that was there before. Repeated the bog, sand, filler primer, sand process a few times until I got it to the stage I was happy with it. First coat of colour went on a bit dry, so I put a bit more thinner into the second coat. Wee bit much it seems so have got some runs. Hopefully will be able to wet sand out without too much trouble